Airtel Digital TV brings Dolby Digital Plus surround sound

Airtel Digital TV has selected Dolby Digital Plus as the surround sound format for its new HD DTH service and set-top boxes. Using Dolby Digital Plus, Airtel digital TV plans to offer customers HD content with up to 7.1 channels of surround sound and efficiently deliver a premium HD audio experience by satellite to its customers.

NDS-Hathway enter an agreement

NDS has signed a new agreement with Hathway, enabling the MSO to rapidly accelerate deployment of digital STBs and significantly boost its digital cable TV subscriber base over the next 12 months. NDS will provide Hathway with a customized, end-to-end solution, to include the sourcing of digital STBs, integration of NDS conditional access system (CAS) and middleware, management of the deployment and ongoing maintenance and support.

Ericsson chosen for DishTv upgrade

DishTv has chosen Ericsson to improve its satellite bandwidth efficiency, increase channel capacity and offer more choice to its subscribers in HD and SD. The head-end upgrade enables DishTv's 7 million subscribers to enjoy new HD services. Viewers will now be able to access new SD channels without the need to swap existing MPEG-2 set-top boxes.

DishTv has selected Ericsson's EN8100 MPEG-2 and EN8190 MPEG-4 AVC encoders, and is launching a combined SD MPEG-2 and HD MPEG-4 AVC system in the same transponder space. The EN8100 and EN8190 optimize bitrates and deliver greater performance to strengthen DishTv's business case by maximizing current bandwidth capacity.

The EN8100 offers leading levels of performance that enable operators to maximize bandwidth utilization without the need for new customer equipment. This improvement in service, with zero disruption to the subscriber, reduces churn and attracts new customers.

S Ramakrishnan takes over as director LPSC

S Ramakrishnan, distinguished scientist of ISRO and hitherto director (projects), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, assumed the office of director, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. He took over the charge from MKG Nair, the outgoing director. Ramakrishnan has made significant contribution to the launch vehicle technology in the country starting from the very first SLV-3 project. He played a key role in the development of PSLV and was responsible for development of liquid propulsion stages and their interfacing with vehicle and launch operations.

Under his leadership as project director, PSLV Continuation programme (PSLV-C1 to C4), operationalisation of PSLV and enhancing the payload capability from 900 kg to 1500 kg was accomplished. As project director, GSLV Mark III, Ramakrishnan steered the project during the crucial phase of design, engineering and realisation of first-off hardware for development test.

SC rejects Incable's appeal

The Supreme Court has rejected Incable Net (Andhra) Ltd's appeal against the orders of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Company Law Board (CLB) that rejected its plea to wind up a consortium established by the Andhra Pradesh government to provide broadband connectivity to the rural areas in the state. Dismissing the appeal of Incable, one of the partners in the consortium, the apex court stated that it is not inclined to interfere with the orders of the high court or the CLB, since it is not satisfied that any act of oppression or mismanagement within the meaning of sections 397, 398, 402 and 403 of the Companies Act has been made out against the majority shareholder, which would justify making of a winding up order.

With the intention of providing broadband network connectivity to all government offices across Andhra Pradesh, the state government with the help of Andhra Pradesh Technology Services had formed a consortium to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) AP Aksh Broadband Ltd to implement its Rs. 395 crore project. Later, the partners of the consortium fell out leading to a spate of winding up petitions alleging mismanagement and oppression of members. The senior counsel appearing for Incable, submitted that the SPV had used its sister concern Aksh Optifibre Ltd to dump useless and defective cable, and siphoned out the monies from AP Aksh. The senior counsel appearing for the SPV and others, submitted that the contractual obligations under the EPC contract did not fall within the scope of Sections 397 and 398 of the Act. The right of Incable as shareholder was in no way affected, particularly, when its director RVR Chowdary had functioned as a vice-chairman of AP Aksh and also chaired its meetings.

DD has high revenue hopes from C'Weath Games

With the Commonwealth Games expected to give a fillip to its advertising revenues, Doordarshan is looking at crossing the Rs. 1,000-crore mark for the first time since its inception.

The channel had made around Rs. 900 crore from advertising revenues last financial year (2009-10). With the viewership projected to get a major boost during the Commonwealth Games, Doordarshan is hoping to make over Rs. 1,100 crore from ad revenues this year. This would make DD inch closer to the number three broadcaster in the general entertainment industry, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, which rustled Rs. 1,068 crore from ad revenues in 2009-10. The total ad revenue of the television sector was around Rs. 9,000 crore in 2009-10.

Of the Rs. 1,100 crore expected by DD, about Rs. 110 crore is expected to filter in from ad spends during the Games. As much as 80 percent of the television viewing public in the country is expected to tune in to to Doordarshan during the Games. The initial response that the broadcaster has received from advertisers is quite encouraging. However, the money from advertising in the 12-day Games pales into insignificance when compared to cricket. For instance, the recently concluded T-20 World Cup had rustled up over Rs. 250-300 crore in ad revenues, while Sony SET Max made around Rs. 700 crore from the Indian Premier League, a 45-day affair.

Revamp for Reliance Media World

Reliance Media World Ltd. has unveiled its new business intentions, to build a multi-media entity, offering marketers integrated, holistic solutions for their business needs. The three business verticals BIG Street, BIG Live and BIG Digital are now being brought together, to deliver the new vision of the Company. In line with the new business direction, Reliance Media World Ltd. has been re-christened as Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd.

The acquisition of Digicable is a step towards the demerger of direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV business, now under the Reliance BigTV brand and the domestic retail broadband business of Reliance Communications, into a new entity along with the newly acquired Digicable. The new entity will be called Reliance DigiCom and Digicable will be given a stake in this entity. Reliance Communications is likely to retain 60 
percent stake in DigiCom. The deal comes on the heels of the mega merger of its tower business with the GTL group.

The combined entity, Reliance DigiCom, will enjoy a subscriber base of 11 million, market leadership in 110 towns including the top six metros, and 16 percent market share of pay TV homes.

Reliance Broadcast Network joint venture with US-based CBS Studios International signals its big-ticket entry into the broadcasting space. There will be a joint investment of Rs. 480 crore over five years in this joint venture. But for Reliance Broadcast, which is set to launch a clutch of channels, the going may not be smooth.

The joint venture initially envisages the launch of English language General Entertainment Channels (GECs) and later on Hindi GECs. Both these endeavours have inherent challenges. The English GEC is dominated by channels such as AXN and Star World with Zee Caf?© too providing competition. The genre commands far lesser viewership than Hindi and regional GECs, that together account for a bulk of all television viewership. This, with the fact that there is stiff competition, means that driving advertising revenues would be an uphill task for Reliance Broadcast.

The most lucrative markets - Hindi and other regional GEC - are an even more difficult terrain. The Hindi GEC is dominated by Colors, Star Plus and Zee TV, which take away a lion's share of the advertising pie. The success that Colors has had, with limited operating history, in toppling the other two to reach top viewership would make Reliance Broadcast replicate the feat, though it may not be easy.