ITV

Category: Television

  • US wireless music services to gain over 50 million users by 2010: IDC study

    US wireless music services to gain over 50 million users by 2010: IDC study

    MUMBAI: With wireless over-the-air (OTA) music services offering mobile phone users a convenient way to buy music and providing an exciting new distribution channel to the music industry, an IDC survey has predicted that despite low adoption, the ‘US wireless music services will have over 50 million users and generate more than a billion dollars in revenue in 2010, just 5 years after appearing in late 2005’.

    “Wireless music services are still in their infancy in the US, but are expected to quickly gain traction during the forecast period. By the end of this year, the number of US OTA customers will be approximately half that of online music service users, but may surpass them by the end of the forecast period,” says Consumer Markets: Audio programme manager Susan Kevorkian.

    According to an IDC survey, a total of 22 per cent of respondents indicated that they would buy at least one track from their service provider within the first three months of availability, assuming they had an appropriate handset. Eight percent of respondents age 25 to 44 indicated they would buy four or more tracks. It’s this age group that IDC analysts believe could be the core base of wireless over-the-air service users, in particular those who may be new to digital music services.

    In order for wireless music services to reach critical mass, a variety of music-enabled devices need to first find their way into the hands of wireless subscribers. This has not happened so far due in part to limited offerings from the handset vendors. However, the shift towards a greater variety of music-enabled mobile phones at various price points is already in motion. IDC expects music-enabled mobile phone shipments to reach nearly 60 per cent of all handsets shipped in the US by 2010.

    “OTA mobile music storefronts are emerging as one of the most important new channels for fans to discover, purchase, and enjoy full-track music and related content. Key drivers for future growth include music-enabled handset penetration, deployment of broadband wireless networks, increased marketing efforts, bundling and cross-promotion of various music-related services, and driving flat-rate pricing schemes. IDC expects that OTA tracks at about $2.00 each will emerge as a sustainable price point as long as mobile storefronts are well-designed and offer a wide selection of music, and the music listening experience on the device is comparable to MP3 players,” says Wireless and Mobile Communications: Entertainment research manager Lewis Ward.

    IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company.

  • Texas Instruments strengthens India presence; to set up new R&D center

    Texas Instruments strengthens India presence; to set up new R&D center

    MUMBAI: At a meeting with the press today hosted by Communications & IT minister Dayanidhi Maran, Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) outlined how continued support of open technology standards would enable India to reach its goal of 500 million mobile phone subscribers by 2010.

    TI Wireless Terminals Business Unit SVP Gilles Delfassy also announced that TI is increasing its wireless design presence in India with a new research and development (R&D) center in Chennai. TI’s history in India began with a research and development center in Bangalore more than 20 years ago, states an official release.

    “Mobile phone growth in India is nothing short of a phenomenon, and the wireless industry waits for India’s next move because of the impact it will have on the future of mobile phones,” says Delfassy. “Today, there is a huge opportunity to connect the unconnected as the majority of India’s population does not have access to communications services. TI has been committed to India for over 20 years, and I’m pleased to say that we are escalating our existing wireless design presence in recognition of the importance of India to the global wireless market.”

    Choosing efficient, cost-effective mobile technology will be critical to meet India’s burgeoning wireless growth, as will be the ability to stay at the forefront of innovation. Two open technologies that offer great promise for India are GSM and DVB-H. “Open standards such as GSM and DVB-H technologies for mobile phones will provide the market with greater choice, better value and more opportunities for innovation. Based on our 17 years experience as a leader in the wireless industry, working to make our customers successful, we believe the best way to enable growth is through open standards,” Delfassy adds.

    According to market research corporation iSuppli, GSM is the predominant technology in India. This year, the GSM growth rate in India is outpacing all other competing technologies. With a natural 3G migration path to GPRS/EDGE/UMTS, GSM offers an inherent advantage in driving this growth, points out the release.

    “GSM has proven to be a great fit for India because it offers choice in terms of products and services available. GSM not only offers entry-level phones for those who have never owned a mobile phone, it also provides mid- range feature phones and smartphones for the growing middle class. GSM stimulates innovation and open competition and ensures that consumers have easy access to a broad choice of operators, seamless roaming and billing across networks and the most cost-efficient handsets on the market,” says Delfassy.

    Delfassy noted that TI is committed to driving down handset costs with its “LoCosto” family of single-chip mobile phone solutions, which will accelerate wireless penetration in emerging high-volume markets like India. Low-cost handsets based on TI’s “LoCosto” platform are expected on the market in India later this year.

    Delfassy also addressed live broadcast TV on the mobile phone, a technology which is stirring interest in India, and the importance of open industry standards such as DVB-H to drive adoption of mobile DTV. DVB-H technology is an open industry standard that has become the predominant technology used to deploy mobile TV services around the world. More than 100 companies are developing or deploying services, components and devices based on DVB-H, and more than 300 million users have access to DVB-H.

    “Like GSM technology, DVB-H has a competitive environment, which fosters lower costs and spurs innovation. It’s no longer difficult to imagine watching a cricket game or a ‘Bollywood’ movie anywhere, anytime, right on your mobile phone — that vision is now a reality,” he says.

    Closing his remarks, Delfassy reiterated TI’s commitment to India and continued support of open standards.

    “TI has long believed India offers huge potential — as a market, as an innovator, and as a global provider of mobile phone technology and services. It is this belief that led us to build a development center in Bangalore over 20 years ago and to expand our presence with a new research and development center in Chennai. TI remains committed to providing products and services that open up the possibilities for mobile technology in India and that help operators and manufacturers here be successful. And we are determined to do all we can to help India realize its vision of 500 million mobile phone users within the next four years,” Delfassy concluded.

    Providing views on the benefits of GSM technology, India’s Cellular Operators Association drector general T.V. Ramachandran, said, “GSM continues to be the predominant driver of mobile growth, both internationally as well as in India. This standard is growing from strength to strength having recently crossed 2 billion subscribers worldwide. GSM’s global predominance is due to its several advantages which include open standards, interoperability, economies of scale, seamless global roaming, widespread prepaid solutions, rich and versatile value-added services. This standard is committed to bringing the benefits of connectivity to the common man and also fulfilling their aspirations for feature rich services that are available on the GSM platform. The single-chip solution by Texas Instruments is another important innovation that will further improve the affordability of the service and drive access.”

    TI is one of the leading manufacturers of wireless semiconductors, and provides a breadth of silicon and software and over 15 years of wireless systems expertise that spans handsets and base stations for all communications standards, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, A-GPS, mobile TV and Ultra Wideband.

  • Star One revamps Friday prime time

    Star One revamps Friday prime time

    MUMBAI: Star One has revamped its Friday prime time, adding two new properties to its line up. The erstwhile Sab TV show Office Office takes a re-birth in Star One as Naya Office Office. On the other hand, the channel is re-launching its detective serial D.O.N on 14 July.

    Titled Naya Office Office, the new version of the popular sitcom Office Office will launch on 21 July and has been placed in the 8:30 pm slot. The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya will air at 9 pm, followed by the new D.O.N at 10 pm. Mano Yo Na Mano retains its 11 pm slot.

    Announcing the launch of Naya Office Office, Star India senior creative director Shailja Kejriwal said, “Our success with comedy continues and once again we have looked at fresh concepts that we believe will appeal to our viewers. In its previous avatar, the show has won many hearts and many accolades and we are confident of the continued success with Naya Office Office. Our march to the number two position will be strengthened with a show of this caliber.”

    Star One has adopted the strategy of launching the second seasons of its successful programmes in order to win back its lost position in the Hindi GEC space. As already reported, following Naya Office Office and D.O.N in the launch schedule would be the new versions of its celebrity talent hunt property Nach Baliye and the youth-oriented serial Remix.

  • Exiting X-Games get exiting sponsors

    Exiting X-Games get exiting sponsors

    ESPN-Star Sports along with its sponsors will expand its X Games Brand to include new tours in Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

    The ESS event management group is organising the third Asian X Games Qualifier taking place at Phuket, Thailand from 7-10 December. Toyota is continuing with its sponsorship due to the immense success of the previous X games and will take the 2000 Asian X Tour to Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan. Completing the list of confirmed sponsors of this year’s AXQ is the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

    ESS viewers across Asia, Australia, Japan, Europe and Latin America will be able to enjoy the X games, a competing sport of extreme games. The Asian version of the X games began as the qualifying round of the US summer X games which served as a platform for players of these exiting sports to showcase their talents.

    Along with their tremendous appeal to attract local people, the X games also translate into prime programming for ESS. A strong proof of this is the fact that Motor Sports giant Toyota is continuing with its sponsorship with a promise that it will sponsor the X games for another two years so that it can identify with the theme of passion and sports which Toyota says goes with its brand.

    The X tours consists of three qualifying events to select competitors for the 2000 AXQ. The X tour is slated to stop in Bangkok (12-14 August), Taipei (9-10 September) and Singapore (7-8 September). In addition to this ESS will be organising viewing events in the Philippines and Malaysia.

  • Headbanger’s Ball

    Headbanger’s Ball

    Usually my Sunday afternoon siestas are broken by Barking Boxer. He lives in the building behind ours and his weekly treat is playing cricket with his human friends on the street. He cheers loudly and unreservedly. Last Sunday, he went ballistic. The size of the ball in the narrowness of the playing area confused him and drove him ecstatic at the same time – that’s right, the kids next door had switched to footer.

    As had the whole country. Not just Kerala and Goa and West Bengal. Finally, cricket fever is abating. Forgive this terrible indiscretion, but I never could understand what millions saw in twenty two men in long pants chasing a tiny ball around a wide open field, every thirty excruciating seconds, and could keep at it for hours, even days, together.

    By now, the evidence that football fever has overtaken cricket is all over the place – the viewership figures of 5.2 million speak for themselves. In a couple of weeks, Intellect will tell us how much out of home television viewing occurred as well, and I would not be surprised if that added a good 50 per cent to the overall.

    Last Sunday gave us the unusual and perhaps unlikely occurrence of two awesome live telecast finals almost back to back. Not middle of the road pop music cricket, but the intense mastery of stroke making jazz music tennis at primetime, and the ultimate headbanger’s ball later that night. From the classy Federer sporting a pristine white jacket bearing his family insignia, to the crassness of a skirmish that a hero will regret all his life, the evening kept audiences glued to their sets.

    In sheer numbers, the total home viewing audience on July 9th in the top six cities went up by 33 per cent over the average Sunday (the average Sunday itself including a live telecast ODI cricket match between home team India and the West Indies at prime time on May 28). One and a half million more viewers were added, with the audience post 11 pm alone shooting up from 2.1 million to 4.1 million viewers. Average viewing minutes post 11 pm nearly doubled from 56 to 92 minutes.

    By now, the evidence that football fever has overtaken cricket is all over the place – the viewership figures of 5.2 million speak for themselves
    _____****_____

    The maximum increase percentage wise was observed among male children aged 4 to 14 years – at 43 per cent. Boxer’s friends sure had a well filled day that day. While the maximum increase in volumes was observed among the 35 plus. 3.75 lakh more men tuned in to watch television on Awesome Twosome Sunday, up from 9 lakh men over 35 in these six cities on an average Sunday in summer. Plus a whole lot more in pubs, clubs and friend’s places.

    And hold your breath – 3.34 lakh more women over 35 too! (One of them being me.)

    All in all it was a sports lover’s treat, of course, but not just limited to the sports lover. And that’s what makes this story all that more interesting. It holds out promise for all the other deserving but so far unsupported sport in this country. Add plenty of eye candy to the promotion of the sport, speed things up a bit, pour in millions of dollars, globalize the players keeping up with the worldly new definition of ‘home’, and who knows – twenty years down the line, Barking Boxer – or his progeny – could well be keeping time to hu-tu-tu.

    (With grateful thanks to aMap for the data and Deepa Menon of Intellect – LMG for the analysis).

    (The author is Lintas India Director of Media Services)

    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)

  • Sony Entertainment gets high valuation; promoters disagree on certain issues

    Sony Entertainment gets high valuation; promoters disagree on certain issues

    India’s number two private Hindi entertainment television channel Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is believed to have been valued at US$2.5 billion, the leading Indian financial daily The Economic Times reported today.

    SET’s promoters -Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and a group of Indian entrepreneurs which includes cine star Jackie Shroff – have reportedly divested five per cent of the company’s equity in favour of Capital International. Capital International has coughed up US$125 million for the five per cent stake which will be pumped into SET’s Indian and Singapore outfits through its Japanese arm Capital Japan. SET has operations in India through SET India Ltd and in Singapore through SET Satellite (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

    The US$125 million valuation for a five per cent stake gives SET an enterprise valuation valuation of US$2.5 billion. The promoters had at one stage expected the valuation to be in the region of US$5 billion. One of the promoters had candidly admitted to http://www.indiantelevision.com that that was the valuation about six months ago.

    But apparently the downtrend in media stocks in India and the nosedive in the valuation of Zee Telefilms Ltd – which has seen its market capitalisation evaporate to one fourth of what it was in the early part of this year – led to a lower valuation for SET.

    The newspaper says that there was disagreement between the Indian promoters and SPE on the modus operandi of divestment. Capital Japan was believed to be in favour of an early exit through an initial public offering (IPO) within a year of it taking a stake in SET. SPE, however, was against any commitment on the timeframe for an IPO.

    SET, the newspaper says, convinced Capital Japan to extend the timeframe to 24 months. SPE, apparently, is believed to be unhappy about this also.

    However, that’ s an issue which will be resolved over time. For the nonce, SET India can be happy that it has managed to get some funds in its kitty which will go a long way in its battle with market leader Zee TV.

    None of the officials in SET India or its promoters were willing to comment on the The Economic Times newsreport.

  • Star One plans a turnaround; to bring back ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘Remix’

    Star One plans a turnaround; to bring back ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘Remix’

    MUMBAI: Last year around this time, Star India’s young launch Star One was enjoying a successful run in the market.

    Properties such as The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Nach Baliye saw the channel making SET, the then number 2 in the Hindi GEC space, sit up and take note. However, the channel was derailed from its successful run due to a stern fightback from the competition. Certain distribution issues have also been bugging the channel in the Mumbai market.

    Now, what has boosted the channel’s morale is the good ratings The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya delivered. According to Tam, the two-hour finale episode, which aired on Friday, 23 June, delivered a rating of 7.94 on CS4+ and became the fourth highest ranked show amongst the Hindi General Entertainment channels.

    Driving the turnaround plans for Star One would be two of its 2005 successes: Nach Baliye and Remix. While presenting a session on the journey of Star One at this year’s edition of Promax BDA 2006, Star India EVP Marketing & Communications Ajay Vidyasagar offered a glimpse of the plan of action.

    “If you have strong products to woo viewers, distribution is never a challenge. The success of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya has proved this. Now, we are targeting December 2006 to win back the lost position. We will be launching the second seasons of Nach Baliye and Remix in the coming months. The plans will be unveiled in a couple of weeks. You can expect a lot of surprises in both the formats this time,” says Vidyasagar.

    Vidyasagar also claimed that, the channel’s homegrown properties including Laughter Challenge and Nach Baliye created a lot of interest in the international market. “We have been getting lot of enquires from the global market. The players over there are very keen to buy these formats from us,” he says.

  • Endemol India to produce Star One show TGILC Dwitiya

    Endemol India to produce Star One show TGILC Dwitiya

    MUMBAI: Endemol India will produce the upcoming Star One show The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya. Launching on 14 July, the show will attempt to showcase the best talents from both Season one and two of Laughter Challenge.

    In it’s second avtaar, The Great Indian Laughter Champions has become snazzier and is spruced up with unimaginable comical histrionics and a host of film stars, claims an official release. If Hritik Roshan, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Soha Ali Khan, Dia Mirza and Suniel Shetty enthralled the viewers on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya, celebrities like Riya Sen, Isha Koppikar, Mahesh Manjrekar and Udita Goswami amongst others, will team-up with Shekhar and Sidhu on The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya. The show has also been revamped as Shekhar and Sidhu judge the contest separately, adds the release.

    Announcing the launch, Endemol India MD Rajesh Kamat said, “We are glad to team-up with Star One and present The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya to the viewers in India. As a production house we have tried our best to present a dose of whacked-out humour with panache and flamboyance to cure Friday night blues with experimental laughter therapy! We intend to successfully develop some more path-breaking shows and be an integral part of this sunrise industry in the country.”

    Endemol has already delivered formats like Fear Factor India, Deal Ya No Deal and Heart Beat, besides producing shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya.

  • Pix to launch ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ on 16 July

    Pix to launch ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ on 16 July

    MUMBAI: Pix will be launching the Hollywood talk show Inside the Actors Studio (ITAS) on 16 July. The show will be aired every Sunday at 7 pm.

    Pix has acquired 47 episodes of this series. Some of the guests interviewed include: Will Smith, Antonio Banderas, Hugh Grant, Charlize Ttheron, Richard Gere, Renee Zellweger, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Al Pacino.
    Inside the Actors Studio has been on air in the US for more than 11 years and is now broadcast in over 125 countries.

    From its origin, Inside the Actors Studio has followed an interesting format in which the show is taped in front of an audience made up of students from the Actors Studio’s Master of Fine Arts program.

    The interviewees share intimate and personal experiences that influenced their choice of career and what it is that continues to fascinate them about showbiz. The interview then concludes with a standardised questionnaire of 10 questions that requires candid answers, leading to hilarious and sometimes touching moments on the show.

    The channel has also weaved an ITAS contest wherein viewers will have a chance to win Pix goodies. Contestants can SMS ‘JL’ to 2525 and win DVDs of Hollywood movies.

    The show has won nominations for Outstanding Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Non-fiction Series, 11 Emmy award nominations, the Cable Ace Award as best talk show and The New York Festival Award for the world’s best talk/entertainment.

  • ABC Asia Pacific to launch as Australia Network on 7 August

    ABC Asia Pacific to launch as Australia Network on 7 August

    MUMBAI: Starting 7 August, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Asia Pacific will be called the Australia Network, offering news, documentaries, drama and lifestyle programs. In its new avatar, the network will bring some new programmes but with same spirit and zeal across Asia.

    In India, the channel will be distributed by Global Broadcast News (GBN). In a recent interview to Indiantelevision.com, GBN joint managing director Sameer Manchanda disclosed, “We have just signed up to be the Indian agent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, an infotainment channel with large doses of news and travel shows.”

    Featuring live coverage from around the region, it will be produced exclusively for Australia Network by the ABC TV news and current affairs division.

    The channel will air a brand new current affairs programmes Focus on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 PM Evening bulletins will feature three times per night at 5 PM, 7 PM and 9 PM, with exclusive reports from the four new correspondents in the region reporting from Delhi, Beijing, South Pacific and Jakarta in addition to ABC correspondents from around the world.

    Adelaide based actor Margot Politis will host Study English, which has been designed specifically to help students prepare for study overseas or improve their career prospects. Politis is also the host of the ABC Education programme Like It Is.

    Business English will focus on helping people improve their career prospects by learning the worlds global language of business.

    The dramas are uniquely Australian, created, written and produced in Australia. The Australia Networks will bring in a daily soap Home & Away. It will air at 5:30 PM

    There will be a special one hour recap of all Home & Away every Sunday at 6 PM The network will showcase more Aussie drama such as hospital drama All Saints; the award winning police series Blue Heelers; Love My Way with Claudia Karvan; Travel favourite Getaway and many more.

    The Network will be carrying coverage ranging from horse racing (The Melbourne Cup), to V8 Supercars to surfing and of course rugby International Rugby Union featuring the International Test Matches between Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, France and Ireland as well as the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cups, National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Rules Football (AFL).