( 31 July 2007 3:34 pm)

MUMBAI: After launching 'Isee' on the state-owned BSNL network, Essel group's Digital Media Convergence Ltd. (DMCL) is now expanding the reach of its mobile TV application and has tied up with private telecom major Idea.

"We are now available for Idea users in Maharashtra. The content is, however, exclusive of what is available for BSNL subscribers. We have created mobisodes lasting from one minute to three minutes for specific content. Idea subscribers who have downloaded the mobile TV application will be able to view this content apart from Zee News and Zee Sports which will be Live," says Isee project head Satyabrata Das.

Das says that Isee would soon be available for other telecom subscribers. "We are currently in negotiations with Hutch, Airtel and Reliance amongst other players and we should be working out something positive soon."

Idea subscribers will access Isee under 'IdeaTV' - an application developed by Apalya Technologies, a Hyderabad based start-up company which specializes in aggregating video content for mobile viewing.

Apalya director and founder Shiva Bayyapunedi says, "For Idea users, content from the Zee library can be viewed under Isee. Users will have to download the IdeaTV application on their mobile phones."

Says DMCL CEO Ishwar Jha, "We are currently creating a market for mobile TV. The response so far has been impressive and we already have about 7,000 subscribers. The revenue model is advertiser driven and to attract advertisers into the medium, we need even larger subscriber bases. Hence, we are trying to provide Isee to other telecom players as well, so that we can get a wider coverage."

In the bid to find a larger audience base, DMCL has also closed in on deals with foreign telecom players, details of which Jha is unwilling to reveal. "We have narrowed down on one player in the US and in the UK. We will make an announcement very soon."

DMCL is also trying to mark Zee's presence on the web. "By March 2008, we will launch four websites positioned around entertainment and interactivity. These will include a page-three party website, a sports website, a social networking site and a video-portal. Interactivity will be the key driver of all these sites and we are currently devising ways and means to ensure that user involvement with our web-offerings will be high," says Jha.