Thoda aur wish karo, IPTV and HDTV karo
A visit to the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Centre in Navi Mumbai gives one a glimpse of Anil Ambani’s massive plans for IPTV next year. Innovative features include a huge database of all Bollywood movies & songs on a pay-per-view basis, facility of online books for kids, the ability to view content at the time of your choice, a remote control that can double up as a phone and even a card swipe facility to pay your bills. For those who had concluded that TV would lose its popularity over time, think again!
Indians are getting ‘more’ than cable TV, in fact much more than they had ever bargained for. In the television content distribution space, ‘digital’ will remain the buzzword for the upcoming year. Plenty of action is expected in the DTH, IPTV and HDTV space. India will receive its first HDTV channels, and customers will have the convenience that they can be billed for exactly the channels they have watched and for the exact duration on the IPTV platform; and as for add on services, the sky is the limit.
In terms of technology and services, IPTV is supposed to witness heated action as Reliance has announced its plans for the platform and market buzz says Bharti is also planning to launch their IPTV services. MTNL (with its content partner Aksh Optifibres) happens to be the only IPTV service provider in the country that has rolled up its sleeves to throng the space with new services and technology. In year 2008, the next thing up on their agenda is to launch video calling and interactive gaming services. Through interactive gaming a user, sitting at his home, will be able to play live games with other users in the country, with the help of a TV set and its remote; no need of a PC or a joystick.
The next launch for IPTV from MTNL and Aksh Optifibres will be A-tube and A-shop. A-tube will be a video yellow pages service, which will give you information in video form. Let’s say if you are planning a holiday in Goa, you can watch a complete video on Goa tourism, which will include what all places should be visited, what are the travel agencies and other related advertisements, promotions and information. Similarly A-shop will enable you buy a product on your TV with the help of a click, very much like e-shopping, but you won’t need a PC or internet connection for that. There will be a display of products and you can click on which product to buy and the person will deliver the product to you and collect the money from your home. This channel could be definitely explored by marketers since the internet per se has not picked up that much as a medium in India.
User behaviour mapping is another feature, which is expected to be launched on the IPTV platform by next year. It tracks a user’s television watching habits. It will track what all channels you watch, which kind of programs you prefer on those channels, and what are your timings of television viewing. It has benefits for the service provider as well: the service providers can actually bill the customers for the particular hours they have watched television. Elaborates Kailash Chaudhari, Managing Director, Aksh Optifibres, told B&E, “Let’s say a consumer watches Zee TV from 7 to 8 pm, Sony from 8 to 9 pm and Star Plus from 9 to 10 pm. With user behaviour mapping, we will be able to charge him for watching these channels only for that period.” Don’t you see the boon out here for advertisers too? They will be able to exactly find out which channel provides them with the best value for their investments and efforts.
Apart from IPTV, HDTV services will also be launched in the year 2008. Aksh Optifibres plans to launch the first two HDTV channels of India by late next year. Already, new channels like 9X are making their broadcasts on the MPEG4 platform, which makes them ready for HDTV. Adds Kailash Chaudhari, “The two HDTV channels that we will launch next year will be of English content as Hindi content is not available on HDTV as of yet.” Of course, that status quo should not persist for long; Hindi as well as regional languages could be going the high definition way pretty soon. So just fasten your seat belts for a complete new television experience in the year 2008. In fact, you can prepare yourself for an experience that goes far beyond basic TV viewing. Ask for more, and more is exactly what you will get from the television service providers in the coming year.
A visit to the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Centre in Navi Mumbai gives one a glimpse of Anil Ambani’s massive plans for IPTV next year. Innovative features include a huge database of all Bollywood movies & songs on a pay-per-view basis, facility of online books for kids, the ability to view content at the time of your choice, a remote control that can double up as a phone and even a card swipe facility to pay your bills. For those who had concluded that TV would lose its popularity over time, think again!
Indians are getting ‘more’ than cable TV, in fact much more than they had ever bargained for. In the television content distribution space, ‘digital’ will remain the buzzword for the upcoming year. Plenty of action is expected in the DTH, IPTV and HDTV space. India will receive its first HDTV channels, and customers will have the convenience that they can be billed for exactly the channels they have watched and for the exact duration on the IPTV platform; and as for add on services, the sky is the limit.
In terms of technology and services, IPTV is supposed to witness heated action as Reliance has announced its plans for the platform and market buzz says Bharti is also planning to launch their IPTV services. MTNL (with its content partner Aksh Optifibres) happens to be the only IPTV service provider in the country that has rolled up its sleeves to throng the space with new services and technology. In year 2008, the next thing up on their agenda is to launch video calling and interactive gaming services. Through interactive gaming a user, sitting at his home, will be able to play live games with other users in the country, with the help of a TV set and its remote; no need of a PC or a joystick.
The next launch for IPTV from MTNL and Aksh Optifibres will be A-tube and A-shop. A-tube will be a video yellow pages service, which will give you information in video form. Let’s say if you are planning a holiday in Goa, you can watch a complete video on Goa tourism, which will include what all places should be visited, what are the travel agencies and other related advertisements, promotions and information. Similarly A-shop will enable you buy a product on your TV with the help of a click, very much like e-shopping, but you won’t need a PC or internet connection for that. There will be a display of products and you can click on which product to buy and the person will deliver the product to you and collect the money from your home. This channel could be definitely explored by marketers since the internet per se has not picked up that much as a medium in India.
User behaviour mapping is another feature, which is expected to be launched on the IPTV platform by next year. It tracks a user’s television watching habits. It will track what all channels you watch, which kind of programs you prefer on those channels, and what are your timings of television viewing. It has benefits for the service provider as well: the service providers can actually bill the customers for the particular hours they have watched television. Elaborates Kailash Chaudhari, Managing Director, Aksh Optifibres, told B&E, “Let’s say a consumer watches Zee TV from 7 to 8 pm, Sony from 8 to 9 pm and Star Plus from 9 to 10 pm. With user behaviour mapping, we will be able to charge him for watching these channels only for that period.” Don’t you see the boon out here for advertisers too? They will be able to exactly find out which channel provides them with the best value for their investments and efforts.
Apart from IPTV, HDTV services will also be launched in the year 2008. Aksh Optifibres plans to launch the first two HDTV channels of India by late next year. Already, new channels like 9X are making their broadcasts on the MPEG4 platform, which makes them ready for HDTV. Adds Kailash Chaudhari, “The two HDTV channels that we will launch next year will be of English content as Hindi content is not available on HDTV as of yet.” Of course, that status quo should not persist for long; Hindi as well as regional languages could be going the high definition way pretty soon. So just fasten your seat belts for a complete new television experience in the year 2008. In fact, you can prepare yourself for an experience that goes far beyond basic TV viewing. Ask for more, and more is exactly what you will get from the television service providers in the coming year.
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
