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  • Countdown begins for CommunicAsia2006 and EnterpriseIT2006

    Countdown begins for CommunicAsia2006 and EnterpriseIT2006

    MUMBAI: CommunicAsia and Enterprise IT, the region’s foremost technology shows, will be returning once again to the Singapore Expo from the 20 to 23 June.

    CommunicAsia, EnterpriseIT and BroadcastAsia are key components of the five-day Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX) which is held annually in Singapore in the month of June.

    Reflecting the buoyant market and the latest trends, some of the key technologies addressed on the show floor include mobile entertainment, IPTV, 3G, VoIP, NGN, WiMAX, information security and embedded technologies, states an official release.

    Visitors from India can expect to see the latest innovations from the most influential world vendors and operators, including Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE, NTT Docomo, Lucent, Motorola, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG among many others. The event will also feature 21 international group pavilions including Thailand, US, Korea, the European Union and China among others, in addition to the ESC-led Indian pavilion.

    India continues to have the fastest growing ICT market in the world, with a predicted combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent from 2004 through 2008, according to research house Gartner. Gartner estimates that ICT spending in India will surpass US$54.8 billion by 2008, a rise from US$29.5 billion in 2004. Reflecting the surge in ICT demand in India, a total of 555 Indian visitors attended CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT in 2005, posting a 25 per cent increase over 2004.

    The focus of the high-powered CommunicAsia Summit this year turns towards mobile applications, broadband and next generation networks as the industry’s three key growth areas Some of the top-notch speakers include Andrew Sukawaty, CEO and chairman of Inmarsat, Joseph Anton Aliagas, CEO of Arena Mobile Music, Skuli Mogensen, CEO & founder of OZ, Craig Wilson, IBM’s Asia Pacific director for Digital Media and Telecommunications, Craig Farrill, CEO of Kodiak Networks and Thorsten Heinz, Siemens CTO.

    Making its presence felt on the international market through CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT are home-grown companies including Acceltree Software, Kaveri Telecom Products, Matrix Telecom and MRO-TEK, as well as companies under the Indian national pavilion led by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC). These include BSMC Power Systems, Elitecore Technologies, Euclid Infotech, Lepton Software Export & Research, Svarn Telecom and Toshniwal Enterprises Controls. Indian telco giant Shyam Telecom will also be exhibiting at the event, the release adds.

    Victor Wong, project director of CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT said, “CommunicAsia, alongside EnterpriseIT, is the most established ICT show in Asia and the ideal platform to launch and showcase new technologies and services to the world that will transform the way we live. Not only is CommunicAsia a highly relevant event to the needs of Indian visitors to the event, it is an important platform for India to showcase its ICT capabilities to the world and to forge international business links.”

    According to International Data Corp (IDC), new technologies entering the telecommunications marketplace are redefining the industry. The telecom services market in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) is projected to exceed US$170 billion, posting a growth of seven percent compared to last year. This growth is likely to come from VoIP, broadband and 3G services.

  • Channel 4 signs Vod deal for ‘Lost’, ‘Desperate Housewives’

    Channel 4 signs Vod deal for ‘Lost’, ‘Desperate Housewives’

    MUMBAI: UK broadcaster Channel 4 has announced an agreement with Buena Vista International Television (BVITV), the international TV distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, to acquire the exclusive UK video-on-demand rights to Lost and Desperate Housewives.

    In India, the shows airs on Star Movies and Star World respectively.

    This deal is Disney’s first in Europe for VOD rights to its network series and is in line with Disney’s focus on the application of technology to enhance its content and expand its distribution.

    The pay per view Vod service will launch tomorrow 27 April when the entire series of Lost season one will be available on-demand at www.channel4.com/lost and to digital TV customers via ntl Telewest’s on-demand service. Episodes of the hit series can be purchased for 99p and watched an unlimited number of times within a 24 hour period.

    Access to the service will be limited to the UK. ntl Telewest has also secured the rights for content to be shown in high-definition.

    Channel 4 CEO Andy Duncan said, “Channel 4 is the most distinctive brand in UK television and we want to protect and enhance this reputation by making our award-winning content available across multiple platforms. By partnering exclusively on the VOD rights to two of the biggest shows on TV, we will work together to reach and grow on-demand audiences. This deal with BVITV reinforces Channel 4’s plans to make content available ‘anytime, anywhere’ and is a fantastic way of demonstrating our ambitions in this area.”

    BVITV VP, MD Europe, Middle East and Africa Tom Toumazis said, “This ground-breaking agreement represents our first step in launching our network series on Vod to the European market. We’re committed to working with partners with strong new media strategies, such as Channel 4, to harness new technology in bringing our hit programming to viewers in fresh and innovative ways. We also remain committed to providing legitimate ways in which to download content, and believe that offering these two series in this way is a significant step.”

    Touchstone Television president Mark Pedowitz says, “The creative appeal of Lost and Desperate Housewives transcends borders and we are thrilled the content will be available on-demand to UK consumers”.

    Channel 4 new business director Rod Henwood said, “This is a significant step in Channel 4’s plans to launch a full video-on-demand service across multiple platforms later this year. Partnering with Disney on these two stand-out shows illustrates the critical strategic importance of VOD to Channel 4.”

    Also, Lost season two will be available via www.channel4.com and to subscribers of ntl Telewest 14 days after their first UK broadcast and to promote the service for a two week period the first two episodes will be offered to viewers free of charge. Episodes will be streamed on Channel4.com and can be viewed on a PC using Windows Media Player.

    On demand episodes of Desperate Housewives season two will be available from 4 May with episodes of the first season available later that month.

  • BBC unveils ‘Creative Future’ to address digital vision

    BBC unveils ‘Creative Future’ to address digital vision

    MUMBAI: The BBC has unveiled Creative Future, a new editorial blueprint designed to deliver more value to audiences over the next six years as laid out in the recent Government White Paper. For the past year, ten teams have been exploring what the world may be like in 2012, what audiences may need and want and what the BBC needs to do about it. It explores quality content for the on- demand world .

    The plans build on opportunities created by new and emerging digital technologies and confront the challenges of seismic shifts in public expectations, lifestyle and behaviours and on building new relationships with audiences and individual households, informs a press release.

    Delivering a lecture, BBC Director-General Mark Thompson will say: “The second wave of digital will be far more disruptive than the first and the foundations of traditional media will be swept away, taking us beyond broadcasting. The BBC needs a creative response to the amazing, bewildering, exciting and inspiring changes in both technology and expectations.

    “On-demand changes everything. It means we need to rethink the way we conceive, commission, produce, package and distribute our content. This isn’t about new services it’s about doing what we already do differently. The BBC should no longer think of itself as a broadcaster of TV and radio and some new media on the side. We should aim to deliver public service content to our audiences in whatever media and on whatever device makes sense for them, whether they are at home or on the move.
     
    “We can deliver much more public value when we think across all platforms and consider how audiences can find our best content, content that’s more relevant, more useful and more valuable to them. I see a unique creative opportunity. This new digital world is a better world for public service content than the old one.”

    Key recommendations include:

       -Relaunching the BBC’s website to include more personalisation, richer audio-visual and user generated content
        Create a new teen brand delivered via existing broadband, TV and radio services, including a new long-running drama and comedy, factual and music content
        -Create easy access points for audiences via broadband portals around key content areas like Sport, Music, Knowledge Building, Health and Science
        Start commissioning more 360 degree cross-platform content
       – Shift energy and resource into continuous news on TV, radio, broadband and mobile, making News 24 the centre of the TV offering, moving talent to it and breaking stories on it
        Improve the quality of Sports and Entertainment journalism and appoint a specialist Sports Editor
        -Create one single, pan-platform BBC Music Strategy and develop big events like this Autumn’s first BBC
        -Electric Proms as well as more personalisation enabling people to create the equivalent of their own radio station
       – Take entertainment seriously, learn from the world of video games and experiment with commissioning for new platforms
       – In Drama – create fewer titles with longer runs, find creative space for outstanding writers and cherish the programmes audience love best like EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City
        In Comedy – improve the creative pipeline across all platforms, pilot more shows, find new talent and build the big hits for BBC ONE
        -Give sharper age targets to the CBeebies and CBBC brands and integrate all children’s content – including online and radio – under these brands
        Pilot a Knowledge Building online project called Eyewitness – History enabling people to record and share their memories and experiences of any day over the last 100 years

    The release adds that the Creative Future plan provided a map for the on-demand future where compelling, content, easier navigation and greater audience understanding were essential. “We need to focus on making great creative content which our audiences love and is relevant to their lives. It is that simple, ” says Thompson.

    But he also warned that unless the BBC worked harder to reach younger audiences and those that felt increasingly distant more effectively, the BBC could lose a generation forever.

    The plans have emerged from the year-long Creative Future project, sponsored by Thompson and the BBC’s Creative Director Alan Yentob. The project has involved hundreds of people across the BBC, the independent sector and other industry partners, underpinned by one of the largest audience research and insight initiatives the BBC has ever undertaken.

    Some detailed key recommendations by genre are:

    Journalism
    #A new pan platform journalism strategy, including mobile devices, is already underway, putting 24/7 news on the web, broadband, TV and radio at its heart for unfolding stories as well as analysis.
    #Sport and Entertainment journalism will be improved. Responsiveness and authenticity are important qualities to audiences.
    #Current affairs will be reshaped and BBC News will work with the education sector to get BBC journalism into secondary schools across the country through initiatives like Schools Question Time.

    Sport
    #Creating a BBC Sport broadband portal with live video and audio, journalism, specialist sports and interactive comment, which builds on the recent success of the Winter Olympics and reflects the diversity of sport across the nations and regions of the UK.
    # Launching a new flagship Sports News programme on TV, appointing a BBC Sports Editor and phasing out ‘portfolio’ programmes like Grandstand, a brand which no longer has impact, in favour of BBC Sport branded live events and highlights.

    Music
    #For the first time, a single BBC music strategy across all platforms, with regular cross platform events like this Autumn’s Electric Proms, including TV Music Entertainment and commissioning in Radio & Music.
    # The aim is be the premier destination for unsigned bands and to seize the opportunities of broadband, podcasting and mobile.

    Kids & Teens
    #All children’s output, including radio, online and learning will eventually be consolidated under the CBeebies and CBBC brands which will be given tighter audiences targets – up to 6 and 7-11 years respectively.
    # Create a broadband based teen brand aimed at 12-16 years, including a high volume drama, comedy, music and factual content.

    Comedy
    #Developing the creative pipeline for comedy across all radio and TV networks – local and national – and kickstarting contemporary sitcoms by increasing the number of pilots, investing more in rehearsal time and script development, maximising access through new media and experimenting with bespoke content.
    # Improving training, nurturing talent, relaunching the comedy website and holding an annual BBC Comedy day for those involved in creating comedy for the BBC.

    Drama
    #Intensifying the pace, energy and emotion of TV dramas, such as the award-winning Bleak House or The Street currently on BBC ONE, while continuing to cherish the big runners like EastEnders and Casualty that audiences love.
    # Creating more writer-led radio landmarks, opting for fewer TV titles with longer runs and higher audience value, supporting single dramas and writers and experimenting with the drama inherent in gaming and interactive – such as the online drama Jamie Kane.

    Entertainment
    #Deliver more consistent, braver, high production value entertainment on Saturday nights on BBC ONE, plus at least two stripped entertainment events on the channel each year.
    # More effective piloting, cross media commissioning and closer collaboration with other genres like factual and leisure to build top shows of the future like The Apprentice – from factual entertainment.

    Knowledge Building
    #BBC content which documents the world and inspires audiences to explore, learn and contribute should come as one proposition and be available permanently after transmission. Knowledge Building content should be as big an offer from the BBC as BBC News.
    # The appeal to people’s interests and passions has a long term value so the BBC will rethink its approach, pan platform, to key areas like Natural History, Health and Technology.
    # It will also pilot Eyewitness – a national grid marking every day over the last 100 years –giving anyone with a story to tell about a particular day the chance to record and share their memories with others.

    Cross platform content and commissioning
    #Building on big ideas and events that can work across platforms as well as on linear channels, while meeting specialist interests via on-demand.
    # It will mean a different approach to commissioning and integrating key output areas.

    Thompson said these and more detailed recommendations in each area were just the beginning of creative renewal and would be facilitated by other important initiatives. These include: feeding more audience insights and research into the creative process and developing new cross platform measurements; also putting technology and its potential at the heart of creative thinking; developing a pan BBC rights strategy; launching a more powerful search tool as bbc.co.uk is upgraded, cracking metadata labelling as a priority and ensuring that the BBC is organisationally and culturally ready to make the Creative Future recommendations real.

    “Audiences have enormous choice and they like exercising it. But many feel the BBC is not tuned into their lives. We need to understand our audiences far better, to be more responsive, collaborative and to build deeper relationships with them around fantastic quality content,” says Thompson.

  • Rabindra Mishra to head BBC World Service in Nepal

    Rabindra Mishra to head BBC World Service in Nepal

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service has appointed 39-year-old Rabindra Mishra as the new head of BBC Nepali.

    Mishra is responsible for the editorial output of BBC Nepali broadcasts, the staff in London and Kathmandu and contributions from freelance journalists located throughout Nepal. He first joined BBC World service in 1995 as a producer with BBC Nepali.

    Later, he worked on English language flagship programmes, including World Today and Newshour, and in the BBC World Service Newsroom before returning to BBC Nepali to be its desk editor. He said, “I have an excellent team to work with, both in the UK and Nepal, and I am sure we will continue to meet the expectations of our valued audience. News from Nepal is presently dominating the world headlines and accurate reporting by the BBC is, now more than ever, absolutely vital.”

    Before joining the BBC, Rabindra worked with Pakistan’s English language daily, The New International and with Nepal Television.

    BBC Nepali has been serving audiences for 35 years. BBC Nepali programmes cover a wide spectrum of news stories, features, and regular analyses on Nepalese issues. It currently broadcasts 30 minutes daily on shortwave, which is rebroadcast by nine FM stations in Nepal. There is also a growing audience of Nepalese living outside the country who go to bbcnepali.com for programmes, in text and audio.

  • Magazines lead print sprint

    Circa 1996. A close look at an A H Wheeler newsstand at any Indian railway station reveals hardly 40 magazines on display, and that too in the film and generals interest category.

    Circa 2006. A close look at the same newsstand shows up more than a 100 magazines.

    What‘s up? The Indian print media sector has got into the grip of magazine mania ever since the government permitted foreigners to invest 26 per cent in general interest publications and 74 per cent in special interest ones. Publishers both foreign and Indian have been introducing magazines in genres and targeted at segments which were unimaginable earlier.

    Source: Guide to Indian Markets 2006 by Hansa Research & MRUC

    Hear out Mediaedge:cia general manager Mumbai Manas Mishra: “It‘s boom time for the magazine market and especially so for the niche magazine segment. I think, the market is still going to grow further. So, while the existing magazines will continue to do well and in the coming months, one is definitely going to see many more publications make a foray.”

    Elaborating further, A.C. Nielsen client services director ND Badrinath says, “The game is really to work towards market expansion, with existing publishers launching niche magazines, right from photography to automobiles to food to healthcare.”

    His estimate is that close to two magazines a month have launched in the past year, making it close to 24 new magazines that are out in the market today. “As consumerism is rising, so also is an appetite for special interest magazines. Also, what has made it interesting for the foreigner is the higher ceiling of 74 per cent in special interest non-news publications,” feels Badrinath.

    The major magazine players are not just sitting back and watching the fun. English news magazine leader India Today has jacked up its cover price to Rs 20, a move that has been carried through by rival Outlook as well. The Week from the Malayala Manorama stable, meanwhile, has also upped its price to Rs 15.

    And the tie-ups have been happening apace as well. Consider:

    * Bennet Coleman & Co floated a 50:50 joint venture called World Wide Media – with the BBC last year. Under this, the joint venture will roll out new niche titles from the BBC stable in the Indian market while BCCL will sell ad space. Among the magazines which have rolled out include Top Gear. Others are expected to be introduced soon.

    * Infomedia India Limited, India‘s leading special interest magazine and directory publishing company, set up a 51:49% joint venture with Reed Business Information called Reed Infomedia India Pvt. Ltd. The purpose: license titles from the Reed portfolio for the Indian market including the likes of Variety, JCK, Control Engineering and Logistics Management.

    * In December 2005, Playboy Enterprises announced that it would launch its magazine with its usual fare, except for its name and its nudes. Christie Hefner, the chief executive of Playboy Enterprises had then announced to media that its Indian version “would be an extension of Playboy that would be focused around the lifestyle, pop culture, celebrity, fashion, sports and interview elements of Playboy.” But the magazine would not be “classic Playboy,” she warned. “It would not have nudity,” she said, “and I don‘t think it would be called Playboy.”

    * To add on more to the action, is the Outlook group, publisher of the English weekly newsmagazine Outlook, has tied up with McCGraw Hill to bring out the best selling international newsweekly Newsweek into India. The Outlook management says it will relaunch the magazine (bring out a facsimile edition) this year by pricing it at locally affordable prices with Indian advertising with the content however being international. The magazine will be printed in Singapore, and will be shipped to India.

    Says Outlook president and publisher Maheshwari Peri, “Today it is sold at Rs 80 per copy. To make it a mass product we will have to sell it at the prevailing prices in the country for mass market magazines. We will also undertake a brand promotion exercise.” His goal is to double the magazine‘s circulation in India from the 13,000 copies currently within a year.

    “We will be able to break the price barrier, which is the key in making the product affordable,” Peri says.

    Meanwhile, he has also inked a deal to bring to bring the leading international women‘s magazine Marie Claire to India. And of course, the group has also recently launched a business magazine called Outlook Business, which it is promoting aggressively.

    * The India Today Group has been publishing Readers Digest, Cosmopolitan, Scientific American India and Golf Digest under different licence agreements from their US parents. The group is gearing up to reintroduce Time in India. Earlier it was distributing it along with magazines such as Fortune, but is now looking to take Newsweek head-on by introducing Time at Indian pricing. This apart, it has announced plans to introduce a regional language version of Readers Digest.

    But where the action has really been red hot is in the men‘s lifestyle segment. A few months ago, Maxim publisher, Dennis Publishing licensed the title to speciality publisher Media Transasia. Man‘s World – a publication launched by Anuradha Mahindra – has been in this space for almost half a decade.

    Says Maxim India CEO and associate publisher Piyush Sharma, “India has the most underpenetrated and underleveraged print media sector, especially magazines. In almost every genre there is either zero or just one or two players, as compared to the UK, which has 600 publishers and the US which has 2,000 publishers. And while there are many publications and publishing houses, just about 15-20 of them account for 80 per cent of revenues. We are looking at launching another three publications from the Media Tranasia stable – two of these are focused on travel, and women respectively.”
    The goal, for starters, according to Sharma, is to take circulation of Maxim up to 80,000 copies. The first three issues, according to Sharma, have received a great response and almost all ad pages have been sold out.

    Source: Guide to Indian Markets 2006 by Hansa Research & MRUC

    To take on the fight further, the Malayala Manorama group have gone ahead and launched a niche, lifestyle magazine called The Man. But, is there space for a third and fourth magazine in the genre, with Man‘s World and Maxim already in the market?

    Says Pinaki Chattopadhyay, senior manager marketing, for The Week, “We decided to go ahead with a men‘s magazine, when research proved that there‘s a market for a magazine like this. We‘re printing around 30,000 copies and are also upbeat about the advertising potential of the brand.”

    Adds Chattopadhyay, “The urban Indian man, we felt, needed a publication that understood his informational needs as a person who is evolving in response to changing city life, social roles and attitudes. He needed a publication that knew how to meet his aspirational needs as a consumer who sought a better lifestyle. Hence The Man.”

    “Niche, premium magazines definitely have a lot of scope in the country with foreign brands making a foray and looking for specialized platforms to advertise, ” says Manas Mishra. “Though, the circulation might be less, but brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Schanel would rather advertise on these premium magazines and not go in with the general interest magazines.”

    And statistics bear this out. According to TAM Research, magazine ad spend grew by 15 per cent in 2005 to reach Rs 7 billion with general interest (39 per cent) and women‘s (21 per cent) categories taking up 60 per cent of spend business, while the remainder 15 per cent was controlled by a large number of special interest titles.

    Observers point out that it is this 15 per cent, which is only going to grow as niche magazines and consumer products wanting to reach out to their niche readers proliferate. Says a media observer, “But care has to be taken that the party does not get spoilt by an overkill of titles. Only the fittest will survive.”

    Hopefully, the wannabe magazine barons are tuned in!

  • Disney expands ToonTown Online

    Disney expands ToonTown Online

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) has introduced Lawbot Headquarters (HQ), the highly-anticipated expansion of Disney’s Toontown Online.

    Toontown Online is the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online (MMO) game for kids and families. Lawbot HQ has been designed for advanced players and delivers more challenges and enemies, including new stealth-based gameplay and an epic final battle.

    Within Toontown, using personalised Toon avatars, players join forces to save Toontown from the robot Cogs – Bossbots, Lawbots, Cashbots, and Sellbots – who are attempting to turn the colourful world of Toontown into a dark metropolis of skyscrapers and businesses.

    Toons can now team up to infiltrate the Cog legal system by making their way through a maze-like office building using stealth and secrecy to avoid detection. They will have to overcome various obstacles such as security guards, searchlights, crashing traps and more on their way to the courtroom of the chief justice.

    “Toontown is a unique gaming experience in many respects. Not only is the game widely recognised as fun and safe for children to play, it continues to evolve with exciting new features that bring additional challenges and environments added every few months at no extra cost,” said the Walt Disney Internet Group, Europe managing director Attila Gazdag.

    Disney’s Toontown Online is the first MMO game for kids and families. Anyone can try Toontown free for three days at www.disney.co.uk/toontown.

  • CNN Worldwide appoints Seth Doane as New Delhi correspondent

    CNN Worldwide appoints Seth Doane as New Delhi correspondent

    MUMBAI: CNN Worldwide has appointed award-winning journalist Seth Doane to be the news organization’s New Delhi-based video correspondent. This was announced by senior VP- International newsgathering, Tony Maddox.

    Doane joins CNN from Channel One News where he won a 2004 George Foster Peabody Award for his reports from Darfur and the on-going humanitarian crisis, informs an official release.

    “Seth has shown the kind of commitment and endeavour we look for in our correspondents,” said Maddox. “In the past five years, he has reported around the world from challenging locations and he will be a real addition to the reporting ranks of CNN. He will be working in a great bureau in a country which is making news on many levels.”

    Doane is the sixth video correspondent appointed by CNN; he joins DNG-equipped correspondents strategically based in South Africa, Colombia, UK, Iraq and Russia.

    “CNN is known around the world for its international news coverage and its use of leading-edge technology that allows correspondents to offer context to news events immediately. It’s a privilege to join a network with such a strong journalistic reputation,” said Doane.

  • Discovery US creates a travel division

    Discovery US creates a travel division

    MUMBAI: Discovery in the US has created a new integrated travel media business called Discovery Travel Media. This new department will include the Travel Channel, online assets including www.travelchannel.com, the recently announced broadband offering, Travel Channel Beyond as well as Video-on-Demand (VOD) and mobile platforms.
    Discovery Travel Media is the company’s first business unit that combines all of the company’s assets related to a single category into a vertically integrated organisational structure.

    Discovery US president and CEO Judith McHale says, “Discovery Travel Media will better target audiences who are spending more and more time online. This segment is growing rapidly, and is currently underserved. Research shows Discovery and its related assets outpace other media brands for trusted travel information, and Discovery Travel Media is well positioned to provide travelers with the information and services they want and need.

    “Unlike other media companies that have created separate digital divisions, Discovery Travel Media will allow for more integration, flexibility and innovation from combining our existing businesses with new multiplatform opportunities in the travel space.”
    Pat Younge, who is currently Travel Channel executive VP and GM will become full business manager for Discovery Travel Media.

    Younge says, “The Travel Channel is now in more than 84 million US cable homes, so to be able to systematically leverage our unequalled travel video archive across a range of high growth media platforms affords us the opportunity to further build brand awareness and develop new revenue drivers.

    “In the coming months we will be aggressively exploring partnerships with a range of major travel-service aggregators, as well as acquisitions of aligned businesses, as we build out the assets of Discovery Travel Media.”

    The Travel Channel claims to target people who want to experience their world, immerse themselves in new cultures and escape from the day-to-day grind of everyday life.

  • Jakks Pacific and Hit Entertainment launch new TeleStory interactive books

    Jakks Pacific and Hit Entertainment launch new TeleStory interactive books

    MUMBAI: Jakks Pacific, Inc. has inked a worldwide licensing agreement with Hit Entertainment to market and distribute Jakks Pacific’s new TeleStory interactive books based on Hit’s popular Thomas & Friends, Barney, The Wiggles and Bob the Builder properties.

    The TeleStory system connects directly into a standard TV using Plug & Read technology and serves as a fun, introductory reading guide for preschool-aged children.

    The TeleStory product creates an engaging, interactive reading and learning experience that will help in the fundamental reading development of young children, while showing them how much fun reading can be. TeleStory interactive books take what children love, the TV, and use it to introduce children to the world of reading. The TeleStory system is book-shaped, plugs directly into the A/V jacks of any standard TV, and no DVD players are needed.

    Individual “mini-book” cartridges based on popular children’s books are inserted into the TeleStory system, so that children can build their own TeleStory libraries and collect their favorite books as they grow and master reading. By pressing the large, colored buttons on each TeleStory unit, kids can interact with the story and make the characters come alive on their TV screen, while also giving them the option to read at their own pace or with assistance.

    “The core concept of TeleStory interactive books is simple. The unit plugs directly into any standard TV. Just pop in batteries and turn it on to initiate an interactive reading experience through the use of various action buttons. We know that Thomas the Tank, Barney, Bob the Builder and The Wiggles will help provide hours of entertainment for children. The TeleStory system teaches them the fundamentals of reading, helps build vocabulary, encourages their reading confidence and nurtures a life-long appreciation of reading,” explains Jakks Pacific, Inc senior vice president of licensing and media Jennifer Richmond.

    Jakks plans to launch the TeleStory product line based on the Hit properties starting in summer 2006 with the Thomas the Tank TeleStory title at mass and specialty retailers nationwide. The suggested retail price for the TeleStory unit will be approximately $35, with each two-pack of ‘mini-book’ cartridges retailing for under $15.

  • TWI to make doc on England’s triumph at 1966 Fifa World Cup

    TWI to make doc on England’s triumph at 1966 Fifa World Cup

    MUMBAI: Television production firm TWI has been commissioned by English broadcaster Five to produce a television documentary about England’s journey towards victory in the 1966 World Cup.

    How England Won The World Cup will air on 31 May on Five. The one-hour documentary, which falls within Five’s historical Revealed strand, will bring England’s triumph to life, in a way that most people never saw it at the time – in glorious colour.

    This programme will use archive footage along with interviews with all ten surviving members of the original team to illustrate England’s journey from the preparation and opening draw against Uruguay to the epic battle with West Germany at Wembley. How England Won The World Cup will be narrated by actor Sean Bean.

    Former British football great Sir Bobby Charlton said, “We won because we were a great team, we were a perfect blend, we had the right manager and we had the desire to win it.”

    TWI has also produced a DVD of the programme with various added extras including extended interview footage with the remaining players. The DVD will be released on 5 June by Prism Leisure.

    How England Won The World Cup is executive produced by TWI’s Simon Birri and is directed and produced by Kim Hogg. It was commissioned by Alex Sutherland, Controller History at Five. He said, “It is not often that sporting events can truly be said to have made history – but if ever there was such an occasion, this was it. The film is visually stunning, moving and dramatic – I’m proud to have it as part of this run of Revealeds.”

    Hogg said, “We’ve been lucky enough to tell this story with the help of those who took part. Though most of us know what happened on 30 July 1966, there’s something special about hearing the words of Sir Geoff Hurst or Jack Charlton recounting their experience of stepping out onto the Wembley turf that day, unaware that in two hours later they would make history. Forty years on, the achievement of these guys is no less impressive.

    “We have also been fortunate enough to uncover some previously unseen colour material of the final. This woven together with the reminiscences of the ten surviving World Cup Final players really does bring the tournament and its climax back to life.”