MUMBAI, (PTI): As many as 86 per cent of Internet users enjoy OTT (Over The Top) audio and video services, more than half of them from the hinterlands, making it the top use-case for Internet in the country, according to an industry report.

The rise of digital entertainment services have been bolstered by the rise of smart TV, smart speakers, firesticks, chromecasts, growing at 58 per cent from 2021 to 2023 as more people are accessing video content over Internet-only devices (208 million) than conventional linear TV (181 million), said a report by the Internet and Mobile Association and the marketing data and analytics company Kantar.

The report also finds that rural users are driving all these use-cases, accounting for more than 50 percent of the user base. The report, based on the inputs from over 90,000 households across all the states and Union Territories, barring Lakshadweep, was released at the ongoing India Digital Summit 2024.

The second and third most popular use-cases of the Internet are communications with 621 million users, and social media with 575 million users. There were over 823 million active Internet users in the country as of 2023, meaning more than 55 per cent of people in the country have used the Internet last year, which is a modest 8 per cent growth over the previous year. At 442 million, rural users are in a majority, accounting for over 53 per cent of the total user base.

From a gender perspective, the male-female ratio of Internet users rose from 71:29 in 2015 to 54:46 in 2023, which is almost at par with the overall sex ratio of the addressable population in the country, says the report. However, the report finds that net adoption growth rate has been decelerating with rural market, which has been driving Internet growth rates for the past many years, slowing down by 11 per cent in 2023 over 2022, pulling down the overall growth rate to 8 per cent.

The report further said 57 per cent users prefer to access content in their local languages, with Tamil, Telegu, and Malayalam having the strongest language preference for content.

States with the lowest Internet user base have the fastest growth rates now with Jharkhand (46 per cent penetration) and Bihar (37 per cent penetration) showing above average growth rates of 12 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively. (PTI)

MUMBAI: Speaking to a daily in Mumbai, director Maneesh F Singh said he is working on a new OTT release web series based on a fictional mythological story and is attempting to recreate a Wolverine-like character – from the famous Hollywood X-men film franchise, in the Indian project.

“One of my all time favourite Hollywood characters is Wolverine from the ‘X-Men’ film franchise played by Hugh Jackman. The character has an aura of its own and it is primarily due to Jackman’s persona and acting skills. When we started working on a mythological project for a fictional web series, one of my first suggestions was to incorporate a Wolverine-like character. And that is how the flying wolf with a monkey-like tail was born. We are still working at the drawing board stage. There is a lot of animation and VFX involved in this project and a lot of planning goes into the creation and preparation of the characters,” Maneesh F Singh said.

Meanwhile, according to an agency report, Hollywood star Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine in the ‘X-Men’ film franchise, recently opened up after more than two decades, speaking about how playing the Wolverine character took a toll on his voice.

Jackman will once again be seen playing Wolverine in the upcoming Ryan Reynolds starrer ‘Deadpool 3’ which will release in theatres on September 6, 2024.

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Telecom and broadcast regulator Trai on Monday issued a consultation paper for a complete overhaul of existing legal framework around entertainment apps like Netflix, MX Player, Hotstar and Prime Videos.

Through its consultation paper on ”Regulating Converged Digital Technologies and Services – Enabling Convergence of Carriage of Broadcasting and Telecommunication services”, the regulator has invited comments from interested entities around reducing complications as well as addressing gaps in the existing rules to manage convergence of technologies across IT, telecom, broadcast and space sector.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that the regulation of content in the broadcasting sector has become increasingly complex due to the onset of a large number of OTT (over-the-top) streaming providers and the OTT revolution has led to many gaps in the policy space of content regulation.

The government has brought OTTs under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting but as per the current regulatory framework, the OTT content is regulated by the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and many other acts.

”The existing regulatory oversight framework for content regulation, which is patchy and inadequate at its best, may need a complete overhaul in a converged era in line with many other nations, where a converged regulator regulates carriage and content,” Trai said.

The regulator said that it may be argued that the present fragmented regulatory approach for regulating content may not be conducive enough to promote growth of the fast changing content sector with huge employment and export potential and needs comprehensive consultations considering the criticality and complexity of the issue. The regulator said India needs to prepare itself to redraw boundaries of administrative and regulatory functions so as to take maximum advantage of the convergence.

Trai through the paper is also exploring to examine issues related to cloud services as in the coming years, it would be almost impossible to demarcate and assign responsibilities between cloud and telecom service providers from a regulatory perspective.

The regulator has fixed February 27 as the last date for giving comments on the paper and March 13 for counter comments. (PTI)

MUMBAI: After an FIR was registered by the Charkop police in suburban Mumbai against four persons accused of trapping and blackmailing a model in a porn racket, the Mumbai police have begun investigations in several places in similar matters as more victims come forward.

The main accused in the Charkop case Yasmeen Khan aka Yasmeen Dipankar Khasnavis is also wanted in another case registered by the Vasai-Virar police and was even arrested by the Jharkhand police last  year in a similar matter.

The porn racket was operated from a 11th-floor flat of a high-rise apartment at Bhabrekar Nagar in Malad West, while the main accused lived in a flat at Jankalyan Nagar, near Malad.

There are several victims who are trapped in similar cases but are afraid to come forward said actor and theatre artiste Madhuri Sangita Patil who was also approached by a casting director to shoot such “bold films”. This is a big racket she said and several people are involved, she alleged.

There are at least four more victims and complaints against the main accused Yasmeen Khan in different police stations in Mumbai, Mira-Bhayandar and Vasai-Virar jurisdictions. Read more here

MUMBAI: Recently launched General Entertainment OTT (Over The Top) App, Bling OTT plans to cast top Instagram influencers and artistes in its upcoming projects.

Speaking to this reporter on phone, Bling OTT CEO S K Sahil Khan said, they were indeed trying to get in touch with the top ten Instagram influencers in India to feature in their projects in the near future. “We are in the process of contacting all of them and working out the details,” Khan said.

While Khan was not ready to reveal names, our sources informed us that top league influencers like Ayushi Jaiswal, Urfi Javed, Manisha Sharma Singh, Ankita Dave and others are likely to be cast in their upcoming projects.

Bling OTT – a subscription-based platform, offers films in various languages, episodic web series, entertainment news capsules, online fashion shows and fashion showcase featuring designers and their creations and the works.

The creative team is also working on a feature film in which it plans to cast big Bollywood names like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Vidya Balan and others.

The 150-crore project will be supported by a well-known distribution company and the production would be carried out by the Bling OTT creative team. Khan refused to speak about this project, saying he will update us when things get through.

MUMBAI: Model and actress Aayushi Jaiswal who features in the recent OTT web series “Gyaarah” on 9RedHot said the web series Gyaarah which releases on OTT platform 9RedHot next week is her hottest and boldest work so far.

Over The Top (OTT) platform 9RedHot to be launched within  few days on Google Play store will release four web series next week on the platform.

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The platform has already enlisted over 50,000 pre-launch free subscribers who will get the benefit of special discounts as the content goes on air.

9RedHot is promoted by the Mumbai-based production house PSK Creative Works Pvt Ltd, owned by Dr Pranav Kabra and other investors.

Speaking to media persons in Mumbai, Suryabhan Kotambe, Business Head, 9RedHot said: we are releasing four project within a few days – Gyaarah, Mallika, Letter and Vasooli Bhabhi.

This platform is a multi-genre OTT platform. The number 9 signifies the nine flavors that the platform will primarily offer including Crime, Horror, Sci-fiction, Romance, Comedy, Rom-Com, History, Mythology, Drama, War and others.

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The OTT has built up a library of content and is sourcing more – albeit at a slow pace due to the lock down in several states, which has made the IPR acquisition process a bit difficult.

According to Dr Pranav Kabra – the driving force behind the project, “Sex and SRK sells, but 9RedHot will not merely cater to the carnal senses of its audience. We will provide content spanning several genres, themes and subjects. It will be multi-lingual – to start with we will offer content in 4 to 6 languages and later on increase regional language content as the demand grows.”

The web series will be available in four languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali,  said Kotambe. You can watch the series on the app 9RedHot which is available for download on Google Play store.

MUMBAI: If the Mumbai Crime Branch or the Maharashtra Cyber Cell do not seek Raj Kundra’s custody in other cases, the NRI businessman and husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty could be out of jail by this month end.

Raj Kundra was arrested on 19th July late evening by the Property Cell of the Mumbai police Crime Branch in a case pertaining to publishing and distribution of pornography via his app HotShots, which was owned by his company Hotshots Digital Pvt Ltd, a part of Vian Industries Ltd.

He later on sold the APP to another company Kenrin Ltd, based in the UK and partly owned by his brother-in-law Pardeep Bakshi and himself.

His IT head Ryan J Thorpe was arrested the next day.

As per law, the police have to file a charge-sheet within 60 days in this case (90 days in very serious cases like rape or murder), which means the charge-sheet has to be filed before this month end.

The cops had filed a 4000-page charge-sheet in the month of March against the nine arrested in February including actor Gehana Vasisth and Kundra’s PA Umesh Kamat.

ALSO READ: Mumbai Crime Branch files charge-sheet against Raj Kundra in porn case

Three individuals including Kundra (unknown accused) were shown as wanted in the earlier charge-sheet filed in March.

The police will now file a supplementary charge-sheet in the matter against Kundra and Thorpe, before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate at the 37th court at Esplande in Mumbai city – also known as the Killa court, because the old, British-era structure resembles a fort.

After the charge-sheet is filed his lawyers will file for regular bail in the Magistrate’s court, which is most likely to be granted, as filing of charge-sheet means the investigation against the accused has been wrapped up.

In case the charge-sheet is not filed within 60 days, the cops will have to approach the court with a valid reason in writing for an extension and Kundra could be liable for what is known as ‘default bail’.

Two more persons, Kundra’s brother-in-law Pardeep Bakshi who is based in the UK and Nuefliks owner Arvind Kumar Srivastava aka Yash Thakur are absconding and will be shown as wanted.

Srivastava is slated to be in Singapore and working for an IT company there. The Mumbai police have issued a lookout circular and are making attempts to bring him back to India to face trial in the case.

Along with Kundra, two more associates were arrested, but in a different case.

MUMBAI: According to a post on Tellychakkar.com, actor Mugdha Godse has been roped in for a fresh web-series which is likely to be a biopic of Indrani Mukherjea.

According to Tellychakkar, Ullu app is coming up with premium, elite content on Ullu Gold. The app will focus on high-quality content barring any obscenity or crass language and will have series and shows catering to a larger audience with some gripping stories, a company press release had stated.

However, no details are available right now regarding Mugdha Godse’s role or role in the show.

Mugdha debuted in Bollywood with Fashion and went on to play some unconventional characters.

She comes from a ramp modelling background and has done good work in the industry. Her stint with Ullu Gold is her digital debut.

Indrani Mukerjea, currently in jail, is an Indian born British former HR consultant and media executive. She was the ex-wife of Peter Mukerjea, a retired Indian television executive.

In 2007 she co-founded INX Media with her ex-husband, and was designated in the role as the company CEO. In 2009 she resigned from the company and later sold her stake in it.

In August 2015, she was arrested by the Mumbai Police and charged as the main accused in the alleged murder of her daughter from a previous marriage, Sheena Bora.

No further details were available from Ullu Digital Pvt Ltd and attempts to contact the company for an interview proved futile.