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  • Kinetic launches moto-scooter Blaze in Bangalore, Pune & Goa

    BANGALORE: Scooter manufacturer Kinetic Motor has launched the first of its Italjet acquired models Italiano series with the sobriquet “Blaze in Bangalore, Pune and Goa”. A national rollout is slated for next month.

    Kinetic’s joint MD Sulajja Firodia Motwani, present at the launch in Bangalore, expects to sell around 35,000 to 40,000 units (excluding exports) during this financial year (ending 30 September 2006). These numbers will add around Rs 1.8 billion to the group’s turnover which touched Rs 20 billion last year and is expected to turn the balance sheet around.

    Slated for this year are two other products from the Italiano series – one being the 135 cc Europa which was earlier to have been launched in Diwali 2005. Also on the anvil are two motorcycle launches this year of which one has already been launched in North India.

    As reported earlier, Motwani plans ad spends of around Rs150 to 200 billion for the Italiano series, and speaking with Indiantelevision.com, she confirmed that a budget of around Rs 50 million has been earmarked for the Blaze. While jingles are being aired on Radio City in Bangalore, a TV campaign is slated for next month to coincide with the national rollout. Grey handles the creative duties and Madison is overseeing the media business.

    The campaign is targeted at the man who wants performance, power and style. The 165 cc engine generates more power than the conventional 100 cc self starting scooters that are now available in India, but Motwani says that it is not possible for her to categorize the Blaze as a scooter or a motorcycle – she prefers to call it a moto-scooter – adding that this could be the start of an entirely new category in the two-wheeler industry.

    Despite the Blaze or the Millennium as it is known in Italy coming to India six years later after its launch in Italy, Motwani claims that the technology and styling are still modern and new as far as India is concerned. Though the dies and the moulds have been procured from Italjet, the vehicle has been tweaked to suit Indian conditions by Kinetic.

    It has been designed by renowned two wheeler designer Leopold Tartaini, who is well known for his designs for other brands such as Ducati, Piaggio and Yamaha. Kinetic has the global manufacturing rights from Italjet for all the seven models announced earlier, on the condition that royalty has to be paid by Kinetic if sold under the Italjet brand name.

  • Adidas maps its biggest football campaign ever for World Cup

     MUMBAI: With the upcoming World Cup, partners of football’s governing body Fifa are getting busy with their plans to leverage the event both globally and in India.

    In fact, a few of them initiated activities a few months ago to gradually build up the momentum with new products and grassroots initiatives. A case in point is Adidas.
     

    Explaining to Indiantelevision.com the role that the Fifa World Cup and football plays as a brand building exercise, Adidas India MD Andreas Gellner says, “Football is our passion and Adidas is the only authentic and innovative football brand. We understand the game and the psyche of the players out there better than anybody else”.
     

    The +10 campaign:”The 2006 Fifa World Cup promises to capture the attention of the entire world, a cumulative total of over 38 billion viewers are expected to watch the World Cup during June and July, and they will be seeing Adidas everywhere with the +10 campaign: “In India, we have undertaken several initiatives to promote the World Cup. It all started with the global + 10 marketing campaign that was launched in November last year. The campaign celebrates ‘team spirit’ and features some of the world’s most celebrated football stars such as Michael Ballack, David Beckham, Raúl Gonzales, Kaká, Alessandro Nesta, Juan Román Riquelme and Zinédine Zidane,” informs Gellner.

    Says Gellner, “+10 is the biggest football marketing campaign in the history of Adidas.”

    Grass Roots Initiatives: Going forward, Adidas plans to take the + 10 campaign on ground in India with the Adidas + Challenge initiative.

    ESPN Star Sports, which will air the World Cup in India, has partnered with Adidas for the event. This, Gellner explains is the biggest ever global football tournament at the grassroot level. Adidas+ Challenge is being rolled out across Chandigarh, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad and Delhi.

    This allows young Indian football enthusiasts to celebrate the wonderful sport of football in the run up to the 2006 World Cup. Integrated in the concept of +10, the biggest football marketing campaign in the history of the brand, Adidas +Challenge aims to reflect the passion and inspiration young footballers feel around the world.

    Giving details Gellner says, “As part of the fully integrated Fifa World Cup brand campaign, the concept of Adidas +Challenge has been developed to provide an inspiring football experience to young consumers. It is all about celebrating football, team spirit, and individual skill. At each global tournament venue, India being one of them, 16 participating teams per age category (13 to14 and 15 to16) show their skills to get one of the 40 places for the global Adidas + Challenge final in Berlin, Germany from 1 to 4 July 2006.”

    The global grassroots programme started with a tournament in Rio de Janeiro in January and will be followed by global focus tournaments as well as local initiatives in over 30 countries. In Asia, Adidas
    +Challenge will take place in 12 regions. Besides India, local events will happen in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The captain of the French Team, Zinédine Zidane, will serve as the global ambassador for the initiative.

    Multimedia campaign being planned: Adidas India is also putting the final touches on a campaign that will have several touch points. These are television, mobile, outdoors in the form of hoardings and even cinema halls.
    Following the launch of the + 10 campaign, Adidas India launched Federation Jerseys and the + Predator Absolute football boot in India in December 2005. The Federation Jerseys feature Adidas technologies like ClimaCool FlowMapping and ForMotion technology. The Federation Jerseys are designed to help players deliver optimum performance on the field, as they battle it out for the Fifa World Cup.

    “Zinedine Zidane (France), Patrick Vieira (France), Michael Ballack (Germany), Oliver Khan (Germany), Raul (Spain) and Riquelme (Argentina) are a few names who will be wearing their nation’s respective Jersey for the 2006 Fifa World Cup. The new +Predator Absolute features a revolutionary Exchangeable PowerPulse technology, allowing players to add power to every shot” adds Gellner.

    Adidas also launched the new match ball for the World Cup in December 2005. The company, Gellner notes, has been producing high-performance match balls since 1963 and claims to be the world’s leading football producers. Adidas +Teamgeist is its best performing ball ever. “Thanks to a revolutionary 14-panel ball configuration, players can now show their true skills, as the quality and performance characteristics are exactly identical every time they kick the ball” says Gellner.

    New Product Range: More recently, Adidas introduced the official licensed product range in India. The clothes are aimed at expressing the values of being vibrant, youthful and truly sporty. The collection offers a range of clothes and accessories to meet varying interests of football lovers.

    Gellner offers the examples of The Supporter Tee range for die-hard supporters who’ll be sitting up late at night cheering, the Photo Collection with graphics of the Adidas brand ambassadors Beckham, Raul, Kaka, Zidane for the fashion conscious fans and the Ticket Range has a graphic of the original world cup ticket on the apparel.

    Moreover, Gellner points out that women need not feel left out in the cold, because they are the chosen ones this season with a bunch of collections being designed keeping in mind the female football fan. The Flag Spaghetti collection sports colourful spaghettis in the national colours.

    When asked as to the extent Adidas India’s marketing budget would increase this year on account of the World Cup, Gellner notes that globally, Adidas spends eight to nine per cent of its net sales on total marketing efforts. In a World Cup year, a very significant portion of the total spend goes into football.

  • India, Pak cable ops form SAARC Electronic Media Association

    India, Pak cable ops form SAARC Electronic Media Association

    NEW DELHI: At a time when relationship between India and Pakistan are thawing a bit for the better, Indian and Pakistani cable operators have joined hands to push for a regional body that would take up industry issues in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region.

    The campaign for such a body has been jointly launched by India’s Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh and Pakistan Electronics Media Association (PEMA).

    According to Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh founder-president AK Rastogi, “The time has come when an organisation is launched that will work for the interest of cable operators and the cable and broadcast industry in the SAARC region, including interfacing with various governments.”

    SAARC region includes countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. “A meeting of the new organisation, attended by Pakistani and Indian representatives, has been held. Consent from those in other countries had been taken earlier,” Rastogi added.

    Such a body, according to Rastogi, would go a long way in creating awareness about the industry and its intricacies amongst the general populace of various South Asian countries.
    Concurring with Rastogi, PEMA’s founder chairperson Muhammad Ibrahim Rana told Indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of the ongoing 14th Convergence India 2006, that even the Pakistani government has realised the futility of banning Indian TV channels.

    “There is a growing feeling in Pakistan that Indian TV channels like Zee TV, Star Plus, NGC and Sony can be given landing rights with certain riders like inclusion of a certain percentage of Pakistani content on the channels’ Pakistan feed,” Rana said.

    However, these content-related riders are worrying some Indian and foreign broadcasters who have sought permission from the Pakistani authorities to beam there.

    For example, a senior executive of Zee Telefilms, India’s largest vertically integrated media company, said, “These conditions being flaunted by Pakistani authorities for giving a green signal to us will only increase cost and red tapism. Does the Indian government put such conditions on Pakistani channels, including PTV?”

    Pakistan may not see eye to eye with India over various issues, but when it comes to watching Indian cable television, most Pakistanis will tune in faster to Indian general entertainment channels than a runaway rickshaw.

    It is this factor, according to some critics, that has stopped the Pakistani cable industry and subscriber homes from growing as fast as their Indian counterparts.

    While India boasts of over 61 million C&S households, PEMA’s Rana said that the total number of cable TV homes in Pakistan would be approximately 2 million. Though Dubai-based ARY Digital has obtained a DTH licence, it is yet to start the service.

    “But if Indian TV channels agree to about 20 per cent of Pakistani programming on their Pakistan feeds, we don’t see any reason why the likes of Zee and Star cannot be seen in our country,” Rana said, admitting that before a ban was put in place Zee News, notably, had seized a fair market share.

    The SAARC Electronic Media Association can work towards removal of such governmental, political and social barriers, Rana asserted.

  • Create high impact content to unite audiences and then monetise: Nair

    Create high impact content to unite audiences and then monetise: Nair

    MUMBAI: “Distraction is a one night stand, attraction is a marriage,” said Star Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair.

    This rather strange turn of phrase was what Nair chose as part of his presentation at Ficc Frames ‘Attraction in the age of distraction.’ Nair stressed on the fact that creating compelling content for an audience constantly on the move and having multiple choices available was of utmost importance.

    “Content will continue to remain king. A new generation of media consumers has risen who want and demand content delivered to them when they want it, how they want and where they want it. Power is moving away from the old elite in our industry,” Nair said.

    “The number of television channels in the country has also grown tremendously in the last few years. Almost a 100 channels were launched in the last four years,” Nair said. He also threw light on the different delivery platforms namely IPTV, DTH, broadband, mobile SMS, multiplexes, gaming, internet that more and more consumers were accessing increasingly.

    Nair stressed on the fact that what was required was for broadcasters to create high impact content to unite audiences and then monetise the fragments over time, space and applications.

    Examples of these are: The Simpsons, which gained popularity with the television series and also diversified into various areas like merchandising, T-Shirts, which were a rage in the US. The Walt Disney Television International with various divisions like theme parks, merchandising, publishing, licensing, television, theatre, television production and distribution, was another example that Nair gave.

    Some formats that have worked well for the Star India network are Kaun Banega Crorepati, Nach Baliye and The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (TGILC). Star launched mobisodes around TGILC, went online with the KBC game on their website and garnered a huge response from the audiences around the shows.

    “The important thing is to use 360 degree communication in order to reach unified audiences in a fragmenting environment,” Nair said.

  • Frames debates the merits of the studio versus the independent filmmaker

    MUMBAI: The relationship between studios and independent filmmakers was a subject discussed at an afternoon session of Frames, the convention for the business of entertainment. The speakers were Sahara One CEO Shantonu Aditya, filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt,Govind Nihalani and Bobby Bedi and Adlabs Films chairman Manmohan Shetty.

    Nihalani pointed out that studios and independent filmmakers have their strengths and both parties should look to work with each other. “Artistically released commercially successful films can be made.
    Corporates should realize that creativity is equity. The independents should realize that money is as important as creativity. Studios should know that sometimes small risks pay off big time. That is because audiences like to be surprised.

    “A studio basically operates on calculated budgets and big stars to secure an ROI. Scripts are chosen if a star is attached. This ensures a long run. An independent filmmaker, on the other hand, feels that an idea and a directors treatment of that idea is what creates value. Lavish sets, big stars add value. However, they do not create value. There is a way to bridge the two and both should realize that they need each other.”

    This point was echoed by Shetty who noted that in the West independent filmmakers go the studio route to release their films. In India, there are studios like Yash Raj Films. However, important directors like Karan Johar still call the shots and studios chase them for the rights to distribute their films. “Reliance buying Adlabs means that more films will be made. Fortunately we have not suffered any losses till now.”

    Bhatt spoke on the benefits and challenges of being an independent filmmaker. “Movies that do not have personal supervision of an idea are doomed to fail. One does not only make movies. You need passion and religious fervour. There is talk of delivery systems but you need to invest in ideas. Otherwise these systems will be parched of good content. It is important for a filmmaker to keep himself lean and thin. A studio executive unfortunately only understands a Shah Rukh Khan. He does not understand the value of an idea. I would argue that studios are victims of hype. An independent filmmaker, though, has to pay off any debts incurred. He cannot hide behind abstractions.”

    Bedi said that indepdents are better incubators of ideas. “In the West studios do not incubate ideas as it is too expensive. An independent filmmaker approaches a studio with an idea. The studio then works that idea to a maturity level where one is able to confidently approach exhibitors.”

    Aditya says that Sahara One has had success as it concentrates on its strengths of marketing and distribution. “We have made 14 films as projects. There have been start dates and finish dates. We have also spent quite a bit on marketing. We have worked in different genres. We picked up Page Three when nobody wanted to touch that film. At the same time, it is difficult to know which idea will work. We get 70 ideas a week. Of course, each presenter of the idea is confident in it. Once an idea is given the go ahead, we do not interfere with the creative process other than keeping a check on how the work is progressing. The writer is given freedom.”

  • MTV multi-platform debut in Canada from 21 March

    MTV multi-platform debut in Canada from 21 March

    MUMBAI: It’s a historic day not just for Canadian audiences, but for Canada’s creative and production communities too. The MTV brand debuts today in Canada. The Toronto based CTV will replace the name of its talktv speciality channel with the MTV brand.

    The MTV launch represents the biggest multi-platform launch among all 49 worldwide MTV services comprising the MTV Networks International family, according to MTV Networks International president and MTV Networks vice chairman Bill Roedy.

    The MTV brand will debut in 360 degree fashion, across six different platforms. The ‘Six Arms of MTV’ will incorporate numerous distribution strategies including conventional and specialty channel platforms, mobile, Video On Demand (VOD) and in pioneering fashion, across a newly created premium broadband service, MTV Overdrive, the first of its kind in Canada.

    MTV is a newly branded Canadian analog specialty service and offers a winning schedule, infused with lifestyle, talk and documentary programming.

    In an official statement, the networks claims that the channel will immediately be available in 6 million Canadian households via all major cable and DTH services.

    Newly created MTVonCTV branded blocks of programming will be seen six nights a week across Canada on CTV’s conventional stations.

    MTV Overdrive is a new broadband channel that represents a
    first-of-its-kind in Canada. The free premium video service harnesses the latest in technology to deliver MTV content to anyone at broadband speeds. On demand are full-length MTV programs, daily MTV News, custom short-form programming, movie and game reviews and much more. In addition to providing MTV-branded content, Overdrive is MTV’s answer to music authenticity in Canada with exclusive MTV music events, artist interviews, live performances and thousands of music videos.

    On Mobile will have exclusively produced MTV mobisodes and made for mobile programming by individual carriers and also via cross-carrier mobile distribution, MTV Mobile showcases a range of MTV programs that include video, soundtrack ring-tones, wallpapers and more, all available for download via mobile phones and directly off the mtv.ca website.

    Video on Demand comes with an extensive line-up of MTV hit programs immediately available. In addition, MTV is now underway with plans for an additional distribution strategy to make MTV’s hit programs available to portable video devices.

    “A new chapter in Canadian media, employing multiple platforms and
    interactivity, begins. The future is now,” said Bell Globemedia president and CEO and CTV Inc CEO Ivan Fecan.

    “It’s a landmark day for Canada’s creative community and viewers from coast-to-coast. A culturally vibrant country like ours deserves its own MTV. Sharing Canada’s creative talent with the world through MTV’s worldwide network puts Canada on the world stage. It’s where we belong,” said CTV programming president Susanne
    Boyce.

    MTV, in the official statement revealed an extensive list of 23 advertising partners who have inked multi-platform sponsorship deals to be on-board for day one. They include Bell Mobility, Cadbury Adams, Clean & Clear and Neutrogena Deep Clean, Coca Cola, Colgate Palmolive Canada Inc., Columbia Brewery, Dairy Farmers of Canada Milk, General Motors of Canada, KFC Canada, Kraft Canada, Labatt Breweries of Canada, McDonalds Restaurants of Canada Limited, Mission: Impossible III, Molson Canadian, Motorola, Nike, Nokia Products Limited, Pepsico, Sony Entertainment – the Benchwarmers, Taco Bell, Telus and West 49.

    MTV’s multiplatform advertising opportunities will allow clients’ brands to reach millions of consumers via an array of on-air and digital assets,
    including the broadband service MTV Overdrive.

    “The incredible response from clients and the agency community is confirmation that we are on target with the brand, our content and the distribution strategy,” said MTV Canada sr VP and general manager Brad Schwartz. “We want to acknowledge all 23 partners who have joined the MTV business from day One. Our goal is to make MTV the preferred destination for advertisers, large and small, and we look forward to growing together with all of our partners.”

  • Ten Sports to telecast Players Championship

    Ten Sports to telecast Players Championship

    MUMBAI: Ten Sports will telecast live the Players Championship from 23 March.

    The tournament will be played at the TPC of Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The four-hour long live telecast of the Players Championship will air at 11:30 pm on each of the four days.

    The live telecast of the Championship follows Ten Sports’ recent signing of an exclusive deal with the US PGA Tour, which makes it the home for the world’s biggest golf tour in the sub-continent.

    With Ten Sports also having the exclusive rights for the European PGA Tour, the world’s second biggest tour after the US PGA, and the Indian PGA Tour, the channel has the most complete bouquet of golf for the growing number of fans in the sub-continent.

    All ten players in the top ten of World Rankings, including world number one Tiger Woods, number two Vijay Singh of Fiji and number three Retief Goosen of South Africa, will be in action in the four-round 72-hole tournament, the tickets of which were sold out last week.

    Atwal, who will be playing his first Players Championship, said, “I am eagerly looking forward to playing the Players Championship, which is often referred to as the ‘fifth major’ by most of us. And it is heartening to know that Ten Sports will be telecasting the tournament live back home. I hope to perform well and that many of my friends and fans of the game can see what the tournament is like.”

    Apart from the various tours, Ten Sports also has exclusive rights of the biennial Ryder Cup showdown between the USA and Europe, and also the PGA Championship, the fourth and final major of the year.

  • Trai’s Baijal ends tenure; Misra likely successor

    Trai’s Baijal ends tenure; Misra likely successor

    NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Pradip Baijal retired today from service after an eventful three-year tenure as the chief regulator and a civil services career spanning 40 years.

    During his tenure as the Trai chief, Baijal has been instrumental in bringing various telecom services within the reach of ordinary people as prices fell and tele-density increased.
    Under him, Trai also stood its ground in guarding the price line of cable TV services and did away with premiums to be paid on exclusive content much to the chagrin of pay broadcasters.

    On his last day today, Baijal is said to have told a close associate that he’s going away with a sense of pride for having stood up for consumers’ rights about which much still needs to be done.

    Baijal is likely to be succeeded by former telecommunications secretary Nripendra Misra, who presently heads a Centre for Department of Telematics-Alacatel joint venture as its chairman.

    Misra, according to telecom ministry sources, is the front-runner for the top post at Trai, though last-minute calisthenics could see a surprise candidate being sprung on the telecom and broadcast industries, which are going through changing times and grappling with introduction of new norms and technologies.

    Baijal, a 1966 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was a hand-on person taking personal interest in important issues like changes to the access deficit charge (ADC) that punctured mobile phone bills and proposing a comprehensive rollout plan for the vexed issue of CAS, which, however, is gathering dust at the I&B ministry.

    “Mr. Baijal was a result driven person, taking personal interest in key issues regarding the industry,” an associates of Baijal at Trai told Indiantelevision.com.

    In fact, it was Baijal who is credited with suggesting a reduction in ADC, a fee that private telecom operators pay to the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and its eventual withdrawal by 2009.

    Even towards the end of his inning at Trai, Baijal continued to aggressively support and push for unified licensing under which a licencee can offer telecom, infotech and broadcasting services on a single licence.

    The new chairman’s name is yet to be notified by the government and could take some days. In the interim, the senior-most member-secretary could function as the head of Trai.

    Former secretary of the department of telecom (DoT) Misra is said to be front runner for the top Trai post. The name of GD Gaiha, chairman of Telecommunications Consultant of India LTD (TCIL) is doing the rounds of the media to replace Dr DPS. Seth as a member.

    In recent times, Baijal’s stature had risen so much that its parent, the telecom ministry, had started feeling uncomfortable. The government is likely to get a low profile person as Trai chairman to avoid run-ins with the telecom minister.

    Misra, a 1967 IAS officer, had worked closely with the present communications and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran whose elder brother and family control the South Indian media power house Sun TV group.

  • Microsoft to power Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV initiative

    Microsoft to power Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV initiative

    MUMBAI: Deutsche Telekom has reached agreement with Microsoft on an alliance to deliver Internet Protocol television (IPTV) services to consumers across Germany. The deal will enable Deutsche Telekom to deliver next-generation television, as well as complementary interactive services and a range of entertainment products over its VDSL broadband networks.

    Deutsche Telekom will use the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform to offer these services. Microsoft will support Deutsche Telekom with joint marketing, in addition to marketing by Deutsche Telekom, to help develop IPTV in Germany. The agreement reached with Deutsche Telekom is Microsoft’s largest IPTV contract in Europe to date and its second largest worldwide.

    The move marks the biggest European contract Microsoft TV has signed, and the second largest after one with AT&T in the United States, the software behemoth said.

    “Today’s announcement represents Microsoft’s largest IPTV agreement in Europe to date and is a very significant milestone in our long-standing relationship with Deutsche Telekom,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft.

    The platform will enable customers to receive regular TV programs as well as advanced television services including standard- and high-definition programs, interactive TV, digital video recording and video on demand. An onDemand Collections feature will allow viewers to access appealing content packages including selected feature films, TV series or documentaries at the touch of a button.

    IPTV services will be delivered through the new VDSL network, which is currently being extended by T-Com. This network is expected to permit bandwidth of up to 50 Mbit/s and is planned for launch starting mid-2006 in 10 major German cities including Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich.

    “In recent months, the experts at T-Online have run the Microsoft TV platform through extensive tests, and we are convinced that we will be able to offer excellent-quality IPTV services that will expand as we need them to,” said Kai-Uwe Ricke, chairman of the Deutsche Telekom board. “IPTV delivered via VDSL will enable better, more service-oriented, more interactive and, above all, more customized television. With this advanced television service, Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft are writing another chapter in our longstanding cooperation, tapping new markets and together exploring exciting new growth opportunities.”

    The Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform will enable Deutsche Telekom to offer its customers a better television experience, including a wide range of special-interest channels and compelling pay-TV programs, both live and on demand. Integrated personal video recorder functionality will enable viewers to “time shift” programs at their convenience, pausing live shows or recording them to enjoy later, a statement released by the two partners claims.

  • BBC Japan to go off air from 30 April

    BBC Japan to go off air from 30 April

    MUMBAI: BBC Japan will cease transmission from 30 April. The reason for the channel’s shutdown, barely two years after launch is because local distribution partner Japan MediArk Co (JMC), has declared its inability to financially support the channel any longer.

    Launched in 2004, BBC Japan was the second channel designed exclusively for one country. Prior to this, BCC Worldwide had launched BBC America in 1997.

    According to information posted on www.bbcjapan.tv, BBC Worldwide has received a notification from JMC that it no longer has the financial means to honour its contractual commitments to distribute BBC Japan.

    The JMC’s shareholders will not be providing any further financial support. This decision results in JMC no longer being able to continue distribution of the channel after 30 April.

    The statement posted on the website also stated that this decision has been taken without any consultation with BBC Worldwide and is beyond the corporation’s control. The corporation is actively seeking alternative ways to continue to provide the service in Japan.

    BBC Worldwide managing director Darren Childs said, “We are extremely disappointed to announce that, due to the apparent decision of the JMC shareholders to no longer support JMC, BBC Japan may have to end transmission.”

    “We are looking to replace the channel in the market as soon as possible, and hope to announce shortly how BBC Japan’s loyal customers will be able to receive the channel in the future. In the meantime, we extend our sincere apologies to subscribers of the channel who have been inconvenienced by the decision of JMC,” he adds.