MUMBAI: UK broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five have joined forces to launch the UK’s first high definition (HD) trial broadcasts to terrestrial aerials.
A specially selected 450-strong audience sample have collected their trial HD set top boxes (STBs) for the closed technical digital terrestrial television (DTT) technical trial, which is due to last six months.
HD, the parties state, is a step change in television technology, which provides far clearer and more detailed pictures than normal standard definition TV. Each picture contains up to five times as much digital information as an ordinary TV picture.
The trial will offer participating broadcasters and their technical partners valuable lessons about delivering HD broadcasts on a digital terrestrial network and also research how the audience enjoys this new format.
It will help to discover whether there could be HD broadcasts on Freeview in future. The trial is being conducted under an Ofcom licence, which strictly limits the number of receivers and forbids reception of the trial stream by general members of the public. Humax and Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) have supplied the HD set top boxes for the trial.
The DTT HD trial consists of low power transmissions from Crystal Palace in London on frequencies that are not suitable for high power broadcasting.
National Grid Wireless (NGW) is transmitting the BBC’s HD stream, which went on air last month, and Red Bee Media provides play-out services.
Arqiva is transmitting the multiplex shared by ITV, Channel 4 and Five, with Grass Valley, a business within Thomson, providing broadcast playout and video encoding equipment.
Siemens Business Services is providing technical support for the BBC’s HD trial. The test broadcasts will use MPEG4 video coding, 8K carriers and 64QAM modulation at launch – different parameters may be tested during the trial period.
The BBC’s trial DTT HD stream will offer identical programming to its HD trial broadcasts on satellite and cable over the trial period.
That includes the BBC’s World Cup coverage, major Wimbledon matches and programming highlights such as Planet Earth and Bleak House.
ITV will offer its own World Cup coverage in HD, completing the full line-up of World Cup games, as well as drama such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot specials Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia, documentaries such as Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Adventures and classic films including All Quiet on the Western Front and The Big Sleep.
Channel 4’s HD trial broadcasts will include hit US drama series Lost and Desperate Housewives, FilmFour films and other Channel 4 programming.
Five will be showing episodes of CSI in addition to commissioned programmes such as Tim Marlow at MOMA and movies like Cocktail.
Research company TNS Media is conducting the research. The audience panel was selected from online volunteers who registered on a website in April. All had existing HD Ready television sets and will be supplied with special DTT HD set top boxes.
There aren’t many women CEOs in media, and the one’s who are in that position are put under the microscope. Every decision is scrutinized. And, even among those women who break the glass ceiling, few survive in the highest echelons; Apurva Purohit is one among them.
Purohit’s 17 years in the advertising, television and currently the radio industries have proven to be the perfect combination for shaping the creative vision of the organizations that she has been associated with. She has developed an enviable reputation in her field and is widely respected by peers and seniors alike.
She brings a solid blend of modern advertising agency experience and traditional marketing and branding expertise to the Radio City management team. She is a quintessential example of a radio city listener. Furthermore, her advertising agency experience has given her a clear understanding of media buying, placement and production.
She is also known to have a broad skill set with expertise in human resources administration, employee development, sales and marketing support, event planning and is passionate about current events in all related mediums.
Born in Chandigarh, Purohit spent her childhood in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, as her father was in a transferable government job. Completing her schooling in Mumbai, she went on to graduate in BSc, Physics (Hons) from Stella Maris College, Chennai in 1987 and then completed her post graduate diploma in management from IIM Bangalore in 1989.
“Growing up I did not have any definite plans, just went by my parents’ guidance. Unlike the current generation, we were naïve and went with flow,” says Purohit.
ADVERTISING
Apurva with Andre Nair and Ashish Bhasin
People known to her have been instrumental in getting her where she is. Her peers describe her as engaged, knowledgeable, and someone who holds high expectations of everyone she interacts with. Purohit is a person who “expects a lot but gives so much”. She is a believer in exploring other mediums as “to define oneself within a box is to stagnate”.
“I had not planned out anything. I fell in love with advertising during my two months IIM summer training at HTA. I saw an opportunity to work with multiple brands rather than work with one or two brands. I enjoyed the culture at HTA and became determined to get into advertising. Back then in 1989, it was not a sought after career especially after doing management. It was a low paying kind of job, I remember I pulled down the average of my batch with the salary I accepted,” says Purohit on how she became a part of media.
“I joined Rediffusion Advertising as a management trainee (client servicing) in 1989 after my training at HTA. The person I worked with in HTA had moved to Rediffusion and offered me a chance to join it. That is how it all started.”
Those were the heydays at Rediffusion, with the agency getting all the best creative awards. It had big accounts like Colgate, Gold Spot, Eveready, among others.
“Then, Shashi Sinha asked me to join media buying at FCB Ulka Advertising in 1991. My son was born soon after and I was looking for more normal working hours. Ulka is a very HR focused type of agency and gave me the option of flexi timing. There was no separate media department, so the job was interesting because I was entering a new phase in the servicing role. With the flexi timing I enjoyed at work, it was a welcome shift to media,” says Purohit.
Sharing a laugh with Shashi Sinha and others
Buying media time is a skill, or perhaps even an art, that requires experience. To do it right — which means to get the most TV spots, running at the right times, for the least amount of money is a tough job. It’s tedious, involves a great deal of organization, research and planning.and requires someone with the skills of negotiation, persuasion, and patience. Purohit fitted the bill.
Starting as accounts manager at Lodestar in 1992, Purohit became its media planner in 1993. She has an uncanny ability to communicate strategic visions and convert them into the building blocks of successful corporations.
She is credited with bringing into the county the concept of media buying as a separate business and started the first media buying house in the country when FCB Ulka launched Lodestar as a separate media house in 1995. Purohit steered Lodestar over the next few years culminating in its winning the Advertising Club media awards Emvies in 2001. Today, Lodestar is counted as one of the top 5 media houses in the country.
Post the advent of Lodestar, many advertising agencies started media buying and operations as separate business enterprises and these units today form an integral part of every large communications agency.
As yet another pioneering effort, she launched the Lodestar Labcentre, a unique consultancy, in the field of media planning and developed media tools like IMPRESS, Mediagraphics and Journeyman which work on the principles of maximizing client ROI and improve efficacy of the science of media planning. These tools are being extensively used in the international network of FCB.
“In 1997, my husband changed jobs and went to Chennai. Ulka did not have a branch at Chennai. Then, Rediffusion had won the Citibank account and they were looking for a media professional so I took over running Chennai and Bangalore branches as media director. Subsequently, the head of Rediffusion Advertising, pulled me into doing work for Delhi and Mumbai. But, I kept working out from Chennai.
“We returned to Mumbai when my husband changed jobs again.At that point, the person heading Ulka had left and they wanted me in that position. So, though, I had the option of continuing with Rediffusion, I joined FCB Ulka as media director in 1999,” says Purohit.
TELEVISION
With Subhash Chandra
In the last five years, Purohit has been an integral part of the TV media business. Says she, “Sandeep Goyal joined Zee and pulled me in. In the last 10 years, I have not made a CV. Friends have given me one opportunity after another. I knew that as a media director, I had no scope of growth and this time, it was a conscious decision to make that leap forward. It helped me get into the business of media rather than remain in the planning part of it.”
Purohit was made the president of Zee TV in 2002 where she was heading the channel operations and structuring its content, marketing and sales strategies. She had a clear mandate – to take charge of Zee and bring back those glory days. It was no easy task, considering that the market had matured over time with audience’s attention span getting shorter and rival broadcasters getting sharper and more aggressive.
“It was a different experience. This stint had its own kind of learning, I got to try out a lot of new things. The willingness of the management to allow new ideas was there. I learnt the whole business of media at Zee.”
Purohit took some bold decisions during her tenure with the Thursday Premieres, Chausanth Panne and the critically appreciated soap Astitva Ek Prem Kahani, and even shifted the prime time programming line-up of Zee from the conventional Monday to Thursday to Sunday to Wednesday.
Her tenure was marked by a certain consistency, both on the programming as well as on the management front and Zee was able to break into the Top 100 with shows such as Astitva, Jeena Isika Naam Hai, and Thursday Premieres.
To provide viewers with high quality and thought provoking entertainment and specifically to project and depict women in a progressive manner, Apurva launched Astitva in 2001. Itwent on to become the symbol of the contemporary and progressive woman. It won many awards.
She speaks of her experience of making Astitva in 2001 at a time when saas-bahu sagas ruled. “Astitva.. was a bold move when we launched it. In an era dominated by women whose persona was defined by the role she played vis a vis her male relatives: husband, father, son… Astitva talked about a woman who wanted to have it all, a husband, a family and a successful career, and on her own terms. She was not willing to take things lying down, and wanted to be treated as an equal. I think it was a huge step in the right direction and the fact that it ran for close to three years is a testimony to its appeal.”
Purohit also played an instrumental role in getting Zee to subscribe to TAM, which it chose to rubbish in the wake of the TVR controversy in 2001, and HLL was back as an advertiser on the channel owing to her efforts at convincing both the client and the agency MindShare that Zee wanted to regain its position at the top.
Then Times Group offered Purohit the position of COO of their to be launched channel Zoom in 2004. Apurva initiated BCCL’s venture into television and set up India’s first glamour and lifestyle channel Zoom. The channel was launched in a short span of seven months.
“It was exciting getting into the actual process of a start-up channel, buying space on satellite, getting the team.” But, she adds, “Zoom was a claustrophobic kind of environment, very bureaucratic in its functioning, there was little scope to build further on it from availability of resources point of view. Unfortunately, they are still a very print focussed group.”
“In that sense, I felt Zee had far more ability to take risks, though it was in a shaky position when I had joined them,” she admits.
RADIO
Speaking at Frames
When Star’s stake in Radio City was brought out, the investors at MBPL asked Apurva to step in as CEO in mid-2005.
Today Purohit is leading Radio City’s foray in the new opportunities and markets opened out by the Phase 2 policy of the government in the private FM sector. Radio City proposes to commence broadcasting in Chennai by this month end and Jaipur by the current fiscal end.
“The investors of Radio City are again people I have known. Here, I have complete freedom in running this company. The investors in the company are very intelligent and committed to build this as a very professional organization. I have the operational freedom to run this organization and this gives me scope to leave a mark of my own. That is what one looks for ultimately. We have a great team here and the learning happening in terms of scale is huge. Radio is an interesting medium and this is my ideal job,” says Purohit.
She is deeply in tune with her target audience. One of Apurva’s top priorities is ensuring product usability through her work with both clients and industry experts to consistently refine and improve the existing standards.
“Clearly, It is a very difficult marketplace. There’s an enormous intersection — a real convergence — of all sorts of consumer-focused businesses. There’s lots of competition and we have to keep working at keeping audiences hooked on to our radio shows. It just becomes more and more challenging. Radio City has made its name as a company that is consistently on the cutting edge. It’s important to keep the brand experience, one that serves as a boundary for the consumer, one that they feel interested and comfortable with. They will continue to return for good content,” says Purohit.
Speaking of her challenges in this job, she says, “Radio as a medium has not innovated enough. It still has to make an indelible mark on the consumers psyche, but doing it in the given environment where one has to play mass music is the biggest challenge. Also, driving complex minded people to a common cause is a huge challenge and managing competition is anyway always there.”
Adds Purohit, “My time is split between strategic planning, budget and project management, and the creative side of programming. Radio City is constantly pushing the barriers and one of the best aspects of working here is that you continually find yourself at the forefront of product development. It is full of bright people in an open and friendly environment. I manage a big team, so multi-tasking is essential, Being able to deal with the day-to-day issues, developing strategy and managing budgets are all part of the job. Knowing the industry is key and I am very close to the realities of every region that we will be setting up stations in.”
With Mediacom’s Jasmin Sohrabji & Vinod Kambli at the Emvies
To the competitive advantage that Radio City has over other radio stations, Purohit says, “It is a well liked brand and is continuously innovating. Our polite and well mannered RJs have connected with the listeners. In the last five years, we have had a great experiential learning like what works and what does not work on radio. As far as people friendliness goes, in the media environment, we are the most professional. As we open new stations, getting local talent is important and training them to deliver a similar success like our established stations keeps us on our toes.
“The knowledge I have gained from producing prime-time programmes for general-interest television is being leveraged to create a powerful medium with proven consumer appeal. The radio is everywhere on the planet. And, it is just on its way to far greater heights,” says Purohit.
Purohit is very content at the way her career has shaped out. “I have never been the over ambitious kind. I do not regret anything and I feel that it has all moved in the right direction. I do not rub people the wrong way, I am a people’s person, In all my working years, there have been just three people whom I have actively disliked.” Not going into names, she says, “I do not like people who are not intelligent, those who actively follow an agenda not related to their job in order to further their interests.”
“Maybe the only regret I have, at times, is that of recruiting the wrong people. I hired them based on their skills and not on their values. Later, working with them, I realized, I had made a mistake,” says Purohit.
VIEWS
Is it a challenge being a woman in this industry? “Yes and no! Fortunately for women in my generation, there was a generation of women professionals before us, who more than us, had to contend with a glass ceiling, we have been luckier in that sense. So I did not face too much of a bias. At the same time, there are certain men who do find it difficult to work with a woman, especially as a boss.”
Purohit feels strongly about the need for television to reinvent and take a fresh look at itself to survive audience fragmentation. Says she, “Today with far higher risks at stake, cinema has been able to reinvent with films like Black, Chandni Bar and has seen a lot of fresh thinking and resurgence. Unfortunately, TV has stopped experimenting. Also, I believe that there is a dearth of programming talent in the TV industry leading to its current state of stagnation. People will start looking at options beyond TV, in cinema halls, theatres and the Internet for their entertainment if TV does not take a long hard look at itself.”
The following are people who have left an impression on Purohit in her career
Ratna Rajaiah: As normally happens, ones first boss, moulds a large part of ones corporate thinking and behaviour.She is one of the most talented women I have known
Shashi Sinha: He is the person who got me into media and whose advise I value. I learnt how to manage context. When one is young, we are pure and think in a box, but leaning how to manage the environment around us, manage the dynamics of a situation, I learnt from him.
Anil Kapoor: His visionary thinking I now understand and draw inspiration from. He is very intelligent in terms of managing people. He understands the psychology of people like no other.
Sandeep Goyal: He recognized my inherent talents and pushed me into striving for more.
Subhash Chandra: His scale of thought is one that I can never emulate but, only look upto. He is a clear visionary and goes wholeheartedly into something he believes in. He is always in a hurry to implement his ideas. As a professional, my thinking is much different has I have to be system oriented, look into HR and many other aspects. An entrepreneur is idea oriented and if one is able to achieve that balance between ideas and systems, then it is a winning combination.
“It has to change. Telling different stories well is what will have to be given prime importance. Content is still king, because compelling content is the engine that pulls the entire train of profit And, radio is more like a personal friend than television and we will see further growth in the specific time bands of early morning, evenings and late nights. ” says Purohit.
On current issues that are on top of her agenda, she says, “In Radio City, currently, we are facing the challenge of quickly ramping up from a 4-station network to a 20-station one, a humungous task in itself. Launching in new cities where there has been no FM, recruiting close to 300 people to man the stations, quickly cascading the organization vision across the geographical spread of the network and translating the success we have enjoyed in our current markets into new markets.”
Purohit considers being extremely focused, task oriented working style, straight and matter of fact approach, high levels of commitment to organization and a far sighted constructive approach to issues as her strengths.
Purohit misses her lectures at MICA and NM due to an hectic schedule, and it is “something that I will take up more actively in the near future”.
How you view India today? “I think, all professionals today are fortunate to be participating in the incredible growth story of India, it’s the best time to be part of corporate India – huge shareholder value being created, lots of dynamism in the industry, a positive outlook in making things happen by the Government and the regulatory authorities. I just hope the policy makers concentrate on building economic value and don’t get sidetracked into managing political agendas. The bad part of India is the rotten infrastructure – the bad roads, the bad airports, that unending wait for the aircraft to land.
Purohit speaks of her association with the Emvies, “I handle the Emvies as part of my role as joint secretary at Mumbai Adclub. Emvies are the gold standard in media awards and I have been associated with them right from the beginning. They reward excellence in media strategy, research and innovation. I have helped design the awards, the categories, the judging processes and the event. The awards have increased in scope and depth from year to year and today encompass the entire media fraternity from media agencies to media marketers.”
FAMILY
Husband Sanjay Purohit was one batch senior to her at IIM Bangalore where they met. Sanjay is the director – sales and marketing of Cadbury India Limited and is on the board of the company. They have a 12-year-old son.
Personal Trivia
Hobbies
Reading especially crime fiction, travelling, writing and music as her favourites.
Favorite Holiday spot
Any part of Europe.
Three guests you would love to dine with
Arundhati Roy, Gulzar and Aamir Khan.
What makes you laugh
My son’s jokes and my husband’s company.
Stress buster
Reading / spending time with family.
Best trait
Deal with people with a ” you are ok I am ok” approach: believe in live and let live.
Philanthropist efforts/ special interests
I do try and contribute regularly to children’s causes. But, I would like to do something on a larger scale with disadvantaged children sometime in the future.
Pet Peeve
Litter! Why cant people have more civic sense in Mumbai? I have an intense dislike people who litter their surroundings, .it is a personal mission to stop on the roads and shout at people who throw garbage, spit , litter etc.
On how she balances professional and personal life, she says, “I have been fortunate to have a strong support system in my mother and husband. My mother gave up her career and brought up my son, so in that sense, there was lesser guilt, something which all working women have to contend with. Apart from that, I try not to work on weekends and, between my husband and I, we try to be present on all important occasions in his school life; sports days and parents day, etc. Of course the guilt remains always of having not been around when he was ill, but you learn to deal with it. We want our son to be a world citizen, give him maximum exposure to maximum opportunities and let the final choice of career be his.”
“I have a younger brother working abroad and a younger sister in Delhi. I maintain close family ties and I am very close to my mother. She gave up her job as a psychology professor at St Andrews college to help me raise my son. She is very encouraging & it is only because of her being an involved grandmum, that I have been able to come so far.
Her formula for success is simple. She says, “Concentrate on the job at hand, build the small things and the large things will take care of themselves.”
MUMBAI: In a move that will offer UK tennis fans even greater access to Wimbledon, the BBC has announced that, for the first time UK broadband users will have access to five courts of live tennis action during the 2006 Wimbledon Championships.
The service, available free from BBC Sport’s dedicated Wimbledon website – bbc.co.uk/wimbledon – will feature coverage from BBC’s live terrestrial coverage and its digital interactive feeds, enhancing the site’s news, latest scores and results service.
In addition to the live streaming of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, tennis fans will also have the opportunity to catch any action they miss with the short, three-minute highlight packages rounding up each day’s play.
For Wimbledon fans across the globe, these highlights will also be available to an international audience.
BBC head of general sports Barbara Slater said, “This is an exciting opportunity that will ensure Wimbledon reaches an even wider audience. The live streaming coverage will make one of the biggest sporting events in the world available to broadband users in the UK, wherever they are at home or in the office so they never have to miss a game.”
MUMBAI: GV Films will be acquiring 70 per cent stake in Tamil Box Office, a Singapore based satellite movie channel that is currently owned by Pixei Box Office Pte Ltd.
“We are planning to acquire about 70 per cent in the channel. We already have the funds and the additional funding, if required, will be done through a second round of placements – via FCCB and preferential allotment of shares. The content for the channel will mainly come from the GV Films movie library,” says GV Films chairman Mahadevan Ganesh.
Ganesh said that the channel would be promoted globally after the acquisition. The acquisition of Tamil Box Office will mark the production house’s foray into the broadcast business.
MUMBAI: Fifa World Cup 2006 seems to be generating considerable buzz in India. More than just the scores, the All India Radio (AIR) service promises live commentary for the opening match, semi-finals, and the final.
For this AIR has entered into an agreement with the BBC World Service. The play-by-play commentary will be given by iconic commentators of BBC Radio Five Live Allen Green and John Murray.
BBC World service will unfold all the events that will take place at the opening match between Germany and Costa Rica. BBC also brings former England manager Graham Taylor who will provide the summary of the match. This is for the first time that BBC World will be executing live commentary for AIR around the World Cup.
Speaking to indiantelevision.com, BBC World Service senior commissioning editor Neil Curry says, “I am delighted with the opportunity to showcase BBC sport journalism to our listeners in India. As per the deal we will do live commentary for All India Radio listeners for the opening ceremony, the two semi-finals and the finals.”
Curry is hopefull that the arrangement for live commentary will be extended to the other matches as well, saying: “AIR is endeavoring to acquire the rights on other important matches (as well); nevertheless, we are waiting for a word on that.”
BBC World Service has already been carrying out the World Cup programming for AIR. The BBC Hindi reporter Manak Gupta has been bringing special reports on all 32 teams.
The various aspects covered so far include country profiles, What is the World Cup?, World Cup History , History of the Trophy , Profile of Brazil – the favourite team, that has won the World Cup the most number of times. What is it about this nation that makes them World Cup specialists?
Besides the above package, BBC World has also created other packages that have been relayed on AIR. These include: Most successful, The greatest players, The Indian perspective and a detailed interview with veteran football expert Novi Kapadia.
BBC Hindi World Cup reports will be heard for six weeks on India’s main national broadcaster All India Radio’s Gold 106.4 FM and Rajdhani 666 MW. These reports will also be relayed by All India Radio’s 65 other major stations at 07.05 local time every day until 10 July. These special World Cup reports will also be available in text and audio online at bbchindi.com and bbcnews.com.
MUMBAI: Just in time with the Fifa World Cup, Comcast, the country’s leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services launches ESPN2 HD, the high-definition simulcast of ESPN2.
ESPN HD, ABC HD and ESPN2 HD will combine to present live coverage of all 64 matches of the 2006 Fifa World Cup in high definition from 9 June. In addition, the high- definition services will feature the 2006 World Cup studio programmes including the pre-match, halftime and post-match segments, states an official release.
“We’re thrilled to expand our leading HDTV lineup with the addition of ESPN2 HD,” said Comcast executive VP content acquisitions Matt Bond. “Watching events like the World Cup and the NCAA College World Series in crystal-clear HD is the next best thing to being in the stadium for all of the action.”
“We look forward to ESPN2 HD joining ESPN HD on Comcast’s lineup to enhance viewing for high-definition subscribers and sports fans across the country,” said Disney and ESPN Networks affiliate sales and marketing president Ben Pyne. “Comcast has a proven focus on high-definition television with its robust package of compelling high-definition content.”
Comcast now offers an average of 15-17 HD channels per market, including ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD, Discovery HD, TNT HD, HBO HD, Cinemax HD, Showtime HD, Starz HD, INHD, INHD2, regional sports networks and local affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, WB, UPN and PBS.
MUMBAI: JumpTV has entered into an exclusive agreement to begin offering Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) in North America via the Internet.
The global internet-television network JumpTV streams live, high-quality international television signals via its website from stations in more than 60 countries. The subscribers can access their favorite channels from any Internet- enabled device including home computers, laptops, internet-enabled televisions, mobile phones and video game consoles, informs an official release.
Through JumpTV, SET Asia is now available for US$14.95 a month for a high- speed connection, with an upgrade option for an ultra bandwidth version, which runs at 1 Mbps and produces one of the highest resolution streams available on the internet.
SET Asia features some shows as: the love story Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai and Ek Ladki Anjaani Si, the Hindi adaptation of Juana La Virgen.
Additionally, the channel is bringing in a whole host of new programs including Aisa Des Hai Mera, Thodi Kushi Thode Gham and Rishton Ki Dorr, states an official release.
“Sony Entertainment Television Asia has been exploring new technology platforms to deliver our content over the Internet. We knew that with millions of South Asians living abroad, there was a tremendous opportunity and untapped market of more tech savvy South Asians in the US and Canada,” said SET Asia executive VP international business Rajan Singh.
“JumpTV will be the first Internet broadcast platform where SET Asia will be available after much success on cable and satellite platforms in North America.”
“We are incredibly excited to announce the launch of Sony Entertainment Television Asia on JumpTV. South Asian communities are avid followers of dramas and serials. The quality of these shows will attract a huge audience who are not able to access the channel through a regular television medium. There is no better way to stay in tune to Indian entertainment, music and events than through television, and SET Asia is a lead broadcaster from the sub-continent,” said JumpTV chairman and chief executive officer G. Scott Paterson.
“The addition of SET Asia to our channel lineup is an important step forward in bringing innovative, original television to one of the largest diaspora communities in the world.”
MUMBAI: Webaroo, the provider of the searchable web offline launches ‘World Soccer 2006’ web pack just in time for the World Cup.
The pack is a compilation of the top web pages about the game and the World Cup, all of it searchable offline and can be downloaded free from www.webaroo.com.
With content ranging from team profiles and pub guides, to comprehensive World Cup history and trivia, the Webaroo World Soccer 2006 web pack has everything a soccer fan could need, informs an official release.
In addition to the one-step pack, they can identify favourite web sites they wish to take with them – such as the Fifa site, sports blogs and ESPN – and automatically download these sites to search offline, anywhere, anytime.
How soccer fans can have fun with Webaroo:
– Quickly look up stats on your favourite players during the game
– Dig up dirt on rival teams before running into a heated debate
– Win soccer bets at the local pub
How can Webaroo be accessed? The release explains that with the Webaroo ‘World Soccer 2006’ pack in your pocket there is no need to search for an internet café to have all the best football information. Go to www.webaroo.com, download the free application and the ‘World Soccer 2006’ web pack to your laptop and sync your mobile devices, and that’s it. You can then search and browse the cached web content anytime. Webaroo updates web content automatically in the background whenever laptops are connected to the web.
MUMBAI: The biggest global sporting event on the planet kicked off in Germany with the hosts playing Costa Rica. Around 1.5 billion viewers around the globe are expected to tune in to the opening fixture of the World Cup alone.
A record number of deals: What is helping television viewership in this regard is the sheer number of deals that have been done by football’s governing body Fifa’s marketing agency Infront. Besides getting deals which will ensure the event gets viewed in over 200 countries, InFront has also signed deals with more than one broadcaster in key territories like Germany.
The World Cup is projected to get a cumulative viewing global audience of 32.5 billion. This marks a 10 per cent increase compared to 2002. For 2006, there will be more than 500 broadcast partners including 240 television licensees, a record number of 220 radio stations and more than 50 New Media Licensees (Mobile Telephony and Internet). By comparison, the 2002 event was transmitted by 300 broadcast partners.
Distribution has been handled on an open-market basis. This offers viewers variety and choice in how they watch the event and an exciting array of production advances to add to their enjoyment. Infront achieved these record results through ‘layering’ different television offerings for the various markets worldwide. The event will be shared between a broad range of distribution platforms, offering viewers a variety of options. Infront has contracted with two or more broadcasters in 120 territories.
Strong deals in the key markets: In the top television markets Infront’s marketing strategy has led to impressive results. For instance in host country Germany Infront signed deals with three Free-TV stations – ARD, ZDF, RTL. It also signed a pay TV deal with Premiere. Another important market is France. There it has signed two Free-TV (TF1, M6) and two Pay-TV (Canal+, Eurosport France) agreements.
In soccer mad Brazil, it has signed four Pay-TV
(Bandsports, DirecTV, ESPN do Brazil, Globosat) deals and one free TV (TV Globo) agreement. 77 per cent of Brazilians are eagerly counting down the hours to kick off, a figure exceeded only by the 79 per cent recorded in Mexico and Japan.
Radio coverage of the event is also becoming increasingly important as a category of the overall broadcast. The 2002 World Cup was the first time that radio rights were offered independently and separately from television. The 2006 event continues with this expansion, further acknowledging the growth in radio and its importance as a communication medium.
Around 80 regional and local radio stations will ensure record radio coverage in Germany. In France five stations have done deals while in Brazil the number is 24.
Fifa taps into new media: New media coverage of the event is set to reach new standards. In 2002, new media coverage of the event was limited to the official Fifa website and trial transmissions to mobile phones in Japan. This year fans will be able to receive near-live coverage of the most dramatic and decisive moments of all the 64 matches on their mobile telephony devices or their home computer. More than 100 territories are covered by a New Media license.
Technological inovations: The event will showcase HD technology. Following 2002, this is the second World Cup host broadcast in private hands – a break from the past when this function was handled by the world’s television unions. Infront’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Host Broadcast Services (HBS), is charged with the task of delivery.
2006 will be the first Fifa World Cup produced exclusively in the high definition (HD) 16/9 widescreen format and will be the first major international sport event to commit fully to the format of the future and to showcase it on a significant scale.
All 64 matches will be produced in HDTV and made available in both high and standard definition (SD). While the majority of broadcasters will still broadcast in SD 4/3 the demand for widescreen format and HDTV gains momentum.
Several broadcast partners will pick up the state-of-the-art HD feed produced by HBS and HDTV will be featured in more than 70 territories worldwide, including host country Germany (Premiere), France (TF1, M6), United Kingdom (BBC, ITV), Italy (RAI, Sky Italia), USA (ABC, ESPN), Canada (Rogers Sportsnet), Brazil (TV Globo, Bandsports), Mexico (Televisa, TV Azteca), Japan (Japan Consortium, Sky Perfect), South Korea (KBS, MBC, SBS), and China (CCTV).
HBS produces 2,200 hours of host broadcast coverage, as opposed to 1,200 hours for Korea / Japan 2002, filmed by a total of 170 cameras. Super feeds will include specific team and player coverage to help broadcasters tailor their offering to a national audience at home. 25 HD cameras will capture every moment and nuance of every match.
A serious money spinner: All the marketing and promotional activity is expected to pay off big time. A report from Sportcal.com indicates that the event is on course for profits of €1.1 billion. The estimated €1billion cost of staging the event is far outweighed by revenues from the sale of media rights, sponsorship, merchandise and tickets.
Fifa’s anticipated media rights revenues of €1.2 billion for the 2006 World Cup represent a 34-per-cent increase on the media rights revenues it realised at the 2002 World Cup, held in Japan and South Korea, a less favourable time zone than Germany’s for most of soccer’s top television markets.
The UK’s BBC and ITV are among the largest contributors to overall 2006 World Cup revenues, jointly paying £105 million for the rights for the event. The largest single contribution to 2006 World Cup revenues is coming from ARD and ZDF, the German public-service broadcasters, which jointly agreed to pay €170 million for the television rights to screen the event.
All not hunky dory: There has been criticism in some corners over the aggressiveness of Fifa in terms of merchandising and also regarding ticket sales. A report in Deutsche Wells indicates that this is the first World Cup where Fifa got aggressively into the business side of things. Cracks are said to be forming in its relationship with the German Organising Committee as Fifa allegedly pockets millions from the sales of tickets at the expense of fans.
Fifa has also been strict in the use of branded phrases. Such is the power of Fifa that Hamburg’s AOL Arena has had to remove its name for the duration of the World Cup, since it is not an official partner, as has Munich’s Allianz Arena. The logo on sportswear giant Nike’s headquarters in Frankfurt has also been covered after Fifa took objections to it. German businesses and politicians are furious over Fifa imposed zones around stadiums where only official sponsors can advertise. For example, milk cannot be used on match days in the Coca Cola area.
A recent survey by SID sports news agency showed that a third of Germans are annoyed at the level of commercialisation that Fifa is doing around the World Cup. To offer an example Budweiser is the sponsor of the event and Germans are upset that at the stadium popular German brands will not be allowed. The head of Fifa Sepp Blatter has had to defend the organisation from accusations over the past few weeks that big business concerns are spoiling the spirit of football.
Fifa, not surprisingly, justifies its aggressiveness as each partner pays a lot of money to be associated with it. On an average each partner has forked out around $ 60 million for the 2006 WC. However the fact that there are as many as 15 partners means that there is the danger of clutter. That in fact is a major reason why Phillips had earlier chosen not to renew its deal with Fifa.
‘Sport selling its soul to big business’: That Fifa’s aggressive marketing tactics have not gone down well in some quarters can be gauged from what former German football great Franz Beckenbauer, who is the head of the World Cup organizing committee, had to say. He recently expressed concern that the sport is selling its soul to big business. Therefore he feels that there is need for discussion on the limits of money-making. Blatter countered that by talking about the importance of a mutually beneficial partnerships between Fifa, television and the global economy.
A small but significant example of economic benefit can be seen in England’s pubs. The Independent did an investigation on the phenomenon of the rise in the number of people looking for jobs in pubs up and down the UK. In terms of atmosphere Britain’s pubs are considered to be even better than watching the game live according a job applicant.
On the ground level a report in VOA News indicates that the German government has spent around $7.7 trillion on improving stadiums and transportation infrastructure. The country expects a 1.6 percent increase in its gross domestic product this year, with analysts saying a half per cent of that will be because of the World Cup. Germany is expected to get around four million visitors on account of the event. Each visitor is expected to spend around $400 a day. The World Cup is expected to have generated 60,000 jobs in Germany alone. 20,000 are expected to remain once the event concludes.
A report in The BBC says that “A Time to Make Friends” has been the slogan in Germany and over the past two years the country has striven to spread its message far and wide. Other official messages have included “We Want to Roll out the Red Carpet For You” – the tag for the 6 billion euros invested from both public and private funds in stadiums, hotels, roads and train stations.
It is a chance to portray Germany as a dynamic place to visit or do business
However, there are mixed feelings in Germany about what the economic outcome will be. Germany is looking to show itself as not just a place that is passionate about soccer but also a country that is an excellent tourist destination.
A study, from Postbank claims the additional sales of TV sets, beer, soft drinks, VIP hospitality, sports goods and other WM-themed products will come to between two and three billion euros.
However another report from Germany’s influential DIW economic research institute seeks to puncture this growing optimism, forecasting that the World Cup will not significantly aid the country’s economic situation.
The World Cup, it says, will have a negligible impact on the domestic economy, which for years has been beset by weak demand at home.
MUMBAI: Created exclusively for MTV Mobile TV, MTV Networks International has launched its made-for-mobile animated series Wulffmorgenthaler inspired by the world famous comic strip of the same name.
The Wulffmorgenthaler shorts, a coproduction between MTVNI and Mikael Wulff and Anders Morgenthaler.
Comprising 20 short animations featuring the comical twists of different characters and storylines, it is available on MTVNI’s mobile TV channels and mobile video on demand across Europe, Australia and the US for eight weeks.
It will be distributed on MTVNI’s broadband services, according to media reports.
MTVNI has 20 mobile TV channels in 19 countries.
“Wulffmorgenthaler delivers on our promise to provide audiences with the most original, compelling content on multiple platforms around the world. These edgy animations will offer audiences a new, bite-sized burst of humour and creativity that only MTV can offer,” said MTVNI senior VP digital media Gideon Bierer.
The Wulffmorgenthaler shorts join MTVNI’s other made-for-mobile productions including Head and Body, produced in partnership with Motorola.
