ITV

Category: Production House

  • FremantleMedia and Divimove expand partnership to ramp up online talent

    FremantleMedia and Divimove expand partnership to ramp up online talent

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has increased its stake in Divimove to make it the majority shareholder.

     

    The leading MCN in Europe and the global production company have been working together since late 2013 when FremantleMedia initially took shares in the company. The companies joined forces to discover, produce and promote new talent in the online space.

     

    Over the last 18 months, Divimove has experienced major growth, becoming the leading MCN in Europe with 900 million views per month. Its 1,700 partner channels attract 80 million. The partnership has resulted in the launch of Shootrs, a talent programme which combines the professional production expertise of FremantleMedia with Divimove’s content creators and online video expertise. 

     

    Shootrs was launched with the FremantleMedia companies UFA in Germany and Blue Circle in the Netherlands in 2014; and will see the continued rollout across Europe in 2015.

     

    Divimove CEO Brain Ruhe said, “For us, the development and support of talent is at the centre of our business and we’re delighted that we have found a partner who has the same values. Working with FremantleMedia has given us the opportunity to invest even more in our creators and develop new ways to grow their careers. We will continue to do so as we expand our relationship.”

     

    FremantleMedia digital and branded entertainment CEO Keith Hindle added, “Divimove‘s amazing growth is a result of an exceptional team and a great roster of content creators. Divimove work with really exciting emerging talent across multiple markets, which fits our global TV production business well, and we look forward to working with them even more.” 

     

    Another key initiative from Divimove has been the launch of brandboost, set up to answer the huge demand for online video solutions from brands in Europe. Last year FremantleMedia and Divimove worked together to create successful branded entertainment campaigns across Europe for major brands including Deutsche Bahn and Ubisoft.

     

    In 2015, Divimove has already launched a fully-fledged talent management agency headed up by the recently appointed Michael Brycz, former managing director (Central Europe) for Warner Music; Brycz is tasked with exploring opportunities for the MCN’s talent in new areas such as live events and music.

    The deal builds on FremantleMedia’s already substantial success in the digital space.

  • Bomanbridge Media kicks off the year with multiple deals

    Bomanbridge Media kicks off the year with multiple deals

    MUMBAI:  Singapore-based Bomanbridge Media, a content distribution and production agency, announced multiple program deals for Asia from their catalogue of over 4,000 hours.

     

    “Bomanbridge is off to a great start with several deals closed, we are growing at a rapid pace and we thank our broadcast partners who are helping to fuel this growth. This latest round of deals demonstrates our extensive territorial reach and mix of genres from our rich catalogue,” said Sonia Fleck, CEO of Bomanbridge Media.

     

    Gayatri Singh, Bomanbridge Sales Executive, brokered a majority of the recent deals. She said, “We are grateful to our clients for their continued support. They trust Bomanbridge to bring them high quality, ratings-producing programming.”

     

    Deals Announced:

    ·        Mediacorp’s Toggle service (Singapore) acquired Nutri Ventures Animation  

    ·        Nine Media Corporation (Philippines) acquired 50 hours of current affair & factual entertainment titles

    ·        Oman TV (Oman) acquired Animal Atlas Season 2 & 3 (produced by Bellum Entertainment)

    ·        I-Cable (Hong Kong) acquired the series Extraordinary Dogs 13 X 30 (produced by A Brand Apart for its Hong Kong & North America transmission on Dish TV in Cantonese)

    ·        EBS (South Korea) acquired several Factual titles, including Blood River and Turf War

  • FremantleMedia launches India’s first ‘Digital Talent Hunt’

    FremantleMedia launches India’s first ‘Digital Talent Hunt’

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has partnered with mobile video streaming service Zenga TV and YouTube MCN of India, OneDigital Entertainment to launch its first digital talent show ‘India’s Digital Superstars.’

     

    This will a first of its kind digital talent hunt, where the audience will judge the next ‘Big Digital Star.’ The show will be presented by Amazon.in, powered by Gionee in association with radio partner RedFM.

     

    The auditions for the show, which began from 19 January, will culminate with a finale in May. The winner will be given a contract worth Rs 20 lakh from FremantleMedia and One Digital. The auditions are open to all Indians across the world.

     

    Auditions will span across 13 weeks. The 14th week is the grand finale to be held in Mumbai. The Indiasdigitalsuperstar.com platform will encourage participants to upload multiple videos of the talent that they wish to showcase, and will be judged by the audience through the number of views and likes across Youtube, ZengaTV and Facebook.

     

    Fresh videos can be uploaded until a week before the ‘Finale Night’. The host will come online thrice a week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 10 continuous weeks starting from the fifth week of audition.

     

    FremantleMedia India managing director Anupama Mandloi said, “After the super success of Indian Idol, India’s got Talent, we at Fremantle are delighted to launch a platform that will be accessible to everyone with internet access. Given that India is a priority market for FremantleMedia and a popular destination for many of our hit international brands, we want to continue driving our strategy of aggregating talent across media with India’s Digital Superstars. We have been instrumental in sourcing, discovering and unleashing talent across television and this is the obvious next step for us to take the talent hunt to the internet which is a world unto itself.”

     

    Amazon.in director integrated marketing Manish Kalra added, “The digital medium democratises opportunities and choices and enables easy access to them for everyone like no other medium. We are very excited to be part of India’s Digital Superstar and support this effort to celebrate the immense talent that is waiting to be discovered.”

     

    “The youth today is hungry for exciting and engaging content and ‘India’s Digital Superstar’ is an opportunity where every moment will count and adrenal will be on the high. This gives everyone a chance to showcase talent from anywhere in the world and be the next start in this world which has no boundaries,” informed ZengaTV & OneDigital MD & CTO Shabir Momin.

     

    “Digital as a a platform is connected to the youth of this country. IDS as a digital platform is the first in the country, which creates the opportunity for the youth to showcase the talent and get recognized. We at Gionee are proud to be associated with IDS as this allows the youth to follow their passions and this has got a great synergy with our brand as we also want our consumers to follow the passions and we help them as an enabler for it,” added Gionee Smartphones India head Arvind R Vohra.

     

    “With the unique format of the show specially created for the digital platform, India’s Digital Superstar will create opportunities for Indians globally to showcase their talent without having to stand in queues or reach specific locations at specific time. Moreover the show is not about highlighting only a couple of contestants but we want to showcase as many talented Indian creators, and that is why the call for entries never stops during the show. As long as the show is on, people can participate and stand a chance to win,” concluded One Digital Entertainment COO and co-founder Gurpreet Singh.

     

  • Reliance MediaWorks and others acquire 54 per cent of Prime Focus

    Reliance MediaWorks and others acquire 54 per cent of Prime Focus

    BENGALURU: Reliance MediaWorks Limited (RMWL) along with Reliance Land Works Private Limited (RLWPL) and others had sought to acquire 26 per cent or 7,77,08,534 shares (about 77.7 million shares) of Prime Focus though a public offer from its shareholders.

    The acquirers offered a price of Rs 52 per equity share of face value of Re 1 each. The total value of the offer was Rs 404,08,43,768 (about Rs 4.04 billion). The planned acquisition would increase the shareholding of RMWL and others to 63.96 per cent, the other 37.96 per cent to be obtained by way of preferential allotment through agreements.
     
    The other parties include Namit Malhotra, Naresh Malhotra and Monsoon Studio Private Limited (MSPL). MSPL is a wholly owned company by Namit Malhotra and Naresh Malhotra who are its promoters.
     
    As per the public press advertisement issued by the acquirers, they have managed to obtain 16.1 per cent representing 4,81,24,618 shares (about 48.1 million shares) at a cost of Rs 250,24,80,136 (about Rs 2.5 billion) taking the total shareholding of RMWL and others to 54.06 per cent once the preferential allotment is complete.
     
    Prime Focus has announced an Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 29 January, 2015 to create, offer, issue and allot, from time to time and in one or more tranches, by way of a Preferential Issue, through offer letter and/or circular and/or information memorandum and/ or private placement memorandum and/or such other documents/writings, in such a manner and on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board in its absolute discretion to the acquirers viz., (1) up to 23,076,923 equity shares to MSPL; (2) up to 23,076,923 equity shares to RMWL as first RML subscription shares (3) up to 67,307,692 equity shares to RMWL as second RML subscription shares.

     

    Click here to read the notice
     

    Click here to read the advertisement

     

  • Rentrak partners with Eros International for box office reporting

    Rentrak partners with Eros International for box office reporting

    MUMBAI: Rentrak, a company that measures movies and TV everywhere, has announced its partnership with Eros International. As part of the deal, the company will collect box office information of Eros’ films across India. The first Eros film Rentrak will collect data on is ‘Tevar’, which released on 9 January.
                                                  
    “We are thrilled to work with Eros as we continue to grow our International coverage, which now includes the operation and collection of theatre-level attendance and box office information from 36 countries. The inclusion of Eros to our service is a powerful addition to our clients in India,” said Rentrak’s worldwide movie measurement business president Ron Giambra.  “Rentrak is thrilled to continue help India make its film production more transparent with our global box office reporting capabilities,” he added.

    Eros International CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “We are delighted to partner with Rentrak for box office measurement in India. I believe this tie up will help accelerate positive change and herald a new era of transparency in the Indian movie industry.”
     
    Rentrak’s Box Office Essentials and International Box Office Essentials are the movie industry’s source for comprehensive global box office intelligence and are used as the currency by every studio in the United States as well as distribution entities around the world. Boasting a global footprint of the worldwide movie market, Rentrak is able to provide its clients with real-time box office intelligence, through one unique system, which allows users to view real-time online reports from anywhere around the world.
     
    In recent times, Eros has also entered into Indian regional cinema with a strong line up of Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam releases this year. Eros is also one of the biggest international distributors for Bollywood movies with penetration in over 50 countries.
     
    India with 3.5 billion admissions per annum is already the largest consumer of movies in the world. As studies suggest, with seamless digitisation in the movies business, proliferation of multiplexes across the length and breadth of the country, Indian movies increasingly capturing the imagination of world markets, the Indian movie industry is set to make giant strides in terms of box office revenues and compete with the fastest growing markets in the world in near future.
     
    The Eros-Rentrak tie-up assumes greater significance in this transformative phase and will provide a positive thrust towards making the rapidly growing, vastly potent yet complex Indian movie industry, transparent.  

    The latest offering from Eros – Tevar stars Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. Eros’ upcoming films include Shamitabh, a film by R. Balki and starring India’s biggest super star Amitabh Bachchan.

     

  • Eros International forays into Malayalam market with Jeethu Joseph’s ‘Life of Josootty’

    Eros International forays into Malayalam market with Jeethu Joseph’s ‘Life of Josootty’

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media Limited (Eros International) has announced its foray into the Malayalam market with leading director Jeethu Joseph’s ‘Life of Josootty’. Produced by Jayalal Menon and Anil Biswas’ Backwater Studios and Eros, this upcoming  comic  drama  stars   popular  Malayalam  actor  Dileep  along  with  Rachana Narayanankutty, Jyothikrishna, Harish Peradi, Sunil Sugatha, Suraj  Vengharamoodu and Kalabhavan Mani.

    Jeethu and Dileep join hands once again after their hit pairing in the immensely popular ‘My Boss’. ‘Life of Josootty’ marks  Jeethu Joseph’s next  venture after his recent blockbuster ‘Drishyam’  with Mohanlal. Anil Johnson of ‘Memories’, ‘Drishyam’ and ‘Three Dots’ fame has composed the music for the film.

    Commenting on the  co-production  venture,  Eros International Media  managing director Sunil   Lulla said, “Eros has been one of the biggest champions of regional cinema be it Tamil, Telugu, Marathi or Punjabi. We are very excited to enter the prolific Malayalam market by associating with prominent talent like Jeethu Joseph and Dileep.”

    Eros director- creative & strategy for south India Soundarya A Rajnikanth added, “We are looking forward to tapping the potential of Malayalam cinema and happy to align with the very best in talent there. Malayalam industry is filled with brilliant stories and content we want to produce and we are in talks with various producers, directors and actors currently. This industry is very important in our upcoming slate of productions and we couldn’t have had a better entry than with a Jeethu Joseph film.”

    Producer Jayalal Menon added, “We are very pleased to associate with a leading global studio like Eros to co-produce ‘Life of Josootty’. With their undisputed leadership in global marketing and distribution, we are confident they will present Malayalam cinema on a worldwide platform with maximum reach.”

    ‘Life of Josootty’ is a comedy set against the backdrop of a family with a fantasy edge. The film went on floor on 2 January and will be shot across ldukki in Kerala and New Zealand. Eros International and Backwater Studios are looking at releasing the film worldwide in June 2015.

    With its venture into Malayalam cinema, Eros further strengthens its vision to scale up the business of regional language with its strong tie-ups and attractive film content.

     

  • Balaji Telefilms and Chhayabani announce strategic partnership

    Balaji Telefilms and Chhayabani announce strategic partnership

    MUMBAI: Television and film production company, Balaji Telefilms, has entered into an alliance with Kolkata-based company, Chhayabani, to create distinctive, contemporary, clutter breaking television content.

     

    Chhayabani Balaji Entertainment will be developed as a unique platform that will initially produce television content and gradually scale up to explore other creative opportunities, while also becoming a magnetic hub attracting talented people – technicians and artists, to work together in a collaborative manner.

     

    Chhayabani is highly acknowledged for its glorious heritage in the area of entertainment, in Kolkata. This collaboration brings together two media houses with distinctive strengths to explore new formats of television presentation, create exciting high-end scripted content, while also attracting high quality talent.

     

    Commenting on the development, Balaji Telefilms joint MD Ekta Kapoor said, “Balaji is at a very exciting phase of growth. Within the Indian entertainment space, over time we have created our own unique position across both – the films and the television businesses, which by nature are two completely different disciplines. Our aim is to explore how best we can leverage Balaji’s competitive strengths to create exciting entertainment across media that will propel our growth. We are delighted that Chhayabani emerged as the most preferred partner for Balaji given their cinematic excellence and their tremendous passion to produce quality entertainment products.”

     

    Added Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair, “We have always believed that growth is collaborative, which has also been our operating philosophy in a super-dynamic industry. We are very excited to partner with Chhayabani and as evident, the synergies are extremely strong. This collaboration helps us build a unique and robust platform that allows us to explore a very wide variety of avenues, given our respective creative strengths and the huge libraries of film and television content which we aim to leverage as we move forward.”

     

    Chhayabani director Saugata Nandi said, “It is gratifying to finally see a long cherished idea culminating into a strong association between Balaji and us — with a common vision of drawing the best creative talent available in the region to generate never-before-seen content for a very culturally driven and art-oriented Bengali audience. While Balaji holds the numero uno position in the television and film industry in India, Chhayabani has the distinction of being laced with an enviable reputation of being the torch bearer of the golden era in Bengali television and cinema. Through this platform we look forward to present very distinctive content that talks the universal language of emotions and instantly connects with the viewer.”

  • Balaji Telefilms joins Indus Media to enter American TV market

    Balaji Telefilms joins Indus Media to enter American TV market

    MUMBAI: One of India’s leading television and film production company, Balaji Telefilms, has marked its foray into the American television market by inking an American television series production deal with Indus Media. This deal will see Balaji secure rights to the TV series Brown Nation, a satirical comedy based on the lives of Indian Americans.

    This will be the first series under the new deal and is being planned for release in early 2015. Balaji has been scouting for collaborations with international players to produce content for various geographies across media platforms and this will be an important step to reach out to a diverse audience.

    The production house had recently roped in media veteran Sameer Nair as the group CEO to spearhead its expansion strategy and lead the way for the next level of growth by identifying unexplored avenues.

    “India is at the centre of global limelight and the timing is right for us to create path breaking entertainment on an international stage. We look forward to this partnership to extend our creative success to newer horizons,” said Balaji Telefilms joint managing director Ekta Kapoor.

    “We are extremely pleased to join with Indus in producing this series,” added Nair. “American sitcoms have influenced urban India and Indian youth across the globe. This will be a good opportunity for us to leverage our creative supremacy to enter a market not sufficiently fed with similar products,” he further said.

    “We have been looking to enter India with our proposed entertainment fund and this fits in well with our India strategy. We are absolutely delighted to associate with Balaji Telefilms to fuel our growth,” said Indus Media founding director Naveen Chathappuram.

    Added Indus Media founding director Devarajan, “I have had a long standing relationship with Balaji and this deal is a dream come true. We are very excited about our new creative and business partnership with Balaji and look forward to enhance value to all stakeholders.”

    American television has always been popular with youngsters in India. Be it ‘Friends’, ‘Two and Half Men’, ‘Big Bang Theory, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and the like. On the other hand, Indian characters have become a permanent fixture on American television sitcoms, as well as in movies. One of the main reasons for this is the dramatic growth in the size of the Indian American community in the past two decades – Indian American population grew from 815,000 in 1990 to 4.50 million in 2013. Most successful shows launched in the past five years feature a prominent Indian actor: “The Office,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “30 Rock,” “Chuck,” and “Parks and Recreation”.

    Brown Nation, directed by Abi Varghese, is currently being shot in New Jersey and has Indian actor Shenaz Treasurywala playing one of the lead roles. The comedy series depicts the everyday lives of south Asians living in America. The target market for Brown Nation is 18-45 year old Americans and NRIs. Recent comedy series such as The Office and Parks and Recreations have skewed to these age segments while casting a strong, universal appeal to all age groups.

    Indus Media recently announced its plans to launch a 50 million dollar entertainment fund to invest in films and television in American and south Indian market. With Balaji’s successful run in the film business, there could be more areas of synergy between the two partners especially the growing south Indian film market.

  • 2014 ATF and ScreenSingapore most successful edition yet

    2014 ATF and ScreenSingapore most successful edition yet

    MUMBAI: As $256.28 million were exchanged, the 15th edition of the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and 4th   edition of ScreenSingapore, Asia’s leading television and film event,  came to an astounding end.

    The three-day market saw a record number of attendance and a slew of deals secured and partnerships forged from 10 to 12 December at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre.

    Reed Exhibitions senior project director Yeow Hui Leng expressed delight at this year’s run and said, “This has been our most successful edition of ATF and ScreenSingapore to-date, and aligns with Asia’s growing importance in the global entertainment content landscape. ATF and ScreenSingapore is designed as an integrated market to provide a platform for industry players to trade and network, as well as to highlight opportunities in the rapidly growing Asian market.  The positive feedback, record number of deals and attendance are testament to ATF and ScreenSingapore’s standing as a leading content market in Asia.”

    Since its integration in 2012, ATF and ScreenSingapore enjoyed consecutive year-on-year participation growth, attesting to the industry’s validation of the event as a mainstay on the global content market calendar. The attendance at this year’s market jumped 10 per cent to 4,836 participants, with some 1,281 companies from 60 countries. This broke the previous record high of 4,385 attendees and 1,179 companies in 2013.

    Zense Entertainment (Thailand) CEO Varavuth Jentanakul, who is a first-time buyer at the event shared, “At ATF we experienced the energy and exposure of a truly international content market. We are closing a new package deal with Endemol, which include two new great  shows Your  Face  Sounds  Familiar to  be  on  air  on  Channel  7  later next  year, and Singer Takes it All.  We are also exploring the possibility of acquiring a large-scale format from Shine.”

    Exhibitors on the market floor unanimously agreed that ATF and ScreenSingapore is a must- visit platform for sellers looking to the Asian markets.

    There were various key announcements made at the market floor such as that of a $100 million media fund launched by Nasdaq-listed Bona Film Group, Singapore private equity investment firm Tembusu Partners and local media entrepreneur Calvin Cheng. The Singapore-based fund targets China’s media and entertainment industry, which is forecast to become the second largest in the world, behind only the US, by 2018.
     

    Bomanbridge Media CEO Sonia Fleck reinforced the event’s relevance to industry players, “We’ve come into ATF closing several major deals in the region for hundreds of hours of programme.” Some of these deals include the sale of It Only Hurts When I Laugh and Life’s Funniest Moments to TV3 Mediawork (New Zealand); Animal Atlas to Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thailand) and Superbodies to Korean Broadcasting System. Bomanbridge also partnered with leading distributor Banijay International to sell two reality series, Pound Pups to Dog Stars and Village Vets to TrueVisions (Thailand).

    Several Asian networks had purchased formats from various international sellers. This includes sales by US studio Electus to VTV in Vietnam, which is set to air a local version of its format Bet on Your Baby while China’s Dragon TV has re-commissioned the studio’s Fashion Star format. Keshet International’s spy drama MICE (stands for Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego; and also known as The Gordin Cell) is to be remade in Korea by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), and due to air in early 2015.

    Some of the other announcements made at the market include:

    –    A  series  of  creative  alliances  forged  with  the  Southeast  Asian  Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA), namely a collaboration with Australia-based crowd-funding portal Pozible and an alliance with the Motion Picture Association of Cambodia (MPAC);

    –    Jack Neo’s Long Long Time Ago, a new two-part movie scheduled for release in 2015 as part of Singapore’s 50th birthday celebrations;

    –    A new 24/7 kids and family television channel by DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, set to launch in the second half of 2015 in 19 Asian countries;

    –    Fuji  Television  to  launch  full-scale  internet  and  cable  video-on-demand  (VOD) distribution in Singapore through StarHub TV in the first half of 2015, delivering dramas such as Nobunaga Concerto and Dear Sister; and

    –    Strategic cooperation between FOX International Channels (FIC) and Tencent for over 300 hours of programming and documentaries from National Geographic Channel (NGC) documentaries to be made available online in China through Tencent in 2015. The two will also co-produce China-focused programmes.

    This year, the events were also part of the inaugural Singapore Media Festival, which enabled attendees to participate in an expanded suite of activities. Commenting on this, Media Development Authority of Singapore industry operations director Joachim Ng said: “We are encouraged by the many meaningful partnerships forged and vibrant exchange of ideas at the inaugural Singapore Media Festival. It also gave us the opportunity to showcase the best of the region’s film and television content as well as to celebrate its talent. We are confident that future editions of the festival will continue to serve as a platform of choice in Asia for media companies and professionals.”

    Some of the ATF and ScreenSingapore’s event highlights include MIPACADEMY and Animation Lab – continued to be well-received in their second year.  The MIPACADEMY sessions were led by industry veterans such as A2G Studio (France) founder and CEO Alexis De Gemini, Small World International Format Television (USA) president Tim Crescenti, tvN producer/director Park Joon Hwa, CJ E&M (South Korea), long-running Korean variety TV show ‘Infinite Challenge’ producer Kim Tae-ho, YouTube sensation comedy duo, Andrew and David Fung of FungBrosComedy, and the Twitter APAC TV Team.

  • Reliance Media Works files revised dates draft letter for acquiring 26% of Prime Focus

    Reliance Media Works files revised dates draft letter for acquiring 26% of Prime Focus

     BENGALURU: Reliance Media Works Limited (RMW, acquirer) has filed a draft letter of offer (LOF) with revised dates on the bourses for acquisition of a 26 per cent voting stake in Prime Focus Limited (Prime Focus, target company). RMW is acting in concert with Reliance Land Private Limited, Namit Malhotra, Narseh Malhotra and Monsoon Studio Private Limited (Monsoon Studios).  

     

    RMW will make a cash offer at Rs 52 per Equity Share to acquire up to 7,77,08,534 Equity Shares of face value of Re 1 each representing 26 per cent of the emerging voting capital (EVC) of Prime Focus. The target company’s EVC  comprises the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 29,88,78,974 divided into 29,88,78,974 equity shares, being the paid-up equity share capital of the target company after the allotment of the preferential allotment – 11,34,61,538 Equity Shares to the acquirer and Monsoon Studios on a preferential allotment basis.

     

    The offer shall open on 19 December 2014 and will remain open until 2 January 2015. All owners (registered or unregistered) of Equity Shares, regardless of whether he/she/it held Equity Shares on the identified date 5 December 2014), are eligible to participate in the offer any time before the closure of the tendering period.

     

    Click here to read the offer letter