ITV

Category: Press Release

  • Sony Max brings back comedy fillers

    Sony Max brings back comedy fillers

    MUMBAI: Here’s some good news for Sony Max viewers. Short format comedy fillers namely ‘Bittu Bak Bak’ and ‘Max Fully Deewana’ are back by popular demand on the channel from August interspersed through the day. India’s premier Hindi Movies channel, Sony Max which believes in going beyond movies to entertain its viewers has brought back the comic relief fillers intending to leave viewers in splits. Formulated as spoofs on iconic scenes from Bollywood, the fillers will see known faces namely Krushna Abhishek and Bharti Singh share screen space with new additions comprising of comedians Vikalp Mehta and Sugandha Mishra guaranteed to double the comedy quotient.

     

    This year audiences will be in for a treat with 60 rib tickling filmy gags which will see a few changes. For instance, ‘Bittu Bak Bak’ the quintessential classroom setup will now have comedian Krushna Abhishek don the role of a lady teacher – Rosy Ma’am. Mischievous and incorrigible student ‘Bittu’ played by Bharti Singh develops a crush on the new teacher. ‘Max Fully Deewana’, on the other hand, encapsulates the essence of the channel- ‘Deewana Bana De’ by showcasing hilarious spoofs on some of the most iconic scenes of Bollywood. The filmy gags will feature comedians Krushna Abhishek, Bharti Singh, Vikalp Mehta and Sugandha Mishra play out memorable scenes from Bollywood in a comic manner.

     

    Commenting on the new series of ‘Bittu Bak Bak’ is different from last year, comedian Krushna Abhishek says, “The new series of ‘Bittu Bak Bak’ features a new character – a lady teacher. Earlier Bittu was taught by a male teacher with whom he shared a ‘tom and jerry’ kind of a relationship. However, Bittu has developed a crush on the female teacher and shares a better rapport with her. Similarly with ‘Fully Deewana’, we have done a lot of new spoofs on recent movies like ‘Kick’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’.”

     

    Talking about entertaining people through the two- minute comedy fillers, comedian Bharti Singh says, “We do not want viewers to go anywhere between movies and thus, this concept of the comedy fillers helps keep them glued to their TV sets.  It just makes their television watching experience a lot more entertaining.”

     

    Commenting on the challenges of filming for these comedy fillers, she added, “This is very different from the usual comedy that I do where I have more time but over here I have to explain everything in 2 minutes. It includes a lot of impromptu performance. It’s very challenging for me because we are stand-up comedians and at times even one hour is not enough for us. However, having said that performing on these two minute fillers is a lot of fun.”

     

    Stressing on the importance of comedy fillers in between movies, Neeraj Vyas, Sr. EVP Business Head, MAX and MAX2, stated, “For a channel which provides its viewers with a wide assortment of movies, Sony MAX has always aimed at going beyond movies to entertain its viewers and give them that little extra to keep them coming back to the channel. Comedy fillers are a novel concept and outright funny which also acts as a stress buster for the viewers.”

  • Sporty Solutionz wins NRAI bid for production, sponsorship consultation

    Sporty Solutionz wins NRAI bid for production, sponsorship consultation

    MUMBAI: Shooting is the most promising discipline for India at Rio Olympic Games. The young and dynamic President of the National Rifle Association of India, Raninder Singh, is determined to transform this potential into real glory. His approach to accomplish this mission is thoroughly professional.

     

    Singh is committed to add many more firsts to the sport that has given the Nation its first individual Olympic Gold. The NRAI has signed up a deal with Sporty Solutionz Private Limited to engage the sports company as its strategic partners.  Sporty Solutionz, as part of the agreement, will also produce and broadcast the forthcoming Asian Air-gun Shooting Championships, to be held at Delhi’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range from September 26 to 30.

     

    SSPL will also serve NRAI as consultants to make the sport more visible, enhance commercial monetization and work out sales and marketing strategies. The NRAI President is confident that the tie up will bolster the sport.

     

    “We are happy to form this partnership with Sporty Solutionz. With its rich Olympic history and achievements, shooting is on a constant upward surge in India and I am confident that this partnership will help boost the popularity of the sport, attract corporate interest and bring it closer to public,” says Singh.

     

    Sporty Solutionz CEO Ashish Chadha, believes the sport has tremendous potential, which with an enhanced reach and visibility can make shooting the next big thing in Indian Sports.

     

    “Sporty Solutionz is proud to partner NRAI as its consultant. Shooting has given India not only its maiden individual Olympic gold but several World Champions and is one of the few sports where Indians are world leaders. With better resources, we are confident India can bring more medals back from Rio Olympics. Sporty Solutionz is proud of being a partner towards making it happen. We look forward to contributing in making it popular with the public and bring them closer to their shooting heroes. I thank the NRAI from the core of my heart for giving us an opportunity to be a part of this big mission,” says Chadha.

     

    The aim of the tie-up is not just monetary conversions, but to also make shooting a mass sports in terms of participation and fan base.

  • Nickelodeon and Sonic engage with over 500 schools across India

    Nickelodeon and Sonic engage with over 500 schools across India

    MUMBAI: School time is synonymous with friends, fun and learning and kids channels Nickelodeon and Sonic are set to add to the unforgettable experience. The campaigns, ‘Nickelodeon Party Hard with Motu Patlu’ and ‘Sonic Jo Dekhega Wo Jeetega’ aim at making school time special by curating a high octane entertainment and engagement event with kids. Upping the edutainment experience at schools, the month long engagement will reach out to over 5 lakh children in 500 schools across 16 cities in India.

     

    Days spent at school are most memorable and these campaigns through the school contact programme are all set to make sure that children celebrate the best years of their life.  The engaging programme kick starts with the introduction of the Nickelodeon and Sonic shows, leading to children participating in multiple learning based games with their favorite characters.  The games will be seamlessly integrated with team building activities with their school buddies and the Pakdam Pakdai gang.  Stories of their favorite characters Motu Patlu  will bring alive the spirit of friendship and themed games based on mind mapping and analytic skills will keep children engaged and entertained while also helping them hone their cognitive skills. Select few kids will also get a chance to win cool goodies and party with the awesome twosome Motu Patlu and get to win cool gadget from Sonic’s Pakdam Pakdai.

     

    Speaking about engaging with lakhs of kids though the school contact programme Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP & Business Head, Kids’ Cluster, Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd, said, “Engaging with children and making our characters an intrinsic part of every child’s life has been our key endeavor. Our robust school time engagement helps us connect with kids as we imbibe core values and skills in them. We are sure that kids will be delighted to spend time with their favorite characters at school with their friends”.

     

    Leading brands like Alpenliebe Juzt Jelly, Hamdard Joshina, Dabur Red Toothpaste, Act II Popcorn and Luxor have partnered with Nickelodeon in this celebration of school time.  The 1.5 month long initiative filled with laughter, action and entertainment will culminate on September 30th 2015.

  • Blogmint launches responsible blogging adoption programme

    Blogmint launches responsible blogging adoption programme

    MUMBAI: Blogmint, India’s 1st automated marketplace that connects brands with bloggers, vloggers and micro-bloggers has launched a pan India program to educate social influencers on the adoption of Responsible Blogging. Influencer Marketing, which is already a global marketing phenomenon is increasingly being adopted in India and there is an urgent need for Influencers to adopt the ethical ways of promoting content be it on blogs, vlogs or micro-blogs.

     

    Influencer Marketing is the fastest growing channel for digital customer acquisition as per a recent publication in AdWeek. As a consequence, Indian brands are increasingly engaging social media influencers as part of their marketing mix for creating brand awareness and product launches. The rationale is that the new age consumers spend more time online and digital starts have more appeal to them than traditional stars. A feedback from social influencers is akin to what a recommendation from family members and peer groups use to do earlier. As their opinions are followed by thousands, it becomes utmost necessary for social influencers to share their opinions in a responsible and ethical way.  

     

    The campaign is backed by a series of workshops with social influencers across India and a knowledge center that propagates the message in the social influencer community. 

     

    Irfan Khan, CEO, Blogmint.com said, “Blogmint being India’s leading influencer Marketing platform considers Responsible Blogging adoption program as a duty it has to fulfill to ensure content guidelines are in place much before there is a specific law for it.” 

     

    Blogmint has suggested specific guidelines that an influencer needs to follow ranging from respecting copyright and tax laws to disclosing professional relationships to considering the implications of what they write. The effort will lead to cementing the trust and transparency between social stars like bloggers, vloggers and micro-bloggers and their followers.

  • NDTV & Philips present ‘Breathe Clean Conclave’ 2015

    NDTV & Philips present ‘Breathe Clean Conclave’ 2015

    MUMBAI: India is home to 6 of the world’s most polluted cities, and the air we are breathing causes more deaths than tobacco smoking or poor nutrition. Indoor air is 2 to 5 times worse than outside air. It is toxic for our children and families, causing cancers, reduced life expectancy, lung damage and air borne allergies.

     

    Inhaling pollutant air takes away atleast 1-2 years of a typical human life. In an effort to highlight this critical national issue and recommend possible solutions, NDTV and Philipshosted the ‘Breathe Clean Conclave 2015’ today at Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi. Actor Soha Ali Khan also extended her support for the initiative.

     

    The conclave began with an opening keynote address by  Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge)  and was attended by leading medical practitioners, environmentalists, NGOs and concerned citizen and parent groups. The two panel discussions held as part of the Breathe Clean Conclave focused on Breathe Clean- Act for Better Air and Indoor Air Quality and Children’s Health.

     

    Inaugurating the conclave, Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge) said, “I am really happy that NDTV has taken this initiative because I feel media houses can make people aware and also help tackle issues. At the outset, I must say we have a problem as any other city in the world and this is because of growing population, growing density and growing rate of urbanization. Delhi air has gone bad in the last 8-10 years and if media would have started a campaign earlier it could have worked faster. We must create awareness of more ventilation, more plantation and more education to address this issue. I want to launch Fresh Air – My birth right campaign to help address this problem.”

     

    Sharing his thoughts on the initiative, Vikram Chandra, Group CEO of NDTV said, “The health and economic impact of pollution is worrying and with the rising vehicular and industrial pollution, this national issue is only going to get worse. NDTV believes that clean air should be a basic human right. Through this conclave, we hope to give experts as well as citizens a platform to suggest recommendations to the government, as well as motivate people to take action at an individual level.”

     

    Krishna Kumar, Managing Director and Vice President, Philips India, said, “The rising toll of deteriorating quality of air is becoming a household concern. A lot more potent than outdoor air pollution, indoor air pollution is increasingly being recognized as a threat. We, at Philips, recognize this challenge and are committed to deliver a healthier lifestyle for our consumers through meaningful innovations. Breathe Clean Campaign is an initiative to help consumers and institutions recognize the need to switch to healthier lifestyle practices. Since clean air has become a rarity, Philips is constantly innovating to bring about freedom from indoor air pollution.”

     

    Soha Ali Khan, Actor, also voiced her concern and said, “It is alarming that the very air we are breathing can be so harmful to our health. I was shocked to find out that air pollution levels inside our homes can be twice as high as those outside. This is an issue that demands our immediate attention and I am happy to be associated with NDTV’s Breathe Clean Conclave, a platform dedicated to finding solutions to this crisis affecting all of us – especially children and the elderly.”

     

    Moderated by Vikram Chandra, the first session had an eminent list of panelists including Soha Ali Khan, Actor; Prof Sanjay Zodpey, Vice President, Academics, Public Health foundation of India ; A Krishna Kumar, MD and CEO, Philips India; Dr Gary Stutte, Senior Scientist, NASA; Parthaa Bosu, India Director and South Asia Liaison, Clean Air Asia; Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director – Research and Advocacy , Centre for Science and Environment; Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, MP, Odisha and Dr Randeep Guleria, Head of the Department of Pulmonology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences who shared their insights on how we can contribute for better clean air.

     

    The second discussion focused on the health impact of air pollution on children and was moderated by NDTV’s Ravish Kumar. The panel included Jayati Singh, Director and Business: Head Health and Wellness and Air, Philips Consumer Lifestyle; Kunal Kohli, Director and Concerned Parent; Dr Vivek Nangia, Pulmonologist, Fortis Hospital; Sushma Paul Berlia, Apeejay Stya & Svran Group, Barun Aggarwal, Breathe Easy and Dr Randeep Guleria, Head of the Department of Pulmonology, All India Institute ofMedical Sciences.

     

    The closing key note address was delivered by Prof Sanjay Zodpey, Vice President, Academics, Public Health foundation of India.The key takeaways from the sessions were presented to Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar as recommendations for a clean air future.

  • Superstar Rajinikanth is back on Zee Cinema with super hit ‘Lingaa’

    Superstar Rajinikanth is back on Zee Cinema with super hit ‘Lingaa’

    MUMBAI: It’s going to be  an action packed Sunday as Zee Cinema, the world’s biggest theatre for Hindi movies, brings to its viewers superstar Rajinikanth’s ultimate blockbuster movie ‘Lingaa’ on 30th August, 9 pm.   Lingaa also marks the debut of Sonakshi Sinha in the South and it was Rajinikanth’s first ever birthday release.

     

    The film begins with the murder of a government official inspecting a dam, and then the action cuts to Lingaa (Rajinikanth), a small-time criminal, who is in prison with his cohorts (Santhanam, Karunakaran and co). Lakshmi (Anushka), a TV reporter, helps him to get out on bail to return to his village, Solaiyur and re-open the temple that his grandfather, Raja Lingeswaran (Rajinikanth), had built. At first, Lingaa refuses because he is angry at his ancestor as he left his father to die penniless by donating his wealth to the masses.

     

    However, he ends up going to Solaiyur when he learns of his grandfather’s sacrifice. Lingeswaran had resigned his job as a collector when he realized that the British will not let him build the dam that will benefit the people of Solaiyur. Being an extremely wealthy Maharaja, who has studied civil engineering in Oxford, he used his own money to fund the project and planned the construction himself, rallying the people of the village to his cause. However, an egotistical British collector used every trick in the book — money, caste, and power- to thwart him at every step. Lingeswaran had given his entire wealth to the collector for the sake of completing the dam. Years later, Naga Bhushan (Jagapathi Babu), a corrupt MP is trying to weaken the dam’s structure for a kickback, and Lingaa returns to the village to protect his grandfather’s legacy.

     

    Will Raja Lingeswaran’s descendant Lingaa be able to open the Shiva temple?

     

    Catch superstar Rajinikanth in a double role by tuning into ‘Lingaa’ on Zee Cinema, this Sunday 30th August, at 9 pm.

  • Steven Smith finishes the Ashes as number-one ranked batsman

    Steven Smith finishes the Ashes as number-one ranked batsman

    MUMBAI: Steven Smith has reclaimed the top spot in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen which were released following the conclusion of The Oval and P.Sara Oval Tests.

    The incoming Australia captain started the Ashes series at the top of the rankings on 913 points, but had lost his place to England’s Joe Root after the Trent Bridge Test. However, after scoring 143 in his side’s an innings and 46 runs victory at the The Oval, the 26-year-old has overtaken second-placed AB de Villiers, as well as Root, who has dropped to third following scores of six and 11. 

    Root had started the series in seventh place on 815 points and has gained 74 points and four places over the course of the series.

    There was further good news for David Warner who has moved up two places to ninth after scoring 85, while Chris Rogers concluded his career in 10th place (after climbing 13 places since the start of the series) as the second-highest left-handed batsmen in the rankings behind another illustrious retiree Kumar Sangakkara, who finished his career in seventh spot. 

    Sangakkara, who scored 32 and 18 in Sri Lanka’s 278 runs defeat at the P.Sara Oval, first reached number-one in the Test batting rankings in December 2007 against England after innings of 92 and 152 in Kandy.

    Sangakkara spent a total of 97 Tests and 812 days as the top-ranked Test batsman in the world and was last number-one in December 2014, before losing the top spot to de Villiers. His highest-ever points tally was 938, achieved on 1 December 2007, and that total is the highest-ever achieved by a Sri Lanka batsman to date and the joint sixth-highest of all-time.

    Meanwhile, Michael Clarke has finished his 115-Test career in 25th spot. Clarke surged to the top of the rankings in August 2009 and did so for the last time in February 2013. During this period, he topped the batting rankings on several occasions (totaling 11 Tests and 70 days).

    Clarke is one of the 30 internationals, including eight Australia batmen, to reach 900 points, which was incidentally his highest points tally that was achieved after the 2012 Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka.

    As an Australia captain, the 34-year-old from Sydney led his team to the top of the ICC Test Team Rankings from May 2011 to July 2014.

    The other big movers in the latest batting rankings are India’s Ajinkya Rahane (up two places to a career-high 20th), Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne (up two to 34th) and England’s Moeen Ali (up two to a career-high 48th), while there were also notable career-high gains for Adam Voges (up 21 to 53rd), and India team-mates Lokesh Rahul (up 30 places to 87th) and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (up 15 places to 100th).

     

    In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has climbed two places to sixth after recording match figures of four for 86 runs in London, while Ravichandran Ashwin’s match tally of seven for 118 in Colombo has helped the off-spinner overtake Rangana Herath into eighth place on 769 points, one point behind South Africa’s Vernon Philander. 

    Arising from the conclusion of the fifth Ashes Test, there were gains for Peter Siddle (up three places to 14th) and Nathan Lyon (up two to 16th), while the highest England movers again were Moeen (up four places to 30th) and Ben Stokes (up one place to a career-high 41st). Mitchell Marsh has rocketed 36 places to a career-high 71st place.

    Meanwhile, there were career-high gains for Sri Lanka duo of Dhammika Prasad, whose six for 125 runs in Colombo has helped him move up four places to 25th, while his team-mate Tharindu Kaushal has moved up one place to 59th.

    The biggest mover in the bowling rankings, though, was India leg-spinner Amit Mishra whose match haul of seven for 72 has helped him move up 42 places to a career-high 39th. 

    Ashwin has also gained ground on Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan in the ICC Player Rankings for Test All-rounders and has reduced the deficit on the leader to 43 points.

    The deciding third and final Test between Sri Lanka and India starts at Colombo on Friday. If India wins the series 2-1, it will overtake New Zealand and move into fifth place. However, a Sri Lanka series victory would see it progress to 96 points and overtake India into sixth place. In the event of a 1-1 tied series, Virat Kohli’s side would remain in sixth place, four points clear of Mathews’ men.

     

    Click here for ICC Test player rankings

  • Innovative customer initiative from DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop and FreeCharge

    Innovative customer initiative from DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop and FreeCharge

    MUMBAI: DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop (DSTS) has introduced an innovative deal in association with the FreeCharge, the online recharge platform, to help customers deal with the pain and hassle of missing accessories in their shipment. To compensate customers for a missing part or accessory, or short shipment, the company is offering mobile money as compensation.

     

    Explaining the initiative, Maneesh Goel, the company’s CEO said: “Our experience has shown that customers are anxious about query resolution time in cases where they received a shipment with a missing part or accessory. To considerably reduce the complaint resolution time we now offer mobile money in lieu of the cost of the missing part. It offers our customers a seamless shopping experience and saves them both time as well as money.”

     

    So, for instance, if you have ordered a mobile phone and the shipment was received with the charger missing, DEN-Snapdeal TV Shop will credit into your mobile phone account the precise amount the charger is worth.

     

    This initiative from DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop comes from its collaboration with FreeCharge and is a boon for customers who are not Internet savvy and do not have an email ID. It makes it easier for these customers to have their phones recharged through the call centre. It reduces query resolution time drastically and enhances customer experience.

     

    FreeCharge is India’s leading online recharge platform for prepaid mobile, data cards, DTH and postpaid mobile bill payment. Snapdeal acquired FreeCharge earlier this year in one of the largest deals in the consumer Internet space in India.

  • Masstech to spotlight latest innovations for advanced workflows, media asset management and newsrooms at IBC2015

    Masstech to spotlight latest innovations for advanced workflows, media asset management and newsrooms at IBC2015

    MUMBAI: Masstech — the trusted provider of innovative, advanced workflow and media asset management solutions — will showcase the company’s latest software offerings and enhancements at the IBC2015 Conference and Exhibition, taking place September 11-15 in Amsterdam.

     

    Masstech will co-exhibit in the stand of partner MOG Technologies, number 7.K28. The two companies have worked closely together to integrate MOG’s mxfSPEEDRAIL ingest systems with Masstech’s media management solutions, enabling efficient, cohesive, automated workflows from production and ingest to archive and distribution.

     

    Through a combination of technology demonstrations and insightful one-on-one discussions with Masstech experts, attendees can learn how Masstech’s solutions and expertise enable media organizations to efficiently and easily manage their valuable digital media content and all of its related information throughout its lifecycle.

     

    Masstech media asset management solutions will also be featured in the Disk Archive Corporation stand (number 8.B38f), working in conjunction with the ALTO-II secure, high-performance, disk-based media archive.

     

    Masstech’s latest solutions address the evolving challenges of media management, from exponentially growing volumes of content, to increasing collaboration, to the expanding processing and storage requirements of higher-resolution formats such as 4K Ultra HD. Built on the latest generation of the powerful and flexible MassStore software engine, Masstech solutions bring tangible operational and business benefits to applications including:

     

    * Advanced Workflows — Unparalleled third-party integrations seamlessly streamline even the most complex environments spanning disparate vendors, products and versions. Direct integration interfaces with popular production, automation, playout, storage and distribution systems eliminate workflow barriers to maximize efficiency and simplify operations.

     

    * Media Asset Management — With an intuitive new HTML5 user interface, rich support for unstructured metadata, search engine enhancements, embedded player and more, the latest version of MassStore makes it faster and easier than ever before for media organizations of any size to store, find, reuse, move and manage their valuable content and all of its related information.

     

    * Newsrooms — Masstech enables effortless archiving and sharing directly within journalists’ familiar newsroom system interface, eliminating workflow barriers to let them focus on producing content-rich stories in less time. Already deployed in newsrooms spanning 10 station groups that cover the U.S. from coast to coast, significant recent orders are continuing the solution’s rapidly expanding adoption.

     

    * Archive — Masstech’s scalable content storage management delivers unmatched ROI with no storage capacity-based fees. Intelligent tiered storage management is ideal for the larger file sizes involved in 4K workflows, and Masstech supports a broad range of online, nearline and deep storage options, from disk drive based storage to Sony Optical Disc Archive and LTO data tape libraries.

     

    “Our solutions have always excelled at addressing complex workflow challenges and simplifying media operations, and the need for media organizations to streamline their file-based workflows is greater than ever,” said Joe French, President and CEO of Masstech. “Today’s media environments, built up over time, are often a complicated mix of poorly-coupled products from different vendors. Evolving business and operational requirements such as increased multi-site collaboration and the integration of 4K processes with existing HD pipelines threaten to further compound this situation. We’re excited to show IBC attendees how we can solve these challenges while reducing complexity and making their lives easier.”

     

    Leading media companies worldwide depend on Masstech to deliver superior user experiences, exceptional ROI and frictionless media asset management workflows that enable them to maximize their efficiency, monetize their content across multiple platforms, create better productions, enhance their competitive position, and save time and money.

  • Zee TV Canada partners with Gurdas Maan’s Live tour

    Zee TV Canada partners with Gurdas Maan’s Live tour

    MUMBAI: Sai Productions and Zee TV Canada bring the living legend, Gurdas Maan, Live in Concert to Canada. The concerts are being held in 6 big cities across Canada in September, starting with Vancouver, BC on the 5th. The tour promises to entertain attendees with versatile performances and music that will make them want to get up and dance!

     

    Zee TV Canada is giving viewers a once in a lifetime opportunity to win VIP tickets to the much awaited tour. Additionally, the winner at each city will also receive a backstage pass to take picture with the legend himself!

     

    Don’t miss to watch the up-close and personal interview with Gurdas Maan only on Zee TV Canada on 30 August, 20:30 EST / 17:30 PST.
     

    Sameer Targe, Head of Business for Zee Americas stated, “Shri Maan Sahab is no less than a legend himself. I have never seen as high voltage and engaging performer like him, he can single handedly carry a 3 hour show by himself and still not be tired. It is our privilege to be part of this historic moment and bring an opportunity to our viewers to meet with him in person.”