ITV

Category: TV Channels

  • GloboSat to distribute SaharaOne channels in UK, Europe

    GloboSat to distribute SaharaOne channels in UK, Europe

    MUMBAI: In a bid to garner international subscription revenues and also expand its footprint in UK and Europe, SaharaOne Media and Entertainment has entered into a long term deal with New York based broadcast distribution outfit GloboSat Entertainment in order to help the company launch its channel services at various countries.

    SaharaOne Media and Entertainment CEO Shantonu Aditya says, “Through the association with GloboSat Entertainment, we are looking forward to the expansion of our channels in newer markets through this partnership so as to entertain our viewers worldwide.”

    The company is also eyeing broadband as well as mobile platforms in the US. GloboSat Entertainment is said to be in talks with a couple of moblie companies in this regard.

    One such company that the GloboSat is talking to for carrying the two Sahara channels (Sahara One and Filmy) is US based made for mobile company Ithentic.

    The channels will soon be on JumpTV, the subscription-based broadcaster of ethnic television over the internet. JumpTV already streams other Indian channels SET, India TV News, Kairali TV, People TV and Amrita TV.

    GloboSat president and CEO Sudhir Vaishnav says, “Our strategic partnerships with DTH, cable, broadband, IPTV, mobile and other platforms spanning across North and South America, Europe and UK help our broadcast partners to build international presence faster.”

    The media company will soon launch the channels SaharaOne and Filmy in UK and Europe. The two channels will soon be visible in Bangladesh as well. The channels will also be accessible on Rogers Cable in Canada.

    The general entertainment channel SaharaOne already has its presence in US on Echostar. And the movie channel Filmy is offered on DirecTV, the other DTH platform in US controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

    The two channels have recently been launched in Nepal and Maldives. The company now plans to push SaharaOne in the Middle-East, where the movie channel has already made its entry via the Pehla platform.

    The company is also targeting to push the two channels in Africa as well as in Australia in due course.

  • BVITV inks agreements with Miravista, TF1 Vision & CGV Choice at Mipcom

    BVITV inks agreements with Miravista, TF1 Vision & CGV Choice at Mipcom

    MUMBAI: Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) has secured the international TV distribution rights for Miravista, The Walt Disney Company- owned label for Buena Vista International Latin America’s local theatrical co-productions. BVITV will offer titles from the Miravista portfolio to international TV buyers for the first time at Mipcom.

    As announced by Buena Vista Worldwide Television president Laurie Younger and The Walt Disney Company Latin America president and Walt Disney Television Latin America general manager Diego Lerner.

    Titles include the forthcoming Only God Knows which recently had its North American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and will launch across the US in 2007. Other titles include Ladies Night and Romeo and Juliet Get Married.

    BVITV has also signed an agreement with TF1 Vision, such that movie releases and blockbusters from BVITV’s portfolio will be available on demand on the TF1 Vision website. This agreement is in line with The Walt Disney Company’s focus on the application of technology to enhance its content and expand its distribution, informs an official release.

    With this broadband VOD rental agreement, almost 100 titles are available on the TF1 VOD website. Titles will include recent releases such as Cinderella Man, Flightplan, Derailed and Dark Water, and box office hits such as Pretty Woman, Dead Poets Society, Face Off and Pearl Harbor. Brand new titles can be downloaded for a fixed price of 4,99 euros each (all taxes included) and library movies can be rented for 1,99 euros each (all taxes included).

    BVITV EMEA executive vice president and managing director Tom Toumazis said, “We are pleased to be working once more with TF1 to bring content from our portfolio to consumers in France in new flexible ways, as and when they want to watch it.”

    In addition, Buena Vista International Television-Asia Pacific (BVITV-AP), the international television distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, has also concluded a multi-year agreement with Korean pay-per-view (PPV) and video-on-demand (VOD) operator CGV Choice, a subsidiary of CJ Media, for current and library features from BVITV-AP’s features portfolio.
    Under this licensing agreement, subscribers to CGV Choice are able to enjoy a selection of Hollywood blockbusters from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. 
    Titles include Disney’s second highest grossing film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl, Flightplan, National Treasure and Casanova.

    BVITV-AP’s senior vice president and managing director Steve Macallister said, “This is another groundbreaking new media deal for BVITV in Korea and reflects our commitment to finding new and innovative ways to deliver our quality content whenever consumers want it.”

  • ‘Nach Baliye’ opens well for Star One

    ‘Nach Baliye’ opens well for Star One

    MUMBAI: Nach Baliye returned to TV screens in its second season and has shot straight to the top, claims the channel quoting the Tam numbers for the opening week.

    The first week’s studio performance episode, which aired on Monday, 25 September, 2006, for two and a half hours, entered the charts of the Top 50 shows CS4+ HSM category.

    The ratings were 4.9 in CS4+ HSM. The show has captured over 9.8 million viewers across the country and has registered TVRs as high as 6.61 in Mumbai and 5.54 in New Delhi (CS4 + HSM), as per Tam.

    “Show after show, season after season, Star One continues to rewrite benchmarks of success on Indian television. The launch performance episode of Nach Baliye 2 has garnered a significant rating, it has been one of the most anticipated returns of any show and once again it has proved its worthiness.” says Star India EVP Content Deepak Segal.

    A new addition to the Nach Baliye story this year is the Voting Special, which airs every Tuesday at 8 pm. Moreover, a lifeline been given to the couples who stand on the verge of being eliminated by the contestants who are already in the ‘suraksha chakra’, informs an official release.

  • Al Gore’s Current TV signs deal with BSkyB

    Al Gore’s Current TV signs deal with BSkyB

    MUMBAI: Former US Vice President Al Gore has unveiled plans to launch a UK version of his ‘user generated’ network, Current TV.

    Current has signed an agreement with UK pay TV platform BSkyB to launch a localised version of its viewer-created TV channel in the UK and Ireland.

    The announcement was jointly made by Current chairman Al Gore and BSkyB CEO James Murdoch. The agreement provides Current’s first presence outside the US and marks a step in fulfilling its plans of becoming an international media company, while for BSkyB it represents a first step in a strategy to develop a broader presence in the fast-growing field of user-generated content.

    Current TV is the first TV network created by, for, and with a young adult audience, enlisting its audience as creative partners. To tailor its output to the local audience, Current plans to deliver a channel specifically designed for the British and Irish markets.

    Viewer producers from the UK and Ireland will be able to submit their video segments via Current’s website and, if their work is selected for broadcast, they will also have a chance to have their pieces air on Current’s U.S. network and in other markets into which Current will expand in the future.

    Since its launch in August 2005, Current TV claims to have been a pioneer in the world of user-generated content, with its ‘viewer created content’ or VC2, programming model. Rather than a traditional network with primetime shows and “appointment television,” Current offers short-form, nonfiction programming, called “pods,” which are only a few minutes long and which explore the issues of interest to young adults, including technology, fashion, music and videogames, the environment, relationships, spirituality, politics, finance, and parenting. In the US, approximately 30 per cent of the network’s content is created by viewers.

    The agreement will allow Current TV to reach up to 22 million more viewers in 8.2 million households subscribing to BSkyB’s Sky digital service, equivalent to almost one in three households in the UK and Ireland. Over the past year Current has expanded its US carriage by 70 per cent from 17 million to nearly 30 million homes.

    Gore says, “We are grateful to be working with BSkyB in our first international venture. This is a big step in fulfilling Current’s mission of sparking a global conversation among young adults. Bringing our viewer-created content model to the UK and Ireland will give millions of young viewers the opportunity to not only watch but also to create television programming that is relevant to them. We’re excited about being able to unleash the creativity of young people in the UK and Ireland, enabling them to share their stories with their generational cohort here and around the world.”

    Murdoch says, “Current TV is bringing the web’s sense of empowerment to television for the first time. It has a uniquely collaborative approach to working with viewer producers that stands out among other platforms for user-generated video. As a first step towards Sky’s own moves in this fascinating field, we’re pleased to help give a voice to millions of young people throughout the UK and Ireland.”

    Murdoch incidentally was one of the first to back Mr Gore’s campaign to persuade big business to face up to green issues. He said the partnership with Current TV was the first step towards the broadcaster, which will make it available free to all its 8.2 million subscribers, launching other user-content initiatives.

    Internet networking sites such as MySpace and video sharing services such as YouTube and Google Video have forced broadcasters to learn from them. Political parties have also tried to get in on the act, as with the WebCameron Tory initiative.

  • Subhash Chandra to address Bombay Chamber

    Subhash Chandra to address Bombay Chamber

    MUMBAI: Essel Group of Industries chairman Subhash Chandra Goel will address the Bombay Chamber’s Managing Committee members on 10 October. The topic that he will throw light on through his own experiences and insights is ‘Leadership in Media and Entertainment Business’.

    Subhash Chandra is a business leader, also known as the media Czar, the founder chairman of Essel Group of Industries having a market capitalisation of approx US $1.7 billion. The Essel Group of Industries is into diversified businesses like, entertainment parks, satellite television, cable TV distribution, movie production, multiplexes, education, animation, publishing, packaging, satellite and latest online Lottery.

    His distinguished audiences will include leading corporate honchos and business tycoons, informs an official release.

    This talk is the part of the series of meetings planned by the Bombay Chamber with the aim of bettering the business environment and to equip its established members to conquer newer heights.

  • Nickelodeon Preschool TV to air new 14 episode series of ‘Max and Ruby’

    Nickelodeon Preschool TV to air new 14 episode series of ‘Max and Ruby’

    MUMBAI: Nickelodeon Preschool Television has announced that they have picked up an all-new, 14-episode season of the 2-D animated preschool series Max and Ruby. In addition, a new Max and Ruby Easter special will premiere on Nick Jr. and Noggin in Spring 2007 to kick off the new season.

    Based on the classic children’s book series by internationally
    acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Rosemary Wells, Max & Ruby follows the adventures of two bunny siblings. The show, a co-production from Nelvana/Corus Entertainment, currently airs weekdays on Noggin at 10:30 am (ET), informs an official release.

    “We’re thrilled to bring more Max and Ruby episodes to Nick Jr. and Noggin,” said Nickelodeon Preschool Television executive creative director Brown Johnson. “Preschoolers clearly delight in Max’s antics and Ruby’s creative persistence. They are a dynamic brother-sister duo.”

    Each half-hour episode of Max and Ruby consists of three
    seven-and-a-half minute stories that celebrate the universal nature of sibling relationships. The series follows Max, an enthusiastic and determined preschool bunny, and his big sister Ruby, a very smart and goal-oriented seven-year-old, through their everyday lives in the village of East Bunnyhop. Even though Max and Ruby have conflicting agendas, they enjoy working and playing together.

    The original 26 episodes of the series and the new season of 14 episodes were produced by Nelvana in association with Chorion Silver Lining.

  • Peace Arch Entertainment to push drama ‘The Tudors’ at Mipcom

    Peace Arch Entertainment to push drama ‘The Tudors’ at Mipcom

    MUMBAI: Film and television firm Peace Arch Entertainment Group has launched a multi-media marketing campaign for its 10 episode TV series The Tudors at the television trade event Mipcom which is currently on in Cannes, France.

    The launch consists of an extended trailer of the series, an eight page brochure, a multi-page print ad campaign, a focussed publicity effort, and a strong market floor presence led by Peace Arch executive VP Mary Herne.

    The Tudors is nearing the completion of principal photography, and now shooting on location in Ireland. It will air in the US next year on the Showtime cable network, a subsidiary of CBS. The series stars Golden Globe-winning actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point, Bend It Like Beckham) as the young, dynamic and seductive Henry VIII, as well as Golden Globe nominated actor Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Merlin) and actor Henry Czerny (Mission Impossible, Clear and Present Danger).

    The Tudors will focus on the early years of King Henry VIII’s famous — and sometimes infamous — four-decade reign over England, which was wrought with personal and political intrigues, including tumultuous relationships with Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

    The series will also depict such influential figures as the philosopher Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, who led the Catholic Church of England during its break with Rome.

  • Digital television progressing steadily in the UK : Ofcom

    Digital television progressing steadily in the UK : Ofcom

    MUMBAI: Britain’s media regulatory body Ofcom has published its Communications Market: Digital Television Progress Report for the second quarter of 2006 (April-June).

    The report shows that by the end of June 2006 70.2 per cent of UK television households (17.7 million) were watching digital television on at least one set in the home – up from 69.7 per cent at the end March this year.

    The report also reveals that the large majority of digital television receivers are now being bought for use on additional television sets within the home to complement digital viewing on the household’s primary television. The number of secondary television sets (for example, those used in a spare room or a child’s bedroom) viewed using digital receivers has more than doubled in the year to June 2006, from just under 3.5 million to over seven million.

    In total, more than 40 per cent of television sets in the UK are either connected to a digital set-top-box or have an integrated digital tuner demonstrating that a substantial number of households are now going fully digital.

    Key trends for the second quarter of 2006 include:

    Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) – Freeview services

    The three months to the end of June 2006 was the fourth consecutive quarter in which sales of DTT equipment (either set-top-boxes or televisions with built-in DTT tuners) exceeded the million mark. DTT sales, at 1.2 million for the quarter, were up more than 70 per cent on the same period in 2005.

    DTT services are now viewed on 19.4 per cent of the UK’s 60 million television sets, compared to 17.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

    The number of households viewing DTT services on their primary television set now stands at 6.4 million up 0.2 per cent since the first qyarter of 2006. The number of secondary sets used to watch DTT services has more than doubled in the past year and now stands at more than five million.

    Digital satellite television remains the most popular digital television platform on primary television sets in UK households. In total 33.4 per cent of UK television homes either subscribe to BSkyB’s television services or receive free-to-view satellite services.

    In the year to June 2006 satellite television accounted for around one quarter of net digital household additions. In the second quarter of 2006, of the 168,000 homes viewing digital services for the first time on their primary television sets, 64 per cent chose to do so via digital satellite television.

    The total number of Sky Multiroom subscribers (a subscription service which allows viewing on multiple sets in the home) broke through the one million mark in the second quarter of 2006 and the number of Sky+ subscribers stood at more than 1.5 million.

    Cable Television– NTL:Telewest services plus others

    An additional 50,000 households began subscribing to digital cable television in Q2 2006; the majority of those switched from legacy analogue cable television services. There are now over 2.8m digital cable television subscribers, representing 11.3% of all television households compared to 10.4% a year previously.

    Around 86 per cent of all cable television subscribers now view digital television services (with 14 per cent remaining on legacy analogue systems), up from 84 per cent in the previous quarter. When analogue cable subscribers are also taken into account, the total number of cable television subscribers stood at 3.3 million (13.1 per cent of all television homes) in the second quarter of 2006.

  • AXN unveils identity of the Indian team for ‘The Amazing Race Asia’

    AXN unveils identity of the Indian team for ‘The Amazing Race Asia’

    MUMBAI: One of the action oriented channel AXN’s on ground initiatives for this year is The Amazing Race Asia. The initiative kicks off on the channel on 9 November 2006 at 11 pm and the channel has revealed the ten teams selected to race around Asia and beyond for the $100,000 prize. 

    The show was shot earlier this year and cost millions of dollars. For the uninitiated, the show sees couples travelling across the Asia through specified modes of transport. Each couple is linked by a relationship like husband and wife, brother and sister.

    AXN adds that the initiative reached a broad spectrum of people from various Asia countries, cultures and different walks of life since the call for participation that was made in February 2006. Some begged, some bragged, some even cried, just to attract the eyes of the selection committee. It was a tough process, but after much deliberation, a diverse group of contestants living in different parts of Asia, of various backgrounds and life experiences were thrown into the mix to outrun, outsmart and conquer in the race.

    Out of more than 10,000 applications from all over Asia an Indian team comprising of male models Prashant Raj Sachdev and Sahil Shroff were chosen and they will compete against nine teams from Asia to win that coveted prize of fame and money. The teams will be travelling around Asia and beyond where language barriers, time constraints and foreign environments become too hot to handle. 

    The show’s host Allan Wu says, “The producers definitely took the time and did their homework to select the most diverse, entertaining, and controversial batch of contestants for our first season. Expect to see the usual tantrums and arguments between teams and teammates. Furthermore, expect to see clashes that you’ve never even seen on the US-version. Our contestants are from all over the region and not just one country so you are definitely going to see some major drama and rivalries.”

    SPE Networks – Asia GM Ricky Ow says, “The participants are the key drivers of any challenge-reality show with the humor and drama that they create onscreen. Viewers will definitely not be disappointed by our selection of the contestants. They are a colourful and vibrant mix that will truly make The Amazing Race Asia an exceptional and really unique first-of-its-kind viewing experience for Asia viewers.”

  • Zee TV unveils celeb judge line up for ‘Cinestars’

    Zee TV unveils celeb judge line up for ‘Cinestars’

    MUMBAI: Zee TV has announced the people associated with its upcoming talent hunt event Idea Zee Cinestars. In its second edition, the show is going to be judged by Anupam Kher, Pooja Bhatt and Madhur Bhandarkar.

    The show will be anchored by Aman Verma.

    Announcing the initiative, Zee Network SVP Ashish Kaul said, “Idea Zee Cinestars has so far received lots of entries from young candidates who want to make a name for themselves in Indian cinema. The show will provide participants from various cities an opportunity to court fame and fortune by showcasing their acting and dancing skills.”

    He further added, “The hunt will narrow down to two Best performers from the entire nation. 60 participants will be brought down to Mumbai – The City of Dreams, where, over the weeks they will begin to get eliminated to give us the winners of Idea Zee Cinestars.”

    This journey to fame is interwoven with the trials and tribulations of the participants who are hoping to be introduced to Hindi cinema as actors. The journey of these contestants working towards winning the title will be shown as a reality series that will be split into various stages and will essentially showcase the ecstasy, trauma, victory and defeat of participants through 18 weeks, informs an official release.

    The 60 participants are grouped as couples whom Bollywood’s popular directors and choreographers will groom. Viewers, who will vote for their favourite performers through the weeks, will choose the Best couple., the release adds.