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Tag: B4U

  • Pakistani film ‘Bin Roye’ to release in close to 100 screens in India

    Pakistani film ‘Bin Roye’ to release in close to 100 screens in India

    MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees heroine, Mahira Khan is ready to take on the box office this Eid.

     

    One of the most anticipated Pakistani feature film Bin Roye is all set to release in India on 17 July in approximately 75- 100 screens. It is being distributed by B4U.

     

    Mahira Khan has already made a mark in the audience’s heart after the ground breaking success of her drama serial Humsafar in India.

     

    The movie also stars Armeena Rana Khan and the evergreen Humayun Saeed in lead roles. Bin Roye, a Shahzad Kashmiri and Momina Duraid directorial, is a saga of obsession in love that develops jealousy and rivalry between two girls for one perfect match. It is a story that can be best described as a tragic beauty.

     

    Bin Roye was already shot in Pakistan before Mahira bagged her role for Raees.

  • Relativity Media upbeat on Make In India; could shoot ‘Immortals’ in India

    Relativity Media upbeat on Make In India; could shoot ‘Immortals’ in India

    MUMBAI: Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s ‘Make In India’ dream has made a headway in the entertainment space. Relativity Media in association with B4U is looking at the possibility to shoot the sequel of the blockbuster movie Immortals in India. The entire movie will be shot across the country and will be distributed globally. The association will back the initiative by offering significant roles to Indian actors to attract Indian audience in theatres.

     

    The Relativity – B4U joint venture, which was inked last year, is also set to remake global hits like The Best of Me, 3 Days To Kill,Masterminds, and horror thriller Oculus in India for the Indian market, which also complements the ‘Make In India’ campaign and Make For India concept of RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. The Best of Me is already in the production stage and overseen by Balaji Telefilms, where as Zahak the Bollywood version of Oculus has been already shot featuring Huma Qureshi and Hawa Hawai star Saquib Saleem and is in the post production stage. 

     

    While delivering a keynote on FICCI Frames 2015 Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh said, “We associated with B4U in order to understand the Indian market, which is one of the biggest in the world. We have 120 partnerships with B4U where they educate us about India and we use our distributing muscles to promote Indian movies. Content plays the biggest role in success, but the content has to be created after detailed research, which includes segmentation, targetting and positioning.”

     

    B4U CEO Ishan Saksena added, “The association with Relativity is huge as it breaks many barriers and opens up new possibilities for us. B4U with the help of the distribution muscle of Relativity took Queen to areas where Indian movies have never reached before and that’s the beauty of this partnership. We will, in future, ensure that Indian content is distributed abroad and Hollywood movies reach Indian theatre with ease. As a result of this association, soon we will see Indian actors working in Hollywood movies and American superstars featuring in Bollywood films.”

     

    The association will also launch a new online content platform B4U online. “The number of hits Hotstar got in recent time shows us how digital is going to be the next big thing in India and that brings us to our new venture. Unlike other American companies, I don’t want to change the culture. I want to suit myself in it and hence I think Relativity has a future,” concludes Kavanaugh.

     

  • Relativity – B4U ties up with Balaji Motion Pictures

    Relativity – B4U ties up with Balaji Motion Pictures

    MUMBAI: Relativity – B4U, a joint venture established earlier this year, announced an association with Balaji Motion Pictures to produce three films, with the first being the Hindi remake of The Best of Me. The cast for the Hindi adaptation of the film is yet to be announced.

     

    Announcing the agreement, Relativity-B4U CEO Ishan Saksena said, “Balaji has been producing hugely successful films over the last few years. This coupled with their undisputed TV content leadership makes Balaji an automatic choice for us to tie in. This three film co-production, a natural step in our progression provides a platform to bring the best of Relativity’s intellectual property, production skills, and unique monetising strategies to India, and partner with Balaji whose strengths in this area are unsurpassed.”

     

    Commenting on the new deal, Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Sameer Nair said, “B4U has always been at the helm for delivering Bollywood content in India and internationally. This association with Relativity-B4U allows both our organizations’ synergies to be maximised and allows us to create engaging successful content for Indian audiences. We feel that this co-production deal plays to our mutual strengths and will give Indian audiences uniquely creative filmed content.”

     

    Adding to the same, Balaji Telefilms joint managing director and creative director Ekta Kapoor revealed, “The co-production tie-up also brings us unprecedented access to Relativity’s catalogue past and future and allows for the films to be re-imagined for India. Relativity boasts of an exciting array of films and a creative collaboration with Relativity is something that excites all of us at Balaji.”

     

    “The agreement brings great strength to Relativity’s existing catalogue of content, and we believe that this is a unique blueprint that further bridges two great filmmaking industries — Hollywood and Bollywood,” added Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh.

     

    Relativity – B4U also recently premiered its first distribution venture The Best of Me, at the first South Asian premiere of a Hollywood film in the company of its lead actors Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden, and Director Michael Hoffman.

  • Relativity – B4U announce first Hollywood film – ‘The Best of Me’

    Relativity – B4U announce first Hollywood film – ‘The Best of Me’

    MUMBAI: The Bollywood network, B4U, has formed a new joint venture with Relativity Media for its first Hollywood film The Best of Me.

     

    An adaptation of ‘The Notebook’ writer Nicholas Sparks’s novel with the same name, the film will be directed by Michael Hoffman who has directed movies including One Fine Day and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The star cast features the Superman Returns actor James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan of Mission Impossible series fame.

     

    Relativity-B4U’s first Hollywood distribution film The Best of Me, is slated to hit the theaters on 31 October.

     

    The venture will leverage the combined expertise, relationships and resources of the companies to create and distribute highly-engaging long and short form entertainment and sports content in India that will span a variety of mediums including film, television and digital.

     

    They plan to create and distribute innovative entertainment and sports content in India across Film, Television and Digital Platforms which will strengthen ties between Hollywood and Bollywood.

  • Dish TV adds B4U on its platform

    Dish TV adds B4U on its platform

    MUMBAI: Music channel B4U will now be available on Dish TV in all packs that the DTH platform offers.

     

    With this move the music channel aims to strengthen its position in the entertainment world.

     

    The channel’s CFO Sandeep Gupta said, “We are extremely excited to get access on the Dish DTH platform which has more than 11 million active subscriber base. This will facilitate the music loving Indian audience with more choice to entertain themselves. The demand for Indian music across the world has been encouraging us to offer our content through various mediums so that they can entertain themselves with their own choice.”

     

    With a rich film and varied music library, B4U is a strong platform for Bollywood film soundtracks and latest blockbusters to classic old time movie’s which is now contentedly accessible for all the Bollywood music and old classic movie lovers.  

     

    B4U music channel will be available on channel number 668 while B4U movie channel will be available on channel number 207.

  • Week 21: Music channels sees a rise

    Week 21: Music channels sees a rise

    MUMBAI: As per Chrome Data Analytics & Media’s opportunity to see (OTS) data, music channels were the highest gainers for the week 21. The genre witnessed a growth of 1.2 per cent in the HSM markets.

     

    In this category, Sony Mix stood at number one position with 88.8 per cent OTS followed by MTV 87.7 per cent OTS, 9XM 82.8 per cent OTS, B4U Music 71.2 per cent OTS and 9X Jalwa 70.8 per cent OTS.

     

    Hindi GECs, this week saw a growth of 0.6 per cent with Star Plus at 96.8 per cent OTS followed by DD National 96.6 per cent OTS, Zee TV 96.4 per cent OTS, Life OK 96.0 per cent OTS and Sony Entertainment also 96.0 per cent OTS at the HSM markets.

     

    With a minor difference, Business News channels in the eight metros saw a gain of 0.4 per cent. Zee Business topped the genre with 80.2 per cent OTS followed by CNBC Awaaz 76.2 per cent OTS, ET Now 69.1 per cent OTS, CNBC TV18 64.3 per cent OTS and NDTV Profit 62.5 per cent OTS.

     

    Lastly, English movies channels gained 0.2 per cent with Movies Now scoring 76.2 per cent OTS followed by PIX 76.0 per cent OTS, Star Movies 68.6 per cent OTS, Zee Studio 64.9 per cent OTS and HBO 63.8 per cent OTS.

     

    As for the genres which saw a drop are Sports channels (All India), Hindi News channels (HSM), Kids (All India) and Hindi Movies (HSM).

  • Relativity Media & B4U forge broad partnership

    Relativity Media & B4U forge broad partnership

    MUMBAI: Another large US independent global film and TV production studio-cum-distributor-cum financier is making its way into India. At least it has announced its intentions to do so. The Ryan Kavanaugh headed Relativity Media – which has 200 Hollywood films with a claimed box office revenue of $17 billion worldwide- has chosen to partner with steel baron Lakshmi Mittal-Kishore Lulla-Gokul Binani -backed B4U in a joint venture.  The announcement was made in Cannes by Kavanaugh and B4U CEO Ishan Saksena just as the week was ending and the Cannes Film Festival was going past the half way mark.

     

    The joint venture will – according to a press release – “leverage their combined expertise, relationships and resources to create and distribute highly-engaging long and short form entertainment and sports content in India that will span a variety of mediums including film, television and digital.”

     

    It clearly elucidates what the duo will do through the new initiative:

     

    ·Distribute future Relativity films and other select entertainment content in India and the surrounding regions

    ·Co-finance, co-produce and distribute Indian language films and television shows as well as acquire projects in the U.S. and Indian markets

    ·Distribute third-party content in India and select Bollywood films in the U.S.

    ·Create and launch a new pay television channel in India focused on Hollywood content in both English and Hindi

    ·Launch RelaTV– a digital streaming technology platform to deliver compelling short and long form content to Indian consumers

    ·Co-produce a slate of Hollywood films including The Best of Me

     

    Around $100 million will be available to the joint venture to roll out its ambitions.

     

    But Hollywood-Bollywood collaborations have not been something to write home about. UTV tried to forge partnerships with Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and with M Night Shyamalan but did not get too far. Reliance Entertainment’s partnership with Dreamworks has done reasonably well. The YRF Entertainment co-produced  – withPierre-Ange Le Pogam and writer Arash Amel – Grace of Monaco premiered at the Cannes Film Festival  last week, but has got scathing reviews as being poorly directly and scripted.

     

    Both Kavanaugh and Saksena believe their coming together will be fruitful. Says Kavanaugh:  “This strategic partnership represents an exciting opportunity for Relativity to significantly expand our presence in this vibrant and growing marketplace while creating a bridge for developing and sharing content between Hollywood and Bollywood.”

     

    “By 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country, and its citizens are adopting new technology platforms  – from smartphones to smart TVs – at a dramatic rate. Thejoint venture positions us well to deliver enthralling content across rapidly emerging distribution channels.”

     

    Added Saksena: “B4U has always been at the helm for delivering Bollywood content in India and internationally.  This joint venture with Relativity is the natural step in our progression to build a creative film studio and unique technology platform.  Our joint venture provides a platform to bring the best of Relativity’s intellectual property, production skills, and unique monetizing strategies to India, while also providing Indian talent access to global audiences.”

     

    The $100 million fund will be under Saksena’s management who is reportedely close to Mittal’s son-in-law Amit Bhatia and is a managing director at  the latter’s  investment company Swordfish Investments. He worked very closely with Bhatia and helped him turn around the Queens Park Rangers football club in 2010.

     

    Thanks to Lulla’s involvement with B4U, the joint venture is likely to have access to the Eros International’s  large Hindi film catalogue – probably the largest for Indian films. Which should help it build up the pay television channel  and streaming media service – RelaTV – for India along with Relativity Media’s slate  of films and TV shows. Lulla has in recent times forged alliances with HBO for two local pay TV channels – HBO Hits and HBO defined – and with Endemol for production of films in India.

     

    Saksena – who has had experience managing Queens’ Parks Rangers – will in all probability be bringing all that to bear on the sports side as he tries to get the best expertise out of Relativity Sports.

  • TRAI presents its ad cap arguments

    TRAI presents its ad cap arguments

    MUMBAI: After nearly a week long argument from the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and music channels – B4U, 9XM, Mastiii and M Tunes — it was time for regional players and the big daddy – the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to present their side of the story on the ad cap.

    Among those who presented their case today were Polimer Media and south India biggie Sun TV. The channels brought to the fore a point from February 2011 when TRAI had confirmed that “there should not be any regulation at present on advertisement on both FTA and Pay channels.”

    It had taken this position in Petition No. 34(C) of 2011 in the TDSAT filed by a society called Utsarg against TRAI and several other broadcasters and content aggregators seeking a cap on television advertising time on the ground that these advertisements interfered with viewership of television programmes. The channels questioned the reversal in TRAI’s  stance today.

    Now, it was the turn of the TRAI to send its lawyer to make its deposition.  TRAI argued that it was right in taking recourse to  both the Acts – the Cable Networks Regulation Act 1995 as well as The Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and the TRAI Act – and it was empowered under both as broadcasters are licensees under the latter. To this, the bench comprising of Justice Aftab Alam and member Kuldip Singh said that if it already has the authority under the Cable TV Act then it should not have acted on the TRAI Act.

    However, TRAI argued that the Cable TV Act is applicable only to cable operators and the bench in turn responded that a broadcaster does not come under it then. TRAI claimed that they were merely interpreting section 7 (11) of the Cable TV Act of 1995 which says that the authority has the power to ‘seize equipment used for operating the cable television network’ if it is found to be breaching its other sections.

    On the laying of the ad cap regulation in Parliament, TRAI’s counsel said that it had submitted it to the relevant ministry. To this, the bench responded that the law decrees that it would become applicable only after it is accepted or rejected or modified in the house. All the actions TRAI takes won’t apply with retrospective effect. Hence if TRAI  prosecutes a broadcaster before laying in parliament would not that be a violation of fundamental rights was the question?  The argument was then that in such a situation it is beyond the jurisdiction of the TDSAT and comes under the ambit of the Supreme Court.

    One of the points raised by the petitioner channels was the possible misuse of the 12 minute ad cap regulation. It said that a broadcaster could have uneven advertising slots such as one minute of advertisement in the first 30 minutes while the next half an hour could have 11 minutes. Similarly the concept of clock hour too had its flaws. Hypothetically, a broadcaster could air 11 minutes of ads from7:49 pm to 8 pm and then another 11 minutes of commercials between 8:00 pm to 8:11 pm. That would mean TV viewers would be subjected to 22 minutes of commercials in an hour of television time, thus putting paid to TRAI’s mandate to maintain quality of service. To this, the TRAI claimed that all laws can be misused but then it doesn’t stop them from being made.

    TRAI will continue its arguments tomorrow.

  • What the music channels said on the ad cap issue

    What the music channels said on the ad cap issue

    MUMBAI: After the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) presented its side of the story, it was the turn of the music channels to present their case in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) regarding the troublesome 12 minute ad cap regulation that is being enforced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

    The hearing that went on for two days (Monday and Tuesday) had the music channels counsel speaking on behalf of the four music channels – 9XM, B4U, M Tunes and Mastiii. The main point raised was violation of Article 14 of the constitution of India by the TRAI. The Article states: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”.
     
    According to counsel, the TRAI is violating Article 14 by putting all the channels in the same basket. There are different types of broadcasters delivering both free to air and pay channels in the genres of news, sports, music etc. It is inappropriate to be treating ‘unequals as equals’ by classifying all channels in the same category, counsel emphasized. To support his argument, he said that FTA channels don’t get subscription revenue and work on purely advertising while pay channels have the benefit of both.
     
    Apart from this, other issues raised during the hearing were similar to the ones the NBA counsel had raised such as the jurisdiction of the TRAI to come out with such a regulation, unregulated and high carriage fees and high cost of content production.
     
    There is a long list of channels that will now present their cases in front of the TDSAT bench of Justice Aftab Ahmed and member Kuldip Singh including Reliance Big Broadcasting, Sun TV Network, Raj TV, E24 Glamour, Eenadu Television and Polimer Media.
     
    After this, TRAI will defend itself. The hearing is set to continue today.
     
    This is surely one case that will take much time to resolve.

    To read about previous reports on the case scroll down.

  • A Sooper se Ooper launch of Jigsaw Pictures into feature films

    A Sooper se Ooper launch of Jigsaw Pictures into feature films

    Having produced over 150 television commercials, music videos and even a critically acclaimed short film, The Fall (starring Rahul Bose), production house Jigsaw Pictures is now venturing into feature films with their first commercial film Sooper Se Ooper. This quirky drama with Vir Das in lead has been co produced with Reliance Entertainment and is scheduled to come to theatres across India on 25 October, 2013.

     

    Jigsaw Pictures CEO and creative producer Rajnish Lall has had over nine years of experience in advertising, having worked in Clarion, Contract & Bates and thereafter headed the marketing division at B4U shortly after. He then founded Jigsaw Pictures about eight years ago and will debut as a creative producer and the line producer of Sooper se Ooper. He is among a few who is comfortably straddling the productions both in the TV commercials and feature films.  

     

    On his first production, Rajnish said, “Working on this film was like taking a fresh guard in the field of production… it has been an amazing, exciting and rich experience in the last two years. From fine tuning the script, putting together the right cast and technical team of my choice, the extensive shoot in Rajasthan and Mumbai to production of lovely songs all within a modest budget has been a Sooper se Ooper experience! In this journey we had the support and guidance of a big studio like Reliance Entertainment.”

     

    The movie Sooper se Ooper is based on an Indian superstition ‘that making a will (legal document) is an indication that that your time has come near’. The story revolves around the character of Vir Das, whose fortune has dwindled and selling his ancestral property may just be the way out of the situation but he runs into a problem as the ancestral land was not will-ed to him by his parents. Filmed in Rajasthan and Mumbai, the story takes an interesting and entertaining turn during the journey from village to city and vice-versa.

     

    The film stars Vir Das, Gulshan Grover, Deepak Dobriyal, Kirti Kulhari and Yashpal Sharma, among others. The music has been composed by Sonu Niigam and Bickram Ghosh who debut as a music duo in Hindi films and has quirky fusion BGM from Ranjit Barot. The director, a veteran of TV commercials also makes his debut with this film. The film is being presented by Reliance Entertainment and produced by Jigsaw Pictures.

     

    Jigsaw Pictures’ next feature production is a comic thriller set in Mumbai and Kerala, which they will start shooting in April 2014.