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  • Al Jazeera International ropes in ITV News’ Shiulie Ghosh as news anchor

    Al Jazeera International ropes in ITV News’ Shiulie Ghosh as news anchor

    MUMBAI: The Doha based Al Jazeera International, the proposed 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel has appointed renowned correspondent Shiulie Ghosh as news anchor.
    Ghosh joins a large team of diverse on-screen talent based around the world at the channel’s broadcast centres: from Ghida Fakhry and Dave Marash at their Washington DC centre, to Veronica Pedrosa and Teymoor Nabili in Kuala Lumpur through to Felicity Barr and Stephen Cole and at the channel’s London broadcast centre, informs an official release.

    Speaking on Ghosh’s appointment, Al Jazeera International director news Steve Clark said, “I am pleased to have Shiulie on board. She brings a wealth of experience in news reporting to the channel and is a great addition to the team.”

    Ghosh joins Al Jazeera International from ITV News where she was a correspondent and a presenter covering a range of major events around the world. Her reporting from Thailand on the Asian tsunami was awarded the 2006 Alfred I. Dupont Columbia News Broadcasting Award. During the conflict in Kosovo, Ghosh was based in southern Italy, where she reported on the bombing missions flown by NATO crews. She secured the first television report from the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible heading for action off the coast of Montenegro. Post-conflict, she reported on the continuing tensions in the divided town of Mitrovica.

    She first joined ITV News as a general reporter in January 1998 and later spent three years as Home Affairs Editor of ITV News. She has covered a wide range of prominent domestic stories for ITV News including the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the May Day disturbances and the death of the Queen Mother.

    In 2001, Shiulie was named Best Television News Journalist at the British Telecom Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards.

  • Marketing rights for 2010 Fifa World Cup to reach €3 bn

    Marketing rights for 2010 Fifa World Cup to reach €3 bn

    MUMBAI: The value of the marketing rights for the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa is set to take a further leap to reach close to €3 billion.

    This compares with about €1.9 billion for this year’s World Cup in Germany.

    The figures are contained in Sportcal.com’s recently-published World Cup 2006: The Commercial Report. Fifa estimates that media rights, including new media, would be worth about €1.8 billion in 2010, while sponsorship would be worth €1.1 billion. Many of the main television rights deals for the 2010 event have already been concluded, together with a reduced number of six, more lucrative, deals with top-tier Fifa partners.

    The figures represent a massive increase on even a World Cup as recent as that of 1998, when the media rights were worth only about €100 million and the sponsorship rights about €70 million.

    Overall commercial revenues for the 2010 World Cup look certain to be pushed above €3 billion once ticket revenue is taken into account. For this year’s event, ticket revenues were worth about €200 million.

    The largest single contributor to 2010 World Cup revenues is once again set to be ARD and ZDF, the Germany public-service broadcasters, which are paying €200 million to acquire the television rights for the tournament in Germany. This compares with the €170 million they paid for the rights for this summer’s event.

    This year’s soccer World Cup generated €1.9 billion in marketing revenue, with the sale of television and new media rights raising €1.2 billion and the remaining €700 million deriving from other sources such as sponsorship and hospitality.

  • MSN India offers ‘KANK’ content

    MUMBAI: MSN India, the Indian arm of software giant Microsoft’s internet business will host exclusive movie content on the Bollywood movie – Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK).

    With this, MSN India has added the third movie to its kitty in a span of a month, the other two movies being Anthony Kaun Hai? and Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

     

     
    MSN India users have access to exclusive theatrical and dialogue promos, text and video interviews with the stars of KANK on www.msn.co.in.

    Speaking on MSN India’s movie rush MSN India country manager Jaspreet Bindra said, “MSN India has been a key driver of online entertainment in India and are proud to have three big movies exclusively on MSN India. With our innovative online campaigns and commitment to providing our users and advertisers the best online experience, MSN India is constantly providing value through integrated campaigns, high value content and the latest online technology.”

     
     
    According to an official release, the MSN India will provide a complete online guide to the movie as well as online movie memorabilia that fans can save on their PCs. Users soon will also have access to special KANK theme packs for Windows Live Messenger the upgraded version of MSN Messenger.

    An official release states that the site contains everything a fan would want to know about the film and more. The site also gives options to download pictures based on the movie as screen savers, as well as songs, stills from the movie and a synopsis based on the story line.

    MSN India digital marketing revenue and strategic business digital marketing Rajnish Head said, “MSN India has always been associated with the best of Indian Cinema. We ensure that we offer the best opportunity for advertisers to reach out to a wider audience through innovative and integrated campaigns that are supported by our cutting edge technology and hi quality content.”

    Anthony Kaun Hai? had the cast write their own blogs on MSN Spaces, allowing fans worldwide to read what the stars had to say. The movie Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dead Man’s Chest allowed users to interact with the character Billy Bones, by adding him onto Windows Live Messenger and converse with him while he unfolded the storyline in the form of a fascinating game.

    In the past MSN India has given users the opportunity to experience movies like Rang de Basanti, Mangal Pandey, Iqbal and the like online.
     
     

     

  • Sahara One comes under control of promoters

    Sahara One comes under control of promoters

    MUMBAI: Sahara Group promoters have taken back operational control of Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd.

    Seemanto Roy, the younger son of Sahara chairman Subroto Roy, has been made head of the company and CEO Shantonu Aditya will report directly to him.
    Earlier, Percept promoter Shailendra Singh was managing the operations and Aditya was in effect reporting to him.

    “Percept was acting as the representative of Sahara for the Group’s entertainment business. Sahara One employees were involved with Percept. Under the new arrangement, Roy will be directly involved,” a source close to the company says.

    Singh, however, will continue to advise Roy. In an internal circular, the company has communicated the structural change.

    “In order to strengthen the activities of Sahara One, Seemanto Roy will head Sahara One’s business. Shailendra Singh will be the advisor to Roy,” the circular says.

    Incidentally, Subroto Roy’s elder son Sushanto was earlier looking at Sahara’s media and entertainment business.
    Seemanto will also be responsible for setting up Sahara’s film city in addition to Amby Valley housing project, which falls in his portfolio.

    Sahara One runs two TV channels and is also engaged in the movie business.

    The company clocked Rs 2.12 billion in revenues and earned a net profit of Rs 72.27 million for the fiscal ended 31 March 2006.

    According to Singh, direct involvement of the promoters is a progressive move as the company is on a major expansion drive.

    “We continue to be in the same position as strategic advisors. We succeeded in taking Sahara One’s businesses to some level and put a team in place. Now that the scalability of the game is bigger, the direct involvement of the promoters is essential to take Sahara One to the next level,” he adds.

    Percept has completed 11 out of the 15 movies it was to produce for Sahara. “We are ready with the other four, which we will be doing for them,” says Singh, stressing that the relationship with Sahara has not changed much.

    Sahara had entered into a management joint venture with Percept almost two years back to handle its entertainment business.

    The Hindi general entertainment channel needed to be fixed as it was floundering in a genre which had strong players like Star Plus, Sony TV and Zee TV. Special focus had also to be laid on the movie production business.

    Early this year C Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televentures bought 14.98 per cent stake in Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd for Rs 1.2 billion.

    Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd, owners of Times of India and Zoom television channel, also acquired a small stake in the company for approximately Rs 380 million.

  • DD Urdu channel starts beaming

    DD Urdu channel starts beaming

    MUMBAI: Doordarshan’s Urdu channel — DD Urdu — was officially launched on 15 August to coincide with India’s 60th Independence Day.

    With its launch, DD Urdu now becomes the second service after ETV Urdu, managed by the Hyderabad based Eenadu TV, to have a 24-hour channel dedicated to the language.

    DD Urdu was officially launched by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who said that with the combined force of globalization and television, which would reach every nook and corner of the world.

    The advent of this channel will strengthen the civilisational foundations of the country and would promote unity, Singh said.

    Urdu is a symbol of rich, cultural and literary mosaic of our country and the new channel would help take this role of Urdu language further forward, he added.

    In a speech laced with poetry and erudition, the PM dwelled on the social and literary achievements of Urdu and celebrated the language’s contribution in the cultural journey of the nation, according to an official release.

    Information & broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the new channel will fulfill the media needs of over 50 million Urdu speaking people in the country. The UPA government is committed to this cause and will provide all support in this regard, Dasmunsi stated.

    Referring to great Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Firaq Ghorakpuri, Dasmunsi said that Urdu language and literature have had a deep impact on our culture. “During the freedom struggle, famous Urdu slogans motivated and inspired the youth. Urdu had brought about a new culture and promoted the concept of unity in diversity,” he added.

    In his welcome address, Prasar Bharti chairman MV Kamath described Urdu as a pan Indian language. He said that DD Urdu would preserve and promote the great cultural heritage and literary aspect of this rich language.

    UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several Union ministers, personalities and senior officials of the I&B ministry and Prasar Bharti were present on the occasion.

    DD Urdu channel has been conceived as a heritage channel, which will have segments on entertainment and enrichment for culture and information. It will initially have a daily transmission of seven hours which would subsequently be extended to 24 hours per day.

    It is worth noting here that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has been scouting for joint venture partners for launching television news channel services in Urdu, beside Hindi, in India.

    Sahara news network, which manages a bouquet of news channels, had also targeted to launch a Urdu news and information channel on 15 August. But, the channel is likely to be on air by the end of the current year.

  • Fox to offer films for online download

    Fox to offer films for online download

    MUMBAI: Fox Interactive Media (Fim) and Twentieth Century Fox have announced a multi-year agreement to provide feature films and television shows on a download-to-own basis across the Fim network.

    Fim’s network of properties reaching more than 75 million people a month in the US (ComScore MediaMetrix) will have access to Fox Entertainment Group’s films such as X-Men The Last Stand and The Omen. On the television front, episodes of series like 24 and Prison Break can be downloaded.

    IGN Entertainment will be the first Fim property to offer a selection on its Direct2Drive site in October 2006, with additional Fim properties, including MySpace.com.

    Fox president digital media Peter Levinsohn says, “Our drive to deliver Twentieth Century Fox content via the most powerful online platforms is advanced substantially by this agreement. Offering Fox content in conjunction with Fim properties enables viewers to access the best movies and TV shows from multiple platforms in the Fox family.”

    Initially, Fim will offer films from Twentieth Century Fox, including new releases, made-for-TV movies, direct-to-video releases and select content from the Twentieth Century Fox film library on IGN’s Direct2Drive site. The site will also offer current television series from various Fox entities such as Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fuel TV, Speed and FX, with a selection of shows available within 24 hours of initial broadcast.

    In an industry first, purchased movies and television shows will be immediately transferable to Windows Media compatible portable devices, providing users with a convenient way to take the video content with them on the go.

    Fim president Ross Levinsohn says, “Today marks an important step as we continue to build a bridge between the worlds of user-generated and top-quality, professional content, further enhancing our range of consumer offerings across both free, ad-supported and paid download business models.

    “With more than 75 million monthly users and one of the largest entertainment communities on the web, we are thrilled to begin offering our users exciting content from Fox.”

    The agreement with Twentieth Century Fox will enable Fim to expand its offerings with premier TV and movie content. Direct2Drive will promote the new offering throughout the IGN Entertainment network, including IGN.com, Rotten Tomatoes and Film Force, among other sites.

  • Channel7 news channel renamed IBN7

    Channel7 news channel renamed IBN7

    NEW DELHI: What had been earlier put off has finally happened. Channel7 has been rechristened IBN7 and has been sporting the new name from India’s Independence Day, 15 August.
    This has been done to integrate the synergies between English language CNN IBN and the Hindi Channel7, in which the Television Eighteen Group bought controlling stake earlier this year.

    The on-air look of IBN7, including the channel ID, programme stings, on-air graphics, will give the channel a contemporary look and feel. The logo of IBN 7 in red, black and white reflects the brand identity and corporate philosophy of Global Broadcast Network (GBN), which is in sync with CNN IBN, an official statement said.

    Eight months ago, the Television Eighteen-controlled GBN had presented CNN IBN, which over the period has become a leading English news channel, driven by the spirit of Whatever it Takes.

    Now this spirit extends to IBN 7, which would embark on the principle of delivering khabar, har keemat par or Whatever it Takes, the statement added.

    Highlighting the philosophy behind this move CNN IBN and IBN7 chief editor Rajdeep Sardesai was quoted in the statement as saying, “We are delighted to launch IBN 7, our 24-hour Hindi news channel for the benefit of the Hindi news viewers. With the introduction of IBN 7, GBN attempts to expand its reach in India.”

    He added: “We are confident that CNN-IBN and IBN 7 together will bring to the discerning viewers a holistic approach to news delivery.”

    According to IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh, the channel will present multi-genre news programming package for the Hindi news viewers and the focus will be on building a channel that broadcasts news as it happens, when it happens, wherever it happens.

    It was 19 January 2006 that Indiantelevision.com first broke the news that GBN, owners of English news channel CNN IBN, were in talks with Jagran TV, parent company of Channel7, aimed at making the Hindi news channel a part of the GBN stable through a joint venture.

  • Champions League Action Live and Exclusive on Ten Sports

    Champions League Action Live and Exclusive on Ten Sports

    MUMBAI : Ten Sports coverage of the UEFA Champions League continues this Tuesday with action from the top games taking place on match day five.

    Ten Sports cameras first head to Arsenal who began their campaign strongly but after two mediocre performances against CSKA Moscow find themselves with a nervous end to the campaign. The visitors to the Emirates Stadium are Hamburg who they gained a victory over in match day one but even if the Londoners repeat that performance they will still not be guaranteed a place in the final sixteen. Arsenal seemed to rediscover their form last weekend with a convincing win against Liverpool and they will be confident of victory, taking on opponents who have only managed one victory from their nineteen competitive matches this season.

    The delayed game on Tuesday is “The Battle of Britain” with Scottish Champions, Celtic hosting Manchester United. A victory for the English side will secure their place in the final sixteen while a victory for Celtic would put them level with United at the top of Group F.

    On Wednesday night Chelsea will be hoping to secure their place in the final sixteen by avoiding defeat at Werder Bremen. The English Champions battled back to earn a draw against Barcelona in their previous Champions League match and a draw would be enough for them on Wednesday. But the star studded Chelsea team will be hoping to go through in style with victory against their closest rivals in Group A.

    Following after will be coverage of Inter Milan against Sporting Lisbon in their Group B clash. Inter find themselves in danger of crashing out of the tournament if they fail to win as only one point separates the two sides in second and third spot and Sporting have by far the easier tie in the final round of matches.

    It is going to be a captivating two nights of football and it is all exclusive to Ten Sports.

    22/11/06 Wednesday

    00:30 IST UEFA Champions League: Arsenal v Hamburg – Live

    03:30 IST UEFA Champions League: Celtic v Man Utd (Delay)

    00:00 IST UEFA Champions League: W. Bremen v Chelsea – Live

    23/11/06 Thursday

    03:30 IST UEFA Champions League: Internazionale v Sporting (Delay)

  • Mid Day has been short-listed as a finalist in 71 annual INMA Newspaper Marketing Awards competition

    Mid Day has been short-listed as a finalist in 71 annual INMA Newspaper Marketing Awards competition

    Mumbai, India, February 22, 2006

     

     

    Mid Day is the only Indian newspaper to be short-listed as a finalist in the 71st Annual INMA Newspaper Marketing Awards Competition. It has been shortlisted in the following two categories. Mid Day is short-listed in the Printed Materials: Advertising category for the Sunday Mid Day 25th Anniversary Sales Brochure & in the Newspaper Premiums/Incentives category for Mid Day Diary.

     

    INMA annually recognises excellence in newspaper marketing with the INMA Newspaper Marketing Awards Competition. Now in its 71st year, the competition provides a showcase for the best efforts of professionals in all disciplines of newspaper marketing.

     

    Details

     

    20 categories in the Newspaper Medium in the following circulation categories
    Under 75,000
    75,000-300,000
    Over 300,000
    1045 entries from 164 newspapers in 29 countries entered the 2006 newspaper marketing awards competition.
    131 entries short-listed as finalists in which 2 entries are from Mid Day.
    Winners to be announced on April 6-7 at the INMA World Congress in Chicago, USA.

     

     

    For further information please contact:

    Gulrayz Punjabi – 24197169

  • New range of “Back-To-School” by Cartoon Network

    Cartoon Network Enterprises, the licensing and merchandising division of Turner, has launched a special ‘Back To School’ products range in time for the new school sessions. The specially designed range features some of Indian kids’ most popular toon characters including The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter and Johnny Bravo adorning school bags, lunch boxes, water bottles, stationery, etc making going back to school, after the summer vacations even more exciting and fun. Available at multi-brand outlets such as Shoppers’ Stop, Lifestyle, Spencer’s, Pantaloon, Ebony, Piramyd and Hypercity across the country, are priced between Rs 28 to Rs 845.

     

    Price Points: The bags range including trolley school bags, horizontal bags, vertical bags and nursery bags, are priced between Rs 295 to Rs 845. The plastics range including water bottles, lunch boxes and mugs including insulated products are priced between Rs 28 to Rs 460.