After a releasing a load of new character posters for 300: Rise of an Empire over Comic-Con, Warner Bros. has unveiled this awesome new ‘Living Poster’ showcasing Sullivan Stapleton as Themistokles and a tidal wave of blood.
It doesn’t tell us much more about the forthcoming prequel, due out in March next year, other than fans of the original’s OTT violence and gore are probably not going to be disappointed!
Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Movies
A large number of customers are migrating to free or cost-effective social messaging apps. This is dampening SMS revenue growth and causing operators to worry about monetizing messaging services, says global analyst firm Ovum.
In a new report that examines the findings of its Consumer Insights Survey, the independent telecom analyst firm reveals that 31 percent of respondents to the survey said that using social messaging services has led to a decrease in their SMS usage. Countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, and France have experienced the highest adverse impact on SMS, although respondents from Germany, Russia, and the U.S. stated that they had actually increased their use of SMS. (See also “Happy bday! SMS txt msgs turn 20.”
“Based on Ovum’s research, there is a clear substitution effect in the early stages of social messaging adoption. This will increase as more social messaging players come into the market, mobile broadband becomes more affordable, and smart devices become even more popular,” says Neha Dharia, consumer analyst at Ovum and co-author of the report. “However, the fact that social messaging does not always infringe on SMS suggests that services with stronger operator relationships can even grow SMS traffic, creating opportunities for operators and OTT players to bridge the gap between online and offline users through paid SMS.”
In responding to Ovum’s survey, 34 percent of Skype users and 51 percent of WhatsApp users indicated that their SMS usage has decreased due to their use of social messaging. “Clearly there is a need to identify services that will promote the use of SMS to bridge the gap between offline and online services, which could lead to a revenue-generating opportunity,” Dharia said.
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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
DTS Launches DTS–HD ® Layered Audio Technology to Enable Online Services to Efficiently Stream Audio at Various Bit-Rates from a Single Encode
Targeting Next Generation Streaming Formats Like MPEG-DASH, DTS-HD ® Layered Audio Provides Online Media Services An Elegant One-Stream Solution For Adaptive Bit-Rate Audio At A Fraction Of The Storage Cost
CALABASAS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– DTS, Inc. (NAS: DTSI) , a leader in high-definition audio solutions and audio enhancement technologies today announced the launch of its new DTS–HD® Layered Audio technology, designed to enable online media services to offer adaptive bit-rate audio streaming from a single encode. DTS–HD Layered Audio utilizes advanced features of the DTS–HD codec to create and efficiently store adaptive bit-rate audio streams from a single encode, allowing online media services to better accommodate the challenging network conditions of over-the-top (OTT) broadband video streaming and deliver a better consumer experience. DTS will be demonstrating this technology in conjunction with partners Manzanita Systems, Unified Streaming and castLabs, streaming in MPEG-DASH at the DTS booth at NAB 2013 (SU8514).
Manzanita Systems (NAB booth SU6908) was the first to integrate DTS–HD Layered Audio into their Manzanita MP4 Multiplexer (MP4Mux v2.0) to be released in May. “Manzanita Systems is excited to incorporate DTS‘ latest technology for enabling high efficiency adaptive bit-rate audio for our customers,” said CEO, Greg Vines. “DTS–HD Layered Audio allows services to stream using adaptive bit-rate audio at almost no additional storage cost over a single encode—a great benefit for today’s challenging network environments.”
Unified Streaming has implemented support for DTS–HD Layered Audio in their Unified Streaming Platform (USP), which provides real-time transmuxing (changing the container format) to enable a single source to feed output to a wide range of different streaming formats. The USP was released at the end of Q1 2013. “DTS–HD Layered Audio is a unique and innovative approach to enabling adaptive bit-rate audio streaming from a single encode with minimal overhead,” said Arjen Wagenaar, CTO of Unified Streaming. “Such a simple, elegant solution was an obvious fit for our products, whose primary purpose is to easily deliver adaptive streaming to any screen, any device from a single source.”
“We designed our Layered Audio technology with bandwidth limitations, server resource efficiency and consumer enjoyment in mind,” said Mark Johnson, vice president of streaming and media solutions, DTS Inc. “Our goal at DTS is to deliver the best quality, immersive audio experience possible. DTS–HD Layered Audio helps enable this under some of the most challenging …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Cinedigm Launches Multi-Platform “DOCURAMA” Brand with Theatrical Screening Series and Proprietary OTT Network
7-Week, 7-Feature Film Theatrical Event Launches Nationwide on April 22; Short Film Series Presented by GE FOCUS FORWARD
LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Cinedigm (NAS: CIDM) announced today it is elevating its Docurama Films independent label into a multi-platform “DOCURAMA” brand with a series of national theatrical screening events and a proprietary over-the-top (OTT) network. For almost 15 years, Docurama Films has presented audiences with the most acclaimed documentaries of our era, including Oscar-nominated films The Invisible War and Hell and Back Again, audience favorites Detropia, Rivers and Tides and Beauty is Embarrassing and classics of the genre, Dont Look Back and Primary.
Taking full advantage of the digital revolution that has enabled new distribution options for independent films and documentaries, the multiple-platform DOCURAMA brand launches on April 22 with a 7-week, 7-film series of screenings in theaters across the country. At the same time, the company will launch a free-to-consumer, ad-supported OTT streaming service, further broadening the scope of the brand to an audience of millions. Cinedigm’s 360-degree release infrastructure allows the company to seamlessly distribute theatrical titles to all digital and physical retailers, creating a larger audience and a maximum number of revenue streams.
“Cinedigm is reinventing distribution for the digital age by taking full advantage of the technology now at our fingertips,” said Chris McGurk, Cinedigm’s Chairman of the Board and CEO. “These outstanding films deserve a theatrical release, the boost from which provides ongoing community engagement and discussion. We fervently believe that most consumers desire to see what they want, when they want, on the device of their choosing. This program satisfies everyone – all due to the exploding technological advances in digital cinema both for theaters and platforms like iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and others serving a plethora of new viewing devices, from tablets to gaming consoles to smartphones.”
Cinedigm manages a total of nearly 1200 documentary films through its partnerships with producers and aggregation partners. The company will leverage this library in new ways this year, utilizing an alternative distribution model merging traditional theatrical releases with new digital platforms and aggressive windowing strategies to bring films to the widest possible audience.
“We know from years of experience that the best stories are ones you can’t make up. Documentary filmmakers are a passionate …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Radovsky, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
China‘s three mobile operators, China Mobile , China Telecom , and China Unicom , may not only have to start gearing up for more competition, but also provide the network capacity for their new rivals.
Last January, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information, or MIIT, sought public comments on its plans to encourage more mobile competition by allowing mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, access to the country’s already installed wireless network infrastructure.
The window for that input closed on Feb. 6, and “as soon as in May,” according to media reports repeated by ShanghaiDaily.com, the MIIT will allow MVNO applicants to begin operating.
An MVNO buys network access from an established mobile operator and resells wireless services under its own brand. In the U.S., MVNOs include brands such as Virgin Mobile, which leases service from Sprint Nextel , and TracFone, which gets wireless access from AT&T and Verizon , as well as Sprint.
The government‘s proposal states any private Chinese company with telecom experience and employing over 50 people can apply for the two-year MVNO trial, according to ShanghaiDaily.com. The MIIT plan is for the wireless operators to provide the MVNOs use of their networks at “fair or favorable” prices, according to the draft proposal. The software company Ufida told ShanghaiDaily.com it had applied to become an MVNO.
Rumors of China allowing MVNOs to operate have been swirling around for at least 10 years, according to informa writer Tony Brown. He described an encounter back in October 2003 when a loose-tongued telecom industry executive told him about a done-deal in the strictest of secrecy: “Virgin Mobile is going to launch as an MVNO in Shanghai,” he told Brown.
That sure thing never happened, of course, but the MIIT call for input in January reminded Brown of that encounter and had him speculating on what companies would be likely MVNO candidates — and what that would mean for the actual operators that would have to service them.
If the mobile operators bring in lightweight companies just to meet the two-MVNO per operator mandate from the MIIT, the threat of serious competition is lessened. Those minor MVNOs could include electronics retailers who already sell handsets for the operators. That type of MVNO partner wouldn’t be a threat, but would not offer any — please excuse this overused word — synergy to the relationship.
On the other hand, partnering with a popular over-the-top, or OTT, company that provides broadband content delivery, such as audio and video, outside the control of an Internet service provider, could bring more subscribers to the network — but at some risk, depending on which direction the revenue from that increased traffic would flow.
Popular Chinese messaging service operator Tencent, and Chinese search engine Baidu , according to Brown, would be able to use being an MVNO to their own advantage, as well as providing upside to the mobile network they would use.
The OTTs would gain from not having to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
