ITV

Category: News Headline

  • ‘Superman Returns’ first week earnings cross $100 million in the US

    ‘Superman Returns’ first week earnings cross $100 million in the US

    MUMBAI: The return of one of the most popular comic book characters Superman in the movie Superman Returns proved to be a bonanza for Warner at the US box office.

    The film has earned $108 million domestically in its first seven days, and more than $20 million from 11 overseas markets in its opening weekend. In India, it was the second highest opening weekend ever for a Hollywood film.

    Warner Bros president domestic distribution Dan Fellman says, “We’ve enjoyed an outstanding response to this film — from exit polls to critics, and where it counts the most: at the box office.

    “Few titles in motion picture history have generated more than $100 million in its first week of release. At Warner Bros., they include the four Harry Potter films and The Matrix: Reloaded.”

    The latest edition of the Man of Steel franchise opened in the number one spot in each of the overseas markets in which opened, including India, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan.

    In the Philippines, Superman Returns had the second biggest weekend of all time. In Indonesia, it was the industry’s all-time highest opening weekend.

  • Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 8 satellite set for August launch from Baikonur

    Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 8 satellite set for August launch from Baikonur

    MUMBAI: The Hot Bird 8 broadcasting satellite built by EADS Astrium for Eutelsat Communications has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch on a Proton M Breeze M vehicle provided by ILS. The launch is scheduled in the early hours of 5 August.

    Weighing in on the launchpad at 4.9 tonnes and equipped with 64 Ku-band transponders, Hot Bird 8 will be the largest satellite yet orbited by Eutelsat, states an official release.

    Designed for television and radio broadcasting it will be positioned at 13 degrees East, Eutelsat’s prime video neighbourhood, which delivers 950 television channels and 600 radio stations to 110 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

    The satellite’s mission is to replace the 20 transponders on the Hot Bird 3 satellite, which will continue service at a new location. In conjunction with Hot Bird 7A, which was launched in February 2006, it will also contribute to raising in-orbit redundancy at Eutelsat’s Hot Bird neighbourhood, the release adds.

    Eutelsat Communications is a leading satellite operator with capacity commercialised on 23 satellites providing coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas. The Group is one of the world’s three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. Its satellites are used for broadcasting nearly 1,800 TV and 900 radio stations to more than 120 million cable and satellite homes.

  • MPA unveils anti-piracy campaign with Pele at the helm

    MPA unveils anti-piracy campaign with Pele at the helm

    MUMBAI: In conjunction with the ongoing 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has released an anti-piracy public service announcement featuring Brazilian football superstar Pele.

    The public service announcement running on television networks during the World Cup tournament is aimed at increasing public awareness about copyright law and encouraging the public to reject pirated movies found online or on DVDs.

    Pele is one of the most beloved and talented soccer players of all time. He embodies the notion of fair play and love of the game and continues to be an inspiration for young athletes around the globe. In the PSA, Pele appeals to football fans to “score a goal against piracy”, explaining that piracy hurts working people, specifically the thousands of people who work to create movies, states an official release.

    The education effort represented by the trailer campaign complements ongoing government anti-piracy enforcement efforts, and in significant seizures of CD-Rs, VCDs and DVDs, adds the release.

    “We are honoured to have a distinguished teammate in Pele in our fight against film copyright theft,” says MPA India head Chander Lall. “Pele has a reputation for fair play and in this public service announcement he carries that message to people – urging them to do the right thing by renting, buying or downloading movies legally.

    “Enforcing copyright laws not only protects movies, music, computer software and other intellectual property but also stimulates and encourages more creativity. If the people of India do not respect intellectual property and encourage piracy by purchasing pirated copies of movies or downloading through Internet, investment in the creative industries will be lost.

    “Furthermore, foreign investors and distributors might decline to market new products in India. This would affect not only India’s international reputation, but also its economic and social development,” adds Lall.

    Earlier this year, Pele worked with the MPA to produce the anti-piracy PSA. Pele’s own movie, Pele Forever, released in 2004, was pirated and sold illegally on the streets in Latin America.

  • CNN-IBN to air lifestyle show ‘Living It Up’

    CNN-IBN to air lifestyle show ‘Living It Up’

    MUMBAI: News Broadcaster CNN-IBN is expanding its feature programme line-up with a new weekly show exploring the art of healthy living. The half-hour weekly show Living It Up, anchored by Jotica Sehgal, will kick off on 8 July at 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm. 

    Living It Up will have a reality segment The Weight Loss Challenge wherein four dieticians will team up with four overweight people and over seven weeks they will be challenged to loose as much weight. The team, which looses the most weight, will be the winning team. To add some excitement, participants and viewers will be given voting powers, according to an official release.

    CNN-IBN managing editor Rajdeep Sardesai says, “The hectic lifestyle that has become a part of our daily routine today is definitely a sign of progress but it takes a toll on our body, mind and soul. Through this programme we are aiming to share little nuggets of information to counter difficult times, manage problems, balance lives and endeavor to get the best out of life. At CNN-IBN, quality programming is a promise that we would like to deliver on a constant basis and Living It Up is a step in that direction.”

    Each week, the programme will showcase health, fitness and beauty solutions and the show will also highlight how preventive measures, healthy lifestyle and healthy food. Targeting the discerning viewers, Living It Up will also present capsules on fitness, beauty, parenting, spirituality and alternate therapy.

  • ION Media Networks & Sony Pictures Television ink TV programming deal

    ION Media Networks & Sony Pictures Television ink TV programming deal

    MUMBAI: US-based ION Media Networks, Inc. and Sony Pictures Television have announced a programming agreement that provides ION with the rights to broadcast dozens of classic television series and a large selection of award-winning feature films from the Sony library on the i television network, reaching over 90 million homes.

    “This agreement reflects our strategy of strengthening our i network’s programming schedule with popular series and theatrical hits with proven audience appeal,” says ION Media Networks CEO Brandon Burgess. “We look forward to working with Sony on developing a compelling entertainment line-up that continues to appeal to our current audience, while attracting new viewers to the network.”

    “The i network and its stations will benefit from a wide variety of titles from our extensive library of television series and feature films, which have proven to deliver audiences,” adds Sony Pictures Television president distribution John Weiser. “We are pleased to be in partnership with ION, helping them grow and making them a destination for great programming.”

    Under the terms of the agreement, ION will have access to many of SPT’s most popular TV series from the last three decades, including Charlie’s Angels, Starsky & Hutch, The Partridge Family, The Monkees and Silver Spoons, among others.

    In addition, titles from Sony’s extensive library of theatrical films will be available to ION, including A River Runs Through It, Oliver!, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Short Circuit and many more.

    “We are pleased to have access to Sony’s diverse collection of movies and classic TV shows,” says ION SVP of programming and strategic planning Stacey Nagel Galper. “We will begin scheduling the Sony movies on the i network this month, with plans to launch the television series in August.”

  • ITV acquires ‘Six Degrees’ from BVITV

    ITV acquires ‘Six Degrees’ from BVITV

    MUMBAI: ITV has inked an exclusive UK deal with Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) for the licensing of Six Degrees, a new drama series from J.J. Abrams (creator of Lost) to air on its flagship channels ITV1 and 2. This makes Six Degrees the first US series to be aired in primetime on ITV1 in nine years.

    Six Degrees follows New Yorkers from all walks of life, whose lives unexpectedly become intertwined. The show will air in the US on the ABC Television Network this autumn in a primetime slot, following Grey’s Anatomy. Six Degrees is a story that underlines just how small the world really is, and how someone, just five metres away might be shaping our future right now.

    The show stars Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights), Erika Christensen (Flightplan), Bridget Moynahan (Sex and the City), Dorian Missick (Lucky Number Slevin), Hope Davis (About Schmidt) and Campbell Scott (The Secret Lives of Dentists). Its executive producers are J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk (Lost, Alias), Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner (Elektra), and it is produced by Touchstone Television.

    ITV director of acquisitions Jay Kandola said, “My aim was to get brand defining shows for the ITV Network. I am delighted that Six Degrees will be a contemporary exciting new addition to the ITV1 and ITV2 offering.”

    BVITV EMEA executive vice president and managing director Tom Toumazis added, “As US series continue to return to primetime around the world, we are delighted to be working with ITV to launch Six Degrees in primetime on ITV1. We are sure that the series’ production pedigree and strong cast will appeal strongly to a UK audience.”

    The agreement was closed by ITV’s Kandola and BVITV executive director sales, UK and Ireland Catherine Powell.

  • Casbaa expresses concern over signal piracy during soccer World Cup in Hong Kong

    Casbaa expresses concern over signal piracy during soccer World Cup in Hong Kong

    MUMBAI: As the Fifa World Cup 2006 draws to a close on Sunday 9 July, the Cable and Satellite Broadcast Association of Asia (Casbaa) says that the unlicensed screening of the top-line matches in bars and clubs has been alarmingly widespread in Hong Kong.

    Such blatant breaches of copyright are a worrying issue and a significant hurdle for Hong Kong’s efforts to position itself as a genuine “World City”.

    While the World Cup has boosted Hong Kong bar revenues by up to 50 per cent independent estimates suggest that at least one-third of the cash has been generated by screening pirated TV programming from markets such as the Philippines and South Africa.

    Casbaa chairman Marce Fenez says, “We are very concerned with the ongoing tolerance of widespread piracy in one of the world’s most advanced economies – Hong Kong. Despite efforts by Hong Kong to champion its world class status, when it comes to the basics of sports and entertainment intellectual property rights protection, it still lags behind other media hubs such as Singapore, Sydney, Seoul and Tokyo.”

    According to The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Ranking 2005-2006, Hong Kong dropped seven places to 28 out of the 117 economies measured in the study. A weakening in the protection of intellectual property rights was partially attributable to the decline in Hong Kong’s ranking.

    Fenez adds, “Collaboration on all fronts between the government, industry, bar and club owners and the general public is central to rectifying the situation and protecting Hong Kong’s reputation.

    “Casbaa has been monitoring the market on behalf of its members and legal actions are planned against establishments screening unlicensed sports programming.”

    Casbaa has also issued a public notice to reinforce the message that screening pay-TV services without legal subscriptions is against the law and that legal actions will be taken against bars and clubs that refuse to cease these activities.

    Under Hong Kong law, bars and clubs may only display pay-TV channels under an appropriate subscription from Hong Kong licensed pay-TV operators such as Hong Kong Cable, now Television and TVB Pay Vision.

    Overseas pay-TV operators such as Dream of the Philippines, MultiChoice of South Africa and UBC True of Thailand are authourised to offer pay-TV subscriptions in their respective jurisdictions and they cannot and do not offer subscriptions in Hong Kong. The display of overseas pay-TV channels in Hong Kong by bars and club owners, using special decoders is illegal.

  • ITV acquires ‘Six Degrees’ from BVITV

    ITV acquires ‘Six Degrees’ from BVITV

    MUMBAI: ITV has inked an exclusive UK deal with Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) for the licensing of Six Degrees, a new drama series from J.J. Abrams (creator of Lost) to air on its flagship channels ITV1 and 2. This makes Six Degrees the first US series to be aired in primetime on ITV1 in nine years.

    Six Degrees follows New Yorkers from all walks of life, whose lives unexpectedly become intertwined. The show will air in the US on the ABC Television Network this autumn in a primetime slot, following Grey’s Anatomy. Six Degrees is a story that underlines just how small the world really is, and how someone, just five metres away might be shaping our future right now.

    The show stars Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights), Erika Christensen (Flightplan), Bridget Moynahan (Sex and the City), Dorian Missick (Lucky Number Slevin), Hope Davis (About Schmidt) and Campbell Scott (The Secret Lives of Dentists). Its executive producers are J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk (Lost, Alias), Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner (Elektra), and it is produced by Touchstone Television.

    ITV director of acquisitions Jay Kandola said, “My aim was to get brand defining shows for the ITV Network. I am delighted that Six Degrees will be a contemporary exciting new addition to the ITV1 and ITV2 offering.”

    BVITV EMEA executive vice president and managing director Tom Toumazis added, “As US series continue to return to primetime around the world, we are delighted to be working with ITV to launch Six Degrees in primetime on ITV1. We are sure that the series’ production pedigree and strong cast will appeal strongly to a UK audience.”

    The agreement was closed by ITV’s Kandola and BVITV executive director sales, UK and Ireland Catherine Powell.

  • Visiware makes interactive TV game from ‘Fast and The Furious’ film

    Visiware makes interactive TV game from ‘Fast and The Furious’ film

    MUMBAI: Further to the license agreement between Visiware and Universal Studios Consumer Products Group to bring Universal Pictures properties to interactive TV gaming, Visiware has driven its latest game, The Fast and the Furious to the starting line.

    Inspired by the action film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, this sporting arcade game challenges players to experience the atmosphere of the underground Tokyo drift. For the uninitiated, this is a form of racing that replaces simple drag racing with a rubber-burning, automotive art form that consists of an exhilarating balance of speeding and gliding through a course of hairpin turns and switchbacks racing world. Viewers can do this all on their television screens.

    The game features three different modes in which the goal is to become the new Drift King. In Drift King mode, players race head-to-head against one to three opponents. In Pursuit mode, players must prevent their opponents from catching their car, while in Time Attack mode, players strive to set the fastest lap time. Authentic sound effects and images from the film are featured in the game.

    Visiware chairman Laurant Weill says, “We are happy to be partners with a group that has really made efforts to understand the interactive TV gaming market. It is a pleasure to work with Universal’s creative and professional team, especially on such an exciting project as The Fast and the Furious. We believe this is the best racing game available to date on interactive TV.”

    Universal Studios Consumer Products Group VP interactive Bill Kispert says, “The new film is an adrenaline ride, and Visiware embraced the challenge of creating an innovative racing game for iTV.

    “Whether racing against the clock, or fender to fender with an opponent, it’s fantastic that players can become armchair racers — and experience The Fast and the Furious brand — all with a click of their TV remote controls.”

    NBC Universal director of interactive TV, Jon Dakss says, “Visiware continues to push the boundaries of gameplay on the iTV platform. This game has wonderful balance and will appeal to racing fans and casual gamers alike.”

    The Fast and the Furious is the third game released by Visiware in collaboration with Universal. The first two games developed under the partnership were based on the blockbuster King Kong — included a quiz game and an arcade game.

  • Blinkx to provide access to The History Channel library

    Blinkx to provide access to The History Channel library

    MUMBAI: The video search engine Blinkx has forged a deal with The History Channel UK to carry historical audio and video clips from the channels’ library including speeches from icons such as Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, Albert Einstein and Neil Armstrong Under the terms of the agreement, the users will have access to hours of the best historical audio and video content on the web.

    “Blinkx is thrilled to be partnering with The History Channel UK,” says Blinkx founder and CTO Suranga Chandratillake. “The History Channel UK offers some of the best historical content on the Web and we are happy to make it easily accessible through blinkx.tv.”

    According to an official release, Blinkx is the only search engine optimized for rich media content and uses advanced speech recognition technology to automatically index and understand video and audio on the web making it easier for users to find exactly what they are looking for to the exact word in a clip.

    “With increasing numbers of people watching video online, we are keen to make as many of our programme clips available as possible on the website,” said History Channel UK Emily Lloyd. “Searchability is obviously extremely important and we’re happy to be partnering with Blinkx to ensure that more and more people find and view content from The History Channel.