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Category: News Headline

  • BBC reveals interactive TV plans for Soccer World Cup ’06

    BBC reveals interactive TV plans for Soccer World Cup ’06

    MUMBAI: In conjunction with BBC Sport, BBCi announces its plans to offer interactive services for the Soccer World Cup 2006. These services will be available on all three major digital TV platforms (satellite, cable, terrestrial) both during and between game broadcasts.

    In an attempt to enhance the football fever during live games, digital cable and satellite viewers can enter an interactive application by simply pressing a red button, whenever a “BBCi” icon appears on-screen.

    This application will feature a menu bar along the top of the screen, with various options linked to the colour fasttext keys of their remote controls. According to the BBC, this service has been designed with step-by-step on-screen instructions.

    The red menu key will provide alternative audio streams:which allows viewers to choose between listening to commentators from BBC Radio Five Live or selecting a “No Commentary” option which allows them to listen to the sounds of the crowd.

    The green menu key will provide viewers with rolling highlights-enhanced with graphics-from the current game. In addition to this, the blue menu key will allow them to access a statistics menu with a review of updated facts and figures from the current game, such as possession, corners won, fouls conceded and results and tables.

    Finally, the yellow button will take viewers to an area, dubbed “Your Shout,” devoted to user-generated content, including text messages, emails and player ratings (viewers will be able to rate players via interactive TV, the Web and mobiles). The simultaneous group matches in the final group phase will also be accessible here.

    Viewers on UK’s free-to-air digital terrestrial platform, Freeview, will also have access to the above facilities.

    Between live broadcasts, the BBC will offer a service called “BBCi World Cup Zone.” Digital cable and satellite viewers will be able to access the service by first pressing the text button on their remote to reach the BBCi-bar (appears on the bottom of the screen); then press “Select” to enter the service.

    The service’s “homepage” will consist of a display with three mini-screens, providing a quick guide to what’s on currently and a schedule of upcoming games. Viewers will be able to scroll down to their preferred screen using the arrow keys on their remote and press “select” to watch it in full-screen mode.

    Viewers will also be able to access an interactive service devoted primarily to the England team. It will provide interviews with team manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, coverage of press conferences, video profiles of players, news and opinions on the World Cup and repeats of England games.

    In addition, viewers will be able to access 15-minute highlight reels of every game, and a reel dedicated to notable goals from the tournament. Also, Freeview viewers will be able to access the 15-minute game highlights, the goals round-up and a less comprehensive selection of content devoted to the England team.

    The BBC will also offer a show, called BBC World Cup Extra, on its interactive TV platform. The show will provide analysis and commentary, after every England game and other significant games.

  • Disney and Optus to launch Disney Connection in Australia

    Disney and Optus to launch Disney Connection in Australia

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) and Optus have signed an agreement to launch an interactive broadband service Disney Connection on the Optus broadband portal.

    The service will offer kids and families a broad range of media-rich Disney entertainment and learning activities. It will be available to Optus broadband customers in July 2006.

    The agreement marks the Australian launch of the popular Disney-branded internet channel, which is available in eight other countries, including the US, Japan, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Argentina.

    “We’re very pleased to work with Optus to make this high-quality broadband content available to Australian consumers,” said Walt Disney Internet Group International executive vice president and managing director Mark Handler.

    “Disney Connection provides unique, high-quality and differentiated online entertainment that kids and families can enjoy. We look forward to bringing more of our rich library of online interactive entertainment to this market,” he added.

    Disney Connection will offer Optus broadband customers a regularly-updated slate of interactive games and activities, as well as video, based on both classic and new Disney characters. Its Studio Showcase will provide video shorts from Disney, including Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney clips, cartoon shorts, music videos, and movie trailers.

    “As Australians increasingly embrace broadband, we are pleased to launch an interactive and educational entertainment destination designed especially to meet the needs of children and families,” said Optus Consumer group director products and delivery Chris Lane.

    “This is a cornerstone deal in Optus’ strategy of featuring the internet’s leading online brands and entertainment providers. It is another step in Optus’ vision of a digital future where PC and mobile phones become sources of everyday entertainment,” he added.

    Disney Connection content on the Optus broadband portal will be refreshed every other week. Kids and families will be able to personalise their site experience through the “My Disney” link by selecting their favourite theme – from Buzz Lightyear to Disney Princess – and choosing their preferred games and other content to appear on the Disney Connection home page.

    A separate mobile section will highlight Disney-branded mobile content available on the Optus Zoo WAP portal.

    In the Asia Pacific region, Disney.com has well-established, localized Internet sites in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Australia. WDIG launched its first broadband content service in Japan in 2003 with NTT FLET’s broadband network, reaching more than 7.9 million subscribers. In June 2005, it launched its first broadband service in Taiwan with Chungwa Telecom’s HiNet ADSL, the country’s leading broadband provider, with more than 3.5 million subscribers.

    WDIG has mobile content distribution in 13 markets in the Asia Pacific region, including Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Macau. In this region, more than 695 million mobile consumers have access to Disney-branded mobile content.

  • USA Network to take WWE to the next level with film based initiative

    USA Network to take WWE to the next level with film based initiative

    MUMBAI: American cable network USA Network is looking to build on its relationship with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

    The network is unveiling plans to develop and produce action movies aimed at the WWE audience.

    USA Network president Bonnie Hammer said, “The return of WWE to USA has been a knockout for both parties. We are looking forward to building and expanding on our audience as well as the Raw fan base with high impact, adrenaline-fueled, larger-than-life action just like they’ll find in the ring.”

    One film is called Hunting Rabbets. This features Jack and Bobby Rabbet, hard luck brothers who operate a failing repossession business. When Bobby neglects to pay their axes, a secret
    government agency confronts the Rabbets with an ultimatum: go to prison, or work off the debt.

    Now, as unofficial government employees, Jack and Bobby must use their repossession skills to search America for classified items the government cannot admit it has lost.

    Another film is called Crush. Bodyguards have to be tough, and Able ‘Crush’ Cross was one of the toughest. But the business of protection is a hard one. Forced out for not being a team player, Crush makes a living as bouncer at Los Angeles hot spots. However, Crush is pulled back into the bodyguard business when he is hired by a wealthy CEO who fears for the life of his daughter. This is an original film by Phoef Sutton (Analyze This, Boston Legal).

    In The Last Tough Guy, the protagonist Jack Cooper is one of the best stunt men in Hollywood. Unfortunately, his hard-drinking lifestyle and gruff demeanour have left him with few jobs and fewer friends. When Jack witnesses the death of his former mentor, producer Rudy Solomon, he goes to the police, who prove uncooperative.

    Reconnecting with his former flame (who happens to be Rudy’s estranged daughter), Jack decides to take matters into his own hands. As he tracks down Rudy’s killers and bring them to justice.

  • MTV Germany to continue broadcasting ‘Popetown’

    MTV Germany to continue broadcasting ‘Popetown’

    MUMBAI: MTV Germany has decided to broadcast the cartoon series Popetown in its entirety. Following the broadcast of the first episode last Wednesday, the remaining nine episodes will be broadcast from today – 10 May.

    A couple of years ago the BBC had pulled the plug on the show due to pressure from the Catholic community. The show is set in a fictional Vatican.

    MTV Germany programming director Elmar Giglinger says, “We have decided to broadcast all episodes of Popetown. Our decision is based on the reaction of the viewers, who were clearly in favour of the programme’s broadcast, as well as the FSF’s assessment that the submitted episodes of Popetown are legally unobjectionable.”

    Internet users were asked their opinion on Popetown in a recent poll, conducted by market research institute PhoneResearch on 3 and 4 May 2006. More than 94 per cent of those asked said that this type of series should be broadcast.

    Comments from ‘MTV News Mag Special – Popetown’, the live discussion programme which took place on 3 May, were also taken into account in the decision-making process. During the discussion, representatives from the Federation of German Catholic Youth, the FSF, the Junge Liberale (Young Liberals Organisation), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Cologne Conference (international film and television festival) and members of the music and entertainment communities voiced their opinions on Popetown, with nobody calling for a ban of the show.

    Viewers were also invited to take part in the live discussion both online and by telephone. The response was enormous. During the show, the Berlin MTV Studio switchboards were jammed and over 15,000 comments were submitted to the online forum at www.mtv.de/popetown, with the overwhelming majority of people supporting the broadcast of Popetown.

    In the run-up to the broadcast of MTV News Mag Special – Popetown, a random representative household sample of 1,004 people between the ages of 14 and 39 were asked their opinion on Popetown by PhoneResearch. Asked whether this type of series should be allowed to be shown on German television, 78 per cent answered “yes”, 16 per cent “no” and the rest were undecided. Ninety one per cent of those asked found the televised discussion and the network’s handling of criticism generally good.

  • Playhouse Disney launches ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’

    Playhouse Disney launches ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’

    MUMBAI: Playhouse Disney, the preschoolers block on Disney Channel has launched the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a learning-focused series for tiny tots. The show is named after Disney’s favorite mascot.

    The show will be aired on Saturdays and Sundays at 8:30 am.

    The series has been created by producer Bobs Gannaway, producer and director of the Emmy Award-winning Disney’s Mickey Mouse Works. The series later evolved into Disney’s House of Mouse, that featured not just Mickey, but virtually all of the Disney animated characters.

    Although the character designs are referential to 1940s drawings, the show has 3D computer animation, a logical next step for the characters that have evolved, along with film technology, from black and white, to color and now to digitally rendered 3D.

    In order to ensure that each episode is entertaining and comprehensible to this core audience, Disney Channel writers and researchers visited preschools where they read story books based on the shows to students to see if they enjoyed it, if they understood the concepts and were engaged enough to participate.

    “The shows that have worked best with young kids are interactive ones, where the audience feels they’re playing along as opposed to just sitting back and watching. It’s always been Mickey’s way to connect one-to-one with kids, making him the perfect choice to further develop a close relationship with kids in a preschool learning environment,” said Walt Disney Television International (India) director programming and production Nachiket Pantvaidya.

    “The show helps to broaden the definition of math skills to include not just counting, but learning shapes, patterns, colors and fractions. Early math skills are key to preschoolers’ development because if it is embedded right from the beginning, kids will embrace the subject. The wonderful thing is that kids of this age love to count and master skills. They don’t see it as a chore or a lesson, they’re really proud of being able tell you what’s bigger and what’s smaller, what’s near and what’s far. It’s not work to them, it’s really fun,” he added.

    Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will help define the series’ educational goals and have an age-appropriate curriculum with the help of the Sensational Six: Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy and Donald.

  • Al Jazeera International lines-up weekly sports magazine ‘Sportsworld’

    Al Jazeera International lines-up weekly sports magazine ‘Sportsworld’

    MUMBAI: Doha based – Al Jazeera International, yet to launch 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel has revealed their line-up of sports presenters and also the sports offering.

    The channel’s weekly magazine programme Sportsworld will also take viewers behind the scenes of some of these major sporting events. The team will interview not only the leading stars but also the unsung personalities – adhering to the channel’s aim of giving our viewers a 360 degree perspective on what is happening in the world of sport, both professional and amateur.

    Al Jazeera International’ sport head Stuart Young, has assembled a team of experienced reporters and presenters, whose diversity and own areas of expertise complement each other: Carrie Brown formerly of Eurosport; Brendan Connor formerly of CBC Canada; Imran Garda formerly of South Africa’s Supersport channel; Joanna Gasiorowska who joins the channel from ITV’s Evening News; Dara McIntosh formerly of ESPN and NBC in the USA; Rahul Pathak from the UK’s Five News as well as Andrew Richardson formerly of Five News in the UK.

    Young says, “I am delighted to have such a group of individuals whose breadth of knowledge, depth of experience and all-round strengths will take us to the forefront of sports reporting.”

    “Together, we will work to bring viewers around the globe the latest from the world of sport. From countries often overlooked, on sports often under-reported, we hope to inform and enlighten as well as entertain and excite,” he continued.

    In keeping with the channel’s fresh approach, the sports coverage will be a mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the expected and the surprising, which includes the football leagues in Europe and South America, the tennis grand slam events, the golf majors, cricket test matches, rugby internationals, Formula 1 and MotoGP, North American sports, athletics, boxing, cycling, sailing and winter sports.

  • Time Warner plans job cuts at AOL

    Time Warner plans job cuts at AOL

    MUMBAI: Time Warner Inc. is planning to cut about 1,300 jobs at its AOL internet unit. This is in line with the company’s plans to reduce costs by $1 billion.

    AOL will close its call centre in Florida and will eliminate jobs in its other call centres located in Ogden, Utah and Tucson. It will be cutting 780 jobs in Jacksonville. The Tucson call center will eliminate 300 jobs and Ogden will cut down 125.

    Two years ago, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons had decided to cut costs of the organisation. Accordingly, AOL cut its workforce by 700 people in the fourth quarter. It also eliminated 400 jobs in other divisions, including its publishing outfit.

  • Zee Sports to telecast Qatar Telecom German Open 2006

    Zee Sports to telecast Qatar Telecom German Open 2006

    MUMBAI: Zee Sports will telecast the WTA Qatar Telecom German Open live. This Tier I $ 1.3 million, tournament will be played from 8 May to 14 May, 2006 on the grounds of LTTC, Rot-Weiss.

    The quarter final matches will be played on 12 May, from 3 pm onwards. Semi Final matches will be held on 13 May and the matches will begin at 4:30 pm. The final will be played on 14 May at 5:30 pm.

    The eight top seeded players, including world number one Amelie Mauresmo, defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, last year’s finalist Nadia Petrova and Germany’s top player Anna-Lena Grönefeld, will start competing in this tournament.Some of the other women tennis stars competing will be Justine Henin Hardenne of Belgium , Nadia Petrova and Elena Dementiva of Russia will also be participating in this tournament, states an official release.

    Zee Sports’ presenter Tina Sharma along with Indian Tennis star Ankita Bhambri will present the preview and review show of each of the match. SportsCafe, Zee Sports daily news program will present the highlights and analysis of the best moments of the matches, the release adds.

  • Ahead of deadline, 41 TV channels apply for downlinking in India

    Ahead of deadline, 41 TV channels apply for downlinking in India

    NEW DELHI: Talk about cutting it close. With just a day remaining (10 May 5:00 pm to be exact) for the deadline to adhere to downlink norms, 41 television channels have applied for registration in India.

    “Around 40 channels have submitted their applications for registration in India,” the Press Trust of India quoted an an official in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry as saying.
    PTI quoted the I&B official as saying that the channels seeking registration include the Star Group, Sony, Zee, Discovery, Anil Planet, Cartoon Network, CNN, Pogo, MTV, Channel V, Toon Disney, Hallmark, HBO, Ten Sports, Channel News Asia and Times Now

    Those yet to send in their applications include Fashion TV, ESPN-Star Sports and BBC, the report adds.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the matter yesterday, a BBC spokesperson had said, ”BBC World is aware of the timetable set out by the Indian government for completion of all formalities of registration under the new down linking guidelines issued on 11 November 2005. In compliance with the timetable, BBC World has prepared its application and will submit the same within the 10 May deadline set.”

    The government, meanwhile, clarified that all those channels that have applied for landing rights on or before 11 May 2006 could continue to be carried on cable networks till the channels’ are denied the right.

    “A cable operator may continue to carry or include in his cable service any television broadcast or channel, which has made an application for registration to the central government on or before the date of commencement of the notification, for a period of six months from the date of such commencement or till such registration has been granted or refused, whichever is earlier,” a government statement posted on the site of I&B
    ministry said.

    The statement also said that amendments to the Cable Television Network Rules 1994 and DTH guidelines will be notified separately and issued on 11 May 2006.

    Those channels that had been granted permission for uplinking from India before 2 December 2005 shall be treated as “registered” television channels and can be carried or included in the cable service. The full list is available under Codes & Guidelines section at mib.nic.in.

    Yesterday, a senior government official had admitted to Indiantelevision.com that the number of applicants seeking landing rights in the country is still “very low” compared to doubts and queries being raised. “This is surprising
    considering the deadline is 10 May,” the official added.

    The government issued an ultimatum last week that those channels not fulfilling all the downlink criteria by 10 May 2006 would be denied landing rights.

    The I&B ministry also posted on its website communications sent to the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, Star Group, Time Warner and a lawyer. The missive made it clear that the deadline of 10 May stays.

    The lobbying against the downlink norms as a whole and partly is understandable. The moment a television company sets up a permanent establishment (PE) in India, as per downlink norms, its tax liabilities in India would go up drastically. Rather, more the revenues collected in India, higher would be the tax component.

    Recently, Economic Times reiterated this fact in a report also. “After unveiling the downlinking policy for satellite television channels, the government is set to re-examine the tax treatment of revenues earned by foreign TV channels (FTCs). These companies earn advertising revenues from ad agencies, sponsors, and subscription revenues from cable operators.

    “The task force on emerging issues in non-resident taxation, constituted by the finance ministry, is understood to have made an attempt to bring greater clarity and certainty in the tax treatment of FTCs. This, in turn, may enable India to get a larger share of the pie. Going by the recommendations,
    FTCs will be liable to pay tax in India if they have a permanent
    establishment (PE) here. Alternatively, a dependent agent who has the authority to conclude contracts, also constitutes a PE,” the newspaper said.

    Before 2001, foreign TV channels used to pay taxes on a presumptive basis on their advertisement revenues earned in India, which ranged between 35-40 per cent.

  • Time Warner Telecom delivers data, internet and voice solutions to Inoveris

    Time Warner Telecom delivers data, internet and voice solutions to Inoveris

    MUMBAI: Time Warner Telecom Inc. has installed a full suite of voice and data communications services for Inoveris, LLC of Dublin, Ohio. The product-to-market solutions provider is using these services to support mission-critical software applications, operational efficiency initiatives and business growth.

    “These new services allow us to streamline our business internally so that we can support more business and enhance employee productivity,” says Inoveris director for Dublin, Roy Gilliam. “By turning up high-capacity metro Ethernet and centralizing our production data center into a resilient collocation facility, we are able to integrate our workflow infrastructure so our three locations — Ohio, Utah and Canada — work together as one. This gives us the 24 by 7 availability our operations require.”

    Time Warner Telecom is delivering a wide range of services to Inoveris to support its nationwide communications network. These services include 10 Mbps of Ethernet Internet service capability and 100 Mbps metro Ethernet connecting the Columbus collocation site and the Dublin-based headquarters. Local and long distance voice services as well as long-haul DS-1 and Internet connectivity to Inoveris in Orem, Utah, are also provided by Time Warner Telecom, states an official release.

    “We rely heavily on our extranet to communicate with and process manufacturing and distribution orders from our customers,” says Inoveris network manager Jonathan O’Connor. “From a revenue and reputation standpoint, we simply had to go with a provider that met our high uptime criteria. The customer service we’ve received from Time Warner Telecom far exceeds any we’ve seen from other providers and that played a key role in our decision.”

    “Infrastructure consolidation has become a strategy for businesses to cut costs, increase efficiencies and improve employee productivity,” says Time Warner Telecom VP and GM for Columbus, Brad Thien. “Our end-to-end solutions offer the voice, data and collocation services that make these goals possible. Our highly reliable fiber-based services are particularly important to businesses like Inoveris, where downtime of any kind can affect their efficiencies.”