ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • Cinemax India Limited files Draft Red Herring Prospectus with SEBI for IPO

    Cinemax India Limited files Draft Red Herring Prospectus with SEBI for IPO

    MUMBAI: Cinemax India Ltd., the exhibition theatre chain operating 10 properties with 33 screens and 9,316 seats, has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO).

    Cinemax proposes to use the proceeds from the IPO primarily to meet the capital expenditure to be incurred for setting up screens across India. Apart from the expansion funding, the proceeds will be also be utilised for General Corporate Purposes including Acquisitions, as per an official release.

    Cinemax is part of the Mumbai-based real estate establishment Kanakia Group. For the year ended 31 March, 2006, Cinemax clocked a total income of Rs 438.60 million on a standalone basis with a net profit of Rs 67.64 million, states an official release.

  • Premium content to drive mobile industry

    Premium content to drive mobile industry

    MUMBAI: Mobile data services are the next wave of growth for the mobile communications industry amid the increasingly saturated subscriber base.

    While messaging will continue to be the main revenue contributor in most emerging and developing mobile data markets, much of the growth potential also lies in premium content. Greater 3G (third generation) coverage and deployment, expanding regional subscriber base, declining cost of advanced multimedia handsets, and the race to secure a continuous stream of content through partnerships are likely to drive growth of mobile data revenues.

    New analysis from global growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Premium Content Market, reveals that the market – covering 13 major Asia-Pac economies – earned revenues of $9.4 billion in 2005 and is estimated to reach $32.9 billion by end-2011.

    Frost & Sullivan industry manager Janice Chong says, “Subscribers in most Asia-Pac countries have strong preference for local content, which creates the impetus for the fast-growing mobile content market. The pace of 3G adoption, to a certain extent, influences the development of premium content applications by providing greater bandwidth and faster data transmission.”

    The Asia Pacific mobile data market is forecast to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 17.9 percent between 2005 and 2011. Messaging revenues still constitute the majority of operator-generated data revenues. In 2005, messaging accounted for approximately 39.6 percent of total operators’ data revenues (excluding revenue share of third-party content providers).

    The total premium content market, which includes both operator and third-party content provider revenues, held 29.5 percent of total mobile data revenues in 2005, and is expected to register a CAGR of 23.2 percent from 2005 to 2011.

    In certain Asia Pacific countries, the revenue share ratio skews in favour of mobile operators. As a result, content providers receive a small revenue split. Moreover, content providers are required to pay hefty royalties for applications to music label companies and associations. These factors have in some ways hindered the growth of the premium content industry in selected countries. While the revenue share model employed in Japan, South Korea and China may seem relatively favourable to content providers, similar business models may not apply to other countries across the region.

    Chong adds, “In markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, mobile operators typically retain 60 to 70 per cent of the revenue from sale of content, while content providers receive the remaining smaller portion.

    “Content providers in such countries believe that they deserve a larger revenue share considering that the cost of content development is entirely borne by them.”

    This however is inherently characteristic in markets outside of Japan and South Korea, primarily due to the high use of SMS (short messaging services) based applications which contribute to low data traffic usage. The lack of a satisfactory level of revenue from data traffic usage would mean that operators will tend to seek a higher revenue share from content downloads to compensate for the low data traffic revenue.

  • Damian Grammaticas new South Asia correspondent for BBC News

    Damian Grammaticas new South Asia correspondent for BBC News

    MUMBAI: BBC News has appointed Damian Grammaticas to the post of South Asia correspondent, based in the BBC’s hub bureau in Delhi. A well-known journalist with over a decade’s experience reporting for the BBC from various parts of the world, Grammaticas will be reporting on news stories from South Asia across BBC World television, BBC World Service radio and the BBC News website, according to an official statement.

    BBC south Asia bureau editor Paul Danahar says: “At a time when India, and indeed South Asia, is holding focus on the global stage, the BBC is committed to its role, as the world’s leading broadcaster, to report on the developments in the region to the rest of the world. Damian is an experienced journalist. His sensitivity and understanding of local perspectives has always reflected in his reportage. I am very pleased that he is joining the South Asia bureau. His insightful reporting will add to the BBC’s newsgathering strengths in this region.”

    Damian Grammaticas adds: “This is an exciting time to be reporting on South Asia. Some of the most important stories of our day are concentrated here – be it India’s rise as a future global giant, or the struggle to control international terrorism, or the enormous changes brought by the region’s economic development. Reflecting the intricacies of these events, and the millions of individual, human stories they entail, is my challenge. It’s my privilege to be a witness to such important times.”

    In his previous assignment as the BBC’s Moscow correspondent, he has reported extensively from the countries of the former Soviet Union. He fronted the BBC’s coverage of the important news events such as the ‘Orange’ revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia, the conflict in Chechnya, the resurgence of Russia under president Putin, the lasting effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the tragic Beslan school siege.

    Prior to that, he was the BBC’s Hong Kong correspondent, when he covered stories from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines, including the Philippines revolution that overthrew president Joseph Estrada, the deposing of president Abdurrahman Wahid in Indonesia, the Bali bombings, and the brewing crisis over North Korea’s nuclear programme.

    He was also involved in the BBC’s reportage of the war in Afghanistan, including the battle at Tora Bora in 2001, and the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He has also done short stints of reporting from Israel and Washington, informs the release.

  • Zee South to bring talent hunt ‘My Parents are the Best’

    Zee South to bring talent hunt ‘My Parents are the Best’

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms has conceptualised a talent hunt for parents, My Parents are the Best, for its Southern channels. 

    Titled Ammananna Nenu for Zee Telugu and Nammappaamma for Zee Kannada, the hunt will look for those parents, who have not just been the parents that they will always be but have done something extraordinary to shape and change the lives of their child/children.

    The nominations should be filed by the children for their respective parent/parents.

    Each episode will talk about the achievements of the parents, about their happy moments and the times when they saw no hope. This concept is an effort to bring forward the unsung heroes of the society, as it is the contribution of each parent to his child which moves the society forward and still makes it a beautiful place to live, the release adds.

  • Fox launches on demand service in the US

    Fox launches on demand service in the US

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster Fox has launched FOX on Demand. This aims to bring full episodes of Fox primetime television series from the new fall season to millions of fans on an ad-supported basis through MySpace.com and the MyFoxLocal web sites, in 24 owned and operated markets in the US.

    In an industry first, Fox Interactive Media is leveraging both national and local online distribution channels to sustain enthusiasm for fall primetime programming while the network broadcasts Major League Baseball play-offs and the World Series games.

    Consumers can access previously-aired episodes from Fox’s shows like Bones, Prison Break and Standoff. Additional episodes of these and other Fox shows will be made available throughout October and November.

    On-air promotions during Major League Baseball broadcasts will push viewers to the sites to catch up on their favourite Fox shows through Fox on Demand.

    Fox president of entertainment Peter Liguori says, “We are fortunate to have partners like Fox Interactive Media and our Fox Stations Group making our entertainment programming available to viewers, while we turn over much of prime time to Fox Sports and post-season baseball.

    “MySpace provides tremendous exposure to our key demos and our O&O’s speak to local viewers and loyal fans of FOX in a very targeted way.”

    The launch of ad-supported streaming of FOX programming will support several strategic objectives, including building audiences during breaks in regular programming by utilizing an alternative distribution channel; demonstrating the value of online promotions to stations and advertisers; and allowing parallel entertainment offerings to grow audiences simultaneously.

    Fox Entertainment Group president, digital media Peter Levinsohn says, “Offering free access to Fox programming online during the MLB primetime take-over demonstrates the tremendous value that may be realized through a smart digital distribution strategy for premium content.”

    “The FIM network of sites and particularly MySpace, combined with our local television sites, provide the optimal platform for maintaining momentum with our existing audience and also attracting new viewers.”

  • World Poker Tour to introduce progressive platforms, content at Mipcom

    World Poker Tour to introduce progressive platforms, content at Mipcom

    MUMBAI: World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPTE) will attend the global television trade event Mipcom in Cannes, France, from 9 – 13 October 2006.

    The firm works in the area of poker entertainment. It also claims to be behind the worldwide poker television boom. WPTE will offer new sponsorship, licensing and programming opportunities for 2007.

    To foster increasing worldwide penetration, the WPTE aims to build its international partnerships via joint-ventures, local programming, merchandising, and other strategic alliances. WPTE will showcase the World Poker Tour Season IV, the flagship show in poker television at Mipcom.

    Executives will also present the premiere season of the Professional Poker Tour (PPT), which is currently airing on the Travel Channel in the US.

    WPTE executive director of international distribution Gary MacKinney says, “We look forward to leveraging a premiere tradeshow like Mipcom to strengthen relationships and create opportunities to further expand poker throughout the globe. The World Poker Tour will continue to add international stops while exploring locally-produced televised tournaments in key markets.”
    WPT programming currently airs in 154 countries, including Spain, Canada and Philippines. It recently inked pacts with Kanal 5 in Sweden, Macau Cable in Macau and MediaCorp in Singapore.

    WPTE executive VP Robyn Moder says, “When the WPT made its television debut five years ago, it incited a national poker phenomenon that continues to escalate.

    “As the WPTE begins to roll-out its international formats, we hope to use our excellent and well-seasoned production experience to help our international partners create for their audiences compelling poker programming of the same magnitude.”

  • Crisil and TV18 Group announce framework for business collaboration

    Crisil and TV18 Group announce framework for business collaboration

    MUMBAI: Crisil, the ratings, financial news, risk and policy advisory company and the Television Eighteen Group have today announced their decision to jointly develop a framework for business collaboration. 

    The association aims to strengthen their offerings in the financial information, news and market data and analytics space. The partnership dates back with the CNBC TV18 — Crisil Mutual Fund Awards, which has been well recognized by the industry and trade alike, states an official release.

    In the recent past, the two have also joined hands to provide coverage of the Indian budget, powered primarily by the news and research arms of Crisil. CNBC-TV18’s Emerging India Awards for SMEs is also powered by Crisil. The ratings and the financial news company has recently tied up with CNBC Awaaz for the Real Estate Awards that has been scheduled for November this year.

    This has prompted the two organizations to explore their inherent synergies to build on this business collaboration.

    Commenting on this development, Crisil Ltd CEO and managing director R. Ravimohan said “In this age of complex financial development of the financial markets, Crisil has found that partnering various leading firms serves the market’s needs more effectively. In line with this strategy, we believe this partnership will lead to the development of high quality offerings that will serve the market cost effectively.”

    According to TV18 CEO Haresh Chawla said: “This is a unique opportunity where our brand and media strength in the financial news space can align with Crisil’s proven research and news capabilities to build robust information and research based products.”

  • DTV, IPTV growth to boost Set-Top Box, Chipsets & Flat Panel industries

    DTV, IPTV growth to boost Set-Top Box, Chipsets & Flat Panel industries

    MUMBAI: The anticipated growth of digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV) is expected to positively influence the development of a range of support industries. These include those of flat panel displays, broadcasting, telecommunications, chipset design and production, set-top box manufacturing, and software or middleware development, according to a Frost & Sullivan – Technical Insights study.

    The flat panel display industry, in particular, has recorded huge revenue growth since the launch of DTV and HDTV services. Moreover, emerging display technologies such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) and field emission displays (FED) are being seen as a challenge to the market dominance of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and with the recent advances in manufacturing techniques, the future for both OLED and FED look promising.

    With regard to the set-top box (STB) technology, new STB chipsets are steered toward the direction of providing a single-chip solution. The introduction of advanced compression standards such as Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG)-4 AVC has highly enhanced the video streaming capability of the high-end STBs, and future STBs will have more programmability and advanced functions such as a personal digital recorder. Future chipset designs are likely to focus on the convergence of TV and computer networks and the concept of a multimedia home platform (MHP).

    “Determined to lead the broadcast technologies, the Information Society Technologies (IST) and European Union (EU) have been funding numerous projects in the field of digital and high-definition television, driving the European companies and universities in this area,” notes technical insights (www.technicalinsights.frost.com) research analyst Dr. Jayson Koh.

    “While countries such as Greece are laying infrastructures for the digital switch over, terrestrial DTV services are already well developed in Germany and France, and Britain has also recently introduced many DTV and IPTV services.”

    In Asia, South Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese companies are leading the flat panel display industries, catering to the increasing demands for LCD and plasma discharge panel (PDP) TV from Europe, North America, and notably, China. Also there have been a significant number of IPTV and DTV deployments in Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore and South Korea.

    Amidst these positive trends, the high entry barrier and the lack of cost-effective techniques for mass production are the most critical issues that the new companies and technologies in the flat panel display industry face. Other obstacles that add to the entry barrier include competing with the low average selling price of LCD, high cost of investment, lack of customer awareness, availability of raw materials and components suppliers, and the distribution networks, the study notes.

    “The prolonged format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is expected to delay the integration of new DVD standard in high-end STBs and manufacturers would prefer to wait till a common format arises,” says Koh. “In the case of new video compression standard, the H.264 would slowly take over the MPEG-2 market but face competition from both AVS and VC-1.”

    In the near term, STB manufacturers have to decide whether to support a certain new generation DVD format or to provide a multiple format drive. Although chipset companies are providing more multiple video compression supports in their products, the high licensing fee arises from this kind of chipsets may not be encouraging.

    Global Advances in Digital TV and HDTV Chipsets, a part of the Electronics Device Subscription, provides informative insights on the progress and development of flat panel display, chipsets, compression and broadband television technologies. In this research service, Frost & Sullivan’s analysts thoroughly examine the following technologies: flat panel display, set-top box and its chipsets, compression coding and broadband television technologies. Analyst interviews are available to the press.

    Technical Insights is an international technology analysis business that produces a variety of technical news alerts, newsletters, and research services. Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years.

  • ICC welcomes Indian interest in hosting ICC Twenty20 World Championship

    ICC welcomes Indian interest in hosting ICC Twenty20 World Championship

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council ICC President Percy Sonn today welcomed an expression of interest from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to host the ICC Twenty20 World Championship in 2013.

    Sonn says, “It is very encouraging for the future of this fledgling format that even before we have hosted the first ICC Twenty20 World Championship in 2007, countries are queuing up to host future tournaments.

    “The ICC Board made a strategic decision earlier this year to leave the host of the 2013 event open when it set the calendar of ICC events through to 2015. We wanted to see how popular the new format would be before determining the most appropriate host.

    “It is still seven years away and we won’t be deciding the host for some time but it’s always good to see our Members backing the competitions that we run.”

    The inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Championship will take place next September in South Africa while the 2009 event is due to be staged in England. The expression of interest on behalf of the BCCI to host the 2013 event was made by IS Bindra at an ICC meeting in Dubai this week.

  • Maverick Production acquires stake in animation company,’Sankranti creations’

    Maverick Production acquires stake in animation company,’Sankranti creations’

    MUMBAI: Anuj Saxena’s Maverick production has acquired 51% stake in Sankranti creations promoted by Rajeev Dwivedi.

    Sankranti creations is a year old company, which is in the business of film restoration, colour correction and animation. They worked on the colour version of film Mughal-E-Azam.

    Sankranti also comes out with a monthly magazine on animation, “Animation Today”, which started a year ago.

    On the association, Anuj says, “Sankranti Creations shall dedicate itself to outsourcing animation and special effects. With the take over by Maverick, Sankranti plans to set up a large production studio with state-of -the-art equipment and hardware and software like SGI, 3DMax and SoftImage, SFX and Processing motion capture facilities”.

    On asking why he has entered into the animation business he says, “The Indian Animation sector is set to boom in the coming years in view of the inherent advantage it offers to the world in terms of superior quality of trained work force, lower fees, no government controls etc. The growth is likely to come and only from outsourcing opportunities for films, serials, documentaries, commercials, computer games – but also from the fast growing Indian market which incidentally has the 2nd largest Entertainment sector in the world after USA”.

    Maverick Productions was incorporated in March 2005 and till now it has already produced more than 20 ads and a game show and is currently producing shows for prominent channels including a soap and a cricket based show and documentaries, the first one being on child birth.

    Maverick has also ventured into production of South Indian Films in Tamil and Telugu languages by tying up with Vision Technology India Ltd.