ITV

Tag: High Definition

  • Travelxp’s Prashant Chothani’s 4K HDR TV global mission

    Travelxp’s Prashant Chothani’s 4K HDR TV global mission

    MUMBAI: Prashant Chothani is probably India’s most underrated TV professional and entrepreneur.  The 49-year-old founder of the infotainment channel Travelxp looks more like a typical Kutchi baniya businessman probably involved in the commodities trade. But, Chothani is actually a wiz at all things tech, all things high definition and all things Ultra HD.

    He has been beating a pioneering 4K or UHD HDR (ultra high definition – High Dynamic Range) trail globally. In the process, he’s been getting oodles of accolades worldwide — at almost every 4K gathering  – apart from his home country, India, where almost everyone scoffs at what they call a technology which is years away. Especially considering the rickety cable TV infrastructure that distributes television channels to more than 100 million homes. Chothani is the only Indian who has been co-opted on the Global Ultra HD Forum, which is the organisation responsible for setting standards for the format.

    Since a prophet is respected but in his own home, Chothani has been pushing his Travelxp 4K HDR channel globally. And he’s got a big supporter in the world’s top two satellite operators – SES and Eutelsat – who have been goading him to spread his tentacles even further. Says he: “SES and Eutelsat have been going all out to promote the 4K ecosystem. We have partnered with them for our launches.”

    Earlier this year, he rolled out Travelxp 4K – the world’s first 4K HDR travel channel – in the US with the help of the satellite company SES. The greatest potential is, of course, in Uncle Sam, where operators serving close to 30 million TV homes are currently testing 4K delivery.

    “Operators are hungry for 4K HDR channels. There’s a lot of demand, but limited supply. And, they are awaiting 4K boxes,” says Chothani. “Subscribers are already signing on, as we have signed distribution deals with three small to medium-sized operators.”

    On 1 October, Travelxp 4K HDR  was officially launched in Europe off Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13E.

    Says Chothani: “The majority of operators are planning to launch 4K services in the next six months, and they were waiting for a HDR channel. That is where we come in. The operators will now start testing and sampling it.”

    Hotbird’s market-leading penetration in cable and IPTV networks across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, gives it a wide footprint to get Travelxp the widest coverage. There are plans to widen it even further by taking the channel to APAC and Latin America in the next few months.  To date, Chothani’s company Media WorldWide has a clutch of 10 channels under its belt. 

    At the time of writing Chothani was in Russia, exploring a distribution deal for Putin’s land, and he chatted with Indiantelevision.com over Whatsapp.

    Travelxp 4K has close to 50 hours of 4K HDR content –arguably the largest library globally. “It costs close to $500,000 to produce a good hour of 4K HDR content,” he says. “If you dig for gold, how much you spend to get it is your creativity. But, the market price is what you get when you sell the gold.”

    To get more value out of the content, Chothani has dubbed the Travelxp HD and 4K HDR content filmed all over the world with multicultural hosts in several languages. The programmes are currently available in English, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Czech and Dutch, and more languages are slated to follow suit.

    The channel has selected HEVC encoding with 10 bits of colour depth (one billion colours), at 50 frames per second. It broadcasts in 10 bits REC 2020 colour space using the new HDR (high dynamic range) standard developed by the BBC and NHK that creates richer and more dynamic images by increasing the contrast ratio between the lightest and darkest areas of the screen and expanding the volume of colours displayed. This standard uses HLG (hybrid log-gamma) technology, enabling legacy standard dynamic (SDR) displays to decode the HDR standard.

    While Chothani has a long way to go with Travelxp 4K HDR, his HD channel has travelled a lot, and is available in around 50 million homes globally.

    “There are other launches planned for the HD service,” he says with a gleam in his eyes. “Very soon. Very soon.  We will be in about 100 million homes in SD and HD worldwide by end-2018.”

    He adds: “We were amongst the first to launch HD programming in India. Now, we are amongst the first in 4K HDR in the world when HD is on its way down worldwide. A year down the line when UHD HDR will have taken root globally, Travelxp 4K will be in every 4K basic packs of most operators by virtue of it being the first mover and because of the quality of HDR content.”

    Chothani would like to make an appeal to the regulator and the TV industry in India.

    “The first round of digitisation of cable TV saw some plain vanilla set-top boxes being brought in to meet deadlines,” he says. “Now, planning for 4K HDR needs to be borne in mind when set-top box standards are drawn up. It requires very little extra investment in hardware and software. This will prevent regrets in the future. I would like Indians to enjoy the experience of 4K HDR from an Indian TV channel provider. ”

    Clearly, this is a man for whom 4K HDR is not just a business,  it is a passion. And, that is the first ingredient needed to achieve success.

    Also Read :

    Travelxp becomes first travel channel to launch in 4K on SES-1 satellite

    Travelxp’s Prashant Chothani’s 4K HDR TV global mission

    Travelxp to launch new Tamil channel; 4K feed before Feb  

    Lifestyle genre: Travel XP HD enters & NDTV Good Times exits Top 5 list in Wk 29

    July: 2 Viacom & 3 south channels among 9 permitted, far short of MIB’s March target

  • Essel’s Living Foodz plans HD channel; eyes APAC expansion

    Essel’s Living Foodz plans HD channel; eyes APAC expansion

    MUMBAI: It’s been three months since Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group launched its international food and lifestyle channel Living Foodz and plans are already afoot for expansion.

    The channel is planning to launch its High Definition (HD) version in the coming year with separate programming. What’s more, with an emphasis on increasing the genre size and brand visibility in 2016, the channel is also planning to expand its footprint into the Asia Pacific region.

    “The key player behind our success is the differentiated programming on our channel. The expansion will help us broaden our viewer base as well as increase subscription revenues. Expanding the client base here will be one of the key challenges in the coming months, but with Helios Media as our revenue partner, we are confident of setting new benchmarks in monetisation,” Living Foodz business head Amit Nair tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Living Foodz has outsourced its ad sales to Helios Media, a specialty services company for broadcasters headquartered in Mumbai. “Helios understands the clients well and manages to give them effective solutions. They cover a bunch of clients, which has led to an increase in the revenues,” adds Nair.

    The Living brand will manifest itself as a multi-platform brand business across various avenues like television, web, social platforms, mobile, etc.

    On the content front, Living Foodz has ambitious plans in place for the food space in terms of reality and experiential cooking. The channel plans to launch big ticket properties every quarter and buzz creating shows in 2016. These key tentpole properties will drive viewership in a way that the audience finds the stories intriguing and entertaining. According to Nair, the audience needs Indian food stories with interesting anchors and chefs. “We are strategically targeting at the Indian subcontinent with an aim of supplying 100 per cent original home-grown content to our viewers,” he says.

    Moving out of the confines of a conventional kitchen into a world of entertainment and adventure, the channel will be exploring the evolving social status of food in the food ecosystem.

    While Nair strongly feels that technology is not a barrier in India, lifestyle products or feature entertainment are still in a nascent stage to make the shift into 4K. “The infrastructure and the content that is available in India are not sufficient enough for a 4K conversion,” he adds.

    The food space has seen exponential growth and interest across the board from food technology to food discovery to the myriad food festivals that have become part of the calendar. “Today, audiences are willing to sample exotic culinary by travelling to that region. They are ready to push their boundaries to experiment. I think food as a lifestyle has arrived this year on. Celebrity chefs are now at the same level as a movie star or a sportsperson and it’s tremendously rewarding to see TV channels like Living Foodz playing such an important role in driving this zeitgeist,” adds a media planning and buying veteran on condition of anonymity.

    On the advertising front, Living Foodz has a diverse number of clients ranging from FMCG, automobile segment, home electronics, e-commerce, broadcasters, office equipment and pure lifestyle products along with the regular food category clients that advertise on the channel.

    “Living Foodz ticks all the right boxes when it comes to the quality of content, packaging and exciting set of anchors and chefs. It all nicely comes together in what we like to call food-tainment. Advertisers have always played an aggressive role behind the success of a channel and are always looking out for premium audiences in the right space,” says Nair.

    Brands like Philips, Canon, Fitbit, Fortune, General Motors, HCL, Toyota and Go are already a part of the channel’s inventory. “The fact that food is lifestyle has now been established in the market with our meticulous positioning exercise. All the channels in the lifestyle segment have a substantial time devoted to food based content. Hence a lot of brands, which were earlier advertising in the lifestyle segment have started advertising with us,” adds Helios Media COO Bala Iyengar.

    Come February 2016, Living Foodz is also planning to launch its website with unique culinary experience for viewers. Additionally, keeping the constant partial attention of consumers in mind, the channel will also unveil a mobile application for the convenience of its viewers. This will enable consumers to lap up content on the go. The mobile application is also expected to be launched in early 2016.

    Launch plans for Living Entertainment’s four other channels, which were announced earlier this year, will be disclosed in 2016.

  • Sony Pictures Networks launches Max HD, targets urban movie buffs

    Sony Pictures Networks launches Max HD, targets urban movie buffs

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India has launched the High Definition (HD) version of its Hindi movie channel Sony Max. Although the HD channel has arrived admittedly late in the market, the network plans to steer clear of the replica model for most HD avatars to channels, by taking on a completely different brand position – ‘Jee Ke Dekho.’

    Sony Max HD goes on air from 25 December and will be available in a separate HD package with the popular DTH players.

    When queried as to why the network waited so long to launch the channel’s HD feed, Sony Max and Sony Max2 senior executive vice president Neeraj Vyas says, “We were very clear that we didn’t want an HD channel just for the sake of it. We were also waiting for the right kind of content to come along so that we could showcase Hindi movies with a completly new approach and brand message altogether.”

    The other reason for the delay, Vyas reveals was from a technical standpoint. “We have taken at least 120 classic Hindi films like Anand and remastered them for High Definition airing. Who would not want to see these classics remastered digitally for HD in 5.1 Dolbi sound?” he questions, adding that such movies would mostly air on every Saturday on a special programming slot.

    “Apart from the new popular movies, which the audience nevertheless enjoys, we also wanted to expand our purview to give out more holistic content,” he adds.

    With an aim to reach out to Hindi cinema lovers with a cultivated palate for not just the mass entertainers but alternate and critically acclaimed cinema, Max HD has created a special programming slot for quality cinema with a niche following. “The new HD channel will have something called ‘Friday Select,’which will largely air critically acclaimed movies like Paan Singh Tomar, Shahid, City Lights etc. These are brilliant films but do not usually find exposure through normal standard definition channels as they are mostly mass focused,” Vyas explains.

    Vyas also agrees that acquiring licenses for such alternate movies for Max HD will also be relatively cheaper. “They will definitely be cheaper than any Shah Rukh Khan starrer. But primarily, it’s not about a better deal for us, but about setting up the right tone for the channel.”

    Max HD will be targeted at a niche audience and Vyas informs that the varied content is to broaden the appeal of the channel. “Our target audience is clearly SEC AB 18 – 45 years of age. Our target markets are also metros and cities and towns with plus one million population,” Vyas shares.

    Speaking on the advertisers, Vyas says, “Advertisers are excited about Max HD as the channel will offer them a very premium and wider audience.” Currently the channel is in talks with two to three brands. Deals are expected to be signed within a month of launch.

    Having said that, Max HD will not turn away from the mainstream blockbusters audience either. “We will have our Dhooms, Krrish, and PKs as well, while at the same time we will curate a list of alternate cinema for them,” he says.

    When asked as to why the focus is on urban audience when the industry is abuzz with BARC India’s rural inclusive ratings, Vyas simply points out that while the rural audience always existed, High Definition television’s market is still growing, and enjoying a more profitable business in the urban areas. “Within the industry, it has been noted that premium HD channels have recorded ten-fold top line growth according to the 2015 FICCI KPMG report,” he further adds.

    “I expect this channel to run profitably with its subscription and advertisement based revenue models. HD is a growing base and it’s not something I see becoming stagnant. Even at its nascent stage it is at six million homes. That’s a great growth story. If you go by the year’s television sales, 55 per cent have been HD enabled TVs. I think HD is the future. Not to mention, with digitisation coming in place, channels will get more exposure in smaller markets. For digital, it may take some more time due to the space constraint as digital pipe is bigger than the analog,” Vyas explains.

    The network’s effort to make Max HD different from its Standard Definition version will also be seen in the entire packaging. “We have changed the colour palate for our packaging completely to bronze, gold and glitter, whereas Max is essentially reds, blues and greens. So the whole attempt was to set a different tone with Max HD.”

    This can be seen in the several new promos of the channel. With strategic use of popular Hindi cinema dialogues that evoke nostalgia, they successfully capture the moments that make cinema larger than life for us, while highlighting the significance of High Definition feed. In fact, identifying their target audience as social media savvy netizens, the channel has gone ahead with digital first campaign to launch the channel. From contests like ‘Your Jee Ke Dekho Moments’running on their social media platforms, to the promotion videos releasing on 23 December, the build up the HD channel’s launch is mostly digital heavy with some print promotions as well.

  • Epic to celebrate one year mark with better programming

    Epic to celebrate one year mark with better programming

    MUMBAI: In the entertainment world abound with clutter, niche television channels have to fight an uphill battle in order to get the necessary traction from viewers. As the Indian cable and satellite industry slowly but surely moves towards digital addressable systems (DAS), more and more niche channels will be viable with digitisation cutting distribution costs.

     

    One such niche channel that’s in it for the long haul, is The Epic Channel, which is on the brink of completing a year on air. Launched on 19 November, 2014, The Epic Channel will be celebrating its first anniversary by offering two news shows to its viewers. What’s more the channel also went High Definition (HD) on the Tata Sky DTH platform recently.

     

    The first new finite show, which will go on air from 19 October is titled Khwaabon Ka Safar with Mahesh Bhatt and will be aired on Mondays at 10 pm. 

     

    The second show is titled Devlok by popular Indian author Devdutt Pattanaik and will be an exploration of gods, demons, curses. Set to premiere on 21 October, this will be aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 pm.

     

    Speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com, The Epic Channel founder and MD Mahesh Samat said, “We have a rich film history and with Khwaabon Ka Safar, we are looking at the big film studios in the industry, which have some history attached to it. And I think Mahesh Bhatt is the best person to narrate these stories. He has been in the industry for a long time now and knows the industry inside out. Another show that we have in the pipeline is Devdutt Pattanaik’s show Devlok in which he will talk about mythology.”

     

    Claiming its hold over the 10 pm slot is the channel’s campaign with the tagline – ‘Maaf Kijiye Abhi Dus Nahin Baje.’ “The campaign is doing quite well to claim the 10 pm TV viewing time to establish the association between the Epic Channel and the time slot,” Samat says.

     

    In a span of one year, the channel has enthralled audiences with epic mythological and historical series. Showcasing the mythology and history in a contemporary form has been the channel’s agenda.

     

    Stories by Rabindranath Tagore showcasing ‘epic’ tales like Choker Bali, Charulata, Atithi andKabuliwala amongst others brought etched characters created by Tagore to the small screen. Also the channel was seen recollecting old Bollywood stars in a nostalgic show set up with Javed Akhtar.

     

    With increasing penetration of HD television sets, more and more channels are now adding the HD feed to offer better consumer experience. Talking about the same, Samat says, “We have always been an HD channel. The idea was to launch the stories around Indian history and mythology in HD. All our shows have been produced and shot in HD. Our channel is uplinked and downlinked in HD. For various technical reasons, some MSOs transfer the channel differently, but from our end the strategy is to be one feed HD channel. The HD experience is necessary for the kind of shows we produce.”

     

    Stressing on how HD shows will change the way television is viewed in the country, Samat says, “The technology has evolved to meet consumers’ expectations. HD is definitely a better viewing experience and HD shows will change the way we watch television in India. We are likely to see an upsurge of HD in the coming year. From a consumer stand point, it is a far better experience so there is really no reason not to have HD.” 

     

    With The Epic Channel HD feed, Samat is also hoping that the channel will see an increase in the number of viewers due to the addressability factor.

     

    “I think the experience of mythological and all the great fiction and non-fiction viewing would be much better, which will result into more and more viewers coming in. I believe we are going to see increase in numbers of viewers as Epic is assessable in HD. A hike in advertising rates will eventually follow with a rise in viewership,” he informs.

     

    The Epic Channel has seen a lot of advertising interest from the automobiles sector amongst others. “More than viewership, we are a channel that reaches across the country and hence we have that reach. With HD, we are moving one step ahead in our target group, so we expect to see ad rates following the same,” asserts Samat.

     

    On the eve of the channel’s one year of operations, Samat shares the journey so far as well as the company’s future vision. “The overall journey has been pretty good. It’s a channel that delivered all the promises that were made in the beginning of the year in terms of stories and content. There is a new range of programming coming up from 19 October. We are pretty optimistic that in the next few months, higher viewership and ad sales will follow,” he says.

     

    The value of niche television channels is derived from the quality of viewers and not the size. Phase I & II of DAS is what enabled a niche like The Epic Channel to launch in the country. “The success of the first two phases of digitisation is what enabled a large number of channels to pull in viewers. Without it we would not have been able to launch Epic. So digitisation has played a vital role in the launch of the channel. Also, as digitisation continues, consumers will become more and more demanding and we will see a lot more content differentiation,” he says.

     

    Samat is of the opinion that with Phase III & IV of DAS, the industry is looking for transparency as well as having a better understanding of revenue stream and visibility. “All the good things associated with digitisation are exciting for the entire industry and not only for the broadcaster,” he adds.

     

    Not wanting to comment on the specifics of ratings and viewership, Samat says that overall The Epic Channel has received a good response from the industry as well as from viewers. “The channel has established a position in the mind of the consumers and eventually we have added a brand to the television ecosystem in India,” he signs off.

  • Dish TV takes HD offering to 47 with Ten Golf HD addition

    Dish TV takes HD offering to 47 with Ten Golf HD addition

    MUMBAI: With the addition of Ten Golf HD, direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV has taken its high definition channels and services count to 47, which is the highest in the country so far.

     As of August, rival DTH operator Videocon d2h offered 39 HD offerings to its subscribers.

    Ten Golf HD, the 24-hour sports channel dedicated to golf, takes DishTV’s HD sports channel count to seven. DishTV subscribers will be able to watch it on channel number 81. As was earlier reported by Indiantelevision.com, Ten Golf HD was slated to launch on 7 October.

    Dish TV India chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Latest trends suggest that the growth of the HD category over the past year together with rising sales of flat panel TV’s (LED/LCD) has added a new dimension to the superior HD viewing experience. With the usage of DTH connections with HD boxes, the experience quotient for the subscribers is all set to go up. We are proud to announce addition of Ten Golf HD channel on our platform.”

     “Dish TV has a complete offering and mix of HD entertainment, music, news and regional language channels and has maximum content with 47 HD channels and services, making it the highest in the country,” he added.

  • The Epic Channel goes HD on Tata Sky

    The Epic Channel goes HD on Tata Sky

    MUMBAI: With increasing penetration of High Definition (HD) television sets, more and more channels are now adding the HD feed for a better consumer experience.

     

    The Epic Channel, which focuses on the Indian history, folklore and mythology genre, recently launched its HD version on Tata Sky. 

     

    The Epic Channel HD will be available on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform’s channel no 133.

     

    The Epic Channel will shoots all its content in HD so viewers can experience the shows on Indian history and mythology in HD.

     

    The Epic Channel managing director Mahesh Samat said, “Since the inception of the channel, Epic has stood out for its unique and unparalleled content offering. We have grown considerably and built a loyal viewer base over the course of the year and with the channel now being available in High Definition on Tata Sky, the viewer’s experience is only going to get enhanced. This makes it a complete viewing experience for Tata Sky subscribers, letting them watch the best in Indian history and mythology.”

     

    Tata Sky chief contend and business development officer Paolo Agostinelli added, “High definition content truly does justice to the intriguing historic and mythological story telling that Epic channel brings to the viewers. We continue to bring the best viewing technology for our Tata Sky subscribers and this is one of the biggest reasons why we have a growing subscriber base.”

     

    The channel’s standard definition (SD) feed is currently available across key DTH players like Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon d2h, Dish TV, and Reliance Digital TV along with major cable players like Hathway, Den and more.

  • Boom time for HD channels in India

    Boom time for HD channels in India

    The High Definition (HD) TV channels landscape is rapidly expanding in India. Amongst the various genres available today, the English general entertainment and movie channels genre is still a fragmented space and networks in their quest to stand apart from the nearest ranking rival, rely excessively upon content, marketing and a host of options among others.

     

    While not much is achieved in the process, the game of throne continues as networks try to outdo one another. A potent yet common weapon that networks are now heavily relying on is by launching HD channels.

     

    What is augmenting well for these networks is the demand by consumers for content that is best experienced in high definition. Since almost all the content in the English category is produced internationally, it makes sense in delivering it to consumers in HD only so that production values receive their due credit and viewers experience it at its best. This hunger for HD has very well transcended into networks now launching or sensing business opportunities by launching new HD channels. In some cases, an HD feed has been introduced to complement the existing Standard Definition (SD) feed. Digitisation will only ensure that the consumption of high definition shoots up further.

     

    Networks and their HD channels

     

    Star India will soon be launching two new HD English general entertainment channels (GECs). Its soon to be launched channel, Star Movies HD Select for a span of one year (365 days) has a content library of 365 movies – one for each day. About 50 per cent of the content comprises award winning Oscars and Golden Globes titles. To name a few, the channel has The Fault In Our Stars, Birdman and The Theory of Everything in its kitty.

     

    Star will also launch another new channel Star FX HD to compliment the SD feed of FX. The content of FX currently comprises Madmen, Seinfeld and the animated series Family Guy. Other HD channels from the network include Star World Premiere HD, Star World HD and Star Movies HD in addition to eight other HD channels in various genres like sports and Hindi movie and GEC.

     

    Multi Screen Media (MSM) is not far behind. With channels such as Pix, Pix HD and AXN, it is a strong player in the English movie and GEC space. On 6 April this year, the network sensed an opportunity by launching AXN HD to go along with the SD feed. For the man behind the launch, Pix and AXN EVP and business head Saurabh Yagnik the onset of digitisation and a strong audience base spending more time on special interest channels, made sense for the launch of the new feed. “While the shows will be same on the two channels, we will be tweaking some of the content for the HD feed. We could also have certain exclusive content for the HD feed in the future,” Yagnik had earlier told Indiantelevision.com. MSM also has two HD channels in the Hindi GEC and sports category.

     

    On the other hand, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Zeel) is also looking at strengthening its HD portfolio. The network will soon launch a new HD channel in the English GEC space called Zee Cafe HD to compliment its SD feed. Besides this, Zeel has five other HD channels in its channel portfolio. The content on Zee Café currently comprises shows such as Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives and Secrets and Lies amongst others.

     

    Times Network, which operates channels like Movies Now and Romedy Now is another mighty contender. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com earlier, Times Network senior vice president and English entertainment cluster head Vivek Srivastava had said that its new channel, Movies Now+ was the HD version of the SD feed but it did have some differentiating content from the SD feed. It simulcast movies on both feeds such as The Wolf Of Wall Street, which is going to be showcased on 26 April 2015.

     

    The increasing growth of premium ad free channels such as HBO Hits and HBO Defined too have resulted in aiding subscription revenues for the English entertainment genre. Strong and popular content such as Game of Thrones today is synonymous with the HBO network.

     

    Growth of HD Channels in India

     

    From the meagre three HD pay TV channels in 2010, the number has shot up to 34 in 2014, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) 2013-2014 annual report. The number jumped to 22, 31 and 33 for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. With impending launches of English movie and GEC channels this year, this number is only going to be on the rise going forward.

     

    The DTH factor

     

    Value Added Services (VAS) and HD channel penetration are strong revenue generators for Direct to Home (DTH) operators. Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera was quoted in the FICCI-KPMG report for 2015 as saying, “The boom in the panel TV industry has been a key growth in HD channel viewership. The viewers are ready to pay a premium price for HD channels. With the right pricing and packaging for these channels, HD channels can achieve faster penetration.” 

     

    As per the report, there are four million HD subscribers, which account for 10 per cent of all DTH subscribers, whereas 15 to 20 per cent of incremental subscribers in 2014 were HD subscribers. “HD adoption continues to drive ARPU growth for DTH players with the average ARPU of HD subscriber at 1.5 to 2X the ARPU of a non HD subscriber,” states the report.

     

    Conclusion

     

    Premium HD channels recorded a ten-fold top line growth with DTH accounting for over 95 per cent of the premium channel subscriber base according to the 2015 FICCI KPMG report. The success of HD viewing thus, is not just a mighty boon in for broadcasters alone, (where the Ad Ex share for the space in 2014 was at 4.6 per cent) but also for DTH operators. 

     

    As panel TV sales figures were expected to touch approximately eight million units in 2014, of which 55 per cent was expected to have been HD panel TVs, the rise is only going to be vertical in the coming years. With the share of HD and 4K TV sales expected to contribute to over 80 per cent by 2019, broadcasters’ key agenda will definitely be upping their HD channels offering. Moreover, the fact that DTH operators are more than happy to increase their HD bouquet, the growth story for HD viewing and consumption in India has only just begun.

  • Cisco partners with Videocon d2h for advanced video services

    Cisco partners with Videocon d2h for advanced video services

    MUMBAI: Direct to home (DTH) operator Videocon d2h will deploy advanced video solutions from the Cisco Videoscape product portfolio to enable it to deliver an innovative, high quality television viewing experience to its customers.

     

    Cisco will collaborate with Videocon d2h to create an infrastructure that supports advanced services like 4K, Over The Top (OTT), Video On Demand (VOD), multi-screen video and multi-room Digital Video Recorder (DVR), on a high definition platform.

     

    Cisco is at the forefront of changing the way people experience TV entertainment through its Videoscape platform, which offers best-in-class content management and exceptional user interface capabilities. Cisco Videoscape enables consistent video experiences across multiple devices including TVs, tablets, PCs, mobile phones and gaming consoles. Cisco and Videocon d2h are uniquely positioned to offer an immersive video experience coupled with an array of value-added services and applications on multiple screens.

     

    Videocon d2h director Saurabh Dhoot said, “We pride ourselves in being a frontrunner in bringing futuristic technologies to India, some of which are yet to be experienced in even the most advanced countries. Our collaboration with Cisco will present our customers with the latest and best technology in the DTH industry and will introduce them to a whole new range of next-gen applications. We believe that this partnership will redefine the overall viewing experience through our varied product portfolios and service offerings. We continuously endeavor to provide top quality services to our consumers.”

     

    Videocon d2h chief executive officer Anil Khera added, “As part of our commitment to our consumers, we will be providing an advanced TV-viewing experience with many more interactive services and applications, in keeping with global trends. We are confident that our collaboration with Cisco will provide a greater range of services to our customers. Cisco’s expertise in delivering end-to-end solutions and world-class technology will support us in our vision of being an innovator in the DTH market with the most advanced products and services.”

     

    Cisco Service Provider Video Software Solutions VP sales Asia Pacific Sue Taylor said, “Our mission is to continuously partner with operators who value innovation and strive to offer a wide range of differentiated and superior video experiences to their subscribers. Our expertise in the successful rollout of high-end features and services will enable Videocon d2h to deliver video in more exciting, more engaging and more impactful ways.”

  • BigFlicks launches online HD movie- on-demand service

    BigFlicks launches online HD movie- on-demand service

    NEW DELHI: BigFlicks, a part of Reliance Group’s Digital Entertainment Business, today launched India’s first online Movie on Demand service, BigFlix Plus, which lets the user just click and play a catalogue of 500 movies at a subscription fee across PCs, tablets and mobiles.

     

    BigFlix Plus is a user’s Personal Blockbuster Theatre, which allows the user to stream and download HD (High Definition) quality content for a subscription fee of Rs 249 per month by logging on to www. Bigflixplus.com.

     
     

    It provides movies at the users preferred time, sans the advertisements, across all devices such as desktop, tablets, smart phones and connected TVs.

     

    According to Reliance Entertainment COO – Digital Business Manish Agarwal, “BigFlix Plus is the first movies on demand subscription service that offers a vast choice of HD uality movies to the net savvy movie buffs in India, at their convenience, across all internet connected devices. We are looking at replicating a ‘NetFlix’ in India, In order to provide this world class experience. Reliance entertainment has hugely invested in developing the movies on demand ecosystem spanning across product, distribution & content.”
     

    BigFlix Plus offers an extensive HD quality movie library across Hindi, English, and several regional languages.
  • Aiba selects SatLink to deliver World Series Boxing

    Aiba selects SatLink to deliver World Series Boxing

    MUMBAI: SatLink Communications, a leading teleport and HD Playout centre delivering content, has confirmed that Boxing Marketing Arm (BMA), a subsidiary of the International Boxing Association, has selected SatLink for the global satellite delivery of the next season of World Series of Boxing (WSB) in 2013.

    A total of 74 events across the globe will be distributed to five continents via SatLink’s Satellite and Fibre Network in High Definition (HD) and MPEG4 on Eutelsat, AsiaSat, IntelSat and Amos satellites.
    In addition, services such as digital archiving, recording, SNG and Fly-Away units in various territories around the globe will be provided alongside post production editing of the highlights of matches.