ITV

Category: News Headline

  • Zee Network launches ‘Zee’ in Indonesia

    Zee Network launches ‘Zee’ in Indonesia

    MUMBAI: Zee Network has launched its channel Zee in Indonesia. The channel will be dubbed in the local language Bahasa.

    The commercial launch of the channel was held on 1 March 2006 on the multi-channel satellite pay-television platform Astro Nusantara as a package.

    Astro Nusantara hopes to reach 3.5 million subscribers in Indonesia in the next three years with the channel in their basic line up. The dubbed channel will be telecast from 13 March.

    Simultaneously, another one hour band will be telecast in Malaysia to 1.7 million households with sub-titles in Bahasa. This will be available on Astro Prima (the local Astro channel) as a band until Measat 3 is launched. On the launch of Measat 3 (tentatively August 2006), the entire channel Zee will be available with sub titles to the Malay audience.

    Indiantelevision.com had first reported Zee Network’s plans to work out an arrangement with Malaysia’s multi-channel pay TV operator Astro to launch a new dedicated channel with Hindi content, for its Indonesian, Malaysian and Brunei audiences, in September 2005.

    Speaking on the launch, Zee International Operations CEO Dheeraj Kapuria said, “We take great pleasure in announcing Zee in Bahasa. We are optimistic about the popularity of this channel, as our viewers in Malaysia and Indonesia will now be able to enjoy the content on Zee in a language they can easily comprehend.”

    The channel’s content will be sourced from the flagship channel Zee TV library, which will be localised with Bahasa Indonesia dubbing and Bahasa Melayu subtitling, to reflect the different language, lifestyle and viewing habits of the audiences in the three countries, Zee Network said in an official release.

    Content from the Indian sub-continent, such as top Bollywood movies, have enjoyed high ratings in this region. The Zee channel promises programmes of various genres which include top Hindi soap operas, drama serials, blockbuster movies, lifestyle, entertainment and musical programmes, the release adds.

  • Zee TV to launch ‘Business Baazigar’ by month-end

    Zee TV to launch ‘Business Baazigar’ by month-end

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra will make his debut appearance on television in the network’s big budget reality business talent hunt show Business Baazigar.

    The one-hour show will launch in the last week of March as a weekly.
    Chandra will be seen playing the role of a no-nonsense judge to perfection, as the show promises to give Zee TV lots of scope for reality-oriented programming.

    According to market estimations, Zee TV has spent in the range of Rs 100 to 120 million for the first season of Business Baazigar. The season will have 24 episodes, from which 15 episodes have completed the post-production phase. One winner will be chosen at the end of the season.

    Chandra and Passionfunds CEO Mahesh Murthy, along with a new guest judge each week, will judge the contestants through personal interviews. MTV veejay Cyrus Sahukar will anchor the show.

    Business Baazigar will enter the marketing and promotion phase next week, with the channel officially announcing the launch. The show has been slotted in the weekday band.

    Zee has already devoted a lot of time on this pet project of Chandra’s. The media house first announced the big ticket property in the second half of 2004. The channel had even roped in Aditya Birla Group as the title sponsor of the show well in advance. The show, which was initially produced by 24 FPS, is now being handled by Zee’s in-house team.

    Business Baazigar is a search for people with smart business ideas. The show proposes to give these people the money they require to start a business based on their ideas. This money, which is essentially in the form of venture funding, will run into millions, and different winners will get different amounts depending on their business idea.

    The entry of Business Baazigar will see Zee TV parading as many as three reality-oriented programmes in the weekday line up. The channel already airs the game show Kam Ya Zyaada Monday to Wednesday. It will telecast the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 offspring Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Ek Main Aur Ek Tu on Thursday and Friday, starting 16 March.

  • International Academy accepts entries for Intl Emmy Awards

    International Academy accepts entries for Intl Emmy Awards

    MUMBAI: The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has begun accepting entries for this year’s International Emmy Awards to recognize outstanding achievement in television. The last date for submitting entries is 3 April.

    The International Emmy World Television Festival will take place 19 and 20 November. The awards will be presented at the International Emmy Awards Gala on 20 November 2006 in New York City.

    Entries are being accepted in 11 award categories: Breaking News, Continuing News Coverage, Best Performance by an Actress, Best Performance by an Actor, Arts Programming, Children & Young People, Comedy, Documentary, Drama Series, Non-Scripted Entertainment and TV Movie/Mini-Series.
    Entries are judged during three rounds over the course of six months by some 500 television professionals in 35 countries.

    Meanwhile, The Hidden Life, a one -hour documentary produced by Long Island residents, Suzy Shechtman and Dr. Burton Grebin, has been nominated for three Emmy Awards.

    The Hidden Life traces the rich history of the first order of Episcopal nuns in the United States, the Sisters of St. Mary. Despite all precedent, the sisters broke a tradition of more than 100 years of silence to allow the creation of this documentary about their order, their beliefs and their lives. The irony is that though they live in silence, they have much to say.

    Shechtman says, “Everyone has a story to tell and many of those stories are lost with the passing of generations. I am committed to preserving those stories and bringing them to life.”

  • HBO series Six Feet Under to be aired on Bravo

    MUMBAI: The NBC Universal-owned cable network Bravo has acquired the exclusive rebroadcast rights to 63 one-hour episodes of HBO’s critically acclaimed drama series Six Feet Under for the next four years.

    To be telecast on Bravo in the fall of 2006, Six Feet Under is a darkly comedic series about the trials and tribulations of a family of undertakers, played out against the solemn backdrop of an independent funeral home in Los Angeles. The series ran on HBO for five years.

    Six Feet Under was created by Alan Ball, Oscar-winning writer of the film American Beauty. The acclaimed series ended its run on HBO last year. It received 32 Emmy nominations and won seven times, and was nominated for eight Golden Globes, winning three.

    Bravo’s president Lauren Zalaznick said, “Six Feet Under represents the artistic, creative and critically acclaimed series that defines Bravo’s programming. The phenomenon that hooked so many HBO viewers will be brought back to ‘life’ on our air, now available to more than 80 million households, with its signature dark situational humor and dramatic irony.”

    Earlier, Bravo had acquired the rights to and aired HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show, as well as NBC’s The West Wing.

  • Star News launches ‘Ye Bharat Desh Hai Mera’

    Star News launches ‘Ye Bharat Desh Hai Mera’

    MUMBAI: Star News has launched a reality news show Ye Bharat Desh Hai Mera, starting today. The weekly programme, airing at 6:30 pm, reflects upon social issues, real life incidents and general human-interest stories.

    “The programme will involve itself in the real-time resolution of these issues, often involving an intense debate from conflicting points of views amongst the chief protagonists involved.

    Resolutions in these often-emotional play-outs may or may not always be possible; however there will eventually be a conclusion. The conclusion itself will provide a real-time broad commentary on the ‘state of the nation,” informs an official release.

    Exploring a range of stories from victims of atrocities to drawbacks of the system, Ye Bharat Desh Hai Mera aims to pack in a high voltage of human emotions and fervour. The programme format is structured in a flexible manner to accommodate, whenever required, live audience interactions and suggestions.
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  • Nick to launch new show – ‘Gili Gili Gappa’ on Holi

    Nick to launch new show – ‘Gili Gili Gappa’ on Holi

    MUMBAI: Nick is readying for Holi with a special slime show of its own. Gili Gili Gappa, which is the Indian version of Slimetime Live, will premiere on 15 March at 4.30 pm and will air every Friday. The fast-paced show embodies Nick’s characteristic features – noise, mess and slime.

    The first international version of Nick’s Guinness World Record breaking gameshow, Gili Gili Gappa is hosted by Nischint (aka Nishu) and Aaliyah. The duo tries to keep order while contributing to the chaos, Nick style.

    In Gili Gili Gappa, two teams go head to head in each of the six unique games like Mooh Phat, Aas Paas Bandar Gili Gili Andar and SpongeBum Gili Chaddi. The finale round called Holi Hai has the two winners up against each other for the big challenge, vying for Nick’s ultimate honour – a chance to sit under the “Gili Gili Ganga” machine for a complete sliming.

    But they’re not the only ones who get to participate and get a taste of Gili Gili. The eliminated contestants also get into the act equipped with water balloons, Gili Gili shooters and popcorn as they try to influence the outcome.

    Gili Gili Gappa functions as links between the four shows on the two-hour NickToons block Trollz, Chalk Zone, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron and SpongeBob SquarePants. Nick general manager Hema Govindan said, “It’s the final touch to our ace NickToons block.”

  • Tata Sky signs Sun Microsystems for IT solutions and support

    Tata Sky signs Sun Microsystems for IT solutions and support

    BANGALORE: Tata Sky Ltd., the joint venture between Tata and Star, has selected Sun Microsystems, Inc. to provide IT infrastructure solutions and support for the launch of the company’s direct-to-home (DTH) television service in India. Tata Sky is targeting a July 2006 launch of the service.

    Tata Sky will be powered by a combination of Sun Fire E20 servers running ‘UltraSPARC(R) IV+’ based processors and Sun Fire Workgroup servers. The servers would run the Solaris (TM) 10 operating system with Sun N1 (TM) System Manager to ensure maximum up-time, fault recovery and load management, states an official release.

    “We are delighted to have chosen Sun Microsystems,” says Tata Sky Ltd CEO Vikram Kaushik. “Sun’s offerings will enable us with a technology infrastructure that is best-of-class and geared to deliver high service level standards that we are targeting”.

    “We are proud to be chosen to offer the technology infrastructure needed by Tata Sky,” says Sun Microsystems, India MD Bhaskar Pramanik. “Our products are highly scalable and reliable, making it easier for us to deliver mission critical applications for the most exciting new DTH TV project in the world”.

  • DD Direct Plus sets to be installed free of cost in low terrestrial density

    DD Direct Plus sets to be installed free of cost in low terrestrial density

    MUMBAI: Targeting the areas wherein the terrestrial coverage is negligible, the free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) service of Doordarshan — DD Direct Plus will soon be available to states including — Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, North-East Region, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal.

    The Information & Broadcasting and parliamentary affairs minister P R Das Munshi has announced that 10,000 DTH receive systems including the dish and the set-to-box (STB) will be distributed free-of-cost.

    In an official statement issued, the free distribution of DTH sets is targeted to the states where the terrestrial coverage is lower than national coverage.

    This was done through public institutions viz. Anganwadis, Schools, Public Health Centres, Panchayats, Youth Clubs, Cooperative Societies, etc. The free distribution of DTH sets is targeted to the States where the terrestrial coverage is lower than national coverage.

    So far, 8,465 DTH receive units have been installed in the uncovered villages of above States and North-East Region.

    The DD Direct Plus platform includes the Doordarshan channels, private TV channels and audio channels of All India Radio. Prasar Bharati will provide 100 television channels and 50 radio channels by the end of this year (2006). The service is available on the high power transponders of NSS-6 satellite.

  • Sahara One programming head Kumud Chowdhary quits

    Sahara One programming head Kumud Chowdhary quits

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Television programming head (fiction) Kumud Chowdhary has put in her papers. Chowdhary joined Sahara One in January 2004 from Star, where she was commissioning editor.

    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Sahara One Television COO Purnendu Bose said, “Yes, Kumud has put in her papers today. She has done a terrific job here for the last two years and is moving on to pursue her personal aspirations. We wish her all the best.”

    Chowdhary said that she was moving to pursue other things. When queried as to what her next destination was, she remained noncommittal, saying it was too soon to talk about it and “nothing was final as yet.”

    In her tenure at Sahara One Television as programming head, Chowdhary was instrumental in bringing on board shows like Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki, Hare Kaanch Ki Choodiyan, Kituu Sabb Jantii Hai, Kohinoor and Saath Rahega Always. “These shows have brought a lot of credibility to the channel and has brought Sahara One in synch with the other players in the industry,” Chowdhary said.

    Chowdhary had joined Sahara One when post the restructuring of Sahara’s media and entertainment business under a joint venture management company with Percept, Sahara Media and Entertainment vice president programming Triptii Sharma put in her papers in late 2003. Chowdhary was brought in to step into Sharma’s shoes.

  • Sonys animation film to be simultaneously released in Imax 3D

    Sonys animation film to be simultaneously released in Imax 3D

    MUMBAI: Imax Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced that Sony Pictures Animation’s first computer generated project Open Season, will be released in Imax 3D simultaneously with the films premiere in conventional theatres on 29 September 2006.

    The film will be digitally converted into Imax 3D and re-mastered into the image and sound quality of the Imax experience through Imax digital re-mastering technology. Sony will be the exclusive distributor of the film to Imax theatres worldwide.

    Open Season stars the vocal talents of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing and Gary Sinise. Imax’s 2006 film slate now includes six new digitally re-mastered
    Hollywood films scheduled to be released day-and-date to Imax theatres, and one original Imax 3D film, Deep Sea 3D, which opened last weekend. Open Season brings the total number of new Imax 3D releases for the year to four.

    The deal marks the second Imax release for Sony following Spider-Man 2: The Imax Experience a couple of years ago.

    In Open Season Boog voiced by Lawrence, a grizzly bear with no survival skills, has his perfect world in the tranquil town of Timberline turned upside-down when he meets Elliot voiced by Kutcher, a scrawny, fast-talking wild mule deer.