Tata Communications to invest $50 mn to strengthen its media and entertainment portfolio

Tata Communications intends to invest about $50 million to strengthen its media and entertainment portfolio over the next two years, according to Vinod Kumar, president and COO, Tata Communications.

As part of keeping with its high customer satisfaction ratings, Tata Communications recently established a new Global Media & Entertainment Solutions (GMES) group, dedicated to global video network, to provide better solutions for media companies.

Tata Communications' GMES division has been identified as a focus vertical along with BFSI. The addressable opportunity size for the division has been pegged at around $10 to $12 bn which is expected to double by 2014, according to various analysts. The sector is expected to contribute between $200-300 mn per annum to the company's topline in two to three years, from $30-40 mn currently.

While Tata Communications' newly-acquired Mosaic platform, with its cloud-based media management, helps media customers improve cross-enterprise collaboration for content creation, management and multi-format delivery, Video Connect is designed to help broadcasters, studios and production houses deliver video content flexibly and cost-effectively to media hotspots worldwide.

Offering convergence on a multiple platform that includes PCs, TVs and mobile phones, Mosaic offers complete asset management - ensuring secure and efficient access to content and workflow throughout the value chain, which is delivered as an online service over the web. Video Connect, on the other hand, offers up to 99.999 per cent uptime by providing auto re-routing on diverse and protected paths on both primary route as well as internationally, over and above the basic triple-protected SDH network between Video Connect PoPs.

By leveraging Tata Communications' global network infrastructure, Video Connect ensures permanent availability of bandwidth and seamless transmission of video at constant bit rates. Moreover, the system is fitted with a dedicated video network operations center which ensures round the clock system availability along with video analytics to provide reports on video quality.

Video Connect's on-demand and customisation capabilities also allow broadcasters to activate the service for special broadcasts and enable different feeds to be used for different time zones so that revenue streams can be created from local advertising.

According to Genius Wong, Sr VP-Network Services, Tata Communications, “Performance and price are the biggest challenges faced by online broadcasters today. With Video Connect thus, performance is guaranteed by time-tested DTM technology running atop Tata Communications' robust backbone, while cost effectiveness is brought about by the direct routing nature of the network.”

Targeted at the entire spectrum of media customers that include content creators, producers, post-production houses, digital media publishers, content service providers and TV channels, broadcasters can expect further savings from Video Connect's flexible pricing scheme as they can pick traffic direction and purchase the exact bandwidth required for a specific amount of time, and be billed according to usage.

Other services in the GMES portfolio include satellite broadcasting with TV up-linking and playout room capabilities.

Beryl M

berylm@cybermedia.co.in