ITV

Category: Television

  • Musicnotes inks deal with Sony

    Musicnotes inks deal with Sony

    MUMBAI: The online digital sheet music, Musicnotes.com, has announced a new, long-term distribution agreement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. 

    According to an official release, Musicnotes.com will produce and sell digital sheet music and guitar tablature for songs from throughout Sony/ATV’s extensive catalog.

    Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture between Sony and Michael Jackson joins an impressive list of music publishers and administrators already offering sheet music for their artists on the Musicnotes.com web site. These publishers include Alfred Music Publishing (encompassing the Warner/Chappell catalog), BMG, Zomba, EMI Christian, Word Music and dozens of additional publishers.

    Musicnotes.com will offer digital sheet music downloads for songs from Sony/ATV’s impressive roster of songwriters. This sheet music includes songs written by Beck, Sarah McLachlan, Richie Sambora, Gretchen Wilson, Stevie Nicks, Oasis, KT Tunstall and Fall Out Boy — as well as the seminal rock and roll group, The Beatles.

    “As a music publisher, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to promote our songs and songwriters,” said Sony/ATV chairman and CEO David Hockman. “We are delighted to work directly with Musicnotes.com, whose expertise and large, loyal customer base makes them the clear leader in the digital sheet music marketplace.”

    As a result of the agreement, the official release adds that Musicnotes will also be offering guitarists a wide selection of interactive lessons for Sony/ATV’s songs in Musicnotes’s popular Guitar Guru Sessions(TM) format.

    “The addition of Sony/ATV’s song catalog to our site is wonderful news for our customers,” said Musicnotes CEO, Kathleen Marsh. “These songs represent some of the best-known and adored works of all-time, and we are extremely excited to work with Sony/ATV in allowing musicians to learn to play these works using our market leading format.”

  • KyLinTV rolls out Hunan TV in North America

    KyLinTV rolls out Hunan TV in North America

    MUMBAI: Telecoms and media companies are gung-ho about growing area of the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). KyLinTV, which provides Chinese programming via IPTV in North America has rolled-out an entertainment channel from China, Hunan TV.

    The KyLinTV subscribers can now watch the most popular Hunan TV programmes such as Super Voice Girls and more.

    At present, KyLinTV is offering 26 live broadcast channels. According to an official release, KyLinTV subscribers have three ways to enjoy Hunan TV programmes. Viewers can tune in to live Hunan TV broadcasts on KyLinTV, and are able to watch any programme that they may have missed using the Hunan TV channel companion. 

    The broadcast channel companion preserves the lineup of news and entertainment programmes for 24 hours, and is a feature unique to KyLinTV. 

    In addition, KyLinTV subscribers can take advantage of Hunan TV On Demand, an exclusive library of the most popular Hunan TV programmes.

    Hunan TV has brought the age of the Super Voice Girls to KyLinTV. China’s answer to American Idol, all episodes from the 2006 Super Voice Girls can be accessed on KyLinTV using Video On Demand (VOD).

    “Through the use of IPTV technology, KyLinTV is delighted to offer the top entertainment channel from China to our subscribers,” said KyLinTV CEO Nancy Li. “The VOD companion and on demand features available to KyLinTV subscribers ensure that they will never have to miss any of the popular Hunan TV programs they want to watch. We are committed to making the most popular Chinese entertainment easily accessible to all of our subscribers, and to offering the most choices in Chinese entertainment.”

    “Hunan TV is extremely pleased to be in a partnership with KyLinTV,” said Hunan TV director general Wei Wenbin. “KyLinTV is an innovative service that gives Hunan TV the perfect opportunity to have our content reach the Chinese-speaking families in North America. We look forward to a prosperous future with KyLinTV.”

    By September 2006, KyLinTV will offer a total of 26 live broadcast channels in real-time to KyLinTV subscribers. Each broadcast channel will be offered with a KyLinTV VOD companion that will preserve KyLinTV broadcast titles for 24 hours, maintaining access and convenience for the benefit of KyLinTV. 

    An on demand library will offer access to past episodes of hit shows as VOD, offering the most choices to North-American consumers.

  • Zee-Turner switches off OCN Network in Mangalore

    Zee-Turner switches off OCN Network in Mangalore

    MUMBAI: Zee Turner Limited, the distribution arm of Zee Telefilms Ltd and Turner International (I) Pvt. Ltd, has finally switched off its bouquets of 26 channels on OCN Network in Mangalore due to non payment of its huge outstanding to Zee Turner and non signing of fresh agreement after expiry of earlier one.

    Zee Turner has been in negotiations with OCN for past eight months to clear its outstanding and to sign a fresh subscription agreement declaring its accurate subscriber base as the old agreement. It was found that OCN had been serving many more subscribers and households as compared to the number of subscriber households declared to Zee Turner.

    The decision to switch off the operator came in wake of fall out of negotiations and the operator’s constant abstinence from clearing its outstanding and signing the requisite agreement.

    While rest of Mangalore on CCC and ICN’s network continues to enjoy the channels of Zee Turner, close to 50,000 subscribers of OCN Network are deprived of channels like CNN, Zee Cinema, Zee TV, HBO, Cartoon Network, Pogo due to default on OCN’s part.

    Zee Turner Ltd. CEO Arun Poddar said, “We are concerned about our viewers and still trying to negotiate with OCN and have kept all our channels of communication open. We have shared an extremely healthy relationship with OCN in past and are positive of resolving the issue in an amicable manner.”

    It is to be noted that as per the regulation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), if a cable operator drops a channel or bouquet of channels from his network, he is required to reduce the price of such channel/bouquet to be charged from his customers/households. The viewers are, therefore, entitled and may ask for reduction in price from their monthly cable bill if these channels are missing due to such switch off.

  • NDTV India pulls the curtain down on crime shows

    NDTV India pulls the curtain down on crime shows

    NEW DELHI: NDTV India, the Hindi news channel from the Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Ltd stable, has decided to say goodbye to crime shows. Instead, it will focus more on investigative and topical features.

    So, out go daily shows like Dial 100 and weekly FIR. In their place come more socially relevant programmes like exploring the DNA of increasing number of suicides by farmers in the Vidharbha region of India. Even in Metro FIR, the crime segment would be dropped.

    “Our strength has always been serious and topical features and we are going to exploit it further. Crime shows and sensational stuff is not our cup of tea,” NDTV India managing editor Dibang told journalists here today, explaining the future roadmap for the channel.

    According to Dibang, a print medium journalist-turned-TV newsperson, feedback has shown that crime shows might give ratings, but do have a tendency to pander to sensationalism and be intrusive in the personal lives of people.

    “We want to set ourselves apart from tabloid (news) channels and this is not something that we have realized suddenly or over night,” he explained.

    However, this realization doesn’t take away the fact that NDTV India, which at one time was seen as the contender for the top spot in the Hindi news space, has slipped to No. 3 position, while Aaj Tak continues to rule as the market leader. Star News has been occupying the No. 2 slot for some time now.

    Quizzed on this, Dibang, who came to NDTV from Aaj Tak, acknowledges the recent turn of events, but stands by the theory that NDTV India would rather dish out serious and thought-provoking shows than ones that may bring in the ratings in the short term at the cost of assaulting viewers’ sensibilities.

    “We have always been a pro-active channel and given the regulatory environment and policies being proposed by the government, we’d prefer to do away with crime shows and unnecessary sensationalism. NDTV India is not going to be TRP-linked, but become an example for self-regulation,” he counter punched.

    As an alibi, he also dished out some figures like declining viewership of crime shows, most of which are aired at 11 p.m. on TV news channels. “Few years back, the novelty factor of crime shows brought in audiences, more than prime time in the evening. But recent data shows viewership of such shows have fallen as the Hindi-speaking audience is slowly maturing,” Dibang said.

    Does that mean NDTV India would not cover crime events at all. “We’d cover crime as done by newspapers, depending on an event’s merit,” Dibang explained, adding issues that affect the common man would be more aggressively taken up.

    It needs to be seen whether discerning viewers in the HSM flock to NDTV India or not.

  • American television loses an iconic producer in Aaron Spelling

    A few days ago (Friday, 23 June) Aaron Spelling, who holds the Guinness World Record as the most prolific producer in television, passed away. The 83-year-old, who died in his mansion in Los Angeles, had suffered a stroke on 18 June.In a career spanning an astonishing five decades, Spelling, who had a great fear of flying, worked in one form or another on nearly 200 projects on both television and film.

    Such was his sphere of influence that a trivia fact on imdb.com indicates that in the 1970s, when he had one hit show after another, he had so many shows on ABC with who he had a contract that insiders used to joke that ABC stood for “Aaron‘s Broadcasting Company”. He was involved with around 70 weekly television series, which amounted to around 4,220 hours. Back to back it would take 176 days to watch all of them.

    Born into a Jewish family, Spelling, in his early life, had to fight against the tag of being different. He started his career in Hollywood in the 1950‘s. Success did not come in a hurry though. He spent some time as a writer and as a bit-player actor (he was a gas station attendant in an episode of I Love Lucy). He then donned the hat of a producer thanks to a break given by Dick Powell.

    His first hit was the crime drama Burke‘s Law, starring Gene Barry. However it was the next show The Mod Squad in 1969 that paved the way for his path breaking career. In the 1970‘s he cemented his reputation by producing one great show after another. Some of them included S.W.A.T., Starsky and Hutch, Charlie‘s Angels, which were conceptually so appealing that Hollywood, desperately searching for ideas, made them into films a few decades later.

    Charlie‘s Angels showed women in a role other than a homemaker happy with kids. It is justly considered ground breaking in terms of having women who took care of business and did not need a man to look after them. More importantly it gave young girls in the 1970‘s and 1980‘s strong role models to look up to.

    Starsky and Hutch was one of the first great cop shows on American television. It paved the way for numerous cop shows including the likes of Miami Vice.

    There are two clear reasons for Spellings‘ success. One was his keen sense of intuition of what audiences at a particular point of time wanted to watch. The other was the fact that he always respected the viewer. Spelling was also great in the casting arena, a prime example being Charlies Angels which made household names out of Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and most of all, Farrah Fawcett.

    That is a knack he never lost. In the 1990‘s he produced Beverly Hills 90210 which is considered to have defined a generation of privileged youth who despite being surrounded by luxury in the svelte surroundings of Beverly Hills have anger issues. He was astute in casting his daughter Tori Spelling as a teen. While the father and daughter did subsequently have their differences, Tori issued a statement saying that she was glad that she had the chance to reconcile with her dad before he passed away.

    Another piece of great casting was having Joan Collins play the matriarch in the long running soap Dynasty. This show in fact proved that Spelling was comfortable working in different genres.

    Spelling noted that Collins brought a huge aspect of her personality to the role which lent the show more bite. “We wrote a character, but the character could have been played by 50 people and 49 of them would have failed. She made it work.”

    So there was Dynasty on one hand an escapist soap and then there was Family. This was a far more realistic drama that ran from 1976-1980. Spelling had the courage to tackle among other subjects – homosexuality which even now Hollywood is skittish about tackling. Dynasty too had a gay character. More recently Spelling was involved with the supernatural show Charmed which airs in India on Star World.

    Recently, 7th Heaven passed The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie as the longest-running family drama.

    In real life Spelling had a 123 room mansion in Los Angeles which many considered to be a parallel to the life of ease and excess that the rich characters in Dynasty lived. “The house that Dynasty built‘ is how tour operators describe his mansion to hordes of tourists. In fact, Spelling was known to on occasion wave a hello to tourists. the soure of his wealth came from Spelling-Goldberg Productions. In 1986 the company went public.

    Spelling may have made escapist crowd pleasing fare, but he was also not shy of working on projects that took a hard look at subjects. An example is the film And The Band Played On which looked at how Aids would not have been such a menace had the authorities paid more attention during the early days.

    As far as the critics were concerned Spelling had a choice to make. As he once said in an AP interview way back in 1986, “The knocks by the critics bother you, but you have a choice of proving yourself to 300 critics or 30 million fans.” Going by the ratings and the enduring appeal that his shows constantly got over the years, Spelling can rest in peace knowing that he fulfilled a mission that other producers will be lucky to come anywhere close to achieving.

  • IBN 7, Fox in film marketing alliance

    MUMBAI: News channel IBN 7 has entered into an alliance with 20th Century Fox to give a marketing push to the upcoming film Museum ke Andar Phas Gaya Sikandar. As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com this is the first time ever that a Hollywood film will be released in India solely in Hindi.

    IBN 7 has organised a contest to accompany the release of the film. The IBN 7 – Museum Ke Andar Phas Gaya Sikandar Contest will provide people the chance to participate and win tickets to the premieres in Delhi and Mumbai as well as movie tickets across the country. In order to enter the contest one has to simply keep watching IBN 7 and/or log onto ibnlive.com for more information. Viewers can participate in the contest by either messaging ‘Museum’ to 2622 or logging onto ibnlive.com to win exciting prizes.

    IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh says, “This is the first time IBN 7 has joined hands with an international banner as renowned as 20th Century Fox. What is more unique is the fact that a film like Museum Ke Andar Phas Gaya Sikandar is being released in India not in English but in Hindi alone. It’s great to be a part of such an endeavour and to promote the film amongst Hindi speaking audiences.”

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 director marketing and online projects Dilip Venkatraman says, “IBN 7 is excited to enter into this alliance with 20th Century Fox. This venture is the first of it’s kind, whereby a Hollywood film will be released only in Hindi and not English. In addition to the movie, we have launched a beguiling contest that will create curiosity and eagerness around the film. We are sure this partnership will benefit both the groups and will encourage such endeavours in the future as well. ”

    Fox India marketing manager George John says, “We are delighted to partner with IBN 7 for introducing Museum ke Andar Phas Gaya Sikandar in India. The contest ‘IBN 7 – Museum Ke Andar Phas Gaya Sikandar Contest’ will further add to the excitement by offering free premiere tickets to the movie. We are confident that the viewers in India will find both the film and the contest extremely entertaining and enthralling”.

  • Lycos reports jump in visits to football online sites

    Lycos reports jump in visits to football online sites

    MUMBAI: The online entertainment destination for creators and consumers of quality content, Lycos has announced data from The Lycos 50. It is the 50 most popular Internet search results for the week ending 17 June 2006.

    In The Lycos 50 top 10, the search results for football sites is at number nine, up 59 per cent over the previous week.

    Interest in the 2006 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament has driven World Cup in terms of searches.

    Also scoring big online is American Idol reject Elliott Yamin at number 21 generating 667 per cent more online interest than winner Taylor Hicks, who actually dropped off that week’s list.

    In terms of search, poker was at number one. Britney Spears, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton and MySpace are also in the top 10.

  • CBS announces 15 participants for ‘Rock Star: Supernova’

    CBS announces 15 participants for ‘Rock Star: Supernova’

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has announced the names of the 15 performers for the music based reality show Rock Star: Supernova. In India, the show will air on Star World from next month.

    The participants will vie to be the new lead singer of Supernova, a new-band formed by drummer Tommy Lee (Motley Cre) with bassist Jason Newsted (Metallica) and guitarist Gilby Clarke (Guns N’ Roses).

    After the winning singer is selected on the show’s finale in September, the band will record an album. The album will then be released in the fall before the band embarks on a world tour starting early next year.

    The previous edition saw rock band INXS choose J.D. Fortune as their new frontman.

  • Discovery US is one of ‘Best Places to Work in IT’: Survey

    Discovery US is one of ‘Best Places to Work in IT’: Survey

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster Discovery has announced that publication IDG’s Computerworld, the ‘Voice of IT Management’ has selected the company as one of its ‘100 Best Places to Work in IT’.

    This honour is part of the weekly IT publication’s 13th annual Best Places to Work in IT survey, which is featured in the June 19th issue of Computerworld and online at Computerworld.com.

    Since 1994, Computerworld’s annual “Best Places to Work in IT” feature has ranked the top 100 work environments for technology professionals, based on a questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention.

    In addition, this year Computerworld surveyed more than 27,000 IT workers for the list, and their responses factored heavily in determining the rankings. Discovery’s selection was based upon a survey administered to Technology & Media Services employees earlier this year.

    Discovery says that it focusses on creating a world class work environment that promotes productivity, enthusiasm and creativity. This enables it to deliver high quality media products and services to its global audience. The fact that Computerworld has acknowledged this long-standing commitment allows Discovery to recruit the most talented and dynamic workforce in the industry.

    Discovery adds that enhancing employees’ work/life balance is one of the six prongs of its corporate strategy along with expanding into new technologies and growing internationally.

    In 1999, Discovery launched its signature LifeWorks@Discovery Programme to address the needs of the workforce. LifeWorks@Discovery focuses on family support, health and wellness, flexibility and the community. The company also offers numerous training and career development courses designed to promote individual and team development through its Discovery University programme.

  • ‘Ratings not an apt way to judge Awaaz performance’ : Sanjay Pugalia – Awaaz editor

    ‘Ratings not an apt way to judge Awaaz performance’ : Sanjay Pugalia – Awaaz editor

    If news channels are largely described as niche, then Awaaz is a niche within the niche. Positioned as a consumer Hindi news channel, it breaks the general connotation of a business channel as being designed for people dealing in big business.

    Awaaz is primarily, as Editor Sanjay Pugalia points out, for anybody who wants to spend Rs 100 fruitfully or save even that Rs 100. Looking at the way the India economy is changing, Pugalia expresses that there is a gap that has been successfully filled by Awaaz — the 15+ SEC AB in the Hindi speaking markets.

    Pugalia believes that the existence of Awaaz has given a new definition to this news category.

    In a freewheeling conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Manisha Bhattacharjee, Awaaz editor Sanjay Pugalia provides a low-down on how the consumer channel has shaped up over the last 18 months.

    Excerpts:

    Awaaz underwent a change in its on-air-look? Isn’t it too early for the channel to undergo a makeover?
    When the channel was launched, we followed the time and tested format of CNBC-TV18. Now that we have completed 18 months in the space, it was time to give a distinct identity to the brand Awaaz, as we are addressing a much broader audience base and our offering is very different from CNBC-TV18. Awaaz is an independent product appealing to our kind of target audience. Earlier, we wore blue and white, now the channel dons red and white.

    What is the unique selling point (USP) of Awaaz?
    The consumer channel is primarily targeted at small investors. It is first and foremost for those viewers or consumers who are earning some money, saving some and need proper advice to invest. The channel has been principally designed in the manner wherein experts provide inputs in a manner that will help consumers take their own decisions on all the possible ways he / she can save or make money.

    The channel is a powerful vehicle for small investors, buyers, sellers, etc and it provides opportunities aimed at effectively reaching our target audience.

    Is this an indication that TV18 failed to target this segment through CNBC-TV18?
    It is wrong to say so. CNBC-TV18 created the business news space within the English space for the big corporates. The channel’s coverage extends from corporate news, financial markets coverage, expert perspectives on investing and management to industry verticals and beyond. The channel has been catering to business more relevant to different constituencies across the nation.

    Awaaz on the other hand is for the small investors in the Hindi speaking market. It indeed covers the entire business space from the consumers’ perspective. Who is the consumer? It could a taxpayer, an employer, a small investor, shopkeepers etc. These consumers are interested in the current share or stock market, trade, small business, managing and saving as well as investing. All these needs are serviced through our shows.

    When you say that the word ‘consumer’ covers a vast gamut of audience, trade, equity, non-equity, financial sector etc? Where do women fit in the gamut?
    It is largely noticed that female viewers are much less in comparison to male viewership on any given news channel. But it is otherwise on Awaaz. We have a very strong female viewership, approximately 45 per cent. Our key driver show is Smart Shopping, which airs at 4:30. When the same show airs at 10:30 pm, it brings in male viewership.

    The unisex shows are Awaaz Plus, Tax Guru (tax is generally perceived as a male subject), Weekend Masti, Hum Honge Kamyaab, Jiyo Zindagi, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Glamour Bazaar and Trend Mill to name a few.

    Let me reiterate a point, ratings is just not the apt way to judge the performance of the channel. It is merely an auxiliary data that gives us an insight to the performance of the channel.

    If you say ratings are not the rightful way to judge the performance of the channel, then how do you pitch it to the advertisers?
    It is difficult for me to comment on the marketing side of the channel. But all I would like to add is that the advertisers solely do not rely on Tam data, they also have other means like their own research and other external research which they commission as well as their gut feelings for the channel to make a decision to spend on the channel. Mind you, Awaaz, like CNBC-TV18, has a good number of out-of-home viewership, which is not recorded by Tam.

    In this fragmented news market how do you deal with your competitors?
    Honestly, we have no competitors in this space.

    Well, you are forgetting Zee Business. Isn’t this channel in the same space and targeting your kind of audience?
    Well, as I said we have no competitors in this space. In any case, we are 300 per cent to 400 per cent bigger then Zee Business.
    ‘Network synergies should not be confused with similarities‘

    Coming from the same TV18 network, is Awaaz cannibalizing big brother CNBC-TV18?
    We cannot cannibalise each other being under one network. We can only strengthen each other and synergies and leverage each others strengths. But it is necessary to comprehend that as a network synergies should not be confused with similarities.

    22 May experienced a massive market crash. Besides retail investors, even small time investors panicked? As you strongly term your channel as a consumer based one, how did you address your TG?
    ‘Caution’ has always been the word from the day we launch the channel, while addressing the news and information needs to the small investors, the mutual fund buyers, shoppers, small time insurance agents etc. This does not mean either that while cautioning them, the investor should stay away from equities. They have to be convinced about their investment ideas after weighing the pros and cons.

    Let’s take the Tam data during the market crash in isolation. According to the data, on 22 May, Awaaz recorded a 2.3 per cent channel share, beating the general Hindi news channels during the 9 am to 4 pm time band, followed by Aaj Tak (1.50 per cent), Zee News (1.43 per cent), NDTV India (1.16 per cent), Star News (1.15 per cent) and followed by the rest.

    TV18 network is involved in a lot of on-ground initiatives. What kind of on ground initiative is Awaaz into?
    All our ground-initiative is marketing backed and strengthen our brand by involving our viewers. When we carry out any on-ground shows it has to be relevant to the issue and place.

    How different is your weekend band from that of weekdays?
    We have branded our weekends as Smart Weekend, which has been created recently. It’s primarily a day long exercise covering various topical aspects of the week providing a holistic and exhaustive coverage from across the nation. The weekend gone by was entirely devoted to the best colleges of Top 10 cities in India. Besides, for those students who did not secure good marks, we provide inputs from across the nation with alternative college and courses for them.
    Now that TV18 is hiving of its internet business into a separate company, is the network aiming at launching a portal to complement Awaaz, just as in the case of CNBC-TV18 and moneycontrol.com?
    I can’t comment as it is a business decision.

    What is making business news channels such a success in India?
    The news needs of TV viewers has dramatically changed in India, because of growing economy, urbanisation, spread of wealth and increased purchasing power to millions of Indians. They want to know about the things; products and services, they can use in order to make decisions every day about shopping needs, investments, spending and saving… and they want it in a relevant, useful manner.

    Awaaz, in this space does it effectively. Viewers’ habits are changing so fast that sometimes media is not able to keep pace with it. But Awaaz is a product of the future and it will only grow as the economy makes new stride and goes global.

    How will all of the emerging ‘viewer-in-command’ technologies — like IPTV — impact traditional broadcasting?
    New technologies will only grow opportunities and expand the market for us. They will add value to our services. Mind you, those who would be using technology like IPTV, will be in the homes with more than one TV set and more importantly millions of Indians are yet to buy a TV set. Traditional broadcasting will continue to remain 2/3rds of the pyramid and the remaining 1/3rd will consume the new offerings.