Monday 30 April 2012

FM operators want govt to bear channel spacing cost

A number of FM radio brands, such as HT Media (Fever FM), TV Today (Oye FM), Mid-Day (Radio One), India Today Group and Music Broadcast (Radio City), among others, want the government or Prasar Bharati to foot a bill of around R800 crore if it wants to accept the recent recommendations made by the telecom and broadcast regulator. 
But the move should not delay the third-phase rollout of FM radio (FM-III) which will see 839 new FM stations across 280 towns, these operators said. Also, the five operators in their individual capacity want government assurance that if they accept TRAI recommendations, it should increase their respective 10-year licence permission accordingly, else the move will adversely impact the valuation and market share of existing players. 

Sunday 29 April 2012

Veteran actor Achala Sachdev passes away

Yesteryear actress Achala Sachdev, who featured in the popular song Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen from the film Waqt, has died following a prolonged illness. She was 88. For the last seven months, the actress was bed-ridden at the Poona Hospital and Research Centre (PHRC), Pune. "She passed away due to respiratory failure at 5.30pm on 29th April 2012. She was bed-ridden for about six months after she suffered a cerebrovascular (brain attack)," said Sachdev's physician Vinod Shah, who tended to her for more than seven months. 
Sachdev is survived by son Jytoin, who is in the US and would be going to Pune for the last rites, Shah said. 

Saturday 28 April 2012

SES unveils IP-based in-home distribution of satellite TV signals

SES together with leading industry partners, announced the introduction of SAT-IP, a new IP-based satellite reception technology that demodulates and converts satellite signals to IP for further in-home distribution to any IP-enabled device. 
Unveiled at the annual SES Industry Days, the SAT-IP communications protocol is established as a new standard for satellite in-home distribution. A live demo of SAT-IP multiswitches showing the distribution of satellite programmes over various IP-based infrastructures (CAT5 Ethernet, Power Line, Plastic Optical Fibre and WiFi) was presented to more than 200 industry experts from consumer electronics manufacturers to broadcast platform operators at the two-day conference. 

Ericsson live event coverage solution recognized for innovation

Ericsson has received further recognition as the market leader for content acquisition and exchange with a TV Technology STAR Award at NAB 2012, the world's largest media and entertainment event. Ericsson’s AVP 3000 Voyager was launched at the show in Las Vegas as part of the brand new AVP multi-codec, multi-function video compression and processing platform. The platform provides greater performance, scalability, flexibility and efficiency for broadcasters and TV service providers. A number of key AVP configurations extend Ericsson’s leadership in live and linear video processing throughout the value chain of content acquisition and exchange to delivery to the consumer. 
The STAR (Superior Technology Awards Recipient) Award follows further success for Voyager, after Arqiva’s deployment of Ericsson’s solution for its entire DSNG fleet was honored in the Broadcast Engineering Excellence Awards. The deployment by Arqiva, the communications infrastructure and media services company, provided the ability to broadcast from any location using the power of a MPEG-4 AVC 4:2:2 encoder with 10-bit precision specifically designed for the high quality requirements of live event television. 

Friday 27 April 2012

DoT to refer all policy matters to House panel

Finding itself at crossroads on complex policy matters, the department of telecommunications (DoT) has decided to refer all matters to the Parliamentary standing committee. The decision comes in the wake of the telecom regulator’s recommendations on spectrum auction, a Presidential Reference filed before the Supreme Court and after all other telecom policy matters in the works were disrupted by the Supreme Court’s cancelation of 122 telecom licences in February. 
An internal note of the department explicitly highlights the situation, “It has become very difficult to find out/conclude the decision taken by the government and hence their further conveying to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and various wings of DoT. As the matter is of very complex, sensitive, urgent and important nature where various decisions /recommendations/court judgments are interlinked and impact each other, it may be for consideration that the matter may be referred to the standing committee which may inform the final paragraph-wise decision of the government indicating the name of the concern wings of DoT/Trai for taking necessary action which may be conveyed to Trai/ various wings of DoT after approval of the competent authority”. 

TV Today India Turns to Harris Corporation to Improve Speed to Air at New Broadcast News Facility

Harris Corporation announced that India’s TV Today Network will improve its speed to air for live broadcast news with an integrated Harris® NewsForce™ solution at its new production and playout facility in New Delhi.
The TV Today project will manage the production and play-to-air of many TV channels, including four 24-hour news and current affairs channels. The latter includes Aaj Tak, the leading Hindi news channel; and Headlines Today, India’s first English language news channel. 
“Our new broadcast facility needed to meet the fast turnaround time for the delivery of our news channels. The modularity and flexibility of the integrated Harris NewsForce news editing and production solution will allow us to deliver programs to air more quickly and effectively,” said Prince Sharma, vice president of technology, TV Today. “Integral to our choice was not only the breadth of Harris products but the company’s ability to provide a format-independent integrated server solution, with the flexibility to offer seamless back-to-back playout in SD and HD resolutions.” 
The Harris NewsForce solution at TV Today includes Harris® NEXIO AMP® servers with Harris® Velocity™ high- and low-resolution editors. The solution enables a seamless standard definition and high definition workflow environment, and ensures high-density ingest, format independence, multi-channel support and fast turnaround and playback of news clips. TV Today journalists will have instant and simultaneous access to low-resolution material to search, create and edit content on the fly — further accelerating work processes in time-critical, fast-paced news environments. TV Today also will improve its program throughput and graphics capabilities for maximum on-air efficiency from a single integrated solution. 
“Tighter integration between the production and playout process allows broadcasters like TV Today to improve the cost per channel and provide a simple upgrade path to meet future multi-platform requirements,” said Harris Morris, president, Harris Broadcast Communications. “With time-critical news production, it is about accurate and effective storytelling, and being on air with the story first. Our integrated offering will add the creative tools and value to TV Today’s production while saving time.” 
In broadcast communications, Harris offers products, systems and services that provide interoperable workflow solutions for broadcast, cable, satellite and out-of-home networks. The Harris ONE™ solution brings together highly integrated and cost-effective products that enable advanced media workflows for emerging content delivery business models.

Source
:
http://cablequest.org/news/technology-news/item/911-tv-today-india-turns-to-harris-corporation-to-improve-speed-to-air-at-new-broadcast-news-facility.html

Al Jazeera English news channel now available on Tata Sky

The Qatar-based English news channel, Al Jazeera, has announced its launch on Tata Sky from April 26, 2012. In November 2011, the channel had entered India via Dish TV. Tata Sky will enable the channel to reach an additional nine million Indian households, taking its total reach across the country to over 25 million households. Globally, Al Jazeera English is available in over 260 million households across 130 countries.
“We are delighted to be launching on Tata Sky, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new viewers in India to Al Jazeera English,” said Al Anstey, Managing Director of Al Jazeera English.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

NDS Technology Enables the Migration of Indovision’s Subscriber Base to MPEG-4 SD, HD and Interactive Services

NDS announced that its technology is enabling Indovision, Indonesia’s leading pay-TV and DTH operator, to kick-start a progressive migration of its more than one million subscribers from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 set-top boxes for enhanced TV services including interactivity. 
Supported by a suite of end-to-end NDS solutions including VideoGuard® conditional access and MediaHighway® set-top box software, Indovision is in the process of deploying MPEG-4 set-top boxes to its entire subscriber base, enabling the launch of both high-quality standard (SD) and high definition (HD) services in a cost-effective manner. 

Adobe Launches Creative Suite 6 in India

Adobe Systems Incorporated announced on 24 April 2012 the ultimate toolkit for design, web and video professionals with the unveiling of Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 product line in India. Powerful new releases of 14 CS6 applications and four Creative Suites – Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium; and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection – drive home Adobe’s continued innovation across creative markets. 
“Designers get a ton of innovation with CS6 with milestone release across all our flagship products,” said David Wadhwani, Senior Vice President, Digital Media at Adobe. “With CS6 we’re also introducing new products, new mobile workflows and advanced publishing capabilities that show we are laser-focused on ensuring design, web and video pros have everything they need for the delivery of high-impact content and apps.” 

Adobe Launches Creative Suite 6 in India

Adobe Systems Incorporated announced on 24 April 2012 the ultimate toolkit for design, web and video professionals with the unveiling of Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 product line in India. Powerful new releases of 14 CS6 applications and four Creative Suites – Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium; and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection – drive home Adobe’s continued innovation across creative markets. 
“Designers get a ton of innovation with CS6 with milestone release across all our flagship products,” said David Wadhwani, Senior Vice President, Digital Media at Adobe. “With CS6 we’re also introducing new products, new mobile workflows and advanced publishing capabilities that show we are laser-focused on ensuring design, web and video pros have everything they need for the delivery of high-impact content and apps.” 

9X Media launched international music channel 9XO

9X Media launched an international music channel, 9XO, on 24 April 2012. After having launched five channels – 9XM, 9X Tashan, 9X Jhakaas, 9X Jalwa and 9XM UK – 9X Media Pvt Ltd is adding another channel to its kitty. 9XO is the sixth music channel from 9X Media.
The international music channel, 9XO, aims to bring the music video experience back full circle with no non-music programming whatsoever. Targeted at the upscale urban youth, 9XO will air English and International Music from across the globe.

Monday 23 April 2012

Yahoo! India launches cricket app for Windows phone

Digital media company Yahoo! India has announced the launch of the first-ever full-fledged cricket app for Windows phone users in India (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-IN/apps/ff60ba15-c0dc-420c-9320-5e82fbc080dc). The app, available for free on the Windows Marketplace, offers a slew of features and user-friendly interaction to follow live matches and also keep a tab on the recent and upcoming ones. 
The app is the first to offer a complete match experience with live scores; detailed ball-by-ball commentary, which can be filtered by wickets; boundaries and sixers; an interactive score card which allows the user to browse through the batting line up; fall of wickets; and a chronology of how a match progressed. 

Thursday 19 April 2012

TRAI may get penal powers on violation of licences

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) can have the power to penalise telecom players for violation of licence conditions. Currently, this power is vested in DoT. 
In a recent meeting, DoT had decided to legally examine whether a few existing DoT functions could be passed on to TRAI through amendments under a new Act. 

Broadcom Introduces Affordable Cable Set-Top Box Technology to Accelerate India TV Digitization Initiative

Broadcom Corporation a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, announced the BCM7014, the industry's most integrated single chip standard definition MPEG2 cable set-top box (STB) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution.
Broadcom's new platform is designed to accelerate India's cable TV digitization initiative by providing a cost-efficient system capable of rapid, wide-scale deployment.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Aptech Ltd, Hungama tie up for mobile education

Computer education service provider Aptech Ltd and Hungama Digital Entertainment have entered into a partnership to build the “mEducation” (mobile education) industry in India. 
Through this partnership, Aptech will create “specialised courses across faculties” which are easy to understand and which can be distributed through various channels. 

ALi supports Opera in its HbbTV STB platform

ALi Corporation, a leading set-top-box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) solution provider, announced that its hybrid broadcast broadband TV (HbbTV) supported STB platform is ready for mass production. ALi and Opera Software will work together to bring a better HbbTV experience to ALi-based STBs.
To create an optimal HbbTV experience, ALi and Opera offer a friendly interface to browse web content on TVs for traditional remote controls or its companion devices, as well as robust rendering engines for television with TV rendering (TVR) technology, supporting features such as adapting internet pages to suit TV screens, anti-flicker filtering, picture-in-picture viewing, etc. ALi has pre-ported Opera to its new STB SoC solution, optimizing the Opera Devices SDK for specific middleware, which reduces time to market and development costs. 

Monday 16 April 2012

Haiti Builds 116-Channel DVB-T2 Service with Thomson Video Networks

Thomson Video Networks announced it is working with Florida-based system integrator Broadcast International Group (BIG) to build a groundbreaking new television service for Haiti as the country recovers from the devastating earthquake of 2010. Haiti's sole cable television station was destroyed in the disaster, leaving all but capital city Port au Prince without local television until the new service goes live in May 2012. 
A new license-holding company, Digital Satellite System (DSS), will operate the service under the brand name NUtv, and the decision to specify an advanced technical solution from Thomson Video Networks for the headend allows DSS to overcome the challenges of bringing a high-quality service to the whole nation, despite continuing difficulties with national infrastructure. 

Harmonic Extends Multiscreen Transcoding Leadership

Harmonic Inc. announced the next generation of its ACE® (Agile Compression Engine), leveraging Harmonic's award-winning H.264 video compression expertise to deliver a new level of transcoding density with exceptional video quality for multiscreen applications. With the new multiscreen transcoding functionality, the ProStream® 1000 with ACE is capable of transcoding up to 20 HD streams and 80 adaptive streaming profiles in a single, dense, power-efficient 1RU appliance. As a key component of Harmonic's comprehensive multiscreen solution suite, the ProStream 1000 with ACE is integrated with Harmonic's powerful ProMedia™ file transcoders, adaptive bit rate packager and origin server, and MediaGrid™ active storage system, enabling seamless and operationally-efficient deployment of multiscreen services.
"With the proliferation of new premium multiscreen video services, and increasing marketplace demand for high-quality video on high-resolution mobile devices, tablets, and connected televisions, this advancement of ACE is the right product at the right time," said Orit Kahana, product line manager, stream processing, at Harmonic. 

Saturday 14 April 2012

TRAI may order external audit of value added services records

TRAI may order third-party audits on telcos' records of activating value added services (VAS) to ensure compliance, a senior official told. The move follows consumer complaints of mobile phone companies activating VAS without consent.
"Consultation on the matter is on. The intention is to ensure that consumers are not charged for services they did not ask for," the official added. Prepaid customers, who constitute over 96% of India's mobile user base, are impacted more as fees for VAS services are charged even when they have zero balance in their accounts.

Friday 13 April 2012

Monster India launches app for mobiles

MonsterIndia.com online career and recruitment solutions provider has launched an application for mobile devices powered by Windows Phone. The app can be downloaded through Monsterindia.com and Windows Phone Marketplace and seekers can view and apply to job postings directly from their Windows smartphone, according to a press statement. 

Monster India launches app for mobiles

MonsterIndia.com online career and recruitment solutions provider has launched an application for mobile devices powered by Windows Phone. The app can be downloaded through Monsterindia.com and Windows Phone Marketplace and seekers can view and apply to job postings directly from their Windows smartphone, according to a press statement. 

Cisco Expands Technology Portfolio for Mobility and Cloud Solutions

Cisco announced on 13 April 2012 it has expanded its small business product portfolio with new wireless access points, routers, switches, unified communications and partner-managed service offerings. These new solutions help to drive customer productivity and growth by allowing small businesses to get the most out of smartphones, tablets, and cloud applications and services. Cisco’s product innovations are ensuring that businesses of all sizes can keep pace with the needs of their customers by staying connected with the right secure, reliable network. The new suite of small business networking and communication offerings builds on Cisco’s dedication to provide partners who sell Cisco solutions to small businesses with a complete portfolio of purpose-built products and solutions to create the right networks for their customers.

Cloud Computing Conference to feature Prime Focus Technologies’ Executive on Expert Panel during 2012 NAB Show in Las Vegas

Ajay Malhotra, Executive Vice President of Prime Focus Technologies North America – the global leader in unified content operations solutions – will be a featured panellist during the CLOUD COMPUTING CONFERENCE at the world's largest broadcast media show, 2012 NAB Show, in Las Vegas. 
Malhotra, a media, entertainment and information technology thought-leader will join the “A/V Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production Clouds” panel on Monday, April 16 at 1:10 pm in N232 of the North Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center. He and other panellists will reveal how cloud-computing solutions are accelerating processes, improving quality, and/or reducing costs of such functions as collaboration, editing, animation, applying metadata, formatting, and transcoding. 

Dish TV gets relief from TDSAT

TDSAT has allowed direct to home service provider, Dish TV to move from a fixed fee agreement to reference interconnect offer-based agreement with sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports.
Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) sets the price at which a broadcaster offers its channels to cable and direct-to-home service provider and is governed by TRAI.

Monday 9 April 2012

Multi Screen Media launches sports channel Six

Multi Screen Media (MSM) has launched Six, a sports entertainment channel, on April 7, 2012. This is the sixth channel in the MSM bouquet. Six promises to be a premier and vibrant offering showcasing the best in the world of sport in every category along with related Indian leagues. The channel promises to stand out from the existing sports channels by targeting young India and providing a mix of entertainment and sports that appeals to both men and women alike.
MSM was banking heavily on bagging the BCCI telecast to make the sports channel a strong player in the sports genre right from its launch. However, its plans awry when Star India walked away with the prized BCCI rights for a hefty bid of Rs 3,851 crore.

Saturday 7 April 2012

Set Max HD now available on Videocon d2h

Videocon d2h is the title sponsor of Kings XI Punjab in this season IPL. The logo of Videocon d2h will adorn the front of the Kings XI Punjab jersey. It will now broadcast MAX in HD for its viewers, & is available on LCN Number 924.
All the HD customers of Videocon d2h can now watch the scintillating action of DLF IPL in High Definition during this current IPL Season. Apart from MAX HD, some more HD channels are being added to make it 19 asli “HD” channels.

Friday 6 April 2012

ALi to Showcase Latest STB Solutions Targeting China at 2012 CCBN Beijing

ALi Corporation, a leading Set-Top Box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) solution provider, announced that it will demonstrate its latest STB solutions targeting domestic digital TV broadcasting market in China at the upcoming 2012 CCBN Beijing to be held on March 21st at booth 1B601. 
Catering to the faster-than-ever trend of digital broadcasting migration from standard definition to high definition in the Chinese domestic market, ALi will be showcasing some of the industry’s best performing and commercially available HD STB solutions at CCBN 2012 aiming to provide more optimized choices to Chinese TV operators. These include the HD SoC of M3701C for HD ASO (Analogue switch off), advanced HD solution of M3701H offering two-way communications, and specialized HD platform of M3701M suited to the three-network convergence. ALi will also exhibit a range of new industry-leading chips including SD Cable basic model of M3202-C and M3381T focused on the DTMB segment. 

Wednesday 4 April 2012

VIDEOCON d2h come on board as Title Partner of Kings XI Punjab for IPL V

Videocon d2h is proud to be associated with one of the leading teams of DLF IPL V – Kings XI Punjab as its title partner for the upcoming season. Videocon d2h logo will adorn the front of the Kings XI Punjab team jersey.
Kings XI Punjab has been associated with the IPL since its inception and has created its own space in the hearts and minds of millions of fans across the country.

One Million Likes on 9XM Facebook page!

9XM, Bollywood Music Channel has crossed 1 Million Fans Milestone on the Channel’s Facebook community – www.facebook.com/9xm.in. The winning combination of super hit Bollywood Music, humor, animation, e-commerce and innovative content has catapulted 9XM to the 1 Million fans club on Facebook.
The colossal fan base on 9XM’s Facebook Community was achieved in just over a year’s time, by making it the one-stop destination for Bollywood news, humor and gossip presented in the true 9XM style. From the latest movie reviews to hot gossips on film stars and their parties to Bollywood fashion – it’s all there on the 9XM Facebook Community. The fans regularly voice their opinions, likes and dislikes on all the happenings in Bollywood, making the page the most preferred Bollywood hangout.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Prime Focus Technologies supports initiative to standardize unique content identification, signs up with EIDR

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the global digital content operations specialist, has joined the EIDR [ENTERTAINMENT IDENTIFIER REGISTRY], the global B2B registry for unique identification of content. PFT, with its world-leading Hybrid Cloud technology platform CLEAR™, provides technology and services to major media players including The Associated Press (AP), News Corporation’s Star TV, A&E, EROS International, British Movietone Library, British Film Institute, Colors TV, Multi Screen Media (MSM) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). 
With strong domain knowledge of the entertainment and media industry, and excellent technology credentials, PFT offers an enterprise-wide solution to leading broadcasters, sports federations, news agencies, entertainment giants and music companies, to manage their content, workflows and enterprise processes in the cloud. 

Monday 2 April 2012

Thomson Video Networks Launches New Amethyst III Redundancy Switcher

Thomson Video Networks has launched a new version of the widely-deployed Amethyst III Redundancy Switcher, with new IP input and output features that make it a class-leader in its field. With four gigabit Ethernet interfaces, the Amethyst III can perform seamless automatic transport stream switching over IP networks, with built in bypass for continued secure operation in the event of power failure. 
By adding a new IP interface to its existing ASI one, the Amethyst III allows headend operators to migrate to an all IP architecture, ensuring 24/7 availability of digital TV distribution and other value added and critical services. 

Airtel digital TV (HD) adds another feather to the cap – bags ‘Product of the year 2012’ award

Airtel digital TV (HD), the DTH service by Bharti Airtel has been recognized as ‘Product of the year 2012’, following an independent survey conducted by the leading research firm, AC Nielsen.
Product of the year is an internationally recognized standard that celebrates, champions and rewards the best innovations in retail basis feedback of consumers.
Commenting on the accolade, Mr. Shashi Arora, CEO- DTH/ Media, Bharti Airtel, said, “We are honored to have received this recognition. For us, at Airtel, the genesis of all our innovations lies in the requirements of our customers. Therefore, this accolade is truly a fitting endorsement of our customer centric approach. It is also an acknowledgement of the hard work put in by our team since the launch of Airtel digital TV in India. Rest assured, we will continue to raise the bar for offering the best in digital TV for our stakeholders”.

Aadhaar leak: EPFO discontinues services provided through Common Service Centre

Following fear of Aadhaar data leak, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on May 2 said it has discontinued services provided t...