ITV

Category: Specials

  • Ficci regional council moves to a new premise in Mumbai

    Ficci regional council moves to a new premise in Mumbai

    Mumbai, 5 May, 2006 – With a mission to accelerate industrial and economic growth of the western region manifold by acting as a catalyst in the process of progress, FICCI Western Regional Council – the regional arm of the FICCI – the largest and the oldest apex body for industries, moved on Thursday evening, to a bigger and modern office at Krishnamai Building, Pochkhanwala Road, Worli, Mumbai 400025. With this shifting, FICCI-Western Regional Council has become the largest regional office of FICCI in India. The new office has been designed to accommodate a big conference room, research center with space to accommodate future growth.

    Inaugurating the new office of FICCI-WRC, Mr. Saroj Poddar, President, FICCI expressed confidence that the regional office of FICCI, which has been doing wonderful work, would serve the industry and the society with renewed vigour. He pointed out that the expansion of the regional office in Mumbai was in line with FICCI’s firm belief that strong regional offices would strengthen the apex body to maintain the position of leadership in serving trade, industry by offering excellent service. He assured all out support to its regional office in its developmental efforts for the region.

    Mr. Habil Khorakiwala, Sr. Vice President, FICCI in his address said that the opening of the bigger and modern office in Mumbai showed the importance that FICCI attaches to this great city of Mumbai and the State of Maharashtra. He envisioned Mumbai becoming the knowledge capital of India, based on her strengths in IT, ITeS, Pharma, Biotechnology sectors. He called for a total transformation of Mumbai, Maharashtra and the entire western region, which have a great potential for unlimited growth. He expressed confidence that FICCI Regional Office could act as a catalyst in bringing about such a transformation.

    Earlier Mr. Sushil Jiwarajka, Chairman, FICCI-WRC, gave an overview of the regional and national initiatives undertaken by the council. He elaborated on the achievements of the council in areas of regional core competence viz., Textiles, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Petrochemicals, Entertainment, Energy – Oil, Gas, Power, Agriculture, Banking, Capital Markets and Medical Tourism. He also highlighted its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives like curbing of cyber crime, flood relief, rainwater harvesting, and corporate governance. He stressed the role of the regional council in areas like trade facilitation, arbitration and conciliation, sold waste management, women empowerment and enterprise.

    Underling the need for brand protection, Mr. Ashok Chhabra, Executive Director, Procter & Gamble, Member, FICCI, Brand Protection Committee said that fake products and counterfeits wee harming the interests of all the industries in general and FMCG & Pharmaceuticals in particular. He also said that FICCI was taking every effort to contain this menace. He called for total cooperation of all concerned to control this problem.

    Highlighting the need to reduce transaction costs and improve market access in international trade, Mr.Ramu Deora, Chairman, FICCI Trade Facilitation Forum elaborated on the work being done by the Forum in providing a forum for effective interface with trade related agencies and the authorities concerned for creating a hassle free international trade environment.

    Lauding the FICCI-Western Regional Council for setting up the excellent office in Mumbai, Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI, envisioned that the regional office would provide more services to industry, bring about radical changes in the economy, and effect changes in policies to enlarge market opportunities for conducting easy and hassle free trade in the true spirit of globalization with liberalization as its foundation. He underlined the strengths of FICCI at the national level in terms of highly qualified manpower, economic database, wealth of research information, research facilities and the support of its regional and overseas office. He was confident that both FICCI and FICCI-WRC could bring about synergies in operations and be a strong force to reckon with.

    Media Division,
    FICCI, Mumbai

    For further information please contact:
    Neha Taleja/Shefali Virani
    ntaleja@corvoshandwick.co.in
    /shefalivirani@corvoshandwick.co.in
    Corporate Voice I Weber Shandwick

  • MipTV reports a marginal rise in attendance

    MipTV reports a marginal rise in attendance

    MUMBAI: The recently concluded television event in Cannes, France MipTV featuring Milia had an attendance of 12,249 participants, compared to 12,163 in 2005.

    Company participation rose to 4,201 from 4,138 last year, while the number of acquisition executives in Cannes was 3,565, a five per cent increase on the 2005 level of 3,393.

    Reed Midem’s television division director Paul Johnson says, “MipTV featuring MILIA 2006 saw a significant rise in the number of companies and executives coming from the digital sector, particularly IPTV, mobile and interactive television specialists. Our figures show that we welcomed some 1,800 companies from the Internet and mobile sectors.

    “Our conference programme and a series of new initiatives such as Content 360 and the International Interactive Emmy Awards, reflect the changes taking place in the industry. MipTV featuring MILIA is not just a television market, it’s a content market.”

    The event had 45 sessions and over 170 speakers. For the first time ever, the conference programme welcomed seven keynote speakers, including AOL chairman and CEO Jonathan Miller, reality television producer Mark Burnett, BBC new media head Ashley Highfield, FremantleMedia’s Gary Carter, Takeshi Natsuno of NTT DoCoMo and Erik Huggers of Microsoft.

    Miller at the event announced that AOL had brought programming originally produced for its Internet video channels and was selling the shows to traditional broadcasters.

    A highlight of MipTV was the inaugural International Interactive Emmy Awards, organised by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Reed Midem. This is the first time that an Emmy Awards ceremony has taken place outside the US. A gala dinner, hosted by Desperate Housewives star Roger Bart.

    Among the other new initiatives launched in 2006, Content 360 set out to commission innovative content and interactive applications for mobile and broadband. Organised in partnership with the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting Commission and the National Film Board of Canada, Content 360 rewarded six company projects and provided €80,000 of development funding to be divided between the winners.

    For the first time in MipTV’s history, the annual Lifetime Achievement Award was attributed not to an industry individual but to a whole company, in the form of Japanese production powerhouse TOEI. TOEI Company chairman Tan Takaiwa and TOEI Animation chairman Tsutomu Tomari accepted the tribute on behalf of the entire TOEI group.

    Now in its ninth year, the two-day Mipdoc documentary and factual programme screenings, which precede MipTV, saw a 14 per cent rise in participation with 438 companies from 57 countries attending. Production and sales companies sent 1,192 programmes to the digital screening library, of which 769 were appearing at a market for the first time.

  • Indians notch up MipTV success

    Indians notch up MipTV success

    MUMBAI: MipTV, the world’s biggest content marketplace, which ended last week in Cannes, proved to be a very successful one for India’s content creators, distributors and aggregators.

    Some 43 production, broadcasting and mobile phone companies jetted their way down to Cannes to keep a tab on content trends in Europe and globally, buy and sell films, series and formats, find co-production partners and schmooze with the world’s most important players in the TV, animation, film and mobile content sweepstakes.
    The change this time around was that TV producers have invested in buying formats as against just broadcasters doing so. “The power has been weighing heavily in the hands of TV channel programming executives who have been behaving in a high handed manner with TV producers ordering them around as if they were serfs and they – the programmers – the fount of all that is creative,” one of the producers was candid enough to say. “Now with us buying formats, we will also be able to have our say. The times have to change. More power has to come to TV producers’ hands.”
    And mobile players from India aggressively scoured the landscape looking to do deals for video. Among these: Reliance Infocomm, Hungama Mobile, and Cellnext Solutions.

    Almost everyone who attended the market from India went back with a smile on their faces. Krishna Durbha Head of Business and Marketing – Reliance Infocomm Ltd., Applications Solutions Group (India), a panelist at a session on Asian markets, received a standing ovation and was spoken of as one of the more eloquent and candid speakers during the conference programme. Says Durbha: “It’s been a major eye opener for us. We are in the content space for the mobile and I got at least half a dozen leads which will lead to positive results.”

    Sahara Motion Pictures, which took a stand for the first time, was so delighted with the response that it has evinced interest in exhibiting in MipCom as well. “MipTV proved a great platform for us for creating business opportunities,” says Sandeep Bhargava, Chief. Operating Officer, Sahara One Motion Pictures. “We get to meet the who’s who of content in the world in one place and get results.”

    Sony Entertainment Television India, which took a stand, too had a rewarding market. Led by Kaushal Modi on the sales and syndication side, and by programming head Anupama Mandloi on acquisition, the content owner had a very busy market.

    WEG India, Eros and Suman – three other companies that have been attending and exhibiting at MipTV and MipCom for several years now – too had a good market. “Both MipCom and MipTV to be honest are great ways for us to meet, greet and service all our clients at one place,” says Vimal Gupta of the UK based distributor Suman Film.

    Zee TV, which was represented by Deblina Chakrabarty, Parul Chatruvedi and digital head Abhijit Saxena, too, made its mark. While Chakrabarty was sizing up opportunites for content acquisition – though she had a fall from the stairs in the Palais des Festivals and was even taken to hospital – Chatturvedi was exploring how India’s largest network could up its syndication revenues. Saxena – like a lone ranger – moved around in the shadows meeting all and sundry trying to further milk the potential of the 60,000 hours or so of the Zee TV content library, which is currently being digitized by IBM. Watch out for action in this space from Saxena as Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra is himself driving the digital initiative with Saxena as his lieutenant.

    Star India, which used to have a separate stand until a year and a half ago when it was brought under the umbrella of Hong Kong based centralized syndication arm Fortune Star, too had a sizeable presence. Viren Popley, Ravi Menon and Manju Nair were at the forefront of the Star TV charge. Syndication experts however point out that it would be better if Star India’s Hindi content were not subsumed by the larger interests of Fortune Star’s huge Chinese library. A separate stand with a separate identity for Star India would help it further exploit its syndication potential.

    Other broadcasters who made their way to the market included NDTV (represented by KVL Narayan Rao and I.P. “Baj” Bajpai) and Aaj Tak (CEO G Krishnan).

    The buzz this year from the Indian delegation was centered around the production companies. Optimystix, Contiloe, Miditech, Maverick, Clapstem, AIM Television, UTV, ESP Films were amongst those who made waves. ESP is on the verge of signing a huge deal with a European producer for co-producing a new documentary.

    Sorely missed at MipTV were the two other big players Balaji Telefilms and BAG Films, who, are missing out on several opportunities in the global content marketplace. “Agreed they are more than busy in the domestic marketplace,” says a Cannes veteran. “But not being present internationally means that not many people in the world know you at a time when boundaries between nations are dissolving and cultures are beginning to merge. That is a huge opportunity loss.”

    The animation presence at MipTV came in the shape of Maya, Crest, Toonz Animation, Graphiti Multimedia which continued with their efforts to make themselves better understood by the world at large. And in the process snap up some co-production, original IP deals.

    Indian presence at MipTV:

    Aim Television Pvt. Ltd.
    Broadcast Worldwide Limited
    Cellnext Solutions Limited
    Clapstem Productions
    Color Chips India Limited
    Contiloe Films Pvt Ltd.
    Dawsen Infotech Private Limited
    Dessin Works
    Digikore Studios Limited
    Digimate Productions
    DQ Entertainment Ltd
    Escotoonz Entertainment Pvt Ltd (Subsidiary Of Escosoft Tech)
    ESP Films
    Fortune Star
    Fusion Films Inc. (Part Of Giriraj Group)
    Graphiti Multimedia Pvt Ltd
    HTMT
    I Stylus
    Maverick Productions Pvt. Ltd.
    Maya Entertainment Ltd.
    Miditech Pvt. Ltd.
    New Delhi Television Limited
    Optimystix Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.
    Oxigen Infovision Pvt. Ltd
    Percept Picture Company Pvt Ltd
    React Media Pvt Ltd
    Sahara One Media And Entertainment Limited
    Sony Entertainment Television India (P) Ltd
    Super Cassettes Industries Limited Aka-T-Series
    Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd
    TV Today Network Ltd
    UTV / Hungama TV
    Video Movie International
    Weg India Pictures Pvt Ltd
    Zee Telefilms Limited

  • Monte-Carlo TV Festival, Eurodata announce Audience Award nominees

    Monte-Carlo TV Festival, Eurodata announce Audience Award nominees

    CANNES: The Monte-Carlo TV Festival and Eurodata TV Worldwide announced at MipTV the nominees for the inaugural International TV Audience Awards. These Awards reward the highest-rated shows in the drama, comedy and telenovela/soap opera categories.

    The Awards will be presented based on the sum of TV ratings across five continents. The nominees are pre-selected among the ten best imported fiction programs in 51 countries, i.e., 2.5 billion potential viewers.

    Nominees for drama are Lost, CSI and Without a Trace; the comedy nominees are Desperate Housewives, Joey and Mr. Bean; and the telenovela/soap nominees are The Bold and the Beautiful from the U.S., Rubi from Mexico and Pasión de Gavilanes from Colombia.

    The winners will be presented at the 46th Monte Carlo Television Festival Awards on 1 July in Monaco.

  • Endemol secures deals on reality formats

    Endemol secures deals on reality formats

    CANNES: Endemol international has secured a range of agreements on its reality formats, including Fear Factor, in addition to several new game show format deals.

    The format of Fear Factor has also just gone to air on SET India. The format has now been sold to 24 countries worldwide including the U.S.

    Set to premier this April, Fear Factor will air on RTL in Croatia, Show TV in Turkey, and later this year on Caracol in Columbia. This follows the success of the format’s recent launches in Indonesia on RCTI and Malaysia on Channel 7. The series is made on locations in Argentina and Malaysia as a co-production between Endemol affiliates.

    The Match , the sports reality format, has been acquired in Croatia by HRT and in Switzerland by SFDRS. And, Fool Around With is due to launch on Europe TV in France later this year.

    The Big Brother rollout will premiere on Top Channel in Albania this September. This follows the launch of the first series on 17 March in Serbia on B92, simulcast in Bosnia on Pink TV. The format has now been sold to 38 countries.

    Endemol’s director of international sales Ed Louwerse said, “All the signs are that the worldwide reality TV phenomenon is here to stay. The vintage formats are as popular as ever and the more recent hits are showing significant growth.”

  • OpenTV adds Auction and Sales modules to its multi-platform product

    OpenTV adds Auction and Sales modules to its multi-platform product

    CANNES: OpenTV Corp., which provides technology solutions for advanced digital television services, has released new Auction and Sales modules that will add support for television auctions and sales to its multi-platform OpenTV Participate product. OpenTV Participate enables viewers to participate in real-time or time-shifted competitions, votes, polls, quizzes and games, via mobile phones, web, IVR, and TV remote controls.

    The Auction and Sales modules are fully integrated with existing OpenTV Participate modules, including third party billing, fulfillment, accounts, customer care, bonus, loyalty, and marketing. Operators can now run a dedicated shopping or auction channel or individual shopping or auction events.

    As with all OpenTV Participate modules, the new Sales and Auction modules utilize wizard-based logic, enabling almost any type of sales or auction event-including the popular ‘bid up’ and ‘bid down’ auction models-to be created by non technical personnel. Support for selling content is also included, enabling broadcasters to offer pay-per-use and on-demand services such as mobile TV clips, downloads, or video streaming on any platform, states an official release.
    With these new modules, OpenTV continues to enhance OpenTV Participate’s unprecedented combination of functionality in a single, scalable system, enabling broadcasters and programmers to offer their viewers an even richer choice of interactive products and services.

    “Our vision for OpenTV Participate is to enable broadcasters to convert passive viewers into active customers by offering compelling interactive services and building a profile of their viewers’ TV habits,” said Amos Manasseh, OpenTV’s VP of Global Sales and Marketing for Participation Television. “These new modules further advance this vision as well as OpenTV Participate’s unique position in the market place, benefiting both broadcasters and advertisers alike.”

    OpenTV will be demonstrating OpenTV Participate at the upcoming MipTV/MILLA, NAB, and NCTA conferences, the release adds.

  • BVITV ties up with European & Asian broadcasters

    BVITV ties up with European & Asian broadcasters

    CANNES: Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) has announced a range of deals with broadcasters in Europe and Asia snapping up the company’s slate of kids’ shows, dramas and formats, on the first day of MipTV.

    The format for Extreme Makeover has been licensed to ICTV in Ukraine. ICTV also took the British version of Extreme Makeover, the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy as well as slate of features, among them Dick Tracy, The Waterboy and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

    Also in Ukraine, New Channel has licensed the first three series of the hit comedy According to Jim plus the features Three Men and a Baby, Arachnophobia and Born Yesterday. In a separate deal, New Channel has also licensed Jetix Europe programming like W.I.T.C.H.

    Ukraine broadcaster STB also picked up a series of titles, among them The Color of Money, The Three Musketeers, Turner and Hooch and the reality series Miracle Workers.

    TV Nova in the Czech Republic has taken a raft of features, series, kids’ programming and TV movies. The network is set to launch Lost, which has been licensed to more than 210 markets, features like Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Seabiscuit; and library features including Pretty Woman and Sister Act. On the kids front, TV Nova will launch a new Disney-branded kids’ block, Disney Club, running weekly for two hours, and has licensed a selection of Jetix Europe shows.

    In Thailand, BBTV has renewed its multiyear agreement with BVITV-AP for live-action series, current features and Disney animation, and has signed a new package deal for animated features from Disney’s Classic Treasures, which will air for the first time on Thai terrestrial television.

    Under the multi-year agreement, kids in Thailand will continue to have access to top Disney shows on the Disney Club block that runs every Saturday morning from 6:50 am. to 8:30 am. Also, terrestrial audiences will have access to a slate of international box office hits including Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Seabiscuit.

  • Ericsson to boost mobile TV experience with on-demand services at MipTV

    Ericsson to boost mobile TV experience with on-demand services at MipTV

    MUMBAI: Taking the next evolutionary step in mobile TV, Ericsson will showcase its enhanced program guide for mobile TV at the TV and broadcasting event MipTV/Milia.

    The application integrates television and on-demand mobile television services in one location in one device.

    In an official statement, using the solution, Ericsson will demonstrate how a wide range of TV and on-demand programs can be well structured and easily accessed in one location on the mobile.

    The solution also allows users to easily access stored content for playback, making the mobile TV service even more attractive and personal.

    The enhanced program guide feature provides mobile TV users with comprehensive information on each program, providing users with a rich TV experience.

    Ericsson Mobility World VP Kurt Sillén says that personalization and ease-of-use are essential for mass-market uptake of the service.

    “Adding on-demand TV to the program guide will stimulate consumption and bring new revenues to the whole mobile media industry,” Sillén adds.

    Ericsson Consumer and Enterprise Lab studies show that consumer interest in mobile TV is often based on situation and an attractive option for filling time.

    With on-demand services, users can access recorded programs, yesterday’s highlights and archived material whenever they please. Both TV and on-demand services are necessary to meet the requirements of mobile TV users.

    The enhanced application will be commercially available as part of Ericsson’s Mobile TV and Video solution in the fourth quarter of 2006, informs the release.

    Ericsson provides operators with a true end-to-end solution that utilizes the WCDMA and GSM/EDGE mobile networks for commercial mobile TV and video services.

    Today, existing 3G mobile technology enables service providers to launch high-quality and cost-efficient mobile TV services.

    By the end of 2005, more than 40 operators had commercially launched mobile TV over mobile networks via unicast. As mobile TV becomes a mass-market service, mobile network broadcast technologies, such as MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services) will be added to mobile networks to further boost capacity.

    Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.

  • It’s ‘All In The Game’ for Granada Intl at MIPTV

    It’s ‘All In The Game’ for Granada Intl at MIPTV

    CANNES: A new TV movie – All In The Game – starring Ray Winstone and Roy Marsden and produced by UK’s Tightrope Pictures, is being showcased by Granada International at the television event MIPTV in Cannes, France.

    This distribution deal is the first between Granada International and Tightrope Pictures. The company has already produced a number of dramas including The Girl in the Café, To The Ends of the Earth and Dad.

    All In The Game is a depiction of the modern football industry. Winstone plays Frankie, a larger-than-life football manager who, together with his son, has made a nice life for himself in the game – with fast cars and big houses, but not always secured through “above board” means. But his scams are starting to show through and suspicions are being raised.

    His latest and perhaps biggest plan centres around a young new player called Joel. Hugely talented and naive, Joel’s loss of innocence is mirrored in the fall of the game to the corrupt money men. It’s no longer about playing your best and winning or losing. It’s all about money and winning at all costs.

    Granada International drama head Noel Hedges said, “As a riveting drama about the ‘beautiful game’ and with the World Cup coming up this summer, we’re thrilled to be taking this to MIPTV 2006. It is a top quality piece of UK drama from a great writer with fantastic performances from a highly talented cast.”

  • Rainbow Media inks multiple licensing agreements at MipTV

    Rainbow Media inks multiple licensing agreements at MipTV

    CANNES: Rainbow Media Holdings and its London-based distributor iD Distribution have announced an explosion of international licensing agreements for Rainbow’s WE: Women’s Entertainment at MipTV.

    Spanning countries in four continents, these deals – which involve the signature series Daddy’s Spoiled Little Girl, Secret Lives of Women and Style Me – mark significant progress for Rainbow in its global market debut of WE.

    The news also affirms Rainbow’s success in its broader strategy to expand its brands internationally, having kicked off the effort at MipCom 2005.
    “We are obviously gratified by the terrific response we have received for our programming around the world. This is an incredible way to start what promises to be a rich pattern of global growth for the WE brand,” said Rainbow senior vice president business development Glenn Oakley.

    “WE’s high quality programming is a solid offering to broadcasters for its smart and edgy subject matter. These series have a proven entertainment value, and we are delighted at the opportunity to provide them to international audiences,” added iD Distribution managing director Sally Miles.

    The deals are as follows:

    Daddy’s Spoiled Little Girl (12 x 30’) – Sold to TV400 (Sweden), TV2 (Denmark), SBS (Belgium), Digiturk (Turkey), Sub TV (Finland), Orion Media (Korea), MBC (Middle East) and Sky Network Television (New Zealand). In this original series, WE looks at father/daughter duos who take “daddy’s little girl” to new heights. Rich or poor, these dads indulge even the most outrageous requests, including ‘faux mitzvah’ parties, $200,000 Bentley’s, private jets to Rome and shopping sprees in Paris.

    Style Me (2 x 60’ and 6 x 30’) – Sold to Kanal 5 (Sweden) and Sky Network Television (New Zealand). This reality-based show seeks to create the next top celebrity stylist for series host Rachel Hunter. Twelve contestants vie for the top spot and the chance to win $10,000 in cash plus a one-year contract with a talent agency and the opportunity to style Hunter for an A-list, red carpet event.

    Secret Lives of Women (9 x 60’) – Completed program rights only sold to TV400 (Sweden) and MBC (Middle East). This series explores the double-lives that some women lead, from plastic surgery addicts and anorexics to forensic sex investigators and shopaholics.
    Currently seen in over 58 million US homes, WE: Women’s Entertainment is the only cable network dedicated to helping women connect to one another and the world around them.