ITV

Category: News Headline

  • ESS partners with Special Olympics

    ESS partners with Special Olympics

    MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced a partnership with the Special Olympics, the international non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

    ESS says that it is well-positioned to deliver the Special Olympics message across Asia, including calling upon the services of sporting legends who have built a relationship with the network over the years.

    Among the media programmes lined up by ESS is the television production and broadcast of the 1st Special Olympics International Cricket Cup which will be held in Mumbai from 6-13 November 2006. 12 men’s and three women’s teams will take part in the inaugural competition, involving 272 athletes and over 600 volunteers, coaches and officials. The countries taking part in this inaugural event are India, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies. Female teams from India and Pakistan will also take part in this event.

    Special Olympics International chairman Timothy P. Shriver said, “We have been expanding and developing many programmes in the Asia Pacific region recently and have always had the goal to reach out to significantly many more people with intellectual disabilities worldwide. We have just reached two million athletes participating in 150 countries. Yet there are nearly 170 million more waiting. In addition, our message has to extend to the mass public in a much more powerful and significant way. ESPN Star Sports can make that happen.”

    Among the sporting stars who have stepped forward to lend their support to ESS’ commitment to Special Olympics are legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar, skipper Rahul Dravid, Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Kaif. Tailor-made public service announcements have been created by ESS featuring these Indian cricket legends.

    Special Olympics Asia Pacific MD Troy Greisen, says, “We are absolutely thrilled about this partnership with ESPN Star Sports as it is a great opportunity for us to spread the word and inspire people throughout Asia to get involved and support Special Olympics. ESPN Star Sports is the most powerful medium for us to achieve this as the premier sports network in Asia. Not only does ESPN Star Sports reach millions of viewers whose lives can be touched by our message and hopefully become supporters, it is also a great platform to showcase the ability of our Special Olympics athletes alongside other world class athletes.”

    ESS Asia MD Jamie Davis said, “Special Olympics is indeed a very special organisation. Its ideals are something we are very attracted to and something we want to fully support. Nothing will be more satisfying than to be able to play a small part in changing the lives of these special athletes.

    “ESPN Star Sports’ commitment will not stop at producing and broadcasting the flagship events of Special Olympics, which will start with the cricket tournament in Mumbai. ESPN and Star Sports will also run public service announcements to increase the awareness of people with intellectual disabilities and it’s staff will actively work with the Special Olympics athletes through volunteer coaching programmes”.

    ESS India MD RC Venkateish said, “Our network has a huge presence in India and we are looking forward to achieving something very important for Special Olympics in Asia. The continent has its own special athletes and through the powerful mediums of sports and television, we can help Asia play a more important role in helping people with intellectual disabilities.”

    Gavaskar said, “As a sportsman, getting involved in a cause as big as this, especially since it is about speaking for a group of athletes and promoting their cause throughout Asia, is perhaps one of main highlights of my career. If I am able to help achieve the goals that Special Olympics are looking for, then, it will perhaps even surpass what I have ever achieved in cricket.”

  • Siemens to showcase potential of IPTV, mobile TV at Berlin trade show

    Siemens to showcase potential of IPTV, mobile TV at Berlin trade show

    MUMBAI: When the international consumer electronics trade show IFA opens its doors in Berlin on 1 September, 2006, visitors will experience the look and feel of the new world of television at the Siemens Communications booth.

    Siemens says that with its mobile TV service via DVB-H, customers of communications companies can be more than just passive viewers of TV programs on their mobile phones. The company says that with services such as music voting, it is easy to let consumers have a say in shaping what they watch. IPTV in HDTV will mean a new era of home media use.

    The living room media center is supplied with programming from the Internet via DSL and has an intuitive user interface. At IFA Siemens will be using the example of the Dutch carrier KPN to show how an IPTV interface works.

    Traditional television Siemens says is entering a new era. Mobile TV and IPTV offer network operators a way to compensate for the drop in revenue stemming from falling prices for voice connections in wireless and fixed networks and to win customers with new media offerings. At IFA 2006 Siemens Communications will show how the new offerings can be structured and how the technology behind them works.

    Mobile TV via the DVB-H standard enables mobile operators to offer services. They include interactive television programs that let viewers participate in votes and surveys, access to information in the Internet at a click of the mouse, interactive games for several players and real-time traffic reports that integrate navigation systems are just a few examples.

    While the market for Mobile TV is still in its infancy, market researchers at Informa believe that by 2011 some 210 million people around the world will be using their portable devices as interactive TV sets and that around ten percent of all mobile handsets will have a TV receiver integrated in them.

    At IFA, Siemens will show that its own mobile TV solution already runs on a wide range of common mobile phones (e.g. BenQ-Siemens, LG, Samsung), on PDAs with special SDIO cards and on state-of-the-art UMPCs from Samsung with Intel technology – perfectly and in high quality. Siemens will be showing programs from various broadcasters in Berlin, including RTL Television, nt-v and Super RTL.

    Stefan Schneiders who is an expert for Mobile TV at Siemens says, “One thing is sure – carriers are very interested in tapping new revenue streams and winning their customers for trendy services that offer added value. Initial results from field trials, for example in Spain, show that Mobile TV has what it takes to fulfill the expectations of carriers and their customers.”
    Siemens will be showcasing the IPTV offering of its Dutch customer KPN at IFA 2006. KPN customers in the Netherlands who have a DSL connection can receive TV from their phone socket and use numerous additional services such as a personal video recorder or TV of Yesterday. In Berlin, visitors will be able to try out KPN’s user interface, as well as getting an impression of how intuitive and simple the user guidance is from other examples, and discover that PC expertise is by no means a must.

    They can also see what TV via DSL in high-definition quality using the compression standard H.264 looks like. Siemens says that it is committed to open standards for IPTV via HDTV. That also goes for the set-top boxes that are required for receiving IPTV and of which a selection will be shown in Berlin.

  • Sony sets out IPO plans; seeks controlling stake in Ten Sports

    Sony sets out IPO plans; seeks controlling stake in Ten Sports

    MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India is stepping up plans for an initial public offering (IPO). The company is looking at a period after the cricket World Cup gets over in April 2007, a source close to the development says.

    The merchant bankers are yet to be appointed but the IPO plan is being actively pursued. “The board has approved an IPO plan, but subject to the capital market and other related conditions,” the source adds.

    Sony is also in active negotiations to buy a controlling stake in Ten Sports. SET India already has the rights to distribute the sports channel in India. “The negotiations are on to acquire a majority stake. But nothing has been finalised yet,” the source says.

    Ten Sports, it is learnt, is willing to part with a 50 per cent stake. No agreement has been reached on the valuation, the source says. It is worth noting here that a report put out by CNBC TV18 yesterday had said “the deal is believed to be worth between $ 55-60 million.”If this report proves correct, it would mean that Ten Sports has been valued at between $110 million to $120 million.

    When contacted, Taj Television Ltd CEO Chris McDonald said the company was in talks with several companies for strategic partnerships. “There is no deal at this stage,” he added. On being queried whether the company was willing to part with controlling stake, he refused to comment on specific details. Dubai-based Taj Networks owns and operates Ten Sports.

    SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta denied that anything definite on Ten Sports or the IPO had been decided at this stage.

    Zee Telefilms Ltd. (ZTL), which was in negotiations over a year back, has not resumed talks, a source in the company said. ZTL plans to bid for cricket rights like the ICC which will come up for grabs rather than buy a stake in Ten Sports, he says. Another reason that ZTL dropped any acquisition strategy in regards to Ten Sports is that the channel is already locked into a five-year distribution deal with the rival SET-Discovery One Alliance, the source adds. ZTL in any case runs Zee Sports, which is in the hunt for acquiring cricket properties to provide strength to the channel.

    Taj Entertainment has mandated Ambit Corporate Finance to find a strategic investor. With Harish Thawani’s Nimbus preparing to launch a sports channel, analysts say the acquisition price would continue to be high with more broadcasters chasing cricket properties.

    Ten Sports would require capital infusion even as the cricket properties it currently holds (Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan boards) come up for renewal. By doing a distribution deal with Sony, it will be assured subscription revenues on a guaranteed basis.

    “The buying into Ten Sports would be seen as a good time before the IPO,” a market analyst said.

    SET India has also conducted a restructuring exercise which is seen as a precursor to a public float. The company recently acquired sister company SET Singapore. Though it had obtained clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for this purpose a few years back, it had deferred this process as the proposed restructuring transaction would have attracted capital gains tax.

    “Sony is keeping everything ready for the right time to hit the market,” the source says.

    SET India had obtained clearance from the FIPB to acquire 100 per cent shares of SET Singapore through a share swap transaction. According to the proposal, one share of SET India would be exchanged for 16 shares of SET Singapore. Post-restructuring, 60.65 per cent of the SET India equity would be with the Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) entities, 19.83 per cent with non-resident Indians and overseas corporate bodies, 7.68 per cent with foreign institutional investors and 11.84 per cent with Indian shareholders.

    Taj Television is 100 per cent owned by Bukhatir Investments Limited, a UAE-based conglomerate with interests in banking, construction, real estate, trading, information technology, sports and broadcasting. Ten Sports is a sports channel which broadcasts in the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan and Hong Kong.

  • TV18 appoints Sify’s Surya Mantha as Web18 CEO

    TV18 appoints Sify’s Surya Mantha as Web18 CEO

    MUMBAI: Television Eighteen group has appointed Surya Mantha as the chief executive officer for its internet business arm – Web 18. Mantha brings with him 15 years of experience that spans business management, consulting, product and service development, product management and marketing across a range of business and consumer software, hardware and services companies.
    Prior to joining Web18, he was heading the interactive service business for Sify India based out of Chennai. He had also spent several years at RealNetworks in Seattle WA, USA, according to an official release.

    TV18 group CEO Haresh Chawla says, “Mantha brings with him a unique combination of skills & experience spanning both technology and consumer understanding, particularly in the internet space. This will go a long way in establishing Web18’s dominance in the consumer Internet space in India. We are also confident that his experience in a global environment will help scale up Web18 into the global league.”

    This follows close to the group acquiring three Internet companies – Cricketnext.com, Compareindia.com and Urban Eye, a web design and technology firm. The acquisitions will help the group consolidate its focus on the internet business further. This was the second round of acquisitions that Web18 has announced. The company acquired stakes in Yatra.com and Jobstreet.com India a few months ago.

    The Indian Internet industry is on the verge of explosive growth. By 2008, the online user base is expected to grow to 100 million. Web18 has been consistently growing its Internet presence organically as well as through relevant acquisitions in the consumer Internet space.

  • Star World brings Jackie Chan on ‘Rendezvous…’

    Star World brings Jackie Chan on ‘Rendezvous…’

    MUMBAI: Star World brings a treat to all the Jackie Chan fans as the prime time show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal will feature the martial-arts superstar. The programme is slotted to air on 3 September at 9:30 pm.

    An official release quotes Garewal, “Jackie was wonderful. He didn’t hide anything, didn’t evade any question. He wasn’t ‘image-conscious’– in fact he spoke about aspects even more than I could have asked for. He revealed things that aren’t even there in his biography! Graciously, he was the one who knelt and thanked me!”

    In this special episode, Jackie speaks about his painfully rigorous childhood, the fact that he was born in poverty and his immigrant parents almost sold him at birth to a British doctor, as they couldn’t afford the hospital bill. For the first time, the blatantly honest superstar shares details of his marriage, the fact that he has been a bad husband, selfish when it comes to love, and that he has not been able to give time to his wife or his 23-year-old son Jaycee and how he is trying to make-up for lost time, states an official release.

  • Vijay TV gameshow ‘Grandmaster’ unveils interactive segment

    Vijay TV gameshow ‘Grandmaster’ unveils interactive segment

    MUMBAI: The Vijay TV primetime game show Q3 Jeyyam Grand Master gets more interactive, as from 4 September, it allows even the viewers to be a part of the show.

    Audience can sit at home and become a Grandmaster. While the participant thinks of any prominent person from anywhere in the globe who is alive or dead, the Grand Master tries to find out the name of the person within 21 questions. One contestant at a time on the hot seat with the Grand Master can play in the game.

    Viewers can guess the personality before the Grand Master does and SMS the answer by typing GM (answer) to 7827 and win a personal computer every week, informs a Star Vijay communiqué.

    The quickest with maximum number of correct answer wins the prize every week and any number of attempts is allowed within the specified time. Every episode will have one round of the game. The start time flashes on Vijay TV when the ungal veetu grandmaster logo appears, viewers can send their correct answers to 7827. Winner’s name will be announced two weeks after game begins on air, the release adds.

    This game show runs Monday to Thursday at 9:30 pm.

  • Zee Turner, Tata Sky spat reaches court

    Zee Turner, Tata Sky spat reaches court

    NEW DELHI: It has come a full circle for the Zee group. DTH service provider Tata Sky has dragged distribution company Zee Turner to court for acting pricey on giving its channels to the new entrant in the Indian DTH arena.

    The case filed some days back in a Delhi court by Tata Sky states that Zee Turner is setting “unreasonable” terms for negotiations for its bouquet of channels, which amounts to a breach of various directives issued by the sector regulator.

    The case is slated for a hearing today. However, court sources indicated that its unlikely arguments will take place in the first hearing.

    Tata Sky, which began its commercial operations few weeks back, is presently offering consumers 55-odd TV channels at a price that is more than the Subhash Chandra-promoted Dish TV, which is country’s first pay TV platform.

    Zee Turner is a 74:26 distribution joint venture between the Chandra-controlled Zee Telefilms and Time Warner company Turner International India.

    The genesis of the present face-off is lack of consensus on pricing of Zee Turner channels and Tata Sky’s insistence on select TV channels from the bouquet of 32 channels.

    While India’s second pay digital platform Tata Sky wants select Zee Turner channels for a reported sum of below Rs. 40 per subscriber, the latter is insisting all its 32 channels should be taken.

    As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, sources close to the negotiations said Zee Turner has conveyed that it’s ready to give all its channels to Tata Sky’s DTH platform for Rs. 74 per subscriber per month, which is 50 per cent of the price that cable operators pay for the Zee Turner bouquet.

    Bouquet 1 of Zee Turner comprises Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee News, Zee Studio, Zee Bengali, Zee Gujarati, Zee Marathi, Zee Punjabi, Cartoon Network, Reality TV, CNBC, CNN, Zee Café, Zee Trendz, ETC, ETC Punjabi, Zee Jagran, Zee Smile, Zee Telgu and Zee Music.

    The second bouquet includes HBO, Pogo, Awaaz, VH1 and Zee Business. Zee Turner is soft bundling Zee Sports at a price benefit.

    The third bouquet, called Breakfree, consists of Zee Action, Zee Premier and Zee Classic, which air movies of different genre and are primarily available on Dish TV DTH platform.

    Zee Turner had earlier reasoned that its demand is based on a recent ruling of a disputes tribunal in Dish TV vs. Star case wherein Star was asked to make available its channel to Dish at Rs. 27 per subscriber, which is 50 per cent less than the price cable ops pay.

    Dish TV had to wait for over 18 months since launch to finally manage to get Star channels on its DTH platform.

    After having got powerful products like Star Plus, Dish TV has announced that it will not charge its consumers for some months anything extra for the Star channels, most of which are in the basic tier of 78-odd channels and can be had for Rs. 185 per month by a subscriber of Dish TV.

  • AOL improves upon music service

    AOL improves upon music service

    MUMBAI: Internet giant AOL has revamped its Web-based music download service, adding music videos, streaming radio and user community features.

    The service is called AOL Music Now. AOL says that this is the first digital music subscription service offering unlimited on-demand streams and downloads of more than 2.5 million audio tracks and thousands of music videos. With the launch of the AOL Music Now service (www.aolmusicnow.com), music fans have a new place to discover, listen, download and own songs, albums and videos from one of the largest music libraries on the web.

    Unlike other pay per download services, the AOL service lets users play as many songs and music videos as they want, in their entirety and on-demand. Users can access music and videos they have transferred to their PCs and compatible portable devices as long as they maintain a portable tier subscription.

    The new service also features AOL Radio with XM offering with more than 200 AOL Radio stations plus select premier XM Satellite Radio channels.

    AOL Music Now president Amit Shafrir says, “With the addition of music videos and AOL Radio with XM stations, AOL Music Now has raised the bar in the digital music service space. And, with best-in-class personalisation and automated discovery features, it’s easy for music lovers to navigate the thousands of mixes, playlists and radio stations the service offers.”

    The music service claims to have a library of more than 2.5 million songs from all four major music labels and hundreds of independents. In addition, AOL has agreements with several labels, including Sony BMG to provide thousands of music videos for use in the AOL Music Now service.

  • Zoom’s ‘Weekend Popkorn Laughter…’ kicks off on 2 Septmeber

    Zoom’s ‘Weekend Popkorn Laughter…’ kicks off on 2 Septmeber

    MUMBAI: Zoom, glamour and lifestyle channel will up the humour quotient starting 2 September 2006, with the new Weekend Popkorn Laughter Destination Special series.

    Four comedians will set the mood and will be on a mission to make you laugh with their zany humour every Saturday from the 2 to 23 September at 8 pm.

    This comic bonanza on Zoom promises to be fun unlimited with four of the best known faces of Indian comedy making a serious attempt to anchor this show in their well-known wacky and side-splitting ishtyle!

    The hosts include the hilarious Suresh Menon; Lallan aka Sunil Grover, popular for his trademark spoofs of leading Bollywood stars; the suave and smart Semi Girebal aka Cyrus Sahukar and the witty Ranvir Sheorey.

    Suresh Menon will be loaded with his jokes, spoofs on some of the best known names in tinsel town, swirling to the tunes of the famous Nagin dance and even doing a little stint of dumb-charades, his favourite game!

  • Animax turns 24×7 in Malaysia; available on Astro

    Animax turns 24×7 in Malaysia; available on Astro

    MUMBAI: Animax, the animation channel in Asia has announced that it will be available 24×7 in Malaysia starting 31 August and will be carried exclusively on cable provider, Astro.

    As part of the channel’s expansion plans, Animax will upgrade from a time-block channel to a full service channel to provide target demographic – youths and young adults. It will thus reach out to over 1.9 million Astro subscribers.

    Animax viewers in Malaysia will get to watch cutting edge animation in both English and original Japanese language, with Bahasa Malaysia subtitles during the primetime belt (6pm-8.30pm), informs an official release.

    Animax Asia vice-president Betty Tsui says, “We are excited to launch Animax in Malaysia with a strong partner like Astro and bring viewers exceptional anime entertainment like never before.”

    Greater youth-driven plans are in the pipeline, beginning with a Malaysia edition of on-air initiative, Imagine-Nation, featuring local talents that go beyond the ordinary. Imagine-Nation was launched last June in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines. It features famous people connected to the creative world of games, film and design, sharing their visions and inspirations with viewers in a series of candid interviews, adds the release.

    In keeping with the channel’s commitment to engage and inspire the youth, recently two lucky Malaysia Animax contest winners gained exclusive backstage tours and met with top gamers at the World Cyber Games 2006 Asian Championship, where Animax was a principal partner.

    Tsui adds, “The host of talent in creative fields are aplenty in Malaysia and I am thrilled to be able to share creative passion with the youths in Malaysia. We hope to inspire them through the Imagine-Nation project and more.”

    Animax Asia, a regional youth cable and satellite TV channel dedicated to Japanese animation (anime) programming under SPE Networks – Asia, brings to Asian viewers animation from Japan and anime-inspired original productions and activities.

    Offering programmes of various anime genres from sci-fi (Ghost in the Shell), action (Blood+), romance and fashion (Honey and Clover, Paradise Kiss) to drama (Black Jack, Girl from Hell) and anime favorites (Dragon Ball), Animax will showcase a line up of high-quality programmes targeted at its youths and young adults demographic in the coming months – including first-run series, Girl From Hell during Halloween this October 2006, adds the release.