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Tag: global network

  • GroupM cos Maxus & MEC merged into new global network, digital-first media services expanded

    MUMBAI: GroupM, the world’s leading media investment group, has announced a portfolio restructure to improve service and delivery to clients.

    GroupM is committing to the expansion of Essence, its digital-first agency, by adding traditional media capabilities and a larger geographic footprint to the agency’s existing media and creative credentials. In time, Essence will also lead several key GroupM client relationships as part of this restructure.

    GroupM is also merging the global operations and teams of its agencies MEC and Maxus into a new, billion dollar revenue, media, content and technology agency under the leadership of MEC’s CEO Tim Castree.

    Maxus will continue to operate as an agency brand in India with the support of the newly formed global agency as well as the GroupM network.

    GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three successful global media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom, and the new company – each with more than one billion dollars in annual revenues, plus an innovative digital-first agency, Essence. GroupM also plans new investments across all of its agencies and its [m]PLATFORM data and technology capabilities.

    “We’re committed to improving our service to clients. These moves will give us greater focus, help us innovate, and improve our speed of delivery,” said Kelly Clark, Global CEO, GroupM.

    Since Clark became global CEO in October 2016, GroupM has made a number of organizational changes. Clark recently appointed Lindsay Pattison as GroupM’s Chief Transformation Officer to lead a range of transformation initiatives. GroupM acquired Essence in November 2015.

    “The leadership team at Essence is excited about the opportunities this creates for our clients and our people,” said Christian Juhl, CEO, Essence. “Our mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world; with this infusion of talent, capabilities and markets, we can do this now on a bigger stage.” Clark named Castree CEO of MEC in November 2016.

    “Maxus and MEC share common values and ambitions. Both networks have a strong local market presence and entrepreneurial drive. Together, we believe we can create an exciting new media, content and technology agency which we look forward to introducing soon,” said Castree.

    “We’ve clearly signaled our ambition to transform, and we mean business,” said Pattison. “This allows us to more meaningfully invest in each agency’s future – retaining and attracting the best talent with inspiring and rewarding workplaces, creating differentiated cultures and approaches, and sharing in a focus on helping clients win.”

  • Verizon acquires upLynk assets and operations

    Verizon acquires upLynk assets and operations

    MUMBAI: Verizon Digital Media Services has acquired the assets and operations of upLynk, a technology and television cloud company. The move is a part of Verizon’s expansion plans to efficiently and quickly deliver live events, linear television and video on demand.

     

    upLynk simplifies the complex issues content owners face by streamlining the process of uploading and encoding ‘TV Everywhere’ for live, linear and video on-demand content. By using a single adaptive video format across all devices, upLynk simplifies encoding, storage, playback, ad insertion and analytics to eliminate complexity and enable more agile video workflows.

     

    “As the experience of watching broadcast television changes and the media marketplace shifts, the addition of upLynk’s unique capabilities allows Verizon Digital Media Services to better meet our customers where and how they want to deliver video,” said Verizon Digital Media Services president Bob Toohey. “Simply put, this acquisition provides intelligent, scalable and more flexible ways of streaming video for our customers,” he added.

     

    “Joining forces with Verizon is a turning point for upLynk, and we see incredible opportunity to deliver superior video solutions that streamline the complex challenges that content owners face. We look forward to even greater successes in the ‘TV Everywhere’ market,” informed upLynk chief executive officer Ralf Jacob.
    Based on its integration with national broadcast infrastructures as well as its advanced approach to over-the-top broadcast cloud distribution, upLynk delivers multi-device and cross-platform premium content to complement Verizon’s broad-based end-to-end solutions.

     

    With this acquisition of upLynk’s assets and operations, digital media services customers can take advantage of increased speed to market, simplified workflows and access to a highly efficient and data-rich broadcast cloud technology that leverages Verizon’s video platform and global network.

  • Airtel to acquire Warids Congo Brazzaville Operations

    Airtel to acquire Warids Congo Brazzaville Operations

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel (Airtel), a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in over 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has entered into a definitive agreement with the Warid Group (Warid) to fully acquire Warid Congo SA. The agreement is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.

     

    The agreement marks the second in-country acquisition by Airtel in Africa. It had acquired Warid’s Uganda operations earlier this year. The latest acquisition will make Airtel the largest mobile operator in Congo Brazzaville with around 2.6 million customers. At present, Airtel is the second largest operator in the country with over 1.6 million customers, while Warid is the third largest with around one million customers.

     

    The agreement looks at bringing together the strengths of Airtel and Warid in Congo Brazzaville and benefit customers in the form of affordable tariffs, superior 2G/3G network, affordable voice and data services and superior customer care. In addition, existing Warid customers in Congo Brazzaville will join Airtel’s global network of over 280 million customers and enjoy the benefits of ‘One Airtel’ network with affordable roaming rates across Africa and South Asia, besides other exciting bouquet of innovative 2G and 3G services.

     

    Speaking on the agreement, Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (International) Manoj Kohli says: “This acquisition is in line with our stated strategy of strengthening our market position through in-country acquisitions, as and when suitable opportunities come along. We are at an advance stage of successfully integrating Waird’s Uganda operations with that of Airtel and look forward to a similarly swift transition in Congo Brazzaville as well. As already demonstrated in Uganda, the merger will bring more value for the customers in the form of affordable data and roaming tariffs, innovative products, Airtel Money, world-class networks and customer care. We would like to express our deep gratitude to the government and look forward to its support to this deal.”

     

    Speaking on the agreement Warid, Congo Brazzaville board member Sriram Yarlagadda says: “This agreement creates a win–win situation for the customers and provide them with an opportunity to be part of one of the largest mobile services providers in the world. The customers can look forward to enjoy affordable voice tariffs and 3G data services on the most extensive network. On this occasion, we would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the government for its support and look forward to its continued cooperation towards a successful transaction.”

     

    With presence across 17 African countries, Airtel is the largest telecom service provider across the continent in terms of geographical reach and had over 66 million customers at the end of quarter ended September, 2013. Globally, Airtel is ranked as the fourth largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers.

  • Amrita TV Telecasts Special Shows For Amrita Varsham 60

    Amrita TV Telecasts Special Shows For Amrita Varsham 60

    As Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, one of India’s foremost spiritual leaders who has alleviated the misery of millions through her physical embrace as well as her global network of charitable institutions approaches her 60th birthday and legions of her devotees the world over converge on Amritapuri to celebrate it, Amrita TV devotes a series of programmes to commemorate the special milestone on September 27th .

     

    Sudhasagaram in Udayamritham at 6.30am from 20-27 September showcases Amma’s advice and the practical applications of her sayings in today’s world .A constructive implementation of her teachings on a variety of topics, these 5 minute segments demonstrate how her traditional wisdom can be used in modern times on subjects as varied as Spirituality and kids, Old age, Food, Relationships etc.

     

    Samarppanam at 8.30am on September 27th presents some of Amma’s best speeches, including her acceptance speech at the State University of New York, after she was conferred with an honorary doctorate in humane letters at its campus in Buffalo.

     

    Padapuja live from 9.00am on September 27th brings the padapuja ritual, the ceremonious washing of the Guru’s feet performed by Swami Amritaswaroopananda and others , accompanied by the chanting of Guru Geeta and Vedic mantras.

     

    Amritageethangal at 9.30am on September 27th , a collection of Amma’s devotional hymns in simple stirring language, invoking the Lord and expressing deep love for the divine rendered by top playback singers Vidhu Pratap, Manjeri etc transports devotees to a state of spiritual rapture.

     

    Lokathinoramma in 2 parts telecast on 26th & 27th at 10am is a complete overview of Amma’s activities in various spheres such as humanitarian, charitable, education, science, medicine undertakings with which she is at the forefront whenever, wherever aid is required; a summary of the projects that offers succor to millions across the globe be it in disaster relief, free homes for the poor, care home for senior citizens, mass wedding ceremonies for the destitute, free meals for the underprivileged, legal aid and free counseling for the needy etc that reaches the people with an efficiency that is the envy of the government and private sectors alike. Ammayodoppam follows at 10.30am.

     

    Amritadhara, a short segment in Sandhyadeepam at 6.30pmon September 27th encapsulates a montage of images which capture Amma’s global charitable projects and humanitarian activities that includes relief and rehabilitation for victims of natural disaster such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, orphanages, charitable hospitals etc.

     

    Chintamridam are 2 minute fillers that will be shown in between programmes from September 20-27th , an assortment of Amma’s opinions and counsels on a broad range of topics ranging from traditional to modern, little nuggets of wisdom inscribed on the screen with a voiceover of the same in the background.

     

    There will also be special 5 minute birthday segments in all news bulletins from September 20th -27th .

  • Thai Global Network uses Harmonic for end-to-end video workflow

    Thai Global Network uses Harmonic for end-to-end video workflow

    MUMBAI: Harmonic which offers video delivery infrastructure, has announced that Thai Global Network (TGN), Thailand‘s first and only satellite TV broadcasting center, has chosen Harmonic production and playout solutions. TGN has built a seamless workflow, from acquisition to transmission, on a Harmonic media storage, asset management and playout server platform. Installed along with an MXFserver production management system from FilmPartners, the solution has enabled TGN to optimise and streamline its broadcast operations from end to end.

    Thai TV Global Network director Col. Sarawut Karbdecho said, “By implementing tightly integrated solutions from Harmonic and FilmPartners, we have created a highly efficient collaborative editing environment with content stored sitting at the center of the workflow.

    “In day-to-day operations, this powerful pairing enables us to produce and deliver content with much greater speed and flexibility.”

    TGN has installed Harmonic Spectrum MediaCenter media servers, the MediaGrid 3000 shared storage system, the Media Application Server (MAS) asset management platform with ProXplore and the ProDrive media server controller software. Used as an ingest server, the MediaCenter records VTR feeds under the control of ProDrive, which allows operators to capture content automatically according to a schedule or instantly specify a channel with the application‘s crash-record feature.

    As feeds are recorded, the Harmonic ProXplore launches the transfer of growing files in the MediaCenter server system over to the MediaGrid 3000 shared storage system, which supports TGN staff working on Avid nonlinear edit systems. MXFserver enables file sharing and project sharing across multiple Avid editors. The FilmPartners‘ system makes it easy for editors, graphic artists, producers and other users to find the materials they need for both private and collaborative projects.

    Finished projects are exported, at which point ProXplore automatically transfers files to a second MediaCenter server dedicated to playout. ProDrive software allows TGN staff to create scheduled playlists and to control the server‘s playout operations.

    Harmonic Asia-Pacific VP sales Andrew Thornton said, “The Harmonic media storage, asset management and server systems installed by TGN enable a very efficient file-based workflow, with the benefit of optimised file transfers over a Gigabit Ethernet network. Bringing speed, reliability, and flexibility to TGN‘s operations, Harmonic transforms the broadcaster‘s ability to create and deliver timely and compelling content.”

  • Dilip Keshu is Whitefield’s CEO

    Dilip Keshu is Whitefield’s CEO

    MUMBAI: Global network of marketing solutions companies, Whitefield, has appointed Dilip Keshu as its chief executive officer with immediate effect.


    Keshu will be based in Whitefield‘s New York headquarters, and oversee the firm‘s global operations in London, Bangalore and Chennai.


    Keshu comes to Whitefield Marketing Group from Xchanging, a FTSE-listed company. As both a member of Xchanging‘s management board and group chief customer officer, he ran sales, relations, service and marketing functions across US, UK, Europe and Australia. 
     
    Previously, he was a member of the board and CEO of Scandent Solutions, which he took public. Subsequently, Scandent was renamed Cambridge Solutions, which was acquired by Xchanging in 2008.


    Keshu said, “Whitefield stands at the threshold of a changing world of marketing, equipped with the best tools, processes and domain skills to help clients market new products in global geographies through innovative media solutions.”


    Whitefield chairman Neeraj Bhargava added, “Dilip is exactly the tenacious, agile leader we need, with the right track record to grow Whitefield. His extensive global management experience and deep understanding of the shift from traditional media to digital prepares him well to build a company capable of delivering innovation and sustainable growth.”


    Keshu holds a Master of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and lives with his family in Princeton, New Jersey.


    Whitefield aims to increase marketing ROI by applying insight, harnessing new technology, exercising creativity, and exploiting scale and global reach. The company‘s client list includes retail, advertising, travel, entertainment, and media brands.