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AXN looking at an ‘India Challenge’ next year

Published

21 years ago

October 29, 2004

MUMBAI: One of the brand building initiatives that AXN has done over the last couple of years in India is organise ground events. It started in 2002 with Who Dares Wins. Last year this concept was expanded upon withExtreme Dhamaka.

This year the channel is in the middle of the India Pakistan Challenge. The broadcaster is now looking at holding another ground event next year in March-April.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com Sony assistant VP marketing Rohit Bhandari who looks after AXN in India said, “There are a couple of ideas in the pipeline. We may look at having an AXN Challenge in India. Having participants compete in different activities like swimming, rope climbing would make for an attractive ground activity.”

Basically an AXN Challenge sees participants doing a variety of activities like rope climbing, kayaking. There are also mental tests which tests how well the teams of three can think on their feet. All members of a team have to cross the finish line together. Otherwise they are disqualified. The next AXN Challenge takes place In Phillipines on 27 November.

A couple of years ago AXN had held a mini Challenge for India in conjunction with the Hong Kong Tourism Board. The winners were then sent to Hong Kong to participate in the AXN Challenge. The event next year will no doubt look at expanding on this.

Besides the logistical issues if there is a drawback in these proposed plans for India it is the fact that Indians are not adventurous and do not enjoy playing sports. In 2002 most of the participants came from the Indian Army and Navy. This is not the case in other Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia where you have executives and business professionals participating along with professional racers.

As far as this year’s India Pakistan Challenge is concerned the preliminary rounds have been completed. The finale takes place in Taiwan in the middle of next month. Bhandari added that the delay was on account of storm warnings that had been issued in the country.

Meanwhile on the programming front AXN will do something quite rare for it. It will premiere a high profile movie that has not been seen on Indian television. This is Michael Moore’s documentary Bowling For Columbine and airs on 28 November at 8 pm.

It won an Oscar earlier this year and deals with America’s gun culture. What is interesting is that Moore’s film reveals that while Canada has the same number of guns as America Canadians do not shoot each other.

The guns are used for hunting purposes. Also the documentary pooh poohs the theory that violence in America is on account of its violent past. Germany had the holocaust in the second World War. However Germans today do not go around killing each other.

The channel will also kick off the sixth edition of the reality show The Amazing Race every Sunday at 5 pm from 21 November. This is just four days after CBS premieres the show in the US. As in the past participants run around the world in the hopes of winning a grand prize of $1 million

The previous edition of The Amazing Race saw California couple Chip and Kim McAllister a sporty duo from the Los Angeles suburbs pull out all the stops to cross the finish line first.

To net their million-dollar reward, Chip and Kim covered more than 72,000 miles of terrain across six continents and 11 countries. They ran, hiked and even made use of a luge to snag the first place slot.

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Best gold jewelry to carry for being the most elegant wedding guest

Published

6 years ago

December 30, 2019

indiantelevision.com Team

This is the season of the weddings. Everyone around us is getting married and here we are thinking about what to wear in the weddings. Seems shallow? But it isn’t. You can wear a lot of great jewelry at a wedding that will allow you to create a wonderful style statement.

We have created a list of tips for you that will come in handy if you are looking forward to becoming an elegant wedding guest.

So, read on . . .

A gold necklace:

This is what is the conventional method of going to a wedding, women just don a necklace and they are good to rock any party. You can find your ideal necklace and just wear it to rock a party. You can find necklaces in various designs and can actually don the one that you think reflects your style in the best manner. It can be a broad necklace with kundan, polkisetc or it can be a simpler one that is sleek and stylish.

A Gold chain:

If you are not a necklace person, we would suggest you to go for gold chains instead. You can glam up them as well, it is really all you need to do is to stack a few gold chains in your neck and you are glammed up. Can it get simpler than this? Your chains can have tiny pendants and charms in them that complement your outfit so that you can rock it without getting into the hassles of putting on a heavy necklace.

Maang tikka

Well, Maang tikka is back is vogue and how! You can dress up your wedding look by adding maang tikka, earrings and a gajra and going without the necklace. Trust us, this look is really elegant.

Rings:

You can never have enough rings in your closet. We will suggest you to wear a cocktail ring as it looks really fancy and goes with your wedding look.

Earrings:

Let your ears do all the talking at the wedding, it would be amazing to wear your heavy chandbalis or jhumkas that will let you create a wonderful style statement. You can ditch the gold for Rose gold earrings designs that you can find plenty all over the internet. All you need to do is to open your favouritejewlery shopping site and search for Latest gold drop earrings designs and you are good to go!

Watch:

An important element that will make you look elegant is a watch. You can wear gold watches in the wedding for a powerful statement.

A sleek bracelet/ bangle

You can wear your gold bracelet/ ring in the same hand as your watch as it gives away a very powerful style statement.

So, these are some of the tips in the jewelry section that you can incorporate to look really stylish and elegant as a wedding guest. We really had fun writing these tips for you. We hope you also have fun incorporating these style tips.

Channels

Govt invites bids for second phase of FM radio

Published

20 years ago

September 26, 2005

indiantelevision.com Team

NEW DELHI: The second phase of FM radio is all set to roll in India with the government today issuing the tender notice on the website of the information and broadcasting ministry (www.mib.nic.in).

Bids are being invited for the second phase in 91 cities having a population of more than 300,000, information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy said here today.

Interacting with journalists here, Reddy said that the second phase of FM radio has the scope for approximately 338 stations to go on air as there are as many frequencies being put on offer.

The controversy-ridden first phase, which was flagged off in 2000, covered cities with population of 500,000 and more.

An I&B ministry official added, “We would have issued the tender document earlier, but some legal points, which needed to be properly phrased, took time to be cleared by the law ministry.”

With 20 per cent foreign investment allowed in FM radio ventures, the government expects more players would join the fray, while the existing ones would bid for additional stations.

The government had earned a sum of Rs 370 million by auctioning off FM frequencies to over 25 private companies during the first phase as advance fee.

Subsequently, quite a few of the companies dropped out even before the radio stations could go live, citing discrepancies in the tender document and final licence agreement.

“That’s why in the second phase, we have tried to plug loopholes and remove the drawbacks after getting extensive feedback from the industry,” the ministry official explained.

In the tender document, the government has stated applicant and its related entities “shall be allowed to bid for only one channel per city, provided that the total number of channels allocated to an applicant and its related entities not exceed the overall limit of 15 per cent of the total channels allocated in India.”

In respect to existing license holders, the license(s) held by them under Phase-I shall be taken into consideration for calculating the 15 per cent limit.

The second phase applicants will be eligible to participate in bidding in all the four regions after their financial eligibility has been assessed before the bids are finally opened.

Every applicant has to have a minimum net worth (calculated as sum of paid up equity and free reserves minus accumulated losses, if any) as per the classification of the city.

For `D’ category cities, bidders net worth will have to be Rs. 5 million, `C’ category Rs. 10 million, `B’ category, Rs. 20 million and for `A’ and `A+’ cities (the latter being the metros) Rs. 30 million. If a company is bidding for all the cities being put on offer, then the minimum net worth has to be Rs. 100 million.

The last date for submitting bids for the pre-qualifying round is 7 November 2005.

This time round some new entrants like Rajiv Chandrashekhar, former head of BPL Telecom and Hindustan Times-Virgin Radio (owned by flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson) combine are expected to enter the fray.

Channels

Discovery launches its first intl lifestyle channel in India

Published

21 years ago

October 27, 2004

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: After weeks of test runs, Discovery Networks India today announced the formal launch of Discovery Travel & Living, India’s first 24-hour international lifestyle channel. Aimed at the upper and upper-middle class audiences, the channel also marks the global launch of the company’s lifestyle portfolio. After India, the idea of Discovery’s lifestyle portfolio would be incubated for replication in other global markets in the coming years.

Inspiring viewers to ‘get more out of life’, this stylish, premium, niche international lifestyle channel is targeted at savvy viewers with a ‘global outlook’.

Speaking on the occasion, Discovery Communications India director marketing Aditya Tripathi said, “With the launch of Discovery Travel & Living we hope to provide the highest quality of ‘factual entertainment’ for Indians with a global outlook. The treatment of the content will be stylish, smart and aspirational.”

Targeted at Indians with high disposable incomes and who ‘don’t live to work but work to live’ (Tripathi’s description); the channel hopes to fill a need-gap in terms of enriching their lives. Says Tripathi, “Our market research has revealed that the size of this target audience is 75 million. Our programmes will help this target audience in terms of planning their world tours, cultivating hobbies, planning beach parties and shopping for the latest designer wear, gadgets etc.”

To further support their theory, making a presentation on how the Indian consumer has changed today, Discovery officials said that consumption no longer is just a function of income as there are 10 million credit card holders; disposable income has risen by over 270 per cent since 1990; dual income families are now a widespread urban phenomenon and there is a fundamental shift in consumption patterns of the Indian consumer.

The channel believes that ‘Lifestyle entertainment’ is the next big trend and the channel is committed to putting in millions of dollars to develop it. The programming genres will include travel, health and well-being, food and cuisine, automotive and motoring, home design and décor, hobbies and outdoor leisure.

Queried on whether Travel & Living would be adding on Indian programming on board in the coming months, vice-president, programming Pankaj Saxena says, “Indian programming will be introduced in 2005, which would be acquired. But our focus is on the best that the world can offer, so it’s not really just India. So, if there are things of that level happening in India those will be covered and those will also be telecast in other countries.”

Refusing to divulge further details on the kind of programmes or production houses, Saxena says, “We are in the process of talking to some production houses.”

Some of the programmes that are already being seen on the new channel include Celebrity Travelogues, Globetrekker, Floyd’s India, Cooking for Love (a blind date show blended with cookery), Date Patrol, Biker Build-Off, He’s Gotta Have It, Great Vacation Homes, Superhomes, Other Peoples’ Homes, While You Were Out, The Chris Lowell Show, Tim Brooke-Taylor’s Golf Clubs.

The company expects the channel to provide a new and unique platform for advertisers by targeting an audience comprising upscale and young adults with active interests in the age group of 18-45. It is also likely to expand Discovery’s ability to attract new audiences and advertisers who have traditionally been advertising only in the print medium due to a lack of a focused platform. The channel claims that some of the largest advertisers have already signed on.

As of now, Discovery reaches out to 35 million people in India and Discovery Travel & Living hopes to reach a subscriber base of 15-to 17 million people in a year’s time. The channel will be distributed in India by One Alliance along with the company’s two existing channels, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Though the channel will be a pay channel the subscriber price has not been announced for now.

Preeti Vyas Giannetti has bagged the Discovery Travel & Living creative account. A high-decible marketing and promo campaign has been planned a week from now. Though Discovery officials refused to divulge more details of the campaign, it definitely promises to be one of the most high budget campaigns revolving around the punchline ‘get a life’.