Archer Entertainment Media Communications Incorporated, joined with the Honorable Vyalar Ravi, India's Union Cabinet Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, to inaugurate the first Indian IPTV platforms in the world,
www.IndiaTVLive.com, streaming India's TV, radio and internet content to subscribers over IPTV.
At a reception on the evening of June 29th, 2006, in Anaheim, California, organized by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and attended by more than 300 leaders of the Indian community in Southern California; Mr. Ravi formally launched the IPTV service. Present with the Indian Union Cabinet Minister were Abhesh Verma, CEO of India Broadcast Live, LLC, an Archer supported company, and Munish Gupta, COO, Archer Entertainment, the two men responsible for conceiving and putting together the first such multiple television channel platform.
www.IndiaTVLive.com is the first of its kind platform that will enable all Indian media via IP to deliver television and radio channels real time, live and direct from India in as good as high definition television quality on wired, WI-fi and cellular devices worldwide. The content will comprise news, sports and entertainment in all languages of India.
Abhesh Verma is also CEO of www.SmasHits.com, a strategic partner of Archer. www.SmasHits.com is the Number 1 Indian entertainment portal in the world and typically ranks among the top 300 of all portals globally. SmasHits.com averages 1 million unique daily visitors. Verma also heads www.IndiAds.com, the only one of its kind advertising agency/portal that aggregates and distributes Internet advertising on its group websites as well as many other Indian websites.
IndiaTVLive.com's content and marketing partners include Shama Broadcast & Content Service India Pvt. Ltd. and Creative Content Services India Pvt. Ltd., owned and operated by Mr. Kedar Nath Gupta, a veteran Indian journalist based in New Delhi who retired as the News Editor of The Economic Times (of India) and is the President of GOPIO India.
Full-time broadcasting, in every Indian language, to 40 million Indians living outside of India and 1.2 billion Indian subscribers in India via www.indiatvlive.com, and www.indiaradiolive.com.will begin by August 15th, 2006, marking the 59th anniversary of India's independence.
Munish Gupta, Chief Operating Officer of Archer Entertainment, said, "Teaming up with Abhesh, Archer was able to put together a state-of-the-art digital technology platform to broadcast the top channels from India. We will deliver channels real time and live from one of the fastest growing and dynamic countries in the world but also guarantee terrific consumer experience in terms of quality. This is the first time that the world will watch news and events as they unfold in India on any device connected by high speed Internet. This is just the beginning of what Archer and www.indiatvlive.com intend to deliver."
The Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Honorable Vyalar Ravi said his Ministry that looks after the interests of the 40 million people of Indian origin and Non-Resident Indians who reside overseas was "delighted that this new (IPTV) platform will connect expatriates with instantaneous news and information from India," thereby "making our job simpler." Mr. Ravi said he was particularly confident of the success of the service since "I personally know both the promoters, father (Kedar Nath Gupta) and son (Munish Gupta), and their hard and consistent work in media and for the community." The Indian Minister said the service could further enhance the fast-growing relationship and investment by overseas Indians into India."
IndiaTVLive.com's CEO Verma said, "The platform provides us the extremely lucrative opportunity to reach both inside and outside of India. Overseas Indians represent the most affluent ethnic consumers of any expatriate group. Within India, we will target a whopping 500 million consumer class with a steadily rising broadband connectivity. This is both enticing and exciting. Teaming up with longtime friend Munish and Archer, a resourceful and aggressive global company, and using the very latest technology, there's no doubt we will become the voice of India and Indians across the globe."
Archer Entertainment provided the initial funding for the launch and marketing of IndiaTVLive.com. Archer Entertainment CEO Michael Selsman said, "We remain committed to growing and diversifying the platform."