Star Utsav Joins Growing List on DD Free Dish in India

Star Utsav, now part of the
Disney India Group of channels

Digital Broadcast Vendor News notes yet another move by a subscription channel, Mumbai-based, Star Utsav  from June 10, 2020 has 'without pay' distribution on Door Darshan's DD Free Dish platform. Its Hindi language offerings cover the gambit of drama genres in prime time.  Anchoring the evening is Kasautii Zindagii Kay at 1900hrs, Mahabharat at 2000hrs and Nazar at 2300.

Star Utsav believes in specialising in dramas covering themes such as  mythology, romance, and fantasy. Such dramas are aimed for family friendly viewing.

Just a heads up that Star Utsav is part of the old Fox/Star stable now under the 'Walt Disney Company India' banner. 

Star Utsav Channel's history at a glance

Star Utsav was riginally launched in June 2004. The Star Utsav channel was converted into a Pay TV channel in August 2015. A foray into the UK market 2016-2018 proved unsuccessful after a dismal ratings performance. The channel currently is distributed via regional satellites and cable system deals to India domestically and abroad - in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Middle East nations, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and the United States. 

BANGO Adds SUN Mobile in Hong Kong || Aim: Boost Billing Revenue 70%

Bango technologies Facilitate with Ease Google Play Store and Netflix payments for Mobile Subscribers 

Digital Broadcast Vendor News received from Bango plc, the major mobile commerce player of Cambridge, England  that it had launched its Direct Carrier Billing Platform on SUN Mobile in Hong Kong (May 22, 2020). The strength of Bango is its data processing that typically increases revenue by 20-40 percent, with some established operators achieving growth of more than 70 percent. It is not only in Hong Kong, but the Bango roll out has also been ain two other diverse mobile operators and locations, Entel in Peru and MTN in South Africa - all in a short space of time.  This means that those phone companies' subscribers can now pay for a massive array of content and services in Google Play and charging the cost to their phone bill, all powered by the Bango Platform a very proud British venture. 

What makes Bango a market leader in Direct Carrier Billing?

Pre and post-paid subscribers simply click-to-buy using carrier billing for instant access to their favorite games, music, movies and more. Interesting fact mentioned on tango.com - 80% of the highest spenders in Taiwan (lookalike audience) made in-app payment for the products and services in which they were engaging.

Top executive quote of the day:

Paul Larbey, CEO Bango PLC. Photo Credit: Bango

Paul Larbey, CEO at Bango

"Ever more operators across the world standardize on the Bango platform to bring mobile commerce experiences to their customers."

Mr Larbey says: "In addition to activating payments in Google Play and other app stores, Bango technology enables operators to offer third-party products bundled with their customer plans or marketed directly to their customers through Facebook and other platforms."

To ensure continuous revenue growth from carrier billing across these new routes, Bango technology will be applied to increase payment success, user acquisition and engagement.

Google Play is not the only collaborator with Bango. Netflix in Mexico already has a massive project with Bango in Mexico. The British company, established in 1999 is publicly listed on the London AIM exchange. The company is firmly entrenched with global merchant players including Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Bango was chosen by Youtube in November 2019 to handle the billing for YT's subscription based monthly TV package.

Bango has also other achievements from industry peers as this photo depicts: AIM AWARDS 2012 - Best Technology Award

Picture above shows, left to right:

David Snell, Partner and AIM Leader, PwC; David Worlidge, Merchant Securities; Susanna Reid, awards presenter; and Peter Saxton, Bango plc (winner). Photo: AIM AWARDS Organisation

Why Does Shemaroo TV launch as Free-to-Air on DD Freedish Platform

as Shemaroo's New Flagship Operation

On May 1st, 2020 Mumbai-based, Shemaroo Entertainment's Shemaroo TV launched on the Prasar Bharati's DD Freedish platform as a Free-to-Air (FTA) channel, with the tag line ‘Badalte Aaj Ke Liye’. It sums up the channels direction: ‘being change’. The attempt is to appeal to Hindi speaking familie who are looking to keep up with the changing society and be 'with it' and  adapt to new changes. Programming will be bundled into comedy, drama, mythology, thriller, crime, and animated themes to resonate with all ages family. 

The networks' iconic programming library includes: Devon Ke Dev…Mahadev, Dil Se Di Dua Saubhagyawati Bhava, Great Indian Laughter Challenge, and many more.   


Executive Quotes: 

Hiren Gilda, CEO Shemaroo

Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited, said, “Shemaroo is spread across different verticals through which we maintain a healthy relationship with viewers and advertisers equally. While we manage large digital platforms, entering into the broadcasting space will help us with reach and enable us to build a stronger affinity with the audiences."  

Sandeep Gupta, COO Shemaroo

Sandeep Gupta, COO – Broadcast Business,Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd, said, “If we see the current TV space and particularly the Free To Air space, there is a large consumption of content but with less variety of shows and genres. Shemaroo TV will be enhancing the entertainment needs of the Indian audiences by its vast offerings of iconic shows, along with original shows across various genres. We have worked extensively to understand the needs of our consumers and have sharpened our insights based on what will appeal to them. Shemaroo TV will have an extensive reach and we aim to become one of the most popular destinations in the Free To Air General entertainment space.”

End Quoting.

The new flagship channel for the Shemaroo Group is aiming to quickly emulate the success of ‘Shemaroo MarathiBana’ that after launch quickly succeeded in picking up a strong following. 

Not only on the DD Freedish platform is to be found on all major DTH operators and cable networks across India. Also, it can be availed on Shemaroo’s OTT platform ShemarooMe.

HQ Mumbai. Also has facilities in New Delhi and New York.

ShemarooTV joins approximately 155 other FTA channels on the iCAS set top box satellite reception system that include approx 88 MPEG-2 channels, 17 MPEG-4/HD channels, and 50 educational TV channels. Broken down, there are 80 SD MPEG-2 TV channels and 18 SD MPEG-4 channels apart from 40 radio channels.

Backgrounder: Doordarshan's DD Free Dish is simply a Direct to Home (DTH) free of subscription service. Controlling licensing authority, Prasar Bharati (PB) approved Indian manufacturers to produce new Indian Conditional access system (iCAS) encrypted set-top boxes specifically for DD Freedish. PB stresses that all channels on the platform have to be free to air and free of subscription fees. Impressive was the 2003 move by the then national government to make DD Sports channel available to the whole country that broke a subscription monopoly holding the rights to Indian Cricket. DD Sports is freely available on DD Freedish. The satellite used in Ku-Band configuration is INSAT-4B.  

ZEE5 App Appoints Rajeev Dahl

Rajeev Dahl, new ZEE5 App
Chief Revenue Officer.
Photo

E-broadcastnewsasia’s Digital| Broadcast | Vendor News Asia has learnt that the video streaming app, ZEE5  from the Indian TV stable, Zee Entertainment has appointed Rajeev Dhal as its Chief Revenue Officer. 

The announcement was effective April 21, 2020. Rajeev Dhal will succeed Taranjeet Singh who was the chief revenue office and business head - new projects since October, 2018. In his new role, Dhal will be responsible for achieving and delivering revenue growth through advertising sales and operations for ZEE5 India. He will be reporting directly to Tarun Katial, CEO of ZEE5.

ZEE5 APP ID+Logo

According to CEO Katial the ZEE5 app on the OTT platform has become a 'super app’ by delivering content in 12 Indian languages to being available across the spectrum of devices to launching new product offerings. The languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Odia and Punjabi.

Dhal has a hard act to follow in Taranjeet Singh who played a key role in setting up the advertising revenue stream and played an instrumental role in framing the architecture of the industry’s first Ad Stack. During his tenure, he helped build and drive the sales and sales support teams of ZEE5 India according to Katial.

Rajeev Dhal has a 20 year career under his belt  and has worked in the leadership position across a wide range of media and consumer internet companies. He came from a similar role at SHAREit having established teams and revenue across India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. In his tenure at ShareIt, he claims there was never a need for ShareIt to advertise as the brand fulfilled an online need to deliver Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for brands & advertisers that are way beyond branding & engagement across a universe of an Indian 400 million user base.

Note:  MUMBAI: "Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (ZEEL) digital arm ZEE5 continues its growth in user base reaching 76.4 million monthly active users (MAU). ZEEL in its first quarter financial result of FY 20 revealed the MAU of the streaming platform as of June 2019 while it had 61.5 million MAUs in the quarter ended March 2019....   - Indian Television

. 

If you know Mr Yang Sung-dong at KBS Send Him Your Congratulations

Yang Sung-dong, Chief Executive of KBS Korea

e-broadcastnewsasia has learnt that Yang Sung-dong was officially appointed as Chief Executive of the Korean national broadcaster, #KBS - the Korean Broadcasting System in Seoul on April 6, 2018.

While the CEO’s role has traditionally been under strong political direction, Mr Yang however, was the first recommendation under a newly formed Ad Hoc Public Advisory Group, set up for the purpose of selecting KBS Presidents and CEOs.

The Ad Hoc Group consists solely of 142 members of the public (essentially KBS viewers). They thoroughly reviewed Yang’s vision for public broadcasting. These included scrutinising the future KBS strategies being planned.

The Group handled the process through a series of presentations, panel discussions and question and answer periods held by the group.

At Mr Yang’s formal inauguration event on April 9, 2018, he re-asserted key points of his team’s direction:
1. It would bring commitment to recreating KBS as the most trusted media organization in the country.
2. It would bring capable young KBS staff members into the decision making process.
3. As team head, Mr Yang affirmed to maintain KBS’ reputation of full editorial independence, and to remain free from political influence.

If Yang Sung-dong upholds his pledges under a Korean peninsula possibly about to be unified, this will be regarded as masterful leadership.

So, if you know Mr Yang, let him know of your support in his appointment in his powerful role.

Footnote:
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) (Korean: 한국 방송 공사, Hanguk Bangsong Gongsa) is the national broadcaster of the Republic of South Korea. Founded in 1927, KBS operates radio, television and online services and is one of the biggest South Korean television networks. 

Worldwide Review :: Broadcast Equipment Market to 2021

Digital Broadcast | Vendor News Asia points to the highlights of a new market report " Broadcast Equipment Market to 2021"  that indicates HD transition is a driving force across multi-screen devices and support equipment. The report was issued on December 12, 2016 by SBWire on behalf of  persistencemarketresearch.com  . 

Summary Highlights as follows:

"Asia Pacific is expected to represent a new growth area in the year to come due emerging economies, increasing awareness among the people about internet browsing and higher use of electronic items such as television, smartphones and tablets. Moreover, Asian countries such as India and China are highly fragmented by content type, region type and size of broadcasters."

The broadcast equipment market is driven by various factors such as transition from analog to digital broadcasting, increasing focus on production automation, growing acceptance of HD worldwide and rising number of digital channels. Moreover, content requirement at many places, increasing use of broadcasting equipment in sports broadcasting, worship places, news production and corporate conferences are also the factors driving the growth of broadcasting equipment at some extent. 

One of the key factors contributing to the market growth is the increasing the demand for HD programming and new ways to circulate the content such as internet protocol television (IPTV) and mobile TV are quickly developing and deploying. Moreover, the broadcasting equipment market has also been witnessing the rising inclination of the people towards multi-screen services. Enforcement of government regulations regarding digitalization is also expected to drive the market. 

In addition with the huge growth in the number of smartphones and tablets, the growth opportunities of video services have increased considerably in recent years. This is due to the fact that in recent times, there is an increasing habit among the customer for viewing movie, shows and sports through their mobile phones without compromising about the quality of the services.

However inconsistency in content distribution, higher price of broadcasting equipment such as cameras, cables, audio video mixers huge capital cost needed while installing new broadcast facility and lack of standardized method in content distribution are some of the factors which are restraining the broadcasting equipment market. Also competition among the vendors in the global broadcasting equipment market has increased considerably. This is due to the fall in price and entry of new players in the market which is further restraining the growth of the broadcasting equipment market.

There is a worldwide inclination towards the software based solutions, which are high on speed and can be IP connected so that upgrading may be possible with little hardware replacement. North America and Europe are expected to continue leading the market owing to the adoption of upgraded technology and more of the company's involvement in research and development programs to keep peace with rivals. Asia Pacific is expected to represent a new growth area in the year to come due emerging economies, increasing awareness among the people about internet browsing and higher use of electronic items such as television, smartphones and tablets. Moreover, Asian countries such as India and China are highly fragmented by content type, region type and size of broadcasters.

Some of the key vendors dominating the broadcasting market space are #Alcatel-Lucent SA, #ARRIS Enterprise Inc., #Brightcove Inc., #Cisco Systems Inc., #Ericsson A.B., #Harmonic Inc., #Microsoft Corp., #SeaChange International Inc., and #ZTE Corp.

Request to view Table of content @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3547 

Some of the other vendors active in this market are #Alticast Solutions, #Anevia, #Ateme, #Azuki Systems Inc., #Edgeware AB, #Elemental Technologies, #Envivio Inc., #Imagine Communications, #Minerva Networks, #Seawell Networks Inc., #Thomson Video Networks, #UTStarcom Inc., and #Verimatrix Inc.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/3178791#ixzz4TAmnT03C

Thailand: Nation and SiamSport in Strategic Alliance

Digital Broadcast | Vendor News Asia is informed that two of Thailand's largest publishing groups have signed up to an enhanced sports TV coverage deal in a tough marketplace at a time there is a shortage of quality output for the 24 nationwide digital tv channels. It makes sense for Nation Channel owned by Nation Multimedia Group Public Company Limited(SET:NMG )to team up with Siamsport  owned by Siam Sport Syndicate Public Company Limited(SET:SPORT ). Both companies are listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The announcement:

 Nation Channel teams up with Siamsport    
for top quality sports TV

by Kitinan Sanguansak of The Nation

August 5, 2014 - NBC president Adisak Limprungpatanakit, left, Siamsport Syndicate executive chief Pongsak Pholanan and Siamsport director Adisai Varinsirikul, right.

Siamsport has joined hands with Nation Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to produce sporting content for Nation Channel in what has been hailed as "a phenomenal partnership" in digital television.

The partnership brought together leaders in the field of sports and news respectively. The two parties yesterday signed a deal for Siamsport to provide sports content for the Nation Channel on both its terrestrial digital and satellite platforms.

NBC president Adisak Limprungpatanakit believes the partnership will make Nation Channel even more attractive to all groups of viewers.

"It's phenomenal for the country's digital TV. It is a partnership that started with Siamsport producing a TV programme for us. There's no doubt there will be many more activities between us in the future.

"When the country entered the TV digital era, we made it clear that we wanted to be the No 1 channel in the field of news. Over the last few months, we've proved ourselves with news programmes that have received top ratings.

"We feel even more confident now that Siamsport is on board as our new partner. They will provide us with sporting content to create a more 'colourful' experience for our audience. We hope this deal will lead to major changes in the digital TV landscape in many aspects," said Adisak at the contract-signing ceremony, held at Golden Tulip Sovereign Hotel.

Siamsport Syndicate executive director Adisai Varinsirikul promised sports fans that they would get a chance to watch the "best product", starting with "The Match", which will be broadcast every Saturday between 4pm and 5pm.

"It's an honour to have clinched this partnership on the digital platform. It's something special and we're determined to help Nation Channel boost its ratings.

"We started negotiating in April. However, everything fell in place today. Our first programme is "The Match". It's something new and different from the sport programmes fans are used to seeing.

"We carefully picked the content and the hosts for the programme, which covers a variety of sports at mainly international level. There's also content lifestyle features that take the audience to interesting places such as football stadiums in England and club stores."

end of announcement

Our view: SiamSport, Thailand's leading sports and outdoor leisure print and online publisher as well as broadcaster holds rights to international and local soccer has widened its distribution via programme output on Nation Channel, a station known for its more hard news coverage of daily events. The latter has now enhanced its content by adding a focus on soccer, Thai's favourite sport by far for both men and women.

Copyright stays with original owners

Afghani Saraish Radio Launches BBC Uzbek Broadcasts

The Saraish Radio and #BBCUzbek Development

Digital Broadcast | Vendor News Asia has heard from the BBC Uzbek language service that it is now supplying Saraish Radio 91.1 FM in Shahr-e Sheberghan with its programming output. The significance of the deal is that Saraish Radio serves Uzbek speaking audiences in the Jowzjan and Sar-e Pol provinces in north-western Afghanistan.  

The BBC Uzbek team convinced Saraish Radio Founder and President, Ms Farida Rahim Azizi to take the daily one hour round up for broadcast between 17.30-18.30 local time. 

Saraish Radio 91.1 FM is a private station pioneering a role that focusses on women as its main target audience. The programming covers sensitive issues such as women’s education and their role in society.  It broadcasts news and current affairs, youth and educational programmes, talk shows, short dramas and sport.   

Shahr-e Sheberghan is located 130 km west of Mazari Sharif. It is also the single most important Uzbek dominated city in all of Afghanistan. The city and region's inhabitants reflect the Silk Road 'Arab' heritage yet where most of the region is multi-lingual in the Persian languages.  

Ms Farida said that everyone at Radio Saraish is excited about its cooperation with the BBC as an excellent development for the FM radio station and its listeners. It is clear that BBC Uzbek prides itself on its 20 year-old service that has built a strong reputation for impartial news, in a region where unbiased news is hard to come by.   

Taiwan Ends Analog TV Broadcasts

Taiwan terrestrial TV broadcasters ended analog broadcasting officially on June 30, 2012 with promises for a future based on HDTV programming reports Radio Taiwan International.

"Taiwan officially completed its transition to digital TV broadcasting on June 30, 2012, switching off its analog signals for the last time.

It was the final step in a four-phase process that began on May 7. Northern Taiwan was the last area to make the transition from analog to fully digital wireless TV broadcasting.

At a ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan's Premier Sean Chen said the era of digital and high-definition TV had come. He also said the next step would be to develop content for digital TV.

Chairwoman of the National Communications Committee, Ms Su Herng, was also present at the ceremony. She said turning to digital TV is a global trend, adding that European countries including Switzerland and Germany have already completed the transition. She also said the analog spectrum can now be used to improve Taiwan's broadband Internet services."

There are high hopes for greater creativity from the three commercial broadcasters, TTV, CTV and CTS. 


Source: Radio Taiwan International

RTI is the international broadcaster for the Republic of Taiwan, formerly known as CBS - the Central Broadcasting Station, Taipei

India:: 11th Plan Spends US$350m on Radio and TV Networks

Indian Government Spends More on National Radio and TV Networks in Face of Growing Commercial Broadcaster Competition - Move to Benefit Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturers Digital Broadcast Vendor News Asia (DBVNA) has been following India's development of its terrestrial digital broadcasting under the country's 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012). On April 8, 2010 the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) approved proposals from the Ministry of Broadcasting for Doordarshan (TV) and Akashvani (All India Radio) to digitise its transmitter networks, and studio output. The move costing Rs 1,540 crore (nearly US$350 million) is to help maintain the state radio and TV broadcasters leading role in light of increasing challenges from the private broadcasters. This move will likely prove a true bonanza for digital broadcast equipment manufacturers. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms Ambika Soni said that the expansion program was to bring people in the remotest regions of the country more program choice and highest quality of transmission, including HDTV. Some 60 per cent of the budget would go to AIR and the rest to DD. DD would see 40 new digital transmitters installed linked by satellite that would increase the choice from eight DD channels to 10 for most viewers. The liberalization of commercial radio has reached Phase III - bringing radio to towns with populations of around 100,000 population. Digital Broadcast Vendor News Asia notes that Minister Ambika sees Radio Phase III as posing a serious challenge to the current role of AIR in these areas/markets. This has prompted more urgent development of the Akashvani radio network to face head on the new market circumstances. The spending under the 11th Plan will involve replacement of Medium Wave transmitters with digital transmitters, digitalisation of studio operations and network links, establishment of regional digital archives and further newsroom automation.