ITV

Tag: AXN

  • Make Your Weekends More Thrilling With AXNs New Movie Slot

    Make Your Weekends More Thrilling With AXNs New Movie Slot

    For all the movie buffs, AXN is all set to make your movie viewing experience bigger, better and more thrilling. Get ready to witness the best of movies as AXN brings ‘Nine Weekends To Die For’ starting 28th September, 2013 on Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm. The slot will offer the best range of action, crime and hi-drama titles adding thrill to your happy hour!

     

    The movie lineup Starts every weekend at 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday with the all-time favorite, Mission Impossible series this Saturday followed with an impressive the line-up which will have the Rocky Fest with the Rocky series, Baseball Weekend with Moneyball and The Fan followed by Transformer Weekend, Crime busters Weekend, Beverly Hills Cop Weekend, Heroic Weekend with Sahara and The Godfather III, Antonio Banderas Weekend and Bruce Willis Weekend.

     

    Talking about the change in the weekend movie slot from 10 pm to 9 pm, Head Programming, AXN India, Arpit Mankar, says “9 pm has become synonymous with ‘big movies on TV’ and viewers have developed the habit of scanning through various channels and seeking the best movie available at that time. We believe that with our strengthened line-up of movies, and with interesting thematic weekends like the Rocky weekend, Godfather weekend etc, we will draw a significant share of the large audience that watches movies at home on weekend evenings by creating appointment viewing in a title-driven viewing environment.”

     

    So get on the couch with popcorns and tune into AXN every Saturday-Sunday 9 pm starting 28th September for a thrilling movie extravaganza.

  • Watch The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey on 22nd September at 1pm & 8pm on Sony PIX & on AXN

    Watch The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey on 22nd September at 1pm & 8pm on Sony PIX & on AXN

    MUMBAI: The prequel to the Oscar winning ‘Lord of the Rings’ series, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield.

    So calling out all the ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans to come and be a part of this epic journey and see where it all began from.

    Come be a part of an adventure; ‘THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY’ on 22nd September 1pm and 8pm only on Sony PIX and simultaneous telecast on AXN

  • One Alliance vs Hathway: Viewers are at loss

    One Alliance vs Hathway: Viewers are at loss

    MUMBAI: From the past couple of weeks, the One Alliance channels are not being aired on Hathway.

     

    The channels – Sony, Sab, Max, Six, Mix, AXN, Pix, TLC, Discovery Channel, Discovery Turbo, Animal Planet, Discovery kids, Sony Aath, Aaj Tak, Tez, Headlines Today, Max HD, Discovery HD world, Sony Six HD – are not being televised.

     

    The reason given as per the ticker scrolling on Sony channel which is playing on a higher LCN (Logical Channel Number) is non-payment of dues and failure of renewal of agreement.

     

    When indiantelevision.com approached the cable network as well as the aggregator, both seemed reluctant in solving the matter and discarding the issue by saying, “It happens every now and then. So, hence, is no big deal.”

     

    The two might not be affected by the conflict, but the viewers are of course the victims in this.

     

    A resident from Kandivali (West) says, “Every evening, once I am back from office, I like to watch the debate on Times Now. But now without any prior notice, the channel has been taken off. Why should we suffer when we pay our cable bills on time?”

     

    On the similar line, another Hathway customer angrily says, “Even after calling the local cable guy a hundred times, I did not get the answer why did it happen and when will the channels be back. I was just informed that one channel (Sony) has been shifted to another channel number.”

     

    A lot of viewers complained about such occurrences time and now and wondered if shifting to a DTH or another cable was better.

     

    All we can say is that in someone’s loss, would be someone else’s gain. Are the DTH operators listening?

  • I&B suspends Comedy Central & ManoranjanTV for 10 days for alleged content violations

    I&B suspends Comedy Central & ManoranjanTV for 10 days for alleged content violations

    NEW DELHI: Even as the government says it wants to give self-regulation a chance, two television channels – Comedy Central and Manoranjan TV – have been penalised for screening inappropriate content by the information & broadcasting ministry.

     

    The transmission or re-transmission of Comedy Central has been suspended for 10 days from midnight of 25 May for telecast of a show ‘Stand Up Club’ on 26 May last year at 20.52 hrs, while Manoranjan TV has been suspended from midnight 25 May for seven days for showing the film ‘Ek Chatur Naar’ with ‘A’ certificate on the afternoon of 11 February last year.

     

    Thus, Comedy Central will remain off air till 4 June while Manoranjan TV will not be transmitted till 1 June if all goes according to the ministry’s order.

     

    While the Viacom18 company spokesperson for Comedy Central said: “Since the matter is sub-judice, we cannot comment”, there was no response from Manoranjan TV despite repeated attempts. It is understood that a petition challenging the ministry order by Viacom18 is coming up for hearing early next week.

     

    The order says that the show on Comedy Central which had ‘obscene dialogues and vulgar words derogatory of women and hence appeared to offend good taste and decency. The portrayal in the programme did not appear suitable for unrestricted public exhibition and children.’

     

    The I&B’s inter-ministerial committee felt in the case of Manoranjan TV that this was a gross violation of the programme code and the argument of the channel that it happened due to a mistake on part of their staff cannot be accepted. Being a responsible TV channel, it should have put in place appropriate system to avoid such mistakes.

     

    The orders in both cases have been issued under section 20(2) and (3) of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and paras 8.1 and 8.2 of the Guidelines for Uplinking from India.

     

    In what is clearly hardening of stand, the I&B’s inter-ministerial committee has penalised five channels in the months of April and May for violation of the programme and advertising codes.

     

    Since one channel, Movies OK, obtained a stay order on the grounds that it had been served the notice too late, the ministry took precaution and had issued the penalty notices to both Comedy Central and Manoranjan TV on 17 May. The other channels penalised were Mahuaa and AXN.

     

    The I&B’s inter-ministerial committee had issued show cause notices to both Comedy Central and Manoranjan channels and also gave them an opportunity to make their representations.

     

  • Volkswagen drives AXN’s ‘The Apprentice Asia’

    Volkswagen drives AXN’s ‘The Apprentice Asia’

    MUMBAI: Volkswagen Malaysia has announced that it is the ‘Official Car‘ of AXN‘s local production, ‘The Apprentice Asia‘ premiering on 24 May at 9 pm.

    Volkswagen adds that its The Apprentice Asia‘s quest to identify the best talent aligns with its core focus on its human capital efforts both in Germany and throughout the world, which have resulted in the company being recognised as a preferred employer.

    In The Apprentice Asia, 12 candidates are picked from the cream of the crop across Asia. Representing seven countries across the region, they are an ambitious lot driven by their thirst for success and their common desire to work for Asia‘s aviation tycoon, Tony Fernandes. Filmed in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, the series also stars Tony‘s advisors – Tune Hotels Group CEO Mark Lankester and Expedia Asia CEO Kathleen Tan. They play a role by being on the ground to observe each team complete their task, and their opinions influence who Tony hires at the end of the day.

    Volkswagen Group Malaysia MD Zeno Kerschbaumer said, “‘The Apprentice Asia‘ gives us an opportunity to feature the character of our products for a fitting partnership that encourages competition. Our cars offer fun driving and a sense of competition through the use of technologies like TSI and DSG so, The Apprentice Asia is a right fit for the brand”.

    Volkswagen has cemented the relationship by providing three of its models – Passat, Sharan and Touareg – to support and provide mobility requirements for contestants and the show‘s advisors throughout the 11 episodes.

    “This partnership will also inspire and drive the show‘s contestants to give their best in quality, innovation and leadership. Much like our business, we believe that healthy competition will unearth talent and skills; and we are confident that our brand will contribute towards producing the next successful and potentially iconic entrepreneur in Asia. We are proud to extend this relationship to AXN,” he added.

  • IG to sponsor an episode of AXN’s ‘The Apprentice Asia’

    IG to sponsor an episode of AXN’s ‘The Apprentice Asia’

    MUMBAI: Financial company IG will tap in to AXN‘s local show ‘The Apprentice Asia‘ which kicks off on 24 May at 9 pm in India. IG‘s episode airs on 21 June.

    IG is a global financial derivatives company. The company adds that the sponsorship provides an opportunity to increase brand awareness in the Asia Pacific region, through association with a quality production and large target audience, as well as leverage the communication benefits of the progressive integration of TV, digital and social media.

    IG Asia Paci?c head Tamas Szabo said, “We are very pleased to be a regional sponsor of ‘The Apprentice Asia‘. Serious investors and professional traders across Asia are keen to take advantage of global financial markets. And they want to trade with someone they can trust. IG is a world leader in financial derivatives trading.

    “Part of IG Group, a FTSE 250 company, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional customer service alongside innovative trading technology. Partnering with a quality production like The Apprentice Asia, through Asia‘s No.1 general entertainment channel AXN, provides us with an excellent opportunity to showcase our service and product across the region.”

    During IG‘s episode, the contestants must demonstrate to the show‘s host AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes and his advisors that they possess the business acumen to manage and make sound decisions under pressure.

    Szabo added, “The attributes and qualities of a good trader are exactly those needed to become Tony‘s Apprentice. Without giving the game away, we know everyone will enjoy our exciting and unique episode”.

  • AXN to increase marketing spends by 30 to 40 per cent this year

    MUMBAI: English general entertainment channel AXN will increase marketing spends by 30 to 40 per cent this year with more new show launches.

    In fact 20 per cent of its marketing budget for the year is going towards ‘Hannibal‘ which kicked off on 5 April at 10.00 pm.

    The 13-episode weekly television show is a prequel to famous films that featured psychiatrist and psychopath Dr. Hannibal Lecter that include ‘Red Dragon‘ and ‘Silence of the Lambs‘.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, AXN Networks India Business Head Sunil Punjabi said the character Hannibal has strong brand recall due to the film series. “That is why we felt the need for a multimedia campaign. We have been doing activities for a few weeks. A lot of outdoor is being done including hoardings and bus-backs. We also air ads in cinema halls. We use pre roll ads on Youtube, and advertise on the Times of India.”

    The focus of the campaign rests on the fact that the show is about a master manipulator. It is also focusing on the fact that the show has intelligent content and is about the shifting dynamics of the relationship between two people.

    “I don‘t worry about competition. ‘Hannibal‘ is a new genre that has not been seen on Indian television. In terms of quality it is a couple of notches higher than the competition whether you look at the storytelling or the technical aspects like the visual effects and the sound. It will set a new benchmark for quality in English entertainment,” says Punjabi.

    The focus of AXN will rest on airing shows as close to their US airing date as possible. “This way we can cut down on online piracy. Having a strip strategy works better for older seasons but not for the latest season. The temptation of viewers after they see the first episode of a new show is to try and download the later episodes. If we air it as soon as possible then there will be no need for them to go elsewhere”.

    He also does not feel that the Indian Premier League will affect viewing of ‘Hannibal‘ by much. That is because fans of the Twenty20 extravaganza are also AXN fans. So they will switch between watching the match and watching the show.

    Punjabi‘s focus since he joined AXN last year has been to have differentiated content, since the genre is getting fragmented with more entrants. Drama content is growing on the channel with the focus now resting on having content that thrills, as opposed to the earlier focus of being the heart of action and adventure.

    “Apart from ‘Hannibal‘ we have recently acquired ‘Sherlock‘ from the BBC. This is also a show that is unique to the Indian audience. Within drama there are five to six genres that are shown on the channel. For instance ‘Justified‘ is a traditional bang bang kind of show. ‘Chuck‘ on the other hand is geeky in nature and will appeal to those who are tech savvy. So it is not about repeating the same thing.”

    Finding sponsors for ‘Hannibal‘ was a challenge. So far only Blue Star has come on-board. Generally an AXN show has around four sponsors. “But I am confident that once the first episode airs, clients will want to come on-board when they see it. We are talking to other companies. Blue Star had conviction in the show and so they had come on-board.”

    “This show is something new and is seen as a kind of experimental. ‘CSI‘ on the other hand has eight sponsors. That is because it is familiar and clients know about it. I think that we should have more screenings for the media fraternity to create better awareness about a new show.”

    But there is a catch 22 situation. If a show airs very close to the US airdate then there may not be enough time to have enough screenings for the media ahead of the show‘s launch. That is something that the broadcaster will have to get around.

    Blue Star GM Corporate Communications and Marketing Girish Hingorani said the show will appeal to the 25-44 TG which is the target group for his company. “Since you cannot buy this genre on the basis of numbers we look at the quality and uniqueness of content, the plans that a channel has for social media, and the buzz that it generates on social media platforms. AXN scores strongly in these areas. ‘Hannibal‘ is intellectual in nature which is why we were drawn towards it.”

  • AXN evolves marketing strategy for a bigger audience connect

    MUMBAI: As the English GEC space grows with new players coming in, AXN is evolving its marketing efforts.

    The focus is to expand the consumer connect with AXN‘s most popular international shows. “We have changed our media mix to interesting one-on-one interactions with our key stakeholders. We have linked all such activities with our key properties and targeted them differently with each programme,” AXN business head Sunil Punjabi said.

    The first initiative was the Supernatural Tweet-up event. “We launched season eight with a tweet-up event in four key metros and followed up a sustenance activity after two months with another six cities activation. This activation has had good response and we received queries from smaller cities like Chandigarh, Nashik, Nagpur, Indore, Jaipur among others to reach them,” Punjabi averred.

    As ‘Top Chef’ has a larger appeal beyond the six metros, AXN decided to market the property not only in the four metros but also towns like Pune and Hyderabad, among others.

    Another property is ‘The Voice’ and the fourth season has Shakira and Usher as judges. “We decided to use this as a peg for our next promotion activity. We launched the ‘Find yourself in LA’ on the sets of Voice where Shakira would be judging the battle rounds. Through this activation, we have connected to approximately 700 contestants across advertising agencies, clients and distribution,” Punjabi averred.

    The Thrillionaire campaign that AXN kicked off in October is being run across the year. As AXN is celebrating its 15th year in India, the channel launched the ‘15 years of Thrill Campaign’ in October. This campaign will culminate this year. “So far the response to this activity across the year has been great and we hope to keep engaging with our viewers consistently,” Punjabi stated.

    What is interesting is that AXN has partnered with Hindi films. The thinking, Punjabi said, was to Indianise the look of the channel. “We associated with relevant on-brand movie tie-ups like Special 26 with the launch of ‘Leverage’. ‘Leverage’ is all about the ‘Dons of the Cons’ and so was ‘Special 26’. With the right character fit, we have launched ‘Leverage’ on the channel with Akshay Kumar in Special 26.”

    AXN will air two original productions, ‘Apprentice Asia’ and ‘Hannibal’, this year. “Our first set of activation for ‘Apprentice Asia’ happened during the call for entry phase. Statistically, India had a strong response. Two of the 10 contestant for ‘Apprentice Asia’ are Indians. Also, the host Tony Fernandes made news in the form of the Tata-Air Asia JV being formed for a low cost airline. Tony has successfully turned around the airline in Asia and has interest in multiple business including a soccer and F1 team,” said Punjabi.

  • Revenues for content providers are coming from more places now: Kaplan

    Revenues for content providers are coming from more places now: Kaplan

    MUMBAI: Content providers have a wide array of opportunities to tap revenues from as multiple screens emerge and compete, particularly in the advanced markets.

    "Revenues are coming from more places. More windows are opening, ensuring that there are more hours of content to sell," said Sony Pictures Television Worldwide Networks Andrew J Kaplan.

    The marketplace is becoming more complex and secondary revenue streams (Netflix and Hulu) are emerging stronger. "This means that there is a bit of a challenge on the infrastructure side. We need to be experts and understand the businesses of different distribution systems. It is a much more complicated world now. There is chaos and, hence, an opportunity," Kaplan said, while speaking at Ficci Frames 2013.

    In terms of genres, Kaplan noted that while American drama travels well globally, comedy does not — especially in non English speaking markets. “Some comedy shows that work overseas rely on physical humour. In India, we have Sab which has done well.”
    In terms of SPT channels globally, Kaplan noted that Sony offers American shows. “We buy from our own studio and other studios as well. The aim is to maximise the audience and ratings. As the reach of our channels have grown, we have become a more important buyer globally.”

    Kaplan also spoke about the action oriented channel AXN, saying that the challenge is to balance global with local content. “AXN is different in Thailand and Portugal. That is partly because certain rights are available in certain markets and also because audience tastes are different. Not everything will work equally well everywhere. We also have local shows because that drives in higher ratings. People like to look in the mirror and their want to see their neighbourhood.”

    He spoke about global co-productions ‘The Firm’, ‘Hannibal’ and ‘Crossing lines that SPT is engaged in. “The aim is to get a different creative input so that the content is more applicable to our networks."

    One challenge for a channel like AXN is to retain a uniform character for it globally. What it makes it tough is that there is no flagship channel for Sony in the US. “So we create channels on a market-to-market basis using a lot of research. While we balance global content with local shows, there has to be sanctity in terms of what the brand represents. Our local management teams are passionate about their markets. We have a lot of discussion about what will work the best. Usually we get right. Sometimes we stray. Then we have to pull things back in line,” said Kaplan.

    He also spoke about new media saying that Crackle, Sony‘s online platform in the US, relies on advertising as opposed to other platforms like Hulu which are subscription driven. “I am still trying to figure out if we are smart or stupid in relying on advertising. The advertiser’s response has been solid. We target males 18-49 which is a hard demographic to reach. What helps us is that advertisers want to be in the digital space.”

    The aim of Crackle is to supplement traditional television viewing and not cannibalise it. "Crackle launched in Latin America last year. That is because broadband penetration there is high. Also SPT has a strong ad sales team there. The next phase of evolution for Crackle is creating local content, which it is doing more of. Netflix is also doing this. The advantage of local content is that we can do product and environment integration with advertisers,” Kaplan said.

  • AXN hosts ‘Top Chef Kitchen Night’ in association With Marriot

    MUMBAI: AXN is hosting its first ever ‘Top Chef Open Kitchen Night‘ in association with the Marriot group of hotels in Ahemdabad on 17 February and in Mumbai and Delhi on 20 February.

    This event allows AXN viewers and fans to come and attend this activity through a Facebook contest. The viewers will be able to experience the ‘Top Chef‘ in their own city, cook up a meal for them in an open kitchen set up which will be followed by dinner and cocktails.

    ‘Top Chef Texas‘, soon to be aired on AXN, is the ninth season of the cooking reality season.

    The host is Padma Laxshmi who is joined by head judge Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons from Food and Wine magazine.