MUMBAI: Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd has appointed Mahendra Kumar Aggarwal as an additional director of the company with effect from 31 March, 2006.
Aggarwal is a post graduate in commerce and graduate of law. He has more than 38 years of experience with State Bank of India and will hold the office of independent director in the company.
The decision was taken at the company’s board meeting, which was held on 31 March.
MUMBAI: Comcast and Sony Pictures Entertainment unveiled plans to premiere a new Horror and Thriller multi-platform network on Halloween, 31 October, 2006.
Plans for the new advertising-supported network were unveiled by Comcast president emerging networks Diane Robina and Sony Pictures Television president Steve Mosko.
The network will captivate fear seekers and fans of the horror film genre – one of the fastest-growing genres at the box office. It will debut on video on demand and the internet at launch, and will add a wireless platform in the future. The channel is the first multi-platform network that leverages the combined assets of the Sony and MGM libraries, which make up the largest collection of its kind in the world. Comcast and Sony announced their intent to create new distribution platforms for this content when the companies and other investors purchased the MGM library last year.
Horror and thriller films have emerged on the mainstream film scene in the last several years with box office numbers skyrocketing. Twenty per cent of the feature films released by major studios in 2005 were in this category, and one in three of those debuted at number one at the box office. The genre, which now features top Hollywood stars and grosses more than $1 billion a year, has a growing fan base in the sought-after 18-34 demographic.
“Horror fans not only like this genre, they are passionate about it. This is the first channel of its kind devoted solely to serving this expanding audience and a great advertising opportunity to reach this demographic. The number of horror fans is growing exponentially, and they are hungry for this kind of multimedia experience. This is the perfect time and the ideal platform to introduce a dedicated horror experience,” said Robina.
“We are excited to be launching the first of our joint channels with our partners at Comcast. More and more people are looking to a variety of sources for their entertainment, and this new channel will be available on multiple platforms simultaneously, redefining the idea of what a network is,” said Mosko.
The network will feature film and TV contemporary thrillers, suspense dramas, horror titles and more on Comcast’s On Demand service on 31 October and will launch its multimedia fan website the same day.
“The depth of offerings available from the Sony and MGM libraries is unparalleled. We have hundreds of titles at our disposal to satisfy every thrill seeker,” added Robina.
Horror movie fans will get the online experience they want through a video-rich, multimedia online environment that will become the horror destination for the fan community, and will include: exclusive horror outtakes, music downloads, a scream fest, original animation and behind-the- scenes footage. The network will add a wireless component that will feature horror ringtones, sound effects and other features designed specifically for the mobile experience.
The companies will announce the new network’s name and additional details about the multimedia content in the coming months.
MUMBAI: With election fever gripping Tamil Nadu media, the Chennai-headquartered Raj Television Network (RTN) has started telecasting news bulletins on its flagship channel Raj TV as non-live.
Originally the channel is not permitted to telecast news and live programmes, as it is not uplinked from India.
“Since the last two weeks, Raj TV has been telecasting one-and-a-half hours of news programming — exactly three half-an-hour news bulletins — as deferred live, apart from airing various election-oriented current affairs programmes” says one of the RTN promoters M Ravindran.
Raj TV had lost the right to telecast news bulletins and live programmes when the information and broadcasting ministry terminated its teleport licence in November 2004. This was preceded by the ministry stopping broadcast of two new RTN channels Vissa TV and Raj Musix for uplinking without the necessary approval.
Raj TV, along with another RTN channel Raj Digital Plus, were not allowed to uplink from the company’s own facility at Chennai as well as from any alternate commercial uplinking centre in India.
RTN had no other choice but to move out of the country and uplink from Bangkok late last year. This arrangement, as already mentioned, prevents RTN from broadcasting live programmes and news. Due to this handicap, Raj TV has already lost out on two big events that were drawing in audiences: the Tsunami of 2004 and the controversy over Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi. Now, it seems, the channel is in no mood let another bonanza — the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections — go.
“Since Raj TV is the only neutral channel in the politics-heavyTamil broadcast arena, our news and current affairs programmes used to rule the ratings before we lost the licence. We enjoy a good support from the advertisers and have decided to charge the best rates in the market. And, elections are something you can’t afford to skip as a broadcaster,” says Ravindran, adding that the channel has been charging advertisers Rs 9,000 per ten seconds for slots in these bulletins.
The RTN promoters are confident that Raj TV will be able to telecast live news bulletins at the earliest. Having won an approval from the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry in 2005 March to uplink its channels from a commercial teleport in India, RTN is presently waiting for the final green signal for the Wireless Protocol Clearance (WPC) from the telecom ministry, which is headed by Dayanidhi Maran, the elder brother of Sun TV supremo Kalanithi Maran.
MUMBAI: If the news and radio space swung into acquisition mode early this year, it is the other areas of media business which are now attracting investors. NRI businessman C Sivasankaran is pumping in Rs 1.2 billion to acquire 14.98 per cent stake in Sahara One Media & Entertainment Ltd.
Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Sivasankaran was in talks to put in around Rs 1.2 billion for a minority stake in Sahara One. Ernst & Young had valued the company at Rs 7 billion.
Sahara One will make a preferential allotment of 32,25,000 shares (of Rs 10 each) at Rs 372 per share to Aircel Televentures Ltd (Sivasankaran’s company). With this divestment, the promoters will hold 73 per cent, according to a Sahara Group spokesperson.
BCCL’s (Times Group holding company Bennet Coleman & Co Ltd) stake will be less than 6 per cent and Aircel Televentures will have 14.98 per cent while the rest will be with the public.
“Aircel Televentures has recognized the potential of the movies and TV business in which Sahara One operates and agreed to invest. The funds generated through this move will be utilised in expanding our business in movie and television business,” the spokesperson said.
The Sahara One board has approved the proposal of issuing the equity shares to Aircel Televentures on preferential basis. The board, which met today, has also called for an Extraordinary General Meeting of the company on 8 May. The shares will be issued subject to shareholders’ approval.
Sahara is also planning to raise up to $50 million, for which it has obtained an enabling resolution. “Sivasankaran’s investments will be used for expanding the business. We also plan to raise up to $50 million,” a company executive said.
Sahara is launching a music channel, adding up to a bouquet of general entertainment and movie channels. Sahara Group also owns a string of news channels.
Sivsankaran’s first media investment was in ETC Networks where he held 40 per cent stake. He went on diluting equity and exited from the company which was later acquired by Zee Telefilms.
MUMBAI: The California headquartered SCM Microsystems, which provides solutions that open the digital world has sold its digital TV solutions business to the Swiss based Kudelski Group. It has got $11 million in cash for the deal.
Kudelski Group chairman and CEO Andre Kudelski says, “SCM pioneered removable security for digital broadcasting and has helped build a market for open systems in the digital TV industry. Removable security modules will become a key enabler of digital pay-TV services as the retail market continues to grow and develop.”
SCM Microsystems CEO Robert Schneider says, “The sale of our Digital TV business furthers our strategy to consolidate and restructure our organisation around a more focused business model. With one headquarters and operational center in Germany, one development facility in India and a seasoned sales team in the U.S., we believe that we will be able to take advantage of market opportunities more efficiently and cost effectively.
“Going forward, we intend to put our entire attention on leveraging our smart card and media reader businesses by providing industry-leading solutions for emerging markets such as e-health, e-passport, secure physical access, electronic payment and digital photo printing.”
Under the terms of the agreement with Kudelski, SCM will sell substantially all of the assets that relate to its digital TV solutions business, including its office building in France, certain inventory, contracts, trademarks and intellectual property.
In addition 40 employees in Europe and Asia are expected to join Kudelski’s newly created business focussed on providing secure pay-TV modules compatible with consumer electronic products for the digital TV industry. The products that Kudelski is acquiring include SCM’s DVB and OpenCable compliant conditional access modules, used to securely decrypt digital television broadcasts, as well as
controller chips used in set-top boxes that interface with the decryption modules.
The Kudelski Group works in the field of digital security. Its technologies are used in a wide range of applications requiring access control and rights management, whether for securing transfer of information (digital television, broadband Internet, video-on-demand, interactive applications, etc.) or to control and manage access of people or vehicles to sites and events.
MUMBAI: www.sifymall.com, the online store on portal Sify has launched magazine subscription service online.
The store has magazines from both Indian and foreign publications across categories like advertising, audio/video, automotive, aviation, beauty and fashion, business, films, music, travel and leisure and women to suit users interests.
Sify senior VP, interactive services, Surya Mantha says, “Our aim is to ensure that the best offers are always available on SifyMall for users to experience real value for money. Be it the popular Deal of the Day, occasion based online gifting, or shopping online, we work to ensure customer delight in a number of ways. Our online magazine store extends this philosophy with subscriptions that offer real value to users with a wide range of magazines to suit their interests. We’ve also redesigned SifyMall to enhance the shopping experience for our users”.
All a user needs to do is to go online on www.sifymall.com to the Magazine Store, and choose the title of his/her choice from an array of 130 magazines, with more to be added in future. The magazines are arranged conveniently by topic, publishers as well as alphabetically for users to locate the magazines of their choice easily and quickly.
“We will have to speak to our competitors and see how they are placed before scheduling our press conference,” says a PR executive who works for one of the leading Hindi general entertainment channels.The interesting comment came when we told her about the big day ‘24 April‘ that would witness the launch of about five programmes across the channels.
Yes, this summer is about to witness a programming bonanza in the general entertainment channel (GEC) space, with not less than eight prime time shows being lined up for launch during this April-May phase. Both the weekday and weekend prime time bands will witness a flurry of activity and the shows gearing up for launch include some big budget projects as well. Star Plus, Sony, Zee, Sahara One and Sab, all will be launching an array of soaps during this time.
Star Plus will replace its daily soap Milee with the much-awaited Ravi Chopra production Viraasat. The show will run Monday to Thursday in the 9 pm slot, starting 24 April. The channel has also lined up two shows — Prithviraj Chauhan, Dharti Ka Ek Veer Yodha and Ek Chaabi Pados Mein — for launch in May.
According to Star India senior creative director Shailja Kejriwal, Prithviraj Chauhan will run Friday to Sunday, while Ek Chaabi Pados Mein is yet to be scheduled. “Prithviraj Chauhan will run Friday through Sunday. Internal discussions are going on to decide the time slot for this show, as well as the exact schedule for Ek Chaabi Pados Mein,” says Kejriwal.
The channel has been working on these three projects since a long time as it required strong properties to fill the void left by its weekend driver show KBC 2. With the launch of these three big projects — two in the weekend band and one in the weekday band — Star Plus‘ attempt will be to bring in some significant improvement as well as consistency to its performance in the prime time band across the week.
Sony, on the other hand, is now eyeing weekdays and is introducing two new shows on 24 April, after strengthening its Friday band with its Shukra Hai Shukravaar Hai package. Aisa Des Hai Mera will be aired at 9 pm and Thodi Khushi Thode Gham at 9.30 pm from 24 April. The shows will run from Monday to Thursday.
On Monday and Tuesday, these two new shows will replace the second season of Indian Idol, which is coming to its end. Whereas, on Wednesday and Thursday, the two shows will substitute Deal Ya No Deal, which is now being made into a weekly and will air only on Friday at 8 pm.
The channel is unveiling its programming strategy gradually. While the first one was to strengthen the Friday line up, the second is to ramp up the 9 to10 pm band on weekdays.
In the next couple of months, Sony will also be revamping the 10 to 11 pm band as well as the afternoon band, where the latter at present comprises re-runs of old shows and repeats of prime time shows. Also, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, which airs from Monday to Thursday at 10 pm will end its run in May and new shows are likely to be introduced then.
Says Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India chief operating officer NP Singh, “We will be rolling out our new programming strategy step by step in the coming months. The beginning was made with the Friday lineup. By July, the programming schedule of Sony will be completely transformed.”
Sony‘s move to strengthen its weekday programming with fiction will also see the channel taking a deliberate retreat from the reality terrain. Once Indian Idol 2 bids adieu, the channel will have its reality dose further scaled down with only Fear Factor there to represent the genre.
Sab TV will be also be launching a new show – Twinkle Beauty Parlour in May in the 9 pm slot. However Sab business head Vikas Bhal declined to comment whether it would be a weekday or weekend show.
While Sony is making some calculated moves to regain lost glory in prime time, the Zee camp is not sitting on its laurels but banking on some big launches. After launching its biggest project of the year Business Baazigar on 31 March, Zee TV will flag off another key property on 24 April. The soap Jab Love Hua will replace Rubba Ishq Na Hove and Sarrkkar in the 8:30 pm slot to run Monday through Friday. Then viewers can also expect some fireworks from the latest Sa Re Ga Ma Pa version Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu. It is learnt that the channel has ensured a high doze of reality-oriented excitement in the forthcoming episodes of the talent hunt show.
Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu along with Zee TV‘s soap brigade have their task cut out: block any resurgence by Sony and make the viewers thank Zee TV as well – be it a Monday or a Friday.
On Monday, 10 April, Sahara One will be launching a new fiction show – Suno… Harr Dill Kuchh Kehtaa Hai in the 10 pm slot. This show will run from Monday to Friday and will replace the re-runs of Virasaat on the channel. Once Buniyaad gets over in May, Sahara One will be launching another show – Sati to replace it.
Reshuffle in Prime time rankings; Sony & Star One push Zee to fourth spot
Interestingly, since the re-launch of Shukra Hai Shukravaar Hai on 10 March, Sony‘s prime time performance has seen a radical jump. Last month, the channel strengthened its Friday lineup, which included Deal Ya No Deal (8 pm), Fear Factor (9 pm), CID (10 pm) and Kandy Floss (11 pm). While Fear Factor has been the top rated show on Sony for three consecutive weeks; the new format CID has also been rating well consistently for the channel.
In the week beginning 26 February, Sony‘s prime time (8 pm to 11 pm) channel share was 12.9 per cent in the C&S 4+ Hindi speaking market according to Tam. Whereas, in the week beginning 5 March (when the new Friday lineup was introduced), the channel‘s prime time share jumped to 20.3 per cent. In the corresponding week (12 March), the share further increased to 22.1 per cent. However, in the week beginning 19 March, the prime time channel share fell to 17.2 per cent.
The latest prime time picture is as follows:
Star Plus‘ share in the prime time fell from 56.9 per cent in the week beginning 26 February to 46.8 per cent in the week beginning 5 March and further to 43.4 per cent in the week beginning 12 March, according to Tam. In the week beginning 19 March, Star Plus‘ prime time channel share rose to 49.1 per cent.
Star One meanwhile has overtaken Zee TV in prime time to claim the third position with 14.8 per cent channel share as opposed to Zee‘s 11.6 per cent in the week beginning 19 March. The shows which have triggered the good performance for Star One include Saarabhai Vs Saarabhai, Remix, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge 2, Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka and Mano Ya Na Mano.
On the other hand, Sahara One, which has claimed to be the number three channel in the week ending 25 March, is still way behind Sony as far as prime time channel share is concerned. Sahara One‘s prime time channel share in the week beginning 19 March was 5.3 per cent. Star One has overtaken Zee TV in prime time to claim the third position with 14.8 per cent channel share as opposed to Zee‘s was 11.6 per cent in the week beginning 19 March.
As the prime time action heats up across the networks, expect to see an ongoing jostling for leadership positions over the next two months. Behind Star Plus of course.
MUMBAI: For one night only, US broadcaster NBC will air back-to-back episodes of the business based reality show The Apprentice on 10 April.
The candidates in the first hour hammer it out in the renovation business as the teams are given their seventh task – create an activity area in a local Boys & Girls Club as part of Ace Hardware’s charity program. In the second hour, the candidates launch a new pizza sandwich and a losing team gains an opposing teammate. In India, the show airs on Star World.
In the first hour, Gold Rush tries to nail down a win when Lenny volunteers to be the project manager, hoping to prove to Donald that he can lead the team to victory – but he is troubled with managing a negative teammate. Michael, the project manager for Synergy, has a good concept, but drives his team crazy. The winners help make a child’s dream come true by partnering with the “Make A Wish Foundation,” while the losers face a hammering in the boardroom.
In the second episode, the remaining candidates launch a new pizza sandwich for 7-Eleven, one candidate volunteers to switch sides to help out a losing team, while the team tries to make the biggest sale imaginable. The winners jet out of town to dine with US Senator Chuck Schumer, while the losers get grilled in the boardroom.
MUMBAI: The Sensex underwent a dramatic “corrective” drop of 157 points on 7 April but Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL), was among the few stocks that bucked the trend.
ZTL, which closed the previous day’s trade at Rs 246.60 on the BSE, had opened the day on a strong note. Zee’s acquiring the telecast rights for one day international matches to be played by India on neutral venues over the next five years yesterday seems to have made the market hungry and it was just waiting for the next day’s trading to open to pounce on the stock. The buying spree even saw the stock price touching its 52-week high of Rs 270 (Rs 291 at NSE) before falling prey to the negative sentiment that gripped the market, around afternoon.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended the session at 11,589.44, lower by 1.34 per cent than its previous closing mark, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) 50 stock Nifty index settled at 3454.80, recording a 56.10 points or 1.6 per cent loss.
During the early day trade, the Sensex had surged past the 11,900 mark to a new lifetime high of 11,930.66. Just when it seemed that the12,000 mark was within reach, the Sensex took a beating amid rumours that the regulator had banned eleven foreign institutional investors from participating in the market. Consequently, ZTL also took a plunge from its day’s best Rs 270 to a rather poor score of Rs. 244.60.
Then, after SEBI came out with a denial of that report, the stock made a timely recovery along with a few blue chip stocks which also regained some lost ground. ZTL finally saw it closing for the day at Rs 250.10 at the BSE, up by 1.42 per cent or Rs 3.50 higher than its previous closing mark. At the NSE, it closed at Rs 250.45, up by 1.42 per cent or Rs 3.50 than the previous closing mark.
A total of 2 million ZTL shares were traded during the day, while the average number of shares traded per day during the last two weeks period is 1.5 million.
According to broking analysts indiantelevision.com spoke to, the positive performance ZTL has been displaying in the recent times shows that the stock is on its way to reach a value that is more in conformity with the levels that the Sensex has reached. “ZTL is yet to reach its real value and speaking about the overall performance of the stock in the recent times, we can assume that it is in the process of realising its actual price at the Sensex,” says an analyst.
“Acquiring the neutral venue International cricket rights might have helped the stock to buck the negative trend at the Sensex today. But, there are more significant factors that have been boosting the stock overall. The four-way demerger, the remarkable improvement on the programming front, the advertising rates consequently going up, all have been helping the stock to attract buyers,” he adds.
NEW DELHI: The industry is hyping IPTV in India as the next revolution, but has actually done little on the content side, said former member of Telecom Regulatory of India (Trai), DPS Seth.
Speaking here today at IPTV India 2006 conference, organised by Bharat Exhibitions, Seth disagreed with some of the speakers before him saying that people who have been talking about IPTV have “failed to address the issue of content,” which could be delivered through IPTV.
A certain section of the industry, especially the telecom companies have touted IPTV as a technology ready to ready to change the way Indians have been watching television.
With its advantages over the current cable and satellite TV technologies, IPTV can be typically bundled with other services like video-on-demand (VOD), voice over IP (VoIP), or digital phone, and Web access, which are collectively called triple play.
But, asked Seth, not many have given a thought to the type of content that should be generated to be delivered over this triple play platform.
Seth¡’s argument was that unless the content issue is addressed — especially as in this segment content has to be customized — IPTV may languish.
A report by Multimedia Research predicts that IPTV adoption worldwide will grow from 1.9 million users in 2004 to 25.3 million in 2008 and that the service provider revenue from IPTV is likely to jump from $ 635 million to 7.2 million by 2008.
Various speakers at today’s IPTV seminar harped on strategies to tap this opportunity in India as the consumer is getting increasingly demanding.
Some of the pertinent questions that were raised during the day-long conference were the following:
What should be the policy framework that will govern IPTV in India?
How will the interdependence between various service, technology and hardware providers work?
Will it require further expansion of broadband spectrum?
What are the operational challenges that would be faced by service providers in transforming their existing businesses models to the one suiting IPTV?
Key panelists included Airtel CTO (mobility) Jagbir Singh, Sun Microsystems director (telecom) Kapil Sood, URStarcom director sales K K Peringhat, Alcatel South Asia Ltd vice president and head of sales, India, Fixed Communications Group Anuj Kapur, BSNL director (planning and new services) RL Dube and Siemens Public Communication Networks (Pvt.) Ltd MD Michael Kuehner.