ITV

Category: News Headline

  • FCC schedules Kids TV hearing for 26 September

    FCC schedules Kids TV hearing for 26 September

    MUMBAI: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to reconsider its children’s TV rules in light of changes suggested by a group of broadcasters and activists. According to an Associated Press report, the commission has scheduled the issue for its 26 September open meeting.

    The organisation had issued new children’s TV rules for the digital age in 2005. But, after facing resistence from various sides, the body had stayed the effective date of the rules.

    As per the report, the commission is expected to approve some version of the deal, which heads off lawsuits filed by both kids-TV activists and media companies.

  • UFO Moviez & Pyramid-Saimira join hands to set up digital cinema chain

    UFO Moviez & Pyramid-Saimira join hands to set up digital cinema chain

    MUMBAI: Digital cinema network UFO Moviez and the Chennai based Pyramid Saimira Theatres Limited (PSTL) have got together for the digitisation of 1000 theatres over the next three years all over India.

    UFO Moviez shall be providing end to end digital cinema solutions for the theatres in the Pyramid Saimira chain at a cost of Rs 1.5 billion.

    Commenting on the deal, UFO India executive director & CEO Sanjay Gaikwad said, “We anticipate that this tie up with Pyramid group will chart the way for the digital revolution happening in the field of cinema exhibition. A single integrated chain of 1000 digital cinemas all over India will provide producers and distributors a unique opportunity for saturated wide spread release in the week of release itself. Worldwide, there is tremendous excitement about this technology which is being hailed as the next great leap in film distribution and exhibition”.

    Elaborating on the agreement, UFO India’s director Usman Fayaz adds, “Pyramid Saimira has tremendous presence in the southern states and are now looking at expanding to other territories in India. This agreement is indeed a step forward in our future plans of creating a truly global network and becoming the world’s undisputed leaders in digital cinema network.”

    “The states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka between themselves have 59 per cent of the cinema halls in India. We expect at least 50 per cent of our conversions to UFO Digital system to come from the south market. Unlike the hindi speaking states, the four southern states are highly compartmentalized as regards film viewing and exhibition in terms of language and we expect a high density of theatres in these states.”

    States PSTL MD P S Saminathan, “PSTL plans to have 2000 screens under its full operation management spread across 1550 locations by the year 2009-2010. The agreement with UFO enables PSTL to reach this target faster since it frees PSTL capital from Plant & Machinery and enables PSTL to lock in more points of presence faster”.

  • Yahoo partners with Al Gore’s Current TV for online video venture

    Yahoo partners with Al Gore’s Current TV for online video venture

    MUMBAI: To explore the huge potential that the user-generated content offers in an online environment, Yahoo Inc. has associated with the US-based media company Current TV, promoted by former US vice president Al Gore, to create online video programmes.

    The service, christened the Yahoo Current Network (video.yahoo.com/currenttv) will launch on 20 September with four channels.

    One of the channels named Current Buzz will feature segments related to the news. The other channels will cover travel, sports and cars.

    According to a New York Times report, each channel will have one professionally produced segment a day and about 10 segments designed by users. Amateur videographers whose clips are chosen for online delivery will receive $100. If a clip is also broadcast on Current’s television network, the producer will receive between $500 and $1,000.

    The development underlines the market’s keenness towards web-based user-generated content. Microsoft on Tuesday announced its entry into the segment with the beta release of Soapbox on MSN Video. With this, Microsoft plans to take on YouTube, the market leader.

  • Pay channel rates: HC seeks government response

    Pay channel rates: HC seeks government response

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the central government for its response to a petition filed by Star India challenging the Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) order capping pricing of pay channels at Rs 5 under conditional access system (CAS).

    The matter will come up for next hearing on 15 November. The court will examine whether Star’s fundamental right to do business in India stands affected by the price regulation.

    Star has the option to approach the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

    “Our writ petition has been admitted by the court and has been slotted for hearing on 15 November. We will only know then if our plea stands accepted or rejected,” says a Star India spokesperson.

    Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Star, argued that the regulation of broadcasting was beyond Trai’s jurisdiction.

    Star had filed an appeal in the court, challenging the basis of Trai’s recent announcement on pricing for CAS. The matter came up for hearing today.

  • MSN revamps India portal; adds 4 new channels, extra features

    MSN revamps India portal; adds 4 new channels, extra features

    MUMBAI: Portal MSN India is celebrating six years in the country. On this occasion it has launched a new home page with four channels – lifestyle, entertainment, news and sports. It has also added new feature rich services — Windows Live Domains, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Search.

    MSN country head Jaspreet Bindra says that the home page has a more vibrant and friendly user interface. The graphics have been improved upon. “As part of our six-year celebration, MSN India decided to give our users something to celebrate about as well. We now have a new cool and exciting home page. In addition to this, we bring in four new improved channels that offer users the best insight on Entertainment, News, Sports and Lifestyle. We have also decided to launch a whole new range of Windows Live products for the users in India,” he says.

    The entertainment section has news on Bollywood, Hollywood and South Indian movies. There are also reviews of movies currently running in theatres as well as music reviews.

    The sports channel covers all the latest happenings in sport from cricket to football and tennis. There is also a news in pics section. There is also a player search section. This allows a user to search for sites featuring sporting icons.

    The lifestyle section offers information on fashion, health and fitness. It also provides tit bits on how to carry yourself at work and how to improve one’s relationship.

    The fourth channel, which is the news and business channel, offers updates on news from acros the globe. There are also polls where users can make their voices be heard. It will of course also cover the ups and downs of the stock market.

    MSN is also looking to generate content of its own. For this purpose it has hired a team of writers. It is also looking to get pieces written by experts in different fields. This should be up in about two months time. This will consist of opinions and viewpoints on a variety of topics.

    MSN is also hoping to get user generated content. So someone who writes for fun for instance can write a story on an actor. If it gets enough reads then the editorial team can decide to give it a push on the site. It could become one of the main stories in the entertainment section. In addition MSN India is also looking at syndicated content deals.

    MSN India has also launched Windows Live Messenger. This is the next generation of MSN messenger and goes beyond text and helps people connect wiith voice, video etc. MSN India has also introduced Live Search. There is a new design, more search categories and also people customise their search results by preferences. For instance one can decide if one wants 10 results in a page or 100.

    Another feature is MSN Live Domains. new users can create domain names and then create an unlimited ammount of free email accounts. Everyone on the user’s domain gets a hotmail account which can be upgraded to Windows live Mail beta for free. The email addresses on the domain is a passport ID and can be used to access services like instant messenger.

    Speaking on Windows Live Domains, MSN India and Windows Live head of programming Krishna Prasad said, “With MSN’s anniversary celebrations we are also gifting to our users a chance to get their preferred email ids. This email id would be a customised mail id, supported by Windows Live Mail and which also gives the users access to the Windows Live network. All in all, we want to enhance the user experience as best we can.”

    Then there is MSN Live Spaces. This is the next generation of MSN’s blogging service. Users can manage their settings so that they can control who is in their social network and who views their site.

  • Homing in on broadband TV

    Homing in on broadband TV

    The San Jose based Homeland Networks is gearing up for the broadband era in India and across the Asian continent. The venture promoted by ex-Intelite and broadband expert Ron Victor has unleashed three sites www.tvofindia.com, www.radioofindia.com and www.pressofindia.com. The company believes in “interactivity by ethnicity and geography”.

    Tvofindia.com is a project for the broadband world and already has a bit of broadband programming which can be viewed as streaming video. UTV has signed on as a content provider and has picked up a 10 per cent stake, apart from providing infrastructure. Ron is in talks with several media companies for providing interactive content and he wants tvofindia to be a platform for interactive programmes in all genres. The site claims to generate 1,000 viewers a day.

    Says Ron, “We’d like to work with every single media company in India to provide exciting interactive content to the viewers. Our ambition is to make the whole world into a single studio. We want our viewers to get an incredible experience which cannot be felt on regular television or radio, and interactivity will be a key component.”

    Homeland Networks has already struck a deal with a media company for content. Talks are on with a couple of television channels.

    The company is also looking at archived programming from different media companies and providing them with a medium to showcase them.

    Currently tvofindia.com focusses on the NRI community due to the availability of broadband abroad. But Ron Victor is confident of it gathering pace in India within a year and half to three years and would then focus on the resident Indian community.

    The revenue model of the company is sponsorships and advertising apart from e-commerce which will take some time. Pay-per-view and video-on-demand will also generate revenues. The global viewership will be backed by local advertising and e-commerce and will additionally have global branding opportunities for advertisers. The difference between traditional Internet advertising and advertising on Homeland sites would be the feedback and the possibility of monitoring the actual effectiveness of the ads, reveals Victor.

    The company is backed Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia who has picked up a 5% stake in the company, KB Chandrashekhar of Exodus fame having 5% stake, Ronnie Screwvala of UTV who holds 10% stake. The company is in talks with a couple of Venture Capitalists for the second round of funding.

    Victor plans to focus on the China market after the India and to replicate his India model for Internetters there.

  • Australian speedster Brett Lee all set to bowl Times Now viewers over

    Australian speedster Brett Lee all set to bowl Times Now viewers over

    MUMBAI: English news channel Times Now has roped in Australian fast bowler Brett Lee to present match analysis throughout the day, during the ongoing Malaysian Tri series and also the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 which kicks off next month. He will also be seen in a show League of Champions at 11.30 pm on the channel’s sports show The Game.

    Times Now says that it will tap into Lee’s cricketing acumen to provide urbane viewers with an in depth match analysis. Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said, “Brett Lee is not only the world’s fastest bowler, but also one of the most dynamic personalities in world cricket. Getting him on the channel for these big tournaments is a coup and Times Now viewers will enjoy his candid analysis on television.”

  • Endemol expands presence with acquisition

    Endemol expands presence with acquisition

    MUMBAI: Global television format creator and distributor Endemol will acquire a 51 per cent stake in Germ, an interactive television format firm Callactive.

    It has also launched a new participation TV show in the US. The transaction in Germany is subject to the approval of the German anti-trust authorities. Endemol has options to further increase its stake in the future.

    Callactive specialises in call TV interactive television formats in Germany and Switzerland. Its customers include Viva Plus (Germany). Callactive is located in Munich and will serve as Endemol’s call TV platform for German speaking countries/areas. Callactive will continue to operate under the same name, headed by its current MD Stephan Mayerbacher.

    Meanwhile in the US, Endemol has launched a live participation TV show called Midnight Money Madness. The two-hour show went to air two weeks ago. This is the first time Endemol has brought its interactive television experience to viewers in the US.

    Endemol digital media director Job van Wagensveld says, “With the acquisition of 51 per cent of Callactive in Germany and the launch of Midnight Money Madness in the United States we are adding two important new territories to our participation TV activities. We are now operating successfully world wide in over 25 countries with more to come. We are very pleased with these developments and expect to grow our leading position in this business further in the coming years.”

  • L’oreal Paris Elite Model Look India 2006 unveils new face

    L’oreal Paris Elite Model Look India 2006 unveils new face

    MUMBAI: The L’Oreal Paris Elite Model Look India 2006, which kickstarted last month, culminated in a grand finale in Mumbai.

    Manasvi Mamgal was chosen as the winner of the contest There was a tie in the first runners up position. Erica Packard and Nicki Sehgal were announced as the first runners-up, while Akanksha Arora was selected as the second runner-up of this mega model hunt.

    The auditions for the model hunt were held across four metros between 2 and 9 September. Twenty girls were chosen and sent to Goa for a complete training and fitness programme from 12 to 17 September.

    The grooming sessions was held at The Leela Palaces and Resorts, which was the official venue sponsor for the event. Fitness expert Leena Mogre monitored the sessions in Goa.

    The winner will represent India at the Elite Model Look International 2006 to be held in Thailand in November 2006 while the three runners-up will be the participating in the Elite Model Look Asia Pacific 2006 to be held in Shanghai in November 2006.

    The panel of judges for the finale included Elite supermodel and reigning Miss India-Universe Neha Kapur, actress Amrita Arora, supermodel Mehr Jessia, fashion designer Manish Malhotra, stand-up comedian Ash Chandler and Michaela Goddard who is the Head – Scouting, Elite Worldwide.

    Elite India CEO Sushma Puri said, “The L’Oreal Paris Elite Model Look 2006 is an exciting property which allows us to tap into the immense talent that lies undiscovered across India.

    This democratic event gives an opportunity to all those young girls who dream of a career in the fashion industry. Elite on its part strives to develop these participants so that they rise to their fullest potential and are able to shine.”

    Besides the final winners, Soni Agarwal and Apoorva Vishvanathan were the other two winners for the Miss Photogenic title while Ekta Chaudhury was announced as the winner of the Trussardi Prima Donna Award.

    All the winners will be in a modeling contract with Elite India and have won a free one-year membership to Fitness expert Leena Mogre’s gym.

    The auditions for the model hunt was held across four metros between 2 to 9 September. Twenty girls were chosen and sent to Goa for a complete training and fitness programme from 12 to 17 September.

    The grooming sessions was held at The Leela Palaces and Resorts, which was the official venue sponsor for the event. Fitness expert Leena Mogre monitored the sessions in Goa.

    The model hunt will be aired in the form of a reality series from 23 September onwards exclusively on Zoom, India’s premier glamour and lifestyle television. The series will take a look at the shoot right from auditions, training sessions to the grand finale.

    Commenting on the association with the event, Zoom business head MK Anand said, “As India’s foremost Glamour and Entertainment news destination, Zoom has showcased the finest events in the fashion and lifestyle arena. This model hunt is an effort to gain a space in fashion and style space. We hope to consolidate our position with the L’Oreal Paris Elite Model Look 2006.”

    “We will be airing a 10 episode series that takes a look at the reality shoot at the training sessions at Goa and the finale. This is just the beginning. We will soon be lauching a hunt called Diva Quest, which will be a hunt for a face for Zoom” added Anand.

    L’Oreal Consumer Products Division (India) director Philippe Raffray added “L’Oreal Paris endeavors to make women around the world more beautiful. Which is why this association with Elite, one of the most prestigious modeling networks, and Zoom, India’s glamorous lifestyle channel, creates a unique showcase for contemporary Indian beauty.”

  • TDSAT directs Zee Sports to restore Incable feed

    TDSAT directs Zee Sports to restore Incable feed

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has directed Zee Turner Ltd to restore the feed of Zee Sports to Incablenet.

    Incablenet, on its part, will have to deposit a sum of Rs 2 million with the tribunal. The matter will come up for hearing again on 10 October.

    TDSAT has asked Incablenet to, meanwhile, negotiate with Zee Turner and try to conclude the subscription agreement by 10 October. If both the parties fail to conclude a mutually acceptable agreement by then, the tribunal will finally hear the matter and decide the issue.

    Zee Turner raised an apprehension that Incablenet may choose not to enter into an agreement after the DLF cricket tri-series which ends on 24 September. The MSO may get away by paying just a month’s subscription. “The TDSAT has asked us to raise the issue on 10 October, depending upon factual matrix,” says a Zee Turner spokesperson.

    Following TDSAT’s interim order today, Zee Sports will be available on Incablenet’s network in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Nashik and Baroda. For Bangalore, Incablenet already has an agreement with the sports channel.

    Incablenet had earlier moved the TDSAT, arguing that Zee Turner had not served 21-day notice before blacking out the signals of Zee Sports. Zee Turner, which distributes Zee Sports, had submitted its reply yesterday.

    Zee Sports, which has the exclusive rights to the DLF tri-series, has been asking several cable operators to enter into commercial agreements for carrying the pay channel on their networks. The sports channel is priced at Rs 10 a month per subscriber.