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  • ION Media Networks & Sony Pictures Television ink TV programming deal

    ION Media Networks & Sony Pictures Television ink TV programming deal

    MUMBAI: US-based ION Media Networks, Inc. and Sony Pictures Television have announced a programming agreement that provides ION with the rights to broadcast dozens of classic television series and a large selection of award-winning feature films from the Sony library on the i television network, reaching over 90 million homes. 

    “This agreement reflects our strategy of strengthening our i network’s programming schedule with popular series and theatrical hits with proven audience appeal,” says ION Media Networks CEO Brandon Burgess. “We look forward to working with Sony on developing a compelling entertainment line-up that continues to appeal to our current audience, while attracting new viewers to the network.”

    “The i network and its stations will benefit from a wide variety of titles from our extensive library of television series and feature films, which have proven to deliver audiences,” adds Sony Pictures Television president distribution John Weiser. “We are pleased to be in partnership with ION, helping them grow and making them a destination for great programming.”Under the terms of the agreement, ION will have access to many of SPT’s most popular TV series from the last three decades, including Charlie’s Angels, Starsky & Hutch, The Partridge Family, The Monkees and Silver Spoons, among others.

    In addition, titles from Sony’s extensive library of theatrical films will be available to ION, including A River Runs Through It, Oliver!, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Short Circuit and many more.

    “We are pleased to have access to Sony’s diverse collection of movies and classic TV shows,” says ION SVP of programming and strategic planning Stacey Nagel Galper. “We will begin scheduling the Sony movies on the i network this month, with plans to launch the television series in August.”

  • Open Skies theme dominates Casbaa’s satellite forum

    Open Skies theme dominates Casbaa’s satellite forum

    MUMBAI: The 2006 Casbaa Satellite Industry Forum which was held a few days ago featured calls for governments to lower regulatory barriers to the provision of cross-border satellite services or face the prospect of international satellite providers re-directing new capacity away from Asia.

    Patience has reached a ‘critical point’ over regulatory stalemates in key markets such as China and India, is what more than 200 delegates heard at the Casbaa Forum in Singapore.

    The warnings came at a time when advances in digital technologies are providing multiple new opportunities for the delivery of satellite services. “If global operators feel forced to re-target their payloads because of a lack of potential market access, it will be the end-users in the domestic markets who feel the burden through higher charges,” the delegates were told.

    Korea’s SK Telecom has 550,000 subscribers to its TU Media service. Similar projects are now planned for a number of Asian markets. New DTH services are being launched in India and Indonesia while IPTV broadband via satellite and HDTV opportunities have added to unprecedented demand for new satellite capacity.

    And, for this potential to be realised there is a need for more competition, more open market access, Open Skies and a change of mindset by governments, delegates heard.

    Asiasat deputy CEO William Wade says,“There are tremendous opportunities in Asia today and for the coming years” .

    SES Global VP Market Development, South Asia Deepak Mathur noted that even though the regulatory environment is generally stable, the interpretation of the rules tends more and more to favour restricted access. “This is a really serious challenge” he says.

    While telecom markets such as cellular services have unleashed widespread competition, all too often Asia Pacific satellite markets remain constrained by the concept of protecting national incumbents or flagship monopolies.

    Intelsat executive VP and general council Phil Spector says, “This should be a thing of the past,” said. He added that the international satellite community is already operating in the newly competitive world. “The days of ‘build and they will come’ have long gone,” he said.

    One point that was made at the forum was that a harmonised approach to reform can deliver positive outcomes. Such outcomes include greater economies of scale for operators, local user capacity at cheaper prices and help rural users gain access.

    Delivering the keynote address at the Casbaa Forum, China Association of Communication Enterprises vice chairman Hao Wei Min said that satellite is an important instrument for China to provide rural connectivity as part of the government’s five-year plan. “This year some 20,000 villages will be connected via satellite and by 2007, we will have 100 per cent connectivity,” he said.

    Casbaa chairman Marcel Fenez, said, “The satellite industry, and Casbaa members in particular, are benefiting hugely from the explosion of demand for video content over all kinds of networks.”

  • BBC looks to take hit comedies to big screen

    BBC looks to take hit comedies to big screen

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC is looking to turn its comedy shows into feature films. Kenton Allen, an Oscar-winning producer who produced this year’s Academy award winning short film Six Shooter will lead the development initiative for the comedy department that produces shows like Little Britain, Extras, Ideal and Funland.

    Alongside exploring the potential to develop existing brands into feature films, Kenton Allen and the Comedy team will also work with a wide variety of writers and writer/performers to develop feature films. Allen said, “Many of the comedy talent we work with ultimately want to paint on a bigger canvas, and this relationship with BBC Films means that we can now offer them that opportunity.

    “From initial development in Radio and the Internet, through Television and on to Film, BBC Comedy can offer the best comedy talent the best possible development path for their work.

    “BBC Comedy has a fine tradition of developing iconic comic voices from Ronnie Barker to Ricky Gervais and I’m confident that this opportunity will lead to some truly original film making.”

    BBC Films head David Thompson said: “I am very excited about working with Kenton and The BBC Comedy team. Comedy is very much a target area for us at the moment, with several interesting projects in development, the recent successful releases of Debbie Isitt’s Confetti and Michael Winterbottom’s A Cock & Bull Story.”

  • Eros International listed on London’s Alternate Investment Market

    Eros International listed on London’s Alternate Investment Market

    MUMBAI: Eros International plc, the international media and entertainment group that owns and distributes Bollywood content globally in a variety of formats, began trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, under the ticker ‘EROS’. The company was listed on 4 July.

    The flotation follows a placing of the company’s shares which raised over £22.5 million ($41 million). The company will be capitalised at approximately £176.0 million ($321 million), at the placing price of at £1.76 per ordinary share, states an official release.

    The company also said it would use the funds raised to expand its business and exploit content over new media such as online cable, wireless and mobile.

    Eros International chairman and CEO Kishore Lulla says, “This is an exciting day for everyone at Eros and a new chapter in the growth of our business. We are proud to bring Eros to the market as a publicly traded company.”

    Eros International also promotes the B4U television channel network. Founded in India in 1977, the company has a film library containing more than 1,300 titles and more than 110 employees in India, Britain, the United States, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Fiji, as per the release.

  • Elías Rodríguez-Viña Cancio is Endemol CEO

    Elías Rodríguez-Viña Cancio is Endemol CEO

    MUMBAI: Television format owner and creator Endemol has announced that Elías Rodríguez-Viña Cancio is its CEO.

    Rodriguez-Viña comes from Telefónica, where he has been responsible for the Group’s non-core subsidiaries. Before that, he was Terra Lycos CFO and has worked for companies such as Arthur Andersen, General Electric and UBS.

    As reported last month by Indiantelevision.com, the former CEO Joaquim Agut had quit citing personal reasons.

  • Archer launches IPTV platform for Indian content in the US

    MUMBAI: Archer Entertainment Media Communications which works in different areas of digital content has launched an IPTV platform, www.IndiaTVLive.com, in the US to distribute Indian content.


    Full-time broadcasting, in every Indian language, to 40 million Indians living outside of India and 1.2 billion Indian subscribers in India via www.indiatvlive.com and www.indiaradiolive.com will begin by 15 August 2006, marking the 59th anniversary of India‘s independence.


    www.IndiaTVLive.com will stream Indian TV, radio and internet content to subscribers over IPTV. It will enable all Indian media via Internet Protocol to deliver television and radio channels real time, live and direct from India in as good as high definition television quality on wired, Wi-fi and cellular devices worldwide. The content will comprise news, sports and entertainment in all Indian languages.


    IndiaTVLive.com‘s content and marketing partners include Shama Broadcast & Content Service India and Creative Content Services India owned and operated by Kedar Nath Gupta. Abhesh Verma is the CEO of India Broadcast Live, an Archer supported company.


    Archer Entertainment COO Munish Gupta said, “Teaming up with Abhesh, Archer was able to put together a state-of-the-art digital technology platform to broadcast the top channels from India. We will deliver channels real time and live from one of the fastest growing and dynamic countries in the world but also guarantee terrific consumer experience in terms of quality. This is the first time that the world will watch news and events as they unfold in India on any device connected by high speed Internet. This is just the beginning of what Archer and www.indiatvlive.com intend to deliver.”


    India‘s Union Cabinet minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vyalar Ravi expressed delight that this new (IPTV) platform will connect expatriates with instantaneous news and information from India thereby making the ministry‘s job simpler. “I personally know both the promoters, father (Kedar Nath Gupta) and son (Munish Gupta), and their hard and consistent work in media and for the community.” The Indian Minister added that the service could further enhance the fast-growing relationship and investment by overseas Indians into India.


    Verma said, “The platform provides us the extremely lucrative opportunity to reach both inside and outside of India. Overseas Indians represent the most affluent ethnic consumers of any expatriate group. Within India, we will target a whopping 500 million consumer class with a steadily rising broadband connectivity. There‘s no doubt we will become the voice of India and Indians across the globe.”


    Archer Entertainment provided the initial funding for the launch and marketing of http://www.IndiaTVLive.com. Archer Entertainment CEO Michael Selsman said, “We remain committed to growing and diversifying the (IndiaTVLive.com) platform.”

  • Star World begins search for new ‘Rock Star’

    Star World begins search for new ‘Rock Star’

    MUMBAI: English general entertainment channel Star World will kick off the second season of the music based reality show Rock Star tonight at 8 pm.

    Rock band Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, Guns ‘N’ Roses’ Gilby Clarke and Metallica’s Jason Newsted are looking for a lead singer for their new band on the show Rock Star Supernova..

    This year, there will be 16 singers – picked from auditions held in the US, Canada, Australia and Asia. Each is already a star in the making. 16 diverse personalities with 16 different voices – living, working and singing together for 13 weeks to compete for their ticket to fame.

    The winner records an album as a member of the new super group, Supernova and goes on a massive worldwide tour with three of the biggest music influences of our time.

    In the first season, Canadian J.D. Fortune was chosen to front the Australian rock group INXS. Rock Star is the brain of Reality TV guru Mark Burnett who also created Survivor and The Apprentice.

    This year, the show will be hosted once again by Dave Navarro and Brooke Burke. Rock Star: Supernova will also feature stars and erstwhile fans like Slash, Macy Gray, Moby, Rob Zombie, Brian May, Ash, Courtney Love and even actor Hank Azaria. The contestants will perform songs covering more than five decades of rock music.

    Lee says, “I have toured with both Gilby and Jason. They’re incredible musicians and I’ve always wanted to play with them. Starting a new band with old friends on worldwide television is going to be a blast, and we’re going to pull out all the stops to find the most charismatic and musically talented lead singer to front Supernova. I love breaking the rules.”

    Bassist Jason Newsted said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to play with guys I’ve respected for a long time. It gives us a chance to be innovators. It’s never been done before. We’re going to break new ground musically and on television. The anticipation is building in me.”

  • Zoom attempts comedy with Santa & Banta Unlimited; to air 10 July

    Zoom attempts comedy with Santa & Banta Unlimited; to air 10 July

    MUMBAI: The original Indian rap king Baba Saigal and popular RJ Siddharth Kannan team up to entertain viewers with Zoom’s first comic bonanza, Santa & Banta Unlimited. This new show aims to redefine ‘time pass viewing’, with it’s two hosts Siddharth Kannan aka Santa and Baba Saigal aka Banta.

    The one thing that the duo is confident about is that they just come on sets to have a whole load of fun to create a zara hatke comical show that will deliver everything from topical news, lifestyle issues, film reviews, TV gags of other shows, parties, call ins for “love” problems and other Gyaan, in true Santa Banta style, which is a comical rhapsody, witty repartees and award winning one liners.

    Joking about his rapport with Baba, Kannan remarks with his trademark tongue-in-cheek twist, “We are like a husband and wife team. But we haven’t figured who is the husband and who is the wife. We are two contrasting people with a zest for life. As people in Mumbai would say, we are truly bindaas.”

    “Anchoring is a part of me. It has a different kick, different popularity and a different feedback,” says Baba about his experience. “I have known Siddharth since the past 12 years. We’ve developed a great chemistry and that will be evident on-screen.”

  • Jennifer Harrington is Granada International head of formats

    Jennifer Harrington is Granada International head of formats

    MUMBAI: Jennifer Harrington has been appointed the formats head for Granada International. Based in London, Harrington, who sued to be the sales director at Twentieth Century Fox International Television, will head up all international format activity worldwide for Granada International. She will be responsible for the sale of Granada International formats and unscripted material, from both ITV Productions and independent producers.

    In addition, she will lead the push to acquire formats from external sources to complement the range of hit formats Granada International distributes from its in-house production companies, particularly focusing on the US market.

    She will report to Granada International sales director Tim Mutimer and will also work alongside the director of acquisitions and co-productions Emmanuelle Namiech on securing new formats from the worldwide independent production sector.

    Granada International’s formats cover a wide range of shows, from I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Saturday Night Takeaway to Hell’s Kitchen, Nanny 911, Dancing on Ice, Soapstar Superstar and ITV1’s fly-on-the-wall docusoap format, Airline. Granada International also has a portfolio of classic game shows such as Chance of A Lifetime, Alphabet Game and All New Catchphrase.

  • Avaya handles nine trillion bytes of data and voice transmission during the Fifa World Cup

    Avaya handles nine trillion bytes of data and voice transmission during the Fifa World Cup

    MUMBAI: Handling everything from players’ and journalists’ accreditations, to transmitting photos and match details around the world in real time, the converged network from Avaya, an official partner of the 2006 Fifa World Cup has managed a communication network that’s free of errors.

    Avaya, which provides business communications applications, systems and services. The converged network – which combines voice and data on the same infrastructure — connects the 12 host stadiums, the stadium media centers in Munich, Berlin and Dortmund and the Fifa headquarters in Berlin.

    Players, coaches, volunteers and fans alike benefit from the network that is being used to issue accreditations for players and journalists, report results, track materials and inventory, confirm accommodations at Fifa’s official hotels and maintain security systems.

    According to Avaya, at the halfway point in the tournament, the network has performed flawlessly and without any downtime, which is critical for a highly visible event such as the Fifa World Cup. For example, for the first 20 matches, the cumulative worldwide television viewing audience was almost 1.26 billion people. The total of voice and data bytes transferred over the network since it went ‘live’ on 1 June 2006 is 9.8 terabytes (or 9.8 trillion bytes of traffic). The average amount of traffic transmitted on Avaya network each day during the Fifa World Cup is 250,000 gigabytes.

    People have logged onto the converged communications network approximately 567,000 times, to date, and over 296,000 phone calls have been made on the network, which represents 632,297 minutes of calling time.

    Thousands of people have been using the high-speed Wireless Lan access from Avaya that have made connectivity easy and convenient for staff working temporarily in an area of the stadium or Fifa Headquarters Hotel.

    Journalists and photographers working in the stadiums can quickly connect to the Internet via an Avaya wireless Lan network and send photos and stories directly from the field.

    Avaya’s Fifa World Cup programme director Andrea Rinnerberger says, “Whether it’s our team of Avaya technical experts or the team of players on the field, the same rules apply: excellent preparation is critical to success. For months, the network Avaya built for the Fifa World Cup underwent rigorous testing in configuration, fail-over and resiliency.

    You might say we were in ‘intensive training’ for the tournament. Achieving 99.99 per cent network availability and reliability to date is the result of these high-powered IT ‘workouts’ that enable us to be fully ready for the expected and unexpected.”

    The unexpected arrived for the Avaya team of technicians working at a match at the Fifa World Cup stadium in Munich when Argentine football great Diego Maradona ducked into the stadium’s technical center to escape autograph seekers, and found himself surrounded by blinking monitors and racks of media servers and gateways that comprise the network Avaya built for Fifa. After his — and the Avaya team’s — initial surprise, the former football star was introduced to the world of high technology, with a tour of the network that Avaya deployed.

    Rinnerberger said, “It’s a ‘World Cup moment,’ but it illustrates Avaya’s dedication to being prepared for anything and everything. We bring the same dedication to the enterprise customers we serve around the world.”