Category: TV Channels

  • Hungama TV to telecast talent show ‘Mother n Child’ on 14 &15 October

    MUMBAI: The Multimedia Informatics talent show Mother n Child grand finale round will be held on Sunday, 1 October in Mumbai. The telecast partners are Hungama TV and the show will be aired as a two part program on 14 and 15 October.


    This show aspires to identify and nurture talent in young children between the age 2 ? and 7 years old. The sixth edition of the event will pay tribute to the bond between children and their mothers and will witness mother-children pairs performing jointly through singing, dancing, mimicry, satire, comic skits, enacting fables.


    The ‘Mother n Child‘ event promises to help imbibe in a child, confidence, poise, stage presence, team spirit and also groom their basic personality. The auditions were held in the premises of schools such as R. N. Podar, Sailee International, Don Bosco and nurseries like Anandi Playschool, Tiny Steps and Junior Crafting, Blooming Buds. The grooming sessions for the event were held earlier this week and 40 shortlisted participants were called for the grand rehearsals. The finalists were given tips to better their performance as well as briefed about the camera angles and stage settings, states an official release.


    Multimedia Informatics Pvt. Ltd. distributed enrollment forms through various activity classes, hobby classes, dance classes and many such other intuitions. It also had extensive mobile van publicity at various places in Mumbai in addition to promotional activities at malls and multiplexes. It also had hoardings at strategic locations across the city. At every audition centre, an average of about 45 – 50 Mother n Child pairs participated. The final selection decision will be based on the judges, adds the release.


    Multimedia Informatics Pvt. Ltd. Shashank Mane says, “The bonds of motherhood are stronger than any other bond. A mother is also the one who identifies and nurtures the talent in a child. Keeping this in mind, Multimedia Informatics came up with a unique event called ‘Mother n Child‘, a chance for an early start to hone the talent in your child. Being our third event on Mumbai level, we decided to make it even bigger this year by reaching out to maximum schools as possible. And we have managed to get phenomenal response from participating schools and nurseries.”


    Sagarika (singer, model, and actress) one of the celebrity mothers, who participated in the earlier events said, “I would like to be a participant when my child grows eligible to participate. But I am not sure whether I will be able to perform with confidence and these people do.”


    Another celebrity mother Walucha Robinson (model) added, “It‘s not very easy to stand on stage and perform but that‘s how I started…I was young when I started out on a small little stage…but you get where you want to in life when you start small

  • Disney’s Buena Vista Games to acquire Climax Racing

    Disney’s Buena Vista Games to acquire Climax Racing

    MUMBAI: Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG), the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company has announced the acquisition of video games company Climax Racing.

    The addition of Climax Racing allows BVG to create triple-A racing titles that meet the highest standards for creativity and quality. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. The deal is expected to close in early October, informs an official release.

    Buena Vista Games senior vice president and general manager Graham Hopper said, “The acquisition of Climax Racing aligns perfectly with our strategic and geographic goals by allowing us to both reach into new genres and new markets for creative talent. Adding Climax Racing to our creative family will provide an additional catalyst for our continued growth in the video games market.”

    UK based Climax Racing is a known developer of racing games, including its critically-acclaimed work on such franchises as MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury. The studio and its products have won or been nominated for awards, including winning four IGN Best of Show awards at E3 2006.

    “As a premier, award-winning studio that has created some of the best racing titles of all time, Climax Racing is an ideal component of BVG’s expanding portfolio of development talent,” said Climax founder and chief executive officer Karl Jeffery.

    The studio is of both strategic and geographic importance to BVG as it becomes the third internal studio, and the first in Europe, that BVG has added to its development capacity. BVG currently operates development studios in Vancouver, British Columbia (Propaganda Games), and Salt Lake City, Utah (Avalanche Software), adds the release.

    Tony Beckwith, co-founder of the studio, has been named vice president and general manager of Climax Racing as it continues its creative direction under BVG.

    “The Walt Disney Company holds one of the largest and most exciting portfolios of intellectual property in the world, and through BVG, we look forward to having access to the company’s deep resources in the video games space to continue creating remarkable interactive entertainment,” said Beckwith. “This promises to be a mutually beneficial relationship and we believe that together we will make outstanding games for the next generation and beyond.”

  • Century Communication launches 2nd post production studio Pixion II in Mumbai

    Century Communication launches 2nd post production studio Pixion II in Mumbai

    MUMBAI: Century Communication Limited (CCL), an integrated media & entertainment company surges ahead with its launch of its second state-of–the-art post production studio, ‘Pixion II’ in Mumbai.

    The Pixion brand of CCL has established itself as a clear market leader in the video space and is one of the dominant industry players in the film post production market.

    The existing Pixion’s state-of-the-art post production facilities provide end to end digital post production solutions to film and video production houses. It provides complete solutions ranging from offline to online Processing, graphics and digital sound.

    With the new launch, Pixion boasts of being the biggest post production facilitator in Mumbai market. It has added two more grading facilities, four more online smokes, one IQ, two EQ, 4-5 offline suites and more than forty visual effects & animation stations. Pixion studios introduces IQ in India making it the holder of the largest concentration of Quantel systems in India.

    Quantel’s generationQ is a radical, all-encompassing, new concept that offers total scalability in both hardware and software across post production, graphics and broadcast for multiple resolutions, team-working production environments.

    Commenting on the launch of Pixion II, CEO Pixion Naresh Malik said, “The post production industry is rapidly growing and the demand for post production, DI and visual effects is increasing at an enormous rate. With the second facility in Mumbai we ensure to meet this demand and also provide world class infrastructure and talent to Indian and international film makers.”

    “With advance technology, state of art infrastructure and a commitment to create international benchmarks Pixion offers the best in both talent and technology “, said Director CCL Anand Tewari.

    “We are very optimistic about the Pixion brand and plan to set up studios in other markets like Hyderabad and Chennai too”, he further added.

  • Disney’s Buena Vista Games to acquire Climax Racing

    MUMBAI: Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG), the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company has announced the acquisition of video games company Climax Racing.


    The addition of Climax Racing allows BVG to create triple-A racing titles that meet the highest standards for creativity and quality. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. The deal is expected to close in early October, informs an official release.


    Buena Vista Games senior vice president and general manager Graham Hopper said, “The acquisition of Climax Racing aligns perfectly with our strategic and geographic goals by allowing us to both reach into new genres and new markets for creative talent. Adding Climax Racing to our creative family will provide an additional catalyst for our continued growth in the video games market



    UK based Climax Racing is a known developer of racing games, including its critically-acclaimed work on such franchises as MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury. The studio and its products have won or been nominated for awards, including winning four IGN Best of Show awards at E3 2006.


    “As a premier, award-winning studio that has created some of the best racing titles of all time, Climax Racing is an ideal component of BVG‘s expanding portfolio of development talent,” said Climax founder and chief executive officer Karl Jeffery.


    The studio is of both strategic and geographic importance to BVG as it becomes the third internal studio, and the first in Europe, that BVG has added to its development capacity. BVG currently operates development studios in Vancouver, British Columbia (Propaganda Games), and Salt Lake City, Utah (Avalanche Software), adds the release.


    Tony Beckwith, co-founder of the studio, has been named vice president and general manager of Climax Racing as it continues its creative direction under BVG.


    “The Walt Disney Company holds one of the largest and most exciting portfolios of intellectual property in the world, and through BVG, we look forward to having access to the company‘s deep resources in the video games space to continue creating remarkable interactive entertainment,” said Beckwith. “This promises to be a mutually beneficial relationship and we believe that together we will make outstanding games for the next generation and beyond.”

  • MSN and Control Room take music performances to Europe

    MSN and Control Room take music performances to Europe

    MUMBAI: MSN, a leader in delivering compelling entertainment to Indian consumers, anounced a multiyear global content distribution agreement with Control Room, the No 1 provider of live digital entertainment and the producers of Live 8.

    The partnership will see MSN as the exclusive online worldwide destination for Control Room’s live music programming, via live and on-demand streaming.

    Officially launching in the UK on 2 October, the agreement means that nearly 465 million visitors to MSN worldwide, including millions of fans in India will have access to an exclusive performance from John Legend.

    The multiple-award-winning singer, songwriter and pianist’s live Royal Albert Hall performance will be available at http://msn.co.in/johnlegend from 16.00 GMT. Additional artists already scheduled to appear on MSN through the relationship with Control Room include Rod Stewart from the Nokia Theater in NYC and John Mayer from Webster Hall in NYC.

    The partnership will further allow visitors to MSN video ongoing access to live concerts from the most popular, top-selling musical artists as well as today’s most talked-about breakthrough acts.

    “With the video content market surging as it has been in the last year since Live 8, we have proven that there is a robust market for a company like ours to change the way live entertainment is consumed, now and in the future,” said CEO of Control Room Kevin Wall.

    “With MSN, we have found a global partner that sees the value and profit in providing our rich and cutting-edge live entertainment content to its consumers worldwide,”added Wall.

    General Manager for the MSN Network Greg Nelson said,”With this collaboration, artists now have an extremely valuable, cohesive, global marketing and promotion avenue to reach and connect with fans worldwide, while in turn it creates another key access point for consumers to get high-quality content from the musicians they love.”

    With this agreement in place, MSN and Control Room will embark upon a deep, exclusive content collaboration, combining Control Room’s expertise in creating and delivering live music events for cross-media distribution with the feature-rich video programming of MSN and its global reach and branded entertainment appeal to advertisers.

    Further, through this agreement, Microsoft Corp. may stream Control Room shows to other platforms, including Xbox Live, MSN Messenger, Microsoft Windows Media Player and Windows XP Media Center Edition.

    The Control Room team will leverage its deep and broad experiences, relationships and skills accrued while creating and digitally distributing more than 59 shows in the past year to deliver high-quality live music programming to MSN. Control Room maintains the same seasoned management team, many of whom worked on the now historic Live 8, and also continues content distribution relationships with television, radio, theatrical and retail partners worldwide.

  • Zee News launches online game ‘The Prince of Kurukshetra’ on Games2Win

    MUMBAI: The news story on the rescue operation of The Prince of Kurukshetra had gripped the nation’s media and particularly the Zee News. The Hindi news channel has now tied up with the online game portal Games2win (g2w) to launch a game on The Prince of Kurukshetra, with a mission to save Prince.

    The game will be promoted it through its channel. In the near future, in partnership with Games2win, Zee News will offer the Prince of Kurukshetra game on mobile phones soon.

    The game has been templated in a the same setting of Kurukshetra. The game is enveloped on rescuing a boy that has fallen into a deep well. The challenge of the game is to correctly build a completely connected shaft using the varying types of pipe shapes provided and placing them in the correct grids of the underground map.

    According to an official release, upon completion of Level 1, the player is challenged further to complete Level 2 and 3 that increases considerably in complexity and difficulty. Also, a timer measures how fast a player can complete the levels. For consumers who get stuck, they can always ‘reset’ their scores. The game has been conceptualized, created and powered by games2win and will be exclusively premiered and featured on www.zeenews.com for the first three days of launch. It will later also be available on games2win.com.

    Zee News AVP marketing Rohit Kumar said “We are very happy to partner with Games2win.com on this really innovative concept. Zee News is one the most watched Hindi News Channels in the country and ideas like these make our viewers ‘participate’ in the content we show. This is a great synergy between passive and interactive viewer involvement.”

    Games2win founder Alok Kejriwal says, “This is a pioneering concept we have created with Zee News where an Indian thematic and current topic has been converted into a very interactive online game that will be promoted by a news channel to drive participation on their website. We believe that the fusion of TV with interactivity is best represented with ideas like this and g2w is proud to be pioneering this concept”

  • DD’s new revenue mantra: big films

    DD’s new revenue mantra: big films

    NEW DELHI: Indian pubcaster Doordarshan has decided to attempt maximizing revenue through its film slots by showing as many blockbuster films as possible during the remaining part of the year.

    This assumes importance in view of the fact that DD does not have exclusive cricket telecast rights, which brought in sizeable revenue during the previous years.

    A high level committee headed by Prasar Bharati CEO Brijeshwar Singh has been formed to ensure smooth implementation of the rejuvenated film policy.
    The other members of the panel are Doordarshan DG L D Mandloi and Rajat Bhargava, additional DG (finance).
    DD has five film slots in a week — the Friday night feature film, Saturday night feature film, Retrospective of Sunday Afternoons, Bio-Scope serialized feature film slot and the slot on Hindi belt network.

    The films will be marketed by Prasar Bharati’s marketing divisions in Mumbai and Delhi and will be largely procured through National Films Development Corporation.
    Prasar Bharati has chosen films to be the revenue growth engines as ananalysis of revenue flow has shown that they have the maximum potential to deliver net revenue.

    For example, Friday feature film is a clear winner. Besides being the most watched feature film on television in all TV homes with ratings of 7 and above (as per TAM data), it also fetches net revenue in excess of Rs 8 million per film.

    The Saturday feature film is a close second with a net revenue realization of approximately Rs 7 million. Retrospective on Sundays, which saw films of eminent artistes, have a niche audience appeal, yet manages to draw sizeable revenue.

    Since last one and a half years, Doordarshan has been showing blockbuster films on its national network on a regular basis.

    Earlier, the frequency was once a month, which was interspersed with other new/ recent films. Gone are the days when DD scheduled only old movies.

    An internal analysis by Prasar Bharati, which manages DD, has also shown that whenever blockbuster films were scheduled, they not only managed to garner higher revenue, but also attracted a sizeable C&S home audience.

    Shah Rukh Khan starrer Swades and Akshay Kumar-Priyanka Chopra starrer Aitraz being some recent examples.

    The blockbusters offer DD another plus. They helped promote other serials and programmes of the national broadcaster, especially offering a sample to those C&S home visitors to DD.

    Last financial year ended 31 March 2006, Doordarshan earned revenue of Rs 9.6 billion. The present effort is to gear up the national broadcaster to meet the challenges and repeat its good performance this year too.

    Giving effect to the new film strategy, DD has scheduled following hit films in the forthcoming days: Munnabhai MBBS on 29 September 2006, Jism on 30 September, Hum Saath Saath Hain on 1 October on Hindi belt network and Swades on 2 October being a Dussehra / Gandhi Jayanti holiday.

    To mark the occasion of birth anniversary of Father of the Nation, DD will also be showing Gandhi Se Mahatma Tak as part of serialized film slot, Bio Scope, on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday (2-4 October).

    Koi Mil Gaya, Mujh Se Shaadi Karoge, Virudh are among other big films lined for October.

  • Malaysian MotoGP Live on Ten Sports

    Round 13 of MotoGP takes place this weekend in Malaysia and all the action will be live on Ten Sports.

     

    Ten sports coverage of the race begins on September 10th at 9-30IST.

     

    With five rounds remaining the Championship is still wide open with as many as five riders still capable of being crowned 2006 champion.

     

    Championship leader Nicky Hayden will be looking to put behind him his poor performance in the Czech Republic last time out and try to cement his position at the top of the points table.

     

    Team mate Dani Pedrosa was able to close the gap on Hayden to just twenty five points with his third place last time out and his consistency has led to many pundits predicting that he could well be the man to finally end Valentino Rossi’s run of five successive titles.

     

    The diminutive Champion has moved in to third place in the rankings a further thirteen points back and with five races left you certainly cannot rule him out from claiming a sixth straight championship.

     

    Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi, winner in the Czech Republic, are two and twelve points further back respectively and they too have outside chances of capturing the title by the time the final race takes place in Spain in late October.

     

    Timings: September 10th 9-30IST

     

    ABOUT TEN SPORTS: Only launched in April 2002, Taj TV’s Ten Sports is watched by more viewers than any other sports channel in the sub-continent and is available in more than 50 million cable/ satellite households worldwide. Ten Sports is the world’s biggest producers of cricket. The Channel broadcasts cricket from Sharjah, the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Morocco throughout the Indian sub-continent and Asia, as well as in Europe and the Middle East. Other cricket properties broadcast by Ten Sports in certain territories include internationals from India, the World Cup 2003 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2004.

     

    FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TEN SPORTS PROGRAMMES, CONTACT:

    Murtuza Madraswala – Taj Television India Pvt Ltd, 403 Manish Commercial Complex, Dr. A.B. Road, Mumbai, India. Tel no: +91 22 6662 3101; Fax no: +91 22 6662 629; Email: murtuzam@tajtv.com or visit www.tensports.com

  • HBO announces Diwali special programmes

    HBO announces Diwali special programmes

    MUMBAI: Come October and HBO promises a treat for its viewers with non-stop Blockbusters, dazzling stars, exciting action, fun romantic comedies all through the month.

    Every Saturday night at 9 pm, viewers can tune in to watch films like Without a Paddle, Stealth, The Interpreter and Cellular. Two friends try to fulfill their dead friend’s dream in Without a Paddle on 7 October. Humanity must save itself from a computer in Stealth premiering on 14 October. The Interpreter starring Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn will be shown on 21 October0. And Cellular on October 28.

    Every Saturday night after the 9 pm movie and every Sunday night after the 8 pm movie, HBO will show hits like- Hitch, Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King, Spiderman 2, Troy, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous,The Last Samurai, Collateral, Hellboya and Resident Evil.

    And every weekday from Monday to Friday, Diwali Fun Fare at 11:30 am will treat its viewers to Julia Roberts film Mona Lisa Smile. The ultimate bachelor will face the ultimate challenge in 50 First Dates. And a 13 year old girl who plays a game on her birthday and wakes up the next day as a 30 year old woman in 13 going on 30. Besides Mean Girls, A Cinderella Story, Peter Pan, and many more films will be shown as part of Diwali Fun Fare.

    Every Thursday, ‘Diwali Laughs night’ after the 9 pm movie will make the viewers laugh, with comedies like Connie and Carla, The Guru, The Nutty Professor and Almost Heroes.

    Drawing inspiration from the spirit of Diwali, HBO presents Diwali Treat: The Good Always Wins every Monday night at 9 pm. Catch the battle upfront in Boa Vs Python, Dinocroc, Gargoyles’s Revenge, Pterodactyl and Anaconda. The heroes, the heroines, the legends, the art- its Kung Fu invasion in Diwali Kung Fu every Tuesday night right after your 9 pm movie with adrenaline pumping movies like The New Legend of Shaolin, The Bride with White Hair, Wonder Course, American Shaolin and The King of Kingboxers.

    HBO’s multi-award winning Original series Deadwood returns with a brand new addictive second season premiering 18 October after the 9 pm movie and thereafter every Wednesday night after the 9 pm movie. Set in an ungoverned stretch of South Dakota soon after the 1876 Custer massacre, Deadwood concerns a lawless, evolving town attracting fortune-seekers, drifters, tyrants, and burned-out adventurers searching for a card game and a place to die.

    Gus Van Sant’s gripping drama Elephant in the HBO Original Movie of the Month on October 3 at 9 pm.

    The movie explores the contemporary reality of high schools in America, a reality that has been transformed in recent years by school shootings like the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

    Prime time viewing on HBO includes HBO Blockbuster Of The Month, a special television event that premieres a mega blockbuster movie every month, HBO Saturday Nights, which premieres a new box office hit each week throughout the year; HBO Sunday Super Hits, which showcases the blockbuster hits, star-studded hits, favourite genre hits, Asian hits, highly acclaimed hits and so much more. In addition, HBO features at least 3 – 4 new movie showcases every month to offer viewers an interesting mix of Hollywood movies based on exciting themes.

  • ‘Pogo Voice’ winners to attend Pogo Amazing Kids Awards






     

    MUMBAI: The Pogo Voice Awards has announced the nominees in the various categories, allowing kids to start voting. This will give five kids an opportunity to attend the grand finale of the Pogo Amazing Kids Awards 2006 by voting.


    With this, the Pogo Amazing Kids Awards 2006 has progressed to the second stage. This initiative will encourage kids‘ to ‘voice their choice‘ by electing their favourite celebrities and icons across the field of sports and entertainment. The voting is open to kids‘ across India till 20 October 2006.


    Kids can send in their votes for their favourite icons via SMS to 8558, by typing the category name (like Actor, Actress) and sending it the mentioned short code. A question will be sent to them displaying the nominee names, in response, they need to select their favourite icon by typing <category name> followed by the option (a/b/c/d/e/) and send it to 8558; or can call – 1905 180 2233; or vote online on www.pogo.tv.




    The nominations for the Pogo Voice Awards 2006 have been announced for the various sub-categories including Most Amazing Actor, Most Amazing Actress, Most Amazing Film, Most Amazing Song, Most Amazing Sports Hero, Most Amazing Comedian, Most Amazing Foreign Film and Most Amazing Moment in a Film. The nominees for Pogo Voice Awards 2006 include:


    Most Amazing Actor: Hrithik Roshan (Krrish), John Abraham (Taxi No. 9211), Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti), Akshay Kumar (Phir Hera Pheri) and Shahrukh Khan (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna).


    Most Amazing Actress: Priyanka Chopra (Krrish), Kajol (Fanaa), Bipasha Basu (Phir Hera Pheri), Soha Ali Khan (Rang De Basanti) and Preity Zinta (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna).


    Most Amazing Film: Krrish, Rang De Basanti, Phir Hera Pheri, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Hanuman.


    Most Amazing Song: Dil Na Diya (Krrish), Just Chill (Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya), O Meri Zoharazabein (Phir Hera Pheri), Aap Ka Saroor (Himesh Reshammiya Album) and Masti Ki Pathshala (Rang De Basanti).


    Most Amazing Sports Hero: MS Dhoni, Sania Mirza, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Narayan Karthikeyan


    Most Amazing Comedian: Paresh Rawal (Phir Hera Pheri), Akshay Kumar (Phir Hera Pheri), Salman Khan (No Entry), Tusshar Kapoor (Golmaal) and Riteish Deshmukh (Bluff Master).


    Most Amazing Foreign Film: Harry Potter and The Goblet of FireTM, Superman Returns, X Men 3, Spiderman 2 and Ice Age 2.


    Most Amazing Moment in a Film: Jaaved Jaffrey “Egg-jhactly” (Salaam Namaste), Aamir Khan‘s mother‘s slaps (Rang De Basanti), Krrish special effect jumps (Krrish), Paresh, Akshay, Suniel trapeze moment (Phir Hera Pheri) and Salman‘s mother‘s slaps (Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya)


    Instituted by Pogo in December 2004, Pogo Amazing Kids Awards recognises child prodigies and rewards them for their outstanding achievements in multiple areas of excellence such as arts, leadership, sports, among others. Kids were also empowered to exercise their choice, and vote for their favourite icons from the world of music, sports, movies and television.