ITV

Category: News Headline

  • Content providers criticize proposed EU broadcasting rules

    Content providers criticize proposed EU broadcasting rules

    MUMBAI: ITV, BT Group, Vodafone, Yahoo, Intel and Cisco are leading an alliance among the media and technology companies that have teamed to criticize proposed European Union broadcasting rules that they believe will restrict the growth of new media formats.

    The European Commission is proposing that rules for traditional media be extended to new media, like content provided over broadband or mobile phones. Such regulations would include limits on hate speech, advertising and children-appropriate content.

    The alliance takes up the issue of proposed legislation that calls for mobile content and IPTV programming to abide by the same rules as that on traditional broadcasters. The consortium maintains that these rules-including restrictions on advertising-would inhibit investment in multiplatform content.

    “Citizen media such as blogs, videocasts and the like are one of the most exciting developments enabled by new technology,” the companies said in a statement. “This phenomenon has the potential to create new businesses … but this proposed regulation severely risks stunting its growth.”
    The EU didn’t respond to the group, but has repeatedly insisted that they don’t intend to regulate the internet. It would need the support of the European Parliament and 25 member governments in order to be approved.

  • Nickelodeon ups Crosby to SVP strategy and business development

    Nickelodeon ups Crosby to SVP strategy and business development

    MUMBAI: Nickelodeon has named Dominique Crosby as Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids & Family Group senior vice president strategy and business development. The announcement was made by executive vice president strategy and business operations Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, to whom Crosby will continue to report.

    “With her gift for strategic thinking and process organisation, Dominique has been a major contributor to the growth of our business. She’s a talented executive whose proven leadership will insure greater coordinated strategic thinking across lines of business and that all of our strategy and business development activities get value added input and oversight,” said Kirshbaum Levy.

    In her new role Crosby will oversee all strategy and business development at Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group and will be responsible for identifying, analysing and recommending new business opportunities, as well as providing long-term strategic analysis and vision for existing lines of business.

    Crosby joined Nickelodeon’s business development team in 2001 as director strategy and business development and was named vice president in 2002. She has spearheaded the strategy work for Spike TV’s repositioning, Nickelodeon’s long range plan and Nick’s digital television networks’ positioning and expansion. She was also a key player in vital projects including Nickelodeon’s acquisition of the online site Neopets and MTV Networks’ foray into Video-on-Demand.

    Prior to joining Viacom, Ms. Crosby was an Associate in J.P. Morgan’s Venture Capital and Private Equity group focusing on the telecommunications, technology and media industries, and also worked in the mergers and acquisitions and debt capital markets departments.

  • Americans still gaga over radio: survey

    Americans still gaga over radio: survey

    MUMBAI: Americans rate the importance and relevance of local commercial radio very highly, despite the entry of high-technology competition, a national survey commissioned by American Media Services showed.

    The survey found that 78 per cent said radio is important in their everyday lives, and 91 per cent said radio is important in American life in general. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) said they listen to radio at least once a day.

    The telephone survey of 1,004 American adults was conducted from 13 – 15 April, 2006 by Omnitel, the weekly omnibus survey by the national polling firm of GfK NOP of Princeton. The survey is considered accurate within plus or minus three percentage points.

    The new findings complement those in AMS’ initial survey in January: 64 per cent said they were listening to radio as much as, or more than, they were five years ago.

    “The evidence from our polls and others is conclusive that people are continuing to listen to their local, free radio stations. Arbitron and Edison Media Research just conducted a national survey of 1,925 respondents that revealed 77 per cent of Americans expect to continue to listen to their radio in the future as much as they are today,” said American Media Services president and CEO Ed Seeger.

    In the AMS survey, 57 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women said they listen to radio at least daily. The availability of music, news and reports on weather and traffic continues to be the most often cited reasons for listening to the radio, with 98 per cent of respondents saying they listen to radio for one of those features. “Radio doesn’t need to reinvent itself. It just needs to get its story out in the marketplace. It continues to thrive with the same basic programming we have embraced for the past half-century,” said Seeger.

    Other findings of the survey include:

    78 per cent usually tune to a local radio station when they get in their car.
    More people had a favorite local radio personality in their local markets (37 per cent) than a favorite television personality per cent (32 per cent), newspaper personality (seven per cent) or personality on a local internet site (one per cent).
    When asked what about the different qualities that make a good radio personality, they ranked four as most important: 89 per cent said they liked to listen to someone who makes them think, 82 per cent said one who makes them laugh, 79 per cent wanted a personality they could trust, and 76 per cent said a good radio personality has strong ties to the local community.
    Overall, 41 per cent of respondents said they liked to listen to stations that have a good balance of music, news, weather and traffic information. That rated above playing their kind of music (26 per cent) or making them laugh (3 per cent).
    Of those respondents who had a “favorite media personality,” 37 per cent said their favorite personality worked on the radio, while 32 per cent said their favorite worked on television.
    61 per cent of those likely to change stations during commercial breaks do so in a minute or less.

  • Tandberg Television appoints Emmanuel Boureau as sales VP, EMEA

    Tandberg Television appoints Emmanuel Boureau as sales VP, EMEA

    MUMBAI: In a move designed to further strengthen and expand its leadership position in Europe, the Middle East amd Africa (EMEA), Tandberg Television has appointed Emmanuel Boureau as VP of Sales for the region.

    Reporting to Eric Baron, Tandberg Television’s EMEA president, Boureau will be responsible for managing and growing the company’s direct and indirect sales channels in EMEA. He will lead the introduction of advanced compression, on-demand and interactive content solutions to cable, satellite, terrestrial and telco operators across the region, states an official release.

    Boureau joins Tandberg Television having spent the past eight years at Harmonic, most recently as European director of sales and pre-sales. Prior to his time at Harmonic, Boureau had a distinguished sales career within the computer industry where he held senior positions at the Digital Equipment Corporation and sales engineering positions at ITT Data Systems.

    “Tandberg Television is the clear leader in the European video compression space and continues to make first-to-market moves that strengthen and secure its pole position. With a best-in-class combination of solutions for IP, HD, on-demand and interactive television, Tandberg Television is in a unique position to help content owners, programmers and network operators leverage new digital media opportunities. Joining Tandberg Television provides me with a senior management role in which I can use my digital television experience as part of a dynamic, winning team,” says Boureau.

    “Emmanuel is an impressive operator with a strong sales track record and exceptional experience of driving a multicultural dispersed sales team. He has a solid understanding of the technology and commercial drivers in the digital television industry that will be of great benefit to Tandberg Television customers. I am delighted that he is joining to lead our EMEA sales team and looking forward to working closely with him as we continue to accelerate our leadership position in the region,” says Baron.

  • Hungama TV gets into action mode on weekends

    Hungama TV gets into action mode on weekends

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV is hotting up on weekends. For the next two weekends, the channel will air international kung-fu films that will keep kids glued to their seats.

    Shaolin Soccer directed by Stephen Chow will be aired on 22 April at 1.30 pm with a repeat telecast at 5.30 pm and 9.30 pm. Rumble in the Bronx starring the kung fu king Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong will be aired on 29 April at 1.30 pm with a repeat telecast at 5.30 pm and 9.30 pm.

    In Shaolin Soccer, a Shaolin Kung-fu practitioner (Lee Wai) is seeking a way to spread the word about his chosen art. He meets a down-on-his-luck lame ex-football player who helps him reconcile with his five brothers and teaches them to play football, adding Shaolin Kung-fu as a twist. They form a team, and are soon entered in a prestigious tournament with a $1 million prize.

    In Rumble in the Bronx, Keong (Jackie Chan) comes from Hong Kong to visit New York for his uncle’s wedding. His uncle runs a market in the Bronx and Keong offers to help out while he is on his honeymoon. Before he knows it, he’s on the mean streets of New York where he’s forced to defend his uncle’s (Bill Tung Bui) supermarket from two separate threats: Local bikers running a protection racket, and a bunch of professional diamond thieves whose latest haul somehow ends up in Chan’s possession.

  • Raymond’s complete man serenades wife with dolphins in new TVC

    MUMBAI: After cute white puppies, its now the dolphins’ turn to feature in the new television commercial (TVC) of Raymond, which has been conceptualized by RK Swamy BBDO.

    The frame opens with a man in a yacht, dressed in a jacket, gently leading his wife to the upper deck. As they reach the bow of the yacht, the wife is pleasantly surprised to see a pair of dolphins leaping out.

    The lady is simply floored by this sight and rests her head across the man’s chest. The emotions are captured as she feels the softest of jackets made from Raymond fabric.
    In this new TVC, the ‘The Complete Man’ pulls out all stops to serenade and declare his love for his better half. With its TVC, Raymond uses a set of beautiful dolphins to highlight the sensitive and thoughtful nature of ‘The Complete Man’. The high emotion of the moment has been used to highlight the special nature of the Raymond brand.

    The new TVC is a logical extension of the other popular television commercials which shows the ‘The Complete Man’ expressing a wide range of emotion in various relationships – with the baby, with his little daughter, his grown up son, schoolmaster, puppies, etc.

    The thinking ‘Feels like heaven, feels like Raymond’ demonstrates that ‘The Complete Man is not only a good, sensitive person but also looks sharp at all times.

    Raymond Ltd group president and whole time director PK Bhandari said, “Raymond has always played on the emotional chord in its communication. We have always aimed at creating something unique and different, yet relevant to the Raymond brand.”

    R K Swamy BBDO president Shekar Swamy said, “The creative idea is that ‘The Complete Man’ will go to great lengths to arrange something really, really special for his spouse, and she is absolutely dazzled by his thoughtfulness and extravagance in thought.”

  • Kajol to present special show ‘The Manish Malhotra Magic’ on Zee Muzic

    Kajol to present special show ‘The Manish Malhotra Magic’ on Zee Muzic

    MUMBAI: Bollywood actress Kajol is set to make her presence felt on the small screen hosting a special show on the music channel — Zee Muzic on 21 April.

    The channel will showcase The Manish Malhotra Magic at 9 pm. In the show, Kajol will share her insights on fashion icon Manish – the designer, the man and the friend. She will speak on Manish’s paranoia, along with her penchant for his designs.

    Commenting on this special Zee Muzic business head Irshwin Balwani said, “Manish has always been strongly associated with Bollywood. Keeping in mind the whole fashion season that’s been going on, be it the Lakmé Fashion Week or the WLIFW, we decided to focus on one designer as a one hour special show. And since Zee Muzic is a Bollywood driven music channel, we thought Manish was apt for this special since he’s synonymous with Bollywood like no other designer is.”

    He said, “We wanted someone who was articulate, who could present Manish correctly and knew him in and out as a person and as a designer, and we couldn’t think of anyone bigger and better than Kajol. Kajol’s is very closely associated with Manish and we couldn’t think of anyone better, who would speak about him the way she has.”

    The one-hour special will showcase Manish’s collection from Lakmé Fashion Week 2006. Kajol will also share her first experience on the ramp. Along with Kajol, Karisma Kapoor and Karan Johar, will share their thoughts on Manish Malhotra.

  • Critical Mention names CNBC’s Ron Insana to its board of directors

    Critical Mention names CNBC’s Ron Insana to its board of directors

    MUMBAI: Critical Mention, Inc., the web-based television search and monitoring service for corporate communications and business intelligence professionals, has named former CNBC anchor Ron Insana to its board of directors effective immediately.

    Insana, who remains a regular contributor to CNBC, will also provide strategic direction and counsel in support of Critical Mention’s new ad-supported video syndication platform. This platform enables broadcasters and other content producers to monetise their content and extend their brand in the “long tail” of the internet by syndicating video clips to the thousands of vertical web sites looking for specific content of interest for their end users.

    “I’m very excited about my involvement with Critical Mention and am especially bullish about the new video syndication service. The syndication service promises to revolutionise the way web sites search and publish timely and relevant rich media clips from respected broadcasters and content providers. More importantly, it will also give broadcasters new opportunities to reach and prove their value to wider audiences online,” said Insana.

    Critical Mention founder and CEO Sean Morgan added, “We’re delighted to have Ron join the board. Ron’s reputation in the industry, willingness to challenge convention and understanding of our business model make him a great addition to the company.”

    Insana joined CNBC in 1991. He was a regular contributor to NBC’s Today Show and The Nightly News with Brian Williams, as well as to Imus in the Morning and Market Wrap on sister network MSNBC, and other programs when market activity warranted. Additionally, Insana has written a monthly column for USA Today entitled “Talking Business with Ron Insana” and hosted the nationally syndicated radio program, The Ron Insana Show, for Westwood One.

    He was also nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award as part of NBC’s coverage of 9/11, and in 1999, was named one of the top 100 business news journalists of the century by TJFR Group.

  • MyNetworkTV’s nine new affiliates help expand coverage to 65 per cent in U.S.

    MyNetworkTV’s nine new affiliates help expand coverage to 65 per cent in U.S.

    MUMBAI: Fox Television Stations’ new prime-time network MyNetworkTV announced that it has signed on nine more affiliates, expanding its coverage to 65 percent of the U.S.

    Four of the additional stations are owned by Pappas Telecasting Companies. They include KDMI-DT in Des Moines, Iowa; KKAZ-KPTM-DT in Omaha, Nebraska; KDBC-DT in El Paso, Texas; and KPTH-DT in Sioux City, Iowa.

    The remaining five new affiliates are WZDX in Huntsville-Decatur, Alabama; WFXI in Greenville, North Carolina; KZOU in Columbia-Jefferson City, Missouri; KIDZ in Abilene-Sweetwater, Texas; and KGJT in Grand Junction-Montrose, Colorado.

    Pappas Telecasting Companies chairman and CEO Harry J. Pappas said of the deal, “17 years ago, we took a gamble on a fledgling enterprise, the FOX Network. We affiliated the three TV stations we then owned with FOX, despite the fact that many pundits said a fourth network couldn’t possibly succeed. Were they ever wrong! Our relationship with FOX has been mutually-beneficial. Now, we are affiliating four of our TV stations with FOX’s newest enterprise, MyNetworkTV. When you consider Rupert Murdoch’s consistent track record of success, it’s easy to understand why we’re betting on News Corp. again with MyNetworkTV-a bet that Pappas Telecasting expects to pay off handsomely for all involved.”

    MyNetworkTV launches on 5 September with the new scripted primetime drama strips Desire and Secret Obsessions.

  • IIFA 2006 kicks off in Dubai on 14 June; Star Plus to telecast

    IIFA 2006 kicks off in Dubai on 14 June; Star Plus to telecast

    MUMBAI: The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has announced that the Idea IIFA Awards, the highlight of the IIFA Weekend would be held in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, this year. The IIFA Weekend will be held from 14 June to 17 June, 2006 culminating with the glittering Idea IIFA Awards presentation ceremony on 16 June, 2006 at the Airport Expo.

    Star Network will broadcast the IIFA Weekend and the Idea IIFA Awards 2006 exclusively across the globe.

    Announcing this at a high-powered conference held at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd revealed that the IIFA Weekend 2006 and the Idea IIFA Awards will be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president, Dubai Civil Aviation, chairman of the Emirates Group and chairman of the Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubai Shopping Surprises.

    As always, the IIFA Weekend promises to be packed with action, with a film festival, the world premiere of a blockbuster Indian film and the FICCI – IIFA Global Business Forum, states an official release.

    MSN, in conjunction with the IIFA Academy have launched a contest, which would bring winners from among the web community to the IIFA Weekend to participate in the action with the stars and discover the sights and joys of the Dubai. Voting for the Idea-IIFA Awards – Popular Categories will commence on msn.co.in/iifa and Indya.com from 25 April and will continue till 31 May.

    At the press conference, IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan said, “The IIFA Awards have marked the beginning of a new era for recognizing and applauding the achievements of Indian Cinema. Regarded as one of the most credible award processes in India and abroad, I am proud to be associated with IIFA for the past seven years and my commitment is even more firm. I am looking forward to the celebrations in Dubai this year.”

    On this three year association, Idea Cellular’s CEO Vikram Mehmi, says, “Idea IIFA offers us the best platform to demonstrate the true essence of mobile and entertainment convergence. With Idea IIFA there is an unmatched value we provide to our customers by providing them the three aspects of entertainment that engage them through the all powerful mobile phone. With IDEA IIFA, our privileged customer will have access to specially created merchandise, contests, video and MMS downloads and several other value added services. Only Idea can take you there.”

    Adds Star India EVP Marketing Ajay Vidyasagar, “It is fitting that IIFA, which celebrates the emergence of Indian Cinema on a global platform, is partnering with STAR yet again. Post the success of IIFA last year, millions of viewers across India, UAE, Pakistan, USA, UK and South East Asia who Millions of viewers across India, US, UK and South East Asia who have chosen STAR Plus to be their preferred choice of Indian entertainment, are looking forward to IIFA in Dubai. We are proud to associate with IIFA and will work together to make this year’s event a truly memorable celebration of Indian Cinema and all our viewers.”

    Speaking on the occasion, DSF/DSS CEO Saeed Al Nabouba said, “Being associated with the biggest, best and most glamorous events of the world of the world is an ideal venue to host the IIFA Weekend. The event will celebrate the age old ties between the two countries and take it a step further to promote cultural and social harmony as well as open new avenues of trade and commerce. It will indeed build camaraderie and brotherhood between the two countries and deepen their cultural bond.”

    Expressing his pleasure on taking IIFA to Dubai, a business centre point, Wiz Sabbas Joseph said, “IIFA is going beyond just films and entertainment (the glamour aspect). It is providing a platform to the world to collaborate and further the business of cinema. With partners like Idea Cellular and Star TV network, IIFA forges ahead in the spheres of business, infrastructure, technology, films and post production, and other domains.”