Tata Sky launches 'Tata Sky Mobile Access'

New Delhi: Tata Sky, the leading direct-to-home service provider, has in association withRyz Media Inc introduced 'Tata Sky Mobile Access', a cutting edge app for Apple devices.
This app enables subscribers to user their iPhones,iPads and iPod Touch as a universal remote to control consumer electronic devices in their homes. In addition, subscribers can use the app to access 4-day programme listings, read extended information for movies; search for programs based on title and set their favourite shows for recording on the go. Keeping in line with the constant need for being connected to friends and family through social platforms,Tata Sky Mobile access allows subscribers to share what they are watching on TV through Facebook and Twitter, the company said.
Further, the app allows subscribers to view which programmes their Facebook friends are currently watching, helping them to decide on what to watch. At launch, this app will be available on Apple Devices only. An app for Android devices will be launched shortly after.
This app can be downloaded free of cost from the iTunes store and will work across all Tata Sky boxes. To use the Universal Remote Functionality, the subscriber will need to use the app along with a unique orb-shaped MP3 Mobile Accessory. This accessory plugs into the audio jack of the Apple Device and enables the subscriber to control his Tata Sky set-top box, TV, amplifier and DVD player. As part of the launch phase, the new MP3 Mobile accessory will be given free of charge to the first 1000 subscribers. Post the promotional period, the accessory can be purchased for Rs 350, including shipping and handling.
Speaking on the launch, Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Sky, said, "Over the last one year, India has witnessed an explosion of tablets and smart phones combined with an unprecedented popularity of social platforms like Facebook and Twitter across all age groups. The Tata Sky Mobile Access App is a natural integration of TV entertainment with these smart devices allowing subscribers to not only control their TV and set-top boxes with their smart devices, but also make their content choice based on what their friends and family are viewing. This is the first-of-its-kind functionality offered by any DTH service provider in India."

Walt Disney offers to buy out UTV's rest 49.56% stake for Rs 2,000 cr

NEW DELHI:Walt Disney Co plans to buy the rest ofUTV Software Communications (UTV) it does not own and delist the company in a deal potentially valued at $454 million, or Rs 2,014 crore, as the US entertainment giant seeks to expand its presence in Bollywood, media and gaming.

The Burbank, California-based company, which owns 50.44% of UTV Software, said in a statement it would buy out public shareholders at a price not exceeding 1,000 per share, an 11% premium to Monday's stock closing price of Rs 901.8. The buyout will give Walt Disney control over five businesses.

UTV Software, a holding company, makes and distributes movies, broadcasts a clutch of movie and entertainment channels, produces content for television and other digital media, and also has a presence in gaming.

It operates through a number of subsidiaries, including movie production under UTV Motion Pictures, Indiagames, andUTV Global Broadcasting that broadcasts entertainment and movie channels. All these will become part of Walt Disney's Indian unit once the transaction is completed.

Following the news of the buyout, one of the biggest in India's media and entertainment industry, the company's stock closed at Rs 950.45, or 5.39% higher, on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Disney said it would also buy the 20% stake held by promoter Rohinton (Ronnie) Screwvala and his associates if it garnered enough shares to delist the company. It, however, said delisting of a public company in India was a long process and could take several months to complete.

"Given the multiple stages and the nature of the process, a successful outcome is uncertain," it added.

The entertainment behemoth also said if the delisting went through, Screwvala would cease to be the chairman and managing director ofUTV Software Communications and become the managing director ofThe Walt Disney Company India, responsible for overseeing Indian businesses of theDisney Group.

Mahesh Samat, currently managing Disney's assets in India, will become chief operating officer, reporting to Screwvala. The statement did not say what would happen if the response to the open offer was insufficient to delist the company. Disney's statement merely said if the delisting was unsuccessful, it would "consider the full range of strategic options".

Farokh Balsara, partner & national leader, media & entertainment practice, at consultant Ernst & Young, said the deal illustrated the potential of the Indian movie and entertainment market. "It is an endorsement of the potential international companies see in the robust Indian entertainment and media sector. UTV and Disney are similar businesses and the acquisition will help Disney synergise its Indian operations. These are some of the bets international companies are making in the fast-growing Indian market."

India is the world's third-largest TV market trailing China and the US with nearly 138 million TV households, according to a March 2011 report by KPMG and industry lobby FICCI. The media and entertainment industry is likely to expand 14% annually until 2015, with segments such as TV, gaming and animation expected to outpace the industry growth, the report said.

July box-office record: Bollywood rakes in Rs 210 crore

MUMBAI: No July in Bollywood's box-office history has raked in as much profits as this month has. Peg it to the youthful appeal ofDelhi Belly andZindagi Na Mile Dobara or the bloody rage ofMurder 2 and Singham, but July 2011 brought business worth Rs 210 crore.

Suniel Wadhwa, independent distributor and box office analyst says, "After the box office hit record levels in June with Ready, Double Dhamaal, the good times continued to roll in July. At Rs 210 crore net box office collections, it was the highest-grossing July ever seen in the history of Bollywood, jumping over by 80% from July 2010." and recording an increase of 105% compared to an average six-monthly January-June 2011 monthly box office.

While Salman Khan's Ready contributed to about 40% of the box office collection in the first half of 2011, the collection of July is about 26% of the total of the first half of 2011. The adult certification to films didn't stop audiences from going to cinema halls for Aamir Khan's Delhi Belly and Mohit Suri's Murder 2. Buddhah Hoga Tera Baap was a treat for Amitabh Bachchan fans.

Both producers and exhibitors were worried about the performances of two films-Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara andHarry Potter which released after the 13/7 terror attack. The audiences surprised them all with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara breaking the previous week release Murder 2's first weekend record and Harry Potter with nearly 80% opening on the first day.

Says Trade analyst Taran Adarsh, "Every film that released in July has broken the previous releases' weekend opening record, from Ready to Singham. This month has broken the myth about audience spending in the first half of the month but this month has been just the opposite. The weekend collection of this month has been nothing less than Rs 120 crore for all the six films and biggest surprise has been the weekday collection at times has beaten the weekend business which one considered to be the time of business of cinema.''

Prices of film tickets have gone up by at least 15% in the last one year but that did not stop the audiences from walking into cinema halls. both multiplexes and single screen cinemas

Theatres all over the country achieved their target even before the month ended. Vishal Anand, head of operations, Fun Cinemas, said, "Most multiplexes achieved their target in the first three weeks of the month and the business that came from the films in the last part was only surplus.

The tone for July was set on the first day of the month itself with Delhi Belly making the cash tills ring. It has been the highest month for cinema sales ever for us at Fun cinemas. The trend continued with Transformers, Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap and then the biggies like ZNMD and Harry Potter," he said. It just blew everyones sales imagination with a good support by Delhi Belly in the 3rd week also.Singham supported the cinemas too. We expected sales to be stronger than June but this has surpassed our expectations. July has been more than 40 per cent than June, which had the highest sales record only to be broken after four weeks only.''

GVR Infra Projects raises Rs 150 crore from IDFC Private Equity

MUMBAI:GVR Infra Projects (GVR) on Friday said it has raised Rs 150 crore as private equity investment fromIDFC Private Equity (IDFC PE).

"While GVR is proud of its achievements in a short span of 11 years, we believe that the potential for growth is immense and there is still a lot more to be achieved. We are passionate about infrastructure and are extremely delighted to have an experienced investor likeIDFC PE as our partner," GVR Managing Director K Ganga Prasad said in a statement.

Chennai-based GVR has clocked Rs 1,000-crore revenue in FY11 and has an order book of Rs 4,200 crore.

"GVR has an excellent management team and their strong order book position, coupled with profitable growth over the years, is a testimony to their execution capabilities," IDFC PE Partner S G Shyam Sundar said.

"We are positive on the roads sector as we expect strong order inflows at the national and state level. We also believe that Railways and urban infrastructure sectors, where GVR has a presence, will open up in a big way in the coming years," Sundar said.

In its eight years of existence, this is only the third investment by IDFC PE in the roads sector.

Previously IDFC PE invested in L&T Infrastructure Developers and Ashoka Buildcon.

PFC Consulting to form JV targeting Asian countries

NEW DELHI: PFC Consulting, a subsidiary ofPower Finance Corporation, today said it may form a joint venture with another firm to provide consultancy services in Asian countries.

"PFC Consulting will join hands with another consultant to foray into Asian countries after which it (PFC Consulting) may get listed," PFC Chairman and Managing Director Satnam Singh said.

However, Singh clarified that the exercise of looking for a JV partner has not begun yet.

At present,PFC Consulting is engaged in providing consultancy services in India's power sector.

Small agencies like Taproot, Creativeland, Scarecrow winning big brands such as Airtel, Audi, Nestle & Pepsi

MUMBAI: While pitching for business from a prominent marketer, Agnello Dias, the founder of independent advertising agencyTaproot India, had his audience's attention even before a single slide hit the screen. He walked in for the presentation alone, armed with no more than a pen drive and a satchel. The marketer was unused to such minimalism.

Dias had just been preceded by a large agency with an impressive global pedigree and a small army of staff. Yet, the relatively tiny size and lack of international affiliations did not get in the way of Taproot bagging marquee businesses. The agency's portfolio includesPepsiCo and Airtel. And it is by no means the only creative independent shop to win highly prized accounts.

Shortly afterCreativeland Asia completed a project on Audi A8, it was given the marketing communication portfolio on the entire brand. AndScarecrow, floated by Raghu Bhat and Manish Bhatt barely a year ago, already boasts of an assignment withNestle for a new-to-market product.

More than ever before, marketers chasing big game-changing ideas are giving a chance to independent agencies.

"After working with an international network agency over three years, we thought we need to bring some new creative ideas and some freshness to the marketing communication," says Clemens Ollmert, head of marketing atAudi India. He finds "a really nice mix of craziness (unconventional creativity) and realism (grounded strategic thinking)" in Creativeland Asia.

Not long ago, independent advertising firms helmed by creative people used to be regarded as boutiques, with portfolios full of ads for either small or very local brands. Lack of serious strategic muscle and a vast network of offices and staff would often keep big business away. All of that has changed over the last five years or so.

"Agencies like Taproot bring in unique advantages in terms of freshness of perspective and the ability to triangulate cultural insights with consumer and brand truths to create big fearless game changing communication ideas," says Deepika Warrier, PepsiCo's marketing director-beverages.

She, however, admits that there is a definite role for scale companies like JWT, especially at a time when "marketing teams churn more than agencies". Typically, large marketers begin working with the independents via a single project, which acts as a foot in the door, leading to a more long-term association.

In the case of Taproot, it was a very prestigious assignment: conceiving of the ICC Cricket World Cup campaign 'Change The Game' for Pepsi. Shortly afterward, Taproot made it to PepsiCo's roster of agencies

Youth-centric brands such as KFC, Kurkure, Philips, HUL's Axe integrate TV ads with Facebook apps to drive sales

NEW DELHI: Youth-centric brands such as KFC, PepsiCo's Kurkure,Philips and HUL's Axe have extended their catchy television commercials into whackyFacebook apps to drive traffic in the virtual world and sales in the real world.

If the Philips app lets users try out all the different looks that John Abraham sports in its television campaign for male grooming products on themselves, Kurkure challenges people to find the right mix for its different variants by trying different ingredients, extending its 'Ingredients of India' television campaign. Thousands have signed up for these apps.

"With apps running on a parallel with TV commercials, the recall value for the brand improves drastically as consumers are directly interacting with the product," says ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar. And brands say this media integration strategy has helped increase product recalls and boost sales.

Dhruv Kaul, director, marketing, at fast-food chain KFC, says, "Though it is difficult to measure sales through such apps, it has helped drive further engagement with our target group which is young adults and teenagers."

In the latestKFC Krushers Kafeccino television commercial, a group of youngsters click the expressions of their friend as soon as she tastes the drink for the first time. Now, Kafeccino's Facebook 'Kool Hours' app allows people to upload their photos and earn points for every picture and caption. As many as 2,500 users uploaded their photographs in seven days.

Around 47% of Indian Facebook users are in the 18-24 age group, according to Socialbakers, a company tracking social media statistics.

This makes the social networking site a prime destination for all youth-centric marketers. "A relevant app helps generate buzz about the product and becomes a popular topic of discussion in one's peer group. The target group feels that they are 'with it'," says marketing expert Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. "In that sense, it connects with their mindset easily," he adds.

Philips would second that. The number of 'likes' on its Facebook page increased over 37,600 in a month since it introduced an app that allows men to try out the different beard styles as shown in its John Abraham-starrer TV ad for men's grooming kit.

PepsiCo's Facebook app for its Kurkure snack-based on its 'Ingredients of India' TV campaign with catch phrase 'badal jaa'-also has created a lot of interest with some 20,000 users trying it.

Pharma companies may get tax sops for clinical trials, patent filings

NEW DELHI: TheDepartment of Pharmaceuticals is planning to recommend extension of tax benefits given to drugmakers for in-house R&D and research work done outside the firm such asclinical trials, bio-equivalence studies, regulatory approvals and patent filings which could benefit most Indian drug companies.

Expenses incurred ondrug development process outside the firm should be eligible for tax exemption, if done through firms exclusively engaged in R&D and approved by specified authority, a draft proposal of the sub-working group (SWG) on regulatory issues for pharma sector for 12th Five-Year Plan said.

At present, the government gives weighted average tax deduction of 200% for in-house R&D investments and up to 175% if done with few R&D partners recognised by government. Pharma requires big investments to develop new medicines and most local drugmakers spend about 5-10% of their revenues on R&D.

Rajesh Jain, managing director at Delhi-basedPanacea Biotec said two-third of drugmakers' drug development expenses are done outside the company such as pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. Hence, the new proposal will cover bulk of their R&D investments. "It will boost moral and investment by local firms," Jain said.

SWG has sought the industry's views to finalise its proposal and sent to Working Group (WG) of the Department of Pharmaceuticals. If the WG endorses the proposal, it will be sent to Planning Commission to be part of the Five-Year Plan beginning 2012.

Among other tax exemption proposals to incentivise pharma sector for investment in R&D, SWG has also recommended extending the weighted tax deduction benefit by another 10 years to 2022.

It has also proposed a modification in minimum alternate tax (MAT) structure. With imposition of MAT of 20%, companies are unable to avail full benefit of tax deduction. Though the law provides for carryover and set off, investments in R&D is ongoing and growing, limiting firms from enjoying weighted deduction to R&D, it said.

"Alternatively, the amount spent for R&D should be treated as investment tax credit and allowed to be set off against tax and/or MAT payable," it said.

Jindal Saw to invest $600 mn in 2 years, buy stakes in global firms

NEW DELHI:Pipe maker Jindal Saw on Tuesday said it will invest USD 600 million over the next two years to expand its capacity and buy stakes in firms based in the Middle East, the US and the European Union.

"We will invest USD 600 million over the next two years for capacity expansion. This will also include acquisition of stakes in overseas firms," company Managing Director Sminu Jindal told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham event here.

Jindal said the company has already initiated talks with firms for buying stakes and signing of the deals may happen within a year.

"We will be interested in buying stakes in firms which produce ductile iron and seamless pipes. We have got enough capacity for large-dia pipe makings in India," she said.

Jindal said Jindal Saw would like to buy minority, but added that it might look at outright acquisition of firms, going forward.

Jindal, however, declined to give further details of the likely stake buying, but insisted that the overall investment of USD 600 million in the next two years would form a part of the proposed outlay in acquisition of stakes in firms abroad.

"USD 600 million will be the total investment. We are yet to finalise how much would go where," she said, adding that the company might raise some debt to fund the proposed fund infusion, but a majority would come from internal accruals.

Jindal Saw, which has seven manufacturing facilities in India, had clocked Rs 4,171 crore revenue last fiscal and it hopes the topline to remain "very much same as in the last fiscal" this fiscal. Around 60 per cent of its revenue comes from exports.

Flex eyes Rs 1,000-cr rev from non-plastic packaging prod biz

MUMBAI:Packaging major Uflex, which started manufacturing non-plastic-based alternative innovative packaging solutions to plastic pouches, is eyeing a Rs 1,000-crore revenue from this new product by end-this fiscal.

"We expect an around Rs 1,000-crore revenue from this new product by FY 12 and expect it to increase over the years,"Uflex Group President (Finance and Accounts), R K Jain, told PTI here.

The company has already started manufacturing the eco-friendly product and plans to manufacture around 36,000- tonnes per annum to cater to the market demand.

"We plan to manufacture around 36,000-tonnes per annum to garner an around Rs 1,000-crore revenue by end-this fiscal," he said.

The Supreme Court's landmark decision to ban the use of plastic in sachets for storing or selling tobacco, gutka and pan masala came into effect pan-India from March 1 this year.

The packaging major is also eyeing a Rs 4,800-crore revenue from its entire business in FY 12, as against Rs 3,500-crore revenue in FY 11.

"We are expecting an around Rs 4,800-crore revenue by end this fiscal," he said. On top of this, the company is eyeing a Rs 1,000-crore from its non-plastic-based innovative packaging product.