ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • Star to distribute Sky News across Asia

    MUMBAI: European news channel Sky News has appointed Star to distribute it across the Asian continent.

    Sky News is already available on various pay-TV platforms, including Now TV in Hong Kong and Starhub Cable Vision in Singapore, as well as a range of other cable and satellite operators across the region. Sky News is also available in the Middle East via Star’s bouquets on the ART/ADD platform.

    Sky News head John Ryley said, “Already around 100m viewers across Europe, plus a further 8m households in Africa and the Middle East, are able to access Sky News’ award-winning breaking news. I am delighted that this new partnership with Star will allow us to reach audiences in a range of fast-paced dynamic countries across Asia.”

    Under the deal, the distribution and marketing teams at Star will work to open up new markets for Sky News.

    Star executive VP, ad sales, distribution and marketing Bruce A. Oltchick said, “We’re delighted to fortify our partnership with Sky News with this new exclusive distribution agreement. Sky News is an internationally renowned channel known for its high quality reporting and breaking news coverage. We are very pleased to expand our partnership and we look forward to bringing Sky News to even more viewers in Asia.”

    While broadcast television remains hugely important for Sky News, the channel has a strong focus on bringing breaking news through new and emerging delivery mechanisms which, in the United Kingdom, now include mobile TV and railway station platforms. In April the Sky News website – sky.com/news – introduced a new, fresh look and feel, the first phase of the site’s redevelopment as a dynamic, video-rich site that maintains the channel’s record of innovating in the delivery of breaking news and innovation. Its video content, podcasts and live event coverage are designed to support channel output.

  • CNN explores workplace of tech companies in show

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN has announced that this month’s edition of its show Global Office sees Kristie Lu Stout reveal the future of the office as we know it, from interior design to working environments. She explores Silicon Valley and beyond and visits the world’s biggest tech companies to see how their workspaces score. The show airs on 19 May at 1 pm and 9:30 pm, 20 May at 5 pm and on 24 May at 7 pm.

    At the Googleplex — the headquarters of Google — the company’s chief cultural officer leads Kristie on a tour that goes some way to explaining why the company attracts an amazing 3,000 job applications a day from wannabe Googlers. Just down the road is the greenest office in the US, the headquarters of software giant Adobe. The company’s innovative efforts to be more environmentally friendly are not only good for the planet, but great for the bottom line, leaving an important lesson for businesses big and small the world over.

    Next stop is Intel. Despite advances in architectural office design, the reality for most office workers is the cubicle farm and Kristie meets Intel’s chief anthropologist, Dr Genevieve Bell, who reveals what fate may hold for the much-maligned office cubicle. Venturing north to Seattle and the home of Microsoft brings an exclusive look at the corporation’s vision of the future for consumers and its own employees.

    The show then turns the mirror on itself as British designer Tara B provides her candid thoughts on how the CNN London office could be revitalised.

  • Alan Johnston wins London Press Award

    MUMBAI: BBC Gaza Correspondent Alan Johnston was named the Broadcasting Journalist Of The Year at the annual London Press Awards.

    He was abducted in Gaza on 12 March. Alan’s father, Graham Johnston, and BBC DG Mark Thompson, accepted the award on his behalf.

    Graham Johnston said: “On behalf of my son, Alan, I wish to thank the London Press Club for this award. As a dedicated journalist, this, I know, will mean a great deal to him. I dearly wish it was Alan himself standing here and not his father. Again, thank ou very much.”

    Thompson said, ” Today is the 59th day of Alan’s captivity. I’d like to pay tribute to him, and I’d also like to pay tribute to his family – to Graham, Margaret, Katriona and Raymond – who have shown extraordinary strength and courage over these last few weeks.

    “We nominated Alan for the Broadcasting Journalist Of The Year award long before his abduction in Gaza – in recognition of his outstanding journalism over the last three years.

    “Alan stayed there so long, and stayed after so many other Western correspondents had left, because he wanted to tell the story of Gaza, and to tell it not from a studio in London or by voicing-over pictures taken by an agency or a freelancer thousands of miles away, but on the ground and among the people of Gaza. And he wanted to do that with real journalistic values: with humanity but also with objectivity and impartiality.

    “We are absolutely delighted that Alan’s long-term professionalism and dedication has been recognised by this award but – at the same time – saddened that, in recent weeks, he has had to pay such a high price. On behalf of the BBC, thank you, London Press Awards, for honouring Alan.”

  • TV9 in talks to buy 26 per cent stake in Indiavision

    MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCL), which operates under the TV9 brand, is in talks to acquire a 26 per cent stake in Malayalam news channel Indiavision.

    ABCL and Indiavision have had the first round of discussions but couldn’t agree on the valuation, a source familiar with the negotiations says. Indiavision was valuing the company at Rs 1 billion but ABCL is agreeable to a much lower figure, he adds.

    The move is seen as a counter to the aggressive plans drawn by national broadcasters to step into the regional space. Zee News Ltd has already launched a Marathi news channel and others like Raghav Bahl’s TV18 Group are waiting in the wings.

    ABCL already runs a Telugu and a Kannada news channel. The company plans to launch a string of channels including a Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel. It is planning to raise Rs 2.5 billion from private equity funds to support all its expansion plans.

    Senior executives of ABCL will be visiting Indiavision office next week to thrash out some form of deal, the source says. If talks on equity participation break, discussions on forming a strategic alliance will be pursued.

    “ABCL could take up the marketing of Indiavision and an arrangement on infrastructure sharing could be worked out. Both the regional news networks realise that they need to strike an alliance as new competition is going to come from the bigger players,” the source adds.

    When contacted, Indiavision chairman and political leader Dr M K Muneer declined to comment.

    ABCL is 80 per cent owned by iLabs, a venture fund, and Unified Group. The balance 20 per cent is held by Ravi Prakash and five other professionals.

  • BBC World now available on Verizon TV

    NEW DELHI: Viewers around the world turn to BBC World for balanced, in-depth international news and information. Now, Verizon FiOS TV subscribers can enjoy this 24-hour news resource as BBC World joins the Verizon FiOS TV channel line-up on channel 92, a press release from Verizon said today.

    “BBC World telecasts to more than 200 countries and territories across the globe, yet few U.S. cable companies offer it,” says Terry Denson, Verizon vice president – FiOS TV content and programming.

    “We’re delighted to give our customers another distinctive choice that further serves their diverse interests and isn’t found on most competing systems,” he added
    Verizon provides FiOS TV over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network, straight to customers’ homes. Verizon FiOS TV offers a broad collection of all-digital programming, more than two dozen high-definition channels, 8,600 video-on-demand titles and more.

    At the end of the first quarter, Verizon FiOS TV had 348,000 subscribers and was available to approximately 3.1 million households in parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.

    BBC World provides international news, business and sports reports, plus award-winning current affairs series and documentaries, to a weekly global audience of 65 million viewers.

    A study by American pollster Frank Luntz, commissioned by BBC World in September 2006, shows that the channel has “mass potential” and “an eager audience” in the United States.

    In addition to the programming on the BBC World channel, U.S. audiences can view BBC World via 30-minute programs shown daily on 229 PBS stations throughout the United States and on BBC America.

    “BBC News already has a strong reputation in the U.S,” says BBC World’s director of distribution and business development, Jeff Hazell. “BBC World channel offers audiences a truly international news agenda and a global perspective and is in the enviable position of being able to meet the demands of American viewers for in-depth, balanced international news.”

  • Zee Business to launch lifestyle and mobile shows for youth

    NEW DELHI: Zee Business is launching two research based business, interactive, blog-backed programmes this May onwards, targeting the youth.

    Zindagi Live will debut on 14 May as the first combo show on lifestyle, shopping, careers, informed spending and infotainment.

    The second show, Mobiles and More, is dedicated to the growing mobile handset market and seeks to inform viewers so that they can select a handset of their choice and in their budget.
    Zindagi Live is a value for money show, educating and informing viewers about products in the same categories in an effort to help them make an informed buying decision.

    The programme also has dedicated segments on career, health, beauty, movies, travel, the best deals, interiors, homes and weekend getaways.

    Mobiles and More as the name suggests is your guide to buying a mobile phone. Not just the latest handset, but handsets, which you want in your budget. Mobiles and More looks at all this and more.

    In fact, Zee officials told indiantelevision.com that the mobile-related show would have latest information on discounts and which shops in which cities these are available.

    “We shall do our own research, which will be an ongoing process, and bring to the audience pointed information on what is available where,” a Zee official explained.

    To highlight the features and utilities of available handsets, various segments within the programme have been designed.

    “Review”, a segment of the programme, will give a macro view of latest mobiles in the market. In addition to the basic features, it will analyze the handsets enhanced features like video, picture quality and audio quality.

    The handsets will be scanned through under the shadow of their respective competition in the market.

    Another segment, “Budget Phones” will profile cheap and utility handsets available in the market. Dressing up your phone with the accessories and other things will be discussed in the Accessories.

    “Features will tell us how to use a handset’s complicated and flashy things like GPRS, Blue tooth, MMS etc,” the official said, adding that another segment, “Upcoming Phone” will feature a handset yet to be launched in the market.

    There will be an interactive session – “Complaint” of industry experts dealing with the viewer’s genuine problems related to their mobile phones.

    Also, a blog will be showcased to list the comments received from people. The programme will keep the viewers informed about the latest discounts available in the markets.

    The show also compares a new phone with a similar phone in its category and generates a report card on the phone, keeping in mind pre-defined parameters.

    Zindagi Live will discuss ways to get more value for money. The show would comprise a few segments to help common man to take an appropriate buying decision.

    “Buying, as the word suggests, will highlight the aspects of a product (any) to be considered before making the purchase. Fashion Story will talk about trends of clothing and apparel prevailing in the market,” the official said.

    Food freaks will find all the information on eating-joints around and its specialty in the segment Restaurants.

    The programme will also put the spotlight on Health and Beauty, Home and Interiors, Movies, Travel, Star-signs, Career/Education besides Weekend Out, which will highlight various Plays-Rock Bands-DJs playing in the city.

    A trend story will focus on burning issues like metro-sexuality, Lounges winning over Pubs, World Cup Fever etc, the official revealed.

    The programme will also share city’s hottest deals and discounts offered on various products.
    Zindagi Live will starts on 14th May and will be telecast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:30 pm with a repeat at 4:30 pm.

    Mobiles and More will begin next weekend on Sundays at 10 am and Friday at 10:30 pm.

  • Actress Shilpa Shetty to feature on CNN’s ‘Talk Asia’

    MUMBAI: Indian actress Shilpa Shetty will feature on CNN’s chat show Talk Asia on 12 May at 8:30 pm and on 13 May at 6:30 pm. She reveals why she is unrepentant about her public kiss with actor Richard Gere, what she learnt from her time in the Big Brother household, thoughts on her love life, film career and more.

    Reaction to Gere’s prolonged kiss ranged from amusement to outrage, but Shetty is admant that the extreme reactions from some do not reflect her country: “I would describe the ‘some’ as a lunatic fringe. And that is so not the sensibility of the majority of India”.

    The star also explains why she is relaxed at the thought of a potential six year jail sentence in the wake of the controversy before venting her frustration as to why effigies of Gere have been burned: “I don’t know if Richard is going to come back to the country, the losers…it’s us again as he was only trying to help us out.” As to those pursuing the litigations, she asks: “I want to actually ask them what they’ve done for us, what have they done for this country?”

    Shetty also talks about her time in the UK’s Big Brother household, where she reached “The lowest point in my life”. Despite this, she is convinced that to have walked out “Would be such a loser thing to do, to give up” and that her final victory “Was a huge victory as an Indian to have won something abroad”.

    Satinder also asks Shetty about her success in relationships, quizzing her on boyfriends, what dating her would entail and why she ultimately wants “A happy marriage and whatever it takes to achieve that”

  • Thomson in £8.8bn bid for Reuters

    MUMBAI:Soon after Rupert Murdoch’s bid for Dow Jones, Canada-based Thomson Corp is in talks to buy Reuters Group Plc for about 8.8 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) to create Thomson-Reuters, the world’s biggest news and financial services company.

    In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, the two media companies said there was a “powerful and compelling logic for the combination which would create a global leader in the business-to-business information markets.”

    Under the terms of the proposed deal, Reuters investors would get 352-1/2 pence in cash and 0.16 Thomson stock for each share, worth 697 pence a share at Monday’s closing prices, the two companies said in a joint statement. Thomson President and CEO Richard Harrington, who has transformed the company from traditional publishing to an electronic-based business, will retire on completion of the deal, at which point Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer will become chief executive of the combined company.

    Thomson and Reuters said they expected to make over $500 million of annual synergies within three years of completion of a deal. The combined Thomson Financial unit and Reuters financial and media businesses will be called Reuters. The merged entity will adopt the Reuters trust principles aimed at safeguarding the independence of Reuters news, the joint statement said.

    Thomson, Reuters Group PLC and Bloomberg LP all compete aggressively in what is known as the “terminal” market, for the data terminals on desks at the world’s major banks and brokerages. Reuters was the market leader for many years, though it has steadily lost ground to Bloomberg.

    An April report from Inside Market Data Reference said Bloomberg has 33 per cent of the market share, with Reuters at 23 per cent and Thomson at 11 per cent. Thomson has transformed itself in the last decade from an owner of newspapers and other print products. It has built up its legal information business, and is about to sell Thomson Learning, its book division, for about $5 billion.

    Reuters was born in 1851 when Paul Julius Reuter started sending stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable.

    Thomson was started by Roy Thomson, who established a business empire that began with a small radio station in northern Ontario. He bought his first newspaper in 1934.

  • B.A.G Films to launch two news channels

    MUMBAI: B.A.G Films & Media Ltd plans to invest Rs 2.70 billion for the four channels it proposes to launch as part of its strategy to diversify into broadcasting business from just being a pure content company.

    B.A.G Films will launch two news channels, says managing director Anurradha Prasad. For the Hindi news channel, it has roped in Aaj Tak director news Supriya Prasad.
    “We plan to invest Rs 2.70 billion for the four channels. We expect to launch the Hindi news channel by November. Supriya Prasad is joining us as director – Hindi news,” says Anurradha Prasad.

    The lifestyle channel could be launched during the same time while “Bliss” will be all about mind, body and soul which will roll out later.

    The two segments are being housed under two associate companies, B.A.G Newsline Network (P) Ltd and B.A.G Glamour (P) Ltd. While the news channels will be under B.A.G Newsline Network, the non news venture will be in B.A.G Glamour.

    B.A.G Films has already applied for uplinking facility with the information and broadcasting ministry to launch channels in news and non news category.

    The company will have its own distribution team. “We are in the process of hiring the distribution head,” says Anurradha Prasad.

  • CNN-IBN starts reality news show

    NEW DELHI: CNN-IBN is launching a show Summer Showdown in a reality show format.

    Encouraging citizen journalism, the show will follow a family each from the five metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata – for five-weeks. They will be asked to report on all the civic problems that they feel are threatening to become a crisis this summer – from continuous power cuts, overflowing sewers to the dismal state of our roads.

    In addition, these citizen journalists will be provided opportunities to meet and interact with the local civic authorities to find solutions to these real and unrelenting problems and work towards realising them.

    The two-three minute daily basis stories of their personal experience will be carried on CNN-IBN’s Newswheel. The initiative will culminate in a one-hour special on 26 May that will track the previous week’s progress to see which city’s civic authorities were the most efficient in responding to their citizen’s appeals.