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  • America Channel extends reach in Europe and Middle East via BT

    America Channel extends reach in Europe and Middle East via BT

    MUMBAI: The America Channel has entered into a long-term distribution and services agreement with BT Americas, a division of British Telecommunications (BT), for delivery of The America Channel via the HOT BIRD and EUROBIRD satellites. This will be received by an estimated 50 million homes in Europe and the Middle East

    Under the agreement, BT will provide digital conversion, backhaul, multiplexing, technical support, customer service, encryption, program origination, ad insertion, and uplink services, as well as capacity on the HOT BIRD and EUROBIRD satellites located at the 13 degrees East longitude and 28.2 degrees East longitude orbital slots, respectively.

    The America Channel CEO Doron Gorshein said, “There is a global fascination with all things American. We believe The America Channel – a network dedicated to exploring and celebrating our diverse communities, local heroes and ordinary people who accomplish the extraordinary — will find a substantial international audience. At the same time, we believe that by providing this window into America, the channel can build bridges and help the world to better understand our communities, cultures, and way of life. ”

    With immediate access to tens of millions of DTH homes, a freely competitive environment, and a product that is unique on the dial, The America Channel believes it is poised to become the next great American global network.

    “The magnitude of this transaction creates a new economic paradigm for the channel,” added Gorshein. ” The international markets are fertile grounds for American entrepreneurs, and we look forward to working with our partners abroad to deliver great programming to their audiences.”

    BT Americas president Chuck Pol said:, “BT is able to provide The America Channel with a customized worldwide global network solution, effectively and efficiently. Our experience, extensive global reach, highly skilled engineers, and affordable value proposition give The America Channel and other independent American networks the ability to compete in the international marketplace.”

    Initially, The America Channel’s highest European penetration levels will be in Germany, France, Poland, Spain, U.K., as well as portions of Russia. In the Middle East and North Africa, highest penetration levels will be in Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. Most of the initial 50 million homes will receive The America Channel via Direct-To-Home (DTH) unencrypted satellite delivery. Subsequent European cable rollout of the channel is expected to generate subscriber growth in the UK and across the continent.

    In addition to 50 million DTH homes, the region also has approximately 70 million cable homes accessible via HOT BIRD, which The America Channel will seek to penetrate. Following this launch, The America Channel anticipates expansion into Asia.

  • VH1 & Sundance to air documentary series on drug use

    VH1 & Sundance to air documentary series on drug use

    MUMBAI: VH1 partners with Sundance Channel for a four-part documentary about illicit drug use in America and its impact on popular culture.

    The Drug Years is based on the book Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, by Martin Torgoff. It premieres on 12 June on VH1, with repeat telecast on Sundance beginning from 16 June. It spans from the 1950s to the present and uses archival footage and interviewed to show how music, movies, television and theater were affected by the rise in drug use.

    The first episode, Break on Through focuses on the period from the 1950s to 1967, when artistic and social subcultures embraced marijuana and LSD use. The second episode, Feed Your Head, covers 1967 to 1971, when film and television content began to address drug use in America. The third installment, Teenage Wasteland, explores the years from 1972 to 1979, marked by the popularity of High Times magazine, drug humor by comedians like George Carlin and the emergence of Cocaine as the celebrity drug of choice. The last episode, Just Say No, takes viewers from 1980 to now.

    Produced by Hart Perry and Dana Heinz Perry, who has delivered titles such as Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century Art and the Peabody Award-winning John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen.

  • Content providers criticize proposed EU broadcasting rules

    Content providers criticize proposed EU broadcasting rules

    MUMBAI: ITV, BT Group, Vodafone, Yahoo, Intel and Cisco are leading an alliance among the media and technology companies that have teamed to criticize proposed European Union broadcasting rules that they believe will restrict the growth of new media formats.

    The European Commission is proposing that rules for traditional media be extended to new media, like content provided over broadband or mobile phones. Such regulations would include limits on hate speech, advertising and children-appropriate content.

    The alliance takes up the issue of proposed legislation that calls for mobile content and IPTV programming to abide by the same rules as that on traditional broadcasters. The consortium maintains that these rules-including restrictions on advertising-would inhibit investment in multiplatform content.

    “Citizen media such as blogs, videocasts and the like are one of the most exciting developments enabled by new technology,” the companies said in a statement. “This phenomenon has the potential to create new businesses … but this proposed regulation severely risks stunting its growth.”
    The EU didn’t respond to the group, but has repeatedly insisted that they don’t intend to regulate the internet. It would need the support of the European Parliament and 25 member governments in order to be approved.

  • Tandberg Television appoints Emmanuel Boureau as sales VP, EMEA

    Tandberg Television appoints Emmanuel Boureau as sales VP, EMEA

    MUMBAI: In a move designed to further strengthen and expand its leadership position in Europe, the Middle East amd Africa (EMEA), Tandberg Television has appointed Emmanuel Boureau as VP of Sales for the region.

    Reporting to Eric Baron, Tandberg Television’s EMEA president, Boureau will be responsible for managing and growing the company’s direct and indirect sales channels in EMEA. He will lead the introduction of advanced compression, on-demand and interactive content solutions to cable, satellite, terrestrial and telco operators across the region, states an official release.

    Boureau joins Tandberg Television having spent the past eight years at Harmonic, most recently as European director of sales and pre-sales. Prior to his time at Harmonic, Boureau had a distinguished sales career within the computer industry where he held senior positions at the Digital Equipment Corporation and sales engineering positions at ITT Data Systems.

    “Tandberg Television is the clear leader in the European video compression space and continues to make first-to-market moves that strengthen and secure its pole position. With a best-in-class combination of solutions for IP, HD, on-demand and interactive television, Tandberg Television is in a unique position to help content owners, programmers and network operators leverage new digital media opportunities. Joining Tandberg Television provides me with a senior management role in which I can use my digital television experience as part of a dynamic, winning team,” says Boureau.

    “Emmanuel is an impressive operator with a strong sales track record and exceptional experience of driving a multicultural dispersed sales team. He has a solid understanding of the technology and commercial drivers in the digital television industry that will be of great benefit to Tandberg Television customers. I am delighted that he is joining to lead our EMEA sales team and looking forward to working closely with him as we continue to accelerate our leadership position in the region,” says Baron.

  • Americans still gaga over radio: survey

    Americans still gaga over radio: survey

    MUMBAI: Americans rate the importance and relevance of local commercial radio very highly, despite the entry of high-technology competition, a national survey commissioned by American Media Services showed.

    The survey found that 78 per cent said radio is important in their everyday lives, and 91 per cent said radio is important in American life in general. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) said they listen to radio at least once a day.

    The telephone survey of 1,004 American adults was conducted from 13 – 15 April, 2006 by Omnitel, the weekly omnibus survey by the national polling firm of GfK NOP of Princeton. The survey is considered accurate within plus or minus three percentage points.

    The new findings complement those in AMS’ initial survey in January: 64 per cent said they were listening to radio as much as, or more than, they were five years ago.

    “The evidence from our polls and others is conclusive that people are continuing to listen to their local, free radio stations. Arbitron and Edison Media Research just conducted a national survey of 1,925 respondents that revealed 77 per cent of Americans expect to continue to listen to their radio in the future as much as they are today,” said American Media Services president and CEO Ed Seeger.

    In the AMS survey, 57 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women said they listen to radio at least daily. The availability of music, news and reports on weather and traffic continues to be the most often cited reasons for listening to the radio, with 98 per cent of respondents saying they listen to radio for one of those features. “Radio doesn’t need to reinvent itself. It just needs to get its story out in the marketplace. It continues to thrive with the same basic programming we have embraced for the past half-century,” said Seeger.

    Other findings of the survey include:

    78 per cent usually tune to a local radio station when they get in their car.
    More people had a favorite local radio personality in their local markets (37 per cent) than a favorite television personality per cent (32 per cent), newspaper personality (seven per cent) or personality on a local internet site (one per cent).
    When asked what about the different qualities that make a good radio personality, they ranked four as most important: 89 per cent said they liked to listen to someone who makes them think, 82 per cent said one who makes them laugh, 79 per cent wanted a personality they could trust, and 76 per cent said a good radio personality has strong ties to the local community.
    Overall, 41 per cent of respondents said they liked to listen to stations that have a good balance of music, news, weather and traffic information. That rated above playing their kind of music (26 per cent) or making them laugh (3 per cent).
    Of those respondents who had a “favorite media personality,” 37 per cent said their favorite personality worked on the radio, while 32 per cent said their favorite worked on television.
    61 per cent of those likely to change stations during commercial breaks do so in a minute or less.

  • Nickelodeon ups Crosby to SVP strategy and business development

    Nickelodeon ups Crosby to SVP strategy and business development

    MUMBAI: Nickelodeon has named Dominique Crosby as Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids & Family Group senior vice president strategy and business development. The announcement was made by executive vice president strategy and business operations Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, to whom Crosby will continue to report.

    “With her gift for strategic thinking and process organisation, Dominique has been a major contributor to the growth of our business. She’s a talented executive whose proven leadership will insure greater coordinated strategic thinking across lines of business and that all of our strategy and business development activities get value added input and oversight,” said Kirshbaum Levy.

    In her new role Crosby will oversee all strategy and business development at Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group and will be responsible for identifying, analysing and recommending new business opportunities, as well as providing long-term strategic analysis and vision for existing lines of business.

    Crosby joined Nickelodeon’s business development team in 2001 as director strategy and business development and was named vice president in 2002. She has spearheaded the strategy work for Spike TV’s repositioning, Nickelodeon’s long range plan and Nick’s digital television networks’ positioning and expansion. She was also a key player in vital projects including Nickelodeon’s acquisition of the online site Neopets and MTV Networks’ foray into Video-on-Demand.

    Prior to joining Viacom, Ms. Crosby was an Associate in J.P. Morgan’s Venture Capital and Private Equity group focusing on the telecommunications, technology and media industries, and also worked in the mergers and acquisitions and debt capital markets departments.

  • Hungama TV gets into action mode on weekends

    Hungama TV gets into action mode on weekends

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV is hotting up on weekends. For the next two weekends, the channel will air international kung-fu films that will keep kids glued to their seats.

    Shaolin Soccer directed by Stephen Chow will be aired on 22 April at 1.30 pm with a repeat telecast at 5.30 pm and 9.30 pm. Rumble in the Bronx starring the kung fu king Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong will be aired on 29 April at 1.30 pm with a repeat telecast at 5.30 pm and 9.30 pm.

    In Shaolin Soccer, a Shaolin Kung-fu practitioner (Lee Wai) is seeking a way to spread the word about his chosen art. He meets a down-on-his-luck lame ex-football player who helps him reconcile with his five brothers and teaches them to play football, adding Shaolin Kung-fu as a twist. They form a team, and are soon entered in a prestigious tournament with a $1 million prize.

    In Rumble in the Bronx, Keong (Jackie Chan) comes from Hong Kong to visit New York for his uncle’s wedding. His uncle runs a market in the Bronx and Keong offers to help out while he is on his honeymoon. Before he knows it, he’s on the mean streets of New York where he’s forced to defend his uncle’s (Bill Tung Bui) supermarket from two separate threats: Local bikers running a protection racket, and a bunch of professional diamond thieves whose latest haul somehow ends up in Chan’s possession.

  • Raymond’s complete man serenades wife with dolphins in new TVC

    MUMBAI: After cute white puppies, its now the dolphins’ turn to feature in the new television commercial (TVC) of Raymond, which has been conceptualized by RK Swamy BBDO.

    The frame opens with a man in a yacht, dressed in a jacket, gently leading his wife to the upper deck. As they reach the bow of the yacht, the wife is pleasantly surprised to see a pair of dolphins leaping out.

    The lady is simply floored by this sight and rests her head across the man’s chest. The emotions are captured as she feels the softest of jackets made from Raymond fabric.
    In this new TVC, the ‘The Complete Man’ pulls out all stops to serenade and declare his love for his better half. With its TVC, Raymond uses a set of beautiful dolphins to highlight the sensitive and thoughtful nature of ‘The Complete Man’. The high emotion of the moment has been used to highlight the special nature of the Raymond brand.

    The new TVC is a logical extension of the other popular television commercials which shows the ‘The Complete Man’ expressing a wide range of emotion in various relationships – with the baby, with his little daughter, his grown up son, schoolmaster, puppies, etc.

    The thinking ‘Feels like heaven, feels like Raymond’ demonstrates that ‘The Complete Man is not only a good, sensitive person but also looks sharp at all times.

    Raymond Ltd group president and whole time director PK Bhandari said, “Raymond has always played on the emotional chord in its communication. We have always aimed at creating something unique and different, yet relevant to the Raymond brand.”

    R K Swamy BBDO president Shekar Swamy said, “The creative idea is that ‘The Complete Man’ will go to great lengths to arrange something really, really special for his spouse, and she is absolutely dazzled by his thoughtfulness and extravagance in thought.”

  • MyNetworkTV’s nine new affiliates help expand coverage to 65 per cent in U.S.

    MyNetworkTV’s nine new affiliates help expand coverage to 65 per cent in U.S.

    MUMBAI: Fox Television Stations’ new prime-time network MyNetworkTV announced that it has signed on nine more affiliates, expanding its coverage to 65 percent of the U.S.

    Four of the additional stations are owned by Pappas Telecasting Companies. They include KDMI-DT in Des Moines, Iowa; KKAZ-KPTM-DT in Omaha, Nebraska; KDBC-DT in El Paso, Texas; and KPTH-DT in Sioux City, Iowa.

    The remaining five new affiliates are WZDX in Huntsville-Decatur, Alabama; WFXI in Greenville, North Carolina; KZOU in Columbia-Jefferson City, Missouri; KIDZ in Abilene-Sweetwater, Texas; and KGJT in Grand Junction-Montrose, Colorado.

    Pappas Telecasting Companies chairman and CEO Harry J. Pappas said of the deal, “17 years ago, we took a gamble on a fledgling enterprise, the FOX Network. We affiliated the three TV stations we then owned with FOX, despite the fact that many pundits said a fourth network couldn’t possibly succeed. Were they ever wrong! Our relationship with FOX has been mutually-beneficial. Now, we are affiliating four of our TV stations with FOX’s newest enterprise, MyNetworkTV. When you consider Rupert Murdoch’s consistent track record of success, it’s easy to understand why we’re betting on News Corp. again with MyNetworkTV-a bet that Pappas Telecasting expects to pay off handsomely for all involved.”

    MyNetworkTV launches on 5 September with the new scripted primetime drama strips Desire and Secret Obsessions.

  • Critical Mention names CNBC’s Ron Insana to its board of directors

    Critical Mention names CNBC’s Ron Insana to its board of directors

    MUMBAI: Critical Mention, Inc., the web-based television search and monitoring service for corporate communications and business intelligence professionals, has named former CNBC anchor Ron Insana to its board of directors effective immediately.

    Insana, who remains a regular contributor to CNBC, will also provide strategic direction and counsel in support of Critical Mention’s new ad-supported video syndication platform. This platform enables broadcasters and other content producers to monetise their content and extend their brand in the “long tail” of the internet by syndicating video clips to the thousands of vertical web sites looking for specific content of interest for their end users.

    “I’m very excited about my involvement with Critical Mention and am especially bullish about the new video syndication service. The syndication service promises to revolutionise the way web sites search and publish timely and relevant rich media clips from respected broadcasters and content providers. More importantly, it will also give broadcasters new opportunities to reach and prove their value to wider audiences online,” said Insana.

    Critical Mention founder and CEO Sean Morgan added, “We’re delighted to have Ron join the board. Ron’s reputation in the industry, willingness to challenge convention and understanding of our business model make him a great addition to the company.”

    Insana joined CNBC in 1991. He was a regular contributor to NBC’s Today Show and The Nightly News with Brian Williams, as well as to Imus in the Morning and Market Wrap on sister network MSNBC, and other programs when market activity warranted. Additionally, Insana has written a monthly column for USA Today entitled “Talking Business with Ron Insana” and hosted the nationally syndicated radio program, The Ron Insana Show, for Westwood One.

    He was also nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award as part of NBC’s coverage of 9/11, and in 1999, was named one of the top 100 business news journalists of the century by TJFR Group.