ITV

Category: Television

  • Game, set, parent – Mumbai gears up for a family Pickleball face-off

    Game, set, parent – Mumbai gears up for a family Pickleball face-off

    MUMBAI: Get ready for a match made in family heaven where rackets meet responsibility and parents trade school runs for serves. Global Sports Pickleball (GSP) is hosting the School Parents Pickleball Championship at Mumbai’s Andheri Sports Complex on 1 and 2 November 2025, inviting mums and dads to swap their weekend routines for volleys, laughter, and a dash of friendly rivalry.

    The event is designed to bring families together, turning the court into a playground of fun, fitness, and festive energy. As pickleball fever grips India, this championship captures the sport’s rare ability to bridge generations with parents taking centre court while their children cheer from the sidelines.

    Parents from some of Mumbai’s most prominent schools including Oberoi International School, Jamnabai Narsee International School, Aditya Birla World Academy, Utpal Shanghvi Global School, Shishuvan School, and Edubridge International School will swap their everyday hustle for a high-energy weekend rally.

    But this isn’t your average tournament. Think more carnival than competition. Expect food stalls, music, children’s activities, and a festive family vibe that promises to keep both players and spectators engaged. It’s not just about aces and dinks, it’s about shared moments and spirited memories.

    “Pickleball is so much more than a game. It’s about connection and community,” said GSP chief architect for pickleball growth Hemal Jain. “The School Parents Pickleball Championship gives families a reason to spend the weekend together in the most active and exciting way possible. There are no age limits, no barriers just pure fun, friendly competition, and family spirit.”

    Adding a cinematic spin to the event GSP writer, producer director and co-founder Shashank Khaitan said, “This championship is about celebrating families and creating memories. We can’t wait to see parents and kids share the same enthusiasm on and off the court. It is all about joy, laughter, and togetherness.”

    With pickleball emerging as one of India’s fastest-growing sports, the tournament shines a light on its accessibility and community-driven charm. GSP’s initiative brings together fitness and family time, blending competition with connection, and showing that sometimes, the best rallies happen off the court too.

    So this November, Mumbai’s parents won’t just be watching from the stands, they’ll be serving, smashing, and scoring… all in the name of family fun.

     

  • B4U Network hires new revenue chief

    B4U Network hires new revenue chief

    MUMBAI: Hemlata Yederi has moved to B4U Network as chief revenue officer after spending 14 years building the sales operation at rival broadcaster Sri Adhikari Brothers group. The move, effective September, hands her control of revenue strategy and partnership deals across B4U’s entertainment channels.

    Yederi spent over a decade as national head of sales and latterly chief revenue officer at Sri Adhikari Brothers, where she managed advertising revenue for channels including Mastiii, the country’s leading music channel, Hindi film channels Dabangg and Dhamaal, Marathi regional channel Maiboli, and general entertainment channel Dillagi. That she’s now steering B4U’s monetisation efforts marks a significant coup for the network—and an uncomfortable loss for her former employer.

    With three decades in media sales under her belt, Yederi’s career spans stints at NDTV, where she ran advertising sales for the west, and an 11-year run at Mid Day as associate vice president of sales. She cut her teeth in yellow pages sales at Getit Infomediary in the early 1990s, managing field and telesales teams before the digital revolution upended directory advertising.

    At B4U, Yederi now oversees brand monetisation, media sales and cross-platform expansion for the Mumbai-based broadcaster. Her LinkedIn announcement, posted five days ago, came wrapped in the obligatory corporate sentiment about “people and purpose” and “balancing strategy with heart”—the sort of language that sounds earnest but means little.

    What matters is execution. B4U has hired someone who knows how to extract revenue from India’s advertising market and has spent years doing precisely that for a competitor. Whether Yederi can replicate that success in new colours remains the only question worth asking. In media sales, loyalty lasts only as long as the next quarterly target.

  • Truth goes prime time as Live Times tops charts in Bihar Jharkhand

    Truth goes prime time as Live Times tops charts in Bihar Jharkhand

    MUMBAI: Looks like truth just found its prime slot. Live Times, India’s first Global Multicast News Channel, has emerged as the No.1 channel in Average Time Spent (ATS) across all age groups, genders, and social segments in the Bihar–Jharkhand market (Week 40), a feat that underscores its growing resonance with viewers hungry for credibility over chaos.

    This milestone is more than just a ratings triumph; it’s a reflection of viewer loyalty, trust, and engagement in a market where attention spans are fiercely contested. As audiences in Bihar and Jharkhand continue to tune in longer, Live Times’ people-first, truth-led journalism is clearly striking the right chord.

    The channel’s programming has been key to this surge. Its flagship show, ‘Live Election Special’, hosted by Deepak Chaurasia every day at 4:00 pm, and the hugely popular ‘Ka Hoi Bihar Ma’, anchored by Ajay from Monday to Sunday at 7:00 pm, have become appointment viewing. With sharp insights, regional focus, and a no-nonsense approach, these shows have built a loyal audience base across both states.

    “This success reinforces our core belief that truth connects people,” said Live Times founder & CEO Dilip Singh. “Viewers in Bihar and Jharkhand have shown their faith in authentic journalism. At Live Times, we remain committed to real news, meaningful conversations, and uncompromised integrity.”

    Founded as India’s first digital-first 24×7 satellite news channel, Live Times has been steadily carving a niche with its multicast model, which combines traditional broadcast depth with digital agility. Its blend of regional relevance, credible storytelling, and tech-driven engagement is setting new standards for how news is consumed and trusted.

    The channel’s growing dominance in ATS indicates that audiences aren’t just watching Live Times; they’re staying with it. That sustained attention in a scroll-happy world is perhaps the clearest endorsement of its promise: news that informs, not inflames.

    As Bihar and Jharkhand turn their eyes (and remotes) toward truthful journalism, one network seems to have cracked the code to connection. With its mix of fearless reportage and relatable storytelling, Live Times isn’t just making headlines, it’s making news matter again.

     

  • Sportel: Sports media’s power players converge in Monaco for dealmaking and AI debates

    Sportel: Sports media’s power players converge in Monaco for dealmaking and AI debates

    MONACO: Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum became the epicentre of sports media wheeling and dealing this week as Sportel Monaco wrapped its 35th edition. Over three frenetic days, 2,000 executives from 70 countries—nearly half of them C-suite types—descended on 8,500 square metres of reimagined exhibition space to chase rights deals, scout technology and forge the partnerships that will define how the world watches sport.

    The numbers tell the story of an industry in flux: 795 companies turned up, including 155 newcomers, with content buyers making up a third of attendees. Americans showed up in force this year, breaking Europe’s traditional stranglehold on the event. The marketplace buzzed with talk of generative AI, cloud workflows and how to keep fans glued to screens in an age of infinite distraction.

    The conference summit brought heavy hitters to the stage. Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, delivered a keynote whilst panels dissected everything from private equity’s invasion of sport to live broadcasting technology. Liverpool Football Club, Fox Sports Australia, the Bundesliga and upstart leagues like Kings League all sent their top brass to explain how they’re navigating the streaming wars and tech disruption.

    But Sportel isn’t just talk. Prince Albert II of Monaco showed up to unveil the RaceBird Monaco, the official boat of Team Monaco E1, alongside series founder Alejandro Agag. Hexagone MMA announced a €100,000 tournament series. Protocol Group launched a new consultancy arm for broadcast technology. Globecast, GlobalM and World Curling revealed a cloud-based collaboration. The deals kept coming.

    The event also made a splash with its revamped Sportel Sports Bar—an informal hub designed to turn casual chats into seven-figure contracts—and a well-attended women’s lunch featuring Alexis Ohanian of 776, marathon legend Paula Radcliffe and NBA executive Fiona Wong.

    “Sportel is not just a conference, it’s a global marketplace,” said executive director Loris Menoni summing up three days of handshakes, presentations and backroom negotiations. “We’re proud to have built an ecosystem where business flows naturally and future-defining partnerships are born.”

    The roadshow rolls on. Sportel Singapore takes over the Orchard Hotel on 24-25 March 2026, before the expo returns to Monaco next October. Expect more dealmaking, more disruption and plenty more sports executives nursing hangovers after late night networking.

  • Sportel 2025: Laliga’s Tebas declares war on football pirates

    Sportel 2025: Laliga’s Tebas declares war on football pirates

    MONACO: Piracy is theft, plain and simple. That’s the message Javier Tebas delivered with fire at Sportel Monaco, opening his remarks with a moral flourish: “When I was a young man I was taught not to steal because it’s a sin. This is stealing.” The LaLiga president wasn’t mincing words. He warned that illegal streaming remains one of the gravest threats to football’s future and demanded that rights holders stop being passive victims.

    “Rights holders need more awareness,” Tebas urged. “Broadcasters have to work on the protection of the service.” The enemy, he explained, is growing more sophisticated by the day. Pirates are deploying increasingly advanced technology to siphon content, forcing LaLiga to respond with its own arsenal. The league is pouring investment into anti-piracy systems designed to trace and block illegal streams in real time. “Pirates are extremely advanced,” Tebas said. “We’re blocking. It is like the NASA headquarters…but we need to be able to trace them.”

    The war on piracy wasn’t Tebas’s only battle. He also vented his frustration over UEFA’s reluctant approval of LaLiga’s plan to stage a match in the United States—the December 2025 fixture between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, Florida. “It is very frustrating,” he said of UEFA’s stance. “This is a very old-fashioned vision of professional football.”

    Tebas argued that taking one league match abroad is a natural step for a global sport, not some radical betrayal of tradition. “This is just one game, not twenty,” he pointed out, before deploying a cultural counterpunch: “We accepted Halloween from the US, why don’t they accept something from us?”

    But the LaLiga chief suggested there’s more lurking beneath the surface—secrets he’s saving for his memoirs. “I am going to write about it when I retire and talk about a lot of secrets,” he teased. Until then, he’ll keep fighting pirates, battling UEFA, and dragging Spanish football into the future—willing or not.

  • Sportel 2025: AI set to dominate sports content as clubs embrace fan-generated revolution

    Sportel 2025: AI set to dominate sports content as clubs embrace fan-generated revolution

    MONACO: Sports organisations have a decade at most before artificial intelligence swallows nearly all their non-live content whole. Scoreplay – the AI-powered asset management platform – chief executive and cofounder Victorien Tixier delivered that stark message at Sportel Monaco’s sports business conference.

    The technology has become the lifeline for clubs scrambling to flood time zones with content that keeps fans glued. Yet Tixier reckons sport has a fleeting chance to rise above the tidal wave of AI dreck—provided it doubles down on storytelling and authenticity whilst deploying AI to dub content, chase trends and turbocharge workflows.

    “Sport has a unique opportunity to differentiate itself from all that huge flow of AI-generated content by helping organisations invest time and effort on storytelling, authenticity, and capitalise on what makes sport emotional, very human, and then globalise that,” Tixier told the panel.

    Liverpool FC vice-president of media Matthew Quinn detailed how the English football giants ditched physical infrastructure for cloud storage, enabling content creation from anywhere. The club had “years of images stored under a person’s stairs at home that were unsearchable,” he said. Cloud technology let Liverpool scatter content teams across training grounds and away fixtures whilst keeping them connected.

    Liverpool now deploys regional agencies in MENA and southeast Asia to run social media feeds round the clock. “Whilst we sleep in Liverpool, they will be awake in Thailand and those guys can be creating content, jumping on a trend,” Quinn explained. But his real obsession is user-generated content—fans capturing trophy lifts can tell stories “a million times more authentic than the clubs can do,” he said, though AI must do the heavy lifting to process footage in real time.

    Quinn sketched Liverpool’s business model: create centrally, distribute by audience. Different age groups and locations devour content differently—linear TV, YouTube, membership platforms. The setup lets clubs pounce when new platforms materialise. “A few years ago, TikTok didn’t exist,” he noted.

    Tixier stripped the monetisation playbook bare: “You sell tickets, you sell licensing, you sell brand partnerships, and you’re a content business.” Content must power every revenue stream, whether plastering Mo Salah across the website to shift tickets or exploiting international players to crack new markets culturally.

    Wasabi Technologies product marketing manager Isabel Freedman spotted another angle: sponsorship. Brands can trumpet partnerships that matured alongside the sport using archived footage—a compelling pitch.

    Quinn imagines AI linking fan-shot videos to match moments, creating hundreds of perspectives on the same goal. It’s a seductive vision: supporters as storytellers, clubs as enablers, AI as the glue. The sceptics worry about job losses and hidden agendas. The believers see magic. Either way, the revolution isn’t pending. It’s live.

  • Olympic films triumph at Monaco’s glittering Sportel Awards

    Olympic films triumph at Monaco’s glittering Sportel Awards

    MONACO: Monaco pulsed with sporting glamour on 20 October as the 36th Sportel Awards crowned this year’s finest films at the Grimaldi Forum. Two Olympic Channel productions—Personal Best and I’m Carl Lewis—walked away with coveted golden podiums, the ultimate accolade in sports broadcasting.

    Personal Best, a South African production by Anant Singh, claimed best thematic documentary. The film shadows eight athletes through their Olympic Games Paris 2024 journey, offering a raw glimpse into medal-chasing drama. I’m Carl Lewis, produced by Noah Media Group for Olympic Channel, secured best biopic honours. The British production explores the uncompromising life of the nine-time Olympic champion whom the International Olympic Committee declared “Sportsman of the Century” in 1999.

    Prince Albert II presided over the ceremony, broadcast live on TV Monaco, before a packed Salle Prince Pierre. The prince personally handed athletics legend Marie-José Perec the autobiography award for her book Ma Vie Olympique, whilst motor racing icon Jacky Ickx received the lifetime sport achievement award.

    Other winners included NBC Sports, which took best slow motion for Ilia Malinin: Relatable Awe, and Welcome to Wrexham, which won best docu-series. France’s Comme tout le monde claimed best report, whilst Canal+’s La Quête secured best advertising. ESPN Deportes’ Las Amazonas de Yaxunah won the Peace and Sport documentary prize.

    Tennis star Henri Leconte presided over a jury featuring handball champion Allison Pineau, cyclist Masomah Ali Zada and footballer Lonsana Doumbouya. Marine Picoulet, executive director of Sportel Awards, called the 2025 edition “one of the most powerful and inspiring” yet.

    Both winning Olympic films are currently streaming free on Olympics.com—territorial restrictions permitting. For once, the podium finish comes without the sweat.

    GOLDEN PODIUMS
    Best Slow Motion Georges Bertellotti
    Supported by Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français
    Ilia Malinin: Relatable Awe
    Eric Hamilton, Max Rahamin, Ryan Yeager, Eric Girgash, Sam Tydings, Jack Felling – NBC Sports
    USA

    Best Thematic Documentary
    Supported by TVMONACO
    Personal Best
    Ady Walter & Amal Doghmi – Videovision Entertainment – Distant Horizon
    South Africa

    Best Report
    Supported by
    Comme tout le monde
    Pierre-Etienne Léonard et Mohammed Khouadja – WAA ULTRA
    France

    Best Biopic
    Supported by
    I’m Carl Lewis!
    Julie Anderson & Chris Hay – Noah Media Group for Olympic Channel
    United Kingdom

    Best Docu-Series
    Supported by Les Barbagiuans de Monaco
    Welcome to Wrexham
    Bryan Rowland, Josh Drisko and Jeff Luni – NEO Studios / Boardwalk Pictures
    United Kingdom

    Best Advertising – Christian Blachas
    Supported by A.S.Monaco Basket-Roca Team
    La Quête
    Sébastien Bovier – CANAL+
    France

    Jury Special Prize
    Laure ! Laure ! Laure !
    Guillaume Priou & Laurie Delhostal – CHENGYU
    France

    SPECIAL PRIZES
    Peace and Sport Documentary Prize
    Las Amazonas De Yaxunah
    Alfonso Algara – ESPN Deportes
    USA

    Sports book Prize  Renaud de Laborderie
    Supported by Comité Olympique Monégasque
    Rainer W. Schlegelmilch – Porsche racing moments
    Switzerland

  • Apple takes pole position as Formula 1’s exclusive U.S. broadcaster

    Apple takes pole position as Formula 1’s exclusive U.S. broadcaster

    MUMBAI: Start your engines Formula 1 is speeding into Apple’s fast lane. In a landmark five-year deal starting 2026, Apple will become the exclusive U.S. broadcast partner for the world’s premier racing series, bringing together two global icons with a shared obsession for innovation, precision, and performance.

    The partnership marks a major acceleration for both brands, following the roaring success of F1The Movie, the Apple original film that grossed nearly 630 million dollars worldwide, making it the most successful sports film in history. Released in cinemas and IMAX in June, the film will zoom onto Apple TV screens globally on 12 December 2025 and the collaboration clearly wasn’t just a one-lap affair.

    Apple’s winning streak with Formula 1 underscores its ambition to turn streaming into a front-row experience for fans. The deal will give Apple TV subscribers access to every practice, qualifying, Sprint, and Grand Prix session, with select races and practice rounds available for free on the Apple TV app. F1 TV Premium will remain available through an Apple TV subscription and free for subscribers.

    But Apple’s racing ambitions don’t stop at the chequered flag. The tech giant plans to weave Formula 1 into its wider ecosystem across Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Sports, Apple Maps, and Apple Fitness+ transforming the sport into a full-throttle digital experience.

    Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said the partnership “will maximise our growth potential in the U.S. with the right content and innovative distribution channels.” He added, “After three years of working together on F1 The Movie, we share a vision to bring this amazing sport to our fans and attract new ones through live broadcasts and engaging content.”

    That growth is already gathering pace. According to the 2025 Global F1 Fan Survey, 47 per cent  of new U.S. Formula 1 fans those who’ve followed the sport for five years or less are aged 18–24, and over half are female. With Apple’s reach across younger, digital-first audiences, the partnership could prove a masterstroke in expanding the sport’s appeal.

    Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue added: “We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Formula 1 and offer Apple TV subscribers in the U.S. front row access to one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet. 2026 marks a transformative new era from new teams to new regulations and we’re ready to deliver premium, fan-first coverage in a way that only Apple can.”

    The deal couldn’t come at a better time for the sport. As Formula 1 gears up for its next chapter with new teams, new cars, and new regulations, Apple’s precision-engineered storytelling and seamless tech ecosystem could turbocharge how fans experience every race.

    If F1 The Movie was the trailer, this five-year partnership is the full feature. And come 2026, when Apple’s broadcast lights go out, the race for the future of sports entertainment will truly be on.

     

  • Abp Network launches Bae, its live entertainment vertical

    Abp Network launches Bae, its live entertainment vertical

    MUMBAI: Abp Network has found its new Bae, and it is not what you think. The media powerhouse has launched BAE (Before Anyone Else), an experience-first entertainment vertical that promises to reinvent live events with concerts and large-format experiences built to stay in memory long after the night ends.

    The move marks Abp’s entry into India’s fast-growing live entertainment sector, which crossed Rs 10,000 crore in 2024 with a 15 per cent rise, according to the EY media & entertainment report. The industry is expected to touch Rs 16,700 crore by 2027, driven by audiences who value immersive moments over material mementos.

    “The event industry in India is experiencing unprecedented growth,” said ABP Network CEO Sumanta Datta. “We are excited to announce Bae, our new entertainment vertical that will curate memorable experiences for audiences.”

    Leading this new chapter is Rajat Uppal, who recently Abp Network joined as Bae business head. Uppal recently stepped down from his role at Stage Aaj Tak, the consumer events vertical of the India Today Group launched earlier this year. Before that, he served as national marketing and programming head at India Today Group’s radio network, 104.8 ishq fm.  

    Uppal added that the brand will focus on crafting events that resonate with the country’s evolving cultural pulse. “Audiences, especially Gen Z, are increasingly spending on experiences. With Bae, our goal is to create diverse and memorable live experiences that truly connect with them,” he said.

     

  • Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum turns into a high-stakes sports-tech power play as Sportel 2025 starts

    Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum turns into a high-stakes sports-tech power play as Sportel 2025 starts

    MONACO: The sports industry’s deal-makers have flooded into Monaco this week, and the energy is electric. Nearly 70 countries have sent their sharpest minds to Sportel 2025, a three-day collision between legacy sports titans and maverick tech disruptors that kicks off today and runs through 22 October. This is where real money gets moved and genuine innovation gets showcased.

    The Grimaldi Forum is heaving with some of sport’s biggest names exhibiting: Fifa, La Liga, the World Cup of Hockey 2028, alongside a glittering roster of tech firms like Qualcomm, AWS, and Wasabi. But Sportel is no mere trade show—it’s a strategic summit where the next generation of sports media gets hammered out.

    The conference programme cuts straight to the chase. Javier Tebas, La Liga’s president, will deliver a keynote spelling out how the world’s most compelling league is monetising itself. But the real fireworks come in a masterly panel on investment: “Where is the next $1bn coming from?” features the CEOs of Surj Sports Investment, Kings League, and the Professional Fighters League, all circling the same question—which markets are still hungry, and where will private equity and sovereign wealth funds actually deploy capital?

    There’s more. A panel on Formula 1’s storytelling prowess asks whether authentic sport crossed with entertainment star power can turbocharge sponsorship and rights values. Then comes the tech avalanche: sessions on generative AI reshaping everything from content creation to the fan experience; on new live-streaming tools that personalise what viewers see; on how Liverpool FC is harnessing AI and cloud infrastructure to deepen loyalty across the globe.

    The Ligue 1+ case study is particularly clever—a league building its own direct-to-consumer platform, hoarding first-party data, and cutting out the middleman to capture fresh revenue. That model is spreading. So too is the adoption of ad-supported streaming as the default for OTT platforms. World Rugby, via the platform WURL, is showcasing exactly how.

    The conference even has a competition worth caring about: “Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest” will see start-ups including Pendular, FalconHQ, and Camb.ai each get three minutes to convince industry heavyweights that their solution deserves backing. And a Women’s Lunch (by invitation) will celebrate female leaders redefining the sport-media nexus—expect Alexis Ohanian from Seven Seven Six, Lauren Pedersen from SportAI, Fiona Wong from the NBA, and marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe to set the room ablaze.

    The message from all sides is unambiguous: artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and direct fan relationships aren’t the future anymore. They’re the present—and if you’re not moving now, you’re already behind.