Simplifying Digital Cable Deployment

How can you simplify digital cable deployment without breaking the bank? Leaving aside the fact that some of our banks seem to be broken already, few would deny that digital cable has been slow to develop in India, as while the market is incredibly dynamic it is also fragmented. This often requires a highly complex planning process when it comes to rollout. “Not only does India have a huge number of cable systems ranging from large MSOs to many local operators, but it also has to face the major obstacle of signal piracy,” says Jeremy Thorp, CEO at Latens, the UK-based software Conditional Access System (CAS) and middleware vendor for digital Pay TV. Then there’s the challenging prospect of competing head-to-head with the nation's new fleet of satellite TV providers with a service that offers better quality of viewing, and most importantly at an attractive price. In addition, the Indian government has recently mandated the adoption of a CAS (Conditional Access System) for cable operators, which many end users and operators believe may considerably raise the cost of pay TV service delivery. With such a downward pressure on finances, it’s not altogether surprising to see the emergence of budget revenue protection systems that seem to be almost too good to be true. But as ever, you get what you pay for, Thorp warns.

The First 3G Technology

The first radiotelephone service was introduced in the US at the end of the 1940s, and was meant to connect mobile users in cars to the public fixed network. In the 1960s, a new system launched by Bell Systems, called Improved Mobile Telephone Service” (IMTS), brought many improvements like direct dialing and higher bandwidth.

March 2009

Wednesday, March 2, 2009 -- TRAI issued guidelines to all service providers providing internet /broadband to ensure better service to their subscriber.

SOFTWARE CAS VALUE FOR MONEY

An exclusive session with Jeremy Thorp, CEO of Latens Systems providers of software only Conditional Access and Middleware, Here he talks about the advantages of a cardless CAS in the Indian scenario.

Bharti Airtel Launches

TRIPLE PLAY

Atul Bindal, President, Bharti Airtel and N Arjun, Executive Director, Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel announced the debut of its Triple Play Service with the launch of Airtel digital TV interactive, it's Internet Protocol Television Service. With this, Airtel delivers the Triple Play Advantage of Telephony, Broadband and Entertainment Service to its customers. The Triple Play Service will be initially available to customers in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida starting January 19, 2009. 

Financial Hardship is Finally Here

Hardly had the shocks of Mumbai terror attacks subsided that all news broadcasters came under severe criticism from the government and the intelligentsia for their irresponsible and dramatized broadcast of the war-like incident. As a result the government decided to amend The Cable Television Act introducing changes in the Content Code as well as issuing new guidelines for media coverage of such emergencies and wars.

Not taking it lightly, the much influential gang of News Broadcasters lobbied with the politicians and approached the PM to get the move held in a abeyance till all stake holders were again consulted. God knows how long these consultations with the stake-holders go on because I have been seeing such moves since 1997 when the first draft of Broadcast Bill was presented in the Parliament. Just thirty odd broadcasters amongst 200 news channels who are members of the News Broadcasters Association are taking the whole system for a ride. This can happen only in a democracy like India. Now the elections are coming and we can forget about any further move from the government to rein in the broadcasters. 

Effect of the global recession has been aggravated after the Mumbai attacks. The ‘Raju Scam’ of Satyam has further brought down the sentiments in the industry. Now it has been predicted that this bad phase may continue for at least another year. Fortunately the whole world accepts that India and China will not be much effected by this meltdown. Both the economics are strong internally and do not depend so much on the US. So, we do not expect any let down in foreign investments. 

DTH is one sector which has felt the heat of this financial crises most. DTH operators depend totally on imported set top-boxes and rising prices are making a big dent in their revenues. If CAS was implemented in India in 2003 when the law was enacted, we would have at least had twenty major STB manufactures in the country by now. But our political system is not so strong as to resist the powerful lobbies of the broadcasters. They have even managed to get TRAI's tariff order for Non-CAS areas withdrawn by TDSAT. Anyway, the DTH players have deep pockets and so can continue to provide free or subsidised set-top-boxes. 

There is no stoppage of channel launches, recession or no recession. We saw the launch of Jan Sandesh, Real Television, Sadhana News Bihar and SpaceToon last month. Some more are lined up for this month too. 

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1807-financial-hardship-is-finally-here.html

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1807-financial-hardship-is-finally-here.html

February 2009

Monday, February 2, 2009 -- Nimbus Sports bagged the worldwide broadcasting and sponsorship right for the Indo-SriLanka Cricket series.