Indian Media Magazine

AIM gears up for 6th Indian Magazine Congress in Mumbai on Sept 6-7

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:15 +0000

Stage is set for the sixth edition of Indian Magazine Congress, being presented by the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) in Mumbai on September 6-7. The two-day event will have several eminent names from the media and advertising world like Nicholas Brett and Aroon Purie speaking at the event.
read more by clicking here …..

There’s a culture of creativity and ideas in India, which might not exist elsewhere: Mel Varley, Mediaedge:cia

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:15 +0000

“Content (in India) is already quite fluid and there is a culture of creativity and ideas which might not exist everywhere else. Often, with big countries implementation becomes so important that strategy becomes less important. India and China to a certain extent are exceptions. The other opportunity here is the database, because there is a lot of data and a lot of information and we have been talking about how we can address this as a business,” says Mel Varley, Chief Strategy Officer, Global, Mediaedge:cia.
read more by clicking here …..

Ministry to work towards digitisation of Indian broadcasting industry: Ambika Soni

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:15 +0000

A seminar held in Delhi this week brought together I&B Minister Ambika Soni, television industry stalwarts and some other political leaders to thrash out myriad issues plaguing the broadcast industry today. The I&B Minister emphasised on the need for digitisation of the Indian TV broadcasting industry as the way ahead.
read more by clicking here …..

Dept of IT invites agencies for National e-Governance Plan’s ‘umbrella’ campaign

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:15 +0000

The Department of Information Technology has invited proposals in two covers from agencies for empanelment for the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) ‘umbrella’ campaign, including outdoor activities.
read more by clicking here …..

ESPN’s Champions League T20 goes social with ‘Commentweeter’ by Webchutney

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:15 +0000

Digital interactive agency Webchutney has added a creative spin to ESPN-STAR Sports’ digital marketing for the upcoming Airtel Champions League Twenty20 tournament with the launch of a new contest – ‘Commentweeter’.
read more by clicking here …..

UNITV starts live feed from Congress Headquarters at New Delhi

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:15 +0000

UNITV commenced its live feed service from the Congress headquarters in delhi on September 3, 2010 with Sonia Gandhi’s first address to party workers after becoming the Congress President for the fourth time in a row. From here on, UNITV will be providing daily live feed to all its clients from 24, Akbar Road in the National Capital.
read more by clicking here …..

Flashed Yesterday: STAR India’s Uday Shankar is the new IBF Prez; TV Today’s G Krishnan & Times TV’s Sunil Lulla other office bearers

newsbot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:00:09 +0000

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has appointed Uday Shankar, CEO, STAR India, as its President. Shankar succeeds Jawahar Goel, who had held the Chair for four consecutive years. TV Today’s CEO G Krishnan is the Vice President and Times Television Network’s CEO Sunil Lulla is the Treasurer.
read more by clicking here …..

Airtel Owned Warid May Have To Become A Public Limited Company

newsbot — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:00:32 +0000

Warid Telecom, a Bangladesh based telecom operators which Bharti Airtel acquired 70% stake in, in January this year, may be among 24 companies in the country that are asked to become a public limited company, reports The Financial Express (Bangladesh). According to the rules of Bangladesh’s stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), “a private limited company shall convert itself into a public limited company within six months from the date its existing paid-up capital and the further capital it intends to raise exceeds, in total Tk 400 million.”

Tk 400 million amounts to approximately $5.7 million, or Rs. 265 million. The report quotes Joint Stock Companies and Firms’ (RJSC) Registrar Ahmedur Rahim, as saying that the SEC will issue show-cause notices to the such companies, and the report lists 24 of those, including Warid, quoting sources.

This issue, apparently, is not new. According to a report in BDNews24.com in 2007, the SEC had asked the same of Warid just months after its launch in Bangladesh, and then asked the company to issue shares to the public within three years of launching commercial operations. It’s almost three years since that report.

As per Airtel’s quarterly report, issued last month, Warid has over 2.5 mn customers, and offers mobile services across 64 districts of Bangladesh with a distribution network over 46,000 retailers. For its mobile operations in South Asia (including India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka), Airtel reported revenues of Rs. 88.23 billion, and an EBITDA of Rs. 31.71 billion, for the quarter ended June 30th 2010. It does not publish financial details on a quarterly basis for Warid.

Airtel had acquired 70% stake in Warid for an investment of $300.1 million.

Naspers Invested Over $10 M In Ibibo In FY10; Goibibo $1M Per Month; Payments Platform?

newsbot — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:00:28 +0000

In its annual report, Naspers, the South African media conglomerate, has reported that it invested ZAR 76 million (around $10.29 million at current rates) in ‘Development Costs’ in MIH India (Ibibo) during the financial year ended March 31st 2010. This is less than the ZAR 98 million it had invested in the company during the 2008-09 fiscal. What’s also notable is that Chinese Internet major TenCent, which Naspers owns a small stake in, has only acquired 10% stake in MIH India so far.

MediaNama readers may remember that in June 2008 TenCent had inked a deal that gave it the option of acquiring up to 50% in MIH India; in return, MIH India and its subsidiaries were given a license to use TenCent’s technology and content in India, exclusive for seven years, along-with other support services. In its annual report, Naspers has reported that TenCent exercised its option for 6% in December 2008, and another 4% more recently, in March 2010. Thus, Naspers still owns 90%, though it treats MIH India has a joint venture with TenCent.

Naspers also owns 30% in Mobile VAS company ACL Wireless, 36.1% in mobile advertising and content company Buzz City, and 43.6% in Mobile Instant Messenger and Internet Telephony service Nimbuzz.

Ibibo To Launch Payment Platform? GoIbibo Crosses $1M Transactions Per Month

Naspers annual results presentation lists “Ibibo Pay” as one of the company’s initiatives, apart from e-commerce, Social Games and Mobile. So is Ibibo planning a payments module like eBay’s Paisa Pay? Ibibo also launched Tradus, Naspers’ e-commerce business, in India last year, and also launched Social Games, which it took mobile. So they would have tied up with banks and credit card companies for ecommerce, as well as telecom operators for mobile based micropayments rolled out earlier this year.

Interestingly, the presentation also mentions that GoIbibo, the companys online ticketing venture, has crossed $1 million in monthly transactions (by the end of FY10). According to Comscore Ibibo’s traffic rose by 123% during the year.

We contacted Ibibo CEO Ashish Kashyap and the Naspers Investor relations desk for more perspective on Ibibo – where the investments have been made and where the company is going from here, but they’ve declined to comment.

Download:

- Naspers Annual Report (2010)
- Naspers Analyst Day Presenation (2010)

Railway Stations Get Mobile Controlled Water Pumps; Nano Ganesh?

newsbot — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:00:21 +0000

Northern Frontier Railway has come up with a system that saves manpower and electric energy used in running water pumps. They are using an automated unit based on mobile technology to automatically run pumps, which has already been implemented in four stations of Rangiya Division in Northeast Frontier Railway: Tezpur, Tangla, Majbat and Rangjuli. [PIB]

The pumps can be switched on or off from any part of the world either directly or on scheduled a programme, the command is given from an internet based program. If during the schedule of running the pump at a particular station the supply goes off then the system runs the pump automatically for the remainder of the scheduled time and the water supply is made available. Parameters such as running hour, voltage, current drawn and energy consumed are monitored every 15 minutes and the data is automatically saved in a file online, that can be accessed at any time. Also in case of abnormalities an SMS alert is sent to the supervisor such that proper action can be taken to avoid any mishaps.

This sounds similar to Nano Ganesh from Ossian, which allows farmers to switch on and off water pumps.