ITV

Category: Press Release

  • Mobile2Win brings Art of Living to your phones

    Mumbai, February 15, 2006: The Art of Living Foundation is the largest volunteer based NGO in the world, with programs on yoga, meditation and stress elimination that have benefited millions of people across the world. In addition to this, the Foundation also renders service to society through a number of Seva projects such as education of rural children in India, poverty reduction in Asia, and many others.

     

    His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the driving force behind the movement, travels and teaches internationally, spreading the simple message of love and compassion, which continues to draw people from all walks of life.

     

    Following an exclusive tie-up with mobile2win, the Art of Living will be accessible to you no matter where you go. All one has to do is SMS AOL to 8558 and H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be by your side! This tie-up would be an additional revenue stream for the Foundation’s Seva Projects, as the money generated, would go back into funding these initiatives. This entire range of content will be available for downloads across ALL the operators in the country! Content will be made live across ALL platforms including WAP, voice platforms and SMS.

     

    A wide variety of mobile content is available for download, which includes wallpapers of the Guruji, the Art of Living Silver Jubilee anthem, and a wide selection of bhajans (as ring tones).

    A simple to use, vibrant, WAP site has also been specially created to enhance the interactive experience. On this site, one can also find Video clips of Guruji’s discourses. All mobile content is downloadable from operators across the country, via GPRS & SMS.

     

    The Art of Living Foundation celebrates its Silver Jubilee on February 17th, 18th &19th. During this time, Mobile users can access a wealth of information – the itinerary, venues, dates of upcoming programs, accommodation availability, and making donations to the Foundation.

     

    Rajiv Hiranandani: Country Head, mobile2win, India, says, “The Art of Living partnership is the next step in mobile lifestyle and entertainment. We at m2w have recognized that consumers want more on their phones than just pure ring tones and basic games and our tie up with The Art Of Living will ensure that lifestyle will be available on the screen closest to you- the mobile screen.”

     

    When asked for his views on this tie-up, Prasana Prabhu, Head Publication Division – Vyakti Vikas Kendra, said, “Our intention is to make His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s knowledge, which frees people from all the stresses, reach every corner of the world. We would like to use all possible modes and medium to make sure we achieve it and this initiative is one of them.”

     

    mobile2win is India’s market leader in mobile content and wireless media solutions. Its market leading media relationships and brand clients provide the company with India’s strongest distribution network for consumer wireless content and applications. In addition, mobile2win is a leading developer of mobile games, value added content and has 200 brand-marketing campaigns with over 80 of the world’s largest brands.

     

  • MCCS picks up rich haul of 9 metals – 5 Golds, 3 Silver & 1 Bronze

    Mumbai, June 28, 2006: The glittering PROMAX&BDA Awards function held at New York provided a rich haul of metals for MCCS (Media Content & Communications Services), which broadcasts STAR News, India’s first homegrown news channel, and STAR Ananda, India’s first 24-hour national Bengali news channel.

    4 BDA GOLDS – MCCS won BDA Golds in the Best Image promo category for the STAR Ananda launch promo; in the Best Special Events promo category for the STAR News election special Kya Banega Muhyamantri promo; and in the On-air illustration category for Factoid-Right to Information. Besides, these 3 Golds, MCCS won a further BDA Gold in the Open category for STAR News special series Ek Shahar Ho Sapno Ka.

    3 BDA SILVERS – Meanwhile, STAR News election special Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri won Silver for Special Events promo, and the STAR Ananda Teaser won silver in the ID category. The avidly watched STAR News sports programme series, Match Ke Mujrim, also notched Silver for Topical Promo.
    Category Programme Channel Promax / BDA Award

    1 Art Direction & Design: Image Promo Ananda Launch Promo STAR Ananda BDA Gold
    2 Art Direction & Design: Special Events Promo Kya Banega Mukhyamantri STAR News BDA Gold
    3 On-Air Illustration Factoid – Right to Information STAR News BDA Gold
    4 Open Ek Shahar Ho Sapno Ka STAR News BDA Gold
    5 News Campaign using one or more media Match Ke Mujrim STAR News Promax Gold
    6 Art Direction & Design: Special Events Promo Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri STAR News BDA Silver
    7 ID STAR Ananda Teaser STAR Ananda BDA Silver
    8 Art Direction & Design: Topical Promo Match Ke Mujrim STAR News BDA Silver
    9 Open Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri STAR News BDA Bronze

    1 BDA BRONZE – Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri won Bronze in the Open Category. BDA is the world’s leading association of designers involved in all aspects of electronic design for the broadcast, broadband, and multimedia world. The BDA World Gold Awards are in recognition of design excellence in electronic design.

    1 PROMAX GOLD – Match Ke Mujrim was again the recipient of an award, this time a Promax Gold for the Best News Programme campaign using one or more media. PROMAX is the world’s premier association of promotion and marketing professionals in electronic media – those responsible for building audiences and revenues for their organizations. The Promax World Gold awards are in universal recognition of such marketing contributions.

    In the Indian participation, MCCS have outshone all other news networks, whether entertainment or news, with a haul of 5 Golds! This recognition is only further endorsement to the People’s Channel’s pursuit of excellence.

    Promax/BDA is the worldwide association of entertainment marketers, promoters and designers, representing more than 500 television stations and all major broadcast and cable networks from the U. S. as well as more than 3,000 individual members in 70 countries.

    ABOUT MCCS

    Media Content & Communications Services India Pvt. Ltd. (MCCS) broadcasts STAR News, India’s first homegrown news channel, and STAR Ananda, India’s first 24-hour national Bengali news channel. MCCS is a 74:26 joint venture between ABP TV – a 100% subsidiary of ABP Pvt. Ltd., and STAR News Broadcasting Ltd., wholly-owned subsidiary of the STAR Group; two of the biggest brands in Indian media. Living up to its motto of “Aapko Rakhe Aagey”, STAR News is a people’s channel that focuses on relevant news in a cutting-edge format. Since its conception, the Channel has grown to command a viewership of over 20 million Indian homes and is the first and only Global Indian News Channel. In June 2005, MCCS launched another first, STAR Ananda, which immediately set a benchmark with its diverse, yet incisive news coverage. Introducing a paradigm shift in the broadcast of regional language news, STAR Ananda continues to consolidate, reaching out to over two and a half million discerning viewers.

    For further information, please contact:
    Navin Tauro / Swati Sundareswaran / Daylon D’Cruz
    Vaishnavi Corporate Communications
    Tel: 022 6656 8787 / Fax: 022 6656 8788

  • Cable operator’s control room raided for pirating signals of Zee Turner channels

    Company takes a legal action; court orders raid at operator’s premises

    June 14, 2006: International Cable TV Network, one of the prominent cable operators in city of Udipi in Karnataka has been caught red-handed for pirating signals of channels from Zee Turner bouquet. The operator had been pilfering some channels of Zee Turner bouquet for last three months thereby causing huge financial losses to the company.

     

    On obtaining the information and evidences of illegal usage of its’ channel signals, Zee Turner filed a case of piracy and unfair trade practices in Delhi High Court against the operator on June 1, 2006. Honorable Delhi High Court ordered a raid at operator’s premises and appointed a court commissioner for conducting the raid.

     

    Accordingly, Mr. K.K. Sharma, the court commissioner, with the help of local police and Zee Turner representatives conducted a civil raid at International Cable TV Network’s control room in Malpe Beach. While conducting the raid, Court Commissioner found enough evidences of piracy and pilferage of Zee Turner channels. Besides other evidences, the court commissioner also found pirated IRD Boxes that were being used to illegally distribute the signals by the operator.

     

    Those pirated IRD boxes as being used for illegal transmission of Zee Turner channels were seized and sealed by the court commissioner.

     

    International Cable TV Network was an authorized cable operator of Zee Turner until December 21, 2005. However, arrangement between the two was terminated on December 22, 2005 due to violation of the terms of the agreement with Zee Turner and the company switched off the signals of International cable TV Network. However, International Cable TV Network thereafter started using pirated boxes to illegitimately distribute and display the channels from Zee Turner bouquet to its customers.

     

    Speaking on the issue, Mr. Arun Poddar, CEO Zee Turner said, “We at Zee Turner will not allow any sort of unfair trade practices and piracy of our signals and an aggressive action will be taken against any operator indulging in such practices.”

     

    About Zee-Turner

    With 14 regional offices a countrywide network of over 400 dealers, Zee-Turner has the maximum depth and width of distribution in the country. Headquartered in New Delhi, Zee-Turner was incorporated in February 2002, when the two media giants – Zee Telefilms & Turner International India Pvt. Ltd. – joined hands to form a distribution joint venture. Zee-Turner manages distribution and trade marketing for Zee, Turner as well as third party channels such as CNBC and Reality TV, in India and Nepal.

     

    Zee-Turner’s comprehensive bouquet already comprises of 26 channels catering to every genre and age, and offering quality national and international content at a very competitive pricing. Some of these include the flagship channels Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee News, Zee Café, Zee Trendz, HBO,CNBC, CNN International, POGO, Cartoon Network, and the regional Zee channels, among others.

     

  • Naved Abbasi wins Lucknow Radio City 91.1FM’s ‘City Ki Chaka Chak Bike

    Naved Abbasi wins Lucknow Radio City 91.1FM’s ‘City Ki Chaka Chak Bike

    MUMBAI: In a unique ‘Whatte Fun’ endeavour of sorts, Lucknow’s Radio City 91.1FM organized a 2 week City Ki Chaka Chak Bike contest that invited Lucknow’s bike enthusiasts to showcase their most innovatively modified bikes. With over 40 entries pouring in from all across Lucknow, 21 year old Naved Abbasi from Razman Bazaar, Cantt, Dilkusha, Lucknow bagged the City Ki Chaka Chak Bike winning exciting goodies courtesy Radio City. Helping the Radio City team identify the winner was Mr. Deep Saxena from Hindustan Times an automobiles enthusiast and an expert in information technology.

     

    Resonating Whatte Fun through the City of the Nawabs, Radio City 91.1FM ran the City Ki Chaka Chak Bike contest on-air for 10 days that witnessed 40 plus bike lovers come forth to flaunt their passion for the two-wheeler. The winning criterion was to shortlist the maximum modifications done keeping present trends in mind. The winning bike belongs to Naved, a computer engineer by profession who has been passionate about bikes since he was 17. He modified his 150 CC all terrain bike into a motocross bike ready for a mountain ride. Replacing the twin shockers on the bike’s mono suspension, he changed the fuel tank along with the body fibre as well. With changed mudguard and a short handle the bike is a real delight to eyes.

     

    Commenting on the response said Mr. Rana Barua, National Head Marketing & Programming, Radio City 91.1FM, “We, at Radio City, strive on enhancing our connect with our listener time and again. City ki Chaka Chak Bike was an initiative well received and supported by Lucknow’s Radio Cityzens. We are thankful to them for their overwhelming support and appreciation and shall continue to bring such exciting initiatives in the future!”

     

    Elated at winning the City Ki Chaka Chak Bike contest Naved Abbasi said, “This has been one of the most exciting initiatives by any company – not just because I won but due to the fact that City Ki Chaka Chak Bike was a different experience for the people of Lucknow! A biker’s passion is always his bike and giving a platform to showcase the prized possession is recognizing a talent of sorts. Three cheers to Radio City for making this a ‘Whatte Fun day’ for me!”

     

    Lucknow Radio City 91.1FM’s City Ki Chaka Chak Bike witnessed avid Radio Cityzens participating from all age brackets remodelling their two wheelers to acquire the title of the most alluring bike from their favourite radio station. It was quite a task to declare the winner with an array of bikes with spectacular modifications ranging from changes in the whole body fibre, modified fuel tanks, shockers and wheels. Other innovative modifications were the conversion of the CBZ into a Hayabusa, fixing revolving lights in the bike and installing a radio set tuned to Radio City 91.1FM in one of the bikes.

     

    A sustained focus on understanding listeners and leveraging the synergies of music expertise and innovative programming, allows Radio City to deliver a unique listening experience and be an integral part of the lives of listeners across markets. Aggressively looking at spreading the Radio City experience to new markets across the country, Radio City 91.1FM is committed to growing the market and creating superlative content for premium audiences.

  • Surat’s Radio City celebrates Children’s Day

    Surat’s Radio City celebrates Children’s Day

    MUMBAI: Surat’s Radio City 91.1FM today celebrated Children’s Day with great pomp and fervour! More than 100 lesser privileged children from Surat’s Shri Mahajan Anaath Baalashram were in for a treat as the Radio City along with RJ JJ and Leena (Radio City Breakfast Show) and RJ Rayhaan (Radio City Joyride) visited them with 7 Magic Boxes full of ‘Whatte Fun’ gifts from Surat city! After presenting the goodies to the children, the RJ spent quality time playing and interacting with them.

     

    Taking the lead to ensure a memorable Diwali and Children’s Day for the lesser privileged children of Surat, Radio City 91.1FM had organised a unique campaign ‘Diwali se Baaldivas Tak’ from 6-14 November. Extending the festive sparkle to one and all, Radio City encouraged the people of Surat to spare a thought for these deserving children and allocate a small portion of their Diwali budget towards buying something for them. Responding to this call, Surat contributed wholeheartedly with over hundreds of listeners coming into the studios to drop in brand new toys, clothes and gifts for the children at Shri Mahajan Anaath Baalashram.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rana Barua, National Head – Marketing, Radio City 91.1FM said, “It’s the simpler things in life which allow us to make a difference! We at Radio City have always made an effort to involve our listeners to actively contribute to society and give back in equal measure. Thanks to our listeners, our ‘Diwali to Baaldivas’ celebration this year has been a resounding success.”

     

    Deeply moved by the gesture, Dr. Harikrishna Joshi, Vice President, Shri Mahajan Anaath Baalashram said, “On behalf of our Trust and the children here, I would like to thank Radio City for their efforts in bringing Surat together for this unique Celebration. Thanks to the generosity of Surat’s Radio Cityzens, the Festival of Lights this year has been very memorable for all of us here. This has been a one-of-its kind initiative which has never happened in our city before.”

     

    A sustained focus on understanding listeners and leveraging the synergies of music expertise and innovative programming, allows Radio City to deliver a unique listening experience and be an integral part of the lives of listeners across markets. Aggressively looking at spreading the Radio City experience to new markets across the country, Radio City 91.1FM is committed to growing the market and creating superlative content for premium audiences.

  • Govt. issues showcause notice to Live India on fake sting

    NEW DELHI: Live India, which ran into controversy after telecasting a sting operation that was subsequently declared as fake, has been issued a showcause notice by the information and broadcasting ministry.

    “A notice has been issued to the channel to show cause why its licence and permission to uplink should not be withdrawn for carrying out a fake sting and violating the Programme Code as well as the regulations under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995,” confirms a senior ministry official, speaking to Indiantelevision.com.

    “The Act is clear that ‘no person shall transmit or re-transmit through a cable service any programme unless such programme is in conformity with the prescribed Programme Code,” the source adds.

    Queried about the government notice, Broadcast Initiative Ltd promoter Markand Adhikari, however, refuted it. “I am not aware of any showcause notice issued by the ministry,” Adhikari stated.

    Meanwhile, Live India is facing the ire of the government on the one hand and other TV news channels on the other, as the incident has come at a time when there is growing confrontation between the I&B Ministry and news broadcasters on the need or relevance of an imposed Content Code.

    The channel’s reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh are in police custody, while school teacher Uma Khurana has been granted bail in the fake sting which showed her using her own students for prostitution.

    Businessman Virendra Arora, who is said to have wanted to recover money reportedly owed to him by Khurana, now stands accused of having hatched the conspiracy using Singh.

  • Big FM ‘Valentine’s Day’ special

    MUMBAI:With Valentine’s Day round the corner, life seems to appear Bigger and Better! It is that time of the year, when in the name of St. Valentine, flowers, gifts, goodies, cards and pleasantries are exchanged between the loved ones, eager to reiterate and reaffirm their bonds of love. BIG 92.7 FM, true to the style of living it up in a BIG way, has a bouquet of special things meant for all the lovers in the world…

    The radio station is surely going to make an evening for all its listeners the most romantic and memorable, this February 14th. Two very lucky listeners will get a chance to spend the entire evening with none other than the station’s most popular and admired RJ’s – Anirudh of ‘LLB’ fame and Aapki Jaani ‘Archana’ Jaani. In addition to an evening full of love and romance, the lucky winners will get a chauffer-driven pick up for dinner in a true bollywood style and what more…they also get to win diamond vouchers worth 25,000/- each from Adora!! This will be gifted to them by their lucky dates for the evening RJ’S Anirudh and Archana.

    Big FM Programming Head Manav Dhanda said, “At BIG 92.7 FM, we constantly strive to bring a mix of something innovative and interesting for millions of our listeners, and with an occasion like Valentine’s Day which is the season of color, togetherness & romance…it is time to celebrate love the BIG way with BIG 92.7 FM! We are happy to be able to generate a good response from listeners across cities, and we as a growing FM station will continue to undertake different initiatives keeping interest-levels for all age-groups…we want to make a BIG difference by making this Valentine’s Day a truly special one for all our listeners”

    The radio station is also recognizing and displaying the best valentine message on huge hoardings across the city of Mumbai…will be calling the lucky couple and getting their pictures clicked alongside the hoarding and giving it away to them, and this is an initiative that a radio station has ever done before!

    BIG 92.7 FM is also hosting a chain of on-air contests and other on-ground events for Valentine’s Day. There will be special back-to-back romantic music from 7 pm till midnight, without any RJ talk or commercial break, gyaan on love tips all day, love shaayaris, special episode of the Top 30 romantic songs of all times hosted by Singer/RJ Abhijeet Sawant, interviews with celebrity couples, 10 most dramatic’ love stories, listeners’ first crush, the funniest proposals are just a few things in store to celebrate this special day.

    BIG 92.7 FM is also giving away tickets for a special screening of a movie at an Adlabs theatre to 145 couples selected through on-air contests. Also, keeping in mind the older generation, the stations RJ’s will be interviewing the oldest couple in the city who have been married for over 60 years. Truly Life Banao ishtyle!

  • Zee Muzic celebrates international Women’s Day

    MUMBAI: Zee Muzic celebrates International Women’s day with the Badshah of Bollywood. An exclusive show where Shah Rukh Khan sheds light on his favorite Women from Sania Mirza and Sonia Gandhi to Aishwariya Rai & Rani Mukherjee.

    Also catch up with the first Miss Universe, The Diva, An Actress to reckon with and a powerful woman in her own right, who could be better than Sushmita Sen herself on her most favorite woman — her daughter Renee, besides of course talking about herself and the Woman of Today . She also converse with multiple celebrities on their three favorite women:

    Boman Irani, Reema Sen, Sooraj Barjatya, Alka Yagnik, John Abraham woman & Kangana Ranaut .

     

    Zee Muzic in addition to the above also brings you Upen Patel, one of the hottest beefcakes on Indian screen, in a candid conversation where he talks about 10 sexy women who according to him, can sizzle in whatever they wear, whatever time of the day it is! His personal takes on women from Bollywood who have truly redefined style, fashion and the sex symbol tag!

     

    In another women’s day special, Karan Johar talks about the 10 women who have impacted his life. From Kajol to Rekha, he reveals the women who’ve made him what he is today!

     

    Tune-in to Zee Muzic on International Women’s Day to know more about your favorite stars.

  • Mirchi celebrates Holi with its listeners

    MUMBAI: Add an extra dash of colour to Holi this year?

    Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM knows just how to make Holi fun-filled and memorable for Delhiites with the “Rang se Rang Milao” contest.

     

    Radio Mirchi gives its listeners a chance to play Holi this year with their favourite RJs. For the first time all Mirchi jocks will come together to make Holi the most special day for a winner and his/her locality.

    To have the ‘Mirchi Ki Toli’ consisting of RJ Ananta, Saurabh, Anmol and Naved listeners need to just SMS their name and their complete address to 8888.

     

    The station also asks listeners who do not make it to the Holi fun not to lose heart. If you are not the winning locality- don’t lose heart coz one can be a part of this celebration by simply wearing anything with Mirchi colours which will get one an entry to this celebration- ‘Mirchi Sunnewale Always Khush’!

  • UEFA Champions League, march to the quarter finals – live on Ten Sports

    MUMBAI: Champions League football returns to Ten Sports on
    Tuesday night with the top club teams in the world in tense competition. 16 teams go into this weeks game, knowing that only 8 will survive on Thursday morning after the 2nd leg of games from the round of 16.

    On Tuesday night, the last two winners of the Champions league clash, with defending champions Barcelona trailing 2-1 as they go to Anfield, the home of Liverpool. Straight after the match Ten Sports will show full coverage of the battle between Portuguese champions Porto and English champions Chelsea, which ended 1-1 in the first match.

    The pick of the Wednesday games will feature German champions Bayern Munich up against David Beckham’s Real Madrid. Real lead 3-2 from the first leg, but have to defend their lead in Germany in what is sure to be a remarkable game. Ten Sports will also show delayed coverage of Manchester United’s home tie with Lille, with United looking to defend a 1-0 lead from the stormy fast game in France.

    Ten Sports will also show all the goal highlights from the other 4 games at half time and full time on both nights, as well as providing live coverage of all 8 matches on broadband thanks to www.tensports.com. Former Premier League stars Gary o Reilly and Derek Whyte will join presenter Joe Morrison in the studio to analyse all the action, with immediate score updates from all the games.

    Ten Sports has the exclusive right to broadcast the Champions league in the Indian sub-continent and will show all games through to the final in Athens on May 23rd. The channel will also broadcast the final stages of the UEFA Cup from April.

    Day Date Time Schedule Telecast

    Wednesday 7/3/07 0:30 a.m. UEFA Champions League: Liverpool v
    Barcelona Live

    Wednesday 7/3/07 3:30 a.m. UEFA Champions League: Chelsea v FC Porto

    Thursday 8/3/07 0:00 a.m. UEFA Champions League: Bayern Munich v Real Madrid Live

    Thursday 8/3/07 3:30 a.m. UEFA Champions League:Man United v
    Lille