ITV

Category: News Headline

  • Roger Millay is Discovery CFO

    Roger Millay is Discovery CFO

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster Discovery Communications has appointed Roger F. Millay as senior executive VP and CFO.

    Besides leading the global financial functions of the company, Millay will also be responsible for financial strategies of the company. He will direct all accounting, treasury, budgeting, audit and tax activities and will also serve on Discovery’s executive committee. Millay will be a key contributor to the overall strategic direction of the company.

    Discovery founder and chairman John S. Hendricks says, “Roger is a tremendously accomplished executive and his leadership, financial acumen and extensive operational experience will be invaluable to Discovery as we continue to grow our global businesses.

    “On behalf of everyone at Discovery, we welcome Roger to our executive team and look forward to his many contributions across the company.”

  • Zee Cafe gets into action mode with ‘Without A Trace’

    Zee Cafe gets into action mode with ‘Without A Trace’

    MUMBAI: In a bid to add spice to its lineup English general entertainment channel Zee Cafe will kick off the action show Without A Trace from 15 October at 9 pm.

    This is a procedural drama about the New York Missing Persons Squad of the FBI. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons, by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques to peel back the layers of the victims’ lives and trace their whereabouts in an effort to discover whether they have been abducted, been murdered, committed suicide or simply run away.

    The show has been produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The team reconstructs a ‘day of disappearance’ timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance and digs into every facet of the victim’s life, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is.

    Senior agent Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia), a tough but compassionate, seasoned and astute professional, heads the dedicated team that knows too well that every second counts when someone vanishes. His squad includes Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery), an agent whose blonde good looks belie a tough, complex approach to her work; Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a no-nonsense investigator with a special insight into victims’ families; Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano), whose sensitivity is often covered up by his street smarts, and the strait-laced Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close), who joined the team as a result of his father’s connections but
    has since earned his stripes.

    The team’s newest member is street-smart F.B.I. rookie Elena Delgado (Rosalyn Sanchez), formerly of the N.Y.P.D. vice unit. As the agents work on varied and complicated cases, details about their own lives continue to unfold.

    In addition as a Diwali special the channel will air an Abba concert on 21 October at 4 pm. One of its local shows After Hours celebrates one year with a one hour special on 15 October at 7:30 pm. It will be repeated the following Monday at 3 pm, Wednesday at 10:30 am, Saturday at 10:30 pm and on Sunday at noon.

    The channel will also air the classic mini series The Thornbirds from 10 October from Tuesday-Saturday at 2 pm. This mini series covers 60 years in the lives of the Cleary family, brought from New Zealand to Australia to run their aunt Mary Carson’s ranch. The story centers on their daughter, Meggie, and her love for the family’s priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart. Meggie tries to forget Ralph by marrying dashing stockman Luke O’Neill, but she and Ralph are soon reunited, with tragic consequences for them both.

    This romantic drama has won four Golden Globes (four nominations) and six Emmies (10 nominations).

     

  • McDonald’s & NGC kick off ‘Roboraptor Contest’

    McDonald’s & NGC kick off ‘Roboraptor Contest’

    MUMBAI: McDonald’s, food service retailer in association with National Geographic Channel flags of its latest in-store promotion for kids, the ‘Roboraptor Contest’.e

    McDonald’s outlets across Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bangalore and Hyderabad will promote the ‘Roboraptor Contest’, where kids can win toys from the animated series Dragonball Z with every happy meal.

    In addition, the ‘Roboraptor’ a remote controlled dinosaur, as the bumper prize is up for grabs.

    McDonald’s, food service retailer in association with National Geographic Channel flags of its latest in-store promotion for kids, the ‘Roboraptor Contest’. Every ‘Happy Meal’ entitles kids to participate in the ‘Roboraptor Contest’. With a coupon from the happy meal box kids can SMS the six-digit code to 7007 and winners will be chosen randomly and announced daily at the McDonald’s outlet.

    The bumper prize, will be announced at the end of the promotion, which will culminate on 7 October 2006.

  • Tech firms up in arms over proposed television rights treaty

    Tech firms up in arms over proposed television rights treaty

    MUMBAI: Dell, HP, AT&T, Sony, podcast firms and net broadcasting firms are among those who have come together to voice their dissent against a proposed treaty by the World Intellectual Propertry Organisation (Wipo).

    This will give television channels a new set of intellectual property rights over content. The firms mentioned above will fight to stop the UN proposal being adopted internationally.
    Media reports state that the plan being opposed is called the Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organisations. Wipo convenes in Geneva this week to discuss steps to be taken regarding the treaty.

    It would create a new class of IP rights designed to protect broadcasters from having their signals being stolen. The treaty reports indicate is designed to help fight signal piracy across countries. Here a channel shown in one country is re-broadcast in another without permission.

    The technology companies have signed a protest document against the treaty. The firms say that they remain unconvinced that a treaty is necessary at all. “We note with concern that treaty proponents have not clearly identified the particular problems that the treaty would ostensibly solve, and we question whether there are in fact significant problems that are not addressed adequately under existing law. Further, we are concerned that the current treaty approach differs radically from US legal traditions, and, if implemented, would require substantial and unnecessary changes to current US law.”

    The parties say that if the treaty moves forward in any form then the current rights-based approach of the treaty must be abandoned. They argue that creating broad new intellectual property rights in order to protect broadcast signals is misguided and unnecessary, and risks serious unintended negative consequences. They recommend instead a signal protection-oriented approach, ideally focussing narrowly and specifically on protecting signals from intentional misappropriation or theft.

    The protest is being co-ordinated by digital rights activist group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

    Podcasters and internet broadcasters claim that the treaty may give broadcasters a lot of rights over internet content.

    The new rights that the treaty seeks to give channels include an exclusive right of retransmission for over-the-air television signals (retransmission involves capturing a broadcast signal and rebroadcasting it without permission of the copyright holder or the original broadcaster) and more than doubling the term of protection for broadcasts to 50 years from the current 20-year term.

    EFF has expressed concern that the proposed treaty will endanger consumers’ existing rights, restrict the public’s access to knowledge, stifle technological innovation, preclude free and open source software, and limit competition in the next generation of broadcast and Internet technologies. It believes that Congressional hearings should be held in the US to address concerns.

    EFF argues that before creating a brand new set of exclusive rights for broadcasters, cablecasters, and netcasters, there should be a demonstrated need for such rights, and a clear understanding of how they will impact the public, educators, existing copyright holders, online communications, and new Internet technologies.

    Also it says that Treaty proponents have not provided a clear statement of the particular problem that justify the need for the new treaty, and why they are not able to be addressed adequately under current treaties and law. EFF notes that while Treaty’s ostensible goal is protection against broadcast signal theft, the treaty goes far beyond that by creating broad new intellectual property rights over the recording or fixation, and subsequent uses of, recorded
    programming content.

    Creating a new layer of rights that apply on top of, and in addition to, copyright law, would allow broadcasters to restrict access to public domain works and use of information that would be lawful under copyright law. This will directly impact all entities that rely on the balanced set of exceptions and limitations in national copyright.

    A Wipo statement regarding the treaty said: “Updating the IP rights of broadcasters currently provided by the 1961 Rome Convention began at WIPO in 1997. A growing signal piracy problem in many parts of the world, including piracy of digitised pre-broadcast signals, has made this need more acute.”

  • IBF calls for broader consultative participation on Broadcast Bill

    IBF calls for broader consultative participation on Broadcast Bill

    MUMBAI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) is crying foul against the Broadcast Services Regulation Bill, 2006. Submitting a detailed proposal on the Bill to the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry today, the IBF suggested a broader consultative participation among all the stakeholders before framing the regulations. Its complaint: the proposed regulatory framework would restrict the growth of the broadcasting industry.

    “We welcome the attempts of the ministry of information and broadcasting to consolidate various codes and guidelines under which our members operate, through one umbrella law, and believe that a single window approach would benefit the industry. However, in the interest of ensuring long term sustainability and growth of our industry, any new regulatory framework needs to be preceded by a thorough analysis of the broader issues facing the industry. A consultative process is especially critical since our industry is still in its infancy,” the IBF said.

    Stressing on a law that would also facilitate a self-regulatory process in the industry, the IBF raised some “critical” issues that needed to first be resolved in the interest of all stakeholders, before further steps were taken to regulate the broadcast services.

    1. RESTRICTIONS ON GROWTH, EFFICIENCY AND BENEFITS OF ECONOMIES OF SCALE
    The IBF expressed discontent over proposed regulations on content and commercial time and felt the Broadcast Bill would impose arbitrary restrictions on the expansion of media companies.

    “Media businesses require huge capital investments, with business plans that have long gestation periods, often ranging up to ten years or more. Any impediments, therefore will retard the growth of the media industry, and affect the efficiency of the media business and the ability of consumers to receive high quality programming through a variety of delivery platforms at reasonable prices,” the IBF said.

    As the regulations would require a complete restructuring of India’s broadcasting industry, the IBF feared it would lead to a loss in revenue and downsizing.

    “It is also important to note that there are presently a number of business arrangements between broadcasters and cable operators with shareholding patterns that are in direct conflict with the proposed provision in the Bill. Similarly in the absence of alternative arrangements, and with the knowledge of the government, many broadcasters have set up captive earth stations/ teleports to uplink their own channels, which in practice may run counter to the mandate of the proposed Broadcast Bill,” the IBF said.

    2. PUBLIC BROADCASTING & DOORDARSHAN AS AN INDEPENDENT PLAYER
    The IBF is against the mandatory sharing of sports programming with Doordarshan since it is in conflict with intellectual property rights (IPR) of those who hold the telecast rights. Besides, this is against the trend of recent judicial pronouncements by various courts in India.

    The IBF has recommended that a standalone law be enacted for public broadcasting (PB) after appropriate deliberations, in line with several jurisdictions abroad.

    “Doordarshan should not be allowed to compete commercially with other channels if it is truly to be a public broadcaster. “It should be subject to a PB regulation that needs to be developed under the aegis of the independent sectoral regulator to ensure that it fulfils its role as a public broadcaster,” IBF pointed out.

    The “must carry obligations” should only apply if at all to true PBs. A channel that competes for advertising revenues should definitely be excluded from being further extended the advantage of being compulsorily carried, as this skews a level playing field and is an impediment to the commercial business of broadcasters, cable operators, as well as the consumer’s right to watch channels of choice.

    “The present structure of the Broadcast Bill seems to provide rights to Doordarshan without any reference to the issue of consideration, and is therefore arbitrary, anti competitive, and will impede the free flow of funds available to Indian sports today. This anomaly needs to be addressed especially because Doordarshan has a commercial motive and generates separate revenue from such feed by selling advertising space while re-broadcasting such feed,” the IBF pointed out.

    3. AUTONOMY OF THE BROADCAST REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

    The IBF supports the merger of the role of the Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) into the Press Council of India which has a significant representation from the members of the industry.

    “It is imperative that any regulator should be independent and not serve any single vested interest, whether the government, the private sector or the consumer. In this regard the process of appointment and the term and tenure of members of such a regulator are critical for ensuring that a regulator serves its purpose of maintaining a balance of interests,” the IBF said.

    The regulatory and adjudicatory powers of any regulator for the broadcasting industry also should be separated and specific.

  • Disney said to be looking at a theme park in Singapore

    Disney said to be looking at a theme park in Singapore

    MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Disney is said to be looking at the possibility of a theme park in Singapore. It is talking to Singapore authorities on the matter.

    Media reports indicate that Disney has been in discussions with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on a possible theme park in Marina East, which will cover a land area of around 30 hectares. The site in question is an empty plot of land beside the new 18-hole Marina Bay Golf Course at Tanjong Rhu, operated by a unit of NTUC Club.

    Market talk indicates that Disney could get prime land to build the theme park without going through a tender. It will unsettle bidders for a family-themed integrated resort with casino on the resort island of Sentosa.

    Reports indicate that in the 1990s, Singapore almost had its own Disneyland in the Seletar area. However, Disney wanted land that was four times bigger than its Tokyo attraction but was not prepared to spend its own money.

    Coming back to the current scenario, bidders for the Sentosa site include Genting International PLC (G13.SG), which has promised to build a Universal Studios theme park if successful, and a joint venture between Kerzner International Ltd. (KZL) and Southeast Asia’s largest developer CapitaLand Ltd. (C31.SG). The tender for the Sentosa site closes next month.

  • ICC rights bidders to be called to Dubai by month-end

    ICC rights bidders to be called to Dubai by month-end

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) says that this month will mark the next stage of its sale of media and sponsorship rights for events from late 2007 to 2015.

    Information available with indiantelevision.com indicates that potential commercial partners that meet the ICC’s criteria for bidding will be invited to Dubai at the end of this month. The aim is to to further progress the process that began in April when the ICC’s Executive Board decided the host for its tournaments in that eight-year period.

    The period will have 18 ICC tournaments. The five big ones are the two World Cups, in Asia (2011) and Australia/ New Zealand (2015) respectively, and a minimum of three Champions Trophy tournaments. The deal will also include the first two, Twenty World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009). The latter takes place in the ICC’s centenary year.

    Potential partners who meet the ICC’s qualification criteria that have already made expressions of interest will shortly be receiving correspondence detailing when they will be able to meet ICC officials for talks.

    The ICC says that any interested parties yet to express interest in the rights can still do so by contacting, the ICC.

    The ICC’s team of negotiators will include former President Ehsan Mani, who played a key role in securing the current agreement with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), which is owned by News International Limited.

    That agreement, which began in 2000 and ends with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies next March and April, includes two ICC Cricket World Cups and four ICC Champions Trophy tournaments. The GCC had paid out $550 million to secure the rights after a fierce bidding war with Subhash Chandra’s Zee Telefilms. At the time of bidding the GCC was a 50:50 JV between News Corp and World Sport Nimbus (itself a 50:50 JV between Harish Thawani’s Nimbus and the UK-headquartered World Sport Group). News Corp subsequently bought out WSN’s stake in the JV.

    ICC CEO Malcolm Speed said, “The sale of the ICC’s commercial and broadcast rights makes this a hugely significant and exciting time for cricket. That sale gives us the opportunity to place cricket on a sound financial footing for the next eight years and, by doing that, it will provide all our members with the chance to both sustain and grow the game.

    “We have been gratified and encouraged by the expressions of interest we have already received. We are now looking forward to meeting our potential partners and have only one aim in mind – securing the best deal for cricket.”

    The ICC has also included two women’s World Cups in the timeframe. One takes place in Australia in 2009 and the other takes place in India in 2013.

  • HK through eyes of an Indian filmmaker on AXN

    NEW DELHI: Action and adventure channel AXN from the Sony stable is trying out new marketing initiatives.
    After a Bollywood film bonanza, AXN has partnered with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) to jointly create an innovative programming that showcases the excitement, action and adventure that Hong Kong offers to travelers.

    Most travel related television programming is produced in a typical documentary style and created by television producers. `Roll & Action! Discover Hong Kong’ is innovative in that it features the creative work of three up and coming movie directors from the three hottest movie making countries in Asia – India , Thailand and Korea.

    Each director has been engaged to film and produce two short “filmlets” on Hong Kong – one of which features one of three new star attractions in Hong Kong – Disneyland Hong Kong, Hong Kong Wetland Park and Ngong Ping 360 and the other simply their view and/or experience of Hong Kong.

    “Last year AXN worked with HKTB on a movie odyssey featuring Bollywood and now we have picked up three directors from three countries to showcase Hong Kong, which is trying to project itself as the Hollywood of the East,” said Gregory Ho, VP, advertising sales, Sony Pictures Entertainment Networks, Asia.

    According to Ho, the “innovative approach” to promoting Hong Kong not only breaks through conventional norms but is also entertaining.

    The three directors had been given a free-hand to express their creativity

    From India, there is Imtiaz Ali (worked in films like `Socha Na Tha’) for whom this is his first directorial venture on television.

    Says David Leung, regional director, South and South East Asia, HKTB, “Our choice of having Imtiaz Ali direct the vignettes was driven by the fact that he is known as a ‘point of view’ director due to his very individualistic style. After seeing his directorial debut ‘Socha Na Tha’, we were looking forward to working with him and were extremely pleased when he expressed interest in this project.”

    Ali has produced two filmlets, one of which is focused on Hong Kong Wetland Park and the other is his very own unique perspective of his experience in Hong Kong.

    The other two directors who reflect their common passion for cutting edge film making are Kwak Jae Yong from Korea (My Sassy Girl) and Nonzee Nimibutr from Thailand (Nang Nak, Jan Dara).

    Imtiaz Ali’s inspirational views on Hong Kong together with those of Kwak Jae Yong and Nonzee Nimibutr will start airing from 25 September on AXN.

    Meanwhile, Ho also told Indiantelevision.com that AXN is well entrenched in the English entertainment TV market in India, which has seen “dramatic changes” over the last five years.

    However, Ho felt that the Indian cable TV viewers is “spoilt for choice” as he gets too much for too little and probably doesn’t really appreciate all that he gets as broadcasters spend huge amount of money on quality programming.

  • Hathway plans Rs 1 billion debt for CAS; VoIP launch by year-end

    Hathway plans Rs 1 billion debt for CAS; VoIP launch by year-end

    MUMBAI: Rajan Raheja-promoted Hathway Cable & Datacom plans to raise Rs 1 billion as debt to fund the first phase of conditional access system (CAS). The multi-system operator (MSO) is also preparing to launch voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services by the last quarter of the year.

    “We will require an investment of Rs 1 billion for which we will be raising debt,” says Hathway Cable & Datacom CEO K Jayaraman.

    The bulk of the investments will be towards subsidising the digital set-top boxes (STBs). Funding will also be required in setting up VoIP and expanding broadband infrastructure. The company has tied up with telecom major Bharti for VoIP.

    “We are conducting test runs and expect to launch VoIP services by the year-end. MSOs will have to infuse capital in the changing business environment. On each STB, the subsidy works out to Rs 1,500,” says Jayaraman.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has fixed the pricing of the boxes in the CAS areas. Cable TV service providers will have to offer digital STBs on a monthly rental scheme of Rs 30 and a refundable security deposit of Rs 999. There will be no payment for installation, activation charges, smart card/viewing card, repair and maintenance cost.

    The cost of the STBs including the smart card is around Rs 3,500. “Once we drive in volumes, the price of procuring these STBs should fall by 15-20 per cent,” says Jayaraman.

    Hathway will also be aggressively pushing digital cable TV in non CAS markets. The MSO launched its digital services in Jalandhar a few days back, having rolled it out earlier in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

    “Starting with Jalandhar, we plan to roll out our digital services across Punjab over six months. In the first phase, 16 cities of Punjab will be connected by the end of this year,” Jayaraman says.

    The a la carte pricing of channels will increase the penetration of STBs in CAS areas, Jayaraman believes. “We expect a 80 per cent penetration if the broadcasters get the pricing right within a maximum of Rs 5 per channel,” he says.

  • Astro eyes acquisition in India, posts strong Q2 net profit

    Astro eyes acquisition in India, posts strong Q2 net profit

    MUMBAI: Astro All Asia Networks Plc has identified India and China as its potential high-growth markets. And the route it wants to take is equity participation in local ventures.

    “We intend to invest and grow our multi-media distribution platforms and content assets — particularly in the key Bahasa, Indian, and Chinese language speaking markets where we hope to consummate joint-ventures with key players across the region in the coming months. We are confident that these major investments, underpinned by our strong balance sheet and robust cash flows from our Malaysian operations, will secure our long term future, and importantly, sustain revenues, profitability and cash flow growth for shareholders in the medium and long term,” Astro Group chief executive officier Ralph Marshall wrote yesterday to the company’s shareholders.

    The company is scouting for equity participation in joint venture with local partners in these large under-penetrated markets, Marshall said. In India, Astro has, along with NDTV and infotech company Value Labs, already bought out Radio Today’s FM radio operations under Red FM brand.

    “Following liberalisation of the radio sector by the Indian Government, we are hopeful of making new investments and thereby participate in further growth of the radio broadcasting sector in the country,” Marshall said.

    In China, an Astro joint venture has secured approval and a 25-year licence to offer advertising services in the country. The joint-venture, with Hangzhou-based Tiansheng Culture Media Ltd, will initially provide marketing and airtime management services to seven radio stations in Zhejiang Province, and subsequently expand its services to other media companies, particularly in the TV broadcasting segment, in other territories across China.

    Astro, meanwhile, has reported a 66 per cent increase in net profit to RM 73.04 million for its second quarter ended 31 July 2006, from RM 44 million a year ago. This was on back of the Fifa World Cup and a strong demand for its pay-TV and advertising services in the period, the company said.

    Revenue rose 14 per cent to RM 569.08 million from RM 499.32 million while earnings per share was 3.79 sen from 2.29 sen.

    During the period under review, the Group has generated free cash of RM 162.6 million. “Taking advantage of the strong financial position, the Group repaid most of its bank borrowings in January this year, and secured access to fresh long-term capital funds totalling USD 300 million on more attractive terms,” Astro said in a release.

    Having recently launched seven channels, Astro plans to add more and has RM 2 billion to fund its expansion plans.