Dishtv and Monster.com join hands to offer 'MonsterJobs Active'

Dishtv, India's No.1 direct-to-home company, and Monster.com, a leader in the online recruitment today announced a strategic partnership that is expected to set new grounds in jobs search and help redefine TV viewing in India.

Monster.com and Dishtv have collaborated to offer an Interactive Jobs search service "MonsterJobs Active", a user friendly interface for Dishtv subscribers, which would allow job seekers to search for jobs across the country in various industry verticals from the convenience of their homes. The range of information would also include services like Resume Writing and Resume Blaster; services through which a jobseeker can get their resume written by a professional resume writer and can also send their resume to thousands of placement consultants in one go.

Speaking on the occasion, Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Dishtv said, "It is our constant endeavor to augment customer experience by introducing innovative products & services and the launch of Monsterjobs Active is a major landmark in this direction. We are pleased to partner with Monster.com and are confident that this strategic alliance would create a compelling experience for our 5.5 million subscribers, who would now be able to quickly and easily find information that's important to them by a click on their Dishtv remote. This partnership brings together the online and television mediums to provide a much needed service that enables anytime access and empowers job aspirants with thousands of employment opportunities."

Expressing his views on the unique association, Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East and Southeast Asia) said, "We are delighted to have an alliance with Dishtv. The convergence of the internet and TV medium will make job services easily accessible to TV viewers across cities of India. We strongly feel that job search on TV has great potential in bridging the unmet need of the audience whose access to the internet is limited. The above alliance substantiates our commitment to jobseekers to find the right job."

Technology innovation continues at a break neck speed and the convergence between TV and Internet is getting more and more seamless. Providing internet services on TV to reach out to masses across India is surely an effective way of connecting employers to jobseekers. This tie-up between Monster.com and Dishtv will allow on one hand, interactive services to be extended to the customers as a value add and on the other, help employers to reach out to a larger talent pool and it also creates a very visible differentiator in the category for both Monster.com and Dishtv.

22 new channels to spice up TV menu

As many as 22 new TV channels are set to spice up the menu of couch potatoes in India, with Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni clearing all pending proposals Friday.Soni has granted clearance to all pending proposals which were received before she took charge, the information and broadcasting ministry said here.

"A composite clearance was granted to all such proposals which were found fulfilling the requisite conditions, it said.

The 22 new channels which have been approved include CNBC-TV 18 South, CNBC-TV 18 Gujarat, City Pulse, Krishna TV, Awam, Samaj, Mumbai News, Delhi News, Raj TV Asia, Kalaignar Asia, Apna News and ABN-Andhra Jyothy.

They also include niche channels focusing on nature, wildlife, music and religion.

With this, Indian viewers will be spolit for choice with nearly 400 channels to feed their appetite for news and entertainment. Over 360 channels are currently on air.

The new channels debut on the scene at a time when the economic recession has severely affected the media industry worldwide, including in India.

http://www.satnetforum.com/showthread.php?tid=1316

 

DTH race for highrise roofs

Giant dish antennas of direct-to-home (DTH) service providers are coming up on multi-storeyed buildings even before residents move into them.The antennas, much larger than conventional ones, are capable of serving multiple flats in the buildings. The DTH companies are hoping that residents will sign up for their services en masse since they won't have to install antennas individually.

In buildings where flats have been occupied, residents said while there wasn't any rule preventing them from opting for cable or a different DTH service, there was "peer pressure" against "spoiling the view with a lone black wire or a small dish".

According to industry sources, nearly 2,000 multi-dwelling units (MDUs) — as the system of distributing DTH signals to multiple TV sets through larger dish antennas is known — had either been set up or were being set up in the city.Insider estimates put the number of cable and DTH homes in the Calcutta Metropolitan Area at 23 lakh and 2 lakh, respectively.

"MDU installations started in Calcutta about two years ago and is increasing now," Pradip Sureka, the president of Credai Bengal, the state chapter of a national body of real estate developers, told Metro.He stressed the importance of giving residents of multi-storeyed buildings a choice of DTH service providers.

Not all realtors do that. Rudrajit Sharma, who moved into a south Calcutta estate 18 months ago, said the developer did not consult residents before inking the MDU deal with Tata Sky.DTH service providers offer "large sums" to realtors, either directly or through dealers, to set up MDUs. The amount varies according to the size of the project.

"The local cable operator tries to prevent such deals because it affects his business," said an industry source."An MDU brings many customers at one go for the company. There are advantages for the end-user as well. The building is not cluttered with small dishes and wires. Moreover, DTH installation charges for consumers are waived in most cases," said a Tata Sky distributor.

A Dish TV spokesperson said installing one big dish instead of several small ones was cost effective for the company.Avrajit Kar of South City, a housing estate of 1,672 flats where residents are free to decide how to watch satellite television, said they enjoyed prompt response from the DTH firm that set up MDUs in the compound.

"We decided to go for Airtel Digital TV MDU after weighing our options. The company keeps service staff posted in our estate round the clock. But that is possibly because of the concentration of subscribers here," said Kar.Sugata Saha, a former Tata Sky customer, who moved into an MDU of the same company recently, felt a bigger dish made for better picture quality.

http://satnetforum.com/showthread.php?tid=1315

I&B gives nod to 22 TV channels

Indiantelevision.com Team

In an unprecedented act, as many as 22 new television channels were cleared by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for uplinking and downlinking from within the country.

These include three channels of the TV18 Group, four of the Fox Channels (India) group, a channel promoted by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi's family, and a TV channel being launched by renowned filmmaker Dr S Krishnaswamy' Krishnaswamy Associates Media Rennaissance.

According to Ministry sources, Minister Ambika Soni decided to give composite clearance to all proposals which were found fulfilling the requisite conditions.

The three channels proposed by TV18 are CNBC-TV18 South, CNBC-TV18 Gujarat, and CNBC-TV18 Channel 3.The channels proposed by Fox are National Geographic HD Channel, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, and Nat Geo Music.

Information TV Pvt Ltd has also got clearance for four channels: Awam, Samaj, Mumbai News, and Delhi News.Kalaignar TV has got clearance for Kalaignar Asia. The channel headed by Krishnaswamy, who has made films and TV series like 'Indus Valley to Indira Gandhi' and 'Indian Imprints,' will be named Krishna TV.

The others who got clearance are: Raj Television Network Ltd. (Raj TV Asia), Amoda Broadcasting Co. Ltd (ABN-Andhra Jyothy), Anoli Holdings (City Pulse), Vijayanthi Televentures (Rhythm), Pavitar Entertainment, Pride East Entertainments (E Live), Priyamda Media (Apna News), Vedic Broadcasting Ltd (Vedic), and Rama Associates Ltd (Fresh TV).

Burmese junta clampdown on radio listeners

The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reports that the Burmese junta has clamped down on the rising numbers of unlicensed radio owners in a move that media experts see as restriction on the freedom of media and access to pro-democracy broadcasts.

DVB says the ruling junta yesterday issued a warning in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper that those listening to radio without holding a licence could be prosecuted under the Wireless Act. The warning carried no information on why people would be prosecuted nor why numbers of listeners are increasing, but a Burmese journalist on the China-Burma border said the increase was linked to the political crisis.

"People tend to buy radios when there is a stir in politics," he said. "[The 2007 protests] was like it is now. As soon as it was like that, people bought radios. During 2003 Depayin (massacre), people bought [radios]." He added that sales of shortwave radios manufactured by China, which are used to listen to broadcasts of exiled Burmese media , were also on the rise.

Intelsat to refresh its satellite fleet serving the Asia-Pacific region

Intelsat has provided further details with respect to its current fleet investment plan, which is expected to result in a significant improvement in the types and quantities of satellite capacity available to media, networking and government customers in the Asia-Pacific region.

Intelsat expects to launch 11 satellites between now and the end of 2012, five of which will provide new or replacement capacity in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific build includes the acceleration of replacement satellites for two core roles and one new satellite that increases capacity for media and networking customers and addresses defense-related opportunities in the region.

• The Intelsat 17 satellite, to be located at 66º E, will provide higher-performing capacity across Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia, as well as expand Intelsat's C-band video distribution community in the Indian Ocean region. The Intelsat 17 satellite will replace the Intelsat 702 satellite.
• The Intelsat 18 satellite, to be located at 180º E, will provide continuity and enhanced performance in C- and Ku-band for network, voice and video services to the Pacific Islands and offer connectivity to the Western United States. The Intelsat 18 satellite will replace the Intelsat 701 satellite.
• The Intelsat 19 satellite, to be located at 166º E, will feature increased Ku-band capacity optimized for Direct-to-Home (DTH) and network services applications in Australia. The satellite's C-band capacity will provide enhanced performance capacity for distribution of international video content throughout Asia-Pacific with reach to the Western United States. The Ku-band payload will also support demand for mobility and enterprise network applications across the region. The Intelsat 19 satellite will replace the Intelsat 8 satellite.
• The Intelsat 20 satellite will replace the Intelsat 10 and Intelsat 7 satellites, which are co-located at 68.5º E today, one of the most successful cable distribution neighbourhoods serving the Asia-Pacific region. This satellite will provide regional and international programmers with ideal C-band penetration of the South Asian cable communities.The Intelsat 20 satellite also will carry a Ku-band payload, which will provide services into Asia, Africa and the Middle East for enterprise networks and DTH services.

AIR Shillong forays into internet space

To make its presence felt over the web, All India Radio's Shillong station has launched a website, http://www.airshillong.org in May 2009.Commenting on the purpose of launching a website, AIR Shillong station director N Shadap says, "The website was launched in the last week of May. This is to enable transparency and enable people to know what our initiatives are. It would keep the listeners updated about programmes on a daily basis and increase our listenership base."

The website has an updated commercial rate card for advertisers to keep a tab on the advertising rates online. There is a categorisation of programmes for spot buys and sponsorship of in house programmes with rates varying according to the duration. The website also mentions the rate of booking and rates for hiring the AIR studio in the Meghalaya capital.

Airshillong.org has information on the concessions available for different advertisers, like a 15 per cent discount to state and central government departments, 15 per cent to public sector undertakings, 50 per cent for spots on blood donation, leprosy, cancer, AIDS etc.

The website was outsourced and was designed in coordination with the AIR officials. Still working on adding more content to the website, AIR Shillong plans to integrate interactivity with listeners in the near future.

AIR Shillong is one of the few stations to have ventured into an individual website for their station after the Information and Broadcast Ministry resolved in late 2008 to create website for each AIR station.

MUMBAI: To make its presence felt over the web, All India Radio's Shillong station has launched a website, http://www.airshillong.org in May 2009.

Commenting on the purpose of launching a website, AIR Shillong station director N Shadap says, "The website was launched in the last week of May. This is to enable transparency and enable people to know what our initiatives are. It would keep the listeners updated about programmes on a daily basis and increase our listenership base."

The website has an updated commercial rate card for advertisers to keep a tab on the advertising rates online. There is a categorisation of programmes for spot buys and sponsorship of in house programmes with rates varying according to the duration. The website also mentions the rate of booking and rates for hiring the AIR studio in the Meghalaya capital.

Airshillong.org has information on the concessions available for different advertisers, like a 15 per cent discount to state and central government departments, 15 per cent to public sector undertakings, 50 per cent for spots on blood donation, leprosy, cancer, AIDS etc.

The website was outsourced and was designed in coordination with the AIR officials. Still working on adding more content to the website, AIR Shillong plans to integrate interactivity with listeners in the near future.

AIR Shillong is one of the few stations to have ventured into an individual website for their station after the Information and Broadcast Ministry resolved in late 2008 to create website for each AIR station.

 

Indian Televisionworld