English Entertainment
Siemens, Grundy demo connects television with broadband fixed and mobile networks
MUMBAI: At the Innovations Day on Communication Networks 2005 a few days ago global telecom firm Siemens and Grundy Light Entertainment which is a producer of entertainment programming for German television stations presented a new dimension in entertainment by connecting television with broadband fixed and mobile networks.
In the first experiment of its kind anywhere, both companies succeeded in linking in viewers live either from home or out and about to let them participate in a game show. The viewers called in during the show and were “beamed into the television studio” via video telephony.
The caller’s live video transmission was effected either via mobile radio on a UMTS mobile phone or over the fixed network with the aid of the Surpass Home Entertainment solution from Siemens . Siemens has stated that it is confident that the combination of telecommunication with television will open up new business opportunities for the entertainment industry and network operators.
Siemens Communications head business innovation Stefan Jenzowsky said, “The demonstration programme, which we recorded at a regular television studio under real-life conditions, showed that video telephony will add a new dimension to television. There are no more obstacles to the linkage between video telephony and television, which will generate new business models and open up new revenue sources for the telecommunications and media industries.
Grundy Light Entertainment CEO Ute Biernat, said, We are thrilled about the new possibilities which video telephony opens up for us. We hope that we will soon find a station that wants to implement such new formats.
There has already been a lot of speculation about the new applications which may result from mobile and fixed broadband networking. Siemens simply put the new technologies to the test: How will this work technically? And what about the quality of the video transmission? In Grundy Light Entertainment, Siemens states that it found a partner who was willing to experiment and who immediately came up with an idea for a new program format: a game show with participants selected not only from the studio audience, but also from people calling in with their video phones. Both companies successfully completed their innovative demonstration project in mid-June.
Siemens states that its service Surpass Home Entertainment brings fun and entertainment into the living room, along with simple and novel types of communication. Network operators can offer their customers all this with the new Siemens solution for TV-based entertainment services. In the field of communication this includes video telephony and receiving e-mails over the TV set, as well as sending SMS and MMS messages. A complete TV entertainment offering with video/audio-on-demand, yesteryears TV programmes, video recording, and the internet adds a new dimension to home entertainment. And the fun of playing online games hasn’t been left out either.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
