IPL, ITV sign broadcasting deal

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has tied up with ITV as its broadcast partner for the cricket tournament in the UK which will be simulcast on ITV.com and ITV Mobile, reports The Business Standard.

Highlights clips of the matches will also be available as part of ITV.com, with the tournament being the subject of a prominent marketing campaign on ITV. “This is IPL's first free-to-air broadcasting deal outside India and it will allow us to extend our reach to the UK,” says IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

Singapore-based venture capitalist Sigma Ventures acquired the global mobile application rights for the IPL. The deal enables Sigma to offer mobile application technology branded the 'Official IPL Mobile Application' for use on smartphones such as the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry and those based on the Android platform.

HDMI Licensing, which licenses the high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) technology, has updated its specification with broadcast formats for 3D content, reports Broadcasting and Cable.

The organisation has been working to keep pace with television programmers' heightened interested in transmitting 3D content to the home. It recently eased its licensing restrictions to allow 3D HD sets with HDMI Version 1.4 connections to be backward compatible with digital satellite and cable.

HDMI Licensing made 3D part of its specification, free for public download, and identified a number of frame-compatible 3D formats as 'informative formats' that could be used by networks to transmit 3D.

Pasadena City College's board of trustees has voted to broadcast its meetings on cable and the Web, reports Pasadena Star-News.

Four trustees voted in favour say broadcasting the sessions will give the public more access to the board's decision-making process. Trustee Geoff Baum says that's especially important now as the board faces tough decisions on how it wants to spend dwindling funding from the state.

The board voted to broadcast the meetings as a one-year pilot programme that will cost the district $15 400 a year, with Pasadena Community Access Cable providing all equipment, lighting and facilities for the next year.