ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • Sun TV Q2 net profit up 27% at Rs 479 million

    Sun TV Q2 net profit up 27% at Rs 479 million

    MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran’s Sun TV today reported its second quarter revenues of Rs 1059 million over the corresponding period in the previous fiscal where it stood at Rs 990.4 million.

    Sun TV has posted a net profit of Rs 479.6 million for the quarter as compared to Rs 336.10 million for the corresponding period last year. Operating profit registered at Rs 829.4 million as against the previous fiscal where it recorded Rs 788.9 million.

    Total income has increased from Rs 832.10 million for the quarter ended 30 September, 2005 to Rs 1059.00 million for this quarter.

    The broadcaster incurred an expenditure of RS 229.6 million as compared to Rs 201.5 million for the corresponding period a year ago. The expenditure includes, cost of revenues Rs 46.80 million, employees remuneration and benefits Rs 106.10 million and other expenditure Rs 76.70 million.

    Against the total projected utilisation of Rs 5220 million upto 31 March, 2007 from the IPO funds, an amount of Rs 740.60 million has been utilised towards capitalization of Kal Radio Ltd.

    The balance proceeds from the IPO after meeting the IPO expenses, pending utilization have been invested in Fixed Deposits with the banks.

  • ZoneMedia launches horror series on the mobile

    ZoneMedia launches horror series on the mobile

    MUMBAI:Global media firm Zonemedia has announced the launch of the first made-for-mobile horror series, When Evil Calls in the UK.

    Digital channel Zone Horror and its sister company Zone Mobile, have joined forces with Pure Grass Films to create the 20-episode series. The series launched in association with British mobile firm O2. Viewers who prefer a more traditional TV watching experience will be able to tune into Zone Horror next week, when a behind the scenes documentary will be broadcast.

    When Evil Calls centres around the mysterious appearance of a text message that grants the students at Willburn Hall their wildest desires. A-cup Alice wants bigger breasts, until her cup runneth over in an explosive mathematics class. Hilary would give her right arm to lose weight and the blades of a kitchen waste disposal unit oblige. One by one, Willburn s students learn a lethal lesson: be careful what you wish for.

    When Evil Calls is written and directed by rising British horror star Johannes Roberts. Each two minute episode has been shot expressly for mobile devices. It stars Jennifer Lim, Dominique Pinon and Chris Barrie.

    Roberts says, “When Evil Calls has forged new ground in my film-making career. Shooting two minute episodes meant really focusing the writing and intensifying the story. The result is a fast-paced, hilarious and scary romp that I hope will be enjoyed on cell phones throughout the world.”

    The series is available for download for O2 customers in the UK via O2 Active. Customers can access the content from within the Film section of the O2 Active portal or alternatively they can text the word WISH to 61616 where they will receive a WAP push with a WAP URL which will link them straight into the content. It will also be available on general release through the Zone Horror Wap site and all major UK mobile operators.

    Zone Horror’s Tanya Gugenheim says, “We are breaking new ground. Mobile television is set to change they way we tune in to our entertainment. Together with our partners Pure Grass Films and O2, Zone Horror is proud to present a small screen series with big screen production values.”

    O2 UK capability and innovation director Russ Shaw says, “We are very pleased to be delivering such a high value video production to our customers across the entire video enabled device range through O2 Active. When Evil Calls is a great piece of light entertainment that our subscribers will have a lot of fun with during the Halloween season and beyond.”

    Producers Zone Horror and Pure Grass Films advise viewer discretion as the series contains scenes of a violent and sexual nature, horror, nudity and intimidation. O2 will only make the series available after the 9 pm watershed to safeguard the younger audience.

  • BMG Japan catalogue is available at iTunes

    BMG Japan catalogue is available at iTunes

    MUMBAI: Music label BMG Japan and software major Apple have announced the availability of Japanese and international artists on the iTunes Store in Japan.

    The addition of the BMG Japan catalogue brings Japaenese pop and international artists to the iTunes Store beginning today, including Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Foo Fighters, Justin Timberlake, Kasabian, Outkast, Pink, Seamo, Suga Shikao, Sukima Switch, Usher and more.

    v executrive VP, co GM Daniel DiCicco says, “BMG Japan is delighted to join forces with Apple to make the wealth of our catalogue available through the iTunes Store in Japan. We look forward to continuing to drive BMG Japan’s digital development through this very important relationship by connecting the iTunes community to top J-Pop and international artists from BMG Japan.”

    Apple VP iTunes Eddy Cue says, “Top artists, breakthrough pricing, seamless integration with iPod and groundbreaking personal use rights have made iTunes the number one online music service in Japan. We’re thrilled to bring BMG’s impressive catalog to iTunes so fans in Japan can download and enjoy even more great music.”

    The iTunes Store in Japan now features more than two million songs, 3,500 music videos, Disney and Pixar short films, 65,000 podcasts and 16,000 audiobooks. With over 90 percent of songs priced at just 150 yen per song, the iTunes Store offers the great value and features that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world, with over 1.5 billion songs purchased and downloaded. BMG Japan will continue to add more of its extensive catalog to the iTunes Store in the coming months.

  • Worldspace launched a series on ‘Soundtracks of your life’

    Worldspace launched a series on ‘Soundtracks of your life’

    MUMBAI: Worldspace Satellite Radio has launched a new series Soundtrack of Your Life, which will broadcast across multiple channels on the Worldspace Satellite Radio network.

    The series will bring in music from the movies of various genres and languages ranging from Hollywood soundtracks to Bollywood’s all time background scores as well as regional film hits in Kannada, Telugu and Bengali. 
    This new program kicked off on 23 October and will air till 31 December on a host of channels on Worldspace satellite radio network. 

    Jhankaar, Farishta, Shruti, Gandharv, Spin, Spandana, Sparsha, Tara and Falak Soundtrack of your life will go beyond just music to present a host of interviews with composers, actors and directors as well as on-air features and performances and much more, creating a compelling radio magazine on the impact of music on the movies.

    “At Worldspace, we are committed to presenting to our subscribers with innovative new content unavailable anywhere else on radio,” said Worldspace India chief marketing officer Harshad Jain. “We are confident that our first-of-their-kind initiatives will further establish our brand as the best source for exclusive program listening in our markets.”

    Program Highlights
    Jhankaar – 23 October to 29 October
    A week long series of exclusive interviews with award winning music directors like Salim-Suleiman, Sandeep Chowta, Raju Singh, Vishal Shekar and Ranjit Barot, who share their perspectives on trends in the Hindi film music scene today.

    Spin – 30 October to 5 November 
    Spin plays songs of well-know composers like Michael Kamen, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Randy Newman and John Williams – all renowned for some stellar background scores for movies on 4 November, 11 am to 12 PM – Radio Talkies’ OST, ties up with Soundtrack of Your Life with Radio Talkies, which is a weekly film special on the Big Bang (our breakfast show).

    Gandharv – 13 November to 19 November 
    Gandharv traces the trajectory of folk music and the inspiration that Hindi movies have drawn from Hindustani Classical Music. The series features songs of popular Bollywood music directors like Pahadi & Mand and songs from legendary films like Teesri Kasam, Ganga Jumna, Lekin to the present day hits like Omkara.

    Farishta – 27 November – 3 December 
    Farishta will trace the career of Husnlal Bhagatram – Hindi cinema’s first ever composer duo who started their career in the 40s. Radio Farishta will play 150 fresh songs composed by this duo, procured from a private collector exclusively for the series – these songs are not available elsewhere. Additionally, Radio Farishta will interview people who’ve worked with the duo and surviving family members.

    Falak – 25 December – 31 December 
    Falak will present special programs for seven days presenting different aspects and influence of Urdu ghazals and lyrics in Indian cinema. The programmes will include a detailed description by prominent scholars on Parsi theatre and theatre songs in Hindi cinema, melodious and memorable Urdu songs of Hindi cinema, classical ghazals of legendry poets sang by prominent singers in Hindi cinema.

  • Radio City moves to common frequency of 91.1 FM

    Radio City moves to common frequency of 91.1 FM

    MUMBAI: Music Broadcast Private Ltd promoted Radio City has adopted to a common frequency 91.1, which becomes effective from tomorrow (27 October).

    Among all the stations that Music Broadcast operates, it is only Radio City Jaipur that has been broadcasting on the 91.1 frequency since its launch. Besides Jaipur, Radio City operates in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Lucknow.

    Radio City, which launched its radio operations on different frequency in Mumbai 91 FM, Delhi 91 FM, Hyderabad 106.4 FM, Bangalore 91 FM, Lucknow 104.8 FM and Chennai 105.8 FM, will all shift on 91.1 FM, according to a press statement. 

    With its shift of frequency, Radio City will be unveiling some new shows, interviews, contests and prizes.

    As part of the big activation idea, Radio City 91.1 FM has planned a host of on-air and on-ground activities at happening malls across the city like Landmark and Lifestyle, across multiplexes like PVR and several hip hangouts. 

    Radio City will launch Get lucky contest from 27 October up till 29 October. The contest will see five lucky listeners winning a Philips DVD every day across all stations and 1 lucky listener will walk away with a Philips Home Theatre. The contest gala will continue through the week with listeners winning goodies in all shows.

    According to Radio City marketing head Rana Barua, “Even as we change our frequency to 91.1 FM, we will have a better offering for our listeners with more stars, more innovative shows more music, and more prizes. We will continue to redefine the programming limits in order to sustain our musical expertise and our leadership position.” 

  • Voom HD programming to be available in luxury hotels in HK

    Voom HD programming to be available in luxury hotels in HK

    MUMBAI: Rainbow HD Holdings, LLC (Rainbow), has added new Voom HD content to its slate of offerings distributed by Tangerine Global, LLC to five star hotels in Hong Kong.

    Rave HD is said to be the fifth Voom HD brand to be distributed by Tangerine Global, with the other four brands-Rush HD, Equator HD, Ultra HD and Gallery HD. 

    Rave HD will be accessible to Mandarin Oriental Hotels’ newly refurbished flagship property in Hong Kong, according to an official release.

    Provider of customised television entertainment for the hospitality industry, Tangerine Global first turned to Rainbow last year to provide high-quality HDTV content for its five-star hotel clientele, informs the statement. 

    The companies began with a lineup of four Rainbow brands for distribution to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and The Peninsula Hotels.

    Rave HD was added to the lineup earlier this month, when Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel reopened to a gala celebration after undergoing a $140 million dollar rennovation to incorporate revolutionary technology, comfort and design.

    All guest rooms and suites now feature flat screen high-definition televisions on which guests will find Voom’s thematic programming and two additional custom HD channels-Wine & Beverage and Fitness & Yoga-developed by Tangerine.

    “Voom HD content is custom-tailored to meet the discriminating tastes of the clientele served by Tangerine Global’s luxury hotelier partners,” said Rainbow senior vice president business development Glenn Oakley. 

    “We look forward to working with Tangerine to provide a superb entertainment experience for the Mandarin Oriental’s guests, while they expand our offerings to other five-star properties as well,” he added.

    Tangerine Global CEO Stuart Levin adds, “The innovations made to The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong are awe-inspiring, making it truly the perfect setting in which to enjoy Voom HD’s top-of-the-line programming.”

  • IOL Broadband to provide Star channels via IPTV

    IOL Broadband to provide Star channels via IPTV

    MUMBAI: IOL Broadband Ltd has signed an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) deal with the Star network.

    Following yesterday’s signing of the deal, all subscribers of the Mumbai based broadband company and those subscribing to the MTNL IPTV service will have access to all the channels from the Star bouquet.

    According to official statement, plans are underway to offer hundreds of channels on IPTV in the near future to the company / MTNL subscribers.

    “We are very pleased that Star TV has taken the lead in the IPTV Revolution, which is set to sweep the country. By signing up with IOL Broadband, Star TV will be the first bouquet of channels to be made available on the IOL / MTNL Broadband Networks,” IOL Broadband director Oberai said.

  • Mattel unveils ‘Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses’ dolls, playsets & consumer products

    Mattel unveils ‘Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses’ dolls, playsets & consumer products

    MUMBAI: One month after Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses premiered on Cartoon Network, the movie now comes alive as Mattel Toys India (Pvt.) Ltd has launched the entire of Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses dolls, playsets and other consumer products.

    The movie portrays Barbie and her sisters love for dance, team spirit, togetherness and art. The new range of Barbie dolls from Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, are designed to be interactive dance partners, allowing girls to bring alive Ballet movements.

    The toy line-up comprises of ‘Barbie as Princess Genevieve Theme Doll’ whose skirt can spin and lights up. Barbie’s sister ‘Kelly as the Dancing triplets’, can spin when charged and the ‘Let’s Dance Barbie as Princess Genevieve’ doll, allows girls to dance with Barbie doll in three different ways, informs an official release.

    Speaking on the launch of ‘Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princess’ dolls and playsets, Mattel Toys India managing director Sanjay Luthra said, “This holiday, we’re excited to launch a toy line that drives back to the movie’s cornerstone themes – princess and dance – delivering an inspiring and imaginative play experience that only Barbie can provide to girls.”

    ‘Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses Let’s Dance!’ doll is inspired by Barbie as Princess Genevieve. In addition there are two interactive wrist bands and one shoe clip which can be used to show Barbie doll new dance moves. The doll’s arms are controlled by Infra Red and the leg is controlled by Radio Frequency technology. The Barbie doll wears a beautiful gown and comes with a removable base. It is priced at Rs. 3999.

    The combination of ‘Barbie as the Princess Genevieve’ doll and ‘Kelly doll’ – Special Giftsets for this holiday season will be priced at Rs.1499. While Barbie as Princess Genevieve Doll is also available separately for Rs.999 and the Triplet Kelly Dolls Assortment available separately for Rs.599.

    Other features that are part of the new range include ‘Dancing Twin Sisters Dolls’, ‘Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses Magical Dance Castle’, an ‘Expandable Horse and Carriage’, the ‘Older Sisters Doll Assortment’ and ‘Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses Princess Vanity’.

    What’s more, to celebrate this range and promote dance as a form of art for young girls, Mattel Toys India has tied-up with dancing school SDIPA – Shiamak Davar’s Institute of Performing Arts, to teach, groom and polish the dancing skills of 36 young lucky fans, across all India winners of the “Barbie Flights of Fantasy contest” being run at Shoppers’ Stop key outlets and Toy stores in all metros. Along with the opportunity to learn dance, two lucky winners will also win an exotic Malaysian holiday package from Quantum Travels.

  • Anytime inks VoD India On-line Broadband

    Anytime inks VoD India On-line Broadband

    HONG KONG: Anytime, Asia-Pacific’s leading video-on-demand (VoD) channel, has signed a five-year distribution deal with Indian broadband player India On-Line Broadband Ltd.

    Four million homes in Mumbai and Delhi will have access to Anytime VoD movie channel and interactive games channels by March 2007.

    The VoD movie channel will be an exclusive provider of Hollywood programming and will form the cornerstone of the MTNL-IOL and BSNL-IOL IPTV platform, which are supported by the two government controlled telecom companies.

    The Anytime channel is expected to go live in December this year, making a range of Hollywood movies— both recent and library titles— and interactive games available on d demand to consumers.

    The announcement was made here at the ongoing annual convention of Casbaa.

    IOL has a fully integrated backbone network delivering broadband Internet access in India and the Anytime channel will run over the company’s own fiber metro ethernet network as well as fixed line ADSL networks of BSNL and MTNL.

  • Zee Tele Q2 revenues up 38% at Rs 4.6 billion; Net Rs 333 million

    Zee Tele Q2 revenues up 38% at Rs 4.6 billion; Net Rs 333 million

    MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra’s Zee Telefilms Limited today reported second quarter consolidated revenues of Rs 4.64 billion representing a 38.1 per cent growth over the corresponding period in the previous fiscal where it stood at Rs 3.36 billion.

    Consolidated operating profit stood at Rs 338 million, after expensing of initial investments in new activities viz. Zee Telugu, Zee Smile, Zee Sports and others, amounting to Rs 832 million (17.9 per cent of consolidated revenues).

    As a result, consolidated operating profits of continuing businesses were Rs 1,171 million, higher by 28.4 per cent over to the corresponding quarter last year.
    Profit before tax for the second quarter of fiscal 2007 was Rs 409 million while net profit was Rs 333 million, down 21.6 per cent from the Rs 425 million recorded last year.
    The results announced are after consolidating the financials of ETC Networks Limited (ETC) for the second quarter of FY2007.

    2Q FY2007 – Highlights
    Advertisement revenue Rs 2,107 million – up 42.6%
    Subscription revenue Rs 1,930 million – up 10.6%
    Zee TV now leader in 9-10 pm & in 6-8:30 pm time band
    Siticable acquires 250,000 last mile cable connections
    DishTV enhances content offering, Star bouquet available from August
    DishTV subscriber base now 1.5 million

    Said Chandra, “Zee’s second quarter results prove the continued strength of our content business and a growing presence across new genres. Not only are we growing our content business, we have been very successful in integrating it with new platforms like DTH, with significant growth potential. The performance reflects our success in delivering superior content to viewers and stronger relationship with our consumers.”

    Chandra added, “We are also happy about some recent developments relating to our business. There is continued monitoring of High Court for implementation of CAS in the notified areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata by December 31, 2006. This will additionally help in bringing about addressability on cable. On DTH, DishTV further enhanced its offering from August when the Star bouquet was also made available to subscribers and now DishTV has the most comprehensive content on any pay television service, whether cable or satellite. All these have extremely positive and long term impact on our business.”

    Commenting on the restructuring exercise, Chandra continued, “The restructuring exercise is underway and is expected to be completed by January 2007. There has been some delay from our earlier expectation of November 2006, due purely to a number of adjournments of court hearings. When completed, the restructuring would result in four listed companies ready to exploit the vast emerging opportunities in each line of business. The next several years would provide tremendous growth opportunities for all these four businesses.”

    Punit Goenka, whole time director and responsible for content creation, commented, “Zee TV continued to increase its viewership share from 25% in 1Q FY2007 to 28% during 2Q FY2007, along with a significant growth in time spent. During the quarter, average gross ratings points (GRPs) of Zee TV remained at 240 levels, while recording peak GRPs of 270 in week 36. The growth momentum has been led by widespread success of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs, Saat Phere and Kasamh Se, while our new launches Dulhan and Betiyan have been very well received. Betiyan touched a TVR of 5 in its first week. Zee TV now has five programmes in the Top 20 and 12 programmes in the Top 50. It has leadership in the 9 pm to 10 pm time band, and between 6 pm to 8:30 pm on weekdays.”

    “Zee Cinema continues to be the No. 1 movie channel, and increasingly is becoming a reach channel for the advertisers. Zee Marathi has improved its viewership by 16 per cent during 2Q FY2007. Zee Bangla has improved its viewership by 60 per cent and has gained leadership position in the 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm time band. Zee Sports continues to build on the back of Cricket Tri-Series in Malaysia between India, Australia and West Indies. We will continue to reinforce our competitive advantage and deliver more value to viewers and shareholders.” Goenka added.

    Elaborating on the performance, CEO Pradeep Guha said, “We are pleased with the strong operating results, content business delivered in the second quarter. We once again outperformed the market with unmatched connection with our audience and remain focused on building on our progress. Looking ahead, we are confident that continued execution of our content strategy would result in a revenue growth faster than that of industry.”