ITV

Tag: 21st Century Fox

  • MIB, USIBC discuss on promoting India as a film shooting destination

    MIB, USIBC discuss on promoting India as a film shooting destination

    NEW DELHI: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) secretary Bimal Julka has emphasized on the government’s efforts to make India a film-shooting destination.

     

    He said efforts were on to set up a ‘Film Facilitation Unit’ to promote the concept of ‘Single Window Clearance’.

     

    Addressing a US-India Business Council (USIBC) delegation led by 21st Century Fox senior vice president Joe Welch, he said the government was committed to facilitate the digitization process for television in Phase III and Phase IV as per the given timelines.

     

    Discussion centered around the media and entertainment (M&E) sector in India and the steps taken by the government to promote “Make-in-India” across various platforms in different sectors. The discussions also focused on the possible collaborative avenues related to anti piracy. 

     

    Julka gave an overview of the growth of the industry in critical areas of the M&E sector.

     

    During the discussions, the delegation was also informed about the new policy initiatives of the Ministry in the broadcasting and film sector. Julka emphasized on the role of the MIB in disseminating the schemes of Government across media platforms in an effort to sensitise the masses.

     

    The meeting was attended by senior MIB officers and members of the Council representing different segments of the M&E industry in US.

  • James Murdoch bets big on Star India; expects $1 billion EBIDTA by 2020

    James Murdoch bets big on Star India; expects $1 billion EBIDTA by 2020

    MUMBAI: The country’s leading broadcaster – Star India is betting big on the future. Star India, which has made a mark in the general entertainment as well as the sports broadcasting space, is looking at turning the company into a billion dollar entity by the turn of the decade, said 21st Century Fox co-chief operating officer James Rupert Murdoch.

     

     “We love the India business. It has now evolved enormously from Hindi entertainment to regional language broadcasting and now we are a national platform. The sports business for us is a new pillar and we are looking at the business in a long-term time frame. And if we keep innovating and investing in putting more creative and innovative content on screen, Star India will become a billion dollar EBIDTA by the turn of the decade,” said Murdoch at the just concluded Asia Pacific Pay-TV Operators Summit 2015 held in Bali.

     

    Addressing the gathering at APOS, Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, “Media content has a huge role in shaping the sensibilities of the society and this role should not be underestimated.”

     

    Stressing on the role of sports, Shankar added, “I am prejudiced towards aspirational content and cynical about cynical content. This is something we have always kept in mind while creating all of our content and it is the same philosophy that we are bringing to sports as well. Sports has a huge role to play in empowerment, especially in a country like India, where we need to make the society believe that even an uneducated person can aspire to something greater if he is talented in a sport. This is what has worked with Kabaddi in a big way.”

     

    Star has applied the same entertainment business philosophy into sports. “We are creating content with deep local affinity using the audience aggregation power that cricket gave you. Sports broadcasting has been plagued by laziness and lack of innovation, treated merely as a distribution agent of acquired rights, which is what we have tried to change with multiple local leagues. If it is your team that’s playing, even if it is not the best team, you would be deeply passionate about it. Creating a hierarchy of leagues across the country can be huge empowering phenomenon,” opined Shankar.

     

    Speaking about content creation and regionalization, he said, “India is a giant country with varied cultures and tastes. We used Asianet as a beach head for the south and elevated the quality of content dramatically with sharper storytelling, involving the best of the creative fraternity and breaking the caste divide between film and TV. For logistic reasons outsourcing production might make sense, but unless you internalize the core creative skill, you will not be able to sustain success, which is why we have build a robust internal creative team to ensure this.”

     

    Star India’s recently launched video on demand (VOD) platform Hotstar has become a talking point of sorts. “Our objective behind Hotstar was quite simple actually – a lot of audiences were consuming our content on other screens, but we were unhappy with the inability to control their viewing experience. We realised we own all of this IP and so came Hotstar. I do not think that this is a ‘free model.’ We need to keep the consumer at the center while thinking about this and in a market like India, where data costs are still pretty high, the consumer is still paying a lot for the data – so it’s not particularly consumer friendly to have them pay twice, especially at such a nascent stage.”

     

    Shankar is also buoyed by the over-the-top (OTT) services space as it allows for democratisation of creativity. “However this is not the same as saying that anyone can create content,” he said.

     

    He also stressed on the use of big data and analytics by the network. “At Star, we use a lot of data and we value it deeply. However, let’s not become data monkeys. Data helps understands patterns but to understand these patterns and take a leap to what should be created next, will still require creativity. No matter how much data we have, I don’t believe we will be able to automate the definition of the next blockbuster,” concluded Shankar.

  • 21st Century Fox denies talks for tie-up with Discovery Communications

    21st Century Fox denies talks for tie-up with Discovery Communications

    NEW DELHI: 21st Century Fox has denied as “categorically untrue” that senior executives from 21st Century Fox and Discovery Communications had met to discuss a tie-up that could create a $100 billion movie, entertainment and sports giant.

     

    The story had appeared in the Australian Financial Review.

     

    Rupert Murdoch of Fox and John Malone, a major shareholder in Discovery (and a director) and chairman and CEO of Discovery Holdings, have a long history in media, sometimes fighting one another and other times co-operating.

     

    Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald on 23 February reminded readers that News Corp-backed Foxtel is already working on a 50/50 deal with Discovery to buy Australia’s Ten Network.

     

    A few months ago billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a shareholder in News Corp/21st Century Fox, following the ending of 21st Century’s bid for Time-Warner had said, “Combining both companies would have been a dream proposal because the amount of content the combined company would have had would have been tremendous.”

     

    “Knowing Mr Murdoch, I think the idea is still in his mind. But I think the time is not right now because the management of Time Warner are against it, and the shareholders of Fox were also not for it,” he had told CNN in September. 

  • Warren Buffett picks up stake in Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox

    Warren Buffett picks up stake in Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox

    MUMBAI: Billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway picked up a stake in Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox during the fourth quarter last year. Buffett’s company bought 4.7 million shares in News Corp and at Tuesday’s closing price of $34 per share, the stake was worth approximately $160 million.

     

    In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Berkshire Hathaway said that it bought 4.7 million shares in Murdoch’s company. The companies that fall under the 21st Century Fox umbrella are: 20th Century Fox movie studio, Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox News, FX and Fox Sports.

     

    Berkshire Hathaway has also increased its stake in cable television provider Charter Communications last year from approximately five million shares to 6.2 million during the fourth quarter. Additionally, the company also has stakes in other media and entertainment conglomerates like satellite television company DirecTV (31.4 million shares), Liberty Global (18.2 million shares), Liberty Media (12 million shares) and Viacom (8.6 million shares).

     

    While he upped his investment in media companies, the octogenarian business magnate dumped his stakes in oil companies Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, at a time when oil prices have been on a downslide. His firm offloaded 41 million shares worth approximately $3.7 billion of Exxon, which is the largest US oil company.

  • Fox Cable Network Programming business revenue up 14.2% in Q2-2015

    Fox Cable Network Programming business revenue up 14.2% in Q2-2015

    BENGALURU: Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (Fox) reported a 1.3 per cent drop in total revenue to $8055 million in the quarter ended 31 December, 2014 (Q2-2015, current quarter) as compared to the $8163 million reported for the year ago quarter (quarter ended 31 December, 2013).

     

    In November 2014, the Company sold its 100 per cent and 57 per cent ownership stakes in Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, respectively, to Sky for approximately $8.8 billion comprised approximately $8.2 billion in cash received, net of $650 million of cash paid to acquire Sky’s 21 per cent interest in NGCI, increasing the Company’s ownership stake in NGCI to 73 per cent.

     

    Excluding the revenue from the satellite businesses that were sold, revenue rose 10 per cent to $7.42 billion in the current quarter over the $6.73 billion of adjusted revenue in the prior year quarter. Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland were a part of Fox’s Direct Broadcast Satellite Television (“DBS”) businesses.

     

    Fox reported OIBDA of $1.72 billion which included $27 million of OIBDA from the DBS businesses. Excluding the OIBDA contributions from the DBS businesses in the current and prior year quarters, adjusted OIBDA grew by $181 million or 12 per cent from $1.51 billion in the prior year to $1.70 billion. This improvement reflects OIBDA growth at the Company’s Cable Network Programming and Television segments says the company. Adjusted OIBDA growth was adversely impacted by approximately $90 million or 6 per cent from foreign exchange rate fluctuations, primarily in Latin America.

     

    Fox chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said, “We delivered solid quarterly results despite continuing currency headwinds and ratings challenges at the Fox broadcast network. Our growth was led by sustained affiliate revenue growth in our channels business. I am also very proud of the creative successes that we have achieved at Twentieth Century Fox, which set a global box office record in 2014 and leads the industry with 24 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture nominations for Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well as at our television production studios, which have produced the Emmy and Golden Globe winning Fargo, the critically acclaimed American Horror Story and the promising new series Empire.

     

    “In addition to the operational success achieved this past quarter, we also executed two significant strategic transactions, the combination of our European satellite television holdings, creating Europe’s leading pay television business, and the formation of the Endemol Shine Group joint venture. These transactions further enhance our ability to drive long-term value for all of our shareholders,” he added.

     

    Cable Network Programming

     

    Fox Cable Network Programming business (CNP), which is its largest segment in terms of revenue and operating profit, reported a 14.2 per cent jump in revenue in the current quarter to $3384 million from $2964 million in Q2-2014. OIBDA (Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization) of CNP segment rose 11.7 per cent to $1159 million in Q2-2015 from $1038 million in the year ago quarter.  The OIBDA improvement in the current quarter was driven by a 14 per cent revenue increase on strong affiliate and advertising revenue growth says the company.

     

    The revenue improvement was partially offset by a 16 per cent increase in segment expenses, approximately half of which reflected the combined impact of the planned investments in the new sports channels, Fox Sports 1 and Star Sports, coupled with the consolidation of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (the YES Network). The expense growth at the new sports channels was led by increased rights fees related to the inaugural broadcast of Major League Baseball Divisional and League Championship playoff games at Fox Sports 1. Segment OIBDA growth was adversely impacted by over $65 million or approximately 6 per cent from foreign exchange rate fluctuations, primarily in Latin America, as mentioned above.

     

    Television business

     

    Fox Television business reported almost flat revenue (drop of 0.4 per cent) at $1623 million in the current quarter versus the $1630 million in the year ago quarter. Television business OIBDA increased 33 per cent in Q2-2015 to $290 million from $218 million in Q2-2014.

     

    The increase in segment OIBDA was driven by lower programming costs at the FOX Broadcast Network from the cancellation of ‘X-Factor’, the absence of’ Glee’ in the current year quarter and the shift of the Major League Baseball League Championship Series to Fox Sports 1, all of which were partially offset by higher rights fees related to the new National Football League contract. Quarterly segment revenues were consistent with those from the corresponding period in the prior year as strong retransmission consent revenue growth was counterbalanced by a 3 per cent decline in advertising revenues. This advertising revenue decline reflects the impact from lower general entertainment ratings at the Fox Broadcast Network, which was partially offset by increased political advertising revenue growth at the local television stations.

     

    Filmed Entertainment business

     

    Filmed Entertainment (FE) business reported revenue growth of 11.1 per cent in Q2-2015 to $2753 million from $2477 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. This growth was led by the performance of several successful worldwide theatrical releases including ‘The Maze Runner’ and ‘Gone Girl’, which have grossed over $340 million and over $365 million in worldwide box office to date, respectively. As a result of these and other successful releases in the year the studio has broken the all-time global box-office industry record, having generated more than $5.5 billion in 2014 claims the company.

     

    FE reported flat OIBDA (down 0.3 per cent) of $336 million versus $337 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. This was due to increased contributions from the film studio, led by a strong theatrical slate was offset by lower contributions from the television production businesses driven by fewer series deliveries, including the absence of ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘White Collar’ and ‘Glee’.

     

    Direct Broadcast Satellite Television (DBS)

     

    DBS segment revenue in Q3-2015 was down 56.3 per cent to $663 million from $1517 million in Q2-2014. DBS reported OIBDA of $27 million in Q2-2015 versus $30 million last year.

     

    Consolidated revenues by component

     

    Affiliate Fees grew 17 per cent to $2480 million in Q2-2015 from $2119 million in Q2-2014. Subscription was down 55.7 per cent due to the sale of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland in Q2-2015 to $605 million from $1366 million in the year ago quarter. Advertising revenue was almost flat down 0.6 per cent) to $2370 million in Q2-2015 as compared to $2385 million in Q2-2014.

     

    Revenue from Content was up 15.4 per cent to $2487 million in the current quarter from $2156 million in Q2-2014. Revenue from ‘Other’ component was down 17.5 per cent to $113 million from $137 million in Q2-2014.

  • US Justice Dept drops case against News Corp in phone-hacking scandal

    US Justice Dept drops case against News Corp in phone-hacking scandal

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch’s company News Corp will not be prosecuted in the US over the phone-hacking scandal that the company was involved in the UK.

     

    An enquiry was made into whether the alleged payments to the British police by News Corp journalists meant that the company broke anti-corruption laws in the US.

     

    However, the US Department of Justice has said that it was not pursuing charges and was closing its investigation.

     

    In a joint statement issued by 21st Century Fox and News Corp; News Corp general counsel and 21st Century Fox senior executive vice president and group general counsel, chief compliance officer Gerson Zweifach said, “21st Century Fox and News Corp have been notified by the United States Department of Justice that it has completed its investigation of voicemail interception and payments to public officials in London, and is declining to prosecute either company. We are grateful that this matter has been concluded and acknowledge the fairness and professionalism of the Department of Justice throughout this investigation.”

     

    News Corp’s tabloid newspaper in the UK, News of the World closed down in 2011 after the scandal broke.

  • Life OK promotes ‘Mahakumbh’ at Times Square, New York

    Life OK promotes ‘Mahakumbh’ at Times Square, New York

    MUMBAI: After launching a 360 degree campaign to promote its mytho-thriller offering Mahakumbh- Ek Rahasya, Ek Kahani, Life OK has set its foot on a global platform to generate buzz about the show. The channel has gone a step ahead to attract its viewers in The United States of America by showcasing Mahakumbh promos at Times Square, New York and few other parts of Manhattan.

     

    With this initiative, Mahakumbh has become the first ever Indian show to be promoted on Times Square billboards, claims the channel.

     

    The overseas campaign was executed with the support of 21st Century Fox, owned by the Star Network. Speaking about the initiative, Life OK spokesperson said, “Considering the storyline of the show, which has a lot of references to an international conspiracy related to Mahakumbh, it was important for us to grab attention of our loyal and potential overseas audiences. The promo was strategically screened on Times Square in order to reach out to the masses in one go.”

     

    The show is a contemporary mytho thriller that revolves around the journey of the enigmatic Rudra (played by Gautam Rode) who is hit by a life changing catastrophe while in the Kumbh Mela. The show features Gautam Rode, Seema Biswas, Payal Rajput, Manish Wadhwa, Robin Das, Ketki Dave and child actor Siddharth Nigam playing pivotal roles and is produced by Arvind Babbal productions.

     

    Mahakumbh- Ek Rahasya, Ek Kahani airs Monday to Friday, 8pm on Life OK.

  • Murdoch wants media to unite against Amazon and Netflix

    Murdoch wants media to unite against Amazon and Netflix

    NEW DELHI: Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has called for a cooperative media response to challenger streaming services Amazon and Netflix.

     

    He said during a technology conference by his flagship Wall Street Journal at Laguna Beach that the media industry needs its own competitor to these giants.

     

    “As an industry, we need a competitor – a serious competitor – to Netflix and Amazon,” Murdoch said and added, “I think we are all on the same page.”

     

    21st Century Fox, which he chairs, is one of the partners in Hulu, a rival to Netflix, alongside Disney and NBCUniversal. Last year, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar left abruptly for a new video startup, Vessel, backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

     

    Talking of HBO’s new streaming service Murdoch said it would be difficult for HBO to launch a standalone service while negotiating with cable companies. “They do not want to get into conflict with them, so they’re really only aiming at the moment at the 10 million people who don’t get cable.”

     

    Murdoch briefly addressed 21st Century Fox’s failed bid for Time Warner over the summer. “We felt that we needed more critical mass and content and this was a wonderful marriage and fit,” he said. 

     

    Given that the panel was entitled “Bets Won and Lost,” the conversation turned to one of Murdoch’s most notable failed investments, the $580 million purchase of MySpace that ended with the sale of the social media site for $35 million. The mogul reiterated, as he has many times, what happened.  

     

    “We just messed it up,” Murdoch recalled, saying that he helped install a layer of bureaucracy that hindered the growth of the site. “It was a series of expensive, lost opportunities.” 

  • Warner Bros and Sky Deutschland extend movie rights contract

    Warner Bros and Sky Deutschland extend movie rights contract

    BENGALURU:  Sky Deutschland and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) announced that they have agreed to an early extension of their cooperation for several more years. The long-term contract between Sky and Germany’s top film distributor includes on demand rights for all current new movies during the pay-TV window as well as exclusive pay-TV rights to all Warner movies across several platforms. Film fans will be able to continue enjoying exclusive access to the most recent cinema blockbusters from Warner as television premieres on Sky. Upcoming highlights include films such as “Interstellar”, “Horrible Bosses 2”, “Magic in the Moonlight”, “Mad Max: Fury Road” , and “Der Nanny” from Matthias Schweighöfer.

     

    Content will also be available whenever and wherever subscribers want it via non-linear services Sky Go and Sky Anytime. In addition to current first broadcasting rights, Sky is acquiring exclusive pay-TV rights to a comprehensive package of high quality library films including rights for Sky Go and Sky Anytime.

     

    Sky Deutschland executive vice president, programming Gary Davey said, “Warner Bros. has been one of Sky’s closest and strongest partners for years. And now we’re pleased to announce a multi-year extension. We would like to thank Warner for its trust and look forward to continuing this successful cooperation. In the future, film fans will be able to keep on enjoying the wide-ranging movie offering that is only available on Sky.”

     

    “We are incredibly pleased to be continuing our long-standing relationship with Sky Deutschland,” said WBITD president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger. “As our television business continues to evolve and consumer behaviours shift to include more options for viewing our content, it is important to have a smart, sophisticated and marketing-savvy partner like Sky in Germany and Austria to showcase our films in the first pay TV window. “

     

    Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is in the process of selling its majority stake in Sky Deutschland to UK based BskyB which is also taking full control of Fox’s Sky Italia and will combine the three pay-TV groups to form Europe’s largest pay-TV service with 20 million subscribers.

  • “Star India will prove to be a game changer for us”: James Murdoch

    “Star India will prove to be a game changer for us”: James Murdoch

    CANNES: 21st Century Fox co-chief operating officer James Murdoch has lots of hopes from Star India. During his keynote on day one of the ongoing MIPCOM 2014, he said, “If we continue to innovate and lead in India, it will prove to be a game changer for us. It is the number one network in India.” He further stressed that the India business is really doing well for them and so was Sky in the UK.

     

    Murdoch believes in giving freedom and creating a company which backs talent. “At 21st Century Fox, we aspire to be one of the biggest homes for creativity and storytelling. We want to be a place where we can attract some of the best talent and encourage them to take risks, when they can’t take it anywhere else,” stressed Murdoch.

     

    21st Century Fox which is in different businesses, right from television to movies to cable and satellite, believes that the main business at the end of the day is of digital video and about story telling. “A lot of barriers in different lines of our business is breaking down. The challenges in terms of strategies and customer behaviour is similar from place to place and business to business,” he added.

     

    The biggest media giant believes in giving its executives and talent the freedom to think and create. “The culture that we are creating is that right from Mumbai to LA, the executives should have the confidence for risk taking and do great story telling,” he said. The company believes in empowering people to do great business.

     

    Murdoch laid a lot of emphasis on taking risks. “Larger companies have the ability to take risks. We learn lessons along the way. As a company we have made investments in challenging businesses. We are trying to create a culture where people understand that it is better to take risks, even if you get it wrong, at least you have tried. Great successes come from great risks. We have a culture where we do not get traumatised with failures.  We want to be a place where people feel that they can be backed,” he announced.

     

    He feels that all of Fox’s business is of risk. “Investing in original programming is the biggest risk we take, as investing in original programming means delaying some profits for the company,” he said while giving example of Simpsons, which they made and then acquired for cable syndication in the US. “When we took the step, we didn’t know how customers would react to it.”

     

    “These are the sort of risks one needs to take. I love the moment in the business when you say, ‘Holy Cow, we did it!’” he stressed.

     

    The son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, also spoke about the Shine and Endemol joint venture. “We saw opportunity in merging with Endemol. This is a business which will benefit from scale, breadth and diversity of creativity. Both Shine and Endemol have a great future.”

     

    Murdoch feels that in a creative business, one cannot over-synergise. “You have to allow people to run their own show.”

     

    According to Murdoch, consolidation in infrastructure business of cable and television has begun. “The upstream business will see further consolidation. People will seek to invest more in programming, because they see value in it,” he said.

     

    He also touched upon the most talked about collaboration between Time Warner Cable and 21st Century Fox, which did not take place.  “We had thought that the combination could be exciting. It was an opportunity at a moment in time. Given the nature of these things, we didn’t want to get into things like hostile takeovers and so moved out.”

     

    The company will soon be completing the merger of its three Sky businesses in Europe: UK, Germany and Italy. So why merge the three, he said, “Each one of them in their lifecycle has done really well. There are a lot of common things they do. We feel that together there is a huge opportunity to accelerate the business. Also with this they can create great stories. In Europe there is great opportunity for studio business.”

     

    According to Murdoch, consumers like bundling, because that drives down prices and consumption up. “People will bundle things in different ways and the stack will be re-ordered. Subscription TV is alive and kicking, and it is changing, driven by competition,” he said.

     

    He is happy when customers surprise him. “We need to create authenticity in the content. Customers are being better served today.”

     

    He concluded by saying, “TV industry has been very progressive and we need to be pacesetter.”