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  • ‘Fanaa’ no show: Fun Cinemas deny rift with Yash Raj

    ‘Fanaa’ no show: Fun Cinemas deny rift with Yash Raj

    MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra promoted Fun Cinemas (the multiplex brand of Fun Multiplex Pvt Ltd), which along with Inox are the only two cinema chains not screening the Aamir Khan blockbuster Fanaa, has categorically denied any differences with producer Yash Raj Films.

    A statement issued today by E-City Ventures (the corporate brand representing the Essel Group’s out-of-home leisure interests) made the following clarifications:

    a. There exist no differences between The Essel Group or E-City Ventures and Yash Raj Films (the producers and distributors of Fanaa). All such indications prevailing in the entertainment industry are being spread out of malafide intent, through parties that could have vested interests in this matter.

    b. The revenue model of film exhibition works in a way that films with assured commercial success pay for films that do not justify the exhibitor’s overheads. It is therefore necessary for the exhibitor to price both of them in a way that is acceptable to the audience. This assures a longer shelf life for the given film and ultimately benefits the producer and distributor.

    All the points that The Essel Group and E-City Ventures brought to the table while negotiating terms with Yash Raj Films, were motivated by this strong belief.

    c. The Essel Group and E-City Ventures currently have exhibitory control over 70 single screen cinemas and 40 movie multiplexes. The repercussions of the terms negotiated between Fun Cinemas and Yash Raj Films were to affect all these cinemas. It is not that the exhibitors respect the premium value offered by the producer any less – but they care more for the purchasing power of their audience.

    Thus, the fact that both the parties could not agree on common terms, is a pure business deadlock and not a confrontation of any kind.

    The statement concludes by saying that any subsequent releases from India’s most powerful studio would be “negotiated as an independent premise”. This is a significant point because for the remainder of 2006, Yash Raj Films has a virtual lock on all the big Hindi blockbusters that are slated for release. The A-list movies in its kitty include home productions Dhoom 2 and Kabul Express, as well as the year’s other two biggies – Rakesh Roshan’s Krrish and Dharma Productions’ Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna.

  • Sky & BT win ‘near-live’ Premiership rights

    Sky & BT win ‘near-live’ Premiership rights

    MUMBAI: Satellite broadcaster BSkyB and Britain’s BT Group, in a joint bid, have won the rights for the ‘near-live broadcasts of the Barclays Premiership, via a deal with the FA Premier League.

    The three-year deal extends from the 2007-08 to 2009-10 seasons and allows both parties to broadcast 242 games per season. It enables Sky and BT to offer full delayed coverage or extended highlights of all Barclays Premiership matches not broadcast live, after 10 pm on match days.

    BT will offer the near-live games on its BT Vision service to be launched later this year – on a pay-per-view basis. Sky will however, air these matches at no extra charge, as part of its standard sports packages.

    The Premier League awarded the ‘live’ rights for the same period to BSkyB and Irish pay-TV broadcaster Setanta earlier this month.

    Commenting on the same, Sky Sports MD Vic Wakeling said, “These near-live rights, added to the live matches, give Sky Sports unrivalled Premiership coverage.”

    “We can now promise Football First until the end of the decade and new ways of watching games, on demand, through broadband. Sky remains the home of football.”

  • TDSAT puts a lock on any DTH operator carrying Star channels

    TDSAT puts a lock on any DTH operator carrying Star channels

    MUMBAI: As the second direct-to-home player Tata Sky gears for launch, the Telecom Disputes Redressal and Settlement Tribunal (TDSAT), in an interim order passed today, has ruled that Star channels will not be made available to any other DTH platform.

    The development took place as Star India gave an undertaking in this regard to the disputes tribunal, which posted the case for hearing on 3 July on a petition filed by the Subhash Chandra-owned Dish TV.

    If this order is interpreted in another way, it could also mean that Tata Sky would not be able to launch before 3 July and if it does so, it would have to do without the Star channels. Its test signals for the service also would not carry any Star channels till 3 July.

    Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, a Tata Sky spokesperson refused comment saying they had not received any notification from the tribunal on the matter. Star officials also declined to comment.

    The Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises, which owns a DTH licence to operate a service under Dish TV brand, had moved TDSAT on 25 April alleging that Star was flouting the sector regulator’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India – Trai) diktat on making available all content to all platforms on flimsy grounds.

    The ASC petition states, “The unreasonableness on the part of the respondent is evident from the fact that the respondent has laid down impracticable and unreasonable terms and conditions for supply of its bouquet of channels.”

    The petition also mentions that discussions with Star were initiated by Dish TV in December 2004. Star is 20 per cent shareholder in Tata Sky, while the remaining stake is held by the Tatas.

    Meanwhile, Dish TV’s negotiations with Discovery-Sony joint venture One Alliance, which distributes signals of channels such as Sony, MTV, Nick, SET Max, Discovery to name a few, too, has not been concluded despite industry sources indicating that a formal announcement was due any time.

    Dish TV has also won a favourable judgement from TDSAT that has directed MTV Networks to make available MTV and Nick to Dish TV on a commercial basis. MTV has appealed against this order in the Supreme Court.

  • Doordarshan invests Rs 300 million on Indian classics

    Doordarshan invests Rs 300 million on Indian classics

    MUMBAI: In order to sustain viewers interest, Doordarshan has commissioned creative producers for making programmes in the selected genre of Indian classics, children’s literature, art and culture, humour and environment.

    Accordingly, an investment of Rs 300 million has been made to produce nearly 800 half-an-hour episodes on Indian classics in 15 languages including Kashmiri.
    “We have assigned prominent creative producers to create serials on some of the popular Indian literary classics. Prasar Bharati is spending about Rs 300 million on this project. DD has already started telecasting the series under Katha Sarita,” Doordarshan director general Navin Kumar told indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of a press conference organised to announce the initiative.

    The works of eminent authors under Indian Classic series have been selected by the Core Committee on Indian Classics under the Chairpersonship of Prasar Bharati board member Chitra Mudgal. The Committee took into consideration Sahitya Academy Award winning books, Jnanpeeth Award winning writers and other eminent classics.

    Some of the eminent authors whose works are being featured under Indian classics include Agyayae, Jainender Kumar, Hari Shankar Parasai, Himanshu Joshi, Shivani, Manjul Bhagat, Ila Chand Joshi, Ghalib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Kaifi Azmi, Kishan Chandra, Manoj Basu, Tara Shankar Bandhopadhyay, T Shivashankar Pillai, Cho Ramaswamy and Kalhan.

    Eminent / award winning producers who have been assigned to do the programmes under the scheme include Shyam Bengal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Karnad, Amol Palekar, Muzafffar Ali, T S Narasimhan, Sagar Saharadi, Jahnu Barooah, Gautam Ghosh, A K Bir, Jyoti Swarup, Kamini Kaushal, Naresh Bedi, Benoy K Behl, Mike Pandey, Farooq Masoodi, Preeti Sapru, Suhasini Mulay, Kalpana Lazmi and Manju Singh.

    DD 1 has already started telecasting the Katha Sarita series from 14 May. The series has been placed in the Sunday 11 am slot. Each classic will have a 13 episode run.

  • Qualcomm introduces world’s first universal mobile TV chip













    MUMBAI: Qualcomm Incorporated, a developer and innovator of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, today announced its single-chip Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) solution supporting three of the world‘s leading mobile broadcast standards.

     

    The UBM solution unifies the world‘s leading mobile TV standards into a single, cost-effective chip with support for FLO technology, as well as for Digital Video Broadcasting — Handheld (DVB-H) and one-segment Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting — Terrestrial (ISDB-T), creating a common platform that handset manufacturers can leverage to address multiple standards.

     

    “Mobile TV on handsets is gaining momentum in the wireless industry, even as network operators continue to evaluate the various standards available. Our UBM solution addresses the industry‘s need by providing a single universal chip that supports three of the world‘s leading standards, enabling mobile handsets to receive real-time content regardless of the broadcast technology selected by operators,” said Qualcomm CDMA Technologies vice president of strategic products Mike Concannon.


    The UBM solution includes support for FLO, which is part of the MediaFLO system, DVB-H, and one-segment implementations of ISDB-T to address the needs of network operators in Europe, Asia, North America and elsewhere for the deployment of mobile broadcast services. The UBM solution offers a high level of integration to deliver a single-chip FLO solution for the North American market that also includes specific enhancements necessary for deployment outside of North America.


    The UBM is designed as a companion to Qualcomm‘s Mobile Station Modem (MSM) baseband chipsets, but also can be used with other products. The UBM leverages the processing power of the Enhanced Multimedia and Convergence Platforms, eliminating the need for additional dedicated application processors for more power-efficient devices with smaller form-factors.


    Specific performance features of the UBM solution include:



    • Support for the entire UHF bandwidth — 470 to 862 MHz;
    • Tunable modes 5, 6, 7 and 8 MHz channel bandwidths;
    • Support for single- and multi-frequency networks.

    Designed to be compatible with both CDMA2000 and WCDMA/UMTS devices, the UBM solution is expected to sample in the first quarter of 2007.

  • TDSAT puts a lock on any DTH operator carrying Star channels













    MUMBAI: As the second direct-to-home player Tata Sky gears for launch, the Telecom Disputes Redressal and Settlement Tribunal (TDSAT), in an interim order passed today, has ruled that Star channels will not be made available to any other DTH platform.


    The development took place as Star India gave an undertaking in this regard to the disputes tribunal, which posted the case for hearing on 3 July on a petition filed by the Subhash Chandra-owned Dish TV.


    If this order is interpreted in another way, it could also mean that Tata Sky would not be able to launch before 3 July and if it does so, it would have to do without the Star channels. Its test signals for the service also would not carry any Star channels till 3 July.


    Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, a Tata Sky spokesperson refused comment saying they had not received any notification from the tribunal on the matter. Star officials also declined to comment.


    The Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises, which owns a DTH licence to operate a service under Dish TV brand, had moved TDSAT on 25 April alleging that Star was flouting the sector regulator‘s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India – Trai) diktat on making available all content to all platforms on flimsy grounds.


    The ASC petition states, “The unreasonableness on the part of the respondent is evident from the fact that the respondent has laid down impracticable and unreasonable terms and conditions for supply of its bouquet of channels.”


    The petition also mentions that discussions with Star were initiated by Dish TV in December 2004. Star is 20 per cent shareholder in Tata Sky, while the remaining stake is held by the Tatas.


    Meanwhile, Dish TV’s negotiations with Discovery-Sony joint venture One Alliance, which distributes signals of channels such as Sony, MTV, Nick, SET Max, Discovery to name a few, too, has not been concluded despite industry sources indicating that a formal announcement was due any time.

    Dish TV has also won a favourable judgement from TDSAT that has directed MTV Networks to make available MTV and Nick to Dish TV on a commercial basis. MTV has appealed against this order in the Supreme Court.

    Also Read:
    Dish moves TDSAT against Star

    Dish TV appeals to govt against MTV, Nick

    Tdsat rules in favour of Dish TV; MTV has one month to get onto DTH platform

  • Digital cinema to go low-cost route in India

    Digital cinema to go low-cost route in India

    MUMBAI: Digital cinema is about to take off in India with major players like Anil Ambani-controlled Adlabs Films and Subhash Chandra’s E-City chalking out rollout plans, speakers at a seminar in Mumbai said.

    There are around 400 theatres who have installed digital systems and many more are in the pipeline. But the model being followed so far is low-cost digital cinema or “e-cinema” in contrast to the 1200 installations of “d-cinema” (top quality) made across the world.

    “E-cinema is going to be the larger play in India because of its low-cost model. There is no proper initiative of d-cinema with just two installations so far,” Texas Instruments India business development manager of DLP Products S Ganesh said while speaking at the sixth exhibition of Cinema India 2006.

    Though digital cinema is yet to catch on, this year will see growth from the US which had 600 installations till 31 March 2006. “D-cinema installations are expected to touch 2500 in FY07 with US seeing close to 1800 screens,” said Ganesh.

    Mumbai-based UFO Moviez, a service provider, services 300 theatres in B and C centres. Though it also uses hard disk mode of distribution, the main format to download movies is through satellite delivery. “Digital cinema was a dormant market that was not addressed. Digital delivery of movies has made it possible for B and C centre theatres to have first day releases of big movies. This has meant more audiences and revenues for them,” said Valuable Media Pvt Ltd chief technical officer Sanjay Chavan.

    There are three modes of digital delivery of movies. At the low end is the hard drive model which is loaded into the server in the theatre. Big telecom players like Reliance Infocomm can use their fibre optic backbone to deliver content. The most cost-effective model is the satellite distribution system but it would require more bandwidth.

    “Interoperability and playability across the service providers need to be tackled. We provide solutions which can interchange packages with Dolby and Kodak among others,” said real Image Media Technologies director Senthil Kumar.

    Real Image, which recently received funding from Intel Capital, serves 70 cinema theatres in Tamil Nadu. The Chennai-based company has also sold servers to theatres in the US. “Digital cinema enables democracy in filmmaking and can beat back video pirates. Only a complete end-to-end digital solutions can completely prevent piracy,” says Senthil.

    There is a big task at hand if digital cinema has to be a major force as India has converted only 400 out of a total of 8,000 theatres. While there are 110,000 theatres across the world, the US has 35,000 screens.

  • Stephen Carter to step down as Ofcom CEO

    Stephen Carter to step down as Ofcom CEO

    MUMBAI: The Ofcom Board today announced that Stephen Carter will stand down from his role as CEO with effect from 15 October 2006.

    Carter will continue to lead all operational and financial matters until that date, but from 1 August 2006 will not be party to Ofcom’s economic, competition and policy decisions.

    Ofcom chairman David Currie said, “Stephen took on an immensely challenging task – and has performed outstandingly. His legacy is an effective and credible organisation which plays an important role in delivering greater choice, lower prices and greater innovation.”

    Carter said, “There is never a good time to leave a great job. However, Ofcom is now firmly established, broadband and digital competition are delivering real results, and the recent extension of David’s term makes for an orderly transition.”

  • UTV readies four multi-genre shows on various channels

    UTV readies four multi-genre shows on various channels

    MUMBAI: UTV has always been known for its multi-genre programming – be it fiction or non-fiction. In the hot summer months of May and June, the production house has lined up four new shows on various channels.

    The first one to launch is a drama – Kabhie To Nazar Milao, which will be aired on Sony from 15 May at 1 pm. This show will be a part of the new afternoon band – ‘Nayi Dophar’ – of Sony and revolves around a boy from Mumbai and a girl from Delhi. It will dwell on how destiny brings them together, only to separate them later.

    The other show is a science quiz show called Chamatkar, which will be aired on DD on Sundays.” Chamatkar is a science quiz show that will be hosted by a well known anchor, whose name I cannot divulge at the moment. The quiz will be around simple science questions that we come across in our everyday lives. The questions will be as simple as — What happens when two stones are rubbed together?” informs UTV vice president television Monisha Singh.

    After dabbling unsuccessfully in the reality genre some years back with the damp squib – Kahin Na Kahin Koi Hai anchored by Madhuri Dixit, UTV is now geared up to launch yet another reality show. This time the hunt will be for kids. UTV’s kids’ channel Hungama TV recently roped in John Abraham as its brand ambassador and has also announced the John Aur Kaun talent hunt for kids.

    This talent hunt will aspire to search for two kids – one boy and one girl – who will get the opportunity to star in a UTV produced movie starring John. The entire hunt will be televised and will be aired on Hungama TV later this year. UTV’s television division will be handling the production of this series.

    “We will have professionals who are experienced in the reality genre working on this show. There will be workshops conducted for kids who qualify; there will be celebrity walk-ins and a whole lot of other features, which will all be televised,” Singh adds.

    Yet another show Soni Mahivaal, which is a comedy, will be launched on DD next month. The show will have Varun Badola and Shewta Khawatra playing the lead roles. “Unlike the name, Soni Mahivaal is not a mythological show. It is a comedy that revolves around Mr Mahivaal (Badola) and his wife Soni (Khawatra) and the different comical situations they face in their married life. Their love and their constant fights over mundane things will be the highlight,” says Singh.

    Apart from this, UTV’s Shanno Ki Shaadi that airs on Star Plus and was turned from a weekly to a bi-weekly will now be aired three times a week. The show has also been shifted from the 10.30 pm band to the 10 pm band. “We are very happy that Shanno Ki Shaadi will now start airing three times a week. Also, the fact that it has been shifted to the 10 pm slot will work for the show. Ba, Bahu Aur Baby, which used to air at 10 pm, has delivered some great numbers and we hope that our show also benefits from this slot,” concludes Singh.

    With these shows in the pipeline, UTV will be adding four to five hours of new programming in a week across channels.

  • Intel Capital invests Rs 300 million in Real Image Media

    Intel Capital invests Rs 300 million in Real Image Media

    MUMBAI: Intel Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Intel Corporation, is investing around Rs 300 million in Chennai-based Real Image Media Technologies Pvt Ltd, say market sources.

    The funds will be mainly used for meeting the research and development and international marketing expansion plans of the company. Real Image is a company which specialises on digital entertainment technology in the film, video, audio and animation industries worldwide.

    Real Image had received its first round of venture capital (VC) funding from Street Edge and Novastar in 2004. With Intel’s investment, the company’s total dilution to VCs is a little above 30 per cent, sources say. Neither Intel nor Real Image executives wanted to comment on the investments and the shareholding details.

    Intel had set up a $250 million Intel Capital Technology Fund in December 2005. The investment in Real Image is made through this fund. “This latest investment, together with earlier announced funding in Maya Entertainment, Mauj, Mobiapps Holdings and Persistent Systems, aims at driving Indian innovation in wireless connectivity, digital media content and consumer internet,” Intel says in an official release.

    Real Media is targeting installation of its digital systems in theatres overseas. Besides, the company is eyeing digital theatres in India. Real image has solutions which can adopt to any format including MPEG-2, JPEC-2000 and Windows Media Player 9 series.

    The company offers Qube Cinema, a digital cinema solution. QMedia is an out-of-home digital advertising solutions for products to exploit and reach out to their target audience while QJam networked digital jukeboxes is used in movie theatres as QCine digital cinema advertising solutions and in shopping malls as QSign digital signage solutions.

    Intel’s latest deal was announced in the 7th Intel Capital CEO summit currently underway in Mumbai. Intel Capital made its first strategic investment in India in 1998 and since then has invested in more than 40 companies across seven cities in India.

    “This latest investment underscores Intel Capital’s commitment to fostering technology innovation and growth in India.” says Intel Capital president Arvind Sodhani. “Intel Capital has announced investment funds in India and other locations around the world and we will continue to work proactively with portfolio companies to make them more successful.”