Archive for February, 2010
Airtel digital TV premieres ‘Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince’ on Indian television
Airtel digital TV- the DTH service from Bharti Airtel – today announced the premiere of the latest film from the Harry Potter series ‘Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince’ on its Pay Per View (PPV) service. This highly acclaimed film will be aired for the first time on Indian television. The movie will be available from February 27, on Channel No. 210 on the PPV service of Airtel digital TV at Rs. 70 only. Customers can order the film either for a full day or for any of the shows in a day by visiting the website www.airtel.in/digitaltv or SMSing the Movie Code to 54325 or SMSing »»»
Star’s plan to raise Tata Sky stake hits FIPB hurdle
New Delhi: Star India’s move to increase its overall stake in DTH firm Tata Sky by leveraging the new foreign investment guidelines announced last year has hit Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) hurdle. The FIPB has deferred the matter at the behest of the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry, the nodal ministry for the broadcasting sector, sources say. Last month, Star India had sent a proposal to the FIPB to form a joint venture entity with the Tata group firm in which Star will have 49% stake. Sources say the proposed entity of Star and Tata firm may then pick up 20% stake »»»
Govt defers Star’s proposal to up stake in Tata Sky
NEW DELHI: The Government has deferred a proposal by Star India Holdings, the Indian subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, to increase its stake in the joint venture direct-to-home (DTH) company Tata Sky. Star India had applied for clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to buy a 49 per cent stake in Tata Group’s investment firm TS Investments. Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that TS Investments would, in turn, buy a 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky for Rs 3.24 billion. This would have effectively given Star India an additional 9.8 per cent stake in Tata Sky, »»»
Doordarshan to strengthen DTH platform
National broadcaster Doordarshan is seeking to strengthen its direct-to-home (DTH) platform – DD Direct Plus – and expects to have some 200 channels on its platform by end of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan or 2012. At present, DD Direct Plus has a bouquet of 57 Free-to-Air (FTA) channels. In the first phase by the end of 2010, DD Direct Plus aims to have about 100 FTA channels. In second phase, it is targeting 200 channels of which many will be FTA channels. Currently, 31 of the 57 channels are from the DD stable. Strong response “We have an overwhelming response from private channels »»»
MyWay IPTV partners Utiba platform for e-top up
BANGALORE: Utiba, a mobile commerce platforms supplier has partnered with MyWay IPTV for its electronic top up solution. This association highlights the capability of utilising a retail presence enabled by electronic media to distribute or collect payment for an electronic commodity, the company said in a statement. MyWay IPTV is the brand from Smart Digivision, which has entered into long term contract with BSNL and MTNL to provide interactive video services to customers in 54 cities across India. MyWay IPTV COO Kapil Dev Kumar said, “Association with Utiba enables us to provide our customers »»»
Overhead cable TV wire issue gets entangled
New Delhi: The Delhi government’s diktat for removal of all overhead cable TV wires from a large part of the capital may soon snowball into a tussle between 2,000-odd cable operators, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the telecom service providers. If not sorted out in time, this may lead to a complete blackout of cable TV services to around 8 million consumers in Delhi. Cable operators want the clearance from the government to share the underground cabling rights given to various telecom firms, including Reliance, Bharti and MTNL. However, cable operators allege that the telcos have not »»»
Sun Direct brings cheers to the Marathi Manoos
Sun Direct Pvt Ltd, the country’s 2nd largest direct-to-home (DTH) service provider announced the addition of two more channels for their Marathi viewers. The Marathi channel bouquet now includes Zee Talkies and Star Parvah which will take its Marathi channel count to six. The 6 Marathi channels available on the Sun Direct platform will now include Zee Talkies, Star Parvah, Zee Marathi, ETV Marathi, Mi Marathi and Star Majha On this occasion Mr Tony D’Silva, COO, Sun Direct said, “The addition of these two new channels widens the choice of entertainment bouquet for our Marathi customers. »»»
