ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • The History Channel to air special series on Rome

    The History Channel to air special series on Rome

    MUMBAI/BANGALORE: This month, The History Channel brings its viewers up close and personal with Rome. The civilisation has been ruled by visionaries and tyrants whose accomplishments ranged from awe-inspiring to deplorable.

    The broadcaster is featuring a two-hour special series Rome: Engineering an empire and four films Augustus, St. Peter, Nero and Spartacus every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm. The aim is to to highlight the power, grandeur and conflict of Rome. 

    Rome: Engineering an empire’s airs on 3 and 4 June at 10 pm. This special two-hour series chronicles the rich history of the Roman Empire from the reign of Caesar in 44 B.C. to its eventual fall around 537 AD, detailing the remarkable works of architecture and technology in between that helped Rome leave an indelible mark on the world.

    St. Peter with Omar Sharif in the title role airs on 10 June at 8 pm. The saint changed Roman History. On 17 June at 8 pm viewers can watch Emperor Nero , which reveals the true picture of the lonely, tormented man behind the monstrous mask . This film depicts Nero’s transformation from a pragmatic ruler into a tyrannical monster, who while watching Rome burn on one hand, on the other presented the severed head of an ex-wife to a future wife as a gift, murdered his mother and allegedly burned much of Rome to the ground to make room for a new palace.
    Goran Visnjic and Rhona Mitra star in Spartacus, which airs on 24 June at 8 pm. It depicts a legendary slave’s rise from a gladiator to a hero in Spartacus.

  • GV Films in talks to sell webcasting division for Rs 1 billion

    GV Films in talks to sell webcasting division for Rs 1 billion

    MUMBAI: Chennai-based GV Films Ltd. is in negotiations to sell its webcasting division including rights to 6000 movies for Rs 1 billion.

    The company had signed an MoU with I-Net Singapore, a leading infocomm technology solutions provider, to web stream movies. I-Net Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaCorp which has a complete range of media businesses spanning TV, radio, movie productions, newspapers, magazines, electronic media and other broadcasting services, would have provided the backend mechanism and acted as a hub for GV Films to stream movie content from its portals, gvtamilfilms.com and telugupictures.com.

    “We are in talks to sell our webcasting unit for over Rs 1 billion since this calls for specialist attention. We want to concentrate on physical assets like setting up multiplexes,” says a senior executive of GV Films.

    The company is planning to have 45 multiplexes in the southern states of India which would also have shopping malls. “We have already acquired two theatres and 10 more are in the process. We will be branding and refurbishing them. We aim to invest $10 million per theatre,” says the executive.

    The company plans to raise $300 million in overseas markets either through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) or global depository receipts (GDRs). GV Films also expects to receive Rs 1 billion through its sale of the web-casting division. The company had paid Rs 900 million to acquire internet rights to 4000 Hindi films and 2000 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages.

    GV Films’ plans to acquire an international TV channel, but negotiations have been deferred. “We intend to have a film channel that will cater to the Indian diaspora overseas. It will air Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies. We are not looking at a footprint in India,” says the executive.

  • IMG acquires production firm Tiger Aspect

    IMG acquires production firm Tiger Aspect

    MUMBAI: IMG Media has announced that it will acquire the London based production firm Tiger Aspect Productions.

    The acquisition includes Tiger Aspect’s subsidiaries Tigress (adventure and wildlife producer), TTP (Washington DC-based US production company) and Tiger Aspect Pictures.

    IMG Media, a division of sports, entertainment and media firm IMG, will finance the acquisition entirely with capital from parent company IMG. The Tiger Aspect acquisition is part of IMG’s strategic growth plans.

    It will also enable IMG Media to become for the first time, a multi-genre market leader. IMG Media says that its subsidiaries TWI, the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, and high-end factual specialists Darlow Smithson Productions (Touching the Void, I Shouldn’t Be Alive, Seconds From Disaster, The Falling Man), put it at the forefront of global high-end factual production.

    For Tiger Aspect, the agreement enhances its position as one of the top global multi-genre production companies, giving it access to new opportunities via a greater global presence, intellectual property within the group and new technologies.

    Tiger Aspect brings with it key strengths across a wide range of programming including animation and children’s, comedy, drama, entertainment, and a broad range of factual output. It also produces wildlife programmes (through Tigress) and has a movie unit which has produced hits ranging from Billy Elliot to Kevin and Perry Go Large.

    Key to the acquisition is Tiger Aspect’s reputation as a creative independent producer with a proven track record of producing hits across all genres, both within the UK and overseas. The company has a growing annual output of more than 220 hours and an annual turnover of more than 50 million pounds. In addition to its London HQ and Bristol office, it has an established production base on the east coast of America.

    Tiger Aspect’s programme portfolio includes comedies like The Catherine Tate Show, The Vicar of Dibley, Mr Bean. Currently in production are new series of BBC shows Charlie and Lola and detective drama Murphy’s Law. Tiger Aspect has also done factual series like The Monastery.

    IMG chairman and CEO Ted Forstmann said, “IMG today is in an exceptionally strong financial position. As a result of unprecedented internal growth, we are now able to make investments in any of the areas in which we do business. We already have a major presence in worldwide distribution, rights management, and New Media. The Tiger Aspect acquisition will immediately help us grow content production and distribution. We welcome Tiger Aspect and its people into the IMG global family.”

    IMG Media executive VP and COO Alastair Waddington said, “Tiger Aspect’s acquisition realises IMG Media’s long-held ambition to become a multi-genre producer, and we look forward to Tiger Aspect’s continued success and growth, while maintaining its distinctive identity as a producer of top quality programming.”

    Tiger Aspect founder and chairman Peter Bennett-Jones said, “This is a red letter day in the distinguished history of Tiger Aspect. We are immensely proud of our output and this deal will enhance our ability to make many more memorable programmes for broadcast in the UK and around the world through IMG’s extensive international structure. It will also open up new media opportunities and introduce new markets and creative relationships.”

  • Michael Ware is CNN’s Baghdad based correspondent

    Michael Ware is CNN’s Baghdad based correspondent

    MUMBAI: CNN has announced that Michael Ware, the Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief who gained renown for in-depth coverage of the insurgency in Iraq , is joining the broadcaster as a correspondent based in Baghdad.

    A frequent guest to CNN over the last five years, Ware becomes a full-time international correspondent providing news reports and analysis across all CNN networks.

    CNN senior VP international newsgathering operations Tony Maddox says, “Michael is one of the most accomplished correspondents working in Iraq . His exclusive stories and unique insights into the workings of the insurgency will increase the scope and depth of our reporting. He joins a fantastic CNN team of committed journalists in Baghdad, and we are very excited to have him as a full-time member of the CNN family.”

     

  • Channel7 re-launches with new on-air look

    Channel7 re-launches with new on-air look

    MUMBAI: Starting 5 June, Hindi news channel Channel7 will relaunch donning a new on-air look.

    Florida-based VDO has developed the new look for the channel where the management control was recently taken over by the Television Eighteen Group from Jagran TV.

    The new logo, look and packaging are designed to contemporize the network, informs an official release from Channel7.

    The entire on-air environment, which includes the channel identity, show openers and on-air graphic packages, has been created keeping in consideration the changing preferences of the viewers, the channel claimed.

    The channel’s director marketing Dilip Venkatraman said in a statement, “The idea behind the new logo is to give it a contemporary look. The new logo is also aimed at communicating the core brand values of the channel and its
    philosophy.”

    According to VDO senior producer Dianne Streyer, “The idea behind changing the on-air look of the channel was to make it more modern and connect with the viewers. The Indian market is cluttered with plethora of news channels and it was important to give it a distinctive look to create a unique identity for Channel 7.”

    VDO was also instrumental in developing the on-air look for CNN-IBN. The company designs brand packaging solutions for networks, broadcast groups, stations and cable channels. Its client portfolio boasts of well known
    broadcasters such as NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox.

  • Warner Bros inks deal with CinemaNow for download of TV content

    Warner Bros inks deal with CinemaNow for download of TV content

    MUMBAI: For the first time, television content from the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has been made available on a download-to-own basis in the US.

    The company has entered into a licensing agreement with CinemaNow Inc. Under this agreement, CinemaNow will be able to sell Warner Bros. TV’s products electronically. Customers can legally purchase and download content from Warner Bros. through the website, www.cinemanow.com.

    “We’re very excited to add Warner Bros.’ content to our electronic-sell-through offering and to be the first to make Warner Bros. Television’s product available on the open Internet for purchase,” said CinemaNow president Bruce Eisen.

    CinemaNow recently struck a licensing deal with Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

    The Warner Bros. TV series already available from 1 June include Babylon 5 and Dukes of Hazzard, with additional titles to be added soon. In addition, movies such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey are also available through this facility , informs an official release.

    Also, as soon as DVD releases hit retail stores, they will simultaneously be available on the site. These include, Firewall and 16 Blocks to be out on 6 and 13 June respectively. All content will be copy protected by Microsoft’s Windows Digital Rights Management software, adds the release.

    “This is an important step for our US distribution efforts,” said Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group SVP Digital Distribution Jim Wuthrich. “This is one more way for consumers to enjoy Warner Bros. high quality digital entertainment.”

    Besides Warner Bros., and Buena Vista, CinemaNow has agreements in place with content providers including 20th Century Fox Corp., ABC News, The Walt Disney Co., HDNet, Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Miramax Films, NBC Universal, Sony Entertainment Corp. and Sundance Channel.

  • Max announces ‘Sabse Bada Deewana’ contest

    Max announces ‘Sabse Bada Deewana’ contest

    MUMBAI: Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in September, the telecast rights holder Max is attempting to create a buzz in the market. Driving the initiative is a search for the ‘Sabse Bada Deewana’ to be launched across the country.

    Through the hunt, Max will choose the biggest “deewana” from across the country through auditions on-ground across six cities- Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhopal, Surat, Kolkata and Mumbai. Participants could either register by sending a sms “Deewana” to 2525 or turn up for an audition at the venue, said an official release.

    Speaking on the onset of Sabse Bada Deewana, Max EVP & business head Albert Almeida says, “This campaign will capture the true passion and fervor of the viewer and showcase what fuels his or her Deewanapan. The idea is to identify these deewanas, capture their deewanapan and present them to other passionate viewers of the channel.”

    According to Almeida, the on ground activity will be supported by an extensive off air and on air marketing campaign.

    Max will take the biggest deewana and movie fanatic of all times – Sajid Khan across these cities and hunt down the Sabse Bada Deewana of the nation. After rolling out auditions in six cities, the campaign moves further as the six deewanas chosen from the city will then be eliminated by viewer votes and the Sabse Bada Deewana would be chosen from amongst them, adds the release.

  • Tandberg Television brings IPTV video head-ends to Globalcomm 2006

    Tandberg Television brings IPTV video head-ends to Globalcomm 2006

    MUMBAI: The Globalcomm 2006 to be held in Chicago this month will see Tandberg Television making its advances in the global standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) IPTV video head-end market.

    With the recent acquisition of SkyStream, Tandberg Television comes to Globalcomm with expanded compression capabilities. The acquisition combines two highly-complementary technology lines, providing Tandberg Television with increased encoding density and new transcoding solutions and expanding its premium SD video quality and HD AVC encoding. Thus, it is able to provide the industry with the broadest and most flexible IPTV video head-end solution set, informs an official release.

    The expanded range of Tandberg Television IPTV products is designed to provide both large and small telcos with the necessary choice and flexibility to efficiently advance their IPTV service roll-outs. The enlarged product line, packaged in telco or broadcast chassis form factors, presents the industry’s widest selection of encoding and video processing technologies for streaming, transrating, transcoding, high density encoding and premium encoding with solutions that are shipping today for standard definition and high definition MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and SMPTE VC-1, adds the release.

    As a result of the acquisition, Tandberg Television’s Globalcomm booth will show fully operational SD and HD IPTV video head-ends with a number of new innovations including:

    — Unified IPTV head-end control and management with Tandberg nCompass will provide integrated control for all Tandberg IPTV solutions, enabling telcos to save money through improved operational efficiency.

    — Advancements in Picture in Picture (PiP) with the launch of SD PiP on the NEBS-certified, telco-designed Mediaplex and iPlex platforms, as well as SD and HD PiP on the Tandberg premium encoding range.

    — Launch of a new HD encoder designed to meet the needs of the Tier 2 and Tier 3 Telco/IOC markets. Called the Tandberg EN5960, the HD platform has been well-received initially with several successful U.S. carrier deployments already completed. The EN5960 extends Tandberg Television’s market leadership in HDTV.

    Tandberg Television will also continue its tradition of open integration by working with leading systems integrators, middleware providers and consumer device manufacturers to provide operators with complete systems. The Globalcomm booth will include live demonstrations with both Myrio TotalManage, Myrio Interactive and Microsoft TV IP-TV Edition middleware and leading set-top box vendors.

    Tandberg Television EVP Jim Olson said, “Globalcomm will see Tandberg Television cement its lead as the IPTV compression powerhouse. Our unique offering of choice and flexibility enables operators to mix and match their head-end infrastructure investment to maximize utilization of existing network infrastructures (SONET, ATM and IP), to leverage increased bandwidth efficiencies and to select the most appropriate video compression performance and density to support picture quality requirements on a per channel/per program basis.”

    “What’s more we will show telcos at Globalcomm how they can integrate our IPTV video head-end systems with our range of revenue-generating solutions for advanced IPTV services. These include Push/Pull video on-demand, interactive television, mobile TV and ad insertion, all of which will truly differentiate a telco’s offering from standard cable services in the Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets,” he added.

    HD and SD Picture-in-Picture

    According to the release, Tandberg Television is showcasing its latest developments in Picture-in-Picture (PiP) technology that increase operator options for real consumer benefits, such as enabling second channel live viewing, advanced video mosaics, next-generation video programming guides, user configurable multi-view screens and the simultaneous delivery of content to mobile, handheld or web streaming devices.

    Tandberg Television will launch SD PiP on both the iPlex and Mediaplex video head-ends. These carrier-class platforms are complete head-end systems in a single chassis that enables a new level of converged services over any last mile access infrastructure (xDSL, FTTx, and CATV). The Mediaplex and iPlex video platforms are the industry’s first fully-integrated switched digital video head-ends to deliver MPEG-4 AVC encoding, MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 AVC transcoding, PIP encoding, transrating, remultiplexing and routing. With flexibility, and highly-dense capacity of up to 48 MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 AVC encoders or transcoders, Tandberg Television’s Mediaplex and iPlex platforms can distribute hundreds of high-quality video channels in multiple formats and rates to millions of subscribers simultaneously.

    In addition, HD PiP capabilities will be shown on the Tandberg premium HD platform. Delivering outstanding quality and 3-in-1 resolution choices, the Tandberg EN5990 encoder is able to output MPEG-4 AVC HD main video (either 720p or 1080i), “HD-PIP” which is user selectable with resolutions from 192×192, SIF through to full resolution SD running between 256Kbit/s -> 5Mbit/s and “Micro-PIP” with 96×96 (PAL) / 96×80 (NTSC) resolution. This ability to deliver a full resolution SD version of the HD channel opens up several possibilities for broadcasters and operators and enables a number of HD user multiview applications. With HD source in and both HD and SD versions of the same channel out, SD only subscribers would get a chance to see the HD channel content. Tandberg Television has been shipping SD PiP in its premium EN5920 and EN5930 MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 encoders since last year.

  • User content sites will not replace television: BBC

    User content sites will not replace television: BBC

    MUMBAI: A few days ago UK broadcaster BBC One controller Peter Fincham
    delivered a speech to the Royal Television Society. The speech was called BBC One – Risk, Creativity, Challenges and Audiences.

    He debunked the notion that video clips on the net would replace traditional broadcast television. He says that predictions that video on- demand and 30-second clips on the video content site YouTube would replace traditional viewing showed breathless over-enthusiasm. This he says is reminiscent in some ways of the dotcom boom of the late Nineties, when all conventional businesses were apparently heading for the scrap heap.

    “It also reminds me of the late Sixties – yes, I can just remember them – when a bloke I met in a youth hostel assured me that Western civilization was on its last knees and the future lay in self-sufficient collectives living in Wales. The trouble is, it’s missing the point. Conventional television – old media, linear, whatever you want to call it – and new media don’t exist in opposition to each other. In fact, they’re perfect partners.”

    “Any anthropologist will tell you that our ancestors, although they lived in caves, had exactly the same brains and bodies that we have. Evolution just doesn’t move that fast I guess the equivalent to those cave-dwelling ancestors is people who sat in front of cathode ray televisions with a choice of two channels, the BBC and ITV. Nowadays they’ve got hundreds to choose from. And yet the evolution of taste, like evolution itself, is a very different thing. YouTube’s great. Google’s great. It’s all great. But if the conclusion you draw – and some people love drawing it – is that television is over, I think you might just be wrong.”

    He was responding to an article in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago, by Jeff Jarvis. The headline was ‘Television is dead’. Jarvis had argued that all the old definitions of TV are in shambles. Television need not be broadcast. It needn’t be produced by studios and networks. It no longer depends on big numbers and blockbusters. It doesn’t have to fit 30 and 60 minute moulds. It isn’t scheduled. It isn’t mass. The limits of television – of distribution, of tools, of economics, of scarcity – are gone.’ Jarvis had said that his teen son and his friends are getting hooked on new series not via TV but through the web and iTunes.’

    Jarvis, Fincham points out assumes that where technology leads, our tastes will follow. “He thinks that to embrace the new, it’s necessary to reject all that’s familiar. I think he’s wrong”. Fincham points to the new adaptation of Jane Eyre. “It was watched by seven million viewers. Jane Eyre had been widely admired and acclaimed – quite rightly in my view. Adaptations of classic novels don’t come much better than this. Does Jeff Jarvis’ new world of television mean there’s no room for adaptations of Jane Eyre? And if so, is that something we’ve gained? Or something we’ve lost? ”

    “People like programmes. Seems like a pretty obvious thing to say, but in our noisy and novelty-driven world it can’t be said often enough. They also like, in my view, an intelligently-balanced linear schedule. Yes, of course video on demand will enable us to create our own schedules and time-shift programmes at will. But we won’t want to do that all the time, will we? ”

    “Video on demand is to linear viewing what the microwave is to conventional cooking. Quicker, more convenient, more attuned to a busy, modern life. But it won’t improve the flavours of the cooking. User-generated content is a wonderful thing, but it won’t simply replace the professional stuff. There’s such a thing as a user-generated garden shed – you buy it from Homebase and put it together yourself. Or there’s the other sort, which I must admit I prefer – you get somebody else to do it for you. The two markets don’t cancel each other out – they co-exist. In the future, a short clip on YouTube might be all we’ve got time for. Sounds plausible, doesn’t it, but the evidence doesn’t back it up.”

  • Macau Tourism celebrates heritage year with a new advertising campaign on BBC World

    MUMBAI: BBC World has produced a series of commercials for Macau Tourism to celebrate the country’s 2006 heritage year.

    The campaign, airing in Asia Pacific and Europe, focusses on Macau’s position as a heritage city and also highlights on three key annual events that take place in Macau – a fireworks festival, music festival and grand prix. Macau Tourism has partnered with BBC World for the past two years but this is the first time the advertising campaign has widened to include Asia Pacific and Europe.

    The three events highlighted in the BBC World advertising campaign include:

    – 20th Macau International Music Festival (MIMF) is to be held from 6 October to 5 November The eclectic programme of 28 performances promises to delight audiences in historical settings such as the Dom Pedro V Theatre, St. Dominic’s Church and Mount Fortress.

    – Wynn Macau – 18th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest to be held during September and October, features teams from Germany, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Portugal, Australia, the United States, Japan, France and China.

    – The 53rd Macau Grand Prix from 16 to 19 November is the single most important race in the Formula 3 season each year. Former Macau Grand Prix winners include great names such as Ayrton Senna, Michael and Ralf Schumacher, and David Coulthard.

    BBC World VP, Asia and Australasia Sunita Rajan, says, “BBC World is delighted to be able produce these commercials for Macau Tourism, which also showcase our creative excellence. The campaign, which focuses on music, sport and entertainment, targets the international traveller seeking new and different experiences. BBC World’s audience of 65 million viewers a week largely comprises of business and leisure travellers, so this partnership with Macau Tourism creates perfect synergy.”

    The Director of Macau Tourism, Joel Manuel Costa Antunez says, “It is our great pleasure to co-operate with BBC World again to showcase Macau – a unique tourist destination. Through leveraging the extensive network of BBC World, we are sure that Macau’s image, as one of the leading tourist destinations in the region, will be enhanced amongst our target audiences across the globe. We look forward to a fruitful and mutually beneficial co-operation with BBC World.”

    Macau Tourism is among a number of tourism boards to advertise on BBC World. Other boards include Tourism New Zealand, Palau Tourist Authority, Maldives Tourism, Beijing Tourism and Hangzhou Tourism.