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  • Verizon, CBS reach programming deal on FiOS TV

    Verizon, CBS reach programming deal on FiOS TV

    MUMBAI: Verizon and CBS have reached a deal in which Verizon will carry CBS programming on its new television service.

    The companies announced a comprehensive retransmission consent and video-on-demand (VOD) agreement, which includes analog, digital, multicast and HD rights to programming on CBS owned-and-operated television stations; local VOD content from those stations; and CBS Television Network VOD content, including such current popular network series as CSI,NCIS and Survivor.

    Verizon will offer the programming on its new fiber-optic TV service FiOS TV, which is now available in parts of seven states of the U.S. All FiOS TV subscribers with a set-top box will receive the CBS Television Network VOD content at no incremental cost, which will also be true for FiOS TV subscribers in CBS owned-and-operated markets with regard to the local VOD content.

    “With each subscriber that Verizon’s FiOS TV adds, CBS will directly benefit, and therefore, we look forward to our partnership as Verizon showcases our programming both in our (owned-and-operated) markets and across the country,” CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves said in a statement.

    Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg said the deal expands the market for both companies.”For us, it means we can offer our customers the tremendously valuable content provided by the CBS Television Network and local broadcast stations,” Seidenberg said.

    CBS locally owned-and-operated stations are in all Verizon TV markets except Washington, D.C.Verizon said its retransmission consent agreement with CBS is its largest such deal. Prior to the deal, Verizon provided programming from the CBS owned-and-operated stations under a special agreement with CBS.

  • WPP’s first quarter revenues up 18 per cent

    MUMBAI: Advertising conglomorate WPP Group PLC has reported an 18 per cent rise in it’s first quarter revenue with record new business and strong growth across most of the group. The acquisition of Grey Global was also instrumental to this growth to an extent.

    The agency said that revenues excluding currency fluctuations and acquisitions for the three months to 31 March rose to ?1.37 million, in line with analyst forecasts and from ?1.11 billion a year earlier.

    The Middle East region has become the fastest growing region for WPP, while Asia Pacific, India and China continued their rapid growth. “Asia Pacific remains strong, with India and China continuing the rapid growth seen in 2005, with first quarter like-for-like revenues up sharply again. Western Continental Europe, although still relatively more difficult, has seen some improvement, particularly in Germany,” the agency said.

    The agency also said that it was on track to increase operating profits by 10-15 per cent annually.

    However, WPP said that Britain remains the slowest advertising market in the world as the agency had reported strong first-quarter double digit growth across all its territories but its home region, which recorded a growth of nine per cent. “All regions, with the exception of the United Kingdom, showed double digit revenue growth,” WPP said in a trading update.

    WPP said like-for-like revenues rose almost five per cent and that it had won a record level of new business for the quarter at ?1.30 billion.

    The agency is also considering increasing its share buyback programme, two per cent of total shares annually, at a cost of about ?175 million, buoyed by favourable market conditions.

    “Given the group’s cash flow of over $1 billion and under-geared balance sheet, it may be advantageous to repurchase more outstanding shares. In the first quarter of 2006, shares were repurchased for cancellation at an annualised rate of 2.5 per cent. The (rise in like-for-like revenue) maintains the improvement in the organic growth rate of the last eighteen months, which began with the last two quarters of 2004 and continued through 2005. This also reflects the continued relatively benign economic environment across the world and the continued strength of the US economy,” the agency said.

    The strongest growth for the agency came from media investment management, which was fuelled by demand for online and interactive marketing and communications. WPP’s public relations and public affairs grew by just over 14 per cent, consultancy by almost 10 per cent.

  • Ficci entertainment division head Siddhartha Dasgupta quits

    MUMBAI: At a time when the Indian entertainment industry is booming, the revolving door is not restricted to just media companies. It has started spinning at apex chambers of commerce too.
    Take, for example, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) that had taken a lead to propel the entertainment and media sector in the forefront in the country. Its joint director and head of entertainment division, Siddhartha Dasgupta, has left to join a digital movie distribution company, UFO Moviez, the digital cinema network launched by Valuable Media Pvt Ltd late 2005.
    Sources in Ficci confirmed that Dasgupta has quit, but refrained from handing out other details like a likely replacement for him. At the moment, a high-level delegation of the apex chamber of commerce, including its secretary-general, Dr Amit Mitra, is on a business tour of China where rampant video and audio piracy has rattled some of the visiting businesspersons.

    Apart from Dasgupta, two other senior functionaries of Ficci in recent times left to join the Reliance group, promoted by Mukesh Ambani. A possible casualty in the animation division of Ficci has been averted, according to the sources.

    Meanwhile, UFO Moviez aims to be at the forefront of the convergence of entertainment and technology. Its goal: create the world’s largest integrated digital cinema network capable of digitally delivering and exhibiting motion pictures and alternative content. Dasgupta’s experience at Ficci would help the top management of the company.

    UFO Moviez is aiming to set up 500 digital movie halls by middle of 2006 at an investment of Rs 800 million and then scale it up progressively to 2,000 cinema halls across the country at a total investment of Rs 3 billion.

    UFO Moviez is the digital cinema network launched by Valuable Media Pvt LTD, where the lead investor is the Delhi-headquartered Apollo International Ltd.

    At the launch of the network, Apollo group’s head OS Kanwar had said, “Earlier businesses were driving technological applications, now technological applications are driving business models. UFO Moviez digital cinema is a prime example of how Indian technology whiz kids have adopted technology to deliver the best of content even to the remotest Indian towns.”

  • CNN once again has its ‘Eye on China’

    CNN once again has its ‘Eye on China’

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN will once again dedicate its global resources to China for incisive debate, programming and insights next month. The network will have its second week-long Eye On China. A 20 member newsgathering team offers analysis, documenting the latest cultural, economic, and social developments in a country rapidly emerging as a pre-eminent global force.

    The week begins with CNN Connects – an hour long debate on The Price of Progress and continues with a blend of live reporting and features from Shanghai in the show CNN Today. Two editions of the talk show Talk Asia also go behind the headlines with China ‘s leading newsmakers.

    Following on from debates in Davos, Beirut , Mumbai, Beijing and New York CNN Connects visits Shanghai for an hour-long round table debate evaluating the issues in balancing double-digit economic growth and the environmental challenges this presents.

    Jim Clancy anchors The Price of Progress with a panel of environmental experts including Jim Harkness of the World Wide Fund for Nature, academics and specialists debating in front of a live audience including students from China’s prestigious and internationally respected Fudan University.

    Throughout the week, Kristie Lu Stout reports live from locations around Shanghai for CNN Today. In addition, Kristie and correspondents Stan Grant, Mike Chinoy and Tara Duffy bring a number of reports charting contemporary China in all its fascinating complexity. Topics cover a wide range of issues including Shanghai ‘s rise as a new business Mecca , preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the nation’s growing environmental challenges, the rise of the blogger and a look at China ‘s new sexual revolution. And, of course, Shanghainese food.

    With the Olympics just two years away, China ‘s political, environmental, and economic outlook is being scrutinised as never before. Eye On China reveals the drive behind modern China, assessing how its inhabitants are adapting to a more affluent economy while also examining efforts to balance modernisation with traditional values.

  • It wasn’t me!

    By VINAY KANCHAN

    Passing the buck – the one skill that is genetically transmitted through the organizational DNA over decades. Some agency systems have actually developed ‘propriety models‘ to perfect this activity. Perhaps the old adage that ‘models give events structure but not direction‘ is likely to be proven wrong during the course of events.


    “Why do you guys always screw up so badly? Especially after everything was so crystal clear after the last meeting?” enquired a fuming Mr. Bose (the client) of the agency team.
    His outburst was after an eventful meeting with the client top brass. To say that the meeting was bad would be tantamount to describing a Tsunami as a mildly agitated ripple in the water.


    “Open your eyes with belief, and thou shall come to no grief” the hushed Chinese accent, the express delivery of the tea cup and Chai-La (the mystical Chinese canteen tea boy) vanished in the smoldering embers of Mr. Bose‘s previous statement, but not before leaving Ram with a riddle to ponder over.


    As Ram scratched his head trying to make sense of Chai-La‘s latest conundrum, he could not help but notice all the other agency people – PP (the handle bar mustached creative director), Vikas (Ram‘s boss and the account head), Planimus (the media planning head) and Dharti (the account planner), look strangely a little past Mr. Bose, almost like they were looking beyond him at another person.


    Then Vikas spoke, with his tone matching the aggressive intent of Mr. Bose‘s.


    “Mr. Bose, firstly there was no clarity on when this meeting was to take place, secondly there was no agreed upon agenda, and thirdly there was no direction in terms of what was to be done for creative. The creative was left without a clue as to what was needed for today.”


    Ram, baulked for Vikas, thinking PP would typically fly off the handle on that accusation of ‘a lack of direction‘. But PP was mysteriously calm, almost frighteningly composed (for a creative sort that is). He gently tugged at his moustache, stroking it with almost philosophical poise, as he also strangely looked beyond Mr. Bose, as if for guidance.


    “To be frank, we were quite stumped with what sizes to take and what duration commercials we should create, because to the creative this was more a question of what could be achieved through the effective and innovative use of media, but since that picture was never truly clear we were left groping in the dark. A bit like watching Ganguly play short stuff,” ended PP, with a resounding guffaw, not really supported by the lone client representative.


    Ram‘s jaw dropped to the level of an audible thud. He was perplexed by PP‘s statement, because that squarely placed the ball in the court of Planimus-A man who undertook his business with gladiatorial passion. A man who readily fought with creative for shorter durations and smaller sizes with the frenzy of a wounded humpback whale trying to stave off a pack of Orcas.


    Planimus however barely raised his eyebrow from his laptop. In that faintest movement of his retina, Ram deduced that he also had looked beyond Mr. Bose for higher enlightenment and direction.

    “Even I need to depend on what understanding of the consumer is provided to me from account planning. The nuances of the consumer, who he is, what he does, and in what manner the brand finds a role in his existence. All these inputs are very important to me before I begin my work, and if there was no clear brief from that end I could only do that much.” concluded Planimus, squarely placing the onerous task of taking on the lions in Dharti‘s court, as he returned his uninhibited focus to his laptop.


    “Any pass is better than carrying the ball.” These immortal words from a documentary on ‘How to play the beautiful game‘ had remained etched in Ram‘s memory from an early age. But the realisation that this was applicable in modern day business was just about dawning on him.


    Dharti‘s pretty eyelashes had briefly fluffed when Planimus passed the baton to her. But something behind Mr. Bose seemed to reassure her.


    Mr. Bose turned his head in her direction; his neck was getting its best workout since Wimbledon. His smile and patience was getting a little wearier. However, given that it was Dharti he was looking at, he reached from deep within to showcase his best.


    “There were so many things said at the last meeting, and many possible new directions emerged, that one had lost track of what was finally decided, e.g. I recollect that briefly there was talk of repositioning our itching cream for the groin as a face cream, given the thinking that if it can handle ‘low down‘ bacteria than that at the top should be infinitely simpler. So I had to begin from the minutes mailed to me by the account team.”


    All eyes in the room turned to Ram as he found himself looking straight into the cold eyes of Mr. Bose, whose triumphant grin resembled that of a Tyrannosaur, who has just magically discovered a chained goat left behind by nature for supper


    Ram‘s panic stricken mind was groping for an answer. He looked around and saw encouraging looks from each and every person in the room, sans Mr. Bose. As if they all had expected that the spotlight would rest finally on him and that he would be able to handle it. Astonishingly even Vikas was looking supportively towards him, it was almost unreal.


    As he closed his eyes to muster his wits, he felt the express delivery of the tea cup in his hand and prophetic words spoken in a hushed oriental tone in his ears.


    “To protect thyself from the oncoming rage, look around and thou might find the answer on a page”


    He looked up in time to see Chai-La disappear into an inter office memo with an unerringly loud cackle of demonic laughter.


    Ram felt his hand go forward and touch the page. It felt a little strange, almost like he had made a cosmic connection. As he looked around at his team mates he caught relieved smiles on all their faces.


    Then as he turned to Mr. Bose he saw her.


    She had a divine, 1000 watt radiance about her. Her hair was glowing, long lustrous strands that shampoo brand managers would have betrayed their mothers for, her skin was flawless and blemish cum acne free, her smile was angelically sly enough to cause the will of reticent accountants to waver, for a minute he thought he was witnessing a supernatural being. But he saw a sash on her that said ‘Ms. PTB Propriety 2006‘ and that convinced him otherwise. Mysteriously Mr. Bose seemed completely unaware of her existence.


    Ram continued to watch her in awe as she did a small pompom routine and topped it off by moving both her hands together in a circular arc across the room tracing every occupant in it until they stopped at Mr. Bose. Then she dazzled a smile at Ram and vanished. For once Ram knew what he had to say


    “Mr. Bose, I did write and circulate the minutes of the last meeting, but I had also emailed you the same and put a very important highlighted footnote there that Vikas had insisted on. The footnote said that you had to get the minutes seen and ratified by the chairman before the next meeting. You never got back to us on that.” He said feeling a strange calm and peace in him as he went about every sentence.


    Mr. Bose‘s smile disappeared of his face with the speed of platonic thoughts leaving your mind once the channel switches to Baywatch. Sweat began to form on his massive brow.


    “Yes! Why didn‘t you?” asked Vikas, thumping the table with great gusto.


    Mr. Bose began mopping his forehead with a handkerchief that he seemed to have produced from the medieval era, “I have to get back to the office to meet the chairman, but you can take your time for the next presentation, let me know when…”


    He vanished from the room even before bothering to punctuate the previous statement.


    There were collective yells of joy and high fives that were exchanged within the agency folk as they all trickled out of the room, visibly elated at having successfully defended their spotless home game record in this respect.


    As Vikas was leaving the room, he looked back to see Ram immersed in deep thought.


    “What‘s up chief?” he asked Ram.


    “Who was she?”


    Vikas smiled his all knowing smile,” She was the propriety model that we have developed for passing the buck PTB-2006, I can‘t really tell you any more, its top secret.”


    “But why could I see her only after I touched the memo?”


    “Because it‘s difficult for underlings to see her, unless they fully understand the organizational DNA, and sometimes getting in touch with papers that symbolize how we excel at passing the buck (PTB) like inter office memos does help,” concluded Vikas as he left the room to resume his hostility with PP and every other creative in the world.


    “Then I saw her face, now I am a believer,” a markedly Mandarin version of this classic song began playing on Ram‘s Taiwanese walkman, as Ram found his fingers fondling a tea cup even as Chai-La disintegrated into one of the Chinese letters on the walkman logo.




    After stints at Lowe, Mudra and Everest the author is now with Triton as Associate Vice President Brand Services. In addition to that he is also patron saint of Juhu Beach United – a movement that celebrates obesity and the unfit ‘out of breath‘ media professional of today. To join up contact vinaykanchan@hotmail.com


    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)

  • Trai urges unified licensing to spur next generation networks

    Trai urges unified licensing to spur next generation networks

    MUMBAI: Telecom regulator Trai today said that operators should be encouraged to move to next generation networks (NGN) for effective utilisation of spectrum for mobile services asked government to act fast on unified licensing regime to make NGN a reality.

    Trai’s recommendations for a unified licensing regime, dated 13th January 2005, should be considered expeditiously so that various operators can make best use of NGN platform to provide all types of telecom, data, video and broadcast services through a single licence, Trai said in its recommendations.

    A statement issued by Trai today says: “Due to technological advancements there is a trend towards unification of networks & services leading to the emergence of Next Generation Networks, which are predominantly IP based. The NGNs enable the service providers to provide a wide range of services (voice, data, video) over the same platform.”

    In addition, NGNs also enable fixed-mobile convergence / substitution resulting into reduced demand on mobile services spectrum, the statement points out.

    Increase in broadband penetration is a must for wider deployment of NGN services and since the policy targets for broadband have not been met, it is time to undertake the review of various recommendations on broadband access related issues, Trai said, adding that unless various operators are able to deploy NGN in access to provide multiple services its full benefits cannot be made available to customers.

  • Intelsat appoints Jeffrey P Freimark as CFO

    Intelsat appoints Jeffrey P Freimark as CFO

    MUMBAI: Intelsat, Ltd. has announced the appointment of Jeffrey P Freimark as its executive VP and chief financial officer, effective on the resignation of Robert Medlin.

    Medlin has been serving as acting chief financial officer of Intelsat since June 2005, and is expected to resign from his post in April 2006.

    Jeffrey P Freimark resigned on 15 March as executive vice president, chief financial and information officer of Beverly Enterprises Inc., a provider of healthcare services to the elderly.

    Beverly Enterprises was sold to Pearl Senior Care, Inc. in a transaction that closed on 14 March, 2006. Prior to his role at Beverly, Freimark held senior-level positions at a number of public companies, including serving as chief financial officer of OfficeMax Inc., CEO, president and CFO for Grand Union Company, and chief financial officer of Pueblo International, Inc.

    Freimark, who holds an MBA in accounting and taxation from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a JD degree from New York Law School, is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the New Jersey Bar.

    Intelsat chief executive officer Dave McGlade says, “Jeff’s experience in working with the capital markets and building strong finance and accounting teams will be very valuable as Intelsat completes the PanAmSat merger. Including his work on integrations, Jeff has successfully implemented significant cost reduction and process improvement programs, demonstrating his strong abilities and effectiveness in driving company value. We know that he will be a major contributor at Intelsat.”

    McGlade also noted the role played by Robert Medlin for Intelsat: “Bob Medlin has been very important to Intelsat over the past several months, and he has assisted in maintaining solid financial controls and processes during this period. All of us at Intelsat are appreciative of the efforts of Bob and his team.”

    Medlin, a senior managing director of FTI Consulting, Inc., will continue to support Intelsat’s financial operations for an interim period on a consulting basis.

  • Filmart kicks off, new addition is Hong Kong Music Fair

    Filmart kicks off, new addition is Hong Kong Music Fair

    MUMBAI: The 10 edition of Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart) kicked off today (20 March). This edition also introduces the launch of The Hong Kong Music Fair, in collaboration with IFPI Hong Kong. Filmart is on till 23 March.

    The Hong Kong Music Fair will offer a dedicated pavilion for music industry professionals and players to explore business opportunities on new media applications, copyright trading, technology transfer and cross-media partnerships.

    Over 60 companies specialising in records production and distribution as well as artist management have taken part in this year’s premier Hong Kong Music Fair launch.
    Filmart offers a wide variety of products and services, spanning from film, animation, digital entertainment, audio-visual equipment, post production and music productions, at the four-day event.

    Over 400 exhibitors from 28 countries and regions presenting their most creative programmes have converged on Hong Kong Filmart, considered Asia’s world entertainment market. The exibihtion is recognised as the cross-media platform for industry players to network, exchange and trade in this part of Asia.

    Over 4,000 buyers have registered on-line to visit the show, informs an official statement. Exhibitor attendance this year includes the first time exhibitors from Turkey, the Bahamas and Iran.

    The Filmart exhibition will also inculde animation and digital entertainment pavilion to showcase their animation,online games and edutainment software as well as their digital post production facilities and services.

    The Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) will be held concurrently with Filmart for the third year.

    HAF, co-organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and Hong Kong & New Territories Motion Picture Industry Association Ltd (MPIA), is aimed at serving as a match making platform for the film industry, helping commercially viable and promising film projects in Hong Kong and Asia locate financial and business support through joint ventures or co-productions.

    Over 160 film screenings and international premieres will be arranged for trade visitors.

  • Trai moots Rs 50 million entry fee for convergence licence

    Trai moots Rs 50 million entry fee for convergence licence

    MUMBAI: Cable TV operators will have much to cheer with this recommendation from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The broadcast and telecom regulator has suggested a much lower levy of Rs 50 million as entry fee for national and international long distance licence (NLD/ILD) in the converged scenario.

    Trai had earlier suggested Rs 1.07 billion, making it expensive for cable operators to move into telephony services. “If the government approves Trai’s recommendation, it will particularly benefit us as we are planning to enter into the triple play area,” says Siticable CEO Jagjit Kohli. Siticable, a leading multi-system operator (MSO), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zee Telefilms.

    While asking the government to approve its unified licensing recommendations at the earliest, Trai also said in a release today that there should be reduction in the entry fee to reflect the changes made in the entry fee for NLD/ILD licence. “The entry fee should come down to Rs 50 million as against Rs 1.07 billion recommended earlier and this should further reduce to Rs 300,000 after five years as already recommended,” it said.

    In order to promote convergence and competition in broadcasting and telecommunications, the regulator has called for the clearance of the Communications Convergence Bill, 2001, albeit with some modifications. “There should be converged regulatory regime. The starting point for this exercise should be the Communications Convergence Bill, 2001. However, several changes need to be made in this Bill. Content regulation should be kept out of the purview of the converged regulator. The division of powers between the Government, TDSAT and TRAI should also broadly correspond to what is presently the position,” Trai said, releasing the recommendations on convergence.

    “Convergence of technologies is rapidly blurring the boundaries between telecommunications and broadcasting. It is necessary for the legal and regulatory framework to adapt to this convergence and actively promote such convergence. This would also help in facilitating competition,” the regulator said.

  • Fun Technologies acquires WorldWinner for $23 million

    Fun Technologies acquires WorldWinner for $23 million

    MUMBAI: Fun Technologies Inc. has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, SkillJam Technologies Corporation has acquired WorldWinner.com, Inc. for $23 million. This acquisition further consolidates the company’s leadership position in the fast-growing casual gaming market.

    Based in Newton, Massachusetts, WorldWinner is a privately held company that specialises in online skill games. It hosts more than 10 million games and awards millions of dollars in prizes every month, with games in five categories: Card (Bridge, Spades), Word (Word Mojo), Arcade (SwapIt, Blockwerx), Strategy (Skillgammon, Cubis) and Sports (Pool, Polar Bowler). An average of 350,000 games are played on WorldWinner daily. For the 12 months, WorldWinner’s unaudited financial statements showed revenue of $10.67 million.

    SkillJam is a multi-channel provider of skill-gaming technology and solutions. It develops and distributes private-label gaming solutions for a broad network of partner destination sites in the US and abroad, including AOL, MSN’s Zone.com, Virgin Games and Lycos. Through its skill-gaming website SkillJam.com, SkillJam offers a wide range of skill games to its over nine million registered users. SkillJam games are also offered over the internet, through wireless applications (mobile) and iTV (interactive television), and on stand-alone kiosks.

    Over the short term, WorldWinner’s products will continue to be offered on its website, http://www.worldwinner.com, but there will be some level of integration in the future with the SkillJam property.

    Fun Technologies CEO Lorne Abony said, “The acquisition of WorldWinner is a significant strategic achievement for Fun Technologies. WorldWinner was until now our largest competitor and by consolidating the two businesses we will achieve significant operating efficiencies, leverage and synergies. Skill-gaming is in its infancy and we believe it makes tremendous sense to consolidate the sector in its early stages to capture market share, increase supplier concentration, enhance distribution and acquire customers at low cost per acquisition. The synergies that exist in merging SkillJam and WorldWinner are enormous, as the businesses are complementary in every way.”

    Fun Technologies president Rick Weil added that acquiring WorldWinner means leveraging economies of scale and significantly growing revenue. Further, Weil stated, “We will acquire millions of new non-overlapping customers, increase our liquidity and offer customers a variety of new online games. We also intend to move quickly to take advantage of the cost synergies which exist in redundant operations.”

    WorldWinner president and CEO Stephen Killeen said, “We are proud to be a part of this merger with Fun Technologies. The consolidation of the two organizations will result in a global skill-gaming powerhouse.”