ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • ‘Truthiness’, ‘Wikiality’ are top TV buzzwords of 2006

    ‘Truthiness’, ‘Wikiality’ are top TV buzzwords of 2006

    MUMBAI: Does American television influences English language? A question which has an answer as yes, to a great extent. “Truthiness” from the US television show Colbert Report was named the Top Tele Word of 2006 in the Global Language Monitor’s annual survey of words. This survey zeroes in on the words from American television that influence English language.

    Another word, “Wikiality” from the same show followed “Truthiness”. And closely following these words were, “Katrina”, referring to the stories on television about the devastating destruction caused by the hurricane. “Katie” is another word in reference to US news anchor Katie Couric’s move into the top seat at CBS News, and Dr. McDreamy from ABC’s show Grey’s Anatomy.

    Rounding out the top ten were “Bush’s War’, heard often on the news, “Man of the Hours” from the television show 24’s lead Keifer Sutherland, “Tourette’s”, from I have Tourette’s but Tourette’s doesn’t have me, “Dysfunctional” from another television show The Office. This year’s Bonus Phrase is ‘You’re going to Hollywood!’ from Simon Cowell’s American Idol.

    Global Language Monitor president Paul JJ Payack says, “Television, once again, has helped to define our culture and its impact upon spoken English is profound. Some of these buzzwords will quickly pass, while others will be embedded in the language for years to come.

    “Though ‘truthiness’ in some form has existed in the language for centuries, it could not have been revived in more relevant times than the early 21st century; while ‘Wikiality’ can be observed even today, where Pluto has been voted out of the Solar System by a convention of Astronomers.”

    The Global Language Monitor analyses and catalogues the latest trends in word usage, their choices, and their impact on various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English.

  • Samsung develops 70 inch LCD panel

    Samsung develops 70 inch LCD panel

    MUMBAI: Samsung Electronics, which claims to be the world’s largest provider of thin-film transistor, liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, has developed the first 70-inch LCD panel for use in the consumer TV market.

    Currently, the largest LCD TV screen size is 65 inches in diameter.

    Samsung Electronics executive VP Kim Sang-Soo said, “Our new 70-inch LCD is not only significantly larger, but also sets a new benchmark of excellence in terms of video image reproduction, viewing angle and image quality. We’ve designed it to dramatically enhance the large screen LCD TV user’s viewing experience. ”

    Samsung’s latest LCD panel boasts full high-definition resolution (1080p) and a conical viewing angle of 180 degrees for multi-viewing audiences. In addition, its video signal is reproduced at 120Hz, compared to a video signal of 60 Hz for a conventional Full HD LCD panel, enabling rapidly moving video images to be reproduced with crystal clarity.

    Samsung will begin producing the new 70-inch LCD during the first half of next year, bolstering its position in the ultra-large-screen TV segment. With the introduction of the 70 inch LCD TV, the company will be in a position to compete head-to-head with plasma display panel and projection TV makers.

  • Alfred Haber to distribute CBS show ‘Ultimate Blackjack Tour’

    Alfred Haber to distribute CBS show ‘Ultimate Blackjack Tour’

    MUMBAI: Alfred Haber Distribution (AHD) has been appointed as the exclusive international distributor for US broadcaster CBS’ show Ultimate Blackjack Tour.

    The show will premiere on 16 September 2006. The second season will kick off in February 2007.

    The Ultimate Blackjack Tour combines the casino game, blackjack, with the high-stakes competition of poker. By introducing ‘forced eliminations,’ ‘secret bets’ and a ‘reveal’ of the dealer’s hole card to the audience, the show’s format creates a sense of drama as contestants play both against the dealer and against each other.

    Double downs and insurance against a dealer’s showing ace also allow for creative play as the contestants try to out-sense of drama throughout the matches as contestants play both against the dealer and each other. Double downs and insurance against a dealer’s showing ace also allows for creative play as the contestants try to out-beat each other and survive the elimination rounds.

    AHD says that Blackjack is by far the most popular table game in casinos throughout the world. With the special elimination format created for this series that forces players to start strategising from the beginning, coupled with a top-notch production team, AHD says that it is confident that the show will be a winner around the world.

  • Tata Sky, ESS introduce interactivity in sport with Actve Sports

    Tata Sky, ESS introduce interactivity in sport with Actve Sports

    MUMBAI: Interactive sports content for the Indian audiences! That is what DTH platform Tata Sky has up its sleeve. The service has tied up with ESPN Star Sports (ESS) to launch its Actve Sports service. The first event is the ongoing Natwest tri series between England and Pakistan.

    Basically at any time in the match a viewer if he/she has missed what happened earlier can get highlights at the click of a button. They can also get statistics of the teams, players as well as ball trajectory courtesy a virtual screen. Viewers can also switch the language commentary and get expert analysis. This also applies to channels that have dubbed feeds like Discovery.

    Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik noted that this initiative transforms the viewer from a couch potato to an active participant. This he says is just the start of new interactive services that will be introduced soon.

    Tata Sky is also looking for other sports broadcasters to jump on the bandwagon. While it has started with cricket Kaushik says that the likes of soccer, tennis give a lot of scope. In the future one could see a service where the viewer can see a four or a six being hit from different angles. Of course this requires work on the part of the broadcaster to put up extra cameras in certain locations. Also for the Natwest series Kaushik noted that there is a dedicated team of professionals doing the necessary updates as a match progresses.

    Tata Sky is looking to introduce a pay per view service for films in the coming weeks. For this purpose it is talking to both Indian and Hollywood film producers. This he says is a way for producers to get additional revenue and fight piracy. As far as getting in more channels in addition to the over 50 channels already present Kaushik expressed optimism that Zee would come onboard. He is also looking to rope in Sun TV. As far as bringing in niche channels are concerned he noted that at the moment exclusivity in DTH is not allowed. He hopes that partial exclusivity will allowed in the future so that someone who is interested in niche content like gardening or cooking can watch that kind of content on DTH even if it is not present on cable.

    When asked about targets he said that he would be disappointed if Tata Sky did not reach the one million subscriber mark in the first year of operation. In terms of breakeven the company is looking at a four to five year time frame. Right now the introductory price is Rs. 200 a month in addition to the Rs. 3999 for the dish and installation. In a few months time subscribers can choose from packages.

  • Lachlan Murdoch buys stake in online DVD rental firm QuickFlix

    Lachlan Murdoch buys stake in online DVD rental firm QuickFlix

    MUMBAI: Media scion, Lachlan Murdoch who surprised many industry observers last year by leaving News Corporation has bought close to 10 per cent stake in Australian DVD rental company Quickflix.

    Lachlan, who is the eldest son of News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch, quit his executive role at News Corp last year, saying he wanted to move his family back to Australia.

    Lachlan had set up a new company, Illyria Pty Ltd, in August last year after moving to Australia. Media reports indicate that the firm has bought 4.04 million shares in Quickflix.

    Quickflix hopes to build a community of film fans who will submit their online reviews. Reports add that its ultimate aim is to compete with the likes of MySpace, which is owned by News Corp.

    Quickflix owns online DVD rental company HomeScreen Entertainment, which was founded by Tony Faure, the recently appointed chief executive of Yahoo! Australia and NZ.

  • VSNL International to invest US$ 200 million in undersea cable

    VSNL International to invest US$ 200 million in undersea cable

    MUMBAI: VSNL plans to pump in US$ 200 million to build undersea telecom cable linking Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

    The telecom major will make this investment through its Singapore arm, VSNL Singapore Pte Ltd (VSNL International).

    The new intra-Asia cable will enable VSNL International to service its global customers doing business in and with the burgeoning Asia-Pacific markets, the company said in an official statement.

    The investment of US $ 200 million follows the recent announcement by VSNL to build a new system from India to Europe that will provide connectivity to the Gulf region and the African continent.

    The intra-Asia cable, when combined with the Tata Indicom Cable System (TIC) and the TGN-Pacific cable system (both of which are built with eight fibre pairs capable of supporting 7+ Tbil/s of traffic), will complete VSNL International’s multi-Terabit capability from India to Asia and onward to the US.

    “With Asian bandwidth demand forecasted to grow at an average of 27 per cent CAGR, VSNL International is taking steps to expand its capacity to serve customers in the booming intra-Asia market,” comments VSNL International president Vinod Kumar. “This new high-capacity cable system, soon to be one of the region’s largest, combined with our existing C2C capacity and TGN-P capacity, will enable us to deliver high-performance bandwidth at the most cost-effective pricing and fulfil our strategy to become the market leader in bandwidth supply.”

    VSNL International will commence construction of the new intra-Asia cable by December 2006. The scheduled build time for the project is 12-14 months. The Company is already in the process of finalising design details, selecting suppliers and identifying additional partners for the project. Future potential landing stations for the cables include locations in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Guam.

  • TV18 plans to raise Rs 1 billion, HSBC gets mandate

    TV18 plans to raise Rs 1 billion, HSBC gets mandate

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen India Ltd. plans to raise Rs 1 billion by placing equity shares or convertible bonds with foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
    The company has mandated HSBC to manage the proposed issue, a source close to the company says. “We are close to finalising on whether it would be an equity or a convertible bond instrument. We have mandated HSBC and plan to raise Rs 1 billion,” he adds.

    When contacted, TV18 CEO Haresh Chawla declined to comment on the issue.

    TV18 had earlier, in its Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM), cleared a proposal to enable the board to issue up to an aggregate amount of Rs 3 billion through a “qualified institutional placement to qualified institutional buyers.” This was “just an enabling clause so that the board would not have to seek regulatory clearance again,” the source adds. By making qualified institutional placements, companies are able to raise money in India from FIIs.

    TV18 may use part of the amount to fund acquisitions and upgradation of studio infrastructure. Bahl has aggressive expansion plans, both in the TV and the internet space.

    Web 18, TV18’s internet arm, will have a chief executive officer to head the operations, the source says. Recently, TV18 Group announced the acquisition of three internet companies — Cricketnext.com, Compareindia.com and Urban Eye, a web design and technology firm. The internet businesses are being consolidated under Web 18.

    TV18 is also setting up a Media Venture Capital Trust (MVCT) through which it plans to invest Rs 500 million in the convergence space, identifying small-sized ventures to whom it would provide funding support at the early stage.

  • Meridian Mobile flies in India

    Meridian Mobile flies in India

    MUMBAI: Meridian Mobile, which is part of the UK based Meridian Group, has launched its flagship brand for GSM phones, “Fly” in India.

    The marketing spend in the first year is likely to be $2 million as stated by the company. Malaika Arora has been signed-on as the brand ambassador for the product. She will be part of both, the print as well as the electronic campaign. The campaign aims to reflect the trendy and glamorous styling of the product.

    There are many models like Fly SL 500M, Fly SL 300M and Fly MP 330, to name a few, that will be introduced in the tech savvy Indian market. Fly SL 500M has a 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with expandable memory, video ring tones with MPEG 4 and IRDA, Bluetooth and other features such as video recorder and player, MP3 player and 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones.

    Whereas, Fly SL 300M has features like MP3 player, video player and recorder, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 ring tones and expandable memory. Whereas,

    Meridian Mobile adds that Fly MP 330 is the only phone in the market that can enhance equivalent volume of 40 watts. Besides having a video recorder and a player, 64 polyphonic and MP3 tones, it has features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with woofer and speaker console, which is a new feature and is yet to be launched even in the West.

    Fly 2040 comes laden with features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled (voice, data and music), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 262K TFT display, video ringtones, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity.

    Meridian Mobile CEO India operations Rajiv Khanna says, “It is important to have fully loaded phones as the replacement market gets stronger. This is likely to result in huge demand for feature rich and stylish phones. Meridian will offer the critical buyer with smart value choices.”

    “Our marketing strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers. In the 1st phase our focus is on placement. We hope to reach 5000 premium counters by the end of the quarter, which will together account for 70 per cent of the over-all retail sales.”

  • News Corp looking to launch magazine for MySpace

    News Corp looking to launch magazine for MySpace

    MUMBAI: US media conglomerate News Corp is said to be looking at expanding the scope of its social networking site MySpace by making a print magazine.

    An Ad Age report suggested that the magazine would feature prominent members of the MySpace community and their interests.

    MySpace has held talks with music and fashion magazine Nylon about the initiative. The two parties have worked together before. In May, they joined up for the magazine’s seventh annual online music issue.