Army Chief launches “Eyewatch” a state-of-art mobile phone application for the Indian Army families, Veterans and Ex- Servicemen

“Since year 2012 – 13 is declared as ‘Year for Veterans’, this is the first step to reach out to our Veterans and families to provide them this Emergency Alert Service ‘FREE OF COST’ ” said Gen. V.K. Singh, Chief of Army Staff. 

Eyewatch – a world class, emergency alert mobile application was launched by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. V.K. Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC for the safety and assurance of Army families, Veterans and the Ex-Servicemen on the occasion of Veteran Melaat Gurgaon on 31st March 2012.The Chief of Army staff pressed the symbolic button to launch exclusive Eyewatch service. He Also personally congratulated the Eyewatch team for doing an excellent job and the response from the Veterans and Ex – Servicemen was enormous. 

Source Cable of Canada Delivers Data and Video-On-Demand with Harmonic EdgeQAM

Harmonic Inc. announced on 27 march 2012 that Canadian cable television provider Source Cable has deployed Harmonic's NSGTM 9000 HectoQAMTM in its headend, allowing the cable provider to increase the speed of its Internet/data services and add new video-on-demand (VOD) services. Utilizing the highly scalable nature of HectoQAM, Source Cable can cost-effectively deliver data as well as HD and SD VOD services to its subscribers from a single, unified edgeQAM chassis. 

"Our powerful edgeQAM system gives us a leg up on the competition by meeting our subscribers' insatiable appetite for video-on-demand and high-speed Internet services," said Darryl Chandler, vice president of operations and general manager at Source Cable. "The flexible and efficient design of Harmonic's HectoQAM solution will allow us to increase our data, video, and video-on-demand offerings in the future, while maintaining the highest standards of video quality that our subscribers expect." 

Ambani brothers join hands in battle for spectrum

The battle lines for the next big corporate war in the telecom sector have been drawn. And the warring Ambani brothers have come together to take on incumbent GSM operators on the issue of refarming 900 Mhz band spectrum.

Both Reliance Industries and Reliance Communications have supported the move to refarm spectrum in this frequency band. Old GSM operators including Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have opposed it. The views of the operators have emerged from the submissions made by them to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Most televisions will be wired for internet by 2016

Television shows are streamed onto the internet and mobile devices, and soon the internet will be connected to television sets, enhancing the viewing experience, according to a new report by NPD In-Stat which has analyzed developments in digital entertainment. 

100 million televisions in the US and Western Europe will have access to the internet by 2016 with new hybrid TVs that can display interactive content from the web. 

Music industry upbeat over HC order on online piracy

Music industry has termed as "landmark" the Calcutta High Court order which it thinks will put a leash on the scourge of online piracy.

"It is a landmark order in a way that the high court directed internet service providers (ISPs) to block the websites that illegally allow the downloading of songs which result in piracy. The judiciary has understood the sensitive issue of piracy. Even the ISPs have shown their support," the Indian Music Industry (IMI) General Secretary Savio D'Souza told media persons.

NDS PROVIDING NEXT-GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT INDUSTRY DIGITILIZATION AT CONVERGENCE INDIA 2012

At this year’s Convergence India (March 21-23) NDS will showcase a breadth of solutions engineered to support Indian pay-TV operators in the digitisation of their services and the delivery of next-generation TV experiences. 

With ‘India Goes Digital’ as the show’s over-arching theme, NDS is using its presence at this milestone twentieth Convergence India to showcase how its technology is not only addressing the fundamental needs of digitisation, but isenabling pay-TV operators to deliver sophisticated TV experiences. As India’s leading provider of digital TV solutions, NDS will be offering a look at the future of TV and how it can be delivered through a range of solutions for enhanced user experiences, home networking and next-generation convergence technologies. 

ACCESS and Verimatrix announce Initiative to Provide ‘Studio Confident’ Security for Advanced Media Sharing

ACCESS CO., LTD, a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile, beyond-PC and digital TV markets, and Verimatrix, the specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-screen digital TV services around the globe, announced that they will provide ‘studio confident’ security through the integration of Verimatrix ViewRight® security with the ACCESS NetFront™ Living Connect DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) Technology Component™ solution.

The collaboration is designed to make studios and other content owners confident that their most valuable content, such as early release HD movies, can be securely shared between devices and that all business model constraints can be maintained. 

ALi and Ubitus Partner up to Demonstrate Cloud Gaming at CCBN2012

ALi Corporation, the Set-Top Box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) leading solution provider and Ubitus Inc., the technology leader in deploying cloud-enabled rich media services, announced on 21 March 2012,their joint demonstration of cloud gaming for Pay TV operators at 2012 CCBN.

With the pre-integration of Ubitus GameCloud engine on ALi’s STB Client as a reference design, Pay TV operators and STB makers will now be able to offer “native-like” console gaming experience over digital broadcasting network with minimum effort and ultra low cost. The turnkey will be demoed at CCBN2012, March 21 - 23, 2012 at 1B601. 

Conax announce solutions that will enable Chinese Pay-TV operators to leverage new hybrid, triple-play and OTT consumer services

This year at CCBN, China’s leading showcase for broadcasting technology in the Asia-Pacific region, security provider, Conax, will feature its flagship product, Conax Contego™ for securing pay-tv operations content. The company’s Conax Contego™ portfolio of advanced content protection solutions enable multi-screen digital TV content providers to deliver premium pay-content through broadcast and Over-The-Top services, securely. Conax Contego also enables secure content consumption via multiple devices, such as SmartPhone, Tablets and PC’s.

Enable and protect: Based on 25 years of pioneering experience within securing pay-for-content revenues, Conax will guide Chinese pay-tv operators in navigating the new digital landscape and generating fresh consumer offerings including secure distribution of hybrid, triple-play and multi-device premium content. 

TRAI does comfort level for mobile subscribers in verification norms

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has sought easing of the Department of Telecom's mobile connection guidelines, pleading before the Supreme Court that the new norms will put "unnecessary burden" on operators as well as subscribers.

The guidelines call for strict adherence to the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) for verification of subscribers in the interest of national security.

TRAI Releases Consultation Paper on use of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Spectrum

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released on 15 March 2012, a consultation paper on “Amendment in the ISP Licence Agreement for incorporating the terms and conditions mentioned in Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) dated 25.02.2010 for use of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum”.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) received a reference from Department of Telecommunication (DoT) seeking TRAI’s recommendations for amendment in the ISP Licence Agreement to incorporate the terms and conditions mentioned in Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) dated 25.02.2010 for use of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.

Thomson Video Networks' Partnership with Verimatrix Integrates OTT Delivery and Rights Management

Thomson Video Networks and Verimatrix have successfully integrated a solution for high-quality delivery of over-the-top (OTT) services with secure content protection and rights management. By combining Thomson's ViBE VS7000 platform with the Verimatrix VCAS™ for Internet TV security solution, service providers can offer outstanding picture quality while ensuring that content rights are not infringed by unauthorized use. 

Thomson Video Networks' ViBE VS7000 Convergent Video System offers class-leading video quality at a variety of bit rates using adaptive bit rate encoding technology, and can stream high value content to smartphones, tablets, computers, set-top boxes, and connected TVs. The Verimatrix VCAS solution provides convenient and secure management of the digital rights associated with the content. The two systems are fully interoperable and are being deployed in combination to deliver HDTV OTT channels in Asia. 

Qualcomm gets broadband licence

Qualcomm on 15 March 2012 got a licence for wireless broadband services, more than a year after it won spectrum through an auction.

The company had won spectrum in four circles during the auction held in 2010 for nearly Rs 5,000 crore. However, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had held back the licence on technical issues.

TRAI comes out consultation paper for 2G spectrum auctions

Following the cancellation of 122 mobile licences by the Supreme Court last month, TRAI is ready to set the base price anywhere between Rs 620.48 crore to Rs 4,571.85 crore for a single MHz or unit of spectrum. This has been proposed in TRAI’s latest consultation paper to auction the 2G spectrum as per the Supreme Court order. Mobile phone companies whose licences had been cancelled by the apex court had paid Rs 1658 crore for 6.2 MHz of airwaves on a pan-India basis in 2008.

Qualcomm pays Tulip’s dues to get BWA licence

The US-based chipmaker Qualcomm has paid an amount of Rs 410 to the department of telecommunications (DoT) as dues of its Indian partner Tulip Telecom, which would enable it to get the licence for offering broadband wireless services in a week.

Qualcomm has paid the dues on March 7, after the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate (TDSAT) recent direction to Qualcomm to deposit the amount as demanded by the department of telecommunication (DoT) from Tulip within four weeks.

ALi and Abel ease STB obstacles for low-ARPU pay-TV operators

Low-ARPU operators are typically faced with STBs either being expensive vs. ARPU or of too poor quality. ALi Corp., a high volume manufacturer of System-on-Chip (SoC) for STBs, and Abel DRM Systems, a CAS specialist, now address this dilemma by offering support for Abel CAS in ALi’s STB SoCs pre-reference design. 

Without relevant expertise, integration of support for CAS is complex and tedious for STB manufacturers. Expertise costs money or time. STB manufacturers who otherwise have good products may be stalled. The result is less flexibility for pay-TV operators. 

Actor Joy Mukherjee dies at 73

Veteran actor Joy Mukherjee, who starred in several Bollywood hits in the '60s, passed away on 09 March 2012 after prolonged illness at a hospital here. He was 73. 

It is hard to define Joy Mukherjee. You could call him a chocolate boy hero with an infectious smile. Or you could look at that strapping frame to realise why many in the sixties felt he was the closest Bollywood had to Rock Hudson machismo. 

I&B agrees to vacate 700 MHz spectrum for 4G services

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) decided to allocate 700 MHz spectrum for offering fourth-generation or 4G telecom services.

"There were about four issues which came up for resolution before the empowered committee and three of them have been resolved fully. Basically the issues were relating to the 700 MHz band those have been resolved," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here.

Ibibo eyes 50 pc share of India's social gaming market by FY'14

Online gaming company Ibibo aims to increase its market share in the country's social gaming space to 50 per cent in the next two years, from 30-35 per cent at present. 

To achieve the target, the company is working on improving its offering over mobile platform and also increase the number of developers it is working with. 

FM-III e-auctions to kick off in November

The 3G-style electronic auctions of 839 new FM stations in 294 cities under the FM-III policy will be conducted in three batches, starting with the first batch of 200-250 FM channels in 100-plus towns by November. The remaining two batches will be conducted next year.

The first batch of e-auctions will include the 132 vacant FM slots in existing 86 towns, 33 new slots in the border towns of Jammu & Kashmir and the North-Eastern states and another 100-odd slots in about 30 new towns so far untouched by the private FM radio companies allowed in the first and second phase of private FM policies announced in 2001 and 2005, respectively.

IPTV outpaces cable and satellite TV growth: MRG Survey

The new IPTV forecast from MRG, Inc. indicates that the number of global IPTV subscribers will grow from 53 million in 2011 to 105.1 million in 2015, a CAGR of 18.7 per cent.

The service revenue for the global IPTV market was $21.8 billion in 2011 and is projected to grow to $45.3 billion in 2015, a CAGR of 20 per cent. By 2015, Europe and North America will continue to generate a larger share of the global revenue. New and innovative services of key Operators described in the report reveal that IPTV operators are aggressively developing these new services to compete with other local Pay-TV operators.

TRAI to come out with guidelines on unified licensing, spectrum auction

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is expected to come out with its policy for a unified licensing regime for broadcasting and telecom by the end of this month.

TRAI Chairman J S Sarma said the work on the consultation paper in this regard was in the final stage.

Zee TV gets landing rights in China

Essel Group's Zee TV has received the much-awaited landing rights in China which will enable the media firm to cater to audience in the mandarin country. 

"Zee TV has got the landing rights in China," a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said while briefing reporters on the talks between India's Foreign Minister S M Krishna and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jeichi here. 

Zee New Media forays into the OTT segment with Ditto TV

The digital arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE), Zee New Media, launched on 29 February 2012, India’s first and only OTT (Over-The-Top TV) distribution platform, Ditto TV, with an aim to offer LIVE TV Channels and On Demand Video Content to consumers on their Mobile Phones, Tablets, Laptops, Desktops, Entertainment Boxes and Connected TVs. This offering heralds a welcome breakaway from appointment TV viewing to a more flexible, customizable way of enjoying TV and VOD content- my screen, my time, my video, a concept that has fundamentally turned appointment TV viewing on its head. With access to the largest collection of premium content, spread across leading content genres like GEC, Sports, Lifestyle, Regional and News, along with rich on-demand video capabilities, Ditto TV offers a unique and compelling experience, delivering seamless video viewing experience to a range of Internet-enabled devices. Along with this India launch, Ditto TV will also be available in the global markets of UK, UAE, New Zealand and Australia with US soon to follow by the end of this quarter.