ITV

Tag: Digital Entertainment

  • MIB moves to regulate online media: various organisations join issue

    MIB moves to regulate online media: various organisations join issue

    NEW DELHI: Even as a debate on the need to regulate online news media gains momentum, various organisations have moved the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) hoping to be made a part of the committee that will look into various aspects of proposed regulations—a panel that surprisingly doesn’t include, at present, any representation from the sector that is being sought to be brought under checks.

    According to media industry sources, Broadband India Forum (BIF), chambers of commerce FICCI and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Internet and Mobile Association of India and Hong Kong-based Asian media advocacy group CASBAA are amongst some of the organisations that have sought representation on the government panel to add value to the policy-making process. The MIB secretary is the convener of the nine-member panel at present.

    In an order issued in the first week of April this year, MIB had announced constitution of a committee for framing regulations for online media, news portals and online content, which would look not only look into the areas mentioned but also at digital broadcasting, entertainment and other media aggregators. The government justification has been that considering the print and electronic medium were governed by various government-mandated rules and also self-regulatory policies, online media (both news and entertainment) ought also to be brought under a similar regulatory framework.

    Though it’s not spelt out in so many words, industry observers feel that despite broadcast carriage regulator TRAI keeping away from it for the time being, video OTT and social media platforms could be brought under the proposed regulatory framework.

    The panel, despite some representation from overall media industry (Indian Broadcasting Foundation, News Broadcasters Association of India and Press Council of India), looks dominated by the government at the moment with members including secretaries from the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Commerce, apart from the CEO of another government organisation called MyGov.com. What raises some hope is that the convener can add representatives from any other organisation as deemed fit.

    Meanwhile, the Press Trust of India on Monday reported that the Congress attacked the Modi government over its proposal to install a chip in television set-top boxes to ascertain viewership data, dubbing the move a serious breach of privacy and the “next stage of surveillance.”

    Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala alleged that I&B minister Smriti Irani wanted to now know about shows people watched within the four walls of their bedrooms. In a Twitter post, Surjewala referred to the Modi government as “surveillance sarkar” (surveillance government), raising questions over the right to privacy.

    “In a serious breach of privacy, Smriti Iraniji wants to know what show you watch on your TV, within the four walls of your bedroom, without your permission! Why? ‘Ab ki baar Surveillance sarkar’. The right to privacy broken into pieces,” PTI quoted the Surjewala tweets as stating.

    Within its lengthy views on the DTH sector, the MIB had proposed installing a chip in new set-top boxes that would provide data about channels watched and the duration of the viewing. A senior official of the ministry, according to the PTI report, said that the move was aimed at getting “more authentic” viewership figures for every channel that would “help advertisers and the DAVP (government’s media buying agency) to spend their advertising expenditure wisely.”

    ALSO READ:

    MIB forms committee to draft online media norms

    MIB proposes installation of chip in DTH boxes: Report

  • FICCI FRAMES 2014’s theme is “Media and Entertainment: Transforming Lives”

    FICCI FRAMES 2014’s theme is “Media and Entertainment: Transforming Lives”

    MUMBAI: FICCI FRAMES 2014 (March 12 -14, 2014, Mumbai) will be a landmark event marking the 15th chapter of the convention which has always been an unparalleled platform for the exchange of ideas and knowledge between individuals, countries, conglomerates.

    As in previous years, the world’s media & entertainment industry will be in full attendance at FRAMES 2014 with nearly 2000 Indian and 600 foreign delegates, encompassing the entire sector. FRAMES 2014 will have plenary and parallel sessions on a broad spectrum of issues covering the entire gamut of media & entertainment like Films, Broadcast (TV & Radio), Digital Entertainment, Animation, Gaming, Visual Effects, etc. over a period of three days.

    The theme of FRAMES 2014 will be “Media and Entertainment: Transforming Lives” with the aim being highlighting the role of media and entertainment as a vehicle for social change.

    The convention will discuss reforms and regulatory endeavours along with working on ideas on socially meaningful and quality content. The inaugural keynote will be by FCC Commissioner, Mr Ajit Pai who will touch upon content in the regulatory landscape in the US. Mr Raghav Bahl, Controlling Shareholder and Managing Director of the TV 18 Group will make the theme keynote address on Media and Entertainment as  a Vehicle for Social and Economic Change. Mr. Aroon Purie , Chairman India Today Group,  to give a Keynote on The Print Industry: Surviving All Odds in the digital era . Justin Osofsky, VP – Media Partnerships, Facebook will talk on Establishing Social Networks as the Primary Online Forum for Public Conversations .

    Apart from the core theme, FRAMES 2014 will focus on the key avenues for monetising the sector such as Talking Numbers: Hard Facts about M &E’s Economic Contribution; TV 3.1: Content, Strategies and the Future of Broadcast; De-bottlenecking the Regulatory Hurdles, The Changing Dynamics of the Film Exhibition Landscape.

     Stakeholders and thought leaders such as Uday Shankar , CEO , Star India Pvt. Ltd & Chairman FICCI Entertainment committee , Mr. Karan Johar , Chairman , FICCI FRAMES , Mr. Punit Goenka , MD& CEO , Zee entertainment Enterprises Ltd. , Mr. Sudhanshu Vats , Group CEO Viacom 18 Pvt. Ltd. , Mathieu Bejot Executive Director , TV France International , Roger Fisk, Presidential PR Guru from President Obama’s electoral campaign; Jim Egan, CEO, BBC Global News, Andrew Lack, Chairman, the Bloomberg Group; Bill Livek , CEO Rentrak ,  Kim Dalton, Chairman, Asian Animation Summit; Hiromichi Masuda, Vice Chairman Business Committee, The Association of Japanese Animations,Todd Miller, the CEO of Celestial Tiger Entertainment (A Lionsgate joint venture) and former head of Sony Pictures Television, are slated to speak at FRAMES 2014.

    FRAMES  2014 has been planned with a some off-the-cuff sessions to broaden the conventional boundaries of the summit. Sessions such as “Internet & Democracy: Interloper or Catalyst? ” ., “The Film that Changed My Life”; The Indian Electronic News Media: On Fine Balance?” promise to be intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking.

    A discussion specific to attracting the influx of private equity for the sector has been planned and film funding is a subject which will be deliberated upon. A Producers’ Masterclass wherein acclaimed producers like Andy Paterson and Guneet Monga will discuss the overarching role of a producer in taking a film from start to finish. Masterclasses with acclaimed Hollywood VFX supervisors such as George Murphy , Oscar winner and Chief Creative Officer, Reliance Media works , Jon Cowley and Ben Murray  of Prime focus world are also in the offing. The cinema exhibition sector will be dealt with at a very interesting session Cinema Advertising & Alternative Models: The Changing Dynamics of the Film Exhibition Landscape. Creative sessions on “The Past Present and Future of Good Cinema: Film-making for a Cause” and “Cuts so Deep: Are we Sacrificing Creativity at the Altar of Morality” will focus on meaningful cinematic content.

    Australia to be the partner country and Karnataka is the “Partner State” at FICCI FRAMES 2014 . Mr. Srivatsa Krishna , Secretary Deptartment of IT , BT & S and T , Govt. Of Karnataka will touch upon how Karnataka has been doing much to promote growth and development of its M&E industry

    An innovative feature of FRAMES 2014 will be the FICCI-INK Salon, an exclusive by-invite only daily hour-long session with speakers from the Indian part of TED talks. The BAF award show and networking evenings will as usual be the hallmarks of the after-hours.

    Media and entertainment’s role in public consciousness as an umbrella which shapes and sustains opinion and juxtaposes fact with utopia is an objective which FRAMES 2014 intends to reinforce.

  • Shotformats launches digital prepaid wallet Biscoot

    Shotformats launches digital prepaid wallet Biscoot

    MUMBAI: Shotformats, a digital entertainment and VAS companies, has launched the world’s first offline application store and India’s first online digital currency – ‘Biscoot Digital Prepaid Wallet’.

     

    Combined together, the two offerings promise to change the way the digital entertainment industry markets its offerings across the rapidly growing smartphone users’ universe acrossth e country.

     

    On the initiatives, Shortformats MD and CEO Niyati Shah said, “As per our research, 95 per cent of mobile users in  India are prepaid users of which around 30-40 per cent visit mobile recharge shops at least twice a  day for getting recharges. Our distribution chain will comprise of such mobile recharge shops across India for testers. We aim to expand this network to 30,000 retail outlets in one year and sell one million such apps in the next six months. The current ARPUs of a mobile user voice + VAS would be approximately Rs 95 and we are bullish about taking that to Rs 150 in the first year of its launch on Biscoot Offline Store.”

     

    While low cost, big screen and feature-loaded smartphones are now a craze in tier II and tier III cities, the fact remains that majority of the users do not know how to operate such phones beyond basic calls and messages. The shocking surveys reveal that only 15 per cent of the total smartphone users have ever downloaded one or more apps on their mobiles. This situation is tailor-made for offline app stores where a consumer can fully utilise other features of his/her phone without the complexity of data usage and app downloads.

     

     

    For consumers who prefer consuming data online, the apps are available on the Biscoot website and will be offered with the ‘Biscoot Digital Wallet’.

     

    The offline app store will distribute digital content – movies, music, games and apps across more than 10,000 mobile recharge and telephone accessory stores in the next six months. This will prove to be a legal, good quality and reliable source of content for consumers in comparison to pirated and low quality content available from unreliable sources in the country currently.

     

    The company is focusing on creating utility applications across languages especially for Indian users. The range covers devotional, regional calculators, cookery, dress design apps for women and many more.

     

    Explaining the details further, Shah added, “Shotformats will bring high quality content based offline apps to the nearest shop of the consumer. You can load a movie for Rs 30 or a song for a price as low as Rs two. Games and apps can be purchased for Rs 10. The content applications can be transferred on the consumer’s mobile at the outlet and the consumer can use this content as long as he/she requires, without the internet/data connection on their mobiles. This application or the content cannot be copied to or shared with any other device, thus helping create a stream for content owners to monetize their content better, curb piracy and give the entertainment industry its due share of revenues. ‘The Biscoot Digital Wallet’ on the other hand, facilitates online transactions. The ‘Biscoot Digital Wallet’ will allow the consumers to create a digital wallet called ‘Biscoot Batua’ with their personal login account. These consumers can simply get Biscoot credits in exchange of rupees from retailers and use it for online transactions.”

     

    Disclosing the distribution plans, Shah said that Shotformats will focus on the Indian market and market Indian content for the next few years. “In India, we love our movies and we adore our music. The appetite for Indian content is so huge that we do not need to look elsewhere.”

     

    Offline application stores are being launched in a staggered manner and the initial phase will cover Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Surat, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Indore, Rewa, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Guwahati and Siliguri. The content will be available in eight languages – Hindi (Bollywood), Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Marathi and Assamese.

     

    This digital wallet is the ultimate solution for those who shy away from using their credit/debit cards for online transactions. This currency will be available at retail mobile recharge and telephone accessory shops at the currency unit of Re 1. The Biscoot currency will be available as scratch cards at denominations of Rs 1000, Rs 500, Rs 100 and Rs 50.

  • Lionsgate in deal with M-Go

    Lionsgate in deal with M-Go

    MUMBAI: US digital entertainment service M-Go, which is a JV between DreamWorks Animation and Technicolor and entertainment company Lionsgate, are partnering to bring Lionsgate‘s movies and TV shows, including ‘The Hunger Games‘ and ‘Twilight‘ film franchises, ‘Tyler Perry‘s Madea‘ films and the TV series ‘Mad Men‘, to M-Go customers for purchase or rental.

    M-Go has already secured direct content deals with many of Hollywood‘s studios and now adds Lionsgate. M-Go adds that this partnership further boosts its library of the newest releases of movies and TV shows. The two companies will also explore new content delivery models as part of their shared commitment to best serve their consumers. To kick off the partnership, M-Go will offer the ‘Mad Men‘ series catalogue so that people can discover the show for the first time.

    Fans can also catch up on missed episodes. Lionsgate president of worldwide television, digital distribution Jim Packer said, “M-Go is exactly the kind of entrepreneurial partner with whom we like to be in business, and our partnership underscores the growing spectrum of digital and traditional platforms available for monetising our content.

    “We‘re pleased to give M-GO access to our full range of content because they share our commitment to being at the forefront of home entertainment initiatives designed to meet the changing needs of our consumers.”

    M-Go CEO John Batter said, “Getting Lionsgate content was a top priority for M-Go. Being the ‘people-friendliest‘ digital entertainment service means never resting until we have secured the entertainment people want most at their fingertips such as their hot content like ‘Nashville‘, ‘Anger Management‘ and ‘The Impossible‘.

    “We look forward to working with Lionsgate to lead the industry by pioneering new ways to maximize the benefits of digital by providing amazing entertainment instantly and earlier than ever before for consumers in the US.”

    M-GO is available for at home or on the go viewing on platforms and functions on operating systems ranging from Android to iOS to Windows. M-GO will be pre-loaded on LG Electronics Smart TVs, Samsung‘s Smart TV‘s, Blu-ray players and Wi-Fi tablets, Vizio‘s Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, Wi-Fi tablets and digital media players, and Intel® Ultrabook devices.

  • HP launches entertainment notebook PC

    HP launches entertainment notebook PC

    MUMBAI: Hewlett-Packard (HP) India has introduced the HP Pavilion tx1000 Entertainment Notebook PC.

    It has what the company calls a ‘twist and touch’ screen. the aim is to enhance the world of digital entertainment and the mobile lifestyle

    The lightweight Pavilion tx1000 seriesthe firms says is targetted at young professionals, entrepreneurs, who have frequent meetings and presentations with clients.

    They may like to take notes or mark comments and would like to carry a lightweight yet fully functional notebook. The notebook PC also allows one to enjoy the freedom of wireless mobility, movies and music on the go.

    The PC is also handy for students to jot down class notes, carry easily within the campus and stay connected to email and the Internet almost anywhere using the latest wireless technology. The Pavilion tx1000 is HP’s premium offering, which combines superior technology with affordability, at an exciting price point.

    Offering the technology to help the user “the way he works” rather than adapting his work to the technology available, the Pavilion tx1000 is a must-buy for people seeking convenience with technology. With a touchscreen that does not require a stylus; the Pavilion tx1000 with its twist feature enables easy sharing of presentations across the worktable. With an integrated fingertip reader that allows multiple assigning of individual fingerprints for user accounts and private files, the Pavilion tx1000 is as secure as a safety vault.

    The launch of the tx1000 series is targeted to further strengthen the position of the HP Pavilion brand in the ‘Personalised Digital Entertainment’ space. HP India country category manager – consumer portables Rajiev Grover says, “As the leaders in the notebook segment with a market share of 40.5 per cent in unit shipment terms, we are targeting a 20 per cent rise in the sales contribution of the Pavilion brand with our slew of next generation models. This will be supported by an aggressive Go-To-Market”.

    The product enables users to launch music, photo and video files at the push of a button without booting the notebook. It has a high definition display with HP BrightView technology.

    A mini remote control allows users to easily control and navigate multimedia features and adjust volume levels. there is also an integrated webcam and dual, omni-directional microphones for easy video-conferencing.
     

  • Tandberg TV provides interactive applications to coverage of Golden Globes

    Tandberg TV provides interactive applications to coverage of Golden Globes

    MUMBAI: Tandberg Television has provided an interactive television experience for entertainment fans via polls, trivia, winner predictions, fashion critiques and backstage video feeds during the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards on 15 January on NBC.

    The Tandberg Television interactive application created for NBC’s 2007 Golden Globe Awards provided viewers with the ability to vote in a variety of film and television polls and answer trivia questions., informs an official release.

    “We are pleased to be working with Tandberg Television again to give our viewers an enhanced digital entertainment experience that adds an exciting element to our live programming,” said NBC Digital Entertainment and New Media executive vice president Vivi Zigler. “NBC.com has been aggressively exploring interactive features for our programming and this is another great example.”

    During the broadcast of this year’s Golden Globe awards, viewers could provide winner predictions, fashion critiques by logging on to http://www.nbc.com/Golden_Globes_2007 at NBC.com. and earn points for their participation or even compare responses to those of other players. Additionally, NBC gave away $5000 to a randomly selected winner from all registered users, adds the release.

    As part of the interactive experience, fans could rate the speeches and learn facts about their favourite actors, TV shows and movies, as well as have exclusive access to live backstage video feed and a real-time blog written by a behind-the-scenes NBC producer.

    “The interactive television (iTV) application we developed for this year’s Golden Globes broadcast demonstrates the direction that the television industry is heading,” said, Tandberg Television senior vice president, programmer sales Joe Franzetta. “Television viewers no longer want to passively watch television, so we develop interactive applications that provide an exciting and active experience that is much more personalized and immediate to the consumer. At Tandberg Television we are committed to providing a wide array of innovative interactive technologies that will alter the television landscape moving forward.”

    The Flash two-screen application marks the third project developed by Tandberg Television as an interactive application for an NBC special (2006 Golden Globes, 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006).

  • Indian telecom and broadband take centre-stage at CII event

    Indian telecom and broadband take centre-stage at CII event

    MUMBAI: Telecom and broadband will be taking a centre-stage at Telecom and Broadband Summit and Expo 2006, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the MMRDA Grounds, Mumbai on 23 and 24 November.

    This year’s theme is: India – The emerging telecom hub.

    The event has been planned to be a platform bringing together the entire telecom and broadband industry under one floor, as they display some of their technologies, discuss the business opportunities explored and unfold the current issues and future challenges in the sector. The event will have three main sections: the exhibition, the summit and the CEO’s round table, asserts an official release.

    The exhibition will focus on the growth of broadband connectivity and other new technologies in areas such as cellular technology, wireless network, broadcasting, etc, as well as their impact on this emerging market that is rapidly growing in global significance. The event emphasises on the impact of emerging technologies in the real life business environment.

    The summit will focus on mobile technology, business applications, next generation networks and broadband communications. It will focus and examine the opportunities existing for business to work in India and to achieve its goal in Telecom sector now and in long term, with the aim of accelerating its developments of convergent technologies and services.

    The CEO’s round table will be one of the highlights of the event, where the industry’s top minds will gather to deliberate on key strategic issues, adds the release.

    The event will have sessions on:

    – E-governance
    – WiMAX
    – Broadband deployment
    – NGN
    – Mobile telephony
    – Billing and CRM
    – Digital entertainment

    The visitors will primarily be engineers, technicians, buyers, production managers and sales managers from a diverse range of sectors including broadband and telecom.

  • Hong Kong organising an Entertainment Expo later this month

    Hong Kong organising an Entertainment Expo later this month

    MUMBAI: Entertainment Expo Hong Kong will take place from 20 March to19 April 2006.

    The event, which is in its second year, will bring together eight fixtures in Hong Kongs entertainment calendar, including film, digital entertainment, music and TV. Industry professionals from around the world will converge at Asias world city to partake in this month-long entertainment showcase.

    The events brought together under the Expo include the three founding events; the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market, Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Hong Kong Film Awards.

    There are also five core events – Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum, Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Excellence Awards, IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award, Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum and the Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards.