ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • Lifetime orders telenovella ‘Bianca’ from FremantleMedia

    Lifetime orders telenovella ‘Bianca’ from FremantleMedia

    MUMBAI: US women’s broadcaster Lifetime has ordered 20 episodes of Bianca. This is a weekly primetime novela based on the German television series of the same name. It was created and produced by FremantleMedia’s Grundy UFA

    The series will be produced on location in Australia and comes from FremantleMedia North America, the producers American Idol. Bianca explores forbidden love between a woman searching for a new life after being unfairly imprisoned and a wealthy man trapped into an impending loveless marriage.

    Lifetime Entertainment Services president, entertainment Susanne Daniels says, “Bianca is an exciting series for us — it’s a sexy, flirty, fun modern soap filled with deception, murder, secrets and betrayal — and is an ideal format for our audience” .

    FremantleMedia North America CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz said, “This is a ground-breaking deal for FremantleMedia North America as it will be the first time that we will be producing a scripted series in the US. Internationally, however, we have a long tradition of producing popular serial drama and have recently been very successful at introducing the telenovela concept to Europe. We look forward to working with Lifetime to bring the story of Bianca to US audiences this fall.”

  • MTV US, Kaiser Family Foundation launch interactive media community to take Aids fight to the next level

    MTV US, Kaiser Family Foundation launch interactive media community to take Aids fight to the next level

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation have announced the creation of Think HIV. This is a multi-platform, interactive community for this first generation of Americans who have lived their entire lives during the Aids epidemic.

    This initiative is part of their Sexual Health campaign with support from the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (Nastad), WebMD.nd WebMD.

    The initiative seeks to provide a platform to foster dialogue and active engagement on the topic of HIV/Aids and especially its impact on young people, as well as provide information and resources to young people about HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS, about half of new HIV infections worldwide are among those under the age of 25.

    MTVN Music Group president entertainment Brian Graden says, “The MTV audience has never known a day without HIV, and young people around the world are at the center of the epidemic. We have a long history of educating and empowering our audience on this issue, and while progress has been made, there is still work to be done. think HIV will offer our viewers a new, interactive and safe place to learn about and fight it.

    Think HIV will have several components. One of them is a documentary. MTV and Kaiser – will produce Think HIV. This is a documentary in which young people themselves tell the story of how their generation has been impacted by the virus. Part memorial, part testimony, these short vignettes filmed entirely by infected or affected young people will paint a raw, intimate, and informative portrait of the epidemic’s impact on their lives. The half hour show will premiere on MTV on 18 August 2006—the last day of the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

    Then there is the think HIV Online Community. This will serve as an interactive community that will launch following the premiere of the documentary . The site will be an engaging and interactive, safe space for young people to share their personal stories through videos, photos and blogs and text about HIV/Aids. The user-friendly site will also provide easy access to information and resources about HIV/AIDS including prevention and testing as well as how to get involved in the global fight – including access to health information, resources and the online community at WebMD.

    Think HIV builds on both MTV and Kaiser’s long-term commitment to educating and empowering young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS, in part through their 10-year partnership, currently called think: Sexual Health. To date, the Emmy and Peabody Award winning partnership has garnered more than 100 million viewers to its documentaries, 1.2 million calls to the toll-free hotline and has distributed more than 450,000 informational guides.

  • US House of Representatives pass bill to allow telecom firms into cable TV

    US House of Representatives pass bill to allow telecom firms into cable TV

    MUMBAI: The US House of Representatives have passed a bill that makes it easier for American telecom firms to enter the American cable TV market.Media reports indicate that lobbying by telecom firms AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth could have influenced the Representatives.

    The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 was pased.

    BellSouth VP governmental affairs Herschel Abbott says, “We congratulate and thank Chairman Barton and Representative Rush for shepherding this legislation through the House. We look forward to Senate action so that legislation can be signed by the President this year.

    “Completion of video franchise legislation will allow faster rollout of a video service that can provide another competitive alternative to cable, offering the kind of customer service and quality that customers demand.

    “Given the amount of debate over so called ‘net neutrality’ during consideration of this bill, let me again assure consumers that BellSouth will not block or degrade access to any legal content on the internet. Net neutrality is a phony issue and it ought to be laid to rest by this vote.”

    The bill will allow national video franchising for Internet Protocol television (IPTV) providers in hopes of spurring competition in the US pay television market. The Cope Act removes regulatory barriers for video service providers to enter the market. Additionally, the legislation allows municipalities to deploy broadband and provide video services on a transparent and nondiscriminatory basis, thereby removing barriers for another competitor’s entry intro the marketplace.

  • TV Today mulls Mumbai Aaj Tak

    TV Today mulls Mumbai Aaj Tak

    MUMBAI: TV Today Network is now eyeing a Mumbai-centric news channel after having recently launched Dilli Aaj Tak, which serves the National Capital Region (NCR).

    On the sidelines of a book release function here today, sources in TV Today Network confirmed that Mumbai Aaj Tak is very much on the cards, but a time frame cannot be given at the moment.

    The sources said the fate of Mumbai Aaj Tak channel would be formally decided after evaluating the numbers delivered by Dilli Aaj Tak.

    What is more important, TV industry observers point out, is that the Aroon Purie-controlled network does not still have a full fledged infrastructure in Mumbai to support a 24-hour local channel.

    The function yesterday marked the release of a Hindi book, Anchor and Reporter written by Aaj Tak deputy editor Punya Prasun Bajpai.

    With the launch of Dilli Aaj Tak, TV Today Network has now successfully launched Hindi news space market leader Aaj Tak, English sibling Headlines Today and a Hindi version of Headlines Today called Tez.

    While Dilli Aaj Tak has competition in S1, Sahara Samay NCR and Total TV, in Mumbai the field is more open since apart from Sahara Samay Mumbai, there are only cable news channels run by MSOs and cable ops.

    TV Today Network posted an increase of 66.86 per cent in net profit at Rs 110 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2006 as against Rs 66.1 million for the corresponding quarter last year.

    The total income of the company increased 25.83 per cent to Rs 514.4 million for the same quarter from Rs 409 million in a year ago period.

    The TV Today scrip opened today at Rs 85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

  • BBC World launches ad campaign to generate buzz in New York City

    MUMBAI: BBC World launched in the US on 1 June 2006. To support the launch, the channel is running an ad campaign in New York City. The outdoor campaign created by BBDO New York communicates ‘unbiased international news’, through three thought-provoking and impactful creative approaches.

    The first –Develop a Point of View- is an interactive digital billboard situated on the corner of Broadway and 50th Street. The first-of-its-kind billboard displays dramatic news photographs and invites people to text in their votes on key news issues. New Yorkers and visitors can vote whether illegal immigrants should be considered ‘citizens’ or ‘criminals’; US soldiers, ‘occupiers’ or ‘liberators’; bird flu, ‘imminent’ or ‘preventable’ and China ‘befriend’ or ‘beware’.

    The votes will appear on the billboard in real-time and the updated tallies will be broadcast twice daily on WFAN’s “Imus in the Morning” show, as part of the BBC World radio promotion.

    The second approach -See Both Sides of the Story- uses poster sites featuring photographs creatively wrapped around building corners, with the entire story becoming clear only when the viewer sees both sides of the image.

    The poster site imagery takes an impartial look at a Jewish settler struggling against Israeli security officers during a West Bank settlement evacuation; an American soldier guarding a burning oil well in Iraq; French protestors fighting the Paris police force; U.S. border patrol facing Mexican immigrants and an Iraqi family following President Bush’s interview in front of a television set.

    Whilst the first and second creative approaches communicate BBC World’s core strength of impartiality, the third focuses on the truly global content the channel will bring to US viewers. News Beyond Your Borders is about reminding Americans that there is news outside America and that BBC World gives its viewers that global perspective. It has been appearing from 5 June onwards, via posters and interior cards on commuter rail network.

    Each ad is a puzzle, which at first glance appears to be a vaguely familiar map, but on further examination reveals a new and arresting image – a soldier with a gun; a health worker holding an infected bird; a hostage being detained and a city under water. The execution will also appear as an insert in the Financial Times and Newsday in June.

    BBC World head of marketing Seema Kotecha said: “BBC World has decided to develop an unprecedented, bold and interactive campaign to generate buzz around New York and spark debate around some of the key global news issues that affect all of us. These powerful images highlight the global perspective and the impartiality of coverage, for which BBC World is known around the world.

    “Research shows us that American viewers are increasingly interested in international news, yet most U.S. news networks are spending less airtime on international news stories. We hope to fill this gap in the market and are delighted to have the opportunity to bring our 24-hour global coverage and analysis to North American shores for the first time.”

    George Alagiah, a BAFTA award-winning journalist and one of the BBC’s most respected and well-known news anchors, is in New York this week to help officially launch BBC World channel in the U.S. Mr. Alagiah will also be hosting a media breakfast to launch BBC World News Today, a new hour long news programme to be broadcast globally from 3 July.

    The 24-hour BBC World channel is available to all iO: Interactive Optimum digital cable customers throughout Cablevision’s New York metropolitan service area on channel 104.

  • The 2006 New York TV Festival announces MSN as the official online sponsor

    The 2006 New York TV Festival announces MSN as the official online sponsor

    MUMBAI: The New York Television Festival (NYTVF) has announced that MSN will provide online support and awareness as an official signature sponsor for the 2006 NYTVF scheduled to be held from 12-17 September 2006, in Manhattan.

    Currently in its second year, the festival provides an opportunity to artists to showcase original, independently produced TV pilots directly to network executives and industry officials.

    Commenting on the same, NYTVF founder and executive director Terence Gray said, “The goal of the NYTVF is to provide independent artists with a platform for getting their work seen by the decision-makers in the TV industry.”

    According to an official release, the Festival’s alliance with MSN is one component of a larger initiative the NYTVF is launching to unite independent artists from TV, music and film in the NYTVF Online Community. NYTVF will collaborate with MSN integrated services, MSN TV and MSN Spaces to create a resource to pilot-makers looking to interact or collaborate with other creative people locally and globally, where anyone with an original script can receive the guidance and support necessary to get an independent pilot off the ground.

    As the official online sponsor, MSN will provide the following services:

    MSN Video will have exclusive online rights to stream all NYTVF pilots submitted to the Festival’s Independent Pilot Competition at http://tv.msn.com/NYTVF, beginning in July.

    MSN Video will deliver an Internet webcast of the Festival and on-demand video content of panel discussions and special events featured at the 2006 Festival.

    MSN Spaces will be the official blogging platform for NYTVF participants for the organization’s Online Community.

    In an attempt to present independent pilots to a worldwide audience, MSN GM Entertainment and Video Services Rob Bennett said, “Through the MSN relationship with NYTVF, consumers have the unique opportunity to see new television concepts and pilots in their purest form.”

    The release states that officially selected pilots featured at the 2006 NYTVF will be placed in one of the following five categories: comedy, drama, reality, educational or animation. To be considered for competition, pilots in all categories except animation must have a running time of between 15 and 22 minutes. Animation pilots must have a running time of between two and 20 minutes.

    The date of submission for the 2006 Independent Pilot Competition is 7 July. There is no fee for students with a valid ID.

    In its inaugural year, the 2005 NYTVF received more than 230 original independent pilots produced by artists from 24 states and seven foreign countries. The 2005 NYTVF was presented in association with TV Guide. The Festival worked in partnership with the William Morris Agency and in conjunction with the mayor’s office of New York City. Official network sponsors included NBC Universal, FOX, Comedy Central, VH1, VH1 Classic, Spike TV, A&E Networks, Rainbow Media, TV Land and Court TV, adds the release.

  • BBC looks to enhance content diversity in the UK with new appointment

    BBC looks to enhance content diversity in the UK with new appointment

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC’s director of television, Jana Bennett, has announced that Mary FitzPatrick is the editorial executive of diversity to oversee the way BBC channels represent the audiences they serve.

    Bennett said, “The creation of this important new role reflects our commitment to putting audiences at the heart of what we do at the BBC. To deliver the ambition of Creative Future and meet audiences’ expectations in a changing world, we need our programmes to reflect fully and accurately the diversity of the UK population.”

    FitzPatrick used to be a BBC programme maker. She was most recently Channel 4’s editorial manager of cultural diversity.

    FitzPatrick will work closely with channel controllers, commissioners, in-house and independent production companies to improve on-screen portrayal and diversity on BBC Television, including offering valuable advice to programme makers during the course of the development and production of programmes. She will take overall responsibility for reviewing and tracking on-screen content including the portrayal of black and minority ethnic and disabled people.

    Part of her role will be to ensure that programmes are culturally authentic and accurate, but also challenging and authoritative. She will aim to set up the industry’s definitive database for locating diverse on and off-screen talent for use by in-house production and Indies.

    Bennett adds “Mary FitzPatrick has a formidable track record in marrying outstanding diverse talent with a range of genres and great productions. This, combined with her fantastic relationship with internal and external producers and PACT, makes her the perfect person to drive this new role. I look forward to welcoming her back to the BBC.”

    FitzPatrick said, “I see my role as enhancing the BBC’s programming by opening it up to diverse talents and voices in a way that will deepen its relationship with all its audiences. The emphasis will not be on quotas or box-ticking, but on focusing minds on the fact that television audiences are hugely diverse and they rightly expect to see themselves and their life experiences reflected on TV.”

  • How not to break news

    How not to break news

    our news television medium seems to have finally begun to distinguish between truth-telling and ideological discourse. Indeed, this seems to be an increasing trend among most news channels today. Take the tagline for Zee News, for example: Haqeeqat jaisi, waisi khabar. Seemingly holding a defiant mirror to society and policymakers in the wake of post-Gujarat criticism, news channels in India have created truths far beyond the imagination of pre-liberalisation policymakers. Rising ratings for news are perhaps the closest endorsements to this trend. Why, then, do we see all around us a growing scepticism about our news channels?

    The reasons have to do with audiences themselves: the question is, do audiences expect news to tell them what’s happening, or what editors think they should know? News television channels would do well to overhaul their thinking, because the technology they use provides them with the inherent power to democratize news. For example, many channels are still experimenting with “breaking news”. An editor even spoke on a platform recently (an event, hosted by another channel), and said that breaking news was passe. Even as he was doing so, his channel was flashing “Breaking News”. Gone are the days when news was just news. Today, the delivery of news has the capacity to attract new eyeballs. A cognitive research done in the US in January 2005 showed that the attention span of a television channel-surfer is so low that his/her decision whether to switch channels is made in the first 0.15 seconds. So what’s on the screen is what either sells or doesn’t.

    Gone are the days when news was just news. Today, the delivery of news has the capacity to attract new eyeballs
    _____****_____

    Research conducted in the US last year concluded after a nationwide survey that news channels regularly use hard, unplanned news to mean breaking news – not something that necessarily takes the newsroom by surprise. The problem with this trend has to do with viewer credibility. It’s simple: ever heard of the “crying wolf” story? Breaking news can work the same way. (Actual example: “Breaking News: Salman reaches court for hearing”) If, for story after story, the attention-grabbing flash continues to disappoint the viewer, breaking news ends up breaking TRP dreams. The Salman Khan “breaking news” is based on the age-old “late news” or “just in” principle: it conveys to the viewer that the story just got in. But with live news now, the concept must undergo a change in our editors’ minds: news stories every half hour should be “just in”.

    News channels only need to stick to their own agenda in order to score: if their claim is to present investigative stories, do so without diluting the definition of an investigative story
    _____****_____

    So how can channels break through the viewer’s attention-span problem? By using a judicious mix of emotive and rational approaches. The pace of news stories is important, and many of our channels are inept at this skill. Because VT editors are armed with the latest techniques and gadgets that allow them to cut rapidly, they often forget basics like establishing scene, sequence and story. Channels seldom depend on visual richness, but too often on anchor branding. News anchors gain credibility and brand strength over time and after much sweat. Merely marketing them like an FMCG product will rarely rake in the returns. And on that note, 57 students of journalism who conducted a comparative content analysis of television channels in 2005 said that the excessive amount of advertising on many news channels is enough to lead away audiences from news.

    Clearly, therefore, news channels only need to stick to their own agenda in order to score: if their claim is to present investigative stories, do so without diluting the definition of an investigative story. However, my prediction is that news channels cannot afford to distinguish their product so clearly, and must present a mix of reportage and discussion. The writing is on the wall: our nascent TV news audiences have been hoping that the news media are an answer to pull up a failing administration. In many ways, our media have lived up to that expectation. However, that may soon change if news channels do not settle down to understanding that news audiences invariably grow more knowledgeable over time, and expect more from their television.

    (The writer heads a media institute in Pune, and is a former news channel employee.)

    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)

  • Radio City strenghtens workforce; appoints Mumbai, Chennai station heads

    Radio City strenghtens workforce; appoints Mumbai, Chennai station heads

    MUMBAI: Music Broadcast Pvt. Ltd (MBPL) owned Radio City has, as part of its overall growth plans in the second phase of FM expansion, aggressively expanded its workforce recruiting over 70 professionals in the last 70 days.

    The appointments have been made across all levels in the sales, marketing, programming and technical departments. The two top-level recruitments have been Krishna Iyer and Madhusudhan who have been appointed as the station heads for Mumbai and Chennai respectively.

    An MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Iyer comes from the advertising industry, having worked with agencies such as Lowe, Enterprise Nexus and JWT over the last 14 years. The company claims that Iyer’s skills and expertise in working with creative teams will help Radio City, Mumbai retain its leadership position in the FM space and further strengthen and drive its innovative content and communication platform.

    Madhusudhan has over 10 years experience in organisations like ANP Sanmarg Life Insurance, Idea Cellular and HCL-Nokia. He will be instrumental in Radio City’s launch in Chennai.

    Amidst this recruitment drive, Radio City Delhi and Lucknow vice president and station head Amritendu Roy, has put in his papers citing personal reasons after a two-year stint at Radio City.

    Under his stewardship, Radio City Delhi consolidated its listenership and increased it to over two million in Delhi and the NCR. He also spearheaded major content innovations and interactive station promotions in Delhi. According to an official release, his stint at Radio City Lucknow has helped strengthen Radio City’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives by furthering private-public partnerships to support various causes.

    Radio City national HR head Ashish Gharde said, “Radio City aims to be the best employer in the media industry. Our recent recruitment drive has been phenomenal and also a huge challenge, especially due to the limited talent available within the radio space and the dynamic situation in the media industry. In such a scenario, we had to look outside and I am glad that we have been largely successful in putting together a talented team across all our stations. Retention is also a key issue and we have initiated measures to retain and upgrade skills of key personnel within Radio City. Having said that, Amrit’s decision to leave will be a setback for us and surely he’ll be missed.”

  • Yahoo! India gets search innovative with ‘My Web 2.0’

    Yahoo! India gets search innovative with ‘My Web 2.0’

    MUMBAI: Yahoo! Search has released My Web 2.0, which is a “personal and social search engine,” in India.My Web 2.0 provides users a simple way to save, organise and tag actual web pages and bookmarks, recall them from any computer, as well as selectively share their personalised ‘My Web’ with friends and a broader community of users with similar interests.

    My Web content from a user’s own personal archive, as well as from a user’s community are also displayed in the typical web search results page, further complementing results from Yahoo!’s leading web search engine.

    Additionally, unlike bookmarks, a user’s “My Web” is accessible from any computer, with no risk of losing saved bookmarks.

    Yahoo! India managing director George Zacharias said, “Yet another example of Yahoo!’s innovative approach; My Web 2.0, dramatically improves the relevance of search results. The internet is becoming more community-orientated and users want access to trusted information. We see social search as the next phase of web search. My Web helps users tap into the power of communities, using tagging and sharing to improve their search experience. My Web 2.0 combine’s social search with the power of web search to provide the user with more relevant results”.

    When users sign up to My Web and run a search, they see results at the top of the page derived from content that they saved in My Web and interesting links that other people have saved as a complement to the normal web search results, providing an even more relevant search experience.

    My Web 2.0 provides significant feature enhancements to the earlier My Web product based directly on user feedback and include:

    Tagging: categorize saved pages in a much more flexible way than using folders by assigning them to multiple categories labeling the content with tags.

    Unidirectional connections: allows people to easily access valuable content that has been discovered by others, without having to have a personal relationship. This means that people can discover interesting pages of a specific user (it may be an industry expert, a celebrity, or your next door neighbor who knows something about everything and saves really useful links) and because you like what they are saving, you can subscribe to all of their pages. You can automatically add them as a contact and make them part of your community.

    Additional Sharing controls: My Web 2.0 offers increased control over who you are sharing with – you can choose to be the only person who can access the pages saved, you can identify the communities you share certain saved pages with (friends, family etc) or you can share your saved pages with the world.

    Enhanced Profile personalization: allows people to create a unique online identity, by assigning a photo or avatar, nickname and email address to their online identity, creating a more personal presence within the community. Over time, by personalising your presence, you could become a well-known web guru for the information you are saving and sharing.

    Easy import of web pages: users can import easily their bookmarks, and also save pages with one click directly with the Yahoo! Toolbar.