Chief Magistrate Raveendra Premaratna Monday denied the bail appeal submitted on behalf of Francis Sutharsan, the second accused charged in connection with the assassination of T.Maheswaran, Colombo district United National Party(UNP) and Member of parliament, legal sources in Colombo said. The magistrate instructed the police to continue to keep the suspect in detention until further notice. Maheswaran was shot dead on New year day within the premises of Ponnampala Va'neasvarar temple, Colombo.
Police arrested five suspects including two women in connection with the assassination of Maheswaran and have interrogated them. Three of the suspects except the first suspect, Johnson Collin Valentine and the second suspect Francis Suthersan, were released on bail on 7 March.
Both suspects kept in detention were produced at the courts during Monday’s bail hearing.
The attorney-at-law appearing for the second suspect submitted a bail appeal stating that his client has been kept in detention for a number of weeks and appealed to the Magistrate to release the accused on bail.
Crime Prevention Police present during the hearing objected to the bail appeal and said the investigations into the murder is not yet completed and is still being continued.
The magistrate accepting the objection raised by police ordered the accused to be continued to be kept in detention and postponed the case till 27 March.
Source: Tamilnet
Monday, 17 March 2008
Bail denied for Maheswaran murder suspects
Swamy concerned about LTTE camps in Kerala
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy today said it was a matter of serious concern that the LTTE has established camps in Kerala.
In a statement here, he said the Union Government's confirmation that LTTE cells have sprouted in Tamil Nadu and Kerala confirmed his warning about the group's activities in both states in the last two years.
He alleged that political parties in Tamil Nadu, like the ruling DMK, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and Dravidar Kazhagam were demanding the implementation of Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP), primarily to assist the LTTE.
The creation of the shipping channel would help the LTTE to navigate quickly from Jaffna to the Kerala coasts, without having to go around the island of Sri Lanka.
The SSCP should be scrapped forthwith since it posed a major national security risk for the integrity of the nation, he said.
Source: newkerala.com
Deadline by CPC employees expires tomorrow
With the deadline to meet the demands put forward by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation employees, to expire at midnight tomorrow (18), employees warned that they will resort to strike action as planned on Wednesday if the demands are not met.
Source: dailymirror.lk
Hand grenade found in a school bus
A hand grenade was found by the Kahawatta Police, in a school bus parked near the Gankanda Central College Palmadulla, Ratnapura today. The bus and the driver were arrested by the Police
Source: dailymirror.lk
Anil Ambani's DTH(Big TV) to beam this month via 100 channels
Big TV Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCOM), will launch direct-to-home (DTH) services commercially by the end of this month. Budget 2008-09
It expects to offer DTH services to over 10 million subscribers across the country and feed to over 15 million households.
Big TV will offer set-top boxes (STBs) at Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500, along with a monthly subscription package of Rs 300, which will entitle them to watch the channels being aired; it will also provide subscribers Rs 100 worth pay-per view (PPV) movies. They will have access to 30 PPV channels showing Bollywood, Hollywood and regional films.
Sumit Chowdhury, CIO, Reliance Communications, said: "The DTH service will commercially launch before the end of March."
He declined to give the number of channels and other details but sources said that Big TV will offer around 100 channels initially. Later, the company is expected to increase the number of channels to 300.
Industry sources said the launch is likely only in May 2008 as the hardware is not yet ready, and the company will prefer the launch after school vacation commences on May 2008 though it was not independently confirmed.
Meanwhile, Chowdhury said Wimax technology isn't cost-effective at present due to spectrum shortage. Nationwide launch of Wimax services will depend on the availability of more spectrum, he said.
At present, the DTH market is dominated by two private players — Essel group's Dish TV and TataSky, which is a joint venture between the Tatas and Rupert Murdoch's Star Group.
Dish TV, the first DTH player in the country, has around 3 million subscribers, while TataSky has over 1.7 million. Apart from these, Bharti group and Sun TV will also launch DTH in by year-end. According to an estimate, the DTH reach in India is likely to expand from 2.5 million households now to 16 million by 2010.
Unlike cable, DTH is a more organised and a less-regulated business. With heavyweights foraying into the space, the DTH segment is set to outpace digital cable in the near term and become a 14 million home market by fiscal 2010.
Source: sify.com
Indian TV industry to cross $11.5 billion by 2012: MPA
A new survey featuring updated forecasts from Hong Kong-based Media Partners Asia (MPA) predicts that the Indian television industry will grow at an average annual rate of 16 per cent to generate more than $11.5 billion in annual revenues by 2012 versus $5.5 billion presently.
MPA predicts that the total TV industry revenues could ultimately reach close to $19 billion by 2017.
Subscription revenues could climb from $3.8 billion at the end of 2007 to reach $7.8 billion by 2012 and $12.3 billion by 2017. Key drivers include the increasing deployment of new digitised pay-TV distribution systems through direct-to-home (DTH) platforms and also through cable networks, as well as the continued expansion of analogue cable television distribution.
Digital pay-TV subscribers, including cable, DTH and IPTV could grow to 38 million by 2012 and 57 million by 2017.
Because of price regulation as well as intense competition on price, MPA models slow growth in average monthly revenue per subscriber with fees climbing from $4.1 in 2007 to $4.9 by 2012 and $6.3 by 2017.
MPA says TV advertising will be fuelled by economic growth and increased cable TV penetration but predicts TV’s share of the overall ad pie to come under threat in the long-term through the growth of out-of-home media, online and radio.
TV had a 42 per share of the advertising pie in 2007 with advertising growing by 19 per cent to reach $1.48 billion. MPA sees TV advertising growing at an average annual rate of 19 per cent between 2007–12 to reach $3.5 billion by 2012. TV advertising could ultimately reach $6.3 billion in net terms by 2017.
MPA has downgraded estimates on subscription revenues for TV channels by around $1 billion due to the effects of price regulation and the emphasis on lower content spend by emerging digital pay-TV platforms.
Currently, close to 15 per cent of the TV industry distribution pie is fed through to TV channels. The MPA sees this growing to more than 20 per cent by 2012 and 21 per cent by 2017, which still represents a robust revenue stream in the longer-term with channel fees growing from $0.5 billion in 2007 to reach $1.6 billion by 2012 and $2.6 billion by 2017.
At the same time, MPA has upgraded its estimates on advertising growth due to a robust economy and the long-term effects of an expanding subscriber base for cable & satellite television.
Advertising to still dominate broadcasters revenue: Broadcasters generated $2 billion in aggregate revenues in 2007, a big pie but one’s that fragmenting rapidly with the launch of hundreds of new TV channels including new offerings in key ad spend categories. Distribution costs are increasing along with marketing and content expense, lowering margins and earnings visibility not only for new entrants but also certain incumbents.
Nonetheless the MPA sees the broadcaster revenue pie growing rapidly to top $5 billion by 2012 and reach close to $ 9 billion by 2017. This will make India still the leading Asian market for pay-TV content suppliers and pay-TV channels. Around 70 per cent of channel revenues will still come from advertising in the long-term.
TV Distribution Market: MPA sees the market for pay-TV growing from 82 million homes at the end of 2007 to 137 million by 2012 and approx. 164 million by 2017. This means that household penetration could climb from 64 per cent in 2007 to 82 per cent by 2012 and 85 per cent by 2017.
Cable will have 67 per cent of TV homes by 2017; DTH pay-TV, excluding DD Direct, 17 per cent; and IPTV, 1 per cent.
MPA has recalculated its digital pay-TV distribution forecasts, based on net subscribers as opposed to gross numbers, which are currently being used by DTH operators. This calculation incorporates analysis of subscriber churn on both digital DTH and cable networks.
With this methodology, MPA estimates the total market for digital pay-TV (DTH, mandated Cas and voluntary Cas) at approximately four million subscriber homes (DTH, 3.2 million; cable, 0.8 million). MPA sees this digital base growing to 38.2 million by 2012 and 57 million by 2017.
This means that 30 per cent of television homes in India will have digital TV by 2017 with 55 per cent still on analogue. By 2017, 32.3 million homes will get digital pay-TV through DTH; 22 million through cable; and less than three million through IPTV.
China, MPA forecasts, will have 185 million digital subscribers by 2015. But the vast majority of Chinese digital homes will be subscribers to free-to-air TV channels through utility cable networks. China is expected to have only 43 million digital pay-TV subs by 2017, which means that India, with 57 million addressable digital subscribers, will remain the largest accessible pay-TV market for media owners, distributors and investors.
Cable: The long-awaited consolidation and digitisation of India’s analogue cable infrastructure is facing a challenging environment as financing for green-field distribution projects is becoming harder to source and the per subscriber valuations for last mile local cable operators remain high. Additionally, multi-system cable operators competing for acquisitions and subscribers in key overlapping areas, increase the price of valuations.
MPA further forecasts show digital cable subscribers growing to 12.5 million by 2012 and 22 million by 2017.
According to MPA, cable TV ARPUs (total) will be $5 by 2012 and $6.2 by 2017.
DTH : MPA believes that the DTH market will consolidate from six would be operators in 2008/9 to three platforms in the long-term. We expect aggressive subsidies and customer acquisition to drive the DTH proposition and see limits to ARPU growth in the short-term but no limits to losses. As a result, those comfortable with long-term balance sheets are likely to prosper: these include Reliance, Bharti and Tata Sky.
The company sees DTH growing from a net installed paying user base of 3.2 million at CYE December 2007 to reach 25 million by 2012 and more than 32 million by 2017.
MPA forecasts monthly DTH Arpus climbing only from $4 in 2007 to $4.3 by 2012 but thereafter model more significant price growth with ARPUs growing to $6.7 by 2012.
DTH operators will be generating $2.8 billion in annual revenues by 2017.
Source: indiantelevision.com
Asia-Pacific will Outpace Europe in IPTV Market Says New RNCOS Report
The global IPTV market is growing at an unprecedented rate worldwide as the number of broadband subscribers is rising, specifically in the Asia- Pacific region.
IPTV is a new age technology in which digital television service is delivered using the Internet Protocol (IP) over network infrastructure. The global IPTV industry is rapidly expanding with the rising penetration of broadband in households all over the world, says “Global IPTV: Market Analysis and Forecast to 2011”, a comprehensive market research report by RNCOS, a leading market research company.
The report has found that the global IPTV market is currently dominated by Europe but it is expected that Asia will emerge as a stronger competitor to Europe in coming years. The number of broadband subscribers will take long jump in the Asia-Pacific region and it is expected to grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 91% during 2006-2011. RNCOS report has thoroughly studied the reasons that are promoting the IPTV market in the Asia-Pacific region with special focus on the implications of regulations, penetration of personal computers and quality of broadband service.
The report has also discovered that only six countries from the Asia-Pacific region, namely South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Macao, came in the world’s top 20 countries, which had good broadband penetration in 2005, as measured by the International Telecommunication Union. But India and China, two fastest developing economies, will also be included in these six countries as the number of broadband subscription is rising in these countries, including rural areas. In fact, the rural areas of both the countries are offering enormous growth opportunities for the expansion of broadband. However, the Philippines is also expected to join the league soon.
Though the IPTV market is expected to grow at a high rate in Asia-Pacific region in coming years, there are many challenges in the way. The RNCOS report has deeply studied the forces that can obstruct the expansion rate of IPTV service in the region.
“Global IPTV: Market Analysis and Forecast to 2011” is a comprehensive evaluation of the past performance, current market trends and future prospects of the IPTV technology. It has analyzed the IPTV market trends in various parts of the world including Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific region. Besides, the report also focuses on the global as well as regional IPTV subscriber base, broadband subscribers and service revenue.
About RNCOS
RNCOS, incorporated in the year 2002, is an industry research firm. It has a team of industry experts who analyze data collected from credible sources. They provide industry insights and analysis that helps corporations to take timely and accurate business decision in today's globally competitive environment.
Source: newswiretoday.com
Twenty20 like `three-minute Maggie noodles': Ranatunga
Sri Lankan World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga thinks Indian selectors are right in axing Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid from One-Day Internationals (ODI).
He says the young Indian team "did extremely well", gave the Australians back in sledging to win the triangular series and are now top contenders for the next World Cup.
To Ranatunga, president of the Sri Lankan cricket board, Indian ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been a revelation and Sachin Tendulkar can play till the next World Cup if he is "protected properly".
According to the Sri Lankan southpaw, Muttiah Muralitharan is on track to capture 1,000 Test wickets.
Ranatunga calls Twenty20 "three-minute Maggie noodles" and no cricket. Though the stocky Sri Lankan justifies the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in organizing the Indian Premier League (IPL) to earn money, he says the concept will harm the sport in the long run.
Ranatunga, who was in Toronto on a personal visit and felicitated by Canadian Cricket Association CEO Atul Ahuja Saturday, spoke at length with IANS.
Excerpts from interview:
Q: What do you think about India's just concluded controversial tour to Australia and their victory over the world champions in one-dayers?
A: I think the young Indian side did extremely well. They are a promising lot and can win the next World Cup. I am very impressed with Dhoni's attitude. He has turned out to be a good ODI captain. Frankly, I never expected him to do so well. He has become a different man, and people see that difference. He has cut his hair short and looks stylish (laughs).
Q: Do you think it was right to drop Ganguly and Rahul from one-dayers?
I think the Indian board made the right decision. They picked up the young team and made them play against the Aussies in Australia. Now that is not easy. But these young Indians have done so well.
Though I think Ganguly is still a great player, but he and Rahul have to go. The Indians are planning for the next World Cup and these two players don't fit in that plan.
In fact, we in Sri Lanka want to follow the same approach. Selections will be made keeping the next World Cup in mind.
Q: Do you justify Sachin Tendulkar's retention in the ODI team?
A: Sachin is a special case. He is totally different, and he can play till the next World Cup if he is protected properly. I think he should be played selectively.
Q: What are your views on the Harbhajan-Symonds controversy and the sledging in cricket?
A: Sledging should stop now. It has gone too far. I don't know whether they (the Australians) still overdo it, but they were the first to start it. Now that others have started giving them back, they are disturbed. But they should remember that it is a different world now.
Q: Do you think the Indians are right in having two captains - Dhoni for one-dayers, and Kumble for Tests?
A: As I said, the Indians are making the right moves. They entrusted the Test captaincy to Anil Kumble who is a senior player and respected in world cricket for his achievements. And Dhoni has come good in ODIs.
Q: With Shane Warne retired and Anil Kumble and Mutthiah Murlitharan at the end of their careers, do you see any great spinners on the horizon?
A: No. I cannot see a single proper spinner playing now, apart from Kumble and Murali.
Q: How long can Murali go?
A: He can play for the next four years. I am sure he will take 1,000 wickets easily if he doesn't get injured. He is a special case - he is like Tendulkar in batting. He is totally different and his commitment to cricket is huge. When he gets a ball, he can bowl for at least two hours without any problem. We will try to protect him till the next World Cup - he may play only a few games till then.
Q: What do you think about the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Twenty20 cricket?
A: I don't dispute that the Indian board has every right to earn revenue. After all, they have to pay for running the sport. My worry is not that the board is making lots of money; my problem is about players.
Yes, the seniors may not be a problem because they have gone through it. But why should a young player be bothered to play for his country if he can make so much money in just one or two months in IPL?
That's the issue. If players are given wrong values, the game will go to pieces. With IPL offering huge amounts of money, players' attitude to the game will change.
It may not be a major issue now, but it can become a big problem in two years' time.
You have to decide whether cricket is business or sport.
Q: So you don't agree with Twenty20 cricket?
A: It is like three-minute Maggie noodle. Bang, bang, and it is over. For me, it is not cricket. It is raw power. How can any great players fit in it?
Take Kumara Sangakkara. He is the greatest batsman in cricket now. But how will you judge him in Twenty20? ODIs are okay, but Test cricket is real cricket.
Q: Looking back, when you started your career in 1982, Sri Lanka were the minnows of world cricket. How did you transform within a decade to become world-beaters?
A: We changed our mind-set and commitment to the game. We became totally committed to the sport. Like when I took over, it was clear to everyone that they have to give me their 100 percent. Or they could walk away. I told them that I would be proud if they showed 100 percent commitment even if we lost the game.
So, total commitment to cricket was our first step.
The second step was transformation of our attitude. We have a problem in our Asian culture. We are taught to be submissive. We are not taught to hit back. But we decided that we would give back (to our opponents) as much we got. We went to Australia and started giving them back. The Aussies were unsettled as they have been against the Indians recently. Our philosophy was: don't leave an opponent when you are on top. Don't pull the knives out, but turn it around in your victim.
The third step was self-belief. We stared believing that we are better than our opponents, and it worked. I would tell myself that I am better than Wasim Akram or Sachin. That's how we transformed ourselves.
Q: And that's how you won the 1996 World Cup?
A: Here I think the turning point came when we lost the first Test within three days during the 1995-96 Pakistan tour. We vowed to win the next matches and immediately went to practice. We won the next two Tests and made history. That led us to the World Cup victory.
Source: hindustantimes.com
Major General Sarath Munasinghe dies
Former Deputy Speaker and Parliamentarian Major General Sarath Munasinghe has passed away at a private hospital in Colombo this morning. He had also functioned as an Army Media Spokesman. He was 59 years old at the time of his death.Major General Munasinghe enlisted into the Sri Lanka Army as a cadet on 15th February 1970 and was commissioned as an Officer in the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Artillery and rose to the rank of Major General on 23rd February 1998.
During career of twenty nine years in the Army, he held many appointments. He was the Commanding Officer of 6th Regiment Sri Lanka Artillery, Commander 15 Brigade Group, Mannar, Commander 12 Brigade Group, Colombo, Coordinating Officer Welioya, Coordinating Chief Batticalao, Ampara, Polonnaruwa Districts, General Officer Commanding 51 Division and 54 Division in 1998 .
Major General Munasinghe was also the Army Director Psy Ops and Director Media Operations Head Quarters , Ministry of Defense and Director Media Army Headquarters whilst being the Army spokesman . Major General Munasinghe was educated at Maliyadeva College , Kurunegala . He leaves behind his wife and two sons. The funeral will take place in Kurunegala with full Military Honors .
Mr. Munasinghe, who entered the Parliament in the year 2000 as a member of the Peoples’ Alliance, representing the Kurunegala District, has been ailing for some time.
Source: lankaeverything.com
