ITV

Category: Cable TV

  • ‘Get a life’ with Discovery Travel and Living

    ‘Get a life’ with Discovery Travel and Living

    MUMBAI: Lifestyle is no longer the uncharted frontier on television. Discovery Travel and Living launched in October 2004, amidst speculation that a 24 hour lifestyle channel will never take off with Indian audiences, the ratings have consistently proved otherwise. The competition may gripe all they want, but the channel shows no signs of faltering.

    Today, with innumerable choices of lifestyle destinations, brands, gadgets, speciality cuisine restaurants available on television at a click of the remote, the viewer’s profile has changed to being upwardly mobile. These changes have resulted in increasing the viewer’s desire for international lifestyle content. And, it is here that Discovery Travel and Living has scored.
    Discovery Travel and Living has managed to keep ahead of its competition with its wide array of shows. It has managed to gain traction with audiences in all age groups. This season’s Theme Week series on primetime has only added to the growing popularity of the channel.

    When a television channel puts a home-decorating show in prime time, it’s clear that lifestyle programming has earned a seat at the table. The channel’s programming has given viewers an alternative to soaps and movies. The fact that lifestyle-oriented programmes on travel, food, makeovers and fashion has gained viewership is visible with news channels and regional language channels airing lifestyle oriented blocks.

    With a view to showcase a variety of shows on various cultures, traditions, cuisines, people and personas, nature, fun and frolic, Discovery Travel and Living have come up with a mix of shows with good content.

    Globe Trekker host Justine Shapiro during Trinidad’s annual Carnival on the show’s Great Festivals episode

    The hit TV documentary series American Chopper has fans asking for more. All about the goings-on behind the scenes at Orange County Choppers, a custom motorcycle fabrication company located in Rock Tavern, New York, American Chopper also shows the interplay between the Teutels, Paul Sr. and Jr., as they create motorcycles as works of art. So also, shows featuring international celebrity chefs like Keith Floyd, Kylie Kwong and Madhur Jaffrey have done well season after season.

    Another show that appeals to all age groups is Biker Build off, where two builders are competing. They are given a set time to come up with a brand new design for a chopper, build it and ride it to the contest destination, which is normally a motor show. The people present at the motor show judge the winning bike. There are a couple of India-centric shows also, like Floyds India, Cooking with Madhur Jaffery and the recently aired Incredible India series.

    An aggressive rollout of the channel is an important element of this year’s strategy to lure more viewers. The channel started this year with a focus of promoting appointment viewing in the prime time band. It has also commissioned two series of Indian programming. As reported earlier in Indiantelevision.com, Discovery Networks India vice president- Lifestyle Networks Aditya Tripathi said, “We hope to air our first commission in the second or third quarter of 2006.”

    “We have signed advertisers such as L’Oreal, Motorola, Diet Pepsi, Nokia, Nestle Kit Kat and Wrigley’s for various theme weeks. More deals are being negotiated. New initiatives are being promoted through print advertising and on-air promotions,” said Tripathi.

    Beach Week host Samantha Brown

    The lifestyle-centric channel is not planning to sit back on its performance. Discovery Travel and Living’s programming mix of original shows and series, off-network acquisitions and library exploitation continues to pay royal dividends to parent company Discovery. Looking ahead, the channel will air recently acquired BBC’s lifestyle titles like Friends for Dinner and Jeremy Clarkson Meets The Neighbours.

    It is tougher to get recognized on general entertainment channels, but viewers find premium programming wherever it is. It is celebratory time at Discovery Travel and Living, with the channel hosting a special party today (17 March) at the Park Hyatt at Goa. Tagged ‘ Get a Life’, it offers an exclusive experience for everyone who matter in the television industry, media, marketing, distribution and the team of employees who work with the channel. Promising to be an event that would be talked of in the days to come, it has been planned keeping the overall theme of the brand. And why not, lifestyle is only getting bigger on television.

  • MyNetworkTV, Young Broadcasting enter affiliation agreement for Kron

    MyNetworkTV, Young Broadcasting enter affiliation agreement for Kron

    MUMBAI: MyNetworkTV, the new primetime general entertainment television network, and Young Broadcasting Inc., (YBI) have entered into an affiliation agreement for Kron.

    The announcement was jointly made today by Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and YBI chairman Vincent Young.

    Kron, a leading independent television station, joins a rapidly growing list of stations joining the MyNetworkTV affiliate base. Its affiliation with MyNetworkTV marks Krons return to network television. MyNetworkTV is cleared in 52 markets throughout the United States, representing 51 per cent of the country. The network will launch on 5 September 2006.

    Abernethy said, “Kron, one of the great independent stations in the country, is a powerful brand and an icon in the San Francisco market which it has served for the past 50 years. The Bay Areas leading source of local news and entertainment, Krons affiliation with MyNetworkTV is a significant agreement for us and we are excited to be partnered with Young Broadcasting.”

    “Kron is coming home to the network television business. We are delighted that Fox and its new network recognize the enormous value inherent in an affiliation with Kron in San Francisco. For Young Broadcasting, this represents an opportunity to grow our business with the last group to successfully launch a new national network. The partnership will link two dynamic brand names in San Francisco to provide strong entertainment programming and expanded advertising opportunities,” said Young.

  • FM players to lobby for tax sops, music rights fee

    FM players to lobby for tax sops, music rights fee

    NEW DELHI: The newly-formed Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI), a body of FM radio licencees, has decided to petition the government on tax sops and work towards rationalization of music rights fee.

    In a meeting held here today, AROI members, approximately 35 in number, including the big ones like Radio City, Radio Mirchi, the Sun TV group, Adlabs, expressed serious concern over high rates being demanded for music rights and also by Prasar Bharati for sharing its infrastructure with private players in some cities.

    In a recent interview with Indiantelevision.com Music Broadcast Private Limited CEO Apurva S Purohit had said, “It is a fairly high fee rate that we pay to the music bodies. And I think that’s where some rationalization needs to be brought about. It is calculated per hour per city. With a large of number of stations in the kitty, a consolidation in the amount has to be brought about. We are working with the industry to bring a rationale pricing. It is a big cost. It can range between five to seven per cent of the cost structure that goes to the music bodies, which is fairly high.

    “The members feel there should be an all round rationalization of rights fee and money demanded by Prasar Bharati for sharing infrastructure, which certainly is unjustified as it doesn’t take into consideration that in smaller cities the level of investments will be comparatively less,” AROI co-coordinator and BAG Infotainment chief executive Rajiv Mishra told Indiantelevision.com.

    Over 40 private sector companies, holding 287 FM radio licences across 91 Indian cities, are preparing to start operations.

    According to Mishra, Prasar Bharati has demanded money for infrastructure at the rate of Rs. 54 to Rs 55 per square feet, which would bring the annual cost to around between Rs. 400,000-Rs. 500,000.

    Such a cost will prove to be high for smaller operations in smaller towns, Mishra said, trying to explain the economics of setting up a radio station.

    Today’s meeting of AROI, attended by most members, also decided to form a panel to frame the constitution of the organization. Radio operators will again meet on 29 March to finalize the constitution.

    AROI will be a registered, non-profit, non-governmental society dedicated to protect the common and collective interests of FM Radio broadcasters.

    It will have a core executive council and will be supported by several committees on areas like legal & regulatory affairs, finance & commercial, technology and dispute settlement.

  • NBC teams up with MSN for streaming Heist

    NBC teams up with MSN for streaming Heist

    MUMBAI: NBC and Microsoft has formed a partnership that will offer MSN Video the exclusive rights to stream the entire first two episodes of NBC’s upcoming drama series Heist on the Internet.

    NBC will also provide MSN Video with a 16-minute special sneak-peek presentation of the debut episode from 14 March until the 22 March broadcast premiere
    The episodes will be available as encores for one week after each of their airings, at 10 p.m., ET, on 22 and 29 March respectively.

    NBC Universal Television Group chief marketing office John Miller said, “This relationship with Microsoft allows us to further enhance our marketing opportunities to draw attention to our shows from increasingly popular sites and formats.It’s a perfect marriage of technology and content, and we believe it is also tailor-made to reach out to the target demographic for this hot new series.”

    Heist is directed by Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity) and written by Mark and Robb Cullen (FX’s Lucky). The series is described as a fast-paced, serialized drama with an ensemble cast playing burglars who attempt one of the biggest heists in history – to simultaneously rob the most renowned jewellery stores on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive during Academy Awards week. The series is produced by Hypnotic, NBC Universal Television Studio and Sony Pictures Television.

    Reports also state that MSN.com will offer a Heist photo gallery, top billing on its TV and entertainment homepages, and promotion on the video homepage, among other placements.

  • Pakistans tour of Sri Lanka live on Ten Sports

    Pakistans tour of Sri Lanka live on Ten Sports

    MUMBAI: Ten Sports will telecast live and exclusive the complete tour of Pakistan to Sri Lanka.

    The coverage starts with the first ODI at R Premadasa Stadium on Friday, 17 March. This will be followed by the second ODI at the same venue on 19 March, and the final ODI at SSC Ground on Tuesday, 21 March.

    The first Test will be played at the SSC from 24 March to 28 March, followed by the second Test match at Kandy from 1 April to 5 April.

    Live coverage of the first ODI begins at 2 pm, while the second and the third ODI will begin at 9:30 am. The two test matches will also begin at 10:00 am.

    The Schedule

    ODIs – 1st ODI – Colombo (RPS) 17 March; second ODI – Colombo (RPS) 19 March; 3rd ODI – Colombo (SSC) 21 March.

    Test – 1st Test – Colombo (SSC) 24-28 March; 2nd Test Kandy 1-5 April.

  • George Lucas to make 3D TV series of Star Wars

    George Lucas to make 3D TV series of Star Wars

    MUMBAI: Star Wars creator George Lucas has agreed to write 100 one-hour episodes for television to be shown in 3D.

    The series is being produced by Rick McCullum and is expected to spark a big-money bidding war between the BBC and ITV, reports said.

    “Writers will soon start work to prepare for filming and release in 2008, said McCallum adding, ” The series will introduce “a whole bunch of new characters” and be “much more dramatic and darker”. George Lucas has committed himself to writing the Star Wars TV series. It’ll all be new because the originals will be too old.”

    They will fill in the missing years between 2005’s prequel, Revenge Of The Sith, and original film Star Wars, made in 1977. The TV series will focus on the rise of Darth Vader’s dark empire and will feature original actor Anthony Daniels, who played robot C-3P0.

    The Star Wars films are among the most popular ever made and tell the story of the descent into evil of Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker and his redemption by son, Luke.

  • Essar to build telecom site infrastructure for sharing with operators

    Essar to build telecom site infrastructure for sharing with operators

    MUMBAI: Essar Group has floated a new company, Telecom Tower and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (TTIPL), to build telecom site infrastructure and share it with various telecom operators. This will push down the cost for telecom infrastructure.

    The company has already built 150 sites for Hutchison Essar in the BPL Communications’ circles of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala. “We plan to have 500 sites by May. We have also responded to a tender floated by Tata Teleservices for building base towers,” says Essar Teleholdings president Ajay Madan.

    Hutchison Essar is a joint venture company with Hutchison Whampoa and is one of India’s largest telecom companies with a national presence and a subscriber base close to 14 million.

    Essar is hunting for a CEO to head TTIPL, says Madan. The company was incorporated recently and aims to help reduce costs for telecom operators by focusing on sharing the same infrastructure with multiple players.

    TTIPL will acquire, design and construct the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) site and provide the tower allied facilities including civil, electrical and other requirements. Provision of stable power and air conditioning for housing the equipment will also be undertaken by the company, says Madan.

    Cellular operators will have the advantage of not locking up their funds in building civil and electrical infrastructure. Since TTIPL will focus on site acquisition and maintenance on a massive scale, it will have built in operational efficiencies which it will be able to transfer to the cellular operators, says Madan. No license fee is payable by the operator for this method of infrastructure sharing.

  • Paramount Pictures to premiere ‘M:i:III’ trailer across MTV Networks

    Paramount Pictures to premiere ‘M:i:III’ trailer across MTV Networks

    MUMBAI: Paramount Pictures will premiere an exclusive look at this summer’s most highly anticipated action-thriller, Mission: Impossible III (M:i:III) as Tom Cruise introduces the new trailer across MTV Networks on 16 March.

    The trailer will air simultaneously on MTV, MTV2, VH1, CMT, BET and Spike TV on 16 March, one day before it runs in any movie theater. The exclusive material will also be available on the internet at mtv.com, mtv2.com, vh1.com, cmt.com, spiketv.com, and at iFilm.

    The film, starring Tom Cruise and directed by J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost and Alias, opens in theaters in the US on 5 May 2006.

    Paramount Pictures president of worldwide motion picture marketing Gerry Rich said, “Tom and J.J. have come through with an amazing action movie and we think viewers across MTV networks will agree that M:i:III is the first must-see event film of the summer. When you’ve got the goods, it’s exciting to be able to share it with the audience in a special way. We’re thrilled to be pulling out all the stops with our partners at the MTV Networks.”

    Cruise returns as special agent Ethan Hunt, who faces the mission of his life in Mission: Impossible III. Abrams brings his unique blend of action and drama to the billion-dollar franchise.

  • Diddy inks reality cooking show deal with NBC

    Diddy inks reality cooking show deal with NBC

    MUMABI: Hip-hop mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Reville’s Ben Silverman will bring to NBC a five-night reality mini-series, Celebrity Cooking Showdown, taking elements from the Food Network’s Iron Chef America and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.

    The series will air 17 to 21 April. Celebrity Cooking Showdown is produced by Reveille in association with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment.

    It will match three celebrity chefs to train side-by-side with nine celebrities. After one-on-one coaching, the competition will play out in real time in front of a live studio audience as the stars race against the clock to complete their meal.

    NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said, “Celebrity Cooking Showdown is going to be a unique, high-energy take on the time-tested cooking genre that works consistently across the television landscape. It’s about great food, terrific personalities and big-time pressure.”

    Executive producer and Reveille CEO Silverman added, “Cooking shows have commanded huge ratings around the world, and we can’t wait to bring this exciting new competitive format to primetime network TV.”

    The celebrity chefs include Wolfgang Puck, Cat Cora (Food Network’s Iron Chef America) and Govind Armstrong (Table 8, Los Angeles). Names of several celebrities signing on will be announced later this week.

    “The hottest trend right now is the art of cooking. Celebrities competing in the high-pressure arena of the world’s top chefs will make great television,” said Combs.

  • Wireless to fuel broadband growth in India: seminar

    Wireless to fuel broadband growth in India: seminar

    MUMBAI: Concerted efforts should be made to foster faster growth in broadband and increase telephony penetration into the rural areas, telecom experts at a seminar in Mumbai said.

    India has a very low broadband penetration and it is wireless which will fuel the growth, Essar Teleholdings president Ajay Madan said, while speaking at a two-day international communications convergence on “Connecting India – The Global Challenge.”

    “The fixed line has as low as under four per cent copper penetration and private telecom operators have not found the solution yet. Broadband through cable TV is also not much as the sector is highly unorganised. India will have to find the answer through wireless,” Madan said.

    DSL is the driver for broadband penetration except in US and Canada where cable is strong. Broadband subscriptions by DSL account for 61 per cent across the globe while cable grabs 32 per cent of the share and others make up the balance seven per cent.

    In Korea, there is a competitive ADSL provider (Hanaro) while cable and wireless providers also have a strong presence and wide coverage in the market. Korea also has wireless broadband at a low cost of $15 a month. Similarly, Japan has a high broadband penetration as the scenario is very competitive with over 50 ADSL providers.

    “In high fixed line economies, broadband will grow. Content and the services sector are also driving broadband,” said Madan.

    India needs to take several steps even as the next generation broadband with video-on-demand (VoD), interactive TV, games, remote access to work and video conference applications hogging bandwidth. “Streamlining rights-of-way clearance, reducing leased line price, and dropping artificial regulatory costs are some of the measures which have to be taken,” Madan said.

    Speaking at the plenary session on “India Empowered,” Ericsson India general manager – technical Bo Ribbing elaborated on how connectivity could benefit the common man. “The challenge is to reach out to the segments below $5 in India. But there are some positive changes which have taken place to breach this low-spending subscriber segment. The cost of terminal is coming down and is expected to further fall from $35 to $25 range by next year,” he said.

    Also speaking on the occasion was telecom analyst, strategy and policy unit, ITU, Geneva, Lara Srivastava. “The telecom industry is in a stage of transition and is moving from divergence to convergence markets. Mobile has taken over fixed lines. In 2004, mobile subscribers stood at 1.75 billion while fixed line had 1.19 billion users,” she said.

    In India, the number of new mobile subscribers each month for the period 1995-2001 went up from 0.05 to 0.1 million a month. “This has scaled up progressively and 4.5 million new subscribers were added in the month of December last year, proving that mobile teledensity is leading the way here,” Srivastava said.

    Former Tata Consultancy Services deputy chairman FC Kohli expressed two concerns – absence of a hardware computer industry and need for developing a security architecture for internet. “About 60 per cent of the e-mail is spam. Internet has no inherent security architecture. There is an opportunity for India to do research in this and develop the next generation of internet,” Kohli said.

    The seminar addressed other issues like the challenges and opportunities of increasing connectivity. Among the top speakers included SingTel India country director Arun Dagar, Asia Pacific Telecommunity executive director Amarendra Narayan and IIT professor Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala.