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  • Nick to launch new show – ‘Gili Gili Gappa’ on Holi

    Nick to launch new show – ‘Gili Gili Gappa’ on Holi

    MUMBAI: Nick is readying for Holi with a special slime show of its own. Gili Gili Gappa, which is the Indian version of Slimetime Live, will premiere on 15 March at 4.30 pm and will air every Friday. The fast-paced show embodies Nick’s characteristic features – noise, mess and slime.

    The first international version of Nick’s Guinness World Record breaking gameshow, Gili Gili Gappa is hosted by Nischint (aka Nishu) and Aaliyah. The duo tries to keep order while contributing to the chaos, Nick style.

    In Gili Gili Gappa, two teams go head to head in each of the six unique games like Mooh Phat, Aas Paas Bandar Gili Gili Andar and SpongeBum Gili Chaddi. The finale round called Holi Hai has the two winners up against each other for the big challenge, vying for Nick’s ultimate honour – a chance to sit under the “Gili Gili Ganga” machine for a complete sliming.

    But they’re not the only ones who get to participate and get a taste of Gili Gili. The eliminated contestants also get into the act equipped with water balloons, Gili Gili shooters and popcorn as they try to influence the outcome.

    Gili Gili Gappa functions as links between the four shows on the two-hour NickToons block Trollz, Chalk Zone, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron and SpongeBob SquarePants. Nick general manager Hema Govindan said, “It’s the final touch to our ace NickToons block.”

  • DD Direct Plus sets to be installed free of cost in low terrestrial density

    DD Direct Plus sets to be installed free of cost in low terrestrial density

    MUMBAI: Targeting the areas wherein the terrestrial coverage is negligible, the free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) service of Doordarshan — DD Direct Plus will soon be available to states including — Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, North-East Region, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal.

    The Information & Broadcasting and parliamentary affairs minister P R Das Munshi has announced that 10,000 DTH receive systems including the dish and the set-to-box (STB) will be distributed free-of-cost.

    In an official statement issued, the free distribution of DTH sets is targeted to the states where the terrestrial coverage is lower than national coverage.

    This was done through public institutions viz. Anganwadis, Schools, Public Health Centres, Panchayats, Youth Clubs, Cooperative Societies, etc. The free distribution of DTH sets is targeted to the States where the terrestrial coverage is lower than national coverage.

    So far, 8,465 DTH receive units have been installed in the uncovered villages of above States and North-East Region.

    The DD Direct Plus platform includes the Doordarshan channels, private TV channels and audio channels of All India Radio. Prasar Bharati will provide 100 television channels and 50 radio channels by the end of this year (2006). The service is available on the high power transponders of NSS-6 satellite.

  • Sahara One programming head Kumud Chowdhary quits

    Sahara One programming head Kumud Chowdhary quits

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Television programming head (fiction) Kumud Chowdhary has put in her papers. Chowdhary joined Sahara One in January 2004 from Star, where she was commissioning editor.

    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Sahara One Television COO Purnendu Bose said, “Yes, Kumud has put in her papers today. She has done a terrific job here for the last two years and is moving on to pursue her personal aspirations. We wish her all the best.”

    Chowdhary said that she was moving to pursue other things. When queried as to what her next destination was, she remained noncommittal, saying it was too soon to talk about it and “nothing was final as yet.”

    In her tenure at Sahara One Television as programming head, Chowdhary was instrumental in bringing on board shows like Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki, Hare Kaanch Ki Choodiyan, Kituu Sabb Jantii Hai, Kohinoor and Saath Rahega Always. “These shows have brought a lot of credibility to the channel and has brought Sahara One in synch with the other players in the industry,” Chowdhary said.

    Chowdhary had joined Sahara One when post the restructuring of Sahara’s media and entertainment business under a joint venture management company with Percept, Sahara Media and Entertainment vice president programming Triptii Sharma put in her papers in late 2003. Chowdhary was brought in to step into Sharma’s shoes.

  • Sonys animation film to be simultaneously released in Imax 3D

    Sonys animation film to be simultaneously released in Imax 3D

    MUMBAI: Imax Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced that Sony Pictures Animation’s first computer generated project Open Season, will be released in Imax 3D simultaneously with the films premiere in conventional theatres on 29 September 2006.

    The film will be digitally converted into Imax 3D and re-mastered into the image and sound quality of the Imax experience through Imax digital re-mastering technology. Sony will be the exclusive distributor of the film to Imax theatres worldwide.

    Open Season stars the vocal talents of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing and Gary Sinise. Imax’s 2006 film slate now includes six new digitally re-mastered
    Hollywood films scheduled to be released day-and-date to Imax theatres, and one original Imax 3D film, Deep Sea 3D, which opened last weekend. Open Season brings the total number of new Imax 3D releases for the year to four.

    The deal marks the second Imax release for Sony following Spider-Man 2: The Imax Experience a couple of years ago.

    In Open Season Boog voiced by Lawrence, a grizzly bear with no survival skills, has his perfect world in the tranquil town of Timberline turned upside-down when he meets Elliot voiced by Kutcher, a scrawny, fast-talking wild mule deer.

  • India England series holds on to ratings

    India England series holds on to ratings

    MUMBAI: Holding on to the cricket loving audience. That is what the first test match in the India England series has managed to do. Tam figures indicate that the ratings achieved were similar to what had been done when India played Sri Lanka last year and only slightly less than what was achieved when India toured pakistan..

    Tam data c&s 4+ shows that for the first test match DD had a rating of 1.6 while Sahara One managed a rating of 0.9. This is similar to the ratings that the India Sri Lanka test series got last year.

    DD had a rating of 1.6 while Zee Sports had a rating of 0.8. Of course one must consider the fact that Sahara One has better connectivity than Zee Sports. Where Sahara One fared better was in the Hindi Speaking Markets. It managed a rating of 1.3 compared to the 0.9 that Zee Sports managed during the India Sri Lanka test matches.

    The good news is that the test ratings for the India England series was only slightly less than what Ten Sports managed for the India Pakistan tests which was 2.9 c&s4+. The India England series delivered 86 per cent of the audience for the India Pakistan series c&s4+.

    Test cricket rates better among men. For males c&s ABC 15+ DD managed a rating of 2.2 while Sahara One managed a rating of 1.2. The India Sri Lanka test series managed a rating of 2.3 on DD and 1.2 on Zee Sports. Ten Sports got a rating for 4.3 for the India Pakistan test matches.

  • Amazon talking to Hollywood studios for online film downloads

    Amazon talking to Hollywood studios for online film downloads

    MUMBAI: Online retail giant Amazon.com is considering the launch of a service that would allow visitors to download movies and television shows.

    Media reports indicate that the move is aimed at offering an alternative to Apple’s iTunes. Amazon is believed to be in talks with Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros for the store.

    The market for video downloads has gained momentum due to broadband penetration growing. Apple has been strengthening its iTunes offerings. The company just launched a new subscription service that lets consumers purchase TV shows through a monthly subscription.

    AOL, meanwhile, also has been active in expanding its media offerings, creating a service through which users can download videos and other entertainment content. The company is also busy developing its own online TV properties. All of this comes as a challenge to the traditional retail outlets.

    Reports further indicate that Amazon.com’s store is expected to allow users to buy, burn and keep DVD’s and differ from Apple’s current policy on its American store by only allowing visitors to download for viewing on the computer or iPod video.

  • American televisions coverage of health leaves something to be desired: Study

    American televisions coverage of health leaves something to be desired: Study

    MUMBAI: Local television newscasts, where most Americans get their news, are packed with medical stories and health information.

    But the first-ever study of that coverage finds many problems with it, and sees room for improvement by both TV stations and the health experts whose work fills the news.

    In the March issue of the American Journal of Managed Care, researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison report results from an in-depth analysis of health coverage on local TV newscasts from across America.

    In all, health and medical stories comprised 11 per cent of the news portion of late-evening newscasts in the one-month period studied, with 1,799 such stories carried on 2,795 broadcasts captured from the representative sample of 122 stations in the US’ top 50 media markets.

    The average story was 33 seconds long, and most did not give specifics about the source of the information presented. Items about specific diseases tended not to contain recommendations for viewers, or information about how common the disease was, which could help put the news into perspective with other health issues.

    But most disturbing, the study’s authors say, were the egregious errors contained in a small minority of studies — errors that could have led to serious consequences. For instance, a story that aired on several stations reported on lemon juice’s effect on sperm and speculated about, or presented as factual, the use of lemon juice as an effective contraceptive, and its potential effect on preventing sexual transmission of HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

    Despite the fact that the study was done in a research lab, nearly all the stories failed to mention that it had not involved humans. One of the stations misinterpreted the study altogether and stated that lemon juice may be a substitute for ‘costly’ HIV medications.

    The survey notes that errors such as these can actually harm the public. The key here is the focus on local news. Local TV news is the single greatest source of information for the majority of Americans — whether it be politics or health, the survey notes.

  • IPL’s Bangalore Royal Challengers unveils logo

    IPL’s Bangalore Royal Challengers unveils logo

    BANGALORE: Vijay Mallaya’s UB group which won the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise for Bangalore unveiled its team logo late last night. The team has been named Royal Challengers (RC).

    As has been reported earlier, the team has Charu Sharma as the CEO and Rahul Dravid as the team captain. Martin Crowe, whose role is to focus on the strategic aspects, is the Chief Cricket Officer. Venkatesh Prasad is the team coach and Evans Speachley of South Africa is the physiotherapist with Muthu Kumar of Bangalore as assistant.

    The RC team has tied up with Reebok for the sporting uniforms and Louis Phillippe for formals. Monoviraj Khosla has designed the special uniforms for the cheer leaders.

    During the second round of the IPL player auction, RC netted Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul-Haq and India under-19 captain Virat Kohli. New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor, Bangladesh left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq and India U-19 wicket-keeper batsman Shreevats Goswami were the others who came to Bangalore.

    The team has a blend of batsmen, bowlers and all rounders. The batsmen are: Rahul Dravid; Shivnarine Chanderpaul; Misbah-ul-Haq; Ross Taylor, Wasim Jaffer; Virat Kohli; Jadessh Arunkumar; Bharat Chipli. The bowlers are: Dale Steyn (reportedly the fastest bowler in world cricket at present); Zaheer Khan; Nathan Bracken; Balachandra Akhil; Anil Kumble; Sunil Joshi; Abdur Razzak; KP Appanna; Praveen Kumar. The all rounders are: Jacques Kallis; Cameron White; Vinay Kumar. The wicketkeepers are Mark Boucher; Shreevats Goswami; Devraj Patil.

    An official statement indicates that the UB group is in talks with several partners in the online space to tap young fans, create virtual clubs, explore mobile space and leverage new media potential for marketing the team. Sale of merchandise and on ground activations will be used to reach out to the Royal Challengers fan flowing.

  • Panamsat reports four per cent revenue growth

    Panamsat reports four per cent revenue growth

    MUMBAI: Global satellite service provider Panamsat has reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended 31 December, 2005

    For the year, total consolidated revenues of $861. million increased by 4.1 per cent from 2004 while video services revenues grew by 7.3 per cent over 2004. This year was significant as the company was acquired by Intelsat for $3.2 billion.

    The company paid down $676 million of long-term debt and paid out $300.3 million of dividends to shareholders as a result of strong financial results and a successful IPO. The company also achieved a year end 2005 cash balance of $126.3 million compared to $39 million at year end 2004.

    Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2005 were $229.2 million, compared to revenues of $207.7 million for the same quarter last year, an increase of 10.4 per cent.

    Panamsat CEO Joe Wright said, “Panamsat finished the year in an extremely strong position as we completed one of the most successful years in the company’s history. Our management team has now met or exceeded guidance for four years in a row while also continuing to increase our revenues and profitability. The utilisation on our satellite

    fleet increased to 73 per cent compared to an industry average of less than 60 per cent, while our fleet reliability remained at an industry high of 99.9 per cent.

    “Equally as important as our strong financial results, we made real progress in the three major strategic areas that we identified early last year for future growth: 1) High Definition video in North America and expansion of Direct-to-Home (DTH) video services in international markets. 2) satellite-based connectivity in rural America and remote regions of the world and 3) servicing the U.S. Government. We capped off the year with an agreement to merge with Intelsat.
    “In the first strategic area of video expansion, we expanded our industry leading HD

    neighborhood in the U.S. on Galaxy 13 by signing a multiple year, multiple transponder contract with HDNet as well as by adding new channels to the platform including the Outdoor Channel. In addition, to meet strong demand for Ku-band capacity in North America, we signed an agreement with JSat to co-develop the Ku-band Horizons-2 satellite for the US market, which will support expanded HDTV, digital video, and IP-based content distribution

    networks to broadband Internet and satellite news gathering (SNG) services.

    “We also launched Vis-a-TV, an ethnic programming service for the U.S. marketplace. Vis-a-TV represents a milestone for the industry as it is the first time an operator will partner with its customers to bring the world’s programming to the U.S. Internationally, we developed the PanGlobal TV DTH

    platform in Australia, which currently offers 25 different channels of ethnic programming content and will be duplicated in additional international markets, including New Zealand, this year.

    “In our second strategic area, providing satellite-based connectivity to developing markets, several of our initiatives have already developed into real growth opportunities. In South Africa, we joined the Liberty Foundation and are providing over 1,000 schools with general curriculum and other teaching aids from Johannesburg. We are also using our satellites to provide health education to citizens across the country via a network of government healthcare clinics. In Mexico, we have joined with our partner Grupo Pegaso to expand satellite-based broadband services to government, enterprises and consumers.

    “Our G2 Satellite Solutions unit, formed several years ago, also made significant progress during the year. This Panamsat subsidiary now accounts for nearly $90 million in annual revenues and is recognised as one of the

    premier full-service total solutions providers to the U.S. Government. In 2005, the G2 team created a managed network solution specifically for the US government and its various agencies.

    “The network uses high-powered Ku-band beams around the globe to deliver voice, data, video and Internet connectivity. At the end of 2005, this service was installed in over 300
    locations and is projected to be the fastest growing part of the business. And, equally important, we were able to clearly demonstrate the value of our satellites in the case of emergencies such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. We were ready then and will be in the future to provide communications services in the event of an emergency, either natural or man-made,” adds Wright.

  • HTMT to buy out Pacific Horizon’s 1.23 per cent stake in Hutch

    HTMT to buy out Pacific Horizon’s 1.23 per cent stake in Hutch

    MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT Ltd has announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Pacific Horizon Ltd, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, Japan for buying an effective 1.23 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd (Hutch).

    The agreement is for purchase of Sumitomo’s 100 per cent stake in Pacific Horizon, which currently holds 24.12 per cent of IndusInd Telecom Network Ltd (ITNL). In Hutch, ITNL currently holds a 5.11 per cent stake. This translates to Pacific Horizon holding an effective stake of 1.23 per cent in Hutch.

    HTMT, according to the agreement, is purchasing 50 per cent of Pacific Horizon up front while the remaining stake will be bought at a later date.

    With this acquisition, HTMT, together with its wholly owned subsidiary InNetwork Entertainment Ltd, will hold 91.54 per cent of ITNL. This corresponds to a 4.68 per cent effective stake in Hutch, the company told BSE.