ITV

Category: TV Channels

  • Indian TV channels to show solidarity with Mumbai blast victims

    Indian TV channels to show solidarity with Mumbai blast victims

    MUMBAI: Over 30 Indian television channels will simulcast a two-minute film The Voices of India on 18 July at 6 pm and 9 pm. The aim is to show solidarity with the victims of the serial train blasts that hit Mumbai last week.

    It is for the first time that television channels like DD, Star, Zee, Sony, Times, ETV, MTV, TV 18 network, NDTV and Janmat will get together to air the film.

    The Voices of India encapsulates thoughts expressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after visiting the bomb blast victims. Sachin Tendulkar, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Fardeen Khan, Anil Kapoor, Yash Chopra, Preity Zinta, Karan Johar and Nana Patekar also feature in the film.

    Designed as a Campaign for India, it is the citizens response to the terrorist attack on Mumbai.

  • ‘Lost’ producer Abrams leaves Disney for Warner, Paramount

    ‘Lost’ producer Abrams leaves Disney for Warner, Paramount

    MUMBAI: With one of the biggest television shows in the US Lost under his belt J.J. Abrams is hot property. The man who also directed Mission Impossible 3 has signed a five-year film deal with Paramount Pictures and a six-year TV contract with Warner Bros.

    Together, they are worth more than $55 million.
    With this, Abrams leaves Disney’s Touchstone. ABC later this year will unveil three Abrams-produced shows. Media reports indicate that he had been there for seven years making many shows.

    However what made the difference was the fact that Disney was firm on the fact that revenue from his current shows would be included in the amount of money it would have guaranteed him each year under a new deal.

    Reports add that if Abrams’ shows for Warner are successful the sky is the limit. He will get around 35 per cent of the backend. This means revenues from syndication, DVDs, net downloads etc. His production firm is called Brad Robot.

    Abrams will get around $five million for directing a Star Trek film for Paramount and he will get some backend, should the film make a tidy profit. He is said to be keen to make films that cost less than $25 million as there are important stories that can be told.

  • Channel 7 brings in CNN-IBN’s ‘Citizen Journalist’

    Channel 7 brings in CNN-IBN’s ‘Citizen Journalist’

    MUMBAI: With the launch of CNN-IBN, the English news channel had brought in a new initiative of empowering ordinary citizen through the show Citizen Journalism. The new sibling Channel 7 is all set to follow the path taken by the big brother by launching Citizen Journalist.

    The show Citizen Journalist encourages the viewers to document in pictures or videos, anything around them that should be brought to the nation’s notice. The most relevant reports sent will be aired on the channel, duly crediting the viewer, informs an official release.

    Citizens can report on news items of importance across the country by sending in a MMS to 2622, SMS CJ (Story) to 2622 or by calling Channel 7’s help-line at 0120-2515340. Citizen Journalists may also e-mail their stories to citizen@ibnlive.com or even post their stories on www.ibnlive.com.

    Citizen Journalist, the initiative started by CNN-IBN and has over 2000 stories in its bank within just six months. Channel 7 managing editor Ashutosh says, “We at Channel 7 endeavour to infuse our mission statement ‘Khabar Har Keemat Par’ in every individual’s life, and ‘Citizen Journalist’ an ideal route to capture it. This initiative by CNN-IBN is exemplary and laudable. We are confident that Channel 7 will also receive an encouraging response and attain similar success.”

    CNN-IBN and Channel 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Citizen Journalist is an idea whose time has come. It’s a way of engaging the viewer, of making him/her an active participant in the process of newsgathering, of making television news truly interactive. The big idea is to build a citizenry that is engaged with public life.”

    Earlier this year, the management of Channel7 changed hands. The channel also relaunched on 5 June with a new on-air look and a tag line to boot – ‘Khabar, Har Keemat Par’ (News, No matter what the cost).

  • NBC’s ‘The year without a Santa Claus’ in the making

    NBC’s ‘The year without a Santa Claus’ in the making

    MUMBAI: This yuletide season, US broadcaster NBC will air The Year Without a Santa Claus.

    The film which is currently in production is about Santa Claus and a young boy who help each other believe in Christmas again.The film stars John Goodman, Chris Kattan, Ethan Suplee, Eddie Griffin and Carol Kane

    The film is based on the 1974 Rankin-Bass holiday film favourite that featured stop-motion animation. Mrs. Claus is greatly dismayed when Santa (Goodman) convinced that people have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas decides to take a year off and not deliver any gifts.

    She enlists the help of his two closest elves, Jingle (Suplee) and Jangle (Griffin), to help prove there are children who still care about the true spirit of the holiday. But their efforts are complicated by Heatmiser (Elliott) and Snowmiser (McKean), whose help Jingle and Jangle will need to save Christmas before Santa’s devious head elf (Kattan) takes over his job.

  • Asianet to launch prime time soap ‘Ammathampuraatti’

    Asianet to launch prime time soap ‘Ammathampuraatti’

    MUMBAI: Malayalam channel Asianet continues with its experiments with the prime time band. This week, the channel is introducing a new soap, Ammathampuraatti in its 9:30 pm slot. The daily soap will launch on 17 July.

    The story begins with the arrival of Lakshmi Bai Thampuraatti of Udayapuram Palace, who eloped with Soman Nair 20 years back and left her hometown for Baroda. The story basically revolves around the rivalry between Lakshmi Bai and brother Udaya Varman. The rivalry even continues to the next generation.

    The cast of Ammathampuraatti includes Sreevidhya, Sukumari, Sreeja Chandran, Maya Maushmi, Venu Nahavally and M R Gopakumar. The serial is directed by Malayalam film & TV veteran Sreekumaran Thampi.

  • Nielsen signs deal with Wegener for encoder product

    Nielsen signs deal with Wegener for encoder product

    MUMBAI: Wegener which provides equipment for US television, audio and data distribution networks worldwide has announced receipt of an order from Nielsen Media Research for the development and manufacture of the new Wegener SpoTTrac Encoder.

    The encoder addresses the industry’s need for improved broadcast verification and commercial tracking services. Nielsen Media Research provides television audience measurement and related services, worldwide. A division of Nielsen Media Research, Nielsen Tracking Services (NTS) is a syndicated offering for advertising agencies, advertisers, public relations companies, broadcasters, producers, and non-profit organisations.

    NTS leverages the Nielsen technology network to capture any video content that airs on television. The service is available to companies that wish to more accurately track their commercials and video content, and manage campaign performance.

    The encoder is a turnkey workstation that will encode both the audio and video of television commercials, Public Service Announcements, and other spots with Nielsen Media Research content identification information as they are being produced and distributed.

    The tracked data will be collected and integrated into Nielsen Tracking Service’s reporting and performance management tools.

  • Podcasting growing in the US: Nielsen survey

    Podcasting growing in the US: Nielsen survey

    MUMBAI: Nielsen//NetRatings, which works in the field of Internet media and market research has announced that 6.6 per cent of America’s adult online population, or 9.2 million Web users, have recently downloaded an audio podcast

    Four per cent, or 5.6 million Web users, have recently downloaded a video podcast. These figures put the podcasting population on a par with those who publish blogs, 4.8 per cent, and online daters, 3.9 per cent. However, podcasting is not yet nearly as popular as viewing and paying bills online, 51.6 per cent, or online job hunting, 24.6 per cent.

    For the uninitiated podcasting is a relatively new technology that enables users to quickly and easily download multimedia files, including audio and video, for playback on mobile devices including iPods and other MP3 players, as well as cell phones.

    Nielsen//NetRatings analyst Michael Lanz says, “The portability of podcasts makes them especially appealing to young on-the-go audiences. We can expect to see podcasting become increasingly popular as portable content media players proliferate”.

    As is often typical with new technologies, young people are more likely than their older counterparts to engage in audio or video podcasting. Web users between the ages 18 and 24 are nearly twice as likely as the average Web user to download audio podcasts, followed by users in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, who were also more likely than the average Web user to do audio podcasting.

    Video podcasters showed 25-34 year olds indexing the highest. Web users above the age of 45 were less likely than average to engage in podcasting of either sort. Since the popularity of Apple’s iPod is largely responsible for the spread of podcasting, not surprisingly podcasters enjoy using Apple products and visiting Apple Web sites. For example, audio and video podcasters are over three times as likely as the average Web user to use Apple’s Safari as their primary Internet browser.

    Among audio podcasters, Macworld is the most-visited content site, with a composition index of 606 (see Table 4). Apple and iTunes are the No. 2 and 3 e-commerce sites visited by audio podcasters, with composition indexes of 455 and 396, respectively. The Apple connection is not as clear for video podcasters, who flock to Startrek.com among content sites, with an index of 864. Live365.com and eMusic are the two most popular e-commerce sites for video podcasters, with indexes of 730 and 656, respectively.

    Lanz adds, “Competitors to the iPod are now in the marketplace, but Apple got a big head start. It will take time before other portable media players make significant in-roads with the early-adopters who are currently podcasting”.

  • ‘We will be a Rs 5 billion company by 2008’ : Atul Goel – E-City Ventures CEO

    ‘We will be a Rs 5 billion company by 2008’ : Atul Goel – E-City Ventures CEO

    His is a tale that is not just about multiplexes. E-City Investments and Holdings chief Atul Goel is hooking up a film exhibition, distribution and digital delivery business.

    At the centre of this game is the multiplex business. Fun Multiplex Pvt Ltd is on a massive scale up exercise, planning to ramp up from 23 screens to 150 by FY08 while acquiring 100 single screens to gain a pan-India presence.

    E-City Digital Cinemas will deliver movies to theatres via satellite as well as hard disk in a format that operates on low margins but is profitable. Being part of the Essel group, it will use the Essel Shyam facility at Noida near Delhi which is also utilised by Zee for uplinking its channels.

    Goel recently got IL&FS to invest Rs 1 billion for a 26 per cent stake in E-City Entertainment, the hived off entity that handles real estate development. His next big target: a combined turnover of Rs 5 billion by FY08.

    In conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Sibabrata Das & Bijoy AK, Goel unveils the expansion plans he has chalked out for E-City.

    Excerpts:

    Why did you decide to hive off the multiplex and real estate businesses into separate companies?
    The best way to attract investors is to divide the two segments of business. They can enjoy their own valuations and investors. For instance, the investors in real estate may not necessarily want to take exposure in the multiplex business. We got Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) to pick up a 26 per cent stake in E-City Entertainment, which handles real estate development like setting up malls, for Rs 1 billion.

    Are you in the hunt for an investor in the multiplex business as well?
    Fun Multiplex Pvt. Ltd. still needs to scale up as we ended the last fiscal with a turnover of just Rs 450 million and a net profit of Rs 60 million. We are planning to pump in Rs 2.5 billion and have 150 screens by FY08. We have already put in Rs 300 million. We plan to raise money in a debt-equity ratio of 1.5:1. Our target in FY08 is to have a total income of Rs 2.5 billion and operating profit of Rs 720 million by FY08.

    What makes you project such a fast rate of growth in two years?
    The revenues will come mainly because of newer developments. We have 23 screens and are opening up three properties this month. We, in fact, will be adding 10 more screens by 15 August.

    Do you see revenue growth also coming from increase in ticket rates?
    Pricing power will continue to be more a movie-based strategy rather than a rate hike in tickets across the board. In case of Krrish, we increased the ticket rates. We will also see the emergence of differential pricing for off-time shows. We have, for instance, lowered the rates for early morning screenings.

    Multiplex operators are in a build up phase and Inox has even taken the acquisition route in Kolkata to enhance its pan-India presence. How are you planning to scale up your operations?
    We are also planning to take the inorganic route. We will be acquiring single screen theatres across the country. We aim to have 100 single screens by FY08. This will be in addition to the 150 multiplex screens we will have by then.
    ‘The future trend could be special alliances between distributors and multiplex operators‘

    Multiplex operators have been made to pay more for premium film content by Yash Raj Films (YRF). When YRF asked for an increase in revenue share for the Aamir Khan blockbuster Fanaa, you took a hard stance. What made you compromise later?
    Initially, all the multiplex operators protested against the hike. But the unity didn’t stay and some of them went ahead to sign the new terms with YRF. Let me reiterate here that we were in a pure business deadlock and not a confrontation of any kind.

    Has YRF, with a lineup of Hindi blockbusters like Fanaa, Krrish and Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, started a trend where film content distributors would push for higher revenue shares from multiplex operators?
    We are not in a position where we can take a hard stance against YRF. We have a business relationship going with them and are showing Krissh. The new terms are exceptional to YRF but with such high ratios, we can only break even. The future trend could be special alliances between distributors and multiplex operators.

    Are you in any such alliance with a big distributor?
    It is too early to carve out such relationships. In fact, we urge the distributors not to start hiking rates or getting into special relationships with certain multiplexes at this stage. The industry needs to scale up the infrastructure, there is an opportunity sitting out there. We should take measures that grow rather than kill the industry at this early stage.

    Have you taken a cautious approach in the film distribution business?
    E-City Films (ECF) has distributed Hindi movies like 36 China Town in Gujarat where we control 90 theatres. The market is fragmented and will take time to consolidate. Some companies are also acquiring some movies for distribution at unrealistic prices. We are cautious and have no plans to set up a film distribution outfit overseas. For international movies, our strategy is to distribute 10-12 a year. In the past, we have distributed Alexander (December 2004), One Dollar Curry (February 2005), Million Dollar Baby (March 2005) and Sahara (July 2005). Among ECF’s recently acquired movies are Astronaut Farmer, Babel, Miss Potter and Michael Clayton.

    Have you closed down your content syndication business?
    It is in a state of lull now, but we have revival plans.

    What are the expansion plans for E-City Entertainment after IL&FS has taken a stake in it?
    We are investing Rs 1 billion each for the Kanpur and Coimbatore properties. Lucknow will attract a further funding of Rs 250 million. We have already pumped in Rs 2.17 billion in developing four projects (Rs 600 million for Andheri in Mumbai, Rs 750 million in Lucknow, Rs 550 million in Ahmedabad and Rs 270 million in Chandigarh). We will have 10-15 properties by FY08. We expect our turnover to climb from Rs 210 million to Rs 800 million by then. As these are rental incomes, E-City Entertainment will always be a profitable venture.

    How are you funding these properties?
    We will be raising fresh equity. But we have not started talking with anybody yet.

    When is E-City Digital Cinemas starting satellite delivery of movies to cinema theatres?
    We plan to launch it by the end of this month. We will be using the uplinking facility of Essel Shyam at Noida near Delhi. Currently, the hard disk is physically distributed to the 22 theatres in Gujarat (we control 90 theatres there) which we have taken on long term hire basis. We are using Real Image’s encryption technology so that piracy is safeguarded. The movie is first converted into digital master using the telecine machine, after which it can be taken on to D5 tape or captured directly on the encoding server. After encryption and compression, the movie is uplinked to the satellite via transmission server and downloaded at the playout local server which is installed at the theatre. A digital projector is used for screening of the film. E-City Digital Cinemas will target A-class towns where the current net collections are over Rs 100,000 per week.

    How many theatres will have the digital system?
    We plan to digitise 500 screens by FY08. We have already acquired 30 cinemas including a few in Mumbai. The business operates on low margins and, on a turnover of Rs 300 million last fiscal, we have reached a break even situation. As we ramp up theatre acquisitions, we expect our revenues to touch Rs 2.5 billion by FY08.

    So will E-City Holdings go for an initial public offering (IPO) or will the different entities have separate listings?
    We haven’t decided anything yet. We have no IPO plans, as of now. But by FY08 the entire venture will be a Rs 5 billion company.
  • Times Now tweaks its look, launches four news based shows

    Times Now tweaks its look, launches four news based shows

    MUMBAI:Times Now is giving a double boost to news on television by launching four new daily news based shows. The new shows; News Now Morning, Business Buzz, Live Report and The Game conform to the new look the 24-hour English general news channel has donned.

    With the introduction of four new shows, the channel has evolved a new look and feel by providing more visual space. The channel, which presently runs three tickers, will reduce it to two with the revamp. The channel will showcase its anchors in a white-line bordered frame. According to Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla, “The four new shows add to the quality of information our viewers need.”

    Starting 17 July, the channel has kicked off the day with a new morning breakfast show — News Now Morning. Lulla says that for a Times Now viewer, the morning news bulletin, which will be aired at 6 am, is the best way of getting ready to face the new day.

    The channel maintains its agenda is to keep redefining the concept of news for their urbanite target audience. Business Buzz, which will air from 9:30 am to 12 noon and again from 3 pm to 4 pm, is aimed at giving viewers a complete picture of the day’s business news and markets. The channel will also leverage content from sister print publication and leading financial paper The Economic Times as well the global news service Reuters.

    At 12 noon there is Live Report, where the channel will go live for half an hour to the story of the moment. The show’s tagline is pure news at noon.

    At 7:30 pm is The Game, which as the name implies is primarily for sports fans. The Game will have cricket journalists Faisal Sharif and Dinesh Chopra pitching to provide inside stories and scoops on the country’s most popular sport. 

    Talking about the programming of the new shows, Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami says, “The new look and the new shows will make us pacier and even more newsy. We’ve already been acknowledged as number one in coverage of big stories. Now, we’ll also have the widest range of shows aimed at just one purpose, putting out much more news on our channel and broadcasting the news with energy and conviction, since the viewers are tired of bland or preachy news channels.”

    Concludes Lulla, “In the coming weeks, the channel is likely to launch a brand campaign and we will continue to sharpen the channel as we go long.”

  • Lionsgate signs content deal with Studio Canal

    Lionsgate signs content deal with Studio Canal

    MUMBAI: Independent film studio Lionsgate is continuing to build its library. It has secured access of up to 2,000 titles from Studio Canal in a multi-year deal.

    This deal continues Lionsgate’s strategy of strengthening television, VOD and Internet rights throughout its library.

    The acquisition adds to Lionsgate’s current library of more than 5,500 titles, already one of the most prestigious and prolific in the industry, and positions the company to continue leveraging its content into traditional and digital media distribution platforms. 

    Lionsgate president Steve Beeks says, “The Lionsgate library is the jewel in our crown and, as we move into the digital world, we are capitalizing on opportunities to leverage our stockpile of content into new and incremental revenue streams.”

    The Studio Canal library deal includes television, DVD and a large proportion of VOD rights to a combination of English-language and French-language titles, including Tender Mercies, Crimes Of The Heart, Jean Renoir’s The Grand
    Illusion and Luis Bunuel’s Obscure Object Of Desire.