31 Oct, 2015 – In what appears to be a gradual strengthening of the role of family members in the $3-billion Essel Group, it has been announced Amit Goenka, the son of Chairman Subhash Chandra, has been appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the international broadcasting business of Zee Entertainment. Chandra’s younger brother, Jawahar Goel, has been elevated from the post of managing director of Dish TV to that of chairman.

The moves come at a time when Chandra is undertaking a board-level reorganisation of the entertainment-to-education major. In the past fortnight, key executives of three listed firms – Zee Media Corporation, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Dish TV – have stepped down, paving the way for family members to take charge.

Read more at Business-Standard

3 Nov, 2015 – David Zaslav says “we haven’t done a great job” monetizing digital viewers and talks about potential direct-to-consumer service launches and what stronger-than-expected recent pay TV subscriber trends mean.

Discovery Communications management on Tuesday touted advertising market strength in the back-half of the year, upside in terms of revenue for its online viewership and the possible upside from better-than-expected pay TV subscriber trends. It said it continues to weigh a possible U.S. launch of direct-to-consumer video services.

Read more at the Hollywood Reporter

4 Nov, 2015 – Through a new partnership with VICE Media, A+E Networks’ channel H2 will be transitioned to VICELAND (working title), with the new 24-hour network set to launch in early 2016.

VICELAND will be distributed in approximately 70 million homes, and will feature hundreds of hours of new programming developed and produced in-house by VICE. Oscar-winning writer/director Spike Jonze, a long-time VICE partner and creative director for the company, has been overseeing the development of the new channel, from show creation to production to brand identity.

Read more at World Screen

SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President & CEO: Shinji Takada; “SKY Perfect JSAT”) is pleased to announce plans to transmit 4K HDR videos using its JCSAT-3A communication satellite. A demonstration of 4K HDR videos will be shown by the company’s manufacturing partners at the International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition (Inter BEE), held November 18–20, 2015 (Wednesday to Friday) at Makuhari Messe.

For the 4K HDR transmission, an uplink using existing facilities at the SKY Perfect JSAT Tokyo Media Center (“TMC”) will be sent from the JCSAT-3A communication satellite to the Inter BEE venue. Programming will consist of a variety of prerecorded SKY Perfect JSAT HDR video content and live TMC studio programs.

The 4K HDR format itself uses a Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) system, jointly developed by the JapanBroadcasting Corporation (NHK) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and standardized by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB).
The uplink for the 4K HDR videos from TMC will utilize the JCSAT-3A communication satellite currently used for SKY PerfecTV!’s Premium Service. Building on its current transmission infrastructure and receiving systems to enable 4K HDR broadcasts will encourage development of new technologies that enhance image quality, as well as new video standards.

The multi-channel SKY PerfecTV! service from SKY Perfect JSAT, which introduced the world’s first commercial 4K service, continues to bring viewers new forms of imagery. SKY Perfect JSAT will remain committed to take initiatives that help popularize ever-evolving broadcast technology.

News Release
A Closer Look at HDR
HDR stands for “high dynamic range.” This video capture, recording, and playback technology offers a more dynamic range (as expressed by the contrast ratio) than that of current HD video.
Because it approaches the dynamic range of human vision, HDR TV promises to be more natural and realistic than past formats.
Overview of Demonstration
■ Project
SKY Perfect JSAT 4K HDR TV transmission

■ Period
November 18–20, 2015 (Wednesday to Friday)

■ Viewing Venues
Booths of the following Inter BEE 2015 exhibitors
Sony Corporation / Sony Business Solutions Corporation
Toshiba Corporation
Astrodesign Inc.
Kyoshin Communications Co., Ltd.

■ Content
(1) Prerecorded SKY Perfect JSAT 4K HDR content including soccer, motorsports, concerts, and landscapes
(2) Live TMC studio programs

■ 4K HDR Format Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) system
■ Transmission Equipment
Camera: Sony PMW-F55
HDR Signal Output: S-Log ⇢ HLG 1.2 converter
HDR Waveform Monitoring: Astrodesign WM-3206/HDR
HDR Editing: SGO Mistika

4 Nov, 2015 – Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Multi Screen Media (MSM) Pvt. Ltd will be renamed as Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd (SPN), the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The rebranding includes both the name as well as a change of logo.

The rebranding is likely to happen in the next few weeks.

MSM operates a bouquet of channels that includes Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Max, SAB, Pix and AXN, among others.

Read more at Livemint

4 Nov, 2015 – Malaysian pay-TV operator Astro, via its SuperSport Plus channel 808, will air the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and StarCraft II 2015 World Championship Finals live on 7 and 8 November for free. Both events are taking place at Blizzard Entertainment’s BlizzCon gaming convention. Malaysian customers can watch the StarCraft II and Hearthstone 2015 World Championship Finals for free on Astro on the Go by heading to the Live TV tab. Astro on the Go is accessible via the web browser at the astroonthego website from a computer, or via the app on supported Android and iOS tablets and smartphones.

Read more at Telecompaper

Bermuda – 3rd Nov 2015, ABS and Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) announced that they have signed an expansion capacity agreement on ABS-3A for a multi-transponder, multiyear deal for Ku-band payload. The additional capacity will be used for different customer networks within the Middle East and North Africa regions in particular Saudi Arabia.
Under the agreement, Arabsat will use the new bandwidth on ABS-3A at 3W, mostly for data services for enterprises, banking and government institutions.

ABS-3A, an all-electric propulsion satellite entered commercial service on 31st August. The satellite features 48 C and Ku-band transponders (96 x 36MHz equivalent) and is equipped with high performance beams to support rapidly growing markets in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions. ABS-3A provides expansion capacity to reach markets servicing high-growth data, video, mobility and government applications.

“We are very pleased to be collaborating again with Arabsat as a reliable valued partner in supporting their business growth in the MENA region. This new contract reiterates Arabsat’s confidence in ABS to support their business plan for this expanding market. We look forward to continually strengthening our relationship with Arabsat in the future,” said Tom Choi, CEO of ABS.

Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO of ARABSAT said “We are very pleased to be working with ABS again and further build on our fruitful partnership. This agreement will enable ARABSAT to expand its customer base and provide more options and solutions.”

About ABS:
ABS is one of the fastest growing global satellite operators in the world. ABS offers a complete range of tailored solutions including broadcasting, data and telecommunication services to broadcasters, service providers, enterprises and government organizations.

ABS operates a fleet of satellites; ABS-2, ABS-3A, ABS-4/Mobisat-1, ABS-6, ABS-7. The satellite fleet covers 80% of the world’s population across the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, CIS and Russia. The new satellites: ABS-2A and ABS-8 are planned to launch in early 2016 and 2017/2018 respectively. ABS plans to add more satellites in the next 2-3 years to its growing fleet.

Headquartered in Bermuda, ABS has offices in the United States, Dubai, South Africa, Germany, Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong. ABS is majority owned by funds managed by the European Private Equity firm Permira. The Permira funds acquired ABS in 2010.

For more information, visit www.absatellite.com

About ARABSAT:
Founded in 1976, Arabsat has been serving the growing needs of the Arab world for almost 40 years. Now one of the world’s top satellite operators and by far the leading satellite services provider in the Arab world, it carries over 500 TV channels, 160 radio stations, pay-TV networks and wide variety of HD channels reaching tens of millions of homes in more than 80 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Europe—including an audience of over 170 million viewers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region alone tuned into Arabsat’s video “hotspot” at 26° E.

Operating a growing fleet of owned satellites at the 20° E, 26° E, 30.5° E and 34.5° E, ARABSAT is the only satellite operator in the MENA region offering the full spectrum of Broadcast, Telecommunications and Broadband services. This capacity will continue to expand with the launching of new satellites, making ARABSAT satellites’ fleet the youngest in the region.
Arabsat also maintains strategic partnerships with most of the world’s leading satellite companies and VAS integrators and recently acquired Hellas Sat, one of the leading telecom groups in southeastern Europe.

For more information, please contact Saad Al Tehaif, Director, PR & Media
Saadt@arabsat.com or visit us at www.arabsat.com

3 Nov 2015 – The Motion Picture Association of America was celebrating court orders in Canada and New Zealand it said will take a bite out of massive copyright infringement.

MPAA said that developers of Popcorn Time’s “official” fork (an offshoot of the open source Popcorn Time software) and BitTorrent site YTS, which abetted unauthorized distribution of TV shows and movies, have been shut down.

MPAA filed suit in Canada against three Canadian operators of popcorntime.io and secured an injunction against it.

Read more at Multichannel

3 Nov, 2015 – Before its troubles began, Viacom was long the place where top creative talent, from Jon Stewart to Johnny Knoxville, flourished across the conglomerate’s cable networks. Many of those famous faces have come and gone, but a very different breed of innovators has since taken up residence at the conglomerate. Their talent, however, is more science than art.

Over the past few years, a phalanx of data scientists from Microsoft and other technology havens have been lured to Viacom, where they are busily calculating ways to help marketers place their commercials with more precision. Once known as “Project Gemini,” a reference to one of NASA’s earliest human spaceflight programs, the service — now known as Vantage — will soon be offered to a broader array of the company’s sponsors. This combination of Silicon Valley wonk and Madison Avenue hard sell comes as rivals are crafting similar efforts.

Read more at Variety