INDIA SET TO RECORD LARGE INCREASE IN DVR OWNERSHIP

As the cost of Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) continues to fall, DVRs are now becoming a “must have” item in many homes. DVR technology enables viewers to record live TV, play back, pause and rewind live broadcasts and store many hours of programming. A recent global research study showed that the owners of DVRs overwhelmingly agreed that their enjoyment of watching TV was significantly enhanced by having a DVR and that it was the second most important household item, after the mobile phone.

In the UK and Ireland, the bundled Sky+ DVR service is now in over 5 million homes, which means that it is in every second Sky home! In Australia, 2 out of 3 set top boxes (STBs) deployed are DVR enabled and in the US, most operators now provide DVRs as a standard feature. The largest operators around the world admit that the DVR and HD services are the main factors for increased ARPU and subscriber churn reduction even during the recession. 

MIGRATING TO THE FUTURE

Alex Borland, Sales Director at Latens, describes the crucial things that you have to get right, while upgrading your network for the Next Gen services.

It's hard to over-estimate the influence that the growth of broadband internet connections is having on broadcasting. 

Digital Rights Management

Prevention of misuse and theft of content has become all the more important in the Digital Environment.

Digital rights management (DRM) is a generic term that refers to access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology which makes the unauthorized use of such digital content and devices technically formidable, but generally doesn't include other forms of copy protection which can be circumvented without modifying the file or device, such as serial numbers or keyfiles. It can also refer to the restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices.

Better Times Ahead

The dance of democracy that began a few months ago ended with a good note. The UPA government is again given the mandate to form the next government. With Manmohan Singh been sworn as the Prime Minister, we have the hope of continuing with the progressive policies of the UPA government pursued for the next five years too. We also expect that the decisions taken so far in many fields will not be reversed like it happens at such times when a different political party comes to power. General atmosphere in the country is that of a stable government with progressive policies creating a better economic environment much needed for the growth of any business. A sudden spurt in the Stock Market indices is a clear signal of this.

Coming to the field of broadcasting, we can expect some changes with a new minister, new secretary, new TRAI chairman and new broadcast advisor in the TRAI. I sincerely hope with Commonwealth Games approaching fast and the rest of the world moving towards a digital environment, the pending decisions in this respect are given a push so that we start the implementation soon. Digitalisation of Cable networks is a time consuming thing as it requires investments, technology implementation and above all, acceptance of the technology by the masses. By this I mean acceptance of addressability and conditional access which are the integral part of the digital cable.

June 2009

Monday, June 01, 2009 -- Big TV, the DTH service of Reliance ADA group expand its channel bouquet with an addition of 10 new channels.