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Category: News Headline

  • MSN India offers ‘KANK’ content

    MUMBAI: MSN India, the Indian arm of software giant Microsoft’s internet business will host exclusive movie content on the Bollywood movie – Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK).

    With this, MSN India has added the third movie to its kitty in a span of a month, the other two movies being Anthony Kaun Hai? and Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

     

     
    MSN India users have access to exclusive theatrical and dialogue promos, text and video interviews with the stars of KANK on www.msn.co.in.

    Speaking on MSN India’s movie rush MSN India country manager Jaspreet Bindra said, “MSN India has been a key driver of online entertainment in India and are proud to have three big movies exclusively on MSN India. With our innovative online campaigns and commitment to providing our users and advertisers the best online experience, MSN India is constantly providing value through integrated campaigns, high value content and the latest online technology.”

     
     
    According to an official release, the MSN India will provide a complete online guide to the movie as well as online movie memorabilia that fans can save on their PCs. Users soon will also have access to special KANK theme packs for Windows Live Messenger the upgraded version of MSN Messenger.

    An official release states that the site contains everything a fan would want to know about the film and more. The site also gives options to download pictures based on the movie as screen savers, as well as songs, stills from the movie and a synopsis based on the story line.

    MSN India digital marketing revenue and strategic business digital marketing Rajnish Head said, “MSN India has always been associated with the best of Indian Cinema. We ensure that we offer the best opportunity for advertisers to reach out to a wider audience through innovative and integrated campaigns that are supported by our cutting edge technology and hi quality content.”

    Anthony Kaun Hai? had the cast write their own blogs on MSN Spaces, allowing fans worldwide to read what the stars had to say. The movie Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dead Man’s Chest allowed users to interact with the character Billy Bones, by adding him onto Windows Live Messenger and converse with him while he unfolded the storyline in the form of a fascinating game.

    In the past MSN India has given users the opportunity to experience movies like Rang de Basanti, Mangal Pandey, Iqbal and the like online.
     
     

     

  • Sahara One comes under control of promoters

    Sahara One comes under control of promoters

    MUMBAI: Sahara Group promoters have taken back operational control of Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd.

    Seemanto Roy, the younger son of Sahara chairman Subroto Roy, has been made head of the company and CEO Shantonu Aditya will report directly to him.
    Earlier, Percept promoter Shailendra Singh was managing the operations and Aditya was in effect reporting to him.

    “Percept was acting as the representative of Sahara for the Group’s entertainment business. Sahara One employees were involved with Percept. Under the new arrangement, Roy will be directly involved,” a source close to the company says.

    Singh, however, will continue to advise Roy. In an internal circular, the company has communicated the structural change.

    “In order to strengthen the activities of Sahara One, Seemanto Roy will head Sahara One’s business. Shailendra Singh will be the advisor to Roy,” the circular says.

    Incidentally, Subroto Roy’s elder son Sushanto was earlier looking at Sahara’s media and entertainment business.
    Seemanto will also be responsible for setting up Sahara’s film city in addition to Amby Valley housing project, which falls in his portfolio.

    Sahara One runs two TV channels and is also engaged in the movie business.

    The company clocked Rs 2.12 billion in revenues and earned a net profit of Rs 72.27 million for the fiscal ended 31 March 2006.

    According to Singh, direct involvement of the promoters is a progressive move as the company is on a major expansion drive.

    “We continue to be in the same position as strategic advisors. We succeeded in taking Sahara One’s businesses to some level and put a team in place. Now that the scalability of the game is bigger, the direct involvement of the promoters is essential to take Sahara One to the next level,” he adds.

    Percept has completed 11 out of the 15 movies it was to produce for Sahara. “We are ready with the other four, which we will be doing for them,” says Singh, stressing that the relationship with Sahara has not changed much.

    Sahara had entered into a management joint venture with Percept almost two years back to handle its entertainment business.

    The Hindi general entertainment channel needed to be fixed as it was floundering in a genre which had strong players like Star Plus, Sony TV and Zee TV. Special focus had also to be laid on the movie production business.

    Early this year C Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televentures bought 14.98 per cent stake in Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd for Rs 1.2 billion.

    Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd, owners of Times of India and Zoom television channel, also acquired a small stake in the company for approximately Rs 380 million.

  • DD Urdu channel starts beaming

    DD Urdu channel starts beaming

    MUMBAI: Doordarshan’s Urdu channel — DD Urdu — was officially launched on 15 August to coincide with India’s 60th Independence Day.

    With its launch, DD Urdu now becomes the second service after ETV Urdu, managed by the Hyderabad based Eenadu TV, to have a 24-hour channel dedicated to the language.

    DD Urdu was officially launched by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who said that with the combined force of globalization and television, which would reach every nook and corner of the world.

    The advent of this channel will strengthen the civilisational foundations of the country and would promote unity, Singh said.

    Urdu is a symbol of rich, cultural and literary mosaic of our country and the new channel would help take this role of Urdu language further forward, he added.

    In a speech laced with poetry and erudition, the PM dwelled on the social and literary achievements of Urdu and celebrated the language’s contribution in the cultural journey of the nation, according to an official release.

    Information & broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the new channel will fulfill the media needs of over 50 million Urdu speaking people in the country. The UPA government is committed to this cause and will provide all support in this regard, Dasmunsi stated.

    Referring to great Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Firaq Ghorakpuri, Dasmunsi said that Urdu language and literature have had a deep impact on our culture. “During the freedom struggle, famous Urdu slogans motivated and inspired the youth. Urdu had brought about a new culture and promoted the concept of unity in diversity,” he added.

    In his welcome address, Prasar Bharti chairman MV Kamath described Urdu as a pan Indian language. He said that DD Urdu would preserve and promote the great cultural heritage and literary aspect of this rich language.

    UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several Union ministers, personalities and senior officials of the I&B ministry and Prasar Bharti were present on the occasion.

    DD Urdu channel has been conceived as a heritage channel, which will have segments on entertainment and enrichment for culture and information. It will initially have a daily transmission of seven hours which would subsequently be extended to 24 hours per day.

    It is worth noting here that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has been scouting for joint venture partners for launching television news channel services in Urdu, beside Hindi, in India.

    Sahara news network, which manages a bouquet of news channels, had also targeted to launch a Urdu news and information channel on 15 August. But, the channel is likely to be on air by the end of the current year.

  • Fox to offer films for online download

    Fox to offer films for online download

    MUMBAI: Fox Interactive Media (Fim) and Twentieth Century Fox have announced a multi-year agreement to provide feature films and television shows on a download-to-own basis across the Fim network.

    Fim’s network of properties reaching more than 75 million people a month in the US (ComScore MediaMetrix) will have access to Fox Entertainment Group’s films such as X-Men The Last Stand and The Omen. On the television front, episodes of series like 24 and Prison Break can be downloaded.

    IGN Entertainment will be the first Fim property to offer a selection on its Direct2Drive site in October 2006, with additional Fim properties, including MySpace.com.

    Fox president digital media Peter Levinsohn says, “Our drive to deliver Twentieth Century Fox content via the most powerful online platforms is advanced substantially by this agreement. Offering Fox content in conjunction with Fim properties enables viewers to access the best movies and TV shows from multiple platforms in the Fox family.”

    Initially, Fim will offer films from Twentieth Century Fox, including new releases, made-for-TV movies, direct-to-video releases and select content from the Twentieth Century Fox film library on IGN’s Direct2Drive site. The site will also offer current television series from various Fox entities such as Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fuel TV, Speed and FX, with a selection of shows available within 24 hours of initial broadcast.

    In an industry first, purchased movies and television shows will be immediately transferable to Windows Media compatible portable devices, providing users with a convenient way to take the video content with them on the go.

    Fim president Ross Levinsohn says, “Today marks an important step as we continue to build a bridge between the worlds of user-generated and top-quality, professional content, further enhancing our range of consumer offerings across both free, ad-supported and paid download business models.

    “With more than 75 million monthly users and one of the largest entertainment communities on the web, we are thrilled to begin offering our users exciting content from Fox.”

    The agreement with Twentieth Century Fox will enable Fim to expand its offerings with premier TV and movie content. Direct2Drive will promote the new offering throughout the IGN Entertainment network, including IGN.com, Rotten Tomatoes and Film Force, among other sites.

  • Channel7 news channel renamed IBN7

    Channel7 news channel renamed IBN7

    NEW DELHI: What had been earlier put off has finally happened. Channel7 has been rechristened IBN7 and has been sporting the new name from India’s Independence Day, 15 August.
    This has been done to integrate the synergies between English language CNN IBN and the Hindi Channel7, in which the Television Eighteen Group bought controlling stake earlier this year.

    The on-air look of IBN7, including the channel ID, programme stings, on-air graphics, will give the channel a contemporary look and feel. The logo of IBN 7 in red, black and white reflects the brand identity and corporate philosophy of Global Broadcast Network (GBN), which is in sync with CNN IBN, an official statement said.

    Eight months ago, the Television Eighteen-controlled GBN had presented CNN IBN, which over the period has become a leading English news channel, driven by the spirit of Whatever it Takes.

    Now this spirit extends to IBN 7, which would embark on the principle of delivering khabar, har keemat par or Whatever it Takes, the statement added.

    Highlighting the philosophy behind this move CNN IBN and IBN7 chief editor Rajdeep Sardesai was quoted in the statement as saying, “We are delighted to launch IBN 7, our 24-hour Hindi news channel for the benefit of the Hindi news viewers. With the introduction of IBN 7, GBN attempts to expand its reach in India.”

    He added: “We are confident that CNN-IBN and IBN 7 together will bring to the discerning viewers a holistic approach to news delivery.”

    According to IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh, the channel will present multi-genre news programming package for the Hindi news viewers and the focus will be on building a channel that broadcasts news as it happens, when it happens, wherever it happens.

    It was 19 January 2006 that Indiantelevision.com first broke the news that GBN, owners of English news channel CNN IBN, were in talks with Jagran TV, parent company of Channel7, aimed at making the Hindi news channel a part of the GBN stable through a joint venture.

  • Nike expecting three million kids to participate in Joga3 Futsal tournaments

    Nike expecting three million kids to participate in Joga3 Futsal tournaments

    MUMBAI: With the kickoff to the Fifa World cup taking place in less than a month’s time, footwear manufacturer Nike says that it expects its grassroots initiative Joga3 to attract more than three million kids from 39 countries by the end of this summer. This will equal to the number of spectators anticipated at soccer’s world championships in Germany this June and July.

    Nike Joga3 is a three-on-three soccer game inspired by the game of futsal, both of which are played with the smaller, heavier futsal ball on a small, hard-surface field. The smaller ball and field elevate the importance of foot skills, ball control, creativity and quickness.

    Joga3 matches are played on a pitch that is no larger then half a basketball court. The goals are not protected by a goalkeeper and are only five feet wide by 19 inches high. Games last three minutes and there are no ties.

    As of 1 April 2006, Nike estimates that one million kids globally have played Joga3. Regional tournaments are increasing in size and frequency, building toward the global final that will take place in Brazil in August.

    The US final is scheduled for Los Angeles on 9 July. Local and regional market tournaments are currently taking place every week from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles. The tournaments are free and open to boys and girls 19 years and under. In addition to digital and grassroots outreach to spread the Joga3 message, more than 100,000 kits that teach Joga3 have been distributed through soccer specialty retailers throughout the US.

    Kids who participate in Joga3 are expected to play by a code of conduct that includes Skill, Heart, Joy, Honour and Team. The new game and the global tournament are part of the Nike soccer initiative, Joga Bonito (Portuguese for “Play Beautiful”), which is designed to inspire this same code of conduct across all levels of the game of soccer and among all players.

    Nike Soccer global general manager Don Remlinger says, “Much the way the game of futsal has helped hone the foot skills of some of the world’s most talented players like Brazil’s Ronaldinho, Nike designed Joga3 to inspire quickness, speed, creativity, and commanding ball control. Most important though is ensuring that kids learn to play by the code and that they carry these characteristics forward.”

    Nike introduced Joga Bonito to the world in early February through a digital and broadcast television message from soccer legend Eric Cantona that reached more than 38 million people in its first weekend, 10-12 February 2006.

    As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com Nike has made five television commercials featuring famous football players.

    This is a part of Nike’s Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful) campaign. Joy, Team, Honour, Skill and Heart are the values of Beautiful football and the themes of the commercials, which are introduced by Eric Cantona from the studios of JogaTV – the TV station created to spread the Joga Bonito message. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com a Nike spokesperson that the TVCs will air on channels like Ten Sports.

    The spokesperson adds that on the product front, Nike India has just launched the lightest (200 gms) ever football boot. “The Mercurial Vapor IIII is Nike’s most advanced football
    boot ever, while the innovative Vapor System provides the highest level of technical innovation, speed and comfort for today’s fastest football player” the spokesperson adds.

    For the uninitiated in March, Nike had introduced Joga.com, a social network dedicated to people around the world who share a passion for the joy and beauty of soccer. Joga.com enables users to create profiles, pick their favorite players, post their own photos and videos and form global social networks to share, debate and celebrate the heart and soul of soccer. Currently, a new member joins Joga.com every eight seconds.

    In the US, Nike also introduced JogaTV, a new internet TV channel that gives soccer fans a front row seat to exclusive video featuring some of the game’s greatest players. Through technology created by Maven Networks, soccer enthusiasts can download a JogaTV icon, which lives on a desktop for easy access. Each week, Nike delivers Joga Bonito content and automatically updates JogaTV directly on the user’s desktop.

    As far as India is concerned when asked as to whether Nike is looking to use any celebrities to push its products the spokesperson notes that Nike has an association with athletes across the globe. In India, the Nike athletes include Baichung Bhutia, Mahesh Bhupati and Anju Bobby George. “Our athletes obviously wear and endorse our products. All our marketing campaigns are global and hence it is the same campaigns that are executed in India as well.”

  • Indian IT industry crosses $37.3 bn in ’05-06,MP3 Players, Digital Cameras sales grow 59%

    Indian IT industry crosses $37.3 bn in ’05-06,MP3 Players, Digital Cameras sales grow 59%

    New Delhi, August 14, 2006 : The Indian IT industry logged in total IT revenues of Rs 164,652 crore (USD37.3 billion) in the year ended March 31, 2006 recording a growth of 33 per cent. (However, based on dollar denominated revenues, the growth was placed at 31 per cent) The industry showed a remarkable growth across all segments. The IT Services and BPO industry exports grew 33 per cent to record revenues of Rs 87,951 crore. The domestic IT industry went up 28 per cent to report revenues of Rs 56141 crore.

    The Top 5 IT groups — Tata, Wipro, Infosys, HP and HCL — collectively grew by 34% thus accounting for a third of the total Indian IT industry. The growth of the top 5 IT groups in the previous fiscal was 41 per cent. These findings have been reported in a recent survey of the Indian IT industry by the leading industry journal Dataquest in its 4-part annual survey.

    The hardware segment comprising servers, workstations, peripherals, and networking equipment accelerated its growth to 23% to record revenues of Rs 31706 crore.

    No 1 IT Trainer grows market share to 31%:

    The IT Training industry recorded a growth of 14 per cent to log in revenues of Rs 1453 crore. NIIT strengthened its leadership as the No.1 IT training company with revenues of Rs 450 crore and recording a market share of 31 per cent.

    With revenues of Rs 450 crore, NIIT is nearly 1.5 times bigger than the combined revenues of the next 4 players put together. NIIT which was 2.94 times the size of the next player has widened the gap by becoming 3.72 times the size of the No 2 player.

    NIIT, which addressed the spectrum of e-Learning activities, like learning content, design and development and integration of learning tools, hosted solutions and learner support services, completed its portfolio by acquiring the US headquartered USD 80 million company, Element K at a cost of USD 40 million last month.

    MP3 Players, Digital Cameras sales grow:

    External potable storage devices, External Hard Disks, and Pen Drives, drove demand for storage devices led by corporate executives. Non-traditional storage devices like Digital Cameras and MP3 players got the push from the consumer side. The survey estimates the Indian market for flash-based and HDD-based MP3 players to be around 85,500 units, translating into around Rs
    95 crore revenues. The market was driven largely by iPod, of course, which became the mainstay for MP3 player boom.

    Led by 59 per cent growth during the year, Indian consumer bought 232,265 digital cameras from Kodak, Sony, Canon, Olympus and Nikon. The prices of digital cameras have dropped lower than Rs 10,000. According to Dataquest estimates, the grey market accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the total digital market during the year.

    Internet connections cross 5 million mark:

    An accelerated 29% growth in Internet connections led to an addition of 1.6 million Internet connections. The Internet subscriber base of the Top 10 Internet Service Providers crossed the 7 million mark, even though it fell short of the 3 million new Internet connections target set by the industry
    for itself. India now has the fourth largest base of Internet users in the
    world.

    The industry attributes the high installation charges for the slow increase in the Internet proliferation. Of the Top 10 ISP providers, only VSNL recoded a drop in Internet connections and revenues during the year.

    Under Rs 10,000 PC a reality:

    Personal computer industry maintained its 24% growth (like last year) to sell over 4 million computers with a low cost PC under Rs 10000 a piece became a reality in the year. HCL, HP and IBM/Lenovo were the top PC brands selling nearly 38 per cent of the personal computers in the year.

    A drop in laptop computer prices below the Rs 35,000 mark saw sales grow by 168 %, shipping 588,592 laptop computers in 2005-06, led by HP, Lenovo and Toshiba.

    Over 2 million printers were bought in the second year when printers and scanners gave way to Multi Function Devices or MFDs with competition forcing the inkjet based MFDs below the Rs 5000 price point. While Hewlett Packard topped the sales charts in the Inkjet, Laser Printers and MFDs in the inkjets and A4 sized lasers, India’s TVS Electronics was the numero uno in the impact printer category.

    There was a marked shift in favour of TFT-LCD monitors. The Indian individual and corporate users bought almost 5 million monitors during the year with LCD based Monitors contributing 16 per cent of all the monitors sold. The users preferred larger screen sizes, from 15 to 17 inch and above in both CRT and TFT monitor categories.

  • Tivo in deal with US cable TV firm Cox

    Tivo in deal with US cable TV firm Cox

    MUMBAI: Tivo, which creates in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), and American cable television firm Cox Communications have entered into an agreement to make Tivo’s DVR and interactive ad service available to select Cox subscribers.

    Tivo will customise its cable software for deployment on compatible Cox DVR set-top-boxes. Tivo’s downloadable software will allow Cox to deliver the Tivo service in Cox subscriber homes without replacing existing DVR boxes, and without an install appointment. In this way, current Cox DVR customers who wish to enjoy the Tivo service, can quickly and easily add the benefits of Tivo to their DVR subscription.

    Cox Digital Cable customers with DVR service who choose to add TiVo to their Cox subscription will enjoy the Tivo user interface as well as new innovations that link the capabilities enabled by Cox’s broadband network like On Demand and HD service, with Tivo features like Season Pass recordings, WishListsearches and the recently announced Tivo KidZone.

    KidZone gives parents an easy way to safeguard their kids from video content while also helping them discover and choose great educational and age-appropriate shows. The service is expected to launch in select Cox markets in the first half of next year.

    The agreement also provides for Cox to distribute Tivo’s interactive ad platform which enables an advertising solution that is seamlessly integrated with the Tivo subscriber experience. The new advertising relationship extends Cox Media’s leadership in the advanced advertising arena and further expands Tivo’s advertising footprint across the US.

  • ADAG-Reliance to focus on movie, radio operations; work on DTH goes `slow’

    ADAG-Reliance to focus on movie, radio operations; work on DTH goes `slow’

    MUMBAI: Anil Ambani’s Reliance group has decided to concentrate on movie and FM radio businesses in the media and entertainment sector for the time being instead of DTH television service.

    A top source in the group admitted that plans to start a DTH service in the country are going “slow”.

    Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) had applied for a DTH licence under the brand name Reliance Bluemagic, which is yet to get all governmental clearances.

    A recent failure of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to put a new generation communication satellite in orbit could also have some bearing on Ambani’s go-slow approach as far as DTH is concerned, a media industry analyst opined.

    ISRO’s recent failure has also put a question mark in the short term over Sun TV group’s plans to start a DTH service in the absence of transponder space on India satellites, which is a pre-requisite government norm.

    Sources in the Ambani-controlled ADAG also confirmed that present focus is on movie and radio business where scales of operation need to be ramped up considerably.

    Anil has controlling holding in Adlabs Films, which was started by film industry veteran Manmohan Shetty who still looks after the business.

    In recent times, Adlabs has signed up with several successful directors like Ram Gopal Verma and Kunal Kohli for a string of film productions over the next 24 months.

    Acquisition of some existing production houses could have been an easy way out for Adlabs to increase scale of operations, but existing big production houses are not in sale mode at present, media analysts observe.

    According to industry sources, Adlabs is looking at co-productions of films, bagging overseas distribution rights for big ticket Hindi movies, Indo-foreign country co-productions and ramping up the number of multiplex within the Adlabs fold so in future digital distribution of films could add some jazz to the business.

    Meanwhile, Reliance Radio, helmed by former Sony India honcho Tarun Katial, has started fine-tuning its operations for a flag off.

    Sources said that over the next 45-60 days a spate of private radio FM stations, which got licence in the second phase early this year, are likely to start operations. This would include Reliance’s stations too.

  • Nicktoons Network to offer animated TV content on iTunes

    Nicktoons Network to offer animated TV content on iTunes

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster Nickelodeons aninmation network Nicktoons Network has launched a new line-up of content on the iTunes Store

    Programming on offer includes Skyland, the new animated adventure series, which will be available on iTunes prior to its network debut on Saturday, November 18 at 9:00 p.m. (ET), and short-form content from The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, the world’s only multiplatform animation festival which showcases the diversity of independent cartoon filmmaking by animators from around the globe.

    Four episodes of Nicktoons Network’s upcoming animated adventure series, Skyland are being offered on iTunes for $1.99 each. iTunes will offer a free sneak-peek (available for four weeks) of the premiere episode. 28 compilations of approximately 180 short films from The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival will be available for purchase at launch which includes 13 compilations from the 2004 Animation Festival, eight from 2005, and seven from 2006.

    Nicktoons Network VP, GM Keith Dawkins says, “The launch of Nicktoons Network on iTunes will allow our viewers the chance to watch many of our hit shows whenever they want and wherever they are. We strive to provide our audiences with the opportunity to connect with our content in many different ways, and this launch is another step in Nicktoons Network multiplatform programming strategy.”

    For $1.99 per episode, consumers can download Nicktoons Network series from the iTunes(R) Store and view them on their iPods or computers. Skyland follows a heroic brother, Mahad, and his telekinetic younger sister, Lena, as they search for their parents in a new world order.

    The year is 2251 and the Earth has been shattered into millions of blocks that now drift aimlessly in orbit around the Earth’s core known as Skyland. The Sphere, led by a power-mad ruler with telekinetic powers named Oslo, has installed a dictatorship that controls water distribution, now a precious resource. Skyland’s young heroes along
    with the pirate resistance, try to free their mother from Oslo’s evil grasp and destroy the dreaded Sphere. Skyland Nick says uses the latest in animation techniques and technology such as motion-capture and CGI, to create a unique rich visual style and stunning imagery usually reserved for filmmaking.

    — The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, which celebrated its third year this summer, showcases the diversity of independent cartoon filmmaking by animators from around the globe. Animators were asked to submit animated shorts no longer than 10 minutes in length that combined a unique look, great character designs and overall appeal and originality.