Mumbai: ZEE5, India’s fastest growing OTT platform, will now be available on 2015-16 LG Smart TVs owing to successful backward compatibility on Web OS version 3.0 to 3.5. ZEE5 will be available on all existing LG Smart TVs as well as soon-to-be-launched models. With the addition of this, ZEE5 will be available across large spectrum of connected devices widening its penetration across the country.

Rajneel Kumar, Business Head Expansion Projects & Head of Products, ZEE5 India said, “TV-connected devices are creating an immersive viewing experience on large screens and Smart TVs.  At ZEE5, we are at the forefront of fuelling this change and backward compatibility on LG Smart TVs is a testament to our efforts. With 100,000+ hours of content in 12 languages, we want all consumers to enjoy the best of content on a large screen further enhancing their viewing experience.”

In addition to LG, backward compatibility is underway for all the Samsung Smart TVs. ZEE5 shows and movies will be available for download from the LG content store. Users can utilise existing free surfing mode and premium subscriptions to enjoy a large screen experience at their home. Users using ZEE5 TV app on Samsung and LG Web OS 3.0+ can also enjoy features such as easy payment using Paytm QR code and before TV where premium users get early access to their favourite episodes.

Anto Puthiry, Executive Vice President of Flowers TV, passed away today. He is said to have breathed his last around 4 am at Medical Trust Hospital, Kochi.

Puthiry, 53, was rushed to hospital after he complained of uneasiness.

A veteran in the sales domain, Puthiry started his career with Eenadu and has worked in Mathrubhumi Daily and Asianet Communucations. He held the position of Vice President at Asianet Communucations. He had been heading the sales team of Flowers TV since the channel’s inception.

Broadcasters comment on TRAI’s consultation paper on 'KYC of DTH Set Top Boxes'

MUMBAI: Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has shared its view on the consultation paper by TRAI on ‘KYC of DTH Set Top Boxes’. The association is of view that there is an absolute and an imminent need for introduction and proper enforcement of meaningful KYC or e-KYC stipulations of DTH STBs.

The association believes that the step is necessary to curb smuggling of DTH STBs outside India and to bring in some level of threshold checks to counter the menace of piracy.

“It is submitted that DTH STBs get rampantly smuggled to territories outside of India where they get used for illegal and unauthorised reception and/or retransmission of signals of channels. Due to such piracy, broadcasters face huge / irreparable revenue losses. Hence, there is a need for mandating KYC or e-KYC for DTH STBs to avoid smuggling of STBs overseas,” said IBF in its comments to TRAI.

The association further informed, “DTH platforms in India are permitted to have subscribers only within the territory of India however, numerous unauthorised STBs of Indian DTH operators are reported to be active and functioning beyond the Indian territory due to the satellite footprints overspill. (For example – signals of DTH operators intended for Indian audience are also available in Middle-East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar etc.).”

“In case DTH STBs are found to be in use at a location other than the one specified at the time of installation, then KYC or e-KYC will enable the applicable DTH platform operator to directly approach the customer to investigate why and how such DTH STB was shifted / moved to the unauthorised premises / location. This will also quicken the process of nabbing the perpetrator in case of misuse of DTH STBs,” IBF suggested.

The company recently struck deals with WASU Media, Vodafone Qatar.

MUMBAI: As distribution plays a crucial role along with content for the business of over-the-top (OTT) platforms, Eros Now is betting big on partnerships in international markets to expand its reach in international markets. After recently striking deals with Vodafone Qatar and China’s WASU Media, the streaming player is also looking at such other partnerships. Although India definitely remains a large focus of the business, the company is trying to strengthen international distribution also.

Talking to Indiantelevison.com, Eros Digital chief operating officer Ali Hussein spoke about the objective of the partnerships. He emphasised on the importance of two of the partnerships as both the countries are very important for the company.

“We did an announcement for WASU in China which was our second partnership there. So, I don’t think any Indian OTTs really have any distribution partnership in China where we already have two. Moreover, China is doing a lot of investment in terms of market development on how to increase the further distribution of Indian programming or Indian content around the world. China is obviously a big market in terms of theatrical releases also and we are investing lots of resources trying to improve our digital distribution in China,” he commented.

Talking about the Vodafone Qatar partnership, he noted that the Middle East is a focus area for the company. The company would try to penetrate better in the UAE and now in Qatar with the partnership along with Bahrain and some of the other countries.

MUMBAI: TV broadcasters are in favour of introducing KYC or e-KYC norms for direct to home (DTH) set top boxes (STBs) to counter the menace of piracy and STB smuggling to other countries.

The broadcasters also support incorporating location-based services (LBS) in the existing DTH STBs as well as to be mandated for all new STBs of all DPOs to track location and facilitate verification.

In its submission, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) submitted that there is an absolute and an imminent need for the introduction and proper enforcement of meaningful KYC or e-KYC stipulations of DTH STBs. It added that this necessary to curb smuggling of DTH STBs outside of India and to bring in some level of threshold checks to counter the menace of piracy.

The IBF noted that the DTH platforms in India are permitted to have subscribers only within the territory of India, however, numerous unauthorised STBs of Indian DTH operators are reported to be active and functioning beyond the Indian territory due to the satellite footprints overspill.

“We would also like to submit that for instances where DTH STBs are caught for being used by DPOs for illegal retransmission of signals of broadcaster’s channels, then the respective DTH platform whose STBs were used for such illegal retransmission of channels should be obligated to share the details of such individual subscribers with the respective broadcasters (whose channels were retransmitted illegally) and also to the cybersecurity cells for the purpose of further investigations,” the IBF submitted.

The IBF also stated that one-time KYC or e-KYC should be done at the time of installation by necessary verification conducted of the subscriber address. Post initial verification, random verification can be done on a periodic basis to ensure that STB is not moved from its installation address.

Periodicity of such inspection can be at such reasonable intervals as may be decided basis discussion and consultation with relevant stakeholders however, with a gap of at least three months between each visit.

It also came out in support of LBS contending that the security of the broadcasters’ content is of paramount importance and this will also help the DPOs to minimise their own revenue loss.

MUMBAI: Only 67% of television households have been digitised in phase 4 of digital addressable system (DAS), according to the information & broadcasting (I&B) ministry.

The ministry has developed a Management Information System (MIS) wherein all registered operators (MSOs, DTH & HITS operators) have been entering area wise seeding states of set top boxes (STBs).

As per the MIS, 4.98 crore STBs have been seeded in phase 4 areas, which comes to 67% of the target. Phase 4 covering the rest of India was to be completed by 31st December 2016. However, due to uncertainty in the market because of court cases, the cut-off date was modified to 31.03.2017.

According to the information provided by the MIB based on the MIS data, about 6.74 crore STBs were installed in Phase 3 areas. The cut-off date for Phase 3 of digitisation of cable TV Network was 31st December 2015 but due to extension/stay granted by some courts, time up to 31st January 2017 was allowed by the ministry. Following the disposal of the cases, the ministry noted that digitisation has been fully implemented in Phase III areas.

Phase 1 of digitisation was completed by 31st October 2012. Out of the four metro cities planned to be digital, digitisation has been near total in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Later Chennai also underwent the digital transition even after the disposal of several court cases.

About 1.42 crore cable STBs have been installed in Phase I cities. Maximum number of STBs were installed in Delhi at 50 lakhs, followed by 29 lakhs in Mumbai, 38 lakh in Kolkata and 24s lakh in Chennai.

The data for phase 2, which was concluded by 31st March 2013 in 38 cities spanning across 14 States and one Union Territory, has not been provided.

ABP News Network’s anchor Shrivardhan Trivedi has become the first anchor in the history of Indian television to complete more than 5,000 episodes of the famous crime show “Sansani”. He was felicitated by the World Book of Records. On air for the past 15 years, “Sansani” is the longest-running crime show with a single anchor.

Trivedi has played a vital role in educating viewers and has helped to create awareness about crime through this show. He is distinguished by his quirky style, inimitable dressing style and dialogue delivery and viewers associate with his trademark dialogue ‘Chain se sona hay toh jaag jao’, beard and long hair.

Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP News Network, said, “On behalf of ABP News Network, it gives me immense pleasure to congratulate our star anchor Shrivardhan Trivedi for this stellar recognition by the World Book of Records. Shrivardhan’s dedication, effort and hard work over the years have been duly recognized, which is a matter of great pride for the entire news network. The accolade will motivate and inspire all of us at ANN to work towards maintaining the highest standards of journalism.”

World Book of Records is an organization that catalogues and verifies number of world records across the globe with authentic certification. It is a paramount international organization inspiring people to showcase their talent across verticals and encourages breaking or setting new records at the national and international level.

Multiplatform lifestyle brand Living Foodz has announced the opening of its LF Epicurean Guild Awards 2020. Honouring taste, innovation and people who have disrupted and changed the hospitality scenario in India, LFEGA is a platform that recognises the innovators in the dining and nightlife space and rewards their contribution to the industry.

LFEGA 2019, which had over 20 categories across the gamut, rewarded chefs, restaurants, food blogger who have been evolving the food landscape in the country. Now in its fourth edition, LFEGA 2020 promises to celebrate the best in the hospitality industry. LFEGA 2020 will provide an opportunity to restaurants, food enthusiast, chefs and night life czars to send in their entries for their respective establishments and participate in the awards.

To participate, one can simply login to www.livingfoodz.com/entriesand register themselves to send in their entries on the portal. Be it out-of-the-box concepts for menus, invigorating decors or quaint ingredients that add to melody of the palate, LFEGA 2020 offers 16 categories for sending entries. Keeping up its tradition for every year, this year too will have an esteemed jury panel (mix of finest chefs, influencers and eminent personalities) to go through all the entries to select the best of the lot.

Hindi business news channel CNBC Awaaz has announced the launch of ‘Khiladi No.1’. A unique markets show with game-based programming, Khiladi No.1 will see top analysts making their best trading calls each day to earn maximum profit. At the end of each trading day, profit/loss will be announced for each analyst. At the end of the week, the analyst making maximum money or the least loss will be declared the winner. The show will be hosted by Harshada Sawant, Senior Editor of CNBC Awaaz.

Basant Dhawan, CEO, English and Business News Cluster, Network18, says, “CNBC Awaaz has established itself as the trusted choice of traders and investors in the country. We create content that helps our viewers take informed decisions about investments and all matters pertaining to money. With Khiladi No.1, we take a step further and empower audiences to make money every day as they get to learn the tricks of the trade from some of India’s most prominent technical analysts. Thus, we stay committed to providing a platform that keeps our loyal viewers ahead of the curve in money-making.”

The show is being aired from August 26, from Monday to Friday at 11 am. Viewers can tune into the channel or follow #KhiladiNo.1 on social media for regular updates.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zeel) has announced that Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, Zee5, will now move to Zee Ad Sales Domestic Broadcast Business as Principal Cluster Head, Ad Sales. Aggarwal will lead the advertising revenue portfolio for the cluster of Digital Publishing Business, Brand Solutions, Innovation Studio and Social.

While Aggarwal will report to Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer, Advertising Revenue, the respective heads of clusters — Rahul Sharma of Digital Publishing, Ravi Mayank of Brand Solutions, Raktim Das of Innovation Studio and Sandeep Naug of Social business — will report to him.

Last year, Aggarwal was elevated as the Business Head of Zee5 from his previous role as the Chief Marketing Officer of Zee5. Before joining Zeel, Aggarwal worked as Vice-President of Marketing Communications with the Chinese multinational corporation, LeEco. He was Vice-President of Marketing and Head of Monetisation at Myntra and has also worked with notable companies such as The Coco-Cola Company, Proctor and Gamble, Mindshare and SGA.