Monday, September 8, 2008

Reliance Big Entertainment Acquires Majority Stake in Willow

The company in news is Willow.TV. It is the world’s leading portal for live Internet streaming of all Cricket events worldwide, and has been providing live streaming video of every major cricket series since 2003. It is a paid site with a subscriber base of over a million registered users, primarily in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. It provides subscribers with an unparalleled viewing experience with enhancements such as live interactive scorecards and high bandwidth video streams as well as mobile and IM offerings

Willow.TV, last year, streamed all major cricket events live, including the iconic Indian Premier League, as well as all Australian, South African and English international matches. The Willow.TV gain maximum visibility in India when it telecasted the Indian Premier League.

Reliance Big Entertainment, which is on buying spree, has acquired a majority stake in the US-based cricket webcasting portal - Willow TV. According to the report The Anil Ambani company will invest Rs 300 crore in the portal over the next two years. The amount also includes the acquisition price of the portal.

Reliance Big Entertainment has been aggressively strengthening its position in the entertainment and media space and has been building value across the value chain. The acquisition will strengthen the presence of Reliance Big Entertainment in new media.

Nazara Technologies to Launch Eklavya, and Yudhistra in Mobile Game

Nazara Technologies is a leading mobile entertainment company focused on the 100 million plus mobile subscriber base in India. The company specialise in localized content that is relevant in India. They have developeed a range of branded and original mobile content that is highly relevant to the culturally diverse consumer base in the country.

Nazara Technologies specialises in high-end 3D graphics, fast multiplayer services. The company has aggressive plans to develop games, and a multiplayer platform to cater to the growing demand. They also have plans to launch cross platform gaming that integrates with Internet and DTH.


Eklavya, The Great Yudhistra soon on iPhone
The mobile gaming company Nazara Technologies is in talks with Apple Computers, maker of iPhone, and its two Indian retailers Airtel and Vodafone Essar to develop a couple of mythology-based games which would be available in the next 4-6 months. The dedicated team of professionals is working on the mythological games such as Eklavya and The Great Yudhistra for iPhones.

Once Nazara Technologies launch the game for the iPhone subscribers the user can doenload the game for retailer sites. The cost of each download would be between INR 30-50 for the subscribers.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Akbar Birbal remixed: A New Beginning

Rajshri Media

Rajshri Media is the digital entertainment arm of the 60-year old Rajshri group, one of India’s oldest, largest and most successful Film and TV Studios. It also has successful operations in TV production and music publishing. The group has produced over 50 films till date many of which have attained significant commercial and critical success.

Rajshri Media is one of the leading Internet and Mobile Studios of India. The company runs India’s leading broadband video streaming and download portal http://www.rajshri.com their Internet and Mobile videos are also available at their Youtube channel – http://www.youtube.com/rajshri.

Akbar Birbal remixed: A new beginning

Gone are the days of TV serials; its age of Internet and mobile serials. Rajshri Media, India’s leading Web and Mobile Studio, has launched Akbar Birbal remixed. The Akbar Birbal remixed is 3 minute a piece 90 episode series. The Akbar Birbal remixed, set in the by-lanes of Bhendi Bazar in Mumbai.

The show revolves around a loud and brazen don – Akbar Anna, and his intelligent , witty and ever-bankable sidekick – Birbal Bhaiya. Each day, to them, begins with it a new nut to crack. Doesn’t it sound like Akbar-Birbal, and Muna Bhai – Circuit combination? The first 10 episodes are live on http://www.rajshri.com and their Youtube channel which is http://www.youtube.com/rajshri. In addition, it will be launched soon on MMS and SMS via Idea Cellular.

Rajshri would reformat the content for audio and text and will be distributing it to Idea for 3 months, thereafter going live across other operators. The content will be released initially on Internet and mobile and subsequently formatted for TV, home video and Radio.

Mobile Value Added Services demands Level playing field with Telecoms

The value added services industry has contributed significantly to the growth and adoption of mobile telephony in India. It has also helped telecom sector clock additional revenue. Hence, it is imperative to have a level playing field between large telecommunication and small Mobile Value Added Services companies. Based on the fact the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has sought a level playing field between the telecom operators and the value added services companies. They strongly believe that it is imperative for the growth and sustainability of mobile telephony in India.

IAMAI has asked for a faster process of obtaining shortcodes, standardisation of the terms and conditions of access and interconnection and a transparent revenue sharing model between operators and Mobile Value Added Services players. IAMAI has also said that there should be some additional obligations on the current licensees in terms of maintaining a level playing field, otherwise, the MVAS industry should be treated as the single largest users of telecom services and their rights should be protected.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

ACL Wireless Limited

ACL established in 2000 is a privately owned company funded by IAVM, with strategic investments from Naspers/MIH. It employs over 240 people and is headquartered in Delhi.
ACL Wireless is a mobile VAS player in managed mobility and community messaging service across 21 countries. It works with Airtel in India, MTC-Vodafone in Middle East, Claro in Brazil and AIS in Thailand. ACL Wireless offers interactive SMS & voice response along with permission based SMS broadcasts & alerts. ACL wireless offerings also includes service creation and operation for enterprises and operator VAS, billing & content aggregation. Its community & messaging services suite includes: mobile chat, mobile social networking, mobile photo sharing and internet messengers on mobile available across GPRS & SMS mediums.
ACL has partnerships with Gemalto, Smart Trust, Eposs and Unified Communications which enable it to develop cutting edge products and distribute them globally.

ACL Wireless Limited

ACL established in 2000 is a privately owned company funded by IAVM, with strategic investments from Naspers/MIH. It employs over 240 people and is headquartered in Delhi.
ACL Wireless is a mobile VAS player in managed mobility and community messaging service across 21 countries. It works with Airtel in India, MTC-Vodafone in Middle East, Claro in Brazil and AIS in Thailand. ACL Wireless offers interactive SMS & voice response along with permission based SMS broadcasts & alerts. ACL wireless offerings also includes service creation and operation for enterprises and operator VAS, billing & content aggregation. Its community & messaging services suite includes: mobile chat, mobile social networking, mobile photo sharing and internet messengers on mobile available across GPRS & SMS mediums.
ACL has partnerships with Gemalto, Smart Trust, Eposs and Unified Communications which enable it to develop cutting edge products and distribute them globally.

Spice Mobile VAS (formerly Cellebrum)

The spice group promoted company has recently gone through rebranding and is now called as ‘Spice Mobile VAS’. The company is headquartered in Parwanoo in HP. Spice Mobile VAS has presence in 10 countries and employs around 450 people. Its corporate office is in Noida and registered office is in New Delhi. It also has regional offices in Chandigarh, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Bangalore. Spice Mobile VAS is a technology enabler in wireless application space. The company develops applications for three main segments - voice based services, messaging and roaming.