ITV

Tag: Anil Ambani

  • Mukesh Ambani 20 billion investment plans in television and telecom

    Mukesh Ambani 20 billion investment plans in television and telecom

    MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani’s recent focus in the telecom sector hasn’t gone unnoticed, where he has spent at least $18 billion ($1,800 crore) on 4G telecom brand RJio. Industry insiders observe that Mukesh Ambani’s aggressive take on the telecom and television sector may also pit him against his brother Anil Ambani and his company.

    Now reports are out that he intends to spend another $2 billion ($200 crore) over three years to capture TV sets as he eyes an opportunity to use his financial clout in what is a highly fragmented sector.  To put matters into perspective, Mukesh Ambani’s television unit has been aggressively signing up deals with hundreds of small players in a street-by-street effort to root out any final hurdle in its cable TV drive, reported Reuters.

    Industry observers note that this could also snap up rival operators as part of that push, those sources and analysts said, driving tie-ups in a crowded sector that includes Hathway Cable, Den Networks and Siti Cable.

    Industry sources quoting un-named Reliance officials say that Reliance’s mid-year goal of 1 million (10 lakh) subscribers would rise to 5 million (50 lakh) homes in the medium-term. Within three years, the aim is 20 million (2 crore).

    With only 20 million (2 crore) homes in India having a broadband or another Internet connection, it goes without saying that there is a huge growth potential in a country with a population of some 1.3 billion (130 crore).

    “Once the company manages to crack the last mile… it will be a formidable player,” Den Satellite Network MD Rajev Gavi shared with Reuters.

    Reliance executives say it will offer a bundled package with hundreds of channels and video-on-demand in high definition, along with broadband Internet, a landline phone and home surveillance. It will also offer Jio Play, its version of the Netflix movie and TV series streaming service.

  • RBNL CEO Tarun Katial denies sell-off rumours

    RBNL CEO Tarun Katial denies sell-off rumours

    MUMBAI: Speculative reports this afternoon on a possible sell-off of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Broadcast Network Limited’s (RBNL) to Subhash Chandra’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) in order of “reduce debt” have raised many an eyebrows.

    The report mentioned that the company was looking to offload up to 49 per cent stake in RBNL, which operates the channels Big Magic and Big Ganga as well as the Big FM radio network.

    However, denying the same and putting an end to all rumours, RBNL CEO Tarun Katial tells Indiantelevision.com, “The rumors have no truth in them. I deny any such development, we have no sell-off plan and we are functioning normally.”

    Of RBNL’s two channels, while Big Magic operates in the Hindi space, Big Ganga caters to the entertainment needs of Bhojpuri audiences. The Bhojpuri channel has even been performing well on the ratings front and has been a market leader in the genre according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data.

    On the other hand, Big FM has a presence in as many as 45 cities across the country.

  • RBNL CEO Tarun Katial denies sell-off rumours

    RBNL CEO Tarun Katial denies sell-off rumours

    MUMBAI: Speculative reports this afternoon on a possible sell-off of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Broadcast Network Limited’s (RBNL) to Subhash Chandra’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) in order of “reduce debt” have raised many an eyebrows.

    The report mentioned that the company was looking to offload up to 49 per cent stake in RBNL, which operates the channels Big Magic and Big Ganga as well as the Big FM radio network.

    However, denying the same and putting an end to all rumours, RBNL CEO Tarun Katial tells Indiantelevision.com, “The rumors have no truth in them. I deny any such development, we have no sell-off plan and we are functioning normally.”

    Of RBNL’s two channels, while Big Magic operates in the Hindi space, Big Ganga caters to the entertainment needs of Bhojpuri audiences. The Bhojpuri channel has even been performing well on the ratings front and has been a market leader in the genre according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data.

    On the other hand, Big FM has a presence in as many as 45 cities across the country.

  • Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment to produce French movie

    Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment to produce French movie

    MUMBAI: Anil D. Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment has inked an Indo-French partnership with Julie Gayet’s Rouge International, and Elisa Soussan’s myFamily, to produce Serge Hazanavicius’ French movie, nOmber One.

     

    Kev Adams, who has earlier been seen in movies like Les Profs 2 and Les Nouvelles Aventures d’Aladin, will play the lead role. 

     

    nOmber One tells the story of a quest, and of the ascension of a uniquely talented young man, in a world gone mad, a world of commerce and mercantile deals. It is also the tale of a father-son relationship between two men who share the same passion, of how events tear them apart, and of how a love of the snow, and quite simply love itself, brings them back together again. The movie is a story of riders, the daring last action heroes who risk their lives for a beautiful run, for an ephemeral race carved out on the sheer, white face of a remote and isolated mountain.

     

    nOmber One is written by Hazanavicius, Stephane Dan, Mary-Noelle Dana, and Alexis Galmot, and will be directed by Hazanavicius.

     

    Principal photography is expected to start in February 2016 in France, and the film will also shoot extensively in March – April 2016 on the skiing slopes in the Himalayas in India.

  • Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment to produce French movie

    Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment to produce French movie

    MUMBAI: Anil D. Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment has inked an Indo-French partnership with Julie Gayet’s Rouge International, and Elisa Soussan’s myFamily, to produce Serge Hazanavicius’ French movie, nOmber One.

     

    Kev Adams, who has earlier been seen in movies like Les Profs 2 and Les Nouvelles Aventures d’Aladin, will play the lead role. 

     

    nOmber One tells the story of a quest, and of the ascension of a uniquely talented young man, in a world gone mad, a world of commerce and mercantile deals. It is also the tale of a father-son relationship between two men who share the same passion, of how events tear them apart, and of how a love of the snow, and quite simply love itself, brings them back together again. The movie is a story of riders, the daring last action heroes who risk their lives for a beautiful run, for an ephemeral race carved out on the sheer, white face of a remote and isolated mountain.

     

    nOmber One is written by Hazanavicius, Stephane Dan, Mary-Noelle Dana, and Alexis Galmot, and will be directed by Hazanavicius.

     

    Principal photography is expected to start in February 2016 in France, and the film will also shoot extensively in March – April 2016 on the skiing slopes in the Himalayas in India.

  • Carnival Cinemas targets 1000 screens by 2016; to foray into film production & distribution

    Carnival Cinemas targets 1000 screens by 2016; to foray into film production & distribution

    MUMBAI: Carnival Cinemas, which has taken the acquisitions route to spread its footprints across the country, is eyeing a total screen count of 1000 by 2016. The multiplex chain currently operates 300 screens in over 82 cities and is looking to pump in a sum of Rs 800 – 900 crore to reach the 1000 screen milestone.

     

    What’s more, sources close to the development inform Indiantelevision.com that Carnival Cinemas is also aggressively making in-roads in film production and distribution. The group has already started working on three South Indian film projects and has aspirations of making their first Bollywood movie in next three – six months. However, while the company is in talks with several directors, it is yet to zero in on its first commercial script.

     

    Carnival Cinemas has roped in Ssarita Singh as business head of its motion pictures division to spearhead the production initiatives.

     

    The Shrikant Bakshi owned Carnival Cinemas recently acquired the multiplex business of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) for a little over Rs 100 crore. It has also lapped up Big Cinemas multiplex chain from Anil Ambani’s Reliance MediaWorks for approximately Rs 700 crore. The chain also pocketed Star Gaze’s Glitz Cinemas from Mukesh Ambani-controlled Network 18 Media and Investments Ltd.

  • Mukesh Ambani to invest Rs 250,000 crore for ‘Digital India’

    Mukesh Ambani to invest Rs 250,000 crore for ‘Digital India’

    MUMBAI: The country’s telecom giants have committed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to connect 2.5 lakh villages across India by 2019 at the launch of ‘Digital India Week’ in New Delhi.

     

    Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani began his address stating how, for the first time, the government, which usually lags behind industries, has taken a step ahead of them by conceiving ‘Digital India’. “Historically, the industry has moved faster than government in India, but with the ‘Digital India’ scheme, the government has overtaken the industry,” he said.

     

    “The youth today aspires for merit based opportunities and progress which ‘Digital India’ will ensure them and we at Reliance Industries commit to achieving that goal with an investment of Rs 250,000 crore,” Ambani announced.

     

    Addressing the infrastructure aspect, Ambani revealed his plans to create an all IP next generation wireless broadband infrastructure across all 29 states in India. Secondly, Reliance Jio will set up a nationwide distribution network that will enable 150,000 small electronic retailers to sell and service smartphones and internet devices.

     

    Not just that, Reliance Jio is in talks with leading device manufacturers to invite them to make smartphones and internet devices at an affordable rate in India. “We will give them assured off-take from our retail system,” said Ambani, who stressed that his company is committed to make necessary investment and strongly partner with central and state government on e-governance, and other services that ‘Digital India’ will provide.

     

    Though Mukesh Ambani set quite high standards for investors in their contribution to ‘Digital India,’ others who followed him didn’t fail to make their promises worth looking forward to.

     

    Take his brother Anil Ambani for example.  While most of the business leaders focused on manufacturing and infrastructure to penetrate in the remote areas, Anil Ambani addressed an important aspect of ‘Digital India’: a paper-free India powered by a gigantic database.

     

    “A crucial prerequisite to Digital India’s success is the availability of unlimited cloud computing power, whose building block is a digital database of the mission,” pointed out Anil Ambani.

     

    Reliance Group is the largest provider of data center facility, with its 11 data center connected by India’s largest terrestrial fiber network and world’s largest submarine cable structure, which Anil Ambani plans to double to 1.2 million sq ft in two years.

     

    The Reliance Group chairman also announced a first of its kind initiative — five fully operational cloud exchange points. “Each of these will give government departments 240 times the computing power currently available to their data centers and their efficiency  will scale up 100 per cent in every 90 days, as ‘Digital India’ will gather momentum,” he said, followed by an investment promise of Rs10,000 crore to the project.

     

    Bharati Airtel too assured a ‘meaningful contribution’. Bharati Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal said, “We at Airtel are fully committed to stand by the government’s revolutionary initiative in the digital space. We plan to invest in excess of Rs 100, 000 crore or USD 16 billion in infrastructure in rural and urban regions alike. We also plan to make 4G available to the masses.”

     

    Mittal hailed Modi as a ‘digitally native man’ and the right person to lead India in this digital revolution. He also mentioned about Bharati Enterprises’ active involvement in promoting eHealth in villages and also collaborate with manufacturers to start making devices and services within India.

  • Carnival gets the green signal to acquire Big Cinemas

    Carnival gets the green signal to acquire Big Cinemas

    NEW DELHI: The acquisition by the Carnival Group of the Big Cinemas chain owned by Anil Ambani’s Reliance MediaWorks has been cleared by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

     

    It is learnt that the South India-based Carnival Group had offered $112 million for Big Cinemas in December 2014. 

     

    In January this year, Carnival also acquired Stargaze Entertainment’s cinemas. The company now has a total of 330 screens, making Carnival India’s third largest multiplex operator. The Inox group has 361 screens while market leader PVR has 454.
     

    The proposed transaction will reduce Reliance Capital’s overall debt by Rs 700 crore and is part of Reliance Capital’s strategy to exit minority investments.

    CCI said in its order that “the proposed combination is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.”

    Under the agreement executed on 14 December, 2014, the film exhibition business of Reliance MediaWorks along with the food and beverages business, which is a part of the film exhibition business (but excluding all forms of film exhibition through Internet, mobile or television of Reliance MediaWorks), would be transferred to Cinema Ventures Private Ltd (CVPL) – a subsidiary of Reliance MediaWorks.
     

    As many as 88 cinemas (72 multiplexes and 16 single screen cinemas) operated by Reliance MediaWorks having 238 screens are proposed to be transferred by Reliance MediaWorks to CVPL.
     

    Following this, Carnival will acquire 98 per cent stake in CVPL whereas a director of Carnival will acquire the remaining two per cent shareholding.
     

    “It is noted that pursuant to the proposed combination, there are overlaps between Carnival, Stargaze and Reliance MediaWorks with respect to the multiplexes in seven cities namely Indore, Mumbai, Dindigul, Ghaziabad, Dehradun, Raipur and Ajmer,” the order said.
     

    However, CCI observed that in Indore, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Dehradun, Raipur and Ajmer, “competition concerns may not arise as there are other multiplexes in these cities exercising competitive constraint on the acquirer pursuant to the proposed combination in terms of the pricing and services offered within the cinemas.”
     

    In the case of Dindigul, it was stated that “it is unlikely that the combination would result in increase in prices or would have an adverse impact on the amenities provided to the consumers in Dindigul.”
     

    The deal struck between Carnival Cinemas and Reliance MediaWorks will exclude Imax Wadala (Mumbai) and some other properties worth Rs 200 crore.
     

    Reliance Capital is the parent firm of Reliance MediaWorks, which operates one of the largest cinema chains, under the brand BIG Cinemas.

  • Reliance Entertainment inks 50:50 JV with Phantom Films

    Reliance Entertainment inks 50:50 JV with Phantom Films

    MUMBAI: Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment has inked a 50:50 joint venture with Phantom Films, a company which is formed by filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena.

     

    The JV company will leverage the proven creative and production capabilities of the Phantom team, while enjoying access to the established domestic and international sales and distribution infrastructure of Reliance Entertainment. 

           

    The Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films joint venture plans to develop and produce at least five – six films every year, apart from distribution of films in India and overseas, and syndication of rights from the over 175 films strong library. 

     

    Reliance will own 50 per cent shareholding of the combined business, while the balance 50 per cent will be equally held among the four promoters of Phantom Films. The day-to-day operations of the JV will be managed by Phantom Films.       

     

    Reliance group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala said, ““We are delighted to partner with such creative and talented individuals as Anurag, Madhu, Vikas and Vikramaditya, who have an enviable track record of creating great cinema. This partnership is in line with our evolving strategy in the media and entertainment business, of aligning with like-minded people who are trailblazers in their own field, and playing the role of supportive investors on our part.”

     

    Kashyap added, “This deal opens our windows to international opportunities and talent. We hope to optimise on this opportunity, take Indian cinema international and also attract excellent talent into the country.”

     

    Phantom Films will also be in a position to leverage the world-class capabilities of the recently announced Reliance MediaWorks–Prime Focus combination in digital, visual and special effects, pre and post-production, physical studio, etc., with facilities in Mumbai, London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, etc., and including Double Negative, the UK-based digital and visual effects company.

     

    Reliance’s network includes the wide reach of IM Global, a Reliance Entertainment company based in Los Angeles, with operations in North America, UK and Europe, Asia Pacific, China and Latin America. 

     

    Reliance Entertainment has produced, distributed and released films in multiple Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali.