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IBF, IMG meet I&B secretary Arora on Broadcast Bill

NEW DELHI: The Indian Broadcast Federation (IBF) and the Indian Media Group (IMG) today met the Information & Broadcast secretary S K Arora for an interaction on the Broadcast Bill 2006.

IBF has opposed the cross-media holding restrictions and the so-called Draconian clauses in the bill. It said, the draft bill should be discussed with the industry, before having taken to the cabinet and Parliament.

The draft bill has covered four major areas in its ambit, which would call for major corporate restructuring by media companies, foreign and domestic, operating in India. These include content, cross media ownership, subscriptions and live sports feeds (which are already part of the downlink norms).

The bill introduces restrictions on cross media holdings in all electronic ventures capping it at a maximum 20 per cent. While print media companies have not been included in the ambit of the bill for the present, this could be later extended to them as well.

IMG also criticised the cross-media holding restrictions, but most importantly, it has argued that, electronic media should be brought under the Press Council of India. It also demanded that the proposed Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) should be free from any government intereference. Making its stance clearer, it said the CEO of Brai should not be a government official or a government nominee.

Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra, after attending a meeting with Arora on behalf of IMG, said, “We are against cross-media holding restrictions. We also oppose the government’s agenda to interfere on how news should be reported on TV.”

He added, “The regulatory norms for the electronic media, the print media and the online media should be same and similar without any discriminatory in any one of the media segment.”

July 11, 2006
If transponder space unavailable on Insat-4B, Sun might opt for Measat3

MUMBAI: A day after the unfortunate failure of the GSLV-F02 launch rocket carrying the Insat-4C communication satellite, it is not just India’s space establishment that has been forced to relook its plans.

For Kalanithi Maran’s southern broadcast network Sun Group, the mishap could well mean that the launch of its direct-to-home (DTH) service sees a change of satellite operator. Sun TV had booked seven high-power Ku-band transponders, six for DTH and one for DSNG (digital satellite news gathering), of the total 12 carried by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Insat-4C.

The big question now is this: If Isro is not able to provide Ku-band transponder space for his DTH venture Sun Direct, will Maran opt for an alternative satellite like Malaysia’s soon-to-be-launched Measat-3?

Maran already has a running relationship with Measat’s parent company Astro, having stitched a deal last year for a $25 million joint venture to originate, aggregate and distribute television programming and channels for a global audience. Measat Broadcast Network Systems is a subsidiary of Astro company which has a 20-year exclusive licence for DTH transmission in Malaysia.

Measat has scheduled a September launch for the Measat-3 satellite. The satellite will be shot into space atop a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Measat-3 will have 24 Ku-band transponders and has been designed to provide capability for data services and DTH applications in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and China.

Maran, however, says he has got intimation from Isro that he will be provided with Ku-band transponders at the earliest. “Isro has assured us of providing alternate transponders to meet our DTH requirements. We have not made any request to Isro for taking space on Measat-3. We were, in any case, looking at a time frame between October-November,” the Sun Group promoter tells Indiantelevision.com.

Has Maran been told which satellite will provide him the Ku-band transponders? “We will know from Isro in three to four days,” he says.

For DTH providers who want to operate from foreign satellites, Isro will have to provide the approval and lease it out for them. Dish TV, for instance, is on NSS-6 with Isro’s backing as required by regulatory norms.

For Isro’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation, hiring of foreign transponder space for a short time could be a possibility. There is a precedence of this having happened in the past.

According to a report in Hindu Businessline, when Insat-2D failed, Isro bought transponder space on an Arabsat satellite. Isro has also provided temporary leases on Thaicom, GE-Americom, and even now on NSS, Businessline reported.

At the moment though, Isro has not received any fresh proposal from Maran’s DTH company, Sun Direct TV, to lease out a satellite for them. Says Isro contract management and legal services director SB Iyer, “Sun has not asked us for a foreign satellite yet. The failure of Insat-4C is a brief setback which has put us behind 4-6 months. But we are recasting our programme by which we can accelerate the Ku-band capacity growth. We may be putting up larger satellites to boost the capacity.”

So will Sun get space on Insat-4B, which is meant for Doordarshan’s DTH service like DD Direct Plus? “We haven’t taken any decision yet. DD, which is on NSS-6, has a low requirement,” says Iyer. Sun has asked up to eight transponders for its DTH service.

Even if Sun gets Insat-4B, the launch of the satellite is expected to take place early next year. The commercial operations can, thus, commence only by the first quarter of next fiscal. “We have the flexibility to accommodate Sun. It is too early to comment on the steps we are going to take,” says Iyer.

July 11, 2006
If transponder space unavailable on Insat-4B, Sun might opt for Measat3

MUMBAI: A day after the unfortunate failure of the GSLV-F02 launch rocket carrying the Insat-4C communication satellite, it is not just India‘s space establishment that has been forced to relook its plans.

For Kalanithi Maran‘s southern broadcast network Sun Group, the mishap could well mean that the launch of its direct-to-home (DTH) service sees a change of satellite operator. Sun TV had booked seven high-power Ku-band transponders, six for DTH and one for DSNG (digital satellite news gathering), of the total 12 carried by the Indian Space Research Organisation‘s Insat-4C.

The big question now is this: If Isro is not able to provide Ku-band transponder space for his DTH venture Sun Direct, will Maran opt for an alternative satellite like Malaysia‘s soon-to-be-launched Measat-3?

Maran already has a running relationship with Measat‘s parent company Astro, having stitched a deal last year for a $25 million joint venture to originate, aggregate and distribute television programming and channels for a global audience. Measat Broadcast Network Systems is a subsidiary of Astro company which has a 20-year exclusive licence for DTH transmission in Malaysia.

Measat has scheduled a September launch for the Measat-3 satellite. The satellite will be shot into space atop a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Measat-3 will have 24 Ku-band transponders and has been designed to provide capability for data services and DTH applications in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and China.

Maran, however, says he has got intimation from Isro that he will be provided with Ku-band transponders at the earliest. “Isro has assured us of providing alternate transponders to meet our DTH requirements. We have not made any request to Isro for taking space on Measat-3. We were, in any case, looking at a time frame between October-November,” the Sun Group promoter tells Indiantelevision.com.

Has Maran been told which satellite will provide him the Ku-band transponders? “We will know from Isro in three to four days,” he says.

For DTH providers who want to operate from foreign satellites, Isro will have to provide the approval and lease it out for them. Dish TV, for instance, is on NSS-6 with Isro‘s backing as required by regulatory norms.

For Isro‘s commercial arm Antrix Corporation, hiring of foreign transponder space for a short time could be a possibility. There is a precedence of this having happened in the past.

According to a report in Hindu Businessline, when Insat-2D failed, Isro bought transponder space on an Arabsat satellite. Isro has also provided temporary leases on Thaicom, GE-Americom, and even now on NSS, Businessline reported.

At the moment though, Isro has not received any fresh proposal from Maran‘s DTH company, Sun Direct TV, to lease out a satellite for them. Says Isro contract management and legal services director SB Iyer, “Sun has not asked us for a foreign satellite yet. The failure of Insat-4C is a brief setback which has put us behind 4-6 months. But we are recasting our programme by which we can accelerate the Ku-band capacity growth. We may be putting up larger satellites to boost the capacity.”

So will Sun get space on Insat-4B, which is meant for Doordarshan‘s DTH service like DD Direct Plus? “We haven‘t taken any decision yet. DD, which is on NSS-6, has a low requirement,” says Iyer. Sun has asked up to eight transponders for its DTH service.

Even if Sun gets Insat-4B, the launch of the satellite is expected to take place early next year. The commercial operations can, thus, commence only by the first quarter of next fiscal. “We have the flexibility to accommodate Sun. It is too early to comment on the steps we are going to take,” says Iyer.

Also Read:
Insat-4C satellite launch fails; Sun‘s DTH plans hit

July 11, 2006
Endemol India to produce Star One show TGILC Dwitiya

MUMBAI: Endemol India will produce the upcoming Star One show The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya. Launching on 14 July, the show will attempt to showcase the best talents from both Season one and two of Laughter Challenge.

In it’s second avtaar, The Great Indian Laughter Champions has become snazzier and is spruced up with unimaginable comical histrionics and a host of film stars, claims an official release. If Hritik Roshan, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Soha Ali Khan, Dia Mirza and Suniel Shetty enthralled the viewers on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya, celebrities like Riya Sen, Isha Koppikar, Mahesh Manjrekar and Udita Goswami amongst others, will team-up with Shekhar and Sidhu on The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya. The show has also been revamped as Shekhar and Sidhu judge the contest separately, adds the release.

Announcing the launch, Endemol India MD Rajesh Kamat said, “We are glad to team-up with Star One and present The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya to the viewers in India. As a production house we have tried our best to present a dose of whacked-out humour with panache and flamboyance to cure Friday night blues with experimental laughter therapy! We intend to successfully develop some more path-breaking shows and be an integral part of this sunrise industry in the country.”

Endemol has already delivered formats like Fear Factor India, Deal Ya No Deal and Heart Beat, besides producing shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya.

July 11, 2006
Star One plans a turnaround; to bring back ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘Remix’

MUMBAI: Last year around this time, Star India’s young launch Star One was enjoying a successful run in the market.

Properties such as The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Nach Baliye saw the channel making SET, the then number 2 in the Hindi GEC space, sit up and take note. However, the channel was derailed from its successful run due to a stern fightback from the competition. Certain distribution issues have also been bugging the channel in the Mumbai market.

Now, what has boosted the channel’s morale is the good ratings The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya delivered. According to Tam, the two-hour finale episode, which aired on Friday, 23 June, delivered a rating of 7.94 on CS4+ and became the fourth highest ranked show amongst the Hindi General Entertainment channels.

Driving the turnaround plans for Star One would be two of its 2005 successes: Nach Baliye and Remix. While presenting a session on the journey of Star One at this year’s edition of Promax BDA 2006, Star India EVP Marketing & Communications Ajay Vidyasagar offered a glimpse of the plan of action.

“If you have strong products to woo viewers, distribution is never a challenge. The success of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya has proved this. Now, we are targeting December 2006 to win back the lost position. We will be launching the second seasons of Nach Baliye and Remix in the coming months. The plans will be unveiled in a couple of weeks. You can expect a lot of surprises in both the formats this time,” says Vidyasagar.

Vidyasagar also claimed that, the channel’s homegrown properties including Laughter Challenge and Nach Baliye created a lot of interest in the international market. “We have been getting lot of enquires from the global market. The players over there are very keen to buy these formats from us,” he says.

July 11, 2006
Zee unveils state-of-the-art digital studio in UAE

MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms International has opened a state-of-the-art digital studio in Sharjah, UAE. The studio been launched with the purpose of telecasting locally-produced programmes in the region.

UNI has quoted Zee Telefilms International regional MD Yogesh Radhakrishnan as saying that, the system would complement the network‘s increasing emphasis on Arab viewership and indigenous content as exemplified by its Arab-oriented channel Zee Arabiya.

The six million dollar high-end studio and post-production facilities located at the ISO certified Airport Free Zone will serve several purposes, including support to the new, Arabic based and youth-focused channel Zee Arabiya, as per the report.

July 11, 2006
Disney’s ‘Pirates’ creates new box office records

MUMBAI: Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opened on 7 July to a record $132 million in its first three days at the North American box-office, shattering the record previously held by Sony’s Spider-Man, which opened to $114.8 million.

The movie has set new benchmarks as it is the biggest opening weekend in Hollywood history and also the biggest opening day on Friday with collections of $55.5 million.

In India, the film will hit the big screens on 21 July.

It is also bigger than the four day opening weekend record holders – X-Men: The Last Stand, (grossed $122.9 million) and Spider-Man 2, (grossed $115.8 million in four days last summer).

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is also the first film in history to cross the $100 million mark in just two days and is Disney’s biggest opening, surpassing The Incredibles, which had garnered $70.5 million in three days.

The movie also led the way in the UK with a $25 million debut and grossed $9 million from South Korea and $8.2 million from Australia.

Buena Vista (the theatrical distribution arm of Walt Disney) attributes the success of Dead Man’s Chest to the mass appeal it had with male and female audiences of all ages.

Dead Man’s Chest reunites the cast and crew of the Curse of the Black Pearl including Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, director Gore Verbinski, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl opened in 2003 to $46.6 million over the weekend and $70.6 million over five days, leading to a huge $305.4 million mark domestically (US and Canada) and $654 million worldwide.

July 11, 2006
Disney to broaden mobile distribution channel in Southern Europe via Buongiorno

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) has inked a mobile content agreement with Buongiorno, a company in the field of multimedia content for telephony and digital channels. This move supports Disney’s strategy to make its highly creative and engaging content available to consumers in a wide variety of ways.

Under the terms of the deal, Buongiorno will make Disney mobile content such as screensavers, wallpapers, ringtones and games available to consumers across Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Content includes Mickey Mouse and Friends (e.g. Goofy, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck), Disney Classics (e.g. Cinderella, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Finding Nemo and The Lion King.

“This agreement with Buongiorno gives consumers another means to access Disney’s popular mobile content in southern Europe. Buongiorno’s expertise and local market reach will help consumers find Disney mobile content anytime and anywhere, and we are pleased to add them to our network of distributors,” said WDIG Europe vice president of mobile Sunil Gunderia.

“We are delighted to be associated with a leading entertainment company like Disney to help bring their properties to market. Disney content will allow Buongiorno to offer several million customers in southern Europe a unique experience of entertainment on the move. We are looking forward to widening our collaboration to new markets, exploiting Buongiorno and its consumer brand Blinko’s global network,” said Buongiorno Group head of global products Matteo Montan.

According to Informa, an international provider of specialist information and services, the fast-growing mobile entertainment market will be worth $42.8 billion by 2010, of which $11.2 billion will be generated from mobile games.

Disney content will become part of Buongiorno’s portfolio of over 300,000 services and licensed contents, marketed to a potential target of more than one billion wired and wireless telephone users globally, through a multi-channel strategy that includes direct distribution through the brand Blinko as well as through partnerships with telecom companies and the most important media groups.

All of Disney’s mobile content will be managed by Buongiorno through B!3A, its proprietary technology platform conceived to design, build, manage and provide high quality services to leading businesses and to mobile consumers globally. B!3A provides a full-blown set of components that allow performing all the main tasks to create a complete digital content marketplace embracing content acquisition, presentation, delivery, reporting, billing and CRM.

July 11, 2006
Disney to broaden mobile distribution channel in Southern Europe via Buongiorno

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) has inked a mobile content agreement with Buongiorno, a company in the field of multimedia content for telephony and digital channels. This move supports Disney‘s strategy to make its highly creative and engaging content available to consumers in a wide variety of ways.

Under the terms of the deal, Buongiorno will make Disney mobile content such as screensavers, wallpapers, ringtones and games available to consumers across Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Content includes Mickey Mouse and Friends (e.g. Goofy, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck), Disney Classics (e.g. Cinderella, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Finding Nemo and The Lion King.

“This agreement with Buongiorno gives consumers another means to access Disney‘s popular mobile content in southern Europe. Buongiorno‘s expertise and local market reach will help consumers find Disney mobile content anytime and anywhere, and we are pleased to add them to our network of distributors,” said WDIG Europe vice president of mobile Sunil Gunderia.

“We are delighted to be associated with a leading entertainment company like Disney to help bring their properties to market. Disney content will allow Buongiorno to offer several million customers in southern Europe a unique experience of entertainment on the move. We are looking forward to widening our collaboration to new markets, exploiting Buongiorno and its consumer brand Blinko‘s global network,” said Buongiorno Group head of global products Matteo Montan.

According to Informa, an international provider of specialist information and services, the fast-growing mobile entertainment market will be worth $42.8 billion by 2010, of which $11.2 billion will be generated from mobile games.

Disney content will become part of Buongiorno‘s portfolio of over 300,000 services and licensed contents, marketed to a potential target of more than one billion wired and wireless telephone users globally, through a multi-channel strategy that includes direct distribution through the brand Blinko as well as through partnerships with telecom companies and the most important media groups.

All of Disney‘s mobile content will be managed by Buongiorno through B!3A, its proprietary technology platform conceived to design, build, manage and provide high quality services to leading businesses and to mobile consumers globally. B!3A provides a full-blown set of components that allow performing all the main tasks to create a complete digital content marketplace embracing content acquisition, presentation, delivery, reporting, billing and CRM.

July 11, 2006
ABC Asia Pacific to launch as Australia Network on 7 August

MUMBAI: Starting 7 August, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Asia Pacific will be called the Australia Network, offering news, documentaries, drama and lifestyle programs. In its new avatar, the network will bring some new programmes but with same spirit and zeal across Asia.

In India, the channel will be distributed by Global Broadcast News (GBN). In a recent interview to Indiantelevision.com, GBN joint managing director Sameer Manchanda disclosed, “We have just signed up to be the Indian agent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, an infotainment channel with large doses of news and travel shows.”

Featuring live coverage from around the region, it will be produced exclusively for Australia Network by the ABC TV news and current affairs division.

The channel will air a brand new current affairs programmes Focus on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 PM Evening bulletins will feature three times per night at 5 PM, 7 PM and 9 PM, with exclusive reports from the four new correspondents in the region reporting from Delhi, Beijing, South Pacific and Jakarta in addition to ABC correspondents from around the world.

Adelaide based actor Margot Politis will host Study English, which has been designed specifically to help students prepare for study overseas or improve their career prospects. Politis is also the host of the ABC Education programme Like It Is.

Business English will focus on helping people improve their career prospects by learning the worlds global language of business.

The dramas are uniquely Australian, created, written and produced in Australia. The Australia Networks will bring in a daily soap Home & Away. It will air at 5:30 PM

There will be a special one hour recap of all Home & Away every Sunday at 6 PM The network will showcase more Aussie drama such as hospital drama All Saints; the award winning police series Blue Heelers; Love My Way with Claudia Karvan; Travel favourite Getaway and many more.

The Network will be carrying coverage ranging from horse racing (The Melbourne Cup), to V8 Supercars to surfing and of course rugby International Rugby Union featuring the International Test Matches between Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, France and Ireland as well as the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cups, National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Rules Football (AFL).

July 11, 2006