ITV

Category: News Headline

  • BBC Worldwide looks to expand reach of channels in Latin America

    BBC Worldwide looks to expand reach of channels in Latin America

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has made an appointment with a view to expanding the reach ot its chanels in Latin America.

    Jessica Rodriguez becomes VP, global channels for Latin America and for the Hispanic US Market. She will be responsible for the strategic development and implementation of BBC Worldwide’s channels and will manage the day-to-day activity across the Latin American region and in the US Hispanic market.

    BBC Worldwide MD global channels Darren Childs said, “Jessica’s appointment is a commitment from BBC Worldwide to further develop the Latin American and Hispanic North American market for our channels business. Jessica has introduced a number of new channels and we are keen to explore new opportunities for growth.”

    Rodriguez says, “In Latin America, BBC Worldwide’s presence is already strong through our programming participation and investment in Animal Planet and People and Arts. Given its rapid growth and strength, the US Hispanic market is critically important to our strategy. BBC America has already successfully demonstrated the power of the BBC’s superlative content in the US, and I am delighted to be developing our new branded channels in this marketplace.”

    She has over 16 years of experience in launching and expanding brands such as Travel Channel, National Geographic and USA Network across international markets. She also has an extensive development and management record having worked in business development positions at Discovery Channel and Landmark Communications and having spearheaded several channels in Latin America and Asia.

    Based in Miami, Jessica will be working across BBC Worldwide’s content divisions of program sales, new media, magazines, consumer publishing and home entertainment to maximise and consolidate brand exposure in the Latin and US Hispanic markets.

  • CNN launches a suite of free video podcasts

    CNN launches a suite of free video podcasts

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN has announced the launch of six online video podcasts, regularly updated newscasts and programming produced specifically for digital video players.

    The video podcasts, in addition to CNN’s audio podcasting products, are available for free at www.CNN.com/podcasting and at iTunes.

    CNN.com senior VP, GM David Payne says, “For the most part, the podcasting audience skews much younger than CNN’s television viewers and, perhaps surprisingly, somewhat younger than even users of CNN.com. They were raised during the age of the Internet, not that of the 6 o’clock news. They don’t necessarily want to see polished newscasts, but they want to see the action and make judgments for themselves. So we have produced original podcasts in a format that appeals to their fast-paced lifestyles and varied interests.”

    CNN producers designed each of the podcasts specifically for the small digital video player screen, although they may also be played on personal computers and other devices. The format also allowed CNN.com to offer programming with more raw footage, high-impact video, edgy humor and experimental content.

    CNN’s video podcasts include All Access – Backstage Pass. This is a behind-the-scenes look at how CNN journalists get their stories. The launch of video podcasting marks the latest digital product from CNN. In June 2005, CNN.com began offering free video to all of its users. In December 2005, the site launched CNN Pipeline, an on-demand broadband video service that puts users in control of multiple live video streams, CNN’s video archives and on-demand news clips from CNN’s unmatched newsgathering operation around the world.

  • HBO to air the concluding part of the ‘LOTR’ saga next month

    HBO to air the concluding part of the ‘LOTR’ saga next month

    MUMBAI: On 21 July 2006 at 9 pm HBO will air the concluding part in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy The Lord Of The Rings. The third part The Return Of the King sees Frodo played by Elijah Wood and his best friend Sam played by Sean Astin attempt to destroy the ring at Mount Doom.

    Meanwhile the evil Lord Sauron sets his eye on the final stronghold Minas Tirith. Frodo in his journey to destroy the ring grows weaker as the ring tries to take control of him. Although Gollum is leading Frodo and Sam towards Mount Doom the creature cannot be trusted as his mind has been corrupted by the ring. The movie won 11 Oscars including picture and director.

    HBO will also air its original movie Something The Lord Made on 4 July at 9 pm. The film stars Alan Rickman and Mos Def. Working in 1940s Baltimore on a technique for performing heart surgery on blue babies Dr. Alfred Blalock and lab technician Vivien Thomas played by Mos Def form a strong team. They invent a new field of medicine thus savuing thousands of lives. However social pressures put a strain on the relationship.

  • Asia-Pac alliance formed for popularizing DVB-H tech

    Asia-Pac alliance formed for popularizing DVB-H tech

    SINAGPORE: Bridge Networks, Indonesia-based MECA , Malaysia’s MiTV, mobile phone giant Nokia and Intel have announced formation of DVB-H Asia Pacific Alliance (DAPA), a mobile TV special interest group.

    Formed by potential and key DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting, handheld) industry players in the Asia Pacific region with sponsorship from Harris Broadcast and Radio Frequency Systems, DAPA aims to establish a regional forum to promote sharing of best practices and to keep member companies abreast of new business and technological developments in mobile television.

    The group will also support regulatory preparations and discussions to facilitate adoption of DVB-H as the standard for Mobile TV in the Asia Pacific region.

    “An open and industry-supported standard is expected to foster growth throughout the wireless market with more choices across the value chain. This will expedite the adoption of the service to the mass market at a faster and at lower cost to consumers,” said Darren Kirsop-Frearson, managing director of the Bridge Networks.

    Nokia was committed to the deployment of robust, scalable and interoperable DVB-H systems to ensure an exceptional experience with mobile TV and related value-added services, according to Jawahar Kanjilal, director, multimedia experiences, Nokia Asia Pacific.

    “We are definitely pleased to be a part of this joint initiative to bring together technology, product and service leaders to ensure a common implementation of DVB-H networks and terminals according to open industry standards, and to spearhead discussions with the relevant parties involved,” he added.

    DAPA is open to additional member-companies and aims at cooperating with other similar alliances and forums such as MDTV alliance in US and BMCO.

    DVB-H is an open standard and an extension of the widely adopted DVB-terrestrial broadcast technology. It implements recent technical developments to enhance mobile broadcast reception, optimises hand-set power consumption and provides a quality visual display to maximize user experience.

    The IP-based platform allows provision of an electronic services guide (ESG), interactive services, and dynamic channel allocation to offer 30-50 mobile TV channels in a single spectrum channel.

    This could open up a plethora of business possibilities — advertising on channels, subscription based services, interactivity, games, etc. — in addition to regular television.

    The inaugural meeting of DAPA was held in conjunction with BroadcastAsia 2006 being held in Singapore this week.

    There has been several successful DVB-H trials throughout Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific regions in recent months. In South East Asia, there have been good consumer responses from showcases in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Australia.

    The open approach of the DVB-H standard nurtures flexibility of business models, competition and sales opportunities for the value chain. The DVB-H standard incorporates OFDM air interface technology with good spectral efficiency, immunity to multi-path fading and good mobile performance.

    Mobile TV enables consumers to watch their favorite TV programmes on handheld devises while on the move. The service works by receiving a special digital TV broadcast signal from the air in much the same way as a stationary TV set at home.

    A channel guide will also be broadcast allowing users to keep abreast of the latest programmes on air. However, mobile TV is not the same as streaming video over 3G or GPRS phones.

  • Online channel MediaZone to provide coverage of Wimbledon

    Online channel MediaZone to provide coverage of Wimbledon

    MUMBAI: Online broadcaster MediaZone, has announced a partnership with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to provide live and on-demand broadband video coverage of Wimbledon.

    The new service, Wimbledon Live, is available globally at www.wimbledon.org/live, and will include live and on-demand broadband broadcasts of more than 250 matches from up to nine concurrent courts — an unprecedented depth of coverage for this world-class event.

    MediaZone CEO Michelle Wu says, “It is an incredible opportunity to serve as the Worldwide Broadband Partner to the Wimbledon Championships and provide the most in-depth tournament coverage available via the internet to date. The Wimbledon Live service we’ve developed with the Club provides an intimate feel for the atmosphere at Wimbledon 2006 to tennis and sports enthusiasts around the world, allowing them to share the experience at their leisure throughout the championships.”

    From the first round through the finals, Wimbledon Live will feature the most comprehensive full match coverage available, as well as three free Radio Wimbledon channels of live commentary and 10 hours of classic archive footage showcasing rallies and matches that have taken place throughout the history of the tournament. To better serve the international community, the entire site will be localized in Chinese and an overview of the subscription will be available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean and Japanese.

    Wimbledon Live will be integrated with the official Wimbledon website, www.wimbledon.org, which allows viewers to combine video coverage with player information as well as live scoring and statistics from all matches at the championships.

    All England Lawn Tennis Club CEO Ian Ritchie says, “We are thrilled by the relationship forged with MediaZone to offer, for the first time in the 120 year history of Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, daily live online coverage of the tournament to tennis fans around the globe.

    “Given MediaZone’s extensive experience successfully broadcasting live sporting events globally via the Internet, we feel they are the ideal partner to distribute the tournament to audiences worldwide.”

    A special advance order All Access Pass for Wimbledon Live is available for GBP 9.95 in the UK and $19.95 in the US and the rest of the world prior to the first day of competition.

  • Sweeney, Bodenheimer to deliver keynotes at Mipcom

    Sweeney, Bodenheimer to deliver keynotes at Mipcom

    MUMBAI: The upcoming television trade event Mipcom 2006 which takes place in Cannes from 9-13 October has announced four keynote speakers.

    This year’s conference programme is called Reshaping Media. The speakers include ESPN US president George Bodenheimer, Disney-ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney, NBC Universal president, digital media and market development Beth Comstock and MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan.

    This year’s programme will focus on the changing landscape for traditional TV programming and the advertising business, film financing and distribution, as well as exploring the new opportunities offered by internet TV and mobile TV.

    Named the Most Powerful Woman in Entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter, one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune and one of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes, Sweeney is responsible for Disney’s entertainment and news television properties globally. Under her guidance ABC went from strength to strength with shows like Desperate Housewives and Lost.

    At Mipcom Sweeney will share her vision of the future and the impact of digital on all forms of media. She will offer an insight on the changing landscape of television and evolving consumer demands.

    As part of a new conference focus at Mipcom 2006 highlighting new financing and distribution opportunities for film Sloan, will present the new invigorated MGM business strategy to hundreds of Mipcom delegates. A core business for MGM, Sloan will be addressing the new opportunities for cinema in television distribution, channel operations, home entertainment and new media. Sloan headed three media companies before joining MGM in October 2005. They were SBS Broadcasting, Lions Gate Entertainment and New World Entertainment.

    Comstock drives NBC Universal’s digital strategy and leads the company’s content and distribution efforts across new and emerging digital platforms. In her keynote speech, she will discuss NBC Universal’s 360 degree content approach to capitalise on opportunities in the digital age and strategy for success in this era of the pull consumer.

    Bodenheimer will be looking into the reasons and strategy behind the growth of the ESPN brand as part of the day’s spotlight on cross-platform and mobile content. Bodenheimer was named president of ESPN in 1998 and his focus on creativity and cutting-edge innovation has led the company to expand its brand to over 50 business entities.

  • Single network to ease dilemma faced by broadcasters

    Single network to ease dilemma faced by broadcasters

    SINGAPORE: Broadcasters – with their need to transport uncompressed studio-quality video – are the most demanding customers for video, voice and data networks. Broadcasters face an expensive and complicated future with the task of upgrading networks to enable digital terrestrial television, HDTV and Video on Demand (VOD) and upgrading data and telephony to meet today’s standards, unless they can implement a single network that can meet all of these needs.

    NetSight Sweden global director operations Thomas Wahlund threw light on how European broadcasters such as Eurovision and Broadcast Services Danmark have recently implemented unified Next Generation networks to provide video for contribution, distribution, and digital terrestrial television plus audio for radio, internet and even telephony.

    “Using Asynchronous Serial Interface (ASI), a very common interface used to transport MPEG compressed video to satellite uplinks, between studios and for distribution in for example CATV networks, PCR jitter has to stay under 500 nanoseconds in order for a correct decoding to be done. Since the format is compressed, if only one of these frames arrives out of spectrum it could make the decoder loose synchronisation and it could take several seconds before the service is restored. In the ad-driven world of broadcasting even a few seconds of black screen is obviously unacceptable,” Wahlund said.

    Delivery channels – terrestrial, cable and satellite, need to keep pace with the ever-increasing demands of the content to be streamed, the demands upon spectrum and the constant high and sometimes unreasonable expectations of the viewer.

    Each professional uncompressed standard video stream requires 270Mbps, which is more than 50 times the requirement for a cable -TV movie. Due to the demands of video, broadcasters deploy separate networks for voice and data.

    Broadcasters are now looking to upgrade their analogue TV networks with digital TV networks. Singapore, Japan, Australia and Taiwan have rolled out Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), and most Asian countries will do so in the coming years. With DTT or DVB-T, digital TV signals are transmitted from terrestrial antennas to digital TV receivers in the households. The benefits of this are lower operational costs, a higher picture quality and the ability to transmit up to four times more TV channels on the same frequency range. 

    Wahlund further added, “The requirements on video transport will also soon increase, as broadcasters change from SDTV to large – scale deployment of HDTV. As a norm, an HD feed takes up roughly four times the bandwidth of a standard definition feed. Today’s delivery mechanisms will not be sufficient to handle the increased bandwidth. Broadcasters are now faced with a dilemma of upgrading their data and telephony networks to meet today’s standards.” 

    In Europe, several major broadcasters have actively acquired their own networks. The European Broadcast Union (EBU) and Broadcast Service Danmark (BSD), the provider of analog and digital distribution of TV and radio in Denmark, each built its own next generation networks to provide video for contribution and distribution plus audio for radio, internet and even telephony.

    “They are now using the networks to connect production studios with film banks, stadiums and other production sites. These optical networks handle a mix of video, audio, data and even telephony without massive over provisioning of bandwidth, delay, jitter and constant (and costly) traffic engineering. Broadcasters have been able to increase the services such as HD and VOD and they have also been able to improve workflow, and substantially save on operating and capital expenses,” Wahlund said. 

    “They are meeting the challenges of providing new services such as HDTV and digital television by building next generation multi-service fibre networks that can provide these services. They are achieving additional benefits by intelligently using the additional bandwidth these networks to provide state of the art contribution and distribution networks and upgraded data and telephony services. They are also benefiting from reduced operating expenses from a unified management system. This is proving to be a rare win-win proposition for all,” he concluded.

  • Dan Rather to leave CBS News after four decades

    Dan Rather to leave CBS News after four decades

    MUMBAI: News veteran Dan Rather will leave US broadcaster CBS News after 44 years.

    CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus said, “Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather. With the utmost respect, we mark the extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in writing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism. There will always be a part of Dan Rather at CBS News. He is truly a ‘reporter’s reporter,’ and he has helped to train several generations of broadcast journalists. His legacy cannot be replicated.”

    CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves says, “For more than four decades, Dan Rather has approached the job of broadcast journalist with a singular passion, dedication and, always, an unwavering desire to tell the story to the American public. The unique mark he has left on his craft is indelible.”

    CBS News is currently finalising plans for a primetime special on the newsman’s legendary career at CBS News. It is scheduled to be broadcast sometime this yea. CBS News also will make a contribution to Rather’s alma mater, now called Sam Houston State University.

    Rather joined CBS News in 1962. He covered virtually every major event in the world for CBS News in the past 44 years. Rather regularly landed the biggest interviews with the world’s most important and compelling figures, from the famous to the infamous. CBS says that his passion for the news, for getting the story and for taking on the most challenging assignments in journalism is unmatchedsomething his competitors knew only too well–and he has dedicated himself to delivering to the American public coverage that is fair and accurate, no matter the size and scope of the story. Rather has interviewed every US president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Bill Clinton and virtually every major international leader of the past 30 years. He landed two news-breaking interviews with Saddam Hussein. The first occurred in 1990 after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

    Then, in February 2003, with coalition forces poised to invade the country, Rather secured the most sought-after interview in the world, an exclusive one-on-one with Saddam in Baghdad, the first the Iraqi leader had conducted with a Western journalist since 1991. Rather and his team at 60 MINUTES II also broke, arguably, the biggest story of the year–the abuse of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison–in April 2004.

  • MTV Asia to hold first movie awards show in October

    MTV Asia to hold first movie awards show in October

    MBAI: MTV Asia will roll out the red carpet and welcome the biggest stars of Asian and international movies when it stages its first movie awards show on 7 October 2006 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

    As part of the creative vision of the event, the iconic Southeast Asian performance venue will be fitted-out in true Hollywood glitz and glamour to accommodate the star-studded night and will set the tone for a night of awards, superstar presenters, musical tributes and celebrity antics.

    As is the case with the US show the MTV Asia Movie Awards will take a unique twist to ‘traditional’ movie kudofests by offering off-the-wall categories appealing to MTV’s audience such as “Best Kiss” and “Best Fight” filling out the list of golden popcorn trophies awarded on the night.

    The awards will also feature live performances from international and regional acts, making the event a blend of movie glamour and popular music.

    MTV notes that Asian stars, directors and films are increasingly captivating the global movie buffs. The show will feature the biggest names from Hollywood to Bollywood. Industry A-listers from India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore will share the spotlight with international headline-grabbing celebrities who top the list of nominees, presenters and attendees taking part in the MTV Asia Movie Awards.

    MTV executive VP creative David Flack says, “The MTV Asia Movie Awards will give a unique spin to the only telecast hailed as the wackiest awards show around. With so many Asian filmmakers, stars and movies impacting global pop culture, there has never been a better time for MTV to celebrate and highlight the Asian Movie Industry with its unique sense of fun and humour.”

    The MTV Asia Movie Awards will be staged under the US$50 million strategic alliance formalised between MTV Asia and the Singapore Tourism Board in February 2006. Singapore will host 17 MTV and Nickelodeon events under the alliance; the first MTV Fashionably Loud event featured Placebo in March, with Coldplay performing at the upcoming MTV Centrestage in July.

  • Net portal Lycos teams up with PermissionTV for online TV platform

    Net portal Lycos teams up with PermissionTV for online TV platform

    MUMBAI: US net portal Lycos is working with the broadband TV platform PermissionTV to offer a variety of video programming to its 25 million visitors. PermissionTV is a system for media companies and content owners to distribute television programming via the Internet.

    The two companies will team up to deliver a high quality TV entertainment solution to the nearly 25 million visitors to the Lycos Network of sites.

    Lycos will use the PermissionTV platform to offer a variety of video programming to the Lycos audience. Lycos says that the deal reinforces its core strategy to provide consumers with quality video programming and entertainment enhanced with the interactivity of the web, and a platform for creators to showcase and market quality content.

    Lycos CEO Alfred Tolle says, “We chose to work with PermissionTV because we considered it to be one of the most powerful broadband TV platforms available today, allowing us to offer high quality video to our end users that is television-centric, while providing our content partners their own customized channels with a completely unique look under the Lycos brand.

    “By teaming with PermissionTV, Lycos is uniquely positioned to become a leader in the television internet space.” Lycos plans to leverage the PermissionTV platform to acquire a wide range of on-demand content from episodic television, to independent films and programming, to long-form films, providing a totally unique broadband based video experience.

    PermissionTV CEO David Graves says, “The combination of Lycos’s reach, and PermissionTV’s advanced technology is an attractive proposition for video programmers who want to attract a large audience in the most compelling way. This platform makes it easy to get up and running, allowing content providers to build an audience for their own brands.”

    For sponsors, the enhanced online programming offers exactly what they have been seeking: the targetability of web advertising with content that fit expectations of traditional TV viewers. With the PermissionTV platform, Lycos is able to offer media companies and content owners a new distribution channel with subscription, advertising or VOD (video on demand) packaging options. Advertisers get a robust and cost-effective way of reaching potential buyers, while viewers get a controllable on-demand viewing experience that feels like TV.

    Tolle adds, “The era of merging the interactivity of the Web with traditional broadcast television programming is here. Lycos can bring an instant audience, immediate distribution and traffic, and consistently re- engage our users with new content, making this platform particularly attractive to content partners and advertisers alike.”

    The first programming kicked off on 9 June 2006 with the launch of Lycos’ behind- the-scenes video coverage of the soccer World Cup. For the remainder of World Cup, Lycos will give an insider’s look at World Cup culture, featuring exclusive video from embedded Lycos videographers on the front lines, available only at worldcup.lycos.com and powered by PermissionTV. Additional programming will be launched in the coming weeks, including branded television- and movie- related offerings that lend themselves to mainstream audience demand.