ITV

Category: Television

  • Nick US’ education network Noggin celebrates 10 years of ‘Blues Clues’

    MUMBAI: US kids channel Nickelodeon has announced that Noggin its commercial-free, educational network for preschoolers goes ‘Blue‘ this month.


    The network invites American kids and their families to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of Blue’s Clues a show that the broadcaster says changed the way preschoolers watch television.


    Throughout this month Noggin will pay tribute to the blue puppy with Blue’s Clues-themed activities at Club Noggin in General Growth (GGP) malls across the US. In addition to appearances by series host ‘Joe‘ (Donovan Patton) in select malls. Noggin will also kick off a month-long on-air celebration of Blue’s Clues with a ‘Red, White and Blue‘ marathon on independence Day 4 July 2006.


    The Club Noggin celebration will lead up to the August anniversary of Blue’s Clues, when Nick Jr. and Noggins will introduce viewers to a new character — Blue’s new brother — on the hour-long movie Meet Blue’s Baby Brother on 6 August on Nickelodeon.


    For the first time, the special melds the two worlds of Joe and the classic animated world of Blue’s Clues with the puppets on Blue’s Room. Meet Blue’s Baby Brother will feature a game of Gold Clues as preschoolers help search for Blue’s baby brother and share another milestone with their favourite blue puppy.


    Blue’s Clues will take over Club Noggin, the network’s interactive educational in-mall experience for preschoolers and their parents. Participating malls will present special Blue’s Clues-themed activities throughout the month of July. Club Noggin reaches consumers in 78 GGP malls across the US. Blue’s Clues host Donovan Patton is scheduled to appear for “meet and greets” and book readings in New York, Chicago, San Jose, Houston and Dallas. Throughout July, GGP and NOGGIN will also launch “Club NOGGIN On the Go!” a take-away extension of Club NOGGIN’s in-mall experience for parents to help entertain and educate their kids wherever they are.


    Club Noggin’s Blue’s Clues educational curriculum will focus on themes from the hit series including:


    Letters: Activity to feature the Blue’s Clues book “Alphabet Power”


    Numbers: Activity to feature a Blue’s Clues video clip with a corresponding lesson


    Shapes: Activity to feature an arts and crafts project — build a sailboat — which mirrors a lesson on Meet Blue’s Baby Brother


    Colors: Coloring activity based on Meet Blue’s Baby Brother


    The earlier mentioned Red, White and Blue on-air marathon will feature the following Blue’s Clues milestones: the three-part special Meet Joe where Steve goes to college and viewers are introduced to new host Joe, the half-hour special Legend of the Blue Puppy where Blue talks for the very first time; Blue’s 100th Episode Celebration a retrospective look at the first five seasons with Steve, Joe and Blue; and the 90-minute movie Blue’s Big Musical.

  • Discovery to launch DMax channel in Germany

    Discovery to launch DMax channel in Germany

    MUMBAI: Discovery will launch DMax in Germany in September 2006 in place of XXP, a free-to-air channel that the company acquired earlier this year.

    The fact-based entertainment channel, DMax will focus on the lifestyles and interests of male viewers aged 20 – 49 and offers frank opinions, revealing insights and a fresh, thought-provoking perspective on contemporary life and the way we live today.

    The channel will deliver the inside track on everything that is important to a predominantly male audience and will offer a broad range of locally and internationally produced content encompassing investigative documentaries, popular science, lifestyle, talk shows, real-life human interest stories, motoring and outdoor activities. DMax will occupy a unique position within the German media landscape as the only mainstream free-to-air fact- based entertainment channel.

    Discovery Germany VP country manager Dr. Patrick Höerl said, “The launch of DMax represents a significant investment by Discovery to build a compelling free-to-air brand that serves an important and growing segment of the German television market. DMax will benefit from investment in content produced in Germany, a fortified technical infrastructure that extends the reach of the channel and increased marketing and programming staff.”

    A significant investment will be made in programming for DMax consisting of both local German commissions and local and international acquisitions. It is expected that approximately 70 per cent of 2006 programming budgets will be invested in local commissions. DMax currently has over 1,000 new programming hours scheduled from launch in September until the end of 2006.

    Discovery Germany VP ad sales Magnus Kastner says, “DMax has a unique and compelling channel proposition designed specifically to attract the young male audience advertisers want to reach. The fact-based programming provides advertisers with a contemporary and high-quality environment for their commercial messages.”

    At launch, DMax will reach approximately 27 million households. The channel can be viewed on both analogue and digital satellite 24 hours a day and has extensive reach across Germany’s cable networks. DMax will be managed out of Discovery’s German offices in Munich by a growing team of media professionals.

    Kastner joined Discovery Germany in May 2006 and is currently building a full-service advertising sales function for DMax, which will be comprised of more than 20 employees operating out of Munich.

  • Hallmark comes up with a new look and feel

    Hallmark comes up with a new look and feel

    MUMBAI: It has been a period of transition for Hallmark. The international division was sold to a group of investors by Crown Media last year for $242 million.

    Now the channel has gone in for a new look and programming line-up. The new look signifies the broadcaster’s commitment to offering high quality movies, mini-series and drama series in an attractive and engaging channel environment that is relevant to Asian audiences.

    Sparrowhawk Media Group (which operates Hallmark) MD Asia Pacific Andrew Hanna said, “Hallmark Channel’s new look is designed to present our programming in the most contemporary and compelling way to our audiences. We will continue to provide our audiences with the same quality production values and premium entertainment shows they have come to know and love. Now, Hallmark Channel will do it better.”

    Hallmark’s Asia Pacific creative director Cameron Craig said, “So often we see that everyday events in life are a wellspring for dramatic storytelling. Hallmark Channel offers people great drama entertainment that draws upon the full range of human emotion. Creatively, we have set out to reflect that great stories often exist in the drama that surrounds us in each person’s life, everyday.

    The new on-air look features landscapes and captures scenes that aim to reflect the daily drama of people’s lives. These images were filmed in India, Malaysia and Thailand. Superimposed over these images are close-ups of what are typical Hallmark viewers reacting to the drama inherent in the scenes. The addition of the line ‘in every life, there is drama’ reflects, in a subtle but engaging way, the emotional connection audiences feel for the Hallmark Channel brand and its drama based programming.”

    As far as the programming template is concerned Hallmark will continue to offer mini-series based on world famous novels, classic tales of mythology, great people in history and inspiring true stories. In 2006, the mini-series that will air include an adaptation of Jules Verne novel Mysterious Island which deals with a group of prisoners who have escaped from a Confederate prisoner of war camp during the American Civil War by a hot air balloon, William Golding’s tale To the Ends of the Earth which is about a young man’s coming of age at sea, action adventure Supernova and the classic Greek tale of Hercules.

    On weekdays, Hallmark will air movies and drama series, including courtroom drama’s Judging Amy and Family Law, spy thriller Spooks, murder mystery’s Midsomer Murder’s and Wire in the Blood and contemporary drama’s Doc Martin and Hustle.

    Hanna adds, “Our new look and branding is part of our constant mission aimed to entertain the drama-watching and drama-loving audiences everywhere.”

  • Record 138 million plus videos streamed on Fifa’s site

    Record 138 million plus videos streamed on Fifa’s site

    MUMBAI: Soccer fans around the world logged on to FIFAworldcup.com, the official website of the recently concluded 2006 Fifa World Cup in Germany, in large numbers.

    With more than 138 million video streams, the year 2006 marks the first year that video highlights of World Cup matches have been free on the Web, and fans took full advantage.

    There were 4.2 billion page views. The site attracted more than two billion page views in the tournament’s first two weeks, topping the site’s total for the entire 2002 tournament less than halfway through the competition. By the end of the final match, FWC.com’s 2006 site had more than doubled the page view total from 2002.

    3.5 million Flicker Photo pages were viewed via its photo-sharing site, Yahoo! enabling fans who attended World Cup matches to tag pictures and share their experiences with friends, family members and other soccer fans from around the world.

    With 73 million page views on its Mobile Web Destination, it helped fans around the world access FIFAworldcup.com on mobile devices to follow all the World Cup action.

    Also, over 875,000 Fantasy Sign-Ups Fans signed up to play free fantasy football on FIFAworldcup.com.

  • Animal Planet goes on a safari every Sunday

    Animal Planet goes on a safari every Sunday

    MUMBAI: Animal Planet has announced a new initiative Safari Sunday. This will air every Sunday from 7 am to 7 pm. The aim is to give viewers a chance to catch up one shows that they may have missed during the week. Animal Planet says that it is unique in offering the viewers a rare perspective of the animal world, an interplay of human-animal relationships that appeal to audiences across age groups.

    A wide range of animals are tracked and environments explored in programs and are devised to offer viewers something new and unexpected each Sunday. By presenting this new package, the channel will not only be able to communicate the strong programming and diversity of the channel but will also draw higher viewership on Sundays.
    Some of the shows that will air under this initiative are:

    One Planet at 7 am – Countless species of wild animals – many unknown and uncategorized – are in danger of being driven to extinction by human development. Hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness are being slashed and stamped out of existence for short-lived commercial purposes. But spreading this message above the crowd are Animal Planet’s wildlife experts, using their voices to support the worthy cause of conserving wildlife and the wilderness they inhabit.

    Around The World With Tippi at 9 am – Last year, Animal Planet told the story of eleven-year-old Tippi, a remarkable French girl who was brought up in Namibia and who, as a child developed a unique passion for wild animals. From a very early age, Tippi was able to bond with all kinds of wild animals including elephants, jaguars, monkeys, giraffes and even serpents. Animal Planet followed Tippi as she returned to Africa after two years away and met conservationists engaged in the preservation of local wildlife.

    Now, Animal Planet catches up with Tippi and chronicles her adventures to other parts of the world to meet people who work closely with animals. Viewers join Tippi as she interacts with koalas and whale sharks in Australia, wolves in Canada and lions in Africa.

    Most Extreme at 9:30 am – This series is a countdown of the top ten animals with powers that put people to shame. So who are the fastest, or strongest, or greediest animals? Which are the highest jumpers or the smartest? Each episode sets up the challenge and then finds the most extraordinary solutions in the animal kingdom. It shows why each of The Most Extreme animals really are the best of the best and puts human achievements into perspective.

    TV With Teeth at 10:30 am – This show has intimate wildlife encounters – the ultimate experience of wildlife on the edge with a presenter that isn’t afraid to go there.

  • IEC to distribute television rights for the ATP China Open

    IEC to distribute television rights for the ATP China Open

    MUMBAI: Marketing agency IEC in Sports has been appointed by China Open Promotions to handle worldwide television distribution for the ATP China Open tenis event for the period 2006-2008.

    The two-week tournament featuring both ATP and WTA events, now in it’s third year, has prize money exceeding $1 million.

    The event takes place from 11-17 September. The French Open champion Rafael Nadal, former Wimbledom runner up David Nalbandian and David Ferrer will be among the participants.

    China Open tournament director Ekkehard Rathergeber says, “We intend to ensure ATP China Open generates massive global media exposure as befits the host city of the next Summer Olympics. IEC in Sports will play a key part, along with CCTV in producing a world class television production that is distributed globally.”

    IEC in Sports CEO Jonas Persson says, “IEC intends to broaden the appeal of what is shaping up to be Asia’s greatest annual sporting event. Other enhancements include increasing the number of matches on the International Feed, sourcing World-class English language commentators and expanding live transmission across every continent.”

  • FIPB clears Adhikari Brothers’ Broadcast Initiatives plans to induct foreign equity partner

    FIPB clears Adhikari Brothers’ Broadcast Initiatives plans to induct foreign equity partner

    MUMBAI: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has formally cleared the application filed by Sri Adhikari Brothers News and Television Network Limited (the name has changed to Broadcast Initiatives Ltd).

    The approval is part of the procedure for news channels planning to raise funds through an initial public offer (IPO) to induct investments from non-resident Indians (NRIs) or foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The company has filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus for an IPO.

    Broadcast Initiatives Ltd, the Sri Adhikari Brothers promoted company through which Janmat news and views channel was launched, proposes to issue 8,550,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium to be decided through the book building process. The issue would constitute 44.27 per cent of the fully diluted post issue equity capital of the company. Post-issue, the promoter holding would be 55.73 per cent.

    As per the prescribed government norms, the FIIs can invest in news and current affairs channel and companies managing them, but the total foreign investment component is capped at 26 per cent, whereby the FII investment has to be part of the total foreign investment allowed, including foreign direct investment.

    For any such induction, the news broadcaster has to obtain a no objection certificate from information and broadcasting ministry as well as the FIPB approval for the shares issued to the NRIs/FIIs.

    In its application last month, the Adhikari Brothers had said that it “proposes to induct foreign equity partner up to 26 per cent through the IPO/Public issues.”

    On the same day, the FIPB had also approved a proposal of Reuters Group Plc to invest in the Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd’s, which manages the six month old English news and current affairs channel Times Now. The ministry has approved an investment of Rs 221 million by the Reuters in the Times Global Broadcasting for uplinking and broadcasting news and current affairs television channels from India.

    The clearances are part of a package okayed by finance minister P Chidambaram based on the recommendations of the FIPB in its meeting held on 29 June 2006. The total package approved by the FM amounts to Rs 7.62 billion.

  • Discovery to focus on dragons, mega builders, science fiction

    Discovery to focus on dragons, mega builders, science fiction

    MUMBAI: Dragons, mega builders and science fiction are just a few of the themes that Discovery will tackle over the coming months.
    Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real airs on 6 August at 8 pm. This was a three year project. Scientific fact, CGI and special effects bring these creatures to life. This is basically a ‘what if?’ special.

    Ruling a make-believe world of fantasy and fairy tales, these terrifying, winged predators never existed in real life – but what if they had? Computer-generated imagery from the same graphics company that created effects for Walking With Dinosaurs, Walking With Prehistoric Beasts and the latest Harry Potter movie provides a look at these creatures from the inside out.

    Viewers will learn how dragons would have evolved into a number of different species through the ages – Prehistoric, Marine, Forest and Mountain Dragons – and how each dragon species was endowed with physical adaptations and behaviors specialized for its environment.

    Viewers can also check out in vivo shots of each dragon’s internal workings and learn the theoretical biology behind claims that these creatures were able to fly and breathe fire. Combining live action footage, natural history and state-of-the-art computer animation, the show will tack viewers on a journey through the annals of the fantastic past and an in-depth, scientific look at one of humankind’s most storied foes.

    Those keen on architecture can check out the six part show Mega Builders. Capturing the biggest, most complex, most stressful and most dangerous engineering projects around the world, Mega Builders chronicles awe-inspiring construction projects in the world and the engineering teams behind them. Viewers can watch as they attempt projects so enormous and challenging that one will be compelled to ask: how will they ever pull this off?

    Dubai takes centrestage on 4 July with the episode Fantasy Islands Dubai. Off the coast of Dubai in the Gulf of Arabia, two mega-builders are pulling off one of the most ambitious feats of marine engineering the world has ever seen. In this episode, witness the creation of the world’s largest man-made islands – three artificial islands built in the shape of a palm tree – which will be the home to a luxurious future city of 100,000 people. When building an island, where do you even begin?

    Canadian immigrant, Ali Mansour and New Zealander, David Smith have teamed up under the direction of Dubai’s property development company, Nakheel, to create this exclusive play land for the world’s wealthy elite. This episode follows the marine engineers as they manage a fleet of monster dredger ships and a convoy of mega-trucks moving 14 million tons of rocks to create the world’s longest breakwater. These enterprising engineers are designing the 50-km² islands to withstand earthquakes and they’ve built the breakwater to help protect the emerging islands against rough seas and erosion. If successful, their work will be instrumental as the tiny emirate re-invents itself as a tourist mecca for the super-rich.
    The episode on 11 July is called Quake Proofing an Icon San Francisco. The challenges of building the new San Francisco Bay Bridge are immense as nothing like it has ever been built in a seismic zone; engineering a bridge that will bend but not break and creating a solid foundation out of a sea of mud.

    World’s Fastest Wheels airs on 25 July 2006. Every weekend for the last seven years Ed Shadle, a fanatical speed racer; and Keith Zanghi, a retired IBM executive who races dragsters for fun, have pursued a very big dream: to build the most advanced racing car in the world. Their goal is simple: take their car, the North American Eagle, supersonic and annihilate the world land speed record – a mind-numbing 1,228 kilometres per hour: the speed of sound.

    The pair of speedsters recruit experts in everything from parachutes to jet plane engines to build this extraordinary car – if you can really call it a car. Shadel and Zanghi ran with the improbable idea of transforming a jet plane into a jet car. After a four month search, the men found a surplus F-104 Starfighter fuselage and began the remarkable conversion. And as they worked, they discovered something amazing – under 15 layers of paint they uncovered the plane’s serial number: 763. This number, and the plane, had belonged to America’s most famous test pilot, Chuck Yager.

    From 18-24 September 2006 Discovery will air a slew of shows under the name Sci Fi Zone. The shows look at H.G. Wells’ explosive ideas and how The Matrix trilogy or Terminator 2 could become a reality in the future.

  • Vh1 lines-up special shows for July

    Vh1 lines-up special shows for July

    MUMBAI: Vh1, the international music and lifestyle channel has line-up with the celebreality show Hogan Knows Best and Cribs as well as two Vh1 specials Live8: What A Difference A Day Made and Rock Honors for July.

    Starting 2 July, Vh1 will premiere Live8: What A Difference A Day Made at 10 pm. It will highlight the performances including U2, Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Madonna, Youssou N’Dour and Dido, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, R.E.M. and Paul McCartney who rallied the crowds and viewers to fight against poverty in Africa and to lobby the G8 leaders to makes promises on debt relief, AIDS drugs, trade tariffs and education. The show will repeat on 15 July at 10 pm, the day the G8 summit begins in Russia. 

    Hogan Knows Best, the celebreality show on Hulk Hogan and his family premieres on 18 July at 9 pm. The show exposes the inside story on Hulk Hogan who is not only the world’s most famous wrestler but also a very traditional suburban dad with a teenage daughter who wants to be a pop star and a teenage son Nick who wants to be a race car driver.

    Cribs will premier on 26 July. The show will showcase an exclusive and in-depth access into the comfy dwellings of the favourite celebrities. 

    The lifestyle channel will also showcase Vh1 Rock Honors, hosted by Jamie Pressly, celebrating the great music and influence of KISS, Queen, Def Leppard and Judas Priest in Las Vegas with performances Foo Fighters, Godsmack, All American Rejects and the awesome KISS Tribute All Star Band (including Rob Zombie, Tommy Lee and Slash) on 21 July at 10 pm.

  • Zee to launch Zee Sports despite all odds

    Zee to launch Zee Sports despite all odds

    Zee Telefilms will be launching its sports channel on October 1. The channel is temporarily christened Zee Sports. Zee was counting on the bagging of the telecast rights of all the ICC organised cricket matches. But it lost out to Rupert Murdoch who walked home with the telecast rights.

    This was seen as a major blow for the launch of the Zee Sports channel. But the channel executives announced that they would go ahead with the launch of Zee Sports channel. The executives claimed that they have enough software for the channel to keep it going and to make it successful.

    Zee has recently taken a 60% stake in the Goa-based soccer club Churchill Brothers. The channel is also looking out for similar tie-ups with other such sports bodies. Besides this, officials have confirmed that they will have cricket, soccer, tennis, athletics and other sports software for their new channel.

    On the recent controversy of the awarding of ICC cricket telecast rights, the channel is up in arms against the ICC for awarding the rights to its rival group backed by Rupert Murdoch. Zee executives have claimed that this decision smells of racism and that they would not sit back and except his decision and that they are consulting various legal experts to take appropriate action against the ICC. Zee had bid $666 million for the rights where as News Corp/WSG bid $550 million, which is $1 million lower than Zee’s bid.