TelecomLive April-2020

[ News Bytes ] www.telecomlive.com 62 Telecom LIVE April 2020 ness (Caller Ring Back Tone – B2B business) which was impacted by the consolidation in the telecom industry. Digital advertisement grew by around 45 pc inFY19. Broadcom sues Netflix over patent infringement on video playback tech Chipmaker Broadcom has sued Netflix over patent infringements with regard to video play- back and data transmis- sion. A c c o r d i n g t o Broadcom that manufac- tures semi conduc tor chips for cable set-top b o x e s , N e t f l i x h a s infringed on eight patents dealing with video play- back and data transmis- sion. This has impacted the company's sales as demand for cable devices reduced due to Netflix's video streaming technol- ogy. “As a direct result of the on-demand stream- ing services provided by Netflix, the market for traditional cable services that require set-top boxes has declined, and contin- ues to decline, thereby substantially reducing Broadcom's set-top box business,” Broadcom said in the suit. Netflix creates $100 mn fund to help work- ers on films that have shut down Netflix Inc has created a $100 mn fund to assist those workers who were working on films and TV productions that have temporarily shut down d u e t o t h e g l o b a l coronavirus outbreak. This reportedly includes hundreds of thousands of issues 65,000 H-1B work permits each year, with a further 20,000 visas going to applicants with an advancedUS degree. Demand for these visas outstrips supply. Last year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Ser- vices (USCIS) received 201,011 applications for the 85,000 visas on offer. Indian nationals are the biggest beneficiaries of H-1B visas, accounting for over 70 pc of the new visas issued. In the last five years, a large number of these have gone to American technology companies and the share of Indian IT firms receiving H-1B visas have gradually declined. The H-1B programme was initially designed for employers to address temporary labour shortages in speciality occupations. Discovery gets MIB approval to rename DSport as Eurosport The I&B ministry has approved Discovery India's application to rename DSport and DSport HD as Eurosport and Eurosport HD. Eurosport is a sports network having a presence in Europe and Asia. In 2015, Discovery had acquired full ownership of Eurosport for $534mn. Lex Sportel had moved Delhi High Court seeking directions toMIB to set aside the downlinking permis- sion granted to Discovery for DSport. It had also pleaded that the MIB should reject Discovery's application for renaming DSport as Eurosport. The Delhi High Court had told MIB to take a decision on the applica- tion dated October 9, 2019 filed by Discovery for change of name from 'DSport' to 'EuroSport'. On January 17, 2017, M I B h a d g r a n t e d approval to Discovery for uplinking of DSport chan- nel fromHongKong. Discovery had ended i t s re l at ionship wi th third-party service pro- vider Lex Sportel for its sports channel DSport effective February 14, 2020. Lex Sportel, which is promoted by former Dish TV India CEO RC Venkateish, was manag- ing the channel on behalf of Discovery. Hungama incurs net loss of Rs 12.86 cr in FY19 Hu n g ama D i g i t a l Media Entertainment incurred a net loss of Rs 12 . 86 c r i n FY19 on account of the increased content acquisition cost coupled with write off an investment of Rs 4.83 cr i n i t s s u b s i d i a r y , Hungama Smart Cloud. The digital media com- pany's cost of its own c o n t e n t c r e a t i o n increased to Rs 5 cr in FY19 vs Rs 3.40 cr in FY18. Hungama Smart Cloud has not been able to generate any income from the past several years. The company's total o p e r a t i n g i n c o m e decreased by around 3 pc to Rs 257 cr in FY19 on account of a decrease in the B2C business (mobile internet) and CRBT busi- B P O & B R O A D C A S T I N G - B Y T E S