ITV

Category: News Headline

  • Zee rejig: 2 companies to merge with ASC Enterprise

    Zee rejig: 2 companies to merge with ASC Enterprise

    NEW DELHI: Two companies related to the consumer service business of the Subhash Chandra-promoted Essel Group’s DTH platform are poised to be merged with ASC Enterprise Ltd, which holds a DTH licence.

    The companies to be merged with ASC Enterprise are Cornersoft Entertainment Co Pvt Ltd and New Era Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

    This is part of the restructuring announced by Zee Telefilms late March to de-merge its various businesses into separate companies to unlock shareholders’ value and conform to varying regulatory needs.

    The direct consumer business is marked by division of activities between the DTH license holder ASC Enterprises Limited and subsidiaries of Siti Cable, the cable arm of Zee Telefilms. This led to lack of clarity in structure, inefficiencies in tax and diffused strategic focus, the Zee management felt.

    The merger proposal, which got the in-principle okay of the Zee board, is likely to be formalised at a board meet of the company on 27 April. ASC Enterprise’s DTH service is marketed under the brand name Dish TV.

    Started in 2004, Cornersoft Entertainment created the 7575 interactive platform for Zee family of channels and other Essel group companies. The interaction happens on the Essel short code 7575, which during the final countdown to Sa Re Ga Ma 2005 Challenge show on Zee TV received almost 5 million SMSs per day. Such massive interaction took it ahead of the popular Times group-owned 8888 platform.

    The 7575 platform has tied up with all the GSM and CDMA phone operators with a powerful national penetration of 98.5 per cent.

    The mission of Cornersoft Entertainment is to integrate, connect and extend high quality and engaging content, applications and services to customers. It’s positioning will help Dish TV market a range of value added services that it plans to offer to its subscribers over a period of time.

    The 7575 service is also a pioneer in integrating TV-SMS, a technology solution that provides live interaction capabilities to play and interact while watching a particular show. Over a period of time, other value added services like ring tones download have also been introduced.

    On the other hand, New Era Entertainment markets the Dish TV services in the country. Launched in October 2003, Dish TV has close to one million subscribers and is presently said to be adding approximately 3000 subscribers every day as awareness about such a service increases in India.

    The Zee Telefilms stock on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed Wednesday at Rs 241.5, down by Rs 2.35, after opening at Rs 243.85. At the National Stock Exchange, the scrip closed at Rs 241.7, down by Rs 2.30 from the last day’s close of Rs 244.

  • History Channel to hype entertainment quotient

    History Channel to hype entertainment quotient

    NEW DELHI: Come live the entertainment story with Martin Sheen, Omar Sharif, Daniel Craig and Peter O’Toole. This is The History Channel’s (THC) new mantra for India.
    The only international television network devoted exclusively to historical programming, today announced its plans for pursuing a new strategic direction in India by making a well-defined shift to entertainment.

    The channel also outlined its extensive plans to take forward this move to aggressively drive viewership and advertising revenues. Starting 6 May, viewers in India will get to experience an enhanced and extended offering of the same.

    “This year we are looking at making the channel stronger and more relevant to our viewers and advertisers by enhancing our offering,” The History Channel managing director India Nikhil Mirchandani said at a press conference today.

    The new strategic direction of the channel stems from its need to continuously stay relevant to its viewers. The History Channel with its new tagline ‘Live The Story’ is going to be all about bringing alive a viewing experience that will be unique, inspirational and above all entertaining.

    According to the company, the shift to entertainment ensures that THC remains true to its unique theme of History while becoming more entertaining and engaging through riveting programmes that will be showcased in hitherto unseen formats.

    Commenting on the new programming that will be visible on the channel from May, company’s senior vice-president programming Joy Bhattacharjya said, “We have a spectacular line-up of programmes from May onwards. We are moving onward and adding to our well-researched and entertaining documentaries and serials a whole new line up of the most interesting stories.”

    The new fare from history will include mini-series, re-enactments and also films. Martin Sheen, Omar Sharif and Daniel Craig will enact some of the most popular and interesting characters and stories through history.

    “It is what I call the Devdas effect – where we will inform in an entertaining format and allow viewers to live the stories that are historically relevant,” Bhattacharjya added.

    The film Devdas made a couple of years back by Sanjay Leela Bhansali in true Bollywood style of lavish sets, grandeur and oodles of melodrama re-told to Gen-X successfully a wasted love story set amidst the 1920s-1940s of West Bengal, torn by class conflict, through the lead protagonists, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit.

    The programming on The History Channel will deal with events and personalities that are historically significant in an entertaining manner. From Rome to Hitler to Helen of Troy to Spartacus, the channel will explore the wide gamut of history without being restricted by formats.

    The new strategy will also be evident in the vibrant on-air graphic elements, which will reinforce the power and passion of history presented in an entertaining format. To promote the new look and feel, the channel will also roll out an on-air brand campaign that will communicate the spirit of channel.

    Facts and fiction will mesh together. For example, film Marilyn and Me will be accompanied by the biography of the sex goddess. Every month will have a distinctive theme.

    The month of May will be identified through the theme of war and will showcase never-seen before films and series such as Hitler and Haven. June will be dedicated to the theme of Rome and the key films, mini-series and factual series will revolve around this theme.

    Some of the best series from the AETN international library, Crusades, Gold and Barbarians will be presented to Indian audiences by The History Channel in the special format of a Limited Edition Series.

    Speaking on the new strategic positioning of the channel, Rajesh Sheshadri, vice-president marketing said, “We are looking at an exponential increase in viewership by 2008. This increase in viewership is a function of first, our distinct positioning whereby we are the only channel on History.”

    He added, “Second, the fact that we will debut familiar titles in entertaining formats; and third, versioning wherein the channel is also investing in providing its Hindi-speaking viewers with high quality versioned programming that will enhance their viewing experience and allow them to enjoy internationally acclaimed programmes.”

    The channel is also planning innovative and integrated marketing initiatives to ensure the channel’s success in India.

    Reaching more than 200 million viewers in 70 countries, versioned in 20 languages, The History Channel is the only international television network devoted exclusively to historical programming. A division of A&E Television Networks, it is marketed internationally by AETN International.

    In India, the channel began broadcasting in November 2003 and claims to be available to 45 million C&S households. The History Channel comes to India through an affiliation between AETN international and NGC Network (India) Pvt. Ltd.

  • Time Warner Telecom expands fiber network arm

    Time Warner Telecom expands fiber network arm

    MUMBAI: Time Warner Telecom Inc., one of the leading providers of managed voice and data networking solutions for businesses in the US, has announced the expansion of its 180-mile Dallas fiber network into Frisco, one of the fastest growing cities in North Texas.

    Time Warner Telecom extends its local networks into suburban office parks and downtown commercial areas to meet customer demand for an alternative fiber facilities-based choice for communications services. This Sonet network is similar to the company’s 43 other networks across the country that deliver national business-class voice and data solutions, locally and nationally, states an official release.

    “Customer demand typically includes the need for business continuity, diverse routing, data storage, metro Ethernet and a variety of next generation services that only fiber, facilities-based carriers, like Time Warner Telecom and larger incumbents, can offer,” says Time Warner Telecom’s vice president and general manager in Dallas John Schuchart.

    “This network extension also connects Frisco businesses to our 800-mile fiber ring that runs between Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, as well as to our national network of 20,000 route miles of fiber and 10 Gbps IP backbone,” adds Schuchart. “Time Warner Telecom offers communications solutions that enable businesses to converge their networks, reduce their total communications costs and improve their operating efficiencies.”

  • GlobeVISION forges IPTV distribution agreement with Korea’s CGN TV

    GlobeVISION forges IPTV distribution agreement with Korea’s CGN TV

    MUMBAI: The Los Angeles-headquartered digital media service provider GlobeVISION, Inc. has inked an agreement with CGN TV, Korea’s largest Christian programming broadcaster, to carry content from the network on GlobeVISION’s PIE Service, an on-demand Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service for Asian-Americans and Asian-Canadians.

    The deal will bring CGN TV’s Christian-valued programs directly to Asian-Americans and Asian-Canadians throughout North America when GlobeVISION’s PIE Service launches on 1 July.

    The PIE service will launch with thousands of Korean titles ranging from moves to television series to news and sports. It will quickly expand to include programming from all over Asia including China and India, states an official release.

    CGN TV is the latest in a string of high-profile content providers to jump onto the GlobeVISION bandwagon. Korea’s two largest private broadcasters (MBC and SBS), largest cable media group (CJ Media) and top movie studio (CJ Entertainment) have signed deals positioning GlobeVISION and the powerhouse distribution channel for Korean content in North America, adds the release.

    “We are pleased to be able to add these values-based programming options to GlobeVISION’s already announced lineup of news, culture, sports and entertainment,” said Edward Bach, founder and CEO/president of GlobeVISION. “GlobeVISION recognizes how important family and faith-based programming is, especially considering what a hot topic it has been in the U.S. lately.”

    The deal also forms a strategic marketing and promotion partnership to boost awareness of CGN TV’s subscription satellite service. CGN TV’s 24 hour satellite service currently beams Christian-themed programming, including culture, worship and educational programs into 123 countries.

  • Zee Telefilms to be named Zee Entertainment Enterprises; ASC Enterprises becomes Dish TV

    Zee Telefilms to be named Zee Entertainment Enterprises; ASC Enterprises becomes Dish TV

    MUMBAI: One part of the process set in motion late last month by the Subhash Chandra promoted Zee Telefilms board to split its broadcasting business into three entities — news operations, broadcast & content creation, and Siti Cable — has been completed with the nomenclature of the new entities finalised.

    Zee Telefilms will henceforth be named as Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel). Included under its ambit are flagship Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee Cafe, Zee Studio, Zee Trendz, Zee Sports and Zee Smile.

    On the other hand, ASC Enterprises Ltd, under which comes the group’s direct-to-home (DTH) businesses, will now be renamed as Dish TV Ltd. ASC Enterprise’s DTH service is marketed under the brand name Dish TV.

    Last month, the company’s board had approved of splitting of its broadcasting business into three entities — news operations, broadcast and content creation, and Siti Cable.

    There is no change of name for the news operations company which remains Zee News Ltd. Under Zee News comes not just the news channels but the regional channels as well.

    The reason for including the regional channels into Zee News Ltd is because of the heavy news component that forms an intrinsic part of all these channels. It was in order to comply with the news uplinking guidelines that effective October 2005, newsgathering activities of ZTL were transferred to Zee News Limited.

    The news channels include Zee News, Zee Biz and the recently launched Bangla news channel Chobbees Ghanta. The regional channels are Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Punjabi, Zee Gujarati, with the newest addition being Zee Telugu. Expected to launch next month is the sixth regional channel in the stable Zee Kannada.

    As regards the restructuring on the cable side, it has already been announced that the cable business of Siti Cable, a 100 per cent subsidiary of ZTL (now Zeel), and the cable related business of ZTL would be de-merged into Wire and Wireless (India) Limited (WWIL), a new company incorporated for the purpose.

  • CMM-I extends 3-year deal with Shanghai TV Festival

    CMM-I extends 3-year deal with Shanghai TV Festival

    MUMBAI: The independent trade consultancy for China’s media industries CMM Intelligence has announced an extended three year deal with the Shanghai TV Festival (STVF). This deal will see CMM-I further consolidating European presence at one of China’s biggest international TV festival to be held from 17 to 21 June.

    Under the new agreement, CMM-I will offer a one stop service for European media companies attending STVF’s International Film & TV Market (18 to 20 June) through the CMM-I European (EU) Pavilion. In addition to management of the central exhibition space, the new agreement allows CMM-I to extend its delivery of value added services, including meeting facilitation, networking functions and trade publications.

    Welcoming the agreement, STVF’s market director Zhang Ming noted, “CMM-I is not only one of STVF’s longest standing partners, it continues to be one of the most innovative. This new agreement strengthens Europe’s presence on the trading floor and creates new opportunities for companies to build sustainable trade relationships”.

    According to CMM-I MD Anke Redl, STVF continues to be Europe’s preferred trade destination and the new agreement will have a significant impact on how EU companies engage with Chinese media. “Europe still faces massive knowledge gaps and this deal means we can now provide clients with full before, during and post market services. You will see Europe becoming far more prominent in the market”.

    First established in 2004, the CMM-I EU Pavilion is the largest international group exhibition at the Shanghai event and brings together broadcasters, production houses and distributors from across the EU. Previous exhibitors have included Granada Media, Channel 4, RTVE, Deutsche Welle, Belgium TV etc. EU Pavilion participants will also benefit from exposure in CMM-I functions and publications, including the European Programming Guide and CMM-I’s proprietary intelligence products.

  • VH1 Classic to air BBC music shows

    VH1 Classic to air BBC music shows

    MUMBAI: VH1 Classic will expand from a 12-hour to a full 24-hour schedule, with BBC’s offerings from 1 May.

    The BBC deal includes the legendary anthology series The Old Grey Whistle Test, one of the most influential music shows in Britain in the 1970s.

    VH1 Classic will begin premiering select episodes from the series this September, and roll out performances from popular 1970s and 1980s artists such as Tom Petty, The Police and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It will premiere under VH1 Classic’s original series umbrella Classic in Concert.

    VH1’s SVP and GM Eric Sherman said,”VH1 Classic’s audience and its appetite for classic music continues to grow, leading us to effectively double our music program offerings each day. We’re particularly pleased to deliver rare BBC gems such as The Old Grey Whistle Test which presents performances never seen before on this side of the Atlantic.”

    The new weekly movie franchise Rock and Roll Picture Show with Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story will be launched on 6 May. Other movies include The Wall, The Song Remains The Same, Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix, Madonna: Truth Or Dare and Imagine: John Lennon.

    The Class Of … stunt becomes a regular monthly offering in June, kicking off with Class of 1984. Other new initiatives include a 27-episode series Classic Albums, with each hour telling the story behind the making of one of rock music’s most seminal albums.

    Also, the network has licensed Classic Artists, a series of documentaries tracking the twists and turns in a single artist or band’s career. The first episode set to premiere in the fall 2006 will feature Cream.

  • Banff Outstanding Achievement Award goes to CBS

    Banff Outstanding Achievement Award goes to CBS

    MUMBAI: CBS Television will be the recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award at the Banff World Television Festival. CBS Paramount International Television president Armando Nuñez, Jr., will be accepting the award on the company’s behalf.

    The Banff World Television Festival takes place 11 to 14 June at the Fairmont Banff Springs in Banff, Alberta.

    According to a Banff press release, CBS is being honoured for “its groundbreaking programming, consistently solid ratings and overall contribution to the television industry.”

    Nuñez said, “I am pleased to accept the award on behalf of Leslie Moonves and the entire team at CBS. This honour reinforces the high regard to which the international community holds for CBS’s legacy of high quality and successful programming.”

  • Discovery acquires British tour firm to build new travel media group

    Discovery acquires British tour firm to build new travel media group

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has acquired the U.K.-based Antenna Audio as part of its efforts to build the newly formed Discovery Travel Media group. Antenna Audio is a specialist in audio tours and multimedia interpretation for museums, historical sites and cultural attractions around the globe.

    Discovery Communications the president and CEO Judith A. McHale said, “The acquisition of Antenna Audio immediately gives Discovery a major presence in the growing audio and multimedia market around the world. The company’s global assets nicely complement Discovery’s television and digital services as we continue to aggressively pursue business opportunities that extend our trusted brands, increase revenue, and allow Discovery to package top quality content to consumers wherever they are and however they want it.”

    Antenna Audio provides audio and multimedia tours in more than 20 countries and offers translations in multiple languages at more than 350 museums and cultural sites worldwide. Discovery plans to draw on Antenna’s resources to expand into the market for downloadable travel guides, as well as destination, city and walking tours. Antenna Audio sold more than 20 million audio and multimedia tours last year.

    “Culture travelers are a coveted segment of the travelling public, and the power and reach of Discovery’s assets will allow us to strengthen and expand Antenna Audio’s position even further in the growing consumer travel market,” said head of Discovery Travel Media and the EVP and GM of Travel Channel Patrick Younge.

    Discovery Travel Media includes the Travel Channel, available in more than 84 million U.S. homes, online assets including www.travelchannel.com and a broadband offering, Travel Channel Beyond (www.travelchannelbeyond.com) as well as travel related content for VOD and mobile platforms.

  • FremantleMedia ups Schneider-Sickert to director of operations & strategy

    FremantleMedia ups Schneider-Sickert to director of operations & strategy

    MUMBAI: One of the largest international creators and producers of programme brands in the world FremantleMedia has announced the appointment of Christian Schneider-Sickert as director of operations and strategy.

    In this newly created position, Schneider-Sickert will be responsible for driving FremantleMedia’s global company strategy, investment policy and central operations. In addition, he will be responsible for FremantleMedia’s central business diversification activities, states an official release.

    The roll-out of the successful Quizmania participation TV format, currently on air in the UK and Poland, will also be part of his extended remit. Schneider-Sickert will become a member of the FremantleMedia Operating Board with immediate effect.

    Schneider-Sickert joined FremantleMedia from arvato, part of Bertelsmann, in June 2004, where he held the position of head of strategy. He previously worked in mergers and acquisitions for Bertelsmann and in the principal investment group at Goldman Sachs.

    FremantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen said, “Christian has done an outstanding job in helping define FremantleMedia’s strategy in an industry that is undergoing significant change, and I am looking forward to him driving our diversification activities.”

    Schneider-Sickert added: “I am delighted to have been asked to take on this new role and am looking forward to further developing FremantleMedia’s commercial strategy and improving our operational efficiency.”

    Schneider-Sickert holds an M.A. in Oriental Studies from Oxford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.