ITV

Tag: Latin America

  • U2opia Mobile Pioneers USSD Gateway on Cloud with Tigo Group

    U2opia Mobile Pioneers USSD Gateway on Cloud with Tigo Group

    New Delhi, August 6, 2013 – Singapore-based mobile technology start-up, U2opia Mobile, has pioneered the next wave in value added services by extending their USSD platform and hosting a USSD gateway on cloud.

    USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a session-based technology that enables access to social and content services on mobile without an Internet connection. Among its most popular implementations is Facebook for USSD, which allows users to access Facebook on mobile, without internet. Its other implementations include access to Twitter, Google Talk and a host of content services.

    With this innovation, the final barrier is removed for any telecom carrier to implement USSD services on its network, as it removes all dependency on the carrier’s own USSD gateway.

    By deploying the USSD gateway on cloud, implementing USSD services becomes a plug-and-play process for any operator, vastly reducing the time and resources required. It successfully removes all hardware dependency from the process, making its implementation, as easy as a single-day process.

    The first deployment of USSD gateway on cloud has been with the Tigo Group across El Salvador, Paraguay and Bolivia and the service has already racked up close to 70,000 users in the space of two weeks.

    Commenting on the innovation, Sumesh Menon, CEO, U2opia Mobile, said, ‘While services powered through Fonetwish were a runaway success in practically every country we entered, deploying services through the host carrier’s USSD gateway did present a layer of complexity. There would invariably be issues relating to hardware, bandwidth and so on, thereby increasing the time needed for implementation.

    By deploying the USSD gateway on cloud, that complexity is removed and the process is practically plug-and-play. It opens up a world of opportunity for every carrier globally, to provide value added services to their non-smartphone user base.’

    U2opia Mobile pioneered the implementation of social and content services through their USSD platform Fonetwish in 2010 and now have operations in 25 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, catering to millions of users in 6 global languages across 40 telecom carriers.

    The mobile technology start-up creates applications catering across the handset spectrum – from basic/feature phones to smartphones. With financial backing from Matrix Partners, they have offices across Singapore, India, Dubai and San Francisco.

  • Operators see opportunities in OTT cable and broadband services

    Operators see opportunities in OTT cable and broadband services

    NEW DELHI: The Growth of OTT Content: Opportunities and Challenges for Service Providers, a new global survey of cable and broadband operators, finds that most are fairly optimistic about the potential impact of over-the-top services, with 70 per cent saying the potential benefits outweigh the risks.

     

    The results were part of a survey of operators in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa conducted by Incognito Software, a provider of broadband software provisioning and service activation solutions.

     

    “The widespread growth and popularity of OTT content across multiple devices is forcing cable operators to rethink their business models and how best to add value to their subscribers – and the survey results show that there is no single answer when looking at operators of different sizes and across multiple geographies,” said Incognito Software President and CEO Stephane Bourque. “Whether operators take a positive or negative view of OTT content, one thing is constant: their network usage is going to increase.”

     

    The study also found that nearly 82 per cent of respondents have already upgraded their network infrastructure to cope with increased subscriber bandwidth usage and that 75 per cent of the providers who reported a growth in bandwidth consumption attributed the increased demand to streaming video sites.

     

    In terms of managing OTT consumption, the survey found that the most popular approach was fair usage policies (40 per cent), followed by bandwidth caps (34 per cent), and proprietary OTT services (22 per cent), the company reports.

     

    Nearly half of the providers in North America utilise bandwidth caps as their primary means of managing OTT, the survey found. Fair usage and service add-ons are the next most common approaches (33 per cent).

  • Indian filmmaker among eleven receiving Hubert Bals Fund for script development

    Indian filmmaker among eleven receiving Hubert Bals Fund for script development

    NEW DELHI: Filmmaker Bikas Ranjan Mishra has beenselected to receive the Hubert Bals Fund for script development from the International Film Festival Rotterdam for his film Wild Fire.

    The Fund selected 11 projects from nine countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

    Wild Fire was also selected for Cinemart, the international co-production market of the Festival in January this year.

    A selection of film projects supported by the HBF will also participate in Boost!, the coaching trajectory of the HBF, CineMart and Rotterdam Lab, in cooperation with Binger FilmLab.

    Three new partners will join the initiative this year, including the National Film Development Corporation of India. The others are Fundacion TyPA in Argentina and the Durban FilmMart in South Africa.

    Supported by MEDIA Mundus, every year five HBF-supported filmmakers are given the possibility to further develop their scripts at Binger Filmlab. Additionally these projects participate in co-production markets and workshops in India, Argentina or South Africa, after which they take part in CineMart or Rotterdam Lab during IFFR 2014. The selection of Boost! 2013 will be announced soon.

  • Turner acquires equity stake in Esporte Interativo

    Turner acquires equity stake in Esporte Interativo

    MUMBAI: Turner Latin America and Esporte Interativo (EI) have announced that Turner has shelled out R$ 80 million to acquire a considerable minority stake in EI through a capital raise. Proceeds will be invested in the business and EI will continue to operate as an independent company and be run by its current managing partners, who founded the company in 1999. With this investment, Turner will become the largest single shareholder of EI, and assume two out of seven seats on the company‘s board of directors. The EI Board has been active since 2004.

    “We are extremely happy to announce this strategic partnership with Turner, a media group that has been a benchmark for us and that we have always admired. Having Turner as a strategic partner will significantly amplify our investment capacity and give us access to state-of-the-art content production. It will also provide the opportunity to develop new business models in the dynamic environment of multiplatform content distribution. The size of our dream has just increased considerably with this deal,” stated EI CEO Edgar Diniz.

    “This investment in EI marks an importantBrazil strategic step for Turner in , our largest market in Latin America,” said Turner Latin America president Juan Carlos Urdaneta. “EI has carved out a unique position in the Brazilian sports media landscape thanks to its compelling programming, multi-platform presence, and seasoned management team. We are thrilled to partner with such a strong company and look forward to working with EI to further expand its business into new market segments.”

    The proceeds will be primarily invested in the acquisition, production and distribution of content. EI already holds the rights of premium sport events, such as Copa do Nordeste; UEFA‘s Champions League and Europa League; Spanish Supercup and Copa del Rey; German Cup; French Cup; qualifications for the 2014 World Cup; NFL; Bellator; and WWE; as well as key Brazilian Olympic sports events, such as Volleyball (Brazilian Men‘s and Women‘s Volleyball Superligas, FIVB Volleyball World League and FIVB World Grand Prix); International Judo World Circuit; Handball World Championships; and Tae-kwon-do World Championships.

  • G.I. Joe Retaliation draws $132 million internationally

    G.I. Joe Retaliation draws $132 million internationally

    MUMBAI: Marking the biggest start of the year so far for any film and nearly double the opening earnings of G.I Joe: The Rise of the Cobra in the same markets in 2009, Paramount‘s action thriller G.I. Joe Retaliation opened to a strong $80.3 million at the international box office.

    Directed by Jon M Chu, G.I. Joe comprises an international cast led by franchise newcomers Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis. The film debuted with $51.7 million in North America for a global opening of $132 million.

    The film did particularly well in Russia, Latin America and Asia — all markets where 3D remains a popular format. Among 2013 releases, the movie opened 10 percent ahead of Oz the Great and Powerful and 25 per cent ahead of Willis‘ A Good Day to Die Hard.

    The film opened in a total of 54 territories representing 75 percent of the international marketplace. The only major territories left to open are China and Japan. Top openings included Russia ($11 million), South Korea ($6 million), Mexico ($6 million) and Germany ($4.5 million).

    The film has been placed at No. 1 in most of the countries, although 3D animated film The Croods did better than it in the U.K.

    From DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox, Croods opened in another five markets over the Easter weekend including the U.K. where it roped in $5 million. The family film was placed No 2 internationally for the weekend, earning $52.5 million for a foreign total of $140.5 million and worldwide cume of $229.1 million.

  • Cinegy expands in Latin America with Avcom

    Cinegy expands in Latin America with Avcom

    MUMBAI: Cinegy has announced further expansion into Latin America with Venezulan based Systems integrator and reseller Avcom.

    Avcom was chosen based on the work it has done in designing and implementing diverse newsrooms, audio and video studios, control rooms, play out centers, automation, outside broadcast vehicles, digital head ends, media asset management systems among others across Venezuela and Latin America.

    Avcom director Alberto L. Dillon said, “We chose to partner with Cinegy due to the fact that it offers a platform which is cost effective, scalable and with a very open architecture. This will permit us to offer our customers solutions that are tailored to their current needs but that can grow in time as their requirements expand”.

    Avcom can now take advantage of Cinegy´s products and solutions and further expand their presence to a whole new level of customers in the market. With Cinegy, Avcom’s customers can start with a specific solution and grow it into a fully integrated database driven production workflow.

    Following Cinegy’s global reputation in the market, the Avcom team believe that by offering Cinegy in their product range there are many key benefits which Cinegy can offer their customers.

    “We believe that Cinegy can offer our customers a reliable, scalable and affordable solution along with an integrated archive and Mam and production solution” added Dillon.

  • MediaCom Worldwide renames MediaCom Direct division as MediaCom Response

    MUMBAI: To reflect pervasive shifts in both consumer behavior and global marketing strategy better, MediaCom Worldwide is renaming its MediaCom Direct division as MediaCom Response.

    When launched in 1992, the division worked primarily with clients utilising print, doordrops and DRTV to reach target audiences. A decade later, marketers began adding unique URLs to most of their efforts, and today the integration of brand, demand generation and demand conversion has become the norm.

    MediaCom global chief ROI and direct marketing officer David Kyffin said, “The consumer buying journey has become immeasurably complex, and almost all communications now carry a URL, QR code or some other response mechanism. We will continue to grow our direct marketing business, but more and more of our work is with brand clients interested in achieving higher levels of engagement and interaction, and this name change reflects this new, exciting reality.”

    MediaCom has Response divisions in the UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Nordics, Poland, Singapore, China, India, Australia and Canada. It is also expanding the division‘s global footprint in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

  • SapientNitro acquires 81% in Brazilian digital agency

    MUMBAI: SapientNitro, an interactive marketing, creative design, and technology services agency, has acquired 81 per cent of Brazil-based independent digital agency iThink.

    The move into Brazil marks the expansion of SapientNitro into the Latin American market, strategically rounding out the agency‘s global footprint to include all of the BRIC countries, and expanding its ability to help clients around the world.

    According to the company statement, Latin America is a strategic and rapidly evolving market for SapientNitro and its clients. Expansion into this region is in response to client demand for SapientNitro‘s combination of brand, digital and commerce service offerings in the market, particularly as global marketers gear up for Brazil‘s hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

    Led by Marcelo Tripoli, iThink was founded in 2002. iThink‘s team services a multi-national client base that includes Castrol, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Google, and Samsung.

    Sapient president and CEO Alan J. Herrick said, “As the changing consumer continues to disrupt the way companies and brands interact with their consumers, we see more and more clients looking for better RoI and more innovative experiences around brand, digital and commerce that can be leveraged globally. Our move into Latin America with the addition of iThink as one brand, one culture and one P&L, furthers our role as a new breed of agency unlike any other in both capability and global footprint.”

    iThink CEO Marcelo Tripoli said, “Our culture has always been about transforming our clients‘ businesses by creating engaging interaction between their brands and consumers. In SapientNitro, we found a kindred spirit that recognizes that digital is not just one more outlet, but increasingly the center of a consumer‘s behavior. Reaching today‘s evolved consumer involves creating multi-dimensional experience spaces that connect to human emotions.”

    Pátria Investimentos and Blackstone Advisory Partners acted as the financial advisors to Sapient in connection with the transaction.

  • Fremantle signs more licensees for Cbeebies show

    Fremantle signs more licensees for Cbeebies show

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has announced new licensees in the UK and Eire for their hit pre-school series Cbeebies‘s show ‘Tree Fu Tom‘.

    The latest deals cover a wide range of partners and categories, including: Blues clothing for daywear; MV Sports for wheeled toys; Flair for arts and crafts; VMC for accessories and dress up; Gemma for greeting cards and party products; Ravensburger for puzzles; Egmont for annuals; and Rainbow Productions for character costumes.

    The latest round of signings are in addition to current partners Giochi Preziosi, who are the master toy licensee, Random House for publishing, Aykroyd and TDP for children‘s nightwear and Character World for bedroom textiles and accessories.

    A second series of Tree Fu Tom was recently ordered by CBeebies for 2013 and the show is also distributed globally by FME, finding audiences in a number of territories around the world including France, Australia and Latin America. With a global licensing programme underway as well as a complementary home entertainment strategy, Tree Fu Tom is one of the hot brands to watch.

    FME VP UK licensing and retail Pindy O‘Brien said, “With a host of new licensees on board, a new series commissioned for CBeebies and some exciting new international TV distribution deals, Tree Fu Tom is proving to be a great success both on and off screen.”

    Aimed at 4-6 year olds, ‘Tree Fu Tom‘ combines innovative elements of heroic action, fantasy and magic, coupled with unique interactive physical activity. Set in an enchanted world where movement creates magic, viewers are encouraged to interact with the show through physical actions that have been devised and approved by movement development specialists to assist in the development of children. Former Doctor Who stars Sophie Aldred and David Tennant voice the lead characters Tom and Twigs.

    With animation by Blue Zoo Animation, Tree Fu Tom is a co-production between FME and the BBC for CBeebies. The executive producers for the BBC are Jackie Edwards and Alison Stewart; and Bob Higgins and Sander Schwartz for FME. Tree Fu Tom was created and produced by Daniel Bays.

  • Entertainment One in 4-year output agreement with Dreamworks Studios

    Entertainment One in 4-year output agreement with Dreamworks Studios

    Mumbai: Canadian giant Entertainment One has entered into a four-year output agreement with DreamWorks Studios to distribute the studio‘s films in all media forms across the UK and Benelux.
    “We‘re delighted to collaborate with Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snider, Jeff Small and the innovative DreamWorks team in two of eOne‘s core territories,” said eOne‘s president of filmed entertainment Patrice Theroux.
    Theroux described the pact as a “momentous opportunity” to be working with “such esteemed partners and broaden our international slate with top-quality commercial films for years to come.”
    The first title to go out through the agreement with eOne will be the remake of Starbuck, starring Vince Vaughn, which is set to shoot October 2012 and release in 2013.
    DreamWorks‘ U.S. distributor, The Walt Disney Co., will continue to handle North America, Latin America, Asia, Russia and Australia.
    Reliance continues to bankroll production of DreamWorks‘ films and hold distribution rights in India.