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Category: News Headline

  • Zee Sports-MSO tussle to deny cricket to Mumbaikars

    Zee Sports-MSO tussle to deny cricket to Mumbaikars

    MUMBAI: Looks like cricket fans in Mumbai will be unable to watch the India-Australia match on Saturday with Zee Sports and the major Mumbai multi-system operators (MSOs) continuing to take a hard stance.

    Even Incablenet’s plea filed in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) for restoration of signals was rejected today.

    “Since Incablenet was unwilling to sign the subscription agreement, TDSAT rejected the operator’s plea for interim relief. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for 19 September by which time if an agreement has not been reached between the two parties, then the court will take a decision,” Zee Turner said in a release.

    Incablenet’s argument was that Zee Sports had not served a 21-day notice before blacking out the signals, as required by a regulation prescribed by the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The MSO also wanted restoration of the signals as the disconnection was patently illegal.

    “Zee Turner also offered a bulk discount to Incablenet but this was also rejected by the MSO,” the company said.

    The TDSAT has asked Zee Turner to file its reply on Monday following which the next hearing of the case would be on Tuesday.

    “We cannot allow our signals on any of the networks that have not signed the subscription agreement with us, especially since a majority of the country has already signed and is watching the tri-series. Zee Sports has been a pay channel since June 2005 and we have spent a substantial amount of money in acquiring the rights of the DLF Cup tri-series. We have the right to demand subscription fees,” says Zee Turner CEO Arun Poddar.

    “The operators that have already signed the agreement will continue to get the signals for Zee Sports,” Poddar adds. The sports channel, for instance, is on Seven Star, which operates in the western suburbs of Mumbai.

    Zee Sports was made available to viewers in Mumbai for the India-West Indies cricket match yesterday but was once again blacked out from the major cable networks in the evening.

    Sources say the cable operators were willing to sign up for a 10 per cent declaration of Zee Turner’s first bouquet. But this was not acceptable to Zee Turner, the company which distributes a bouquet of channels including Zee Sports.

    Zee Sports has the exclusive telecast rights for the DLF Cup between India, Australia and West Indies. The tri-series will last till 24 September.

  • BBC expands ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ show

    BBC expands ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ show

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC will expand its dance based reality show Strictly Come Dancing. The new season of the show kicks off on BBC One next month. Two extra weeks have been added to the show along with two more celebrities than last year. 14 stars will be paired with internationally renowned professional dancers in what is termed as the hottest competition of 2006. In India Sony airs a local version of the show.

    The participants will include former Spice Girl Emma Bunton who is now a solo singer, actress Georgina Bouzova and cricketer Mark Ramprakash. Bunton will be dancing with Darren Bennett.

    Bruce Forsyth and his co-host Tess Daly will once again return to present the show. Len Goodman, Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips and Bruno Tonioli also return to judge the competitors’ performances.

    Forsyth said, “The whole nation seems to have taken Strictly Come Dancing to its heart in a way that we could never have believed it would happen. I can’t wait to get back on screen with this wonderful show. Here’s to a great fourth series!”

    “With a line-up like this, the new series is set to be bigger and better than ever before. Where else could you see a Spice Girl dancing alongside Jimmy Tarbuck?” adds Daly.

    In a change to last year’s format, week one will witness boys dancing to stay in the competition whilst the girls entertain with a group Mambo. In the second week, the female celebrities will fight to stay in the competition, whilst the men kick back with a group West Coast Swing. From week three all couples will compete against each other performing either jive or tango.

    The couples will be judged on the basis of public as well as studio voting, with the lowest-scoring couple leaving the competition.

    As in previous series, all the proceeds from viewer voting will go towards BBC Children in Need which last year raised over £1.5 million.

    Also returning is the daily sister show Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two with Claudia Winkleman on BBC Two. It features footage from rehearsals and training as well as interviews with the judges and the contestants. All the latest news and gossips on the training and the show can be found on the website, bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing.

  • Arvind Agarwal to head finance at Neo Sports

    Arvind Agarwal to head finance at Neo Sports

    MUMBAI: Neo Sports the upcoming cricket channel from Nimbus has appointed Arvind Agarwal as senior VP – finance.

    Agarwal will oversee the finance, accounting and secretarial functions and also be a part of the core think tank on strategic planning, acquisitions, distribution and regulatory matters. He comes to Neo Sports from Star where he was VP finance, heading the budgeting and treasury functions for Star.

    Neo Sports CEO designate Shashi Kalathil said, “As we build the ‘A’ team of sports broadcasting, we are fortunate to have found in Arvind an outstanding fit given his domain expertise in broadcasting and capabilities that go well beyond the finance function. Arvind typifies the culture of Neo Sports which has become a magnet for top talent in the industry.”

    Agarwal says, “I am excited about the new enhanced role at Neo Sports. Nimbus has a vision of becoming by 2010 India’s first globally operating billion-dollar revenues company in the sector & I look forward to combining my experience in broadcasting with my passion for sport to contribute significantly to the realisation of that vision.”

  • Disney to debut 2 local live-action shows by year-end

    Disney to debut 2 local live-action shows by year-end

    MUMBAI: In line with its localisation strategy, Walt Disney is working on two original, live-action Hindi-language TV series to be shown on the Disney Channel.

    The move will mark Disney’s entry into production of shows locally as it pumps up efforts to expand in a fast-growing Indian kids television market.

    “We’ll have two shows on the air by the end of 2006,” Disney Channel Worldwide president Rich Ross told Financial Times in an interview.

    Ross did not disclose the working titles for the two new series, but said they will be ‘half-hour dramas telling different stories.’ One of these shows is reportedly centered around a girl band.

    Disney has shown aggression in the Indian market and recently acquired Hungama TV, a local kids channel, and a 14.9 per cent stake in production house UTV Software Communications for a total consideration of $44.5 million. The company has also announced serious intent to produce Bollywood movies.

    Following a step by step localisation strategy, Disney initiated this move by converting Toon Disney into Tamil and Telugu for audiences in the South. “Languaging was our first step,” a Walt Disney Company (India) Pvt. Ltd spokesperson told Indiantelevision.com.

    In order to provide the Disney channels a local environment, specific interstitials were introduced. The third step was to acquire locally produced content like Hanuman.

    “Producing our own shows locally was the final step in this localisation drive,” the spokesperson added.

    Another major initiative Disney has in the pipeline is a localised version of the international smash hit TV movie High School Musical. According to a report in the Guardian, the film is being remade as a feature film for the Indian and Latin American markets, swapping basketball (the male lead is a high school basketball star) for cricket or football as appropriate.

    As reported earlier by this website, Disney has also stated that the key driver for market expansion in India is live action programming and revealed that it was looking at local acquisitions to support that strategy.

    Live action programming is said to appeal to the tween age group (10 – 14 years), which is a large but underserved category in comparision to pre-school kids.

    Walt Disney is yet to evolve a programming strategy for Hungama TV as the acquisition process is not complete, the spokesperson told Indiantelevision.com. The three channels in India will cater to diverse audiences in the kids space.

    Disney also sees potential in the China market, although the company made inroads in India first for its “relative openness.”

    “We have yet to be able to strike a deal in China to make co-productions there. We believe that day will come as well but I think that is emblematic of the difference right now,” Ross told FT.

    High School Musical, which cost just $ 4.4 million to make, has had a phenomenal worldwide response. By year-end the film will have been shown in 100 countries. The DVD has sold more than 2.3 million copies and the soundtrack has shifted 3 million copies in the US alone. In February, there were nine songs from the musical in the top 100, five of them in the top 40, paving the way for the stage play, the T-shirt, the book, the dance craze and the theme park rides, the Guardian reported.

  • News Corp looking to do content deals in the mobile space

    News Corp looking to do content deals in the mobile space

    MUMBAI: US media conglomerate is targetting the mobile space in a big way. A few days ago it hatched an alliance with VeriSign to form a global mobile entertainmet firm.

    The new company will merge a technologically advanced platform with mobile content production and delivery capabilities and will serve 30 territories with a potential reach of more than a billion mobile subscribers. News Corp will fork out $188 million for VeriSign’s subsidiary Jamba.

    Now News Corp is looking at opportunities to partner with key players in the mobile space to distribute content. Media reports quote News Corp COO Peter Chernin who delivered the opening keynote speech for day two of the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment 2006.

    He says that as of now only four per cent of the 219 million mobile subscribers in the US watch mobile TV on their handsets. However if it rises to even 20 per cent and each viewer spends $10 a month on mobile video, mobile TV would generate nearly $5 billion in revenue. $10 to put things in perspective is a little less than the price of a movie ticket in some theatres in the US.

    If makers and sellers of ringtones could increase their client base by just five per cent in a year, there would be an additional revenue of $1 billion.

    He went on to state that operators and handset makers need to make sure content can be found more easily. He emphasised the need for developing easy-to-use search methods and also simpler business models, so that consumers know how to buy mobile content. Finding mobile entertainment on cell phones is very difficult right now, he said.

    Chernin says that the deal with VeriSign is a sign that News Corp practices what it preaches. News Corp will launch a subscription-based mobile content service from The Simpsons and hopes to build a Jamba-powered engine to power an application which can be downloaded for its mobile franchise, MySpace.

  • UN broadcast rights treaty comes for debate next year

    UN broadcast rights treaty comes for debate next year

    MUMBAI: As per the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo), a new proposal for an international agreement to protect broadcasting rights will be negotiated during a conference, which is scheduled to take place from 11 July to 1 August 2007.

    The proposed treaty, which aims among other things to prevent broadcasting and cable signals being stolen and retransmitted elsewhere, was approved by a key committee of the UN agency.

    Wipo director general Kamil Idris has been quoted in media reports as saying that the positive spirit of the discussions will further strengthen consensus on these issues in the months leading up to the diplomatic conference. Wipo deputy director general Rita Hayes described the meeting a tremendous success after eight years of work, and said a lot of the contentious issues could be resolved.

    According to reports, a coalition of representatives from electronics and telecommunication companies, including Dell, Intel and Sony, as well as consumer rights organizations, said in a joint statement ahead of the Wipo meeting that they weren’t convinced such a treaty was needed and that the most important intellectual property issues were already addressed under existing law.

  • NDTV launches viewers’ choice News Bulletin ‘My News’

    NDTV launches viewers’ choice News Bulletin ‘My News’

    MUMBAI: In a bid to woo its viewers, NDTV announced the launch of viewers’ choice news bulletin, My News.

    The content of the news bulletin will be decided by the viewers of both the channels, NDTV India and NDTV 24X7. All that they have to do is simply vote for what they want to see through SMS. My News will debut on 18 September 2006 at 6.00 pm on NDTV India, and followed by 6.30 pm on NDTV 24X7.

    Announcing the launch, NDTV 24X7 managing editor Sonia Singh said, “This is yet another first by NDTV. We are known for our innovative programming, and for connecting with our viewers. With My News, we turn our viewers into News Editors once a day. We’re very excited about this new initiative, and we think it really reflects our commitment to showing what affects our viewers.”

    Every day, NDTV will offer viewers a news menu on both NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India. This menu will list the top 20 stories of the day. Viewers will then have to select stories, type SMS: MY, followed by the story number to 6388.

    The top 10 stories selected by the viewers’ will be shown in the half-hour news bulletin everyday.

  • B Wooding Media announces worldwide launch of ‘Baby Genius’ at Mipcom 2006

    B Wooding Media announces worldwide launch of ‘Baby Genius’ at Mipcom 2006

    MUMBAI: B Wooding Media (BWM) repositions its business objectives to include international brand management with the worldwide launch of Pacific Entertainment’s Baby Genius at Mipcom 2006.

    “We are delighted to be working with Pacific Entertainment to develop and cultivate the Baby Genius brand for the global marketplace,” said BWM managing director Brenda Wooding. “We also anticipate positive feedback from the international community regarding the grassroots stages of redefining our company’s areas of expertise to include brand management.”

    BWM’s rollout of the international brand management for Baby Genius, will also seek to establish DVD and audio distribution partners on a country-by-country basis to build a solid international foundation for the brand. BWM will then integrate these distribution partners with current and future Baby Genius consumer products partners, informs an official release.

    In claiming to offer the best in developmental edutainment for families with infants and young children, the Baby Genius brand includes over 30 music CDs, 10 animated/live-action titles available on audio and DVD in English and Spanish as well as a consumer products campaign with a major U.S. retailer launching in 2007.

    In addition to BWM’s core financing and distribution operations, it has created a consulting division to help production companies build their own internal distribution divisions. The company also offers custom distribution services designed to meet the needs of producers.

  • Godrej & Boyce unveil new brand ‘Godrej Interio’

    MUMBAI: Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. have unveiled ‘Godrej Interio’, which claims to provide complete solutions for homes, offices and special projects. Godrej Furniture and Interiors Group has unified its home, office and special projects business lines, to offer stylish and aesthetically designed furniture under the Godrej Interio Brand.
    At the launch of Godrej Interio, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Chairman & MD Jamshyd Godrej said, “Godrej Interio is an amalgamation of time-tested values of quality and trust of Godrej and a contemporary outlook to business. Along with the new image, we are offering a complete array of expertly designed home and office solutions, which we are sure will delight home and corporate buyers. Our endeavor is to give Indian consumers global quality products at affordable prices.”

    Godrej offers the Interio range of furniture solutions in wood, metal, composite materials, with specially designed software for online project tracking. Interio carries the expertise of design houses from Italy, France and India, coupled with strong Godrej R&D.

    In the B2B segments, Godrej Interio offers a wide variety of products for offices, laboratories, education institutes as well as complete solutions including desks, chairs, modular furniture, carpets and interiors. The range of home solutions includes products for the drawing room, bed room, children’s room and kitchen. The range also includes special projects like labs, schools and auditoriums and even the most specialized solutions for the Navy.

    Godrej Interio COO Anil Mathur added, “Godrej Interio is the result of deep understanding of consumers about their lifestyle and desires. The Godrej Interio range of products will be available across India through 42 Company managed Godrej Lifespace stores and a Network of 800 Godrej Interio Channel Partners.”

    An official statement issued by the company states that the turnover for the division for the last year stands at Rs. 600 crores. Targeting a growth of 33 per cent, huge investments are being made in the business. This includes investment to the extent of upto Rs. 100 Crores in technology and brand building. As the result of added investments, and aggressive marketing strategy, the turnover for 2006-07 is targeted at Rs. 800 Crores and the Division plans to reach a sales turnover of Rs. 1500 crores by 2010.

    It also plans to increase focus on niche segments like Stadium Furniture, Health and Hospitality Furniture and Corporate Showrooms. Exports are expected to grow from the present 5 per cent to 15 per cent in the near future.

  • Zee Sports off-air in Mumbai’s major cable networks, signs truce with SCV

    Zee Sports off-air in Mumbai’s major cable networks, signs truce with SCV

    MUMBAI: Cricket fans in many pockets of Maharashtra and Tamil Naidu will not be able to watch India play West Indies in the DLF Tri-Series on Thursday. Zee Sports is yet to restore signals to the cable operators who have not signed agreements with the sports channel.

    Zee Sports, however, is back on SCV, the dominant multi-system operator (MSO) in Tamil Naidu. Though the MSO had approached TDSAT, the matter got sorted out after today’s hearing. Zee Sports and SCV reached a commercial agreement today.

    Says Zee Sports VP marketing Gaurav Seth, “We have closed the deal with SCV. We had switched off signals to many cable networks in Tamil Naidu and Maharashtra with whom we had no commercial agreements. We are in negotiations with them and hope to arrive at a settlement soon.”

    In Mumbai, the channel has been off-air on two major networks Hathway Cable & Datacom and Incablenet. Even in Pune, a major chunk of viewers will be deprived of watching the live telecast of the India-West Indies match as the sports channel is not available on Intermedia Cable Communication, a leading MSO in the city.

    Meanwhile, the Pune District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, which heard the injunction filed separately by two individuals, today directed Zee Sports to restore the signals till further hearings on 21 September.

    “The court order will be respected and the signals will be restored (or may have been restored as it does not take too long). But we will challenge this order in a higher court,” says Seth.

    Zee Sports has priced the channel at Rs 10 per subscriber.