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| HBO |
HBO ( NYSE: TWC), Time Warner Cable Inc, officially launched new app, HBO Go, to allow HBO subscribers to access its content from anywhere.
Time Warner Cable Inc grow its subscriber base, enabling cable and satellite TV companies to hold on to their subscribers, and giving consumers more access to content.
Here's how HBO Go works: 80 percent of HBO's roughly 30 million subscribers can download the free app from the iTunes or Android app stores to their iPhone, iPad, or android phone or tablet. The app gives on-demand access to more than 1,500 HBO titles including every episode of original HBO shows like 'Sex & The City' and 'The Sopranos.' How do you know if you qualify? It depends on your TV provider — Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon Fios, Cox Advanced TV, and Suddenlink are all participating. The only outliers at this point are Time Warner Cable and Cablevision).
By offering HBO subscribers more value for their monthly payment, Time Warner is looking to secure its customers and keep them from cutting the cord. Even better, this additional access to movies and TV shows could help HBO expand its penetration to the 70 million TV households who don't currently subscribe to HBO. Swinburne tells me "this should allay future concerns of growth at HBO," and its biggest near-term benefit is on perception of the business, and it could move the multiple of the stock. Longer-term he says it could bring down churn and benefit the addition of customers.
This could also really benefit cable and satellite TV providers.
Users can't access this service without subscribing to HBO in addition to the overall cable TV bundle. This could be a silver bullet in keeping subscribers from cutting the cord.
Is this competition for Netflix? It would seem two streaming video offerings would be up against each other, but in fact, they're probably not going to cannibalize each other's business. As Netflix CEO Reed Hastings pointed out to me last week, most people who subscribe to HBO *also* subscribe to Netflix. And there's absolutely no overlap of content on the two services.
If Time Warner were to start offing HBO Go directly to consumers *without* requiring a cable or satellite TV subscription, that would change everything. Then it would be a direct threat to Netflix. Time Warner hasn't announced any plans, but it seems a natural option to explore down the road.
( Source: CNBC )
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| Reserve Bank Of India |
On Tuesday, Central bank of India raised interest rate by 50 basis points way sharper than markets had expected as Markets tank. Sensex closed down 463 to 18534 and Nifty closed 136 points down to 5565.
Central Bank made a clear view that inflation is main priority even for the expense of short term growth.
Markets and Analysts were debating over 25 basis points hike and no one expected such a bold move from Central Bank of India. It has raised a rate ninth time since March 2010. There was a call for little stronger action as the headlines of March inflation number stood around 9 percent.
The central bank has commented that due to the policy tightening there will be a moderate growth for the coming fiscal year assuming normal monsoon and oil prices at above $ 110 a barrel.
Asia's third-largest economy grew by an estimated 8.6 percent in the year that ended in March 2011.
"Current elevated rates of inflation pose significant risks to future growth," Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in the bank's annual monetary policy statement.
"Bringing them down, therefore, even at the cost of some growth in the short-run, should take precedence," he said.
The Reserve Bank of India lifted its repo rate, at which it lends to banks, to 7.25 percent.
Under a new arrangement, the repo rate becomes the central bank's only independently varying policy rate, and the reverse repo rate, at which the RBI absorbs excess liquidity, will be pegged 100 basis points below the repo rate, or 6.25 percent after Tuesday's increase.
In an addressing statement, RBI mentioned that it expect inflation to remain in the first half of fiscal year starting from April 2011 and will moderate in second half of fiscal year. It would like to see headline inflation of 6 percent with an upward bias by March 2012.
Subbarao said maintaining price stability is required to sustain medium term growth.
"Persistently high rates of inflation raise the risks of inflationary expectations becoming unhinged," Subbarao said.
Analysts polled recently by Reuters had expected 75 basis points of rate increases for the remainder of 2011, including Tuesday's move.
Adani Enterprises has agreed to buy Abbot Point Coal Terminal in Australia for $2 billion in an all-cash deal to tap into growing coal traffic in overseas markets, a unit of the Indian firm said on Tuesday.
Indian firms are eyeing coal assets overseas to supply power plants in India, looking to benefit from the energy-hungry nation's aim to halve its nearly 14 percent peak-hour power deficit within two years
The Abbot Point Coal deal is one of the largest acquisitions of an Australian asset by an Indian company since Adani acquired Linc Energy's Galilee coal project for $2.7 billion last August.
Analysts said the acquisition of the terminal by Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone, the port operating arm of Adani, would help Adani ship coal from Galilee to its power plants in India and tap into the growing coal cargo in the region.
"It's a good deal for Mundra Port as the Abbot Point terminal will have assured cargo from Adani's own mine there as well as other coal mines in the region," said Kapil Yadav, a sector analyst with Mumbai brokerage Dolat Capital.
"The deal will have an impact on the company's balance sheet in the near term due to the debt taken for this," he added.
Mundra Port's chief financial officer B. Ravi said the company had arranged short term mezzanine debt to fund the deal and said Standard Chartered was arranging the debt. He did not disclose the amount.
India holds 10 percent of the world's coal reserves, but a shortfall in local supplies has grown rapidly because of an increase in coal-fired power plants. The country is likely to import 135 million tonnes of coal in the fiscal year that began on April 1.
Shares in Mundra Port, which has a market value of $6.5 billion, were trading down 2.5 percent at 140.1 rupees at 0725 GMT, while Adani Enterprises shares were trading up 0.6 percent at 632.6 rupees in the Mumbai market that was down nearly 1 percent.
BEATING COMPETITION
Mundra Port said the coal export port sold by the government of the state of Queensland is expanding to increase capacity to 50 million tonnes per year from about 20 million tonnes now.
There is room to increase the port's capacity to 80 million tonnes, Mundra Port said in a statement. The unit is India's largest private port operator and handles 50 million tonnes of cargo annually.
Abbot Port is expected to generate revenue of A$110 million ($120.3 million) in 2011, growing it to A$305 million in 2016, Mundra Port said.
Sources familiar with the deal had told Reuters earlier that Adani, which was competing with Australian mining tycoon Nathan Tinkler, had won the bidding.
Located in North Queensland in Australia, the Abbot terminal services three mines in the Bowen Basin. The state of Queensland is selling the terminal as part of a A$15 billion infrastructure privatisation programme.
The Queensland government has already raised at least $6.3 billion from the sale of the Port of Brisbane and the $4 billion float of rail freight business QR National Ltd.
"The (Abbot) transaction has delivered proceeds well above initial expectations of $1.5 billion," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said in a statement.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised the Queensland government on the deal. Mundra Port's Ravi said the company did not use external advice for the acquisition.
BPO service provider Firstsource Solutions on Tuesday said it will acquire a 74 per cent stake in Sri Lanka's telecom service provider Dialog Axiata PLC's BPO arm and the two firms will form a joint venture company called Firstsource-Dialog Solutions.
"The joint venture between Firstsource and Dialog will be consummated through Firstsource Solutions investing in, and acquiring a 74 per cent share of Dialog Business Services, the recently formed BPO venture of the Dialog Axiata Group," a joint statement from the firms said.
The joint venture company will manage Dialog's customer contact management operations across its mobile, fixed line, pay television and broadband businesses, the statement said.
"This is an important step for Firstsource, as we expand our presence in South Asia that is in line with our growth aspirations within the Asia Business Unit. This is a strategic decision to venture into the sub-continent to address the growing requirement for customer relationship management," Firstsource Solutions' CEO and Managing Director Matthew Vallance, said.
Firstsource that operates in the USA, UK, Australia, Phillipines and India,
and has over 26,000 employees globally, did not divulge any financial details of the deal.
and has over 26,000 employees globally, did not divulge any financial details of the deal.
"With Firstsource as the major investor in this company, I am confident that Firstsource-Dialog Solutions will be a forerunner in Sri Lanka's Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) and BPO space," Dialog Axiata PLC Group CEO Hans Wijayasurya, said.
Dialog Axiata PLC is a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad and operates 2.5G and 3/3.5G mobile communications networks supporting the very latest in multimedia and mobile Internet services.
Dialog has the distinction of being the first 3G operator in South Asia to commence commercial operations. Its local coverage spans all provinces of Sri Lanka , while international roaming is provided in over 200 destinations. It has a subscriber base in excess of 6.7-million, the statement said.
News on Ranbaxy Laboratories about MYL lawsuit !!1 of 1 File(s)
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| Barack Obama |
The US State Department on Sunday warned Americans worldwide of "enhanced potential for anti-American violence" following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"Given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, US citizens in areas where events could cause anti-American violence are strongly urged to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations," the State Department said in a statement.
President Barack Obama warned Americans Sunday night to remain vigilant even after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and while there are no known credible threats, the risk of attacks remains.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI have not issued any warning of a credible or imminent threat in the wake of news that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, but security will likely be ramped up to guard against possible retaliation.
"There is no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad," Obama said in a late-night televised statement announcing that US forces had killed bin Laden.
DHS and FBI officials had no immediate comment about the risk of attacks or any new threats. While bin Laden was seen as the leader of al Qaeda, because he was in hiding from US forces he was reduced more to a figurehead, experts said.
Meanwhile affiliates of his militant group have taken the lead in launching attacks. Most attacks against US interests have been by a Yemeni affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The group has claimed responsibility for trying in October to send bombs packed in toner cartridges aboard cargo planes bound for the United States. They were intercepted and failed to detonate.
AQAP also backed an attempt on Christmas Day 2009 by a Nigerian manwho tried but failed to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear while aboard a US commercial flight as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.
"This doesn't end the terrorist threat to the United States, but it's the end of a key chapter to the War of Terror," said Juan Zarate, who served as deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism during George W. Bush's presidency.
"There may be a spike of threats initially, and there are other elements of the al Qaeda network who remain dangerous," said Zarate, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
(Source: Reuters )
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| Osama Bin Laden |
Members of militant Islamist forums vowed on Monday to avenge the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden, while others prayed the news was not true.
After the announcement from Barack Obama that US forces had killed bin Laden. Some Islamists won't believe the news and trying to show anger against the news.
"Oh God, please make this news not true... God curse you Obama," said one message on an Arabic language forum. "Oh Americans... it is still legal for us to cut your necks."
Some forums members urged others not to believe news of the death until it was confirmed online by militant news sources.
"The source of news that we trust is that which comes from the mujahideen (holy warrior)," a message on Ansar forum said. "Be patient and don't spread rumors...we've asked this repeatedly, so please do not write anything on the subject."
Hours later, several of the threads discussing bin Laden's death had been shutdown.
But 'Asad al-Jihad 2', labeled a "prominent member of the jihadist internet community" by the monitoring group SITE, acknowledged the leader's death and vowed revenge.
"The whole world hangs on the death of one man, and if all his enemies were killed their effect would not be the same as his," SITE quoted him as saying on the Shumukh al-Islam forum.
"We will take our revenge on behalf of the Islamic Ummah for the death of the Sheikh of Islam ... Whoever wishes this to be the end of jihad or a means to weaken the organization, I say to him: Wait a little!"
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| Jihad Flag |
MESSAGE OF JIHAD
Bin Laden's killing, in a compound outside the Pakistani city of Islamabad, dealt a symbolic blow to the global militant network, although Islamist forum posters said the strike would not change their commitment to fighting Western powers.
"Osama may be killed but his message of Jihad will never die. Brothers and sisters, wait and see, his death will be a blessing in disguise," said a poster on another Islamist forum.
Another forum member pointed to the irony of bin Laden's location, contrasting with long-time rumors that he was hiding in caves. "So after 10 years of hiding in mountains, he ends up getting killed in a mansion outside of Islamabad. Interesting."
But the prevailing sentiment was one of grief.
A poster on the Arabic-language Ansar forum said: "God's revenge on you, you Roman dog, God's revenge on you crusaders... this is a tragedy brothers, a tragedy."
Online forums for militant Islamists have been the key means of passing messages from bin Laden and his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, as well as al Qaeda's regional branches, such as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen.
"Forums play a role in communications and ideas for al Qaeda followers, similar to the way Facebook and Twitter were used by democracy protesters in the Arab revolutions of 2011. It's a powerful medium," said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based security analyst for the INEGMA group.
Militants also commonly use the forums to pass tips for making explosives, discuss methods of attacks or voice their opinions on world events.
Many ridiculed the celebrations in the United States, where crowds cheered and waved flags outside the White House and at New York's "Ground Zero," site of the World Trade Center twin towers felled by hijacked airliners on September 11, 2001.
"Please let them celebrate, they are celebrating their own end," said Abu Aziza on the Islamic Awakening forum. "Oh Allah, destroy this nation for their hatred and enmity toward your deen (religion)."
( Source: Reuters)
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| Penny Stocks |
Kurrant Mobile CTRG Inc ( OTC: KRMC), a penny stock opened at $ 0.05 and then sharply move up to $ 0.087 up around 60 % in the morning trade, there is no relevant news or announcements regarding company's development as of now. Traders might take a cautious view on the stock before any information revealed.
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| Genetic Technologies Limited |
Genetic Technologies Ltd ( NASDAQ: GENE ) is up 28 % in the morning trade with unusual high volumes and has been in the news for since last week as it got approval for its laboratory and was up 100% on April 27th as we announced a trade alert on that day and mentioned that it will be a good investment play rather than intraday trade on that day. Read more . Again after this 28% up move today, we suggest that traders should start cutting their positions and avoid fresh positions at current price. One might wait for little correction to enter the stock again for healthy returns.
