ITV

Tag: Broadcasting

  • Taj Television, TNMG in interactive progamming, distribution agreement

    Taj Television, TNMG in interactive progamming, distribution agreement

    MUMBAI: The New Media Group (TNMG) and Taj Television, which owns sports channel Ten Sports, have formed a partnership.

    TNMG will distribute and market Taj Television’s assets to users in Japan and Korea.

    TNMG president Randy McGraw says, “We have been really impressed with the content that Ten Sports is producing, the company’s management, and its direction.

    “This strategic tie-up goes a long way toward our mission of establishing the preeminent IPTV and sports community management portal for the growing number of people that are under-serviced by legacy broadcasting, DTH and CATV systems in the markets where they live. We are happy to be working with Taj Television.”

    Under the agreement between companies, TNMG will distribute Ten Sports to a community of 200,000 South East Asian and Subcontinent community members living and working in Japan and Korea. Taking advantage of the regions broadband and 3G mobile infrastructure, TNMG will work with Taj Television Limited initially on TV offerings, and will eventually will develop offerings for consumption on TV, PC, and mobile phones.

    TNMG says that it will give its viewers the World On-Demand, and we are happy to have this solution. South Asians all over Asia will now be able to watch cricket, football, hockey, tennis, and see their favorite players and home teams doing it.

    The two companies will eventually collaborate on new, interactive offerings for consumers of Ten Sports’ content.

    The companies began services in Japan and other East Asian markets in December, 2006.

  • Encryption of DD signals: government sets up expert panel

    Encryption of DD signals: government sets up expert panel

    MUMBAI: The information & broadcasting ministry has constituted a joint group of experts to identify the technical parameters and propose a course of action for suitably regulating the sports broadcasting signals.

    The terms of reference of the joint group of experts are:

    (i) Encryption of DD signal being transmitted to regional/local Kendras for transmission terrestrially.

    (ii) Issues relating to free to air DTH of Prasar Bharati; and

    (iii) Any other technical matter related to regulating sports broadcasting signals.

    The 12-member joint group of experts will be headed by All India Radio director general Brijeshwar Singh. Other Members are: Digvijay Singh and H Rajshekaran representing Nimbus, ESPN Software India managing director RC Venkateish, Essel Group vice-chairman Jawahar Goel on behalf of Zee Sports, BCCI vice president Lalit Modi, Punjab Cricket Association president IS Bindra, Becil CMD KRP Verma, AIR chief engineer AS Guin, Doordarshan chief engineer LV Sharma and DD Sports chief engineer ES Issac.

    Rajat Bhargava, ADG (F&A) in AIR will be member-convener of the Group. The group shall submit its report within one month from the date of its constitution on the issues mentioned in the terms of reference.

    The cabinet had last week approved the promulgation of an Ordinance on the issue of mandatory sharing of broadcasting rights of sporting events of national importance with Prasar Bharati and directed the I&B ministry to constitute a joint group of experts to identify the technical parameters and propose a course of action for suitably regulating the sports broadcasting signals.

  • IPTV likely to generate significant revenue within first three years: Accenture survey

    IPTV likely to generate significant revenue within first three years: Accenture survey

    MUMBAI: More than half of communications industry executives believe that Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) can generate significant revenue within the first three years of service, according to findings of a survey released by Accenture and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

    The survey of nearly 350 executives from telecom, broadcasting and media companies across 46 countries in the US, Europe and Asia revealed industry-wide confidence in the longer-term outlook for IPTV, with 60 percent believing that IPTV will generate significant revenues within three years.

    However, confidence in the short-term outlook remains mixed, with slightly more than half (52 per cent) of respondents saying they are not confident in the ability of IPTV to generate significant revenues within the next 12 months. On the other hand, one-fifth (20 per cent) of respondents said they are confident or very confident, and more than one-quarter (28 per cent) said they are somewhat to fairly confident, that IPTV will generate significant revenues within a year.
    The report notes that the business case for IPTV, its value-added benefits and its potential remain strong. In the long-term, the key to achieving high performance through IPTV is to be visionary, ambitious and open to innovation from many sources. For the shorter term, the key is to quickly adapt to consumer feedback and jump over technology hurdles.

    When asked what they believed would be the principal revenue source for IPTV, about half (46 per cent) of the industry executives surveyed selected advertising. However, network operators, as a subset of all respondents — which included equipment vendors, consumer electronic companies, content providers and broadcasters/studios — disagreed, with three-quarters (74 per cent) of network operators saying they believe that subscription fees for premium content will provide the largest recurring revenue stream, followed by basic content subscription fees and then ad fees.

    This difference in opinions reflects the broad uncertainty around how media will be delivered and what customers will be willing to pay for. Carriers are used to subscription revenues and believe that the IPTV experience will soon be comparable to or even better than current video offerings, whereas media executives are more cautious and skeptical of a scenario where a new revenue stream is created so rapidly. The reality is that both revenue streams will be important, but the challenge will be to harness the power of this new technology to create a new video experience that makes consumers and advertisers willing to pay more than they do today.

    When asked to identify reasons for pursuing the IPTV market, the greatest number of respondents (42 per cent) cited new revenue streams, followed by acquiring new customers (28 per cent) and increasing sale of broadband access connections (21 per cent).

    Overwhelmingly, executives believe that discounted pricing through service bundling will be the primary motivation behind consumer spending. Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of all respondents — and three-quarters (74 per cent) of network operators surveyed — said they believe that discounted service bundles provide the greatest enticement to buy IPTV. The ability to move content between devices was also cited as an important enticement, selected by 38 percent of respondents, as was the convenience of a single bill for multiple services, selected by 31 per cent of respondents.

    Yet there are obstacles to IPTV adoption. One-quarter (25 per cent) of respondents said that the primary short-term obstacle to IPTV adoption is a quality-of-service issue relating to unproven architectures, low bandwidth and other technology issues. The same number (25 percent) said they believe that quality-of-service issues will be resolved over the next three years, leaving stiffer competition from alternative TV providers as the toughest challenge to the adoption of IPTV. Another challenge to IPTV adoption, cited by 19 percent of respondents, is high subscription fees due to the high cost of network access and equipment.

    When asked which types of companies are most likely to generate revenue from IPTV, the vast majority (87 per cent) of respondents selected content providers, followed by telecommunications providers (72 per cent). Not surprising, more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of respondents said that traditional broadcasters have the least to gain from IPTV, a view held strongly by respondents across all company types, including broadcasters themselves.

  • Measat-3 enters commercial service

    Measat-3 enters commercial service

    MUMBAI: Measat Satellite Systems has announced that Measat-3 has successfully completed in orbit testing and had entered commercial service.

    At a ceremony held Thursday at the Measat Teleport and Broadcast Centre, located just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the satellite was officially handed over by Boeing Satellite Systems International Inc and the first customer, Radio Television Malaysia One (RTM-1), up-linked onto the satellite.

    “Thanks to the hard efforts of the Boeing and Measat teams, the deployment and extensive in orbit testing of the Measat-3 satellite has been completed ahead of schedule with the satellite now ready for commercial use” said Paul Brown-Kenyon, Chief Operating Officer, Measat. “We are focused on managing the migration of our lead DTH, Broadcasting and Telecom customers onto the new platform as they expand their services”.

    Designed to work co-located with Measat-1, the deployment of Measat-3 at the 91.5°E orbital location will boosts Measat satellite capacity at its key orbital location by some 300 per cent. The satellite will also extend the network reach to over 100 countries across Asia, Australia, The Middle East, Eastern Africa and Eastern Europe representing 70 per cent of the world’s population.

  • UTV targets June launch of youth channel with Astro

    UTV targets June launch of youth channel with Astro

    MUMBAI: UTV Software Communications’ joint venture with Astro of Malaysia is fast taking shape. The youth-centric channel, aimed at the age-group of 17-25 years, is set for launch by June.

    “We are working on the content research. We plan to launch the channel by June,” says UTV Communications COO Ronald D’Mello.

    UTV will be investing Rs 1 billion in its 50:50 venture with Astro in broadcasting.

    “We will be expanding to a 360 degree entertainment venture including a TV channel as the anchor, to be flanked by activities on the internet, new media, ground events, merchandising and licensing,” says D’Mello.

    UTV will be releasing DVDs of Don and Khosla Ka Ghosla this quarter. Namesake will have an international and national release in the third week of March.

    UTV has posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 704 million, which includes capital gains of Rs 263 million from the sale of United Home Entertainment Ltd (Hungama TV), for the third quarter ended 31 December 2006.

    Net profit stood at Rs 283 million while EBITDA was at Rs 303 million for the period. The company has consolidated the financials of UESL, UTV-US, UTV-UK and UTV-Mauritius.
    UTV also announced an interim dividend of 25 per cent.

    Commenting on the results UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala said, “The quarter has been a very eventful one; while the Hungama TV deal with The Walt Disney Company was consummated during the quarter, the Company also decided to make investments in two gaming companies – Ignition Entertainment and Indiagames Ltd in console and mobile space respectively. With these proposed investments UTV has acquired worldwide capabilities of content creation and distribution across all gaming platforms.”

    UTV has entered into exclusive sales and marketing tie up with Radaan Media, the largest TV production house in South India. “This will result in significant growth in Television businesses in the months to come. In addition to this and as a step towards entering the South Indian film production space, UTV has tied up with Radaan for co-production of all South Indian films,” Screwvala added.

    UTV is acquiring a 70 per cent stake in Ignition Entertainment Ltd (UK based company with interests in console game development, publishing and distribution across the globe) as well as a controlling stake in IndiaGames (gaming company in India, with interests in mobile and online gaming) for a total consideration of Rs 1.28 billion.

    UTV has inducted Walt Disney International president Andy Bird and Pantaloon’s Kishore Biyani as non executive directors.

  • CFOs to play bigger role in media and entertainment business: E&Y

    MUMBAI: Media and entertainment companies are redifining the role of their finance executives in the changing landscape of convergence and competition, according to a report by Ernst & Young.

    “As companies scale up, the chief financial officer’s role is becoming increasingly critical both in capital raising for growth and management of risks,” the survey said.
    Driving this change are the advances in mobile technologies and increasing public expectations as on-demand content gains in the marketplace. The key agents for change in the industry are changing content and distribution models as well as mobile entertainment devices.

    The survey, “Center Stage: CFOs and Finance Executives In The Spotlight Of An Industry In Transition,” was released in Mumbai today by Ernst & Young global head – media & entertainment practice John Nendick. The interview covered over 200 finance executives including views of 46 CFOs (six from India) and 140 online participants from major media and entertainment (M&E) companies across the world.

    Says John Nendick, “We are delighted to release this global survey in Mumbai, which is home to one of the most vibrant and fastest-growing M&E markets in the world today. Several Indian M&E players are in the midst of rapid transition, brought on by a booming consumer base and the twin forces of convergence and competition.”

    Finance executives are playing a larger role in the media and entertainment industry, which includes moving beyond handling the plain vanilla finance function to assisting the CEO in strategic decision-making, including scenario analysis, customer product analysis and investment optimisation.

    “Maintaining a risk-reward balance, rapid changes in the M&E industry have made it more complex and unpredictable. While this has brought many opportunities, there are risks that also have to be considered. This has placed the CFO function in a critical position. CFOs in the M&E space have to analyse how enterprise can derive more value from existing investments and operations,” the study points out.

    CFOs play a key role in mergers and acquisitions activity, starting from assessment, evaluation and integration. This includes post merger performance tracking of an acquired entity against original investment criteria.

    CFOs interviewed in the study also feel that they are prone to missing out on opportunities to reduce taxes. According to the study, 76 per cent of the CFOs believe tax planning should be a key priority for executives.

    Anytime Anywhere Entertainment

    Changing content and distribution models will have a severe impact on the industry over the next two to three years, 86 per cent of participants felt.

    Adoption of personal entertainment and communication devices (MP3 players, mobile telephones etc.) will have the greatest impact, according to 79 per cent of the participants. Expanding global universe of mobile wireless subscribers ensures that the ‘anytime, anywhere’ entertainment will continue.

    According to the study, finance executives of global M&E companies believe that the businesses that will emerge as winners are those that welcome the new distribution channels and are capable of identifying the right content for the specific delivery vehicle.

    The Future is Internet

    To the question of business models for media and entertainment companies most likely to thrive in future, 77 per cent of the study participants consider Internet media providers as the most likely market winners, whereas only 24 per cent view cable operators as thriving businesses in the future. New (independent or cable channel) content creation and electronic gaming are rated as second and third business models in a best position to thrive.

    Radio broadcasting, newspapers and periodical publishing are not thriving business models, CFOs and finance heads of global M&E companies said. Whiler only 11 per cent favoured radio, 13 per cent were keen on publishing businesses as best positioned to thrive in next two to three years.

    The survey is a continuation of Ernst & Young’s series of studies exploring strategic issues and trends transforming the media and entertainment industry worldwide.

  • Metros to be fully ‘Cas’ed: Das Munshi

    Metros to be fully ‘Cas’ed: Das Munshi

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Looks like conditional access system (Cas) will spread to fully cover the metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

    “The introduction of Cas in some parts of the metros has proved successful and it would be extended to other areas in these cities soon,” the information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said today at a press conference in Delhi.

    The set-top boxes (STBs) seeded in these three cities, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Nripendra Misra, has already touched 382,000.

    Of the 1.2 million subscribers in the Cas areas, Trai’s estimate is that digital conversion would be at 50 per cent by February-end. “The indication that we are getting is that there would be 600,000 digital subscribers including direct-to-home (DTH) in the Cas notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata,” said Misra.

    In a meeting with the broadcasters today, Trai said it was aware that in some areas there was relay of pay channels without encryption. The regulator assured that the enforcement machinery would be energised to sort out such related issues.

  • I&B bans AXN for ‘objectionable’ content

    I&B bans AXN for ‘objectionable’ content

    NEW DELHI: The government has banned, with immediate effect, the telecast of Sony Entertainment’s action chanel AXN for two months for showing “obscene programmes”.

    The information and broadcasting ministry today issued directions for blocking signals of the channel into India up to 15 March.

    Sources told Indiantelevision.com that the ministry had taken objection to the channel repeatedly telecasting such programmes such as World’s Sexiest Commercials that “are against good taste or decency and are likely to adversely affect public morality”.

    The government has been issuing warnings from time to time to various channels to desist from telecasting “obscene programmes” and software not suitable for women and children.

    The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 clearly stipulates that the government has the right to block or take action against channels which violate the broadcasting and advertising codes of the country.

    Multi-system operators (MSOs) like Hathway Cable & Datacom have blacked out AXN. Incablenet is in the process of switching off the channel, a senior executive in the company said.

  • ‘Rolling out of Cas has been the most significant development’

    ‘Rolling out of Cas has been the most significant development’

    Lots of consumer centric stipulations have been made in the said Regulations which, among other things, include establishment of call centres by DTH operators, redressal of consumer complaints within stipulated timeframes and the concept of Nodal Officers to be appointed by DTH operators.

    Trai has also issued Interconnect Regulations for DTH services mandating the Broadcasters to come out with Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) for DTH operators and provision of channels on a la-carte basis by broadcasters to DTH operators under the said RIO.

    Trai has also come out with a Tariff Order for non-Cas areas whereby not only the price freeze, which was already in operation, has been continued, but now even the ceiling in respect of cable rates have also been provided at the retail level.

    In addition, Trai has also stipulated the provision of a la carte channels to MSO/Broadcasters in non-Cas areas. The order has created a lot of hulchul in the industry.

    Cross media ownership issue and restriction in holding shares within electronic media and distribution sector may act as an impediment to the overall growth of the sector
    _____****_____

    No previous order/Regulation of Trai had generated as much heat and controversy as the present Tariff order for non-Cas areas. While the MSO and cable operators have welcomed it, the broadcasters on the other hand have severely criticised it, as in their view their commercial interest have not been adequately taken care of by Trai. The broadcasters are arguing that the present tariff order would benefit only one segment – the MSOs as no a la-carte choice can be provided to consumers in non-addressable analog environment because of technological impediments. Their grievance is that the Regulator has not addressed the problem of “under-declaration”. The matter is currently sub judice in the TDSAT.

    The Trai is in the process of issuing its recommendation to the government on IPTV and Mobile TV which would give further impetus to the proposed digitisation.

    The Cable and Satellite Television sector is the only sector where both Service Tax and Entertainment Tax are levied at present which amounts to double taxation. It may be mentioned that levy of both service tax and entertainment tax ultimately make the services costlier for the consumers. It is pertinent to point out that when a movie/ film is shown in a cinema, only entertainment tax is levied and no service tax is charged for screening the movie in a cinema theatre.

    Both DTH services and cable services are at present reeling under the heavy burden of multiple taxation and levies (such as license fee, service tax, entertainment tax, VAT on customer premises equipment which cumulatively add up to as high as 56 per cent) which are acting as an impediment to the growth and development of these services. Such a high multiple taxation and other levies vis-?-vis other sectors has resulted in these services becoming costlier and unaffordable for the masses.

    Accordingly, to ensure proper growth and development of this sector, the multiple levies/ taxation structure needs to be rationalised.

    Similarly, the customs duty structure on STBs and other equipments which are quite crucial for digitization also needs rationalisation in line with IT and Telecom sectors.

    It is imperative that to promote the growth of digital platforms, duty structure/concession applicable to IT and Telecom sector be extended to the broadcasting industry to provide a level playing field
    _____****_____

    All in all, year 2007 has been excellent for the Broadcast, DTH and Cable sector, and would be remembered as the year in which the solid foundations have been laid for digitisation and to create an environment enabling the broadcasting and distribution sector to takeoff and move towards the path of growth and development at an accelerated pace.

    In the present era of convergence the distinction between Broadcasting, Telecommunication and Information Technology is disappearing very fast. It is therefore imperative that in order to promote the growth of digital platforms, duty structure/concession applicable to IT and Telecom sector be extended to the broadcasting industry and it is treated as part of telecom infrastructure to provide a level playing field.

    The need of the hour is to create the same kind of conducive environment by the government by creating level playing field and granting fiscal incentives and concessions to the sector as has been done for the telecom sector and this sector would also register phenomenal growth in coming years.

  • Chinese broadcasting satellite SinoSat-2 fails

    Chinese broadcasting satellite SinoSat-2 fails

    MUMBAI : Asian giants India and China have reached a ground-breaking agreement to promote cooperation in civil nuclear energy. Maybe they should now consider extending that cooperation to space exploration as well.

    Four months ago, the launch of India’s first commercial communications satellite from home soil ended in failure after the the three-stage 414-tonne launch vehicle GSLV-F02 veered off course soon after lift-off, and ultimately crashed into the Bay of Bengal. The GSLV-F02 was carrying the state-of-the-art communication satellite Insat-4C, the second satellite in the Insat-4 series.

    China, meanwhile, suffered a setback of a different sort after its first direct-to-home broadcasting satellite, failed less than 10 days after launch, the South China Morning Post reported. While the launch of SinoSat-2, China’s first domestically made satellite, went off smoothly, the satellite’s solar panel faily shortly after it went into orbit, the newspaper reported, quoting sources familiar with the situation. The satellite has suffered a serious power failure and appeared beyond repair, the report added.

    At the time of launch, the Chinese government-run Xinhua News Agency had said SinoSat-2 would help to provide a broader coverage of TV signals and allow more digital and live broadcast TV services across the country.

    SinoSat-2 had been hyped as a broadcaster of digital television signals to China’s rural areas with no access to cable, and was meant to offer services directly to some 100 million households.