MxMIndia

Tag: Airtel Digital TV

  • Over 16 million DTH customers of Airtel can now enjoy award-winning factual entertainment

    Airtel Digital TV launches CuriosityStream shannel

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bharti Airtel and CuriosityStream announced that they have deepened their content partnership to bring premium content from CuriosityStream to TV homes in India. Airtel Digital TV has launched an exclusive channel with the full catalogue of CuriosityStream’s factual entertainment films and series.

     

    Said Sunil Taldar, CEO – DTH, Bharti Airtel: “We brought CuriosityStream content to India about six months back on our mobile platform offering our customers the exciting array of exclusive content. Today, we are further strengthening this partnership to become the first and only DTH provider in India to offer the content to customers on their television via the set-top-box enabling an easy access to all the exclusive content to the entire family. As a brand, we are always innovating to expand our offerings with a discerning array of specially curated content to fulfil the preferences of each of our customers and we promise to continue to delight our customers.”

     

    Added Clint Stinchcomb, President and CEO of Curiosity Stream: “Building on the success of our launch on the Xstream app, CuriosityStream is thrilled to have a home on Airtel’s next-gen Digital TV. Airtel is a global leader in finding innovative ways to deliver programming to its viewers whenever and wherever they want it. Now more than ever, viewers are searching for engaging and entertaining factual shows and CuriosityStream is proud to offer our channel to consumers in India who are looking for high-quality programming that ignites their curiosity and can’t be found anywhere else.”

     

     

  • The platform will offer a subscription service for a range of horror, thriller and crime related content

    Airtel and Shemaroo launch ‘The Horror TV’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel, and Shemaroo Entertainment have launched ‘The Horror TV – Ab Lagega Darr’ – a subscription-based service offering a variety of horror movies, TV shows and web series. The platform will offer a subscription service for a range of horror, thriller and crime related content.

     

    Said Richa Kalra, Product Lead – DTH, Bharti Airtel: “At Airtel, we are always innovating to expand our offerings with a discerning array of specially curated content to fulfil the preferences of each of our customers. Today, we are excited to launch a service which is a platform for horror and thriller content on TV. With an aim to truly delight our customers we promise to continue to add exciting content to our bouquet of entertainment offerings.”

     

    Commenting on the partnership, Kranti Gada, Chief Operating Officer, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited said, “The Horror TV – Ab Lagega Darr consists of the most popular and engaging horror content. The finest collection of movies, television shows, web series will definitely entice horror and thriller genre fans and fulfil our promise to provide the best entertainment packages. We are glad to partner with Airtel Digital TV and curate the innovative service in our effort to constantly delight the consumers.”

     

     

  • The partnership will provide fillip to BARC India’s plan of scaling up panel homes to multiples of the mandated 50,000

    BARC partners Airtel DTH for RPD

    By A Correspondent

     

    BARC India has taken a big step towards using Return Path Data (RPD) for TV viewership measurement. BARC India has tied up Airtel Digital TV, Airtel’s DTH arm, for including its subscriber homes into the BARC India RPD Panel. This partnership will provide fillip to BARC India’s plan of scaling up panel homes to multiples of the mandated 50,000.

     

    It may be noted that in October last year, BARC India had signed on multi system operator DEN Networks for measuring TV Viewership using RPD. By tying up with Airtel Digital TV, BARC India has successfully added a significant DTH subscriber base to its proposed RPD panel. BARC India will use a portion of Airtel Digital TV’s subscriber base to measure TV viewership via RPD.

     

    Romil Ramgarhia

    “Our partnership with Airtel Digital TV will strengthen our RPD rollout plan. Panel home expansion is absolutely critical for us considering the diversity in the country which is visible even in the way TV content is consumed. RPD, will give the industry a cost-effective way of expanding panel home size. The distribution platform owners too will benefit with RPD. It will give them a better understanding into what their subscribers are consuming on TV. This will help the industry at large,” said Romil Ramgarhia, CBO, BARC

     

     

    Sunil Taldar

    Added Sunil Taldar, CEO – DTH, Bharti Airtel: “We are pleased to partner BARC India and support their endeavour of compiling robust TV viewership insights. A credible resource like this will benefit the entire ecosystem including content producers, marketers and help in enhancing the experience for customers.”

     

    It may be recalled that on Monday, Dish TV had announced its decision to launch hybrid set-top boxes which will facilitated RPD. Tata Sky has already mandate WPP’s Kantar Media to research its RPD numbers.

     

     

  • With this partnership, Al Jazeera English will now be accessible on all major D2H platforms

    AL Jazeera English now available on Airtel D2H

    By A Correspondent

     

    Al Jazeera English has signed a distribution agreement with Airtel Digital TV thereby expanding its distribution network in India. The channel will be available on the Airtel Digital TV’s Channel No. 321. With this partnership, Al Jazeera English will now be accessible on all major D2H platforms such as Dish TV, Tata Sky, Reliance and Airtel Digital TV in India.

     

    Abdulla Al Najjar, Executive Director, Marketing and Distribution, Al Jazeera Media Network, said: “We are very pleased with this agreement. We have a strategic commitment to employ new avenues and platforms for audiences across the world to access our content. We look forward to delivering Al Jazeera English’s ground-breaking content for audiences across India with such partnerships.”

     

    Al Jazeera English’s association with Airtel Digital TV will allow them to cater to its users on the network. Viewers will now be able to access Al Jazeera’s award winning news and programme content from around the world at a click of a button. Globally, Al Jazeera English is available in over 260 million households across 130 countries.

     

    Launched in November 2011 in India, Al Jazeera English is known for its belief in the shared humanity of the global community, and as a result keeps real people at the centre of the story.

     

  • The information and broadcasting ministry has asked six DTH operators, including market leaders Tata Sky and Dish TV, to pay over Rs 2,000 crore

    I&B ministry asks DTH operators to pay Rs 2,000 crore

    By Vijaya Rathore

     

    The information and broadcasting ministry has asked six DTH operators, including market leaders Tata Sky and Dish TV, to pay over Rs 2,000 crore, which the ministry said they collectively owe to the government in lieu of the licence fee.

     

    The ministry sent demand notices on Friday to Tata Sky, Dish TV, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Digital TV and Videocon D2H, asking them to pay up the sum within 15 days. This followed a ministry-ordered independent audit of the accounts of the six operators.

     

    “The ministry has given 15 days to all the operators to make the payment,” a person familiar with the development said. The calculation has been made on the basis of the gross revenue of each operator.

     

    The time period for calculating the arrears is from the day the licences were issued to each of them. “The I&B ministry sought the opinion of the law ministry before sending out the notices,” this person said.

     

    The issue relating to licence fee payment has been going on between the ministry and the operators for a few years now. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had in an 2010 order said that DTH operators should pay 10% of their adjusted gross revenue as licence fee.

     

    The ministry had taken the matter to the Supreme Court where the case is pending.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Christened iMusicSpace, the application brings 24X7 WorldSpace radio programmes to the TV set through the touch of a button on the remote

    WorldSpace Radio is back, via Airtel

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bharti Airtel has announced the comeback of Worldspace Radio as iMusicSpace on Airtel digital TV, the DTH service from the company. DTH customers can now listen to an extensive collection of latest and retro Hindi songs, popular ghazals and their favorite regional music channels on the new avatar radio. Customers can now enjoy 24X7 radio on their TV in their native dialect be it Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada or Telugu. Comprising of 12 channels including devotional and kids channels, iMusicSpace is now available to customers at an affordable cost of Rs 35 per month.

     

    Speaking on the launch, Shashi Arora, CEO- DTH/ Media, Bharti Airtel, said, “At Airtel, it’s been our constant endeavor to offer innovative, versatile, and interactive life enriching services to our customers that enhances their overall TV viewing experience. The launch of Worldspace Radio on Airtel was an industry first and we are ecstatic to re-launch the new and evolved iMusicSpace application today on Airtel Digital TV. This service is yet another step by Airtel towards making TV a wholesome entertainment package for customers and we look forward to our partnership with Timbre Media for the WorldSpace Radio service”.

     

    The service has been launched on the DTH platform in association with Saregama and Timbre Media whhich will jointly provide the content for the application.

     

    Mathewkutty Sebastian, CEO, Timbre Media, a company formed in 2010 by the erstwhile employees of WorldSpace India, said, “Timbre Media is happy to be able to offer Airtel DTH subscribers the music experience they enjoyed in the past on this platform, brought to them by the very same dedicated team of radio professionals who pioneered genre based programming in India for WorldSpace.”

     

    Airtel digital TV customers can easily access the application by just clicking the iTV button on their remote. The new channels include Magikbox – Kids, Shraddha – Devotional, Farishta – Retro Hindi, Falak – Ghazals, Sonar – Bengali, Umang – Gujarati, Surabhi – Marathi, Tunak – Punjabi, Thenisai – Tamil, Madhuri – Malayalam, Sparsha – Kannada and Spandana – Telugu.

     

    Saregama, formerly known as The Gramophone Company of India Ltd, owns the largest music archives in India. The ownership of nearly 50 per cent of all the music ever recorded in India makes Saregama the most authoritative repository of the country’s musical heritage. Saregama has now expanded into other branches of entertainment, and also runs studio facilities in Dum Dum, Kolkata.

     

    Timbre Media Pvt Ltd, set up in 2010 by a group of erstwhile employees of WorldSpace India Pvt Ltd, offers radio/music programming, sound packaging and studio services to platform owners in the DTH, Telecom, Internet and FM industry, and to corporate and retail clients. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Timbre Media specializes in genre-based radio programming in different languages and is the official licensee of the WorldSpace brand.

     

  • Another maha boring before/after ad. The creative lacks spark, the script is contrived and the youngsters featured in the ad are very irritating

    Debrief: Airtel Digital TV: Big promise, poor delivery

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Airtel has launched a new TV campaign to promote their digital TV service. The idea is: ‘Sirf cable nahin, life badlo’. The core thought is that in today’s world, the idiot box not only entertains, it changes your life. A bit far fetched? It is. I think the only way TV has changed some people’s lives is by turning them into lazy couch potatoes.

     

    Anyway, now that they have chosen to travel this exaggerated path, the commercials have to be truly sensational for the idea to get wings. But sadly, the one ad I watched left me flattened. There’s this always chilled out bloke who never gets angry at anything in life. Not even when his pal smashes his car. But he goes ballistic and mad with rage when the TV set conks out and the local cable supplier won’t take his calls. So this couch potato switches to Airtel digital TV, and he’s back to being his chilled out self.

     

    Another maha boring before/after ad. The creative lacks spark, the script is contrived and the youngsters featured in the ad are very irritating. Here’s a suggestion for Airtel and all other advertisers: When you have to show slothful people, it’s critical that they look a bit cute and charismatic. Else, the combo of laziness and ugliness repels the viewer. And you’ve lost the battle even before it has begun.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 1. Weak and uninteresting creative

     

  • Introduces a unique mobile platform for advertisers to reach out to the right audience.. expects m-advertising to grow 40 percent

    Airtel forays into m-advtg, expects 40% growth

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bharti Airtel recently announced its strategic foray into the mobile advertising (m-advertising) segment in India. With this, Airtel will equip advertisers to connect with their potential customers in a targeted and personalized fashion via their mobile phones. The platform is designed to meet all the essential demands of advertisers such as inventory management, campaign management, reporting and analytics. As has been reported by MxMIndia in the past, Airtel has mandated Mogae Digital, a company owned co-owned by Sandeep & Tanya Goyal, former JV partners of Dentsu in India & the Middle East, to be its sole and exclusive monetization partner.

     

    Commenting on the development, K Srinivas, President – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel, said: “We are excited to launch our mobile advertising platform. Personalization, sharp segmentation and contextualization are increasingly making this platform an exciting proposition for brands. With the mobile advertising market poised to grow by more than 40 per cent over the next few years, Airtel with its technology, scale and customer intelligence is placed uniquely to leverage this growing medium. Airtel’s m-advertising platform will enable advertisers to land their message in a simple, effective manner in an increasingly complex media environment.”

     

    Through Airtel’s m-Advertising platform, advertisers will be able to leverage multiple communications outlets and tools such as mobile internet (WAP), Messaging services and Airtel digital TV to engage their audiences. With this platform, companies can also extend their access to the rural audience with voice solutions.

     

  • Customers can now learn to speak fluent English within the comfort of their homes

    Airtel DTH launches iEnglish

    By A Correspondent

     

    Airtel Digital TV, the DTH service by Bharti Airtel announced the launch of its new interactive service, iEnglish to help customer hone their English speaking skills within the comfort of their homes.  These English language tutorials are based on an audio-visual format with animated characters and quizzes for easy comprehension.

     

    Priced at Rs30/month Airtel Digital TV subscribers can now avail the benefits of this offering by simply pressing the iTV button on their remote control.

     

    Commenting on the launch,  Shashi Arora, CEO- DTH/ Media, Bharti Airtel, said: “Interactive services on  digital TV platforms are not merely value added services but ‘infotainment plus’. Our new interactive service, iEnglish will enable customers become skilled at day-to-day spoken English by enhancing their learning through entertaining, yet educational activities.”

     

    Powered by Hungama, South Asia’s leading digital entertainment company, and Aptech, a pioneer in providing education and training, iEnglish would help consumers understand specific scenarios and commonly used English expressions for daily communication. Apart from teaching correct pronunciations of words, it would also help customers learn new words and phrases, proper grammar usage and an opportunity to gauge their competencies.

     

    Ninad Karpe, MD & CEO, Aptech Ltd said: “With India poised to emerge as one of the successful player in the field of mEducation, we are excited to launch our first mEducation offerings on Airtel Digital TV”.

     

    Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO, Hungama added: “The DTH platform is emerging as a new tool for more interactive forms of entertainment and learning. We will continue to innovate and create products with ease of access for our consumers.”

     

    Besides iEnglish, Airtel Digital TV currently offers several interactive services such as iExam, iKidsworld, iDarshan, iRadio and iFasal.

     

    Airtel digital TV – the DTH service from Bharti Airtel – has over 7.2 million customers and is one of the leading national level DTH service in the country. Airtel has also HD services to its portfolio.