Business Standard – Raghuvir Badrinat

Reliance Communications is in advanced talks to sign a technical alliance with Apalya Technologies to offer mobile television (MobiTV) on its recently launched GSM network.

Apalya will offer RCOM its proprietary platform Mimobi enabling Reliance to offer Mobile TV services on its GSM network. Currently, RCOM offers Mobile TV services on its CDMA network with over 13 news and TV channels using its real-time streaming technology.

“In order to offer the Mobile TV application on its GSM network and to increase the number of handsets that can support the Mobile TV application, we are tying up with Apalya to enhance the width of usage”, said Krishna Durbha, Head – VAS, Reliance Communications.

Currently, RCOM through its strategic tie-up with ESPN is offering all ICC World T20 matches through its R-World VAS platform. The company also provides subscribers an option to have match scores and expert commentary on the matches as their caller-tune. (Full Article)

Video Business – Danny King

Revenue generated by content programming for so-called “smart” mobile phones will increase 17% this year as companies such as Walt Disney’s ESPN and MobiTV make more mobile videos available, according to one report released late last week.

U.S. mobile-video revenue will grow to about $350 million this year, up from $300 million in 2008, and will likely accelerate to a 25% annual growth rate over the next few years as more people buy Apple’s iPhones, Palm’s Pre and updated versions of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, research firm SNL Kagan said.

Such spending growth would build on recent mobile-video trends, as about 50 million Americans used the Internet through their mobile devices in February, up from about 29 million two years earlier, Nielsen said in a report released last month.

With more people using the Internet from their cell phones, mobile-video viewing has surged, prompting companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications to invest more in mobile applications. The number of people who watched mobile video in the fourth quarter jumped 9% from the third quarter, to about 11 million, Nielsen said in February.

SNL said that such revenue will increase as more people subscribe to mobile-video services. Smart phone subscribers will more than double to 114 million, or about 40% of all mobile-phone customers, in 2010, from 50 million, or 19% in 2008. By the end of 2014, 60% of mobile-phone customers will be smart phone subscribers, according to SNL Kagan.

As for the largest mobile-video programmers, ESPN is followed by closely held MobiTV, Viacom’s MTV Mobile and Time Warner’s CNN, according to SNL Kagan.  

Greener Buildings – Staff

HID Laboratories officially launched its SmartPod Luminaires, a high intensity discharge lighting solution that mates IT with high-tech design and energy efficient performance, the firm says.

The company unveiled its SmartPod Luminaires to the public on Tuesday. They have been deployed in a handful of sites in California during the past eight months, including the family-owned Pet Extreme chain in Woodland Hills, a warehouse for the regional nonprofit theater company TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, and the Silver Creek Sportsplex in San Jose, a spokesman told GreenerBuildings.com. Pet Extreme is using 55 lights and TheatreWorks and the sportsplex are each using 10. (Full Article)

Press Release – Amy Berry, Mariah Power

News Program to Highlight Factory Opening in Michigan and New Jobs for Ex-Autoworkers

RENO, Nevada, (June 17, 2009) – When the producers of ABC’s “20/20” began research on a special episode about the impact of the current economy they searched for companies that were adapting their old business models to better operate in the new economy. They found a perfect example in Manistee, Michigan at the newly opened Windspire® wind turbine (www.windspire.info) factory; a former auto parts automation facility run by MasTech Manufacturing that was retrofitted to produce Windspires after nearly closing operations due to the crisis in the automotive industry. The one-hour special episode is scheduled to air Friday, June 19th at 10pm E /9pm C on ABC. (Full Article)

Stadium lights and other bulbs are being installed on a network to save power. Will this become a new revenue stream for solar installers?

GreenTech – Michael Kanellos

Antonio Espinosa opens up a ballast – the boxy device that controls the high intensity discharge (HID) lights you see at stadiums and big box retailers – and points to a large gray cube inside of it that is a crucial component in turning on the bulb.

“It is a piece of lead. It is 70-year-old technology we are competing against,” he said.

Espinosa, CEO of HID Laboratories, is hoping to replace that hunk of lead and other components with a ballast relies on digital technology, such as microprocessors and networking equipment, that can both reduce power consumption and increase the capabilities of HID lights. (Full Article)

San Jose Mercury News – Tracy Seipel

For the past six months, the Silver Creek Sportsplex in San Jose has been testing ceiling lighting from a Menlo Park startup that holds the promise of saving huge amounts of energy.

The enormous facility — with almost 16 acres and seven indoor sports fields — has replaced 10 of its 400 magnetic light fixtures with new, high-intensity electronic light fixtures from HID Laboratories, which comes out of stealth mode today.

Sportsplex Chief Operating Officer Terry Peckham is pleased. “So far I really like it,” he said. Each lamp uses a quarter to a third less energy than the lamp it replaced. Another bonus: Each new lamp generates 150 degrees of heat instead of the current 300 degrees, which has a direct impact on the Sportsplex’s air conditioning system. (Full Article)

Earth2Tech – Jennifer Kho

When you fly into a city at night, most of the lights you see through the window are high-intensity discharge (HID) lights used in stadiums, factories, airports and street lights. HID lighting makes up a $10 billion global market annually, with some 120 million HID lamps already installed in the United States alone, according to Thomas Weisel Partners. But the lights are inefficient, says Antonio J. Espinosa, CEO of year-and-a-half-old lighting startup HID Laboratories, which is launching a more efficient smart-lighting platform, called the SmartPod Luminaire, on Tuesday.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup’s platform is built around a ballast — the box that controls the lamps — which the company claims reduces HID lights’ energy use by between 31 and 42 percent. That reduction represents a significant energy savings potential, as lighting accounts for about a quarter of U.S. electricity use, with most of that coming from commercial buildings, according to the Energy Information Administration. (Full Article)

Reuters – Press Release

CBS Sports March Madness On Demand mobile TV and video application, powered by MobiTV, honored for technological achievement  

EMERYVILLE, Calif., June 16 /PRNewswire/ — CBS Mobile and MobiTV, won the Global College Sports award for the CBS Sports NCAA March Madness On Demand application for iPhone. The award was presented recently by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) and the Sports Video Group (SVG) at the inaugural College Sports Video Summit in Atlanta.

LINK TO WINNING 1MIN. VIDEO: http://www.mobitv.com/videos/MobiTV_MarchMadness.mov 

The Global Media Awards for College Sports encompassed 10 categories in three areas of competition: Collegiate, for College Sports programming departments; Corporate, for media companies that produce college sports video content; and Technology, for companies that develop systems for use in video production.  (Full Article)

BusinessWire – Press Release

SmartPod Luminaire Revolutionizes HID Lighting with up to 60-Percent Energy Savings

MENLO PARK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HID Laboratories (www.hidlabs.com), a provider of intelligent high-intensity lighting solutions, today unveiled the lighting industry’s first high-efficiency, high-performance smart lighting and control platform. The company’s new SmartPod™ Luminaire enables HID lighting solutions that are up to 60 percent more efficient, deliver superior lumen performance, and eliminate the need for building owners and lighting engineers to replace or rewire existing installations. Unlike traditional HID lighting solutions, the new SmartPod incorporates intelligent lighting controls for further reducing energy use in commercial buildings and lighting engineering applications. (Full Article)

CNet News – Martin LaMonica

HID Laboratories is the sort of company you get when you cross IT pros from Silicon Valley with lighting experts.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company plans on Tuesday to officially launch and detail its light fixture, called the SmartPod Luminaire, which it says reduces commercial and industrial lighting costs by 40 percent.

High-intensity discharge (HID) lighting systems are typically used in street lights, warehouses, big box retail stores, sports arenas, and other industrial spaces.

HID Labs’ SmartPod is a solid-state replacement for the ballast which holds the wiring and controls the current to lamps. The SmartPod’s chip allows building owners to lower their electricity and reduce the significant amount of heat that metal ballasts generate, said HID Labs CEO Antonio Espinosa. (Full Article)

FT.com – Chris Nuttall

It may not have been a practical alternative for viewers staring at blank television screens, but a mobile TV broadcaster was able to switch on nationwide in the US at the weekend as analogue transmitters turned off.

At the same time, organisations representing the elderly and minorities in San Francisco reported fielding hundreds of calls from confused viewers who had lost their pictures and did not know how to receive the new digital channels now being offered by local broadcasters. (Full Article)

mocoNews – Tricia Duryee

The mobile efforts by TV programmers, ranging from ESPN (NYSE: DIS) to the Cartoon Network, continue to bring in limited revenues, according to a detailed report issued today by SNL Kagan.

The research firm estimates that the top 18 video providers and aggregators recorded revenues of $306 million in 2008. Next year, the the firm expects revenues to grow by 17 percent to $359 million (including subscriptions, one-time fees and in-video advertising). The figures have a sobering affect on other estimates that put revenues-albeit internationally-easily into the billions.

Here’s the top 5 providers in order of their 2008 revenue estimates:

1. ESPN : $38.4 million.
2. MobiTV: $23.8 million.
3. MTV Mobile: $22.4 million.
4. CNN: $22 million.
5. Comedy Central: $20 million.

(Full Article)

Mariah Power – Amy Berry

Used to be if you wanted to put a wind turbine up at your house you either had to live on a remote farm, or grow your hair long and pledge allegiance to an aging group of touring musicians. Thanks to major improvements in technology and a general awareness of the benefits of making your own energy from clean and free wind, small wind power is going mainstream. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the US small wind market grew by 78% last year with many new turbines hitting the market. But more options don’t make finding the right wind power solution easy. If you are interested but not sure how to even get started, here are 9 things to know as you consider wind power. (Full Article)

Reuters – Press Release

Advances in Technology and Higher Awareness Seen as Indications of Increased Adoption

More than seven million subscribers are now tuned in to MobiTV, the industry leader in mobile content and services delivery.

MobiTV today announced the latest milestone for its live mobile television and video-on-demand service, now streaming billions of minutes a year to the largest subscriber base in the industry. Available on more than 350 handsets across 20 carrier networks, including Sprint, AT&T and Alltel in the U.S., MobiTV has pioneered a new market for wireless entertainment services since its launch in November, 2003.

“We are clearly seeing an increase in mobile television consumption,” said Charlie Nooney, Chairman and CEO, MobiTV. “With the addition of two million new subscribers in less than six months, MobiTV continues to expand its lead in the mobile media market by providing new, personal, relevant and immediate content to our viewers. We are about to hit the tipping point for mobile media, one that will move it from a novelty to the mainstream.” (Full Article)