HBO launches True Blood: True Survival Facebook game

HBO South Asia has launched a new Facebook game application based on the popular TV series, True Blood. The True Blood: True Survival Facebook game application can be accessed through Facebook and every week top scoring winners from Asia will get a chance to win exclusive True Blood prizes. The game has been launched to coincide when the True Blood TV series season six launch from July 3.

True Blood True Survival Tab from the and the desired language. Finally the user needs to click on Play Game option to start the game.

Bimal Julka takes over as Secretary, I&B

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Bimal Julka as Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), according to a press release issued by the government on 26 June 2013. He is taking charge from Uday Kumar Varma, who is retiring on June 30, 2013.

Prior to this appointment, Julka has been Special Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs. He is an IAS Officer of the 1979 batch of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Ditto TV ties up with Ten Sports for international streaming rights

Ditto TV has acquired the international streaming rights from Ten Cricket to broadcast live the Caribbean 7-match Tri-Series that will be played between India-West Indies-Sri Lanka in West Indies from June 28 to Jul 11, 2013.

Vishal Malhotra, Business Head – New Media at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd said, “Coming on the heels of the Champions Trophy in England that India won spectacularly, the Caribbean Tri-Series is bound to whip up passions of a billion cricket crazy fans in India and from around the world. Our partnership with Ten Cricket will allow this viewer to get a slice of the action on-the-go.”

Service tax on film distribution, sale of rights to TV upheld

The Madras High Court has upheld the levy of service tax on income generated from temporary transfer of rights to use cinematographic films. This means that service tax has to be paid for distribution of films and selling of rights to television. Such “temporary transfer” or permission to use the films for specified periods is considered commercial activity.

The Union Government brought in an amendment providing for levying tax on such services. This was challenged by producers and distributors of films in the Madras High Court.

Broadcasters, TAM imbroglio may end soon

A five-point formula has been offered by channel owners to TAM and advertisers to amicably resolve the issue of credibility of TAM ratings that had made many prominent broadcasters to unsubscribe TAM services.

With the BARC rating system likely to take a year or even two to be put in place, advertisers were left with no benchmark by which to allocate advertising expenditure on television, which is close to Rs.14,000 crore a year, and growing at 8-10% a year.

Facebook to pull ads from pages with sex, violence

Facebook Inc said it will no longer allow ads to appear on pages with sexual or violent content, as the online social network moves to appease marketers being associated with objectionable material. 

The moves come a month after several businesses pulled their ads from Facebook amid reports of pages on Facebook that promoted violence against women. 

GSAT-15 and GSAT-16 get the go ahead from the Cabinet

The Union Cabinet on 28 June gave its approval to the proposal for the GSAT-15 and GSAT-16 communication satellite project along with procurement of launch services and insurance.

The building of the GSAT-15 is part of the Indian Research Organisation’s (ISRO's) efforts towards in-orbit spare capacity to meet contingency and to protect the services of existing users. The satellite will provide required redundant capacity, will augment capacity in the Ku band, and shall provide in-orbit redundant requirement of safety of life operations benefitting civil aviation services in the country. Nine operational INSAT/GSAT satellites are currently providing different frequency bands to nearly 195 transponders. The GSAT-15 satellite will cover the entire Indian mainland. All heritage proven bus systems will be used to build the satellite in 18 months. The satellite will be similar to the GSAT-8.

DigiVive bags mobile rights for cricket Tri-Series

Value added services provider DigiVive said it has bagged mobile rights for the cricket Tri-Series featuring India, West Indies and Sri Lanka, starting on 28 June 2013. 

"DigiVive bought the rights from TAJ TV Ltd. Along with match broadcast, users will also be able to enjoy the match highlights in the special VoD section of DigiVive's mobile TV service, nexGTv till August, 2013," it said in a release. 

Finally Rupert Murdoch Empire gets split in two as planned

Rupert Murdoch split his corporate empire into two parts on 28 June 2013 under a long-promised plan to "unlock value" by separating high-flying entertainment operations from struggling publishing activities. 

The split became effective at the close of trade in New York, creating a new group called 21st Century Fox while retaining the name News Corp for the publishing group. Murdoch remains in charge of both. 

Murdoch, Abu Dhabi group 'eye' Financial Times

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Abu Dhabi's state media group are in talks to acquire the Financial Times Group for about $1.2 billion, a report said on 28 June 2013.

The move would see Murdoch add the respected Financial Times name as well as 50 per cent of the Economist magazine to his vast empire, which already includes the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.

Ministry cancels license of 61 TV channels

The I&B ministry has slapped show cause notices on 38 broadcasters for not intimating it of the changes in their shareholding pattern or on the board of directors as mandated.

Of the 38 broadcasting companies to whom the notices have been sent, 32 had made changes in their share holding pattern without prior intimation to the ministry while 6 had not informed of the changes made on the board of directors.

HC seeks status report on installation of STBs

A Division Bench of the A.P. High Court comprising Justice N.V.Ramana and Justice Vilas Afzul Purkar on 27 June 2013 directed the Central government to file a status report regarding the implementation of the statutory regulations pertaining to digitalisation of TV signals and installation of Set Top Box (STB). The Bench announced that the judgment in this case would be delivered soon.

The Bench was dealing with a writ petition filed by Chalasani Narendra Vara Prasad, senior journalist and rights activist. He complained that the STBs were not being supplied by the multi-system operators at reasonable rates and they were not available in the market. 

Rajasthan Royals set to launch their channel 'RR TV'

Rajasthan Royals will launch their channel 'RR TV'. Launched in partnership with "Engage Sports Media" in order to provide fans access to exclusive original content, RR TV fired up a week before the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013 started, and goes behind-the-scenes with Captain Rahul Dravid and Royals team.

'RR TV' will include daily online video clips of the team and offer a number of TV shows during the current season and post-season. It is syndicated and distributed to Royals' website and social networking sites like Fan Zone, You Tube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as online publishers, news and sports websites, radio, mobile and television networks in India, the sub-continent and selected international territories.

HC seeks status report on installation of STBs

A Division Bench of the A.P. High Court comprising Justice N.V.Ramana and Justice Vilas Afzul Purkar on 27 June 2013 directed the Central government to file a status report regarding the implementation of the statutory regulations pertaining to digitalisation of TV signals and installation of Set Top Box (STB). The Bench announced that the judgment in this case would be delivered soon.

No end to Digital Cable Woes

After having failed to pressurize MSOs and LCOs, TRAI is now trying to pressurize the consumers threatening to cut off their cable connections if they don’t submit their consumer application forms (CAF) to their respective cable operators / MSOs. 

25 June was the last date of the warning to 9-10 million subscribers whose forms have not been submitted yet. Now TRAI has extended the last date of CAF submission to 10th July. 

Pune Distt Administration wants subscribers to submit CAF

The entertainment branch of the district administration has directed multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators in the city to expedite the collection of Consumer Application Forms (CAF) from customers.

Officials from the entertainment branch on 26 June said though they have not received the latest statistics on the number of customers yet to submit the forms to their respective cable operators, however, according to the sources in the cable TV industry, more than 50% of the customers are yet to submit the CAFs.

TRAI extends date for comments on draft amendments to the Interconnection Regulations applicable for DAS and Tariff order by stakeholder to 3rd July

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released draft amendments to the Interconnection Regulations applicable for Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems (DAS) and Tariff Order applicable for all addressable systems on 04th June 2013, inviting written comments from the stakeholders by 18th June, 2013 which, on the request of the stakeholders, was extended up to 26.06.2013. 

Darsh Cable selects Exset BV for DMS implementation

The Netherland-based Exset B.V. and Patna-based Darsh Digital Network Pvt. Ltd. (Darsh Cable) have entered into an agreement to introduce the award winning Digital Monetisation System (DMS) platform to deliver path breaking service and the next generation content protection system to the end users.

As per the agreement, Exset B.V. will be responsible for providing DMS CAS and Middleware to Darsh Cable for its Digital Cable Platform. This association is set to help drive governance, television commerce, advertising and magazines services in a predominantly one–way environment to its entire end–consumers lighting up their TV space

Telecom spectrum price issue in TRAI court

A high-powered ministerial panel decided to refer the issue of spectrum reserve price for the forthcoming auction to telecom regulator Trai and asked it to give recommendations within 60 days.

"It was decided that on the issue of reserve price the matter should be referred to Trai and we would request the Trai to give its recommendations before the end of 60 days because the government is very keen to move forward and sell the spectrum," telecom minister Kapil Sibal said.

Criminal case against three Malyali channels

The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Vaikom, has issued a directive to the police to register a crime and initiative investigation against three news channels on a criminal miscellanies petition (CMP) alleging airing of obscene visuals. The directive from Judicial First Class Magistrate Prabhash Lal comes against the CMP filed by Ambarish G. Vasu, of Parvanam House, Vaikom, seeking criminal proceedings against the airing of uncensored video clippings in connection with the news story on charges against Jose Thettayil, MLA.

The complaint named Manorama News, Mathrubhumi News, and Asianet News channels.

Airtel partners Google for Internet services

Bharti Airtel has partnered with Google to launch a service 'Free Zone', wherein subscribers will be able to access Google services such as gmail, Google+ and Google search on their mobile phones without any data cost.

The users, however, have to pay for advanced services such as attachment downloads, the company said in a statement. 

Murdoch’s News International changes name to 'News UK'

News International, the subsidiary of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, was today renamed ’News UK’ as the group sought to rebuild the brand tarnished by the phone-hacking scandal.

A new name and logo are being introduced to convey a more “coherent” identity, said a statement from the firm which publishes the ‘Times’, ‘Sun’ and ‘Sunday Times’ newspapers in Britain.

Sky-D: Murdoch not appointed to head up business

Sky Deutschland says James Murdoch has “not been appointed head of our supervisory board”. Moreover the broadcaster says that current board chairman (News Corp’s Chase Carey) remains in post.

A spokeswoman for Sky Deutschland admitted there had been market rumours, which as a public company they do not comment upon, and also argued that it was debatable whether the ‘news’ such as it was had affected the company’s share price, given that the market is currently “pretty volatile” just at the moment.

TRAI extends the time-line for submission of Consumer Application Forms now July 10

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has decided to extend the time-line for submission of consumer application forms (CAFs) by subscribers of Digital Addressable Cable TV systems to July 10, 2013. This is the last and final extension. Earlier, the deadline to submit the CAFs was June 25, 2013.

A meeting with all national Multi System Operators (MSOs) was held in TRAI and the status with regard to the entry of consumer details along with the choice of channels and services in their subscriber management systems was reviewed. TRAI has pointed out that there is still a large number of subscribers whose complete details are not yet available with Cable Operators/MSOs. The MSOs cited the enormity and complexity of the task involved as the prime reason for the pendency and requested for an extension in the deadline for completion of the task.

DD Urdu to pay tribute to centenary of Indian cinema

Doordarshan is to telecast a series on film songs on its Urdu service to commemorate one hundred years of Indian cinema.

Each episode of the series titled Yaadon Ke Dariche Se will be theme-based with emphasis on old melodies. Each song will have a caption giving detailed information about the year of production of film, singers, lyricists, artistes, and music director.

Indian broadcasters get a new sales house in UK market

A new sales house, Exodus Media, representing the ethnic media in the UK, was launched last month. The sales house will concentrate on specialist channels within News, Travel and General Entertainment genres for the ethnic sector.

Bill Miller, Managing Director of Exodus Media, said, “Exodus is backed by one of the largest ethnic media agencies in the USA, Mediamorphosis. It’s exciting that Exodus has already signed six channels – B4U Music, B4U Movies, Sony (SET), Sony Max, MATV and ABP News channel which is relaunching in the UK market in August. We’re here to provide a credible value alternative to existing sales points for client channels and advertisers.”

Indian broadcasters get a new sales house in UK market

A new sales house, Exodus Media, representing the ethnic media in the UK, was launched last month. The sales house will concentrate on specialist channels within News, Travel and General Entertainment genres for the ethnic sector.

Bill Miller, Managing Director of Exodus Media, said, “Exodus is backed by one of the largest ethnic media agencies in the USA, Mediamorphosis. It’s exciting that Exodus has already signed six channels – B4U Music, B4U Movies, Sony (SET), Sony Max, MATV and ABP News channel which is relaunching in the UK market in August. We’re here to provide a credible value alternative to existing sales points for client channels and advertisers.”

SES renews deal with Pakistan's Supernet

SES, a satellite operator with a fleet of 53 geostationary satellites, has renewed a multi-year multi-million dollar contract with Pakistan's satellite network service provider Supernet.

Supernet will acquire C-band capacity on the SES NSS-12 satellite at the prime orbital location of 57 degrees east. The capacity of this satellite, combined with the strong system integration capabilities of Supernet will provide a high quality GSM backhaul services to mobile operators in Pakistan.

TRAI extends date for comments on monopoly in cable TV sector

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has extended the time to stakeholders to give their comments on the consultation paper on Monopoly/ Market dominance in cable TV services. The last date for receiving written comments and counter comments has been extended up to July 1 and July 8, respectively. The earlier date for receiving comments was June 24.

TRAI had released a consultation paper on Monopoly/ Market dominance in cable TV services on June 3, 2013. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has sought TRAI’s recommendations on restriction to be imposed on MSOs and LCOs to prevent monopolies of interest in order to ensure fair competition, improved quality of service and equity.

Ten Sports Channels now available on Hathway

Ten Sports channels comprising of TEN Sports, TEN Action, TEN Cricket, TEN Golf and TEN HD will now be available on Hathway Cable and Datacom. Both the companies have reached an agreement in this regard. Ten Sports Channels will be available for Hathway subscribers in DAS and Non-DAS areas in all the major cities and towns.

Atul Pande, CEO, Ten Sports said, “We are delighted to reach an agreement with Hathway Cable and Datacom for distribution of TEN Sports Channels. This will not only make compelling sports content covering cricket, football, golf, athletics, WWE, etc available for the viewers of Hathway but also help Hathway to improve its revenues through subscription.”

Broadcasters to accept TAM till a new system in installed

Pressure from advertisers and ad agencies seems to be working on the pay broadcasters who had unscribed TAM due to dissatisfaction in with the rating system. According to sources close to the development, of the 11 broadcasters who had pulled out, seven are withdrawing their decision to unsubscribe from TAM; others are expected to follow suit soon.

According to media reports many of the broadcasters are withdrawing their decision to unsubscribe. A resolution meeting is in the pipeline between TAM and broadcasters some time this week.

Cent Percent Media to handle ad sales for 2 OTV group channels

Cent Percent Media Solutions (CPMS) has added two more channels to its advertising sales bouquet with the recent acquisition of advertising sales contracts of Tarang Music and Prarthana channels from Odisha Television Network (OTN). With this, CPMS now handles ad sales for 10 channels.

Commenting on the association, Ratikant Satpathy, VP, Odisha Television Network said, “The TV industry is currently at a tipping point. We realise that digitisation will drive exponential growth going forward, and channels like ours will get their fair share of growth. They will also be seen and evaluated more seriously. We see immense value in the professionalism of Cent Percent Media, especially their expertise and experience in both national and regional markets.”

Chhattisgarh’s Zee 24 Ghante rebrnaded as IBC 24 enters MP

After leaving Zee in March this year, it was tough terrain for Chhattisgarh based SB Multimedia, which successfully ran Zee 24 Ghante Chhattisgarh under a franchisee agreement with Zee News for four and a half years to continue further. The channel has now tied up with IBC to run its regional news channel rebranded as IBC 24. 

Almost three month since the rebranding, IBC 24 has not only strengthened its roots in Chhattisgarh but has also made inroads into the three times bigger market of Madhya Pradesh. 

ASCI upholds complaints against 40 ads in April

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has upheld complaints against 40 ads out of 54 ads in April. Most of these ads are in the health, personal care and education segment.

Health & Personal Care and Education were the main categories that continued to make misleading claims and come under the scanner of the CCC. The sector leads with 52 per cent (148 out of 287) complaints upheld against ads in the first four months of 2013.

ASCI upholds complaints against 40 ads in April

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has upheld complaints against 40 ads out of 54 ads in April. Most of these ads are in the health, personal care and education segment.

Health & Personal Care and Education were the main categories that continued to make misleading claims and come under the scanner of the CCC. The sector leads with 52 per cent (148 out of 287) complaints upheld against ads in the first four months of 2013.

Sanjev Hiremath bids adieu to IndiaCast Media Distribution

Indiacast, a joint venture between Viacom18 and TV18 announced on 25 June 2013 Sanjev Hiremath, EVP at IndiaCast Media Distribution Pvt. Ltd has resigned from the company. He was responsible for setting up the Digital and New Media business for Viacom18, TV18 and ETV channels. 

Announcing Sanjev’s departure, Anuj Gandhi, Group CEO IndiaCast said, "Sanjev has admirably led our New Media and Digital business over last year or so and has put us on a path of high growth trajectory.  Sanjev is an old friend and colleague and we will miss his expertise and knowledge in the Cable and Satellite industry. As he now ventures out, I wish him all the success in all his future endeavors.

Murdoch appointment dents Sky Deutschland shares

James Murdoch has been appointed head of Sky Deutschland’s supervisory board. However, the publicly quoted company’s shareholders didn’t much care for the announcement.  Murdoch is already a board member at the broadcaster (appointed in April), but his new appointment sees the departure of Chase Carey (COO at News Corp) who has held the position since July 2010.

But the news wiped 4 per cent (21 Euro-cents) from Sky-D’s price and made the company one of the largest fallers on the Frankfurt stock exchange on June 21st.

Mamata accuses TV channels of indulging in false propaganda

Faced with criticism from different quarters over the rise in atrocities against women Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came up with a bizarre defence of the State government on 23 June by asking at a public rally: “Are all women in the State being raped?”

Addressing an election rally at Minakha in the Basirhat area of the State’s North 24 Parganas district she vented her ire on a section of the electronic media saying that by highlighting atrocities committed on women they were “disrespecting” the people of the State.

Prasar Bharati may get digital wing

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati may get a digital wing to reach out to the increasing number of Internet and smartphone users, if recommendations of a working group formed by the government are accepted.

The working group has said in addition to television and radio, Prasar Bharati should get a third arm - Prasar Bharati Digital - to connect with new age users. 

SAB TV fortifies brand positioning with new look

Branding and enhancing the brand value and proposition have been the key for players in the broadcast space. Continuing with the revamp exercise undertaken by some channels, SAB TV has adopted a new look which went on air on June 21, 2013 at 9 PM.

SAB TV’s revamped look epitomises a progressive outlook and an enriched experience directed towards an all-inclusive age group. Featuring bright colours, while retaining the brand colours of red and yellow, the feel resonates positivity, happiness and togetherness. Steinbranding, a design studio from Argentina, was mandated to design the revamped look.

Zee Network appoints Doris Dey fiction prog head

Zee Network appointed Doris Dey as programming head - fiction. Doris will be responsible for driving innovative content in new initiatives of the organisation and will be a part of the creative and content team at the Zee network corporate office in Worli, Mumbai.

She replaces fiction head Sukesh Motwani who was put in his paper earlier this year.

CASBAA Convention 2013 - Change is ON THE AIR

The Asia-Pacific’s premier multichannel TV industry association, CASBAA, announced on 24 June 2013 the dates and theme of its flagship event, the CASBAA Convention 2013. Taking place from 21-24 October 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, the 20th edition of the Convention will celebrate the continually evolving broadcasting industry with Change is ON THE AIR.

“We are looking to shake things up this year for the CASBAA Convention,” said Christopher Slaughter, CEO, CASBAA. “While the core values of CASBAA remain the same, to inform, represent and connect, we are looking at new and different ways to improve our biggest event of the year. With this year’s theme, not only are we recognizing that our industry is in a constant state of flux, but that CASBAA, too, is changing to meet the needs of our membership.”

Cable operators Montecable and Nuevo Siglo rolling out VOD services using OTT, secured by Conax Contego Unite™

NexTV South America Summit -- Conax, a leading global provider of solutions for securing multi-device and digital video content distribution, announced on 24 June 2013 that Uruguay pay-TV operators Montecable and Nuevo Siglo are deploying content security solution Conax Contego Unite™ and Conax Secure Clients to enable the addition of advanced Over-the-Top multiscreen, multi-network video and content consumption services.  The operators are in commercial deployment with security partner Conax and middleware provider Cubiware in a joint project led by system integrator Bold MSS to roll out the new, advanced OTT broadband services. The Hybrid OTT solution provides the Uruguay operators with a highly cost efficient and unique market differentiator for offering value-added services for the end consumer. The new Conax Security platform deployed for provisioning the Hybrid DVB-C/P solution will run in simulcrypt with a legacy security platform.

CommunicAsia2013, EnterpriseIT2013 and BroadcastAsia2013 Concluded a Week of Fulfilling Business Exchange

CommunicAsia2013, EnterpriseIT2013 and BroadcastAsia2013, the most relevant and largest industry event of its kind in Asia, closed on 21 June, after a week of fulfilling business interactions and knowledge exchange amongst like-minded industry professionals. The four-day event, held from 18 to 21 June at the Marina Bay Sands, saw more than 51,000 attendees from 100 countries/regions throng the exhibition halls and conference suites.

“The shows have done extremely well this year. Attendees, including exhibitors, conference speakers and delegates, as well as members of the press, have expressed fulfillment with what they were able to achieve this year. For us, this is testament to the success of the shows,” says Stephen Tan, Chief Executive of Singapore Exhibition Services, the organiser of CommunicAsia2013, EnterpriseIT2013 and BroadcastAsia2013. “By holding all the shows under one roof, we could leverage the increasing convergence of technologies across both sectors, and still have each show maintain its own appeal.”

Dish to redeem $2.6 bn debt sold in May as Sprint Bid fails

Dish Network Corp (DISH), the satellite-TV company that abandoned its bid for Sprint Nextel Corp, will redeem $2.6 billion of bonds it issued last month to help fund the planned acquisition.

The company will redeem on 24 June its $1.25 billion of five per cent bonds due May 2017 at 100 cents on the dollar and its $1.35 billion of 6.25 per cent notes due May 2023 at 101 cents on the dollar, plus accrued and unpaid interest, the Englewood, Colorado-based company said today in a regulatory filing.

BIS standards to be mandatory for STBs from July 3rd

IT products including STBs in India will carry Indian Standard (IS) certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with effect from July 3, 2013. India is also planning to ban all electronic products from India that do not carry BIS mark.

The Indian Government has informed that it will not make any relaxation in this rule. 15 categories of products will fall under the registration process started by the Government. Therefore, these products need to be registered under BIS.

TRAI sets June 25 deadline to submit CAF forms for DAS

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had on 7th June 2013 put the cable TV subscribers of Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems (DAS) to their respective cable operator or Multi System Operators (MSOs) latest by 25th June 2013. The reason for this was that in terms of the Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems Regulations, 2012, the MSOs can transmit digital signals and activate the set top boxes only after receiving the CAF from the consumer with his/her preference. If there is no form, the MSOs are obliged under law not to transmit the signals and deactivate the cable connection.

To educate and sensitize consumers on this, TRAI has been issuing public notices from time to time. The broadcasters and the cable TV service providers have also been running scrolls and video programmes on major subscribers to submit the duly filled-in consumer application forms.

Disha TV promoted R C Raina to COO

Disha Media Pvt. Ltd. has promoted R. C. Raina as Chief Operating Officer for Disha TV & Disha USA TV Channels. Raina was earlier working as General Manager- Operations for the Group. After the resignation of CEO in the month of July, 2012, Raina spearheaded both the channels and during the last one year great success and growth has been achieved by these 2 Channels. The revenues of the Channels increased by 150 % whereas distribution & visibility has increased in India and 140 countries of the world. Disha TV has become a respectful brand globally. During his tenure, he has brought in best HR Policies for the Company.

Bigg Boss makers bet on Big B, cop show to grab eyeballs

Reality shows such as Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi, EndemolIndia is looking at acquisitions to expand its portfolio.

It is also planning to go regional with its reality shows and earn nearly half of its revenues from movie production.

Wimbledon can be watched live on 3 channels of Star Sports

Leading sports broadcaster STAR Sports will broadcast live and exclusive coverage of the 2013 Wimbledon tennis tournament on three channels — STAR Sports 2, ESPN and ESPN HD, starting 24 June 2013.

Wimbledon 2013 will also see a host of Indian doubles players competing. Leander Paes has been seeded fourth with Czech partner Radek Stepanek while Mahesh Bhupathi with Austrian Julian Knowle has been seeded eighth. Rohan Bopanna, with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, has been seeded 14th.

Tata Communications aims to digitise archived historical documents of Doordarshan

Rare and historical documents from the archives of major libraries, films and documentaries of Doordarshan and Films Division of India can now be preserved in electronic form through digitisation. 

Tata Communications Media Services soon plans to digitise such documents of historical and cultural significance. 

Prime Focus World raises Rs 313 cr from Macquarie Capital

Prime Focus World, the creative services division of Prime Focus, has offloaded a 15 per cent stake to Macquarie Capital to raise Rs 313 crore.

“The deal provides an enterprise valuation of Rs 1,770 crore for the company.

Ibibo Group to acquire online bus ticketing firm redBus.in

E-commerce firm Ibibo Group today said it will acquire Bangalore-based online bus ticketing firm redBus.in for an undisclosed amount.

Ibibo Group and Pilani Soft Labs Pvt Ltd, owner of redBus.in have executed a binding agreement for the acquisition, the company said in a statement.

DoT slams TRAI’s move to lower roaming tariff

The telecom department (DoT) has criticized Trai's move to lower roaming tariffs and said that the regulator has followed the one-nation, one-roaming principle, outlined by Kapil Sibal in the National Telecom Policy, only 'in letter and not in spirit'. Trai had lowered roaming tariffs by 30% earlier this week but has categorically said that fully free roaming was 'simply not practical'.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had planned to introduce free roaming by March this year, but then pushed the deadline to October after mobile phone companies opposed the move. Operators argued that forcible imposition of free roaming would result in losses of more than Rs 10,000 crore for the entire industry.

BSNL signs four international roaming agreements

State-run telecom operator BSNL has signed four international roaming agreements in May with service providers in Bahrain, Guinea and Saudi Arabia. 

RK Upadhyay, Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL, said, "We already have presence in these countries. The agreement is to strengthen our presence there and provide more choice for customers," 

Digital TV homes over 1bn by 2014

Global digital TV households will continue a growth trend, and exceed 1 billion by the end of 2014.  This represents a significant increase from the end of 2012 when digital cable, satellite, IPTV and terrestrial (DTT) households totaled 755 million.  A Strategy Analytics forecast shows a 6 year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7 per cent for the digital TV market overall.

9X Media launches music video

Music channel network 9X Media is launching its first ever brand video on the occasion of World Music Day, June 21. The music video, titled 'Tung Tucking Ting' is being released to reinforce network's association with music.

Punit Pandey, EVP and head – new businesses, 9X Media explained, “We are the largest music network in the country with channels for Bollywood, international and regional (film) music. Through this video we want to establish the idea of 'Think Music, Think 9X'.”

Prasar Bharati making a foray into digital media

Prasar Bharati plans to introduce mobile applications for Doordarshan and All India Radio that will provide news and entertainment including access to rare archival material to viewers on mobiles, laptops and tablets. The public broadcaster also plans to sell excess land as part of its efforts towards financial restructuring.

 Both DD and AIR are already on Youtube and Twitter with a growing following. While DD News has 32,000 followers on Twitter, it receives an encouraging 700 views a day on Youtube. There are about 1,700 videos uploaded currently. AIR too has 24,000 followers on Twitter. The next step according to a senior official is to create and develop mobile apps.

Turner International to cut 30% staff in Asia-Pacific

Turner International Asia Pacific Ltd, a division of Time Warner Inc.’s Turner Broadcasting System Inc., said on 20 June 2013 it’s reducing staff by 30% in the region, without specifying the total number of jobs being lost. However, according to its managing director Steve Marcopoto, India operations will be least affected.

In India, Turner operates children’s channels Cartoon Network and Pogo, besides English film channels WB and HBO. It has a branding tie-up with the CNN-IBN news channel run by IBN18 Network. The company also operates Zee Turner Ltd, a channel distribution company with the Zee group.

Intelsat suspends Iranian TV channels

Intelsat says it is recognising a US ruling in favour of formal sanctions against Iran, and in particular against the president of Iran’s national broadcasting corporation (IRIB).  The decision also means that Press TV, an English-language news channel broadcast from Tehran, is also curtailed.

Intelsat says that it has been ordered by the US government to avoid extending IRIB’s contracts, noting that it will stop providing services as of 1 July. Intelsat is following Eutelsat, SES and most other satellite operators in taking the channels down.

Cisco Integrates Citrix NetScaler into Cloud Network Services Portfolio

Cisco today announced the evolution of its network services strategy for virtual and cloud networks by integrating the market-leading Citrix® NetScaler® application delivery controller (ADC) technology into the Cisco Unified Fabric Cloud Network Services portfolio.

The best-in-class virtual application delivery controller will be tightly coupled into Cisco’s virtual networking framework to provide superior network service provisioning and performance.  Citrix NetScaler 1000V will be sold by Cisco and its channel partners worldwide and supported globally by the Cisco Technical Assistance Center. 

Govt needs Rs 13,645 crore to meet rural broadband target

Indian government will require Rs 13,645 crore to meet its target of rolling out high-speed broadband network to 100,000 gram panchayats by March 2014 as part of its national fibre optic network plan.

The government will dip into the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which has a little over Rs 21,800 crore left to finance a slew of projects including the National Optic Fibre Network. 

Abhay Ojha joins as Sales & Marketing Head in News Nation

News Nation has appointed Abhay Ojha as National Head, Sales and Marketing. In his new role, Ojha will be responsible for sales and revenue generation for the channel.

Prior joining to News Nation, Ojha was working as National Sales Head with Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL). He had joined RBNL from Network18, where he was Assistant Vice President - Sales, heading the North India sales team for Hindi news channel IBN7, with additional responsibility of looking after other group channels of Network18, including CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN-IBN and IBN Lokmat, for markets in North India, excluding Delhi.

Big RTL appoints Vijay Koshy as VP

BIG RTL, the joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network and Europe’s RTL Group, has announced the appointment of Vijay Koshy as Vice-President. Koshy will be responsible for driving revenue along with profitability growth for the channel, while being responsible for the overall operations in India. He will report to the joint venture board.

Vijay TV to induct bring in over Rs 961.74 crore as FDI for acquiring domestic shareholding

FIPB has approved an investment of RS 961.74 by foreign promoters for acquiring the existing domestic shareholding in the non-news channel business of M/s Vijay Television Pvt Ltd.

The Foreign Investments Promotion Board has however deferred a decision on a proposal by M/s Jeevan Telecasting Corporation Ltd. as the Home Ministry has proposed for revocation of existing approval.

Huawei India appoints 20:20 MSL as its PR partner

20:20 MSL, part of MSLGroup, has been appointed as the strategic communications partner for Huawei India. The engagement awarded to 20:20 MSL includes strategic communications advisory to ensure Huawei’s brand positioning within its three established business groups – Networking, Enterprise and Devices, as well as communicate the company’s recently enhanced portfolio.

Commenting on the partnership, Suresh Vaidyanathan, Head - PR & Brand, Huawei India said, “As Huawei has expanded into a full-fledged ICT player, there is a need for the company to communicate all the facets of its ICT offerings to the Indian market. 20:20 MSL delivers world class advisory within strategic communication, while also having a thorough experience and understanding of the ICT sector in India. This means that they really understand our business, our clients and our stakeholders, thereby being a true partner to strengthen our business and our brand in India.”