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  • European T20 Premier League gets ICC nod

    European T20 Premier League gets ICC nod

    MUMBAI: There’s one more international T20 cricket league coming the way of fans of the willow. And it’s coming from where else, Europe, the one bunch of cricket playing nations,  that had been left out of the action. so far. 

    Called the European T20 Premier League  (ETPL) it is to be held from 15 July to 3 August 2025. The league got the sanction from cricket’s global ruling body the International Cricket Council on 4 January.

    The ETPL is a privately-owned franchise tournament with a unique twist – it is a partnership between three cricket nations – Ireland (Cricket Ireland), Scotland  (Cricket Scotland) and the Netherlands (Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond – KNCB). This collaborative approach gives the ETPL  a true European feel and will feature the best talent from those three nations playing alongside some of the best talent from around the world.

    The three cricketing boards  had tried to put together a tournament called the Euro T20 Slam in March 2019 but it had failed to take off. Not even one season was held. Hence, the trio are being a lot more careful now. They have put together an interim working group with a representative from each of them, strategic partner Rules Sport Tech, on behalf of the funding partners,  to guide decision making and oversee the  creation of a new administrative body to run the event. Cricket Ireland  chief executive Warren Deutrom has been elected chair of the interim working group. 

    Said  Deutrom:  “We are delighted to confirm the ICC sanction of the ETPL and agreements are now in place across the joint venture partners. This is an important day in the development of the event, as it effectively fires the starting pistol on work around three important areas – franchise ownership, broadcast and the player draft. These are exciting times for cricket in Europe, and for local cricket fans, as we showcase some of the best cricket talent from Europe and around the world.”

    A formal launch of the tournament and further details will be provided in due course, he added. 

  • EU nations cooperate to take down pirate global streaming service

    EU nations cooperate to take down pirate global streaming service

    MUMBAI: What does it take shut a global  illegal streaming service originating somewhere in Europe?

    Try this for size: The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation  (Eurojust ). The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA). Italian, Croatian, Romanian, Swedish, Swiss, Dutch, Chinese  and the UK authorities.

    Quite a handful, right?

    Well, they all worked down together late November  to take down one of the world’s largest illegal streaming services, according to a  press release issued by Eurojust.  In a large-scale operation, over 100 searches were carried out against 102 suspects. Eleven suspects were arrested in Croatia.

    The suspects illegally distributed material from streaming services online, including films and series. They also pirated more than 2,500 television channels, mainly sports. The illegal service served more than 22 million users worldwide. They were able to make over Euros 250 million in illegal profits per month. The economic damages to the copyright holders of the material is estimated at Euro10 billion. 

    To evade authorities, the suspects allegedly used encrypted messaging services to communicate and false identities to register phone numbers, credit cards, server rentals and TV subscriptions.

    On 26 November, during an international operation, the servers hosting the illegal streaming were seized and shut down, disrupting the services.

    Collaboration between authorities was set up at Eurojust to effectively pull the plug on the illegal streamer. Coordination meetings at Eurojust’s headquarters allowed authorities from Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK  to work together on the investigation and plan the operation to shut down the service and arrest the suspects. Europol supported the operation by deploying experts and analysing the available intelligence during the investigation phase. 

    The cooperation between the authorities culminated in a joint operation to take down the services on 26 November. The operation  involved over 270 officers from the Polizia Postale carrying out 89 property searches in 15 Italian regions. An additional 14 searches were conducted by law enforcement agencies abroad, including five addresses in the UK, and further searches and seizures in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, France, Bulgaria, Germany and Croatia,  according to the AAPA.

    During  the searches in Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, the UK  and China, over Euros 1.6 million in cryptocurrency and Euros 40,000 in cash was seized. Croatian police arrested 11 suspects. AAPA said that “the immediately seized proceeds represent only a fraction of an illegal business that is alleged to yield approximately Euros 3 billion per annum.”

    The operation was massive as can be ascertained from the results achieved:  102 suspects were identified  with the arrest of 11 people after searching 112 houses. 100 domains were blocked with 29 servers being taken away along with 27 different IPTV equipment and devices. During the searches 560 resellers names were discovered along with an assortment of drugs and weapons. 

    AAPA co-president Mark Mulready said: “We applaud the efforts of the Catania public prosecutor’s office, the Croatian state attorney office for suppression of corruption and organised crime, Europol, Eurojust, and all of the law enforcement agencies involved in these operations. The scale of these multi-jurisdictional law enforcement actions highlights the considerable challenge our industry faces when dealing with such sophisticated international pirate networks.

    “We are proud to have collaborated with our law enforcement partners to provide technical training and in-field support to assist them in successfully tackling the world’s largest pirate network.   We are very grateful to the AAPA members who supported this action day, including Premier League, Sky Group, Nagravision, Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), beIN Sports, United Media, Friend MTS and Irdeto.  We will continue to closely collaborate with law enforcement agencies in Europe and beyond to enable them to successfully identify, investigate and prosecute large-scale cross-border pirate networks.”

    The authorities involved in the actions were:

    * Italy: Public Prosecution Office Catania
    * Croatia: The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime 
    * Netherlands: Fiscal Information and Investigation Service; Public Prosecution Service Rotterdam 
    * Romania: Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism; Direction for Fighting Organized Crime – Cyber Crime Fighting Service
    * Sweden: National unit against organized crime at the Swedish Prosecution Authority; Swedish Police Authority
    * Switzerland: Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland; Federal Office of Police 
    * United Kingdom: City of London Police

  • ISRO sees rise in third party satellite launches

    ISRO sees rise in third party satellite launches

    MUMBAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is slowly but surely making its mark as far as its satellite launch services are concerned. Consider: in 2018-19 it pocketed Rs 324.19 crore courtesy its launch capabilities as against Rs 232.56 crore in the year before. That’s a decent 35 per cent plus growth in income from launches.

    This information was given out in a reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha to union minister for atomic energy and space Jitendra Singh late last week.

    Singh further disclosed that ISRO earned Rs 1,245.17 crore during the last five years by launching satellites from 26 countries. Additionally, it has signed contracts with 10 countries –  the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Singapore, Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, Algeria, and France  over the same period under commercial arrangements.

    India has till date put into orbit 319 foreign satellites.

  • Walt Disney OTT platform Disney+ goes on-air in US, Canada, and the Netherlands

    Walt Disney OTT platform Disney+ goes on-air in US, Canada, and the Netherlands

    Mumbai: Disney+ has launched today in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, with The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) CEO Robert Iger declaring it a “historic moment” for the company.

    The service arrives with nearly 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television from brands such as Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic and costs US$6.99 per month or US$69.99 for a year.

    Series exclusive to the service include The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars series; High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a scripted series set at the real-life East High featured in the blockbuster film franchise; docu-series The World According to Jeff Goldblum from National Geographic; Marvel’s Hero Project; and Encore! executive produced by Kristen Bell.

    Beginning November 15, most new episodes of each series will premiere on Fridays at 12:01 AM PT.

    “The launch of Disney+ is a historic moment for our company that marks a new era of innovation and creativity,” said Iger, chairman and CEO, TWDC.

    TWDC expects to launch Disney+ in most major global markets within its first two years. It will launch next week in Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico on November 19.

    It was announced earlier this month that on March 31, 2020, the ad-free service will launch in markets across Western Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

    Disney+ features three of the four highest grossing films of all time in Avengers: Endgame, Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plus animated classics Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty & the Beast, Pinocchio, Bambi and The Lion King.

    Elsewhere, it has 30 seasons of The Simpsons, 18 Pixar movies – including Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave – plus thousands of episodes of Disney Channel and Disney Junior series. These include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Kim Possible, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PJ Masks and Jake & the Never Land Pirates.

    It also features over 400 hours of content from National Geographic, including the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary Free Solo and the streaming debut of Science Fair.

    Also in the library are all six of the original classic Star Wars films released between 1977 and 1999, in addition to recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. By the end of 2020, the entire Skywalker saga will be available on the service.

    It also includes films from Marvel Studios including Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.

    Rounding off the library are Marvel television series from the 1970s to present day, including X-Men, Spider-Man and Marvel’s Runaways.

    Disney+ offers subscribers up to four concurrent streams, unlimited downloads on up to 10 devices, personalised recommendations and the ability to set up to seven different profiles. Additionally, parents have the ability to set profiles for children to access age-appropriate content.

    Starting today, consumers in the US also have the opportunity to purchase a Disney bundle featuring Disney+, Hulu (with ads) and ESPN+ for US$12.99 per month.

  • TLC to host Heartwork Tattoo Festival in Delhi

    TLC to host Heartwork Tattoo Festival in Delhi

    MUMBAI: TLC is all geared up to bring a tattoo festival in partnership with Indian and international artists. The TLC Heartwork Tattoo festival will take place in Delhi from 2– 4 December at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The festival aims to bring together the tattoo industry, artists and equipment suppliers and make tattoos accessible and mainstream.

    It will play host to the biggest artists from England, Spain, Russia and Netherlands in addition to tattoo gurus from India. Some of the biggest names in the world of body art known for their skill and distinctive styles, will be present at the festival – Jay Freestyle from the Netherlands, StepanNegur from Russia, Bez 666 from the UK, Fabrice Koch from Germany, etc.

    “TLC has always been ahead of the curve in setting trends amongst the youth. We made tattoos and tattooing popular with ourshowsand this festival is a natural progression. We have aided the growth of tattoo culture and the festival brings the art form to the mainstream and makes it accessible to a large group of people,” said Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (South Asia) VP female and family entertainment products Rajiv Bakshi.

    Creative Skin Graphics director and festival organiser Lokesh Verma added, “Our first introduction to tattoos was watching artists and their work on TLC. The industry has come a long way since then and tattoos have gained wider acceptance. With the festival we want to promote the culture of tattooing by giving people access to international artists and standards.”

    The festival will also host music bands and acts by various other entertainers as they take over the stage at regular intervals to keep visitors engaged. There will also be competitions every day as artists vie for the best tattoos in various categories.

  • TLC to host Heartwork Tattoo Festival in Delhi

    TLC to host Heartwork Tattoo Festival in Delhi

    MUMBAI: TLC is all geared up to bring a tattoo festival in partnership with Indian and international artists. The TLC Heartwork Tattoo festival will take place in Delhi from 2– 4 December at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The festival aims to bring together the tattoo industry, artists and equipment suppliers and make tattoos accessible and mainstream.

    It will play host to the biggest artists from England, Spain, Russia and Netherlands in addition to tattoo gurus from India. Some of the biggest names in the world of body art known for their skill and distinctive styles, will be present at the festival – Jay Freestyle from the Netherlands, StepanNegur from Russia, Bez 666 from the UK, Fabrice Koch from Germany, etc.

    “TLC has always been ahead of the curve in setting trends amongst the youth. We made tattoos and tattooing popular with ourshowsand this festival is a natural progression. We have aided the growth of tattoo culture and the festival brings the art form to the mainstream and makes it accessible to a large group of people,” said Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (South Asia) VP female and family entertainment products Rajiv Bakshi.

    Creative Skin Graphics director and festival organiser Lokesh Verma added, “Our first introduction to tattoos was watching artists and their work on TLC. The industry has come a long way since then and tattoos have gained wider acceptance. With the festival we want to promote the culture of tattooing by giving people access to international artists and standards.”

    The festival will also host music bands and acts by various other entertainers as they take over the stage at regular intervals to keep visitors engaged. There will also be competitions every day as artists vie for the best tattoos in various categories.

  • Irdeto promotes Jonsson as senior vice president of global sales

    Irdeto promotes Jonsson as senior vice president of global sales

    MUMBAI: Irdeto today announced that Bengt Jonsson has been promoted to senior vice president of global sales. Irdeto is a world leader in digital platform security.

    Jonsson has been a member of Irdeto’s leadership team since 2008 and will now lead the organization’s sales and account management teams worldwide. He is responsible for developing key accounts, fueling new business acquisition and offering Irdeto’s full breadth of 360 security solutions and services to Irdeto customers.

    Following a successful IBC 2016 and a series of new customer and partner wins, including new deals with Media Broadcast and Austrian Broadcasting Services (ORS), and partnerships with MStar and Scenarist, Irdeto is poised for continued growth under Jonsson’s leadership. The company is well positioned to continue this momentum under Jonsson’s leadership.

    “We believe that a holistic approach is essential for pay media operators and content owners to prosper in today’s evolving pay media landscape,” said Irdeto CEO Doug Lowther. “Bengt has proven his ability to build strong relationships with customers and partners through collaboration and open communication.”

    Based out of the company’s global headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Jonsson joined Irdeto as vice president sales, Asia Pacific, in July 2008. He was responsible for sales in six regions, including China, Japan, north Asia, south Asia, south-east Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

    Prior to joining Irdeto, Bengt was the CEO of LyngBox Media AB, a Swedish hybrid set-top box start-up, and has also held senior management positions with Thomson’s Client Device business unit in Asia and with Nokia’s multimedia business units in Asia and Europe.

    Irdeto solutions and services enable customers to protect their revenue, create new offerings and fight cybercrime. With nearly 50 years of expertise in security, Irdeto’s software security technology and cyber services protect over two billion devices for some of the world’s best known brands.

  • Irdeto promotes Jonsson as senior vice president of global sales

    Irdeto promotes Jonsson as senior vice president of global sales

    MUMBAI: Irdeto today announced that Bengt Jonsson has been promoted to senior vice president of global sales. Irdeto is a world leader in digital platform security.

    Jonsson has been a member of Irdeto’s leadership team since 2008 and will now lead the organization’s sales and account management teams worldwide. He is responsible for developing key accounts, fueling new business acquisition and offering Irdeto’s full breadth of 360 security solutions and services to Irdeto customers.

    Following a successful IBC 2016 and a series of new customer and partner wins, including new deals with Media Broadcast and Austrian Broadcasting Services (ORS), and partnerships with MStar and Scenarist, Irdeto is poised for continued growth under Jonsson’s leadership. The company is well positioned to continue this momentum under Jonsson’s leadership.

    “We believe that a holistic approach is essential for pay media operators and content owners to prosper in today’s evolving pay media landscape,” said Irdeto CEO Doug Lowther. “Bengt has proven his ability to build strong relationships with customers and partners through collaboration and open communication.”

    Based out of the company’s global headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Jonsson joined Irdeto as vice president sales, Asia Pacific, in July 2008. He was responsible for sales in six regions, including China, Japan, north Asia, south Asia, south-east Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

    Prior to joining Irdeto, Bengt was the CEO of LyngBox Media AB, a Swedish hybrid set-top box start-up, and has also held senior management positions with Thomson’s Client Device business unit in Asia and with Nokia’s multimedia business units in Asia and Europe.

    Irdeto solutions and services enable customers to protect their revenue, create new offerings and fight cybercrime. With nearly 50 years of expertise in security, Irdeto’s software security technology and cyber services protect over two billion devices for some of the world’s best known brands.

  • IPTV subscriptions in Western Europe to climb by 7 mn between 2015- 21, overtaking satellite TV

    IPTV subscriptions in Western Europe to climb by 7 mn between 2015- 21, overtaking satellite TV

    MUMBAI: The numbers of homes paying IPTV in Western Europe are expected to climb by nearly 7 million up by 27 per cent between 2015 and 2021, thus overtaking the pay satellite TV which is slated to fall by 300,000 between 2015 and 2021 for 18 countries in the region.  

    According to the Digital TV Western Europe Forecasts report, IPTV revenues will reach $5.77 billion in 2021 – up by $1.2 billion.

    The report indicates that this is due mainly to some operators, especially in Spain and Italy, converting their DTH subs to more lucrative bundles on their broadband networks.

    Satellite TV revenues will fall for every year from 2011 – and will decline by $1 billion between 2015 and 2021.

    Western European Pay TV is fast maturing, with penetration forecast to grow from 56.8% at end-2015 to 59.5 per cent in 2021. The number of pay TV subscribers will climb from 97.4 million in 2015 to 104.3 million in 2021.

    So, Pay TV subscriptions will only increase by 6.9 million which is 7 per cent between 2015 and 2021. However, the number of digital pay TV subs will increase by 19 per cent nearly 17 million over the same period. Digital cable subs will increase by almost 10 million.

    The 9.9 million analogue cable homes remaining at 2015-end will be the hardest to convert to digital as many of these subscribers pay for very basic packages as part of their rent.

    Digital TV Research principal analyst Simon Murray said, “The remaining analogue cable TV subs are the most obstinate. These homes have had several years to transfer to digital platforms – including those from their existing operators, but are still holding out. When conversion finally happens, these homes are more likely to convert to free-to-air platforms such as DTT or satellite than their predecessors.”

    In fact, only seven (Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom) of the 18 countries covered in the report had fully converted to digital by 2015-end.

    By 2021, pay TV penetration will range from nearly 100 per cent in the Netherlands to 36 per cent in Italy. Eight countries will exceed 90 per cent pay TV penetration in 2021. However, pay TV penetration will fall in Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland – countries with a large number of legacy analogue cable subscribers.

    Despite the number of pay TV homes increasing, pay TV revenues will remain flat at around $31 billion. The UK ($7,217 million) will remain the most lucrative pay TV market. Regardless of having the most pay TV subs by some distance, Germany’s pay TV revenues will remain a lot lower than the UK – at $4,183 million by 2021. In fact, France and Italy will not be too far behind Germany, despite having far fewer pay TV subscribers.

  • IPTV subscriptions in Western Europe to climb by 7 mn between 2015- 21, overtaking satellite TV

    IPTV subscriptions in Western Europe to climb by 7 mn between 2015- 21, overtaking satellite TV

    MUMBAI: The numbers of homes paying IPTV in Western Europe are expected to climb by nearly 7 million up by 27 per cent between 2015 and 2021, thus overtaking the pay satellite TV which is slated to fall by 300,000 between 2015 and 2021 for 18 countries in the region.  

    According to the Digital TV Western Europe Forecasts report, IPTV revenues will reach $5.77 billion in 2021 – up by $1.2 billion.

    The report indicates that this is due mainly to some operators, especially in Spain and Italy, converting their DTH subs to more lucrative bundles on their broadband networks.

    Satellite TV revenues will fall for every year from 2011 – and will decline by $1 billion between 2015 and 2021.

    Western European Pay TV is fast maturing, with penetration forecast to grow from 56.8% at end-2015 to 59.5 per cent in 2021. The number of pay TV subscribers will climb from 97.4 million in 2015 to 104.3 million in 2021.

    So, Pay TV subscriptions will only increase by 6.9 million which is 7 per cent between 2015 and 2021. However, the number of digital pay TV subs will increase by 19 per cent nearly 17 million over the same period. Digital cable subs will increase by almost 10 million.

    The 9.9 million analogue cable homes remaining at 2015-end will be the hardest to convert to digital as many of these subscribers pay for very basic packages as part of their rent.

    Digital TV Research principal analyst Simon Murray said, “The remaining analogue cable TV subs are the most obstinate. These homes have had several years to transfer to digital platforms – including those from their existing operators, but are still holding out. When conversion finally happens, these homes are more likely to convert to free-to-air platforms such as DTT or satellite than their predecessors.”

    In fact, only seven (Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom) of the 18 countries covered in the report had fully converted to digital by 2015-end.

    By 2021, pay TV penetration will range from nearly 100 per cent in the Netherlands to 36 per cent in Italy. Eight countries will exceed 90 per cent pay TV penetration in 2021. However, pay TV penetration will fall in Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland – countries with a large number of legacy analogue cable subscribers.

    Despite the number of pay TV homes increasing, pay TV revenues will remain flat at around $31 billion. The UK ($7,217 million) will remain the most lucrative pay TV market. Regardless of having the most pay TV subs by some distance, Germany’s pay TV revenues will remain a lot lower than the UK – at $4,183 million by 2021. In fact, France and Italy will not be too far behind Germany, despite having far fewer pay TV subscribers.