NEW DELHI: Bored because of the traffic jam which has forced you to stay in the same place for more than 15 minutes?
Just make a video call to 58800 and get to see your favourite film in a short 15-minute version on your 2G or 3G mobile, thanks to a new tie up between the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Shemaroo Entertainment.
The new service also makes it possible for a consumer to log on to http://wap.shemaroo.com/mtnl and see a range of over a 100 films on computers or mobiles.
All feature films will be available for a fee of Rs 15 while viewers can also log on to live devotional programmes from 11 different venues for a fee of just Rs two a minute.
The service which will be available in Mumbai and Delhi.
MTNL CMD Kuldeep Singh said that broadband had been growing at a phenomenal pace and almost 500 to 600 new connections were getting logged almost every day. But it was not broadband which was driving the people who may not even understand the technology; it is the services that come through it. The real challenge is to make these services easy to access and use.
The service will be on the IPTV model with viewers getting access to the films that are in the library.
Shemaroo Director Jai Maroo said the aim was to increase the number of venues for devotional telecasts to around 20 soon. Similarly, he said the number of films in the library would not only be increased but regional language films will also be available. There was also a special ‘movie of the week‘ slot which featured the more popular films. Languages to be covered will include Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Bangla and Rajasthani. There will also be special videos of songs from films.
Maroo said Shemaroo had around 10,000 hours of video content for IPTV, DTH, mobile and so on. There would also be special content related to festival occasions and documentaries on special subjects like film personalities or places of pilgrimage.
He did not rule out a similar tie-up with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to reach out to more parts of the country.
MTNL executive director A K Bhargava said the service was very affordable and would cost the same for both 2G or 3G, though the experience would be better on 3G.
The technology is powered by Think Walnut Digital and the devotional content is powered by Vistaas Digital Media.
Bhargava said the promotion will be part of the Rs 60 million put aside for promotion of the MTNL mobile services.
