ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • BKN announces slate of new animated programming at Mipcom 06

    BKN announces slate of new animated programming at Mipcom 06

    MUMBAI: BKN International AG a global animation company engaged in the production and distribution of animated children’s television programmes and related consumer products, presents its largest slate ever of high-quality children’s programming at Mipcom 2006, it was announced today by Allen Bohbot, BKN Group CEO.

    The equivalent of 123 episodes of products will be available to buyers at this year’s market which equals BKN’s output of new product for the last three and a half years combined.
    The slate of new animated programming includes:

    39 x 22′- Zorro: Generation Z
    26 x 22′- Dork Hunters from Outer Space
    39 x 22′- Legend of the Dragon
    1 x 67′- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
    1 x 80′- Kong: Return to the Jungle
    1 x 48′ – A Christmas Carol
    1 x 48′ – Robin Hood
    1 x 48′ – Jungle Book
    1 x 48′ – Prince and the Pauper
    1 x 48′ – Three Musketeers
    1 x 48′ – Alice in Wonderland

    Three additional film titles of 48′ in length including Jack and the Beanstalk, Gulliver’s Travels and The Nutcracker are also planned for late in 2007.

    In addition, BKN will showcase its strong catalogue of high-quality family entertainment which now ranks sixth in the world for global libraries. (Source: Company Estimates/DIC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s Offering Memorandum) including in part the below for global distribution:

    73 episodes of Monster Rancher
    65 episodes of Scruff
    52 episodes of Pocket Dragon Adventures
    52 episodes of Extreme Dinosaurs
    40 episodes of Kong: The Animated Series
    40 episodes of Roswell Conspiracies
    26 episodes of Starla and the Jewel Riders
    26 episodes of Sky Surfer Strike Force
    1 x 66′ – Kong: King of Atlantis

    The slate of new animated programming includes:
    39 x 22′- Zorro: Generation Z
    26 x 22′- Dork Hunters from Outer Space
    39 x 22′- Legend of the Dragon
    1 x 67′- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
    1 x 80′- Kong: Return to the Jungle
    1 x 48′ – A Christmas Carol
    1 x 48′ – Robin Hood
    1 x 48′ – Jungle Book
    1 x 48′ – Prince and the Pauper
    1 x 48′ – Three Musketeers
    1 x 48′ – Alice in Wonderland

    Three additional film titles of 48′ in length including Jack and the Beanstalk, Gulliver’s Travels and The Nutcracker are also planned for late in 2007.

    In addition, BKN will showcase its strong catalogue of high-quality family entertainment which now ranks sixth in the world for global libraries. (Source: Company Estimates/DIC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s Offering Memorandum) including in part the below for global distribution:

    73 episodes of Monster Rancher
    65 episodes of Scruff
    52 episodes of Pocket Dragon Adventures
    52 episodes of Extreme Dinosaurs
    40 episodes of Kong: The Animated Series
    40 episodes of Roswell Conspiracies
    26 episodes of Starla and the Jewel Riders
    26 episodes of Sky Surfer Strike Force
    1 x 66′ – Kong: King of Atlantis

  • mobile2win inks deal for ‘Philippine Idol’

    mobile2win inks deal for ‘Philippine Idol’

    MUMBAI: mobile2win, wireless value added services enabler, has bagged the contract as the exclusive and official wireless aggregator for reality show Philippine Idol.

    Under the terms of the agreement, mobile2win will handle the entire connectivity with all operators, back-end infrastructure, voting, collation and vote management for the 14 weeks of the show that’s being aired from 3 September 2006 on ABC 5, informs an official release.

    The deal was inked with FremantleMedia, creators and producers of programme brands in the world and owner of the Idols format, after a pitch and selection process amongst several wireless aggregators in Asia.

    mobile2win worked previously with FremantleMedia on Indian Idol, the local Indian version of the Idols format, and was responsible for creating a distinct mobile platform with distribution of all the latest and regularly updated content week after week across operators in India. mobile2win conceptualized and created the entire content for Indian Idol, including wall papers, animation, true tones, polytones, videos, colour logos, themes and an Indian Idol mobile game, adds the release.

    mobile2win India country head Rajiv Hiranandani says, “The Idols format has always been tremendously popular the world over and the show’s interactivity gives viewers and even greater chance to participate in their favourite programme. Indian Idol was a huge success and winning the contract for Philippine Idol is indeed a great milestone for the company and mobile2win will strive to provide the best in terms of backend infrastructure.”

    FremantleMedia’s VP licensing and interactive Asia Pacific Jon Penn said, “We chose mobile2win as they have done a fantastic job over several years for the voting and interactivity on Indian Idol. Their approach is systematic and professional and we know they will do a great job for us in the Philippines, one of the most “interactive” markets in the world.”

    Based on the international award-winning Idols format the Philippine Idol judges include the famous trio, Ryan Cayabyab, Pilita Corrales and Francis Magalona, and the show promises a positive blend of humour, drama, action and suspense.

  • ‘From Gurukul’ to ‘Fame X’ and Sony to Sab

    ‘From Gurukul’ to ‘Fame X’ and Sony to Sab

    MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television India’s Sab is all set to unleash its first reality show with the refurbished version of Fame Gurukul that has been re-branded as Fame X.

    New version of the reality musical show will hit the tube in mid-November as daily weekday offering.

    According to Sab senior vice president and business head Vikas Bhal, the inclusion of the X- element in the name simply refers to the undefinable something that makes for star quality. The big difference that has been incorporated into the second season of the show that aired last year on SET is that the contestants will not undergo any makeover.

    Elaborating further, Bhal says that if the contestant auditions with a pair of slippers, his style will be retained. The effort will be to hone singing skills rather than presentation.

    Among the other changes being rung into Fame X is that there will be only one winner rather than the jodi (couple) concept that was seen earlier. A big thing for the Fame X winner will be that he/she gets the honour of creating a song and singing for the cricket World Cup that will be held in the West Indies in March 2007.

    The show will adapt to a more funky style and have an international look and feel. Unlike Fame Gurukul, which had an Indianised set-up of a music school, Fame X will remain true to the international version. Endemol, which owns the rights to the Spanish reality show Operacion Triunfo on which Fame X is based, will be managing the full production of the show. Production of the earlier Fame Gurukul was assigned to Miditech.

    Operacion Triunfo has been adapted across 11 countries across three continents, and is seeing a fourth and fifth series in some territories.

    This daily episode series will be spread across 13 weeks. The hunt for the contestants will kick off end of September. The auditions will be held in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahemedbad and Lucknow.

    Bahl concludes that the channel has yet to come to a decision on the jury panel as well as the host of the show. SET’s Fame Gurukul had lyricist Javed Akhtar, singer KK and musician Shankar Mahadevan as the panel judges while singer Ila Arun was the strict headmistress of the music academy.

  • Discovery to air special on hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett

    Discovery to air special on hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett

    MUMBAI: Humans are used to considering themselves at the top of the food chain, so when an animal turns man-eater and terrorises their neighborhood, it plays upon their most primal fears.

    Discovery will air the special The Man-Eating Leopard Of Rudrayag on 16 October at 8 pm. This is a true tale of the famous hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett and the big cat that slaughtered 126 people over a period of eight years in the Himalayan foothills, shortly after the end of World War I.

    The special is part of the 13-episode series Discovery Marquee currently airing on Discovery Channel. Reconstructing some of the most fascinating historical epics, combining archival footage with recreated images generated using computer generated imagery (CGI) and latest animation techniques, backed by meticulous research, investigation and first-person accounts,

    Other programmes that are a part of the Discovery Marquee line-upare Deep Ocean. This airs on 23 October at 8 pm. This is an exploration of Earth’s final frontier seen through the eyes of its greatest inhabitant and the world’s largest predator, the sperm whale.

    Genghis Khan will airs on 30 October at 8 pm., It shows how an illiterate outcast turned the feuding tribes of Mongolia into a powerful nation controlling territories from the outermost reaches of eastern Asia to the heart of Europe.

  • Hungama TV clocks its highest ratings; ‘Doraemon’ & ‘Shinchan’ key drivers

    Hungama TV clocks its highest ratings; ‘Doraemon’ & ‘Shinchan’ key drivers

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV has scored big yet again! A notch higher, the channel now boasts of the maximum ratings ever with 182 GRPs for week 39 (24-30 September), marking a good leap from the previous week of 155 GRPs, for the target group CS 4-14 ABC in all Hindi speaking markets. 

    The market share for the same period for Hungama TV is pegged at 29 per cent, as the key properties giving an impetus to this growth are Doraemon and Shinchan together contributing 105 out of 182 GRPs, according to the latest data from Tam. 

    The oldest player in the market Cartoon Network however, seems to be trailing behind with 139 GRPs and a share of 23 per cent. A later entrant from the Turner stable, Pogo has scored 104 GRPs with a 17 per cent share for the mentioned period. While the market shares for the other kid’s channels in India – Disney Channel, Toon Disney and Nickelodeon follow in the order outlined.

    Hungama TV also claims to have occupied the leadership position in this space for three consecutive weeks, spanning 10 – 30 September 2006, for the weeks 37-39 among both boys and girls, older (10-14 years old) and younger (4-9) kids alike.

    But the little ‘gun slingers’ seem be more glued to the channel as the ratings for boys have in fact shot up by 25 per cent, while the ratings for girls have dropped by 4 per cent over the previous week.

    The month of September appears to be a prosperous one for the channel as it has seen a ratings jump of 14 per cent from August where it had received average GRP’s of 133, says a channel spokesperson.

    What’s interesting is that among the two key properties that thrust the channel ahead, Doraemon’s GRPs have increased by 43 per cent over the previous week from 37 to 53 (week 39). Meanwhile, Shinchan has also jumped from 48 to 52 GRPs with a margin of 8.3 per cent.

    It is however, the little boys that seem to be the drivers of this success, as 78 per cent of viewing comes from boys and 22 per cent from girls. Also, 4-9 year olds contribute to 58 per cent of viewing while 10 – 14 year olds harvest 42 per cent.

  • Zee Cafe gets into action mode with ‘Without A Trace’

    Zee Cafe gets into action mode with ‘Without A Trace’

    MUMBAI: In a bid to add spice to its lineup English general entertainment channel Zee Cafe will kick off the action show Without A Trace from 15 October at 9 pm.

    This is a procedural drama about the New York Missing Persons Squad of the FBI. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons, by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques to peel back the layers of the victims’ lives and trace their whereabouts in an effort to discover whether they have been abducted, been murdered, committed suicide or simply run away.

    The show has been produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The team reconstructs a ‘day of disappearance’ timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance and digs into every facet of the victim’s life, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is.

    Senior agent Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia), a tough but compassionate, seasoned and astute professional, heads the dedicated team that knows too well that every second counts when someone vanishes. His squad includes Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery), an agent whose blonde good looks belie a tough, complex approach to her work; Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a no-nonsense investigator with a special insight into victims’ families; Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano), whose sensitivity is often covered up by his street smarts, and the strait-laced Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close), who joined the team as a result of his father’s connections but
    has since earned his stripes.

    The team’s newest member is street-smart F.B.I. rookie Elena Delgado (Rosalyn Sanchez), formerly of the N.Y.P.D. vice unit. As the agents work on varied and complicated cases, details about their own lives continue to unfold.

    In addition as a Diwali special the channel will air an Abba concert on 21 October at 4 pm. One of its local shows After Hours celebrates one year with a one hour special on 15 October at 7:30 pm. It will be repeated the following Monday at 3 pm, Wednesday at 10:30 am, Saturday at 10:30 pm and on Sunday at noon.

    The channel will also air the classic mini series The Thornbirds from 10 October from Tuesday-Saturday at 2 pm. This mini series covers 60 years in the lives of the Cleary family, brought from New Zealand to Australia to run their aunt Mary Carson’s ranch. The story centers on their daughter, Meggie, and her love for the family’s priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart. Meggie tries to forget Ralph by marrying dashing stockman Luke O’Neill, but she and Ralph are soon reunited, with tragic consequences for them both.

    This romantic drama has won four Golden Globes (four nominations) and six Emmies (10 nominations).

     

  • TV9 targets September-October launch of Kannada news channel

    TV9 targets September-October launch of Kannada news channel

    MUMBAI: TV9, the Hyderabad-based media firm promoted by venture fund i-Labs Associated Fund and Chennai-based Unify Wealth Management, is all set to enter the Kannada market with a news channel. TV9 Kannada is aimed at a September-October launch.

    “TV9 is all set to launch its news channel in the Kannada market. We are tentatively targeting a launch date within the September-October period. The dry run is already on,” says TV9 Kannada director Mahendra Mishra. TV9 already runs TV9 Telugu, a news channel in the Telugu language.

    TV9 Kannada will be joining Sun Network’s Udaya News, the only other news channel in the market. And the timing of the launch will be very crucial for the channel, since the Rs 2 billion market is also awaiting the launch of Kannada Kasturi, the infotainment channel promoted by the Bangalore-based Kasturi Media Pvt Ltd (KMPL). Kannada Kasturi is targeting a November launch.

    TV9 Kannada will be following a ‘market expansion strategy’ rather than setting up head-on collision situations with the rival channels. “Our plan is to expand the market further. We are looking at building a new market. News as a genre in Kannada hasn’t been really explored by the existing players as yet. Our effort will be to fill this vacuum with a very different kind of programming,” Mishra says.

    TV9 is projecting the Kannada channel as “Kannada’s national channel”. “The plan is to give Kannadigas a national channel, which speaks their language. We will be raising the bar in Karnataka, by bringing in the national standards and quality of news coverage and presentation. Our focus will be on local-oriented news, but the packaging will be completely of national standards,” Mishra explains the strategy.

    The free-to-air channel will have the retail advertiser segment playing a crucial role in its plans, Mishra adds. “Retail advertising is a huge area of activity in Karnataka. It is really booming and we will be exploring this segment to the fullest.”

    The otherwise sleepy Kannada television market is expected to witness a lot of action this year with the entry of TV9 Kannada and Kannada Kasturi. The proceedings have already been kicked off by Zee Telefilms, which launched its entertainment channel Zee Kannada in May this year.

    Says Zee Kannada business head Venkat Giridhar on the key learnings the channel had in this three-month period: “Unlike any other South market, Kannada is open to all the other languages, whether it is Hindi, English, Tamil or Malayalam. Hence, it is kind of a complicate market for a new entrant. Our effort has been to educate the viewer on genres other than films and soaps. We are going ahead with our plans and will be launching a lot of new programmes which would fit into categories such as talent hunts and reality shows in the coming days.”

  • BBC to launch interactive social reality court show ‘The Verdict’ next year

    BBC to launch interactive social reality court show ‘The Verdict’ next year

    MUMBAI: BBC will launch an interactive reality court show, The Verdict next year. The show will be a cross-platform event that will witness 12 carefully selected celebrities sit through the judgement on a complete trial just like a real jury.

    Commissioned from RDF Television, The Verdict will focus on a highly contemporary and controversial case, based on evidence and examples from real life, improvised by top actors and contested by real barristers and a real judge.

    The celebrity jury, will include celebrities with different backgrounds. The first celebrity juror, who has agreed to serve on The Verdict’s jury is former UK Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo. Viewers will actually be able to see how a jury reaches its conclusions.

    The series goes into production soon and will air next year. It will show the highlights from the trial, building from the prosecution case to the moment when the jury will have to retire and reach their judgement.

    The jury will be sequestered together in a hotel and a switch-over programme will show how the jury have reacted to the day’s proceedings in court. An interactive service will ensure that viewers can fully engage with The Verdict, taking part in discussions on the messageboard, finding out background information, registering for email and SMS updates and registering their own verdict on the trial.

    The Verdict has been funded by the Think Big Fund, which has been set up by BBC director of television Jana Benett. The aim is to support big ideas across platforms and channels to ensure they have maximum impact.

  • ’24’ sets the clock for season six

    ’24’ sets the clock for season six

    MUMBAI: The action packed show 24 sets the clock for Day Six with a four-hour, two-night television premiere. The sixth season of the show kicks off on 14 and 15 January 2007 on US broadcaster Fox.

    In India the show airs on AXN.

    Fox will make a special, extended Day Six trailer available for global viewing on the web. The online countdown to the trailer’s debut begins today at www.24trailer.com. Fans around the globe can take their first look at Season Six by visiting the website on 24 Octpber 2006. The first promo for the new season is also scheduled to air during game three of the baseball World Series that night on Fox.

    Season Five concluded with a battered and bloodied counter terrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) captured by Chinese government agents and headed for points unknown. Season Six picks up 20 months later. After a series of horrific terrorist attacks, an unthinkable, nail-biting day begins.

    The sixth season will feature Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside), the strong-minded brother of the late American President David Palmer; Sandra Palmer (Regina King), a determined and powerful advocacy lawyer; presidential advisors Karen Hayes (Jayne Atkinson) and Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol). Also on the show is James Cromwell who plays Phillip Bauer the estranged father of Jack Bauer.

  • Shemaroo releases VCDs, DVDs of ‘Naksha’

    Shemaroo releases VCDs, DVDs of ‘Naksha’

     

    MUMBAI: With in a month of its theatrical release, Shemaroo Video has released home video of the action-adventure film Nakhsha-Unlock The Mystery.

    Directed by Sachin Bajaj Naksha stars Sunny Deol, Viveik Oberoi, Jackie Shroff and Sameera Reddy in the lead roles and boasts of a totally new theme which weaves Indian mythology into its story-line.

    Shemaroo says that the film is a wholesome entertainer and has received a positive response for its special effects and action sequences.

    The DVD has promos, teasers, Song promos, a Making of the film feature. This offers a sneak preview of the thought process behind Naksha. There are also cast and crew interviews, locations, sets and look of the film, stunts and action sequences, difficult shots, Music and dance choreography.

    In the film a mystery lies buried under the dust of centuries – a secret so powerful that it can change lives forever. Only Naksha holds the key to the mystery. Two brothers – ‘Veer’ (Sunny Deol) and ‘Vicky’ (Vivek Oberoi) defy death while racing against the unscrupulous enemy – ‘Bali’ (Jackie Shroff), for if the secret gets in his hands, it shall spell doom to mankind. On their journey through dense forests, cannibalistic tribes, deep ravines and rugged mountains, they are joined by an unexpected ally – a beautiful girl – ‘Riya’ (Sameera Reddy). Did the trios succeed in their quest? Or did the evil reach before them?