ITV

Tag: Bangalore

  • ADAG’s Big FM radio to roll out its first phase in six metros

    ADAG’s Big FM radio to roll out its first phase in six metros

    MUMBAI: The Reliance ADA Group has finally officially announced today that it will soon launch its radio station under the brand Big FM, which will broadcast on the full powered common frequency of 92.7 across its 45 stations.

    According to an official statement, the first phase will cover the six metros of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, later spreading to the virgin territories like Jammu, Srinagar, Aligarh and Bikaner.

    In an attempt to offer a fresh new approach to the medium, the Big FM will indulge in high amount of interactivity on the station. Adlabs Radio COO Tarun Katial points out, “We will use it as a platform for consumers, taking on issues which are word of mouth and bring listener emotions to the fore.”

    Adopting a two-pronged launch strategy, Katial says, “While the metros are ideal to establish brand recognition and recall, the other virgin markets are completely new and fresh to explore, giving us an opportunity to provide an entertainment medium to the listeners.”

    “It is our endeavor to enthrall the local audiences and build a brand that connects at the grassroots. Credibility, maturity, relevance, entertainment and aspirational are our pegs for content as a product that reaches into every home and is of relevance to every listener.”

    By early next year, Big FM will be present across India from Srinagar to Trivandrum and Surat to Guwahati. This FM radio station will have its presence in 1000 towns and 50,000 villages across India – reaching 200 million listeners, informs the statement.

    The ADAG has geared up to tap the tremendous market share that is present. This leading corporate house known for its groundbreaking success in very business that it enters, will be positioning its stations in a unique and contemporary way that appeals to more mature audiences.

    The RJs that will give Big FM the voice and personality, have been selected via a careful and selective nationwide hunt. The station will present itself in a larger than life avatar and all morning slots will boast of highly acclaimed celebrity jockeys.
    With an investment of Rs 4 billion dedicated to transmission equipment, infrastructure and licensing, the proposed network for Adlabs Radio will be the largest ever, the release states.

    The overall manpower strength will stand at 1500 employees nationwide. The IP protocol technology being utilized for Big FM has been sourced from AXIA, USA making this station amongst the first to utilize such superior gear in Asia. Extensive research on consumer tastes and moods will ensure that the content aired complements the listeners’ tastes and provides them a dynamic, interactive platform.

  • Hungama launches third Captains Hunt; to search for leaders of tomorrow

    Hungama launches third Captains Hunt; to search for leaders of tomorrow

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV has launched the third edition of its Captains Hunt, which will search for 10 of the smartest kids across the country, between the age group 8 – 14 years. These kids will be on the board of directors of Hungama TV and run the channel for the next one year.

    The channel has set aside a budget of Rs 10+ million for this year’s Captain’s Hunt. While in the initial phase the concentration will be on school contact programmes in 10 cities; the focus will shift to mass media during November – December, when the hunt will culminate.

    The hunt kickstarted on 15 August 2006 and will travel to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Indore and Baroda targeting more than 500,000 kids in 500 schools across these cities. These kids will offer regular inputs on programming, marketing, distribution and competition.

    This year the premise of the Captain’s Hunt has been changed. The aim is to find and shape the future leaders of India. The final 10 will be trained by industry leaders from various fields and will provide them with advice and direction to develop their potential and emerge as leaders of tomorrow. The kids will be judged on the basis of articulation, intelligence, confidence, ambition and talent.

    UTV senior vice president – marketing and communications Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “At Hungama TV, our Captains are always an integral part of decision making, be it programming, marketing initiatives or on-ground research. Hungama TV Captains have helped the channel reach the position it has today and we really value their inputs. This year we are looking for the best and brightest kids across the country to run the channel and benefit from personal mentoring by iconic leaders of today.”

    Once the entries are received from the 10 cities, 1000 kids will be shortlisted from each city in the second round. Thereafter, 50 kids will be chosen in the third round after which the number boils down to two kids from each city. Out of these 20 kids, 10 will then be chosen (one per city) to be the Captains.

    The last day for receiving entries is 30 September. The auditions will take place in November and the finale on 9 – 10 December.

    The 2007 captains will have many opportunities in store. A Captains Advisory Council (CAC), which will comprise leaders from various walks of life, will mentor these captains. The Captains will have exclusive access to the Council to seek advice and guidance on a regular basis. Also, Hungama TV will support a unique talent of every Captain by funding their coaching or training during their tenure.

    Origentest, the research and implementation arm of IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd, has been roped in as the knowledge partner and will be responsible for developing the various tests of the hunt.

    This year’s hunt has Parle-G as the presenting sponsor and Boost Chocoblast as the co-presenting sponsor. The associate sponsors are Colgate, The Sugar & Spice, Reynolds, Kellogg’s Chocos, Dukes Big Bite and Boomer Mango Jelly.

  • Radio Mirchi inaugurates new studio in Bangalore

    Radio Mirchi inaugurates new studio in Bangalore

    BANGALORE: Radio Mirchi today inaugurated their new office and studio in Bangalore. Youth icon John Abraham was the guest of honor and spoke to Mirchi listeners on air. Thereafter, he interacted with his fans who were selected through a contest and invited to the studio for a tête-à-tête with the actor.

    In a little over 100 days, Radio Mirchi has become one of the leading radio stations in Bangalore with a steadily increasing loyal listener base. As per the latest Car Tracks conducted by, IMRB, Radio Mirchi has over 50 per cent market share, claims an official Radio mirchi release.

    Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL) MD and CEO AP Parigi attributes the success of the station to “delivering programmes that are relevant to the people of Bangalore. This is a station for Bangaloreans – speaking their language and touching upon their day to day lives.”

    Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM, a part of the ENIL, was launched in Bangalore on 28 April 2006.

  • R & D facility in Bangalore will work on key components of SanDisk products

    BANGALORE, INDIA, FEBRUARY 7, 2006 – SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced the opening of SanDisk India Device Design Center Pvt. Ltd. in the country’s technology hub of Bangalore, where engineers will work on the core elements of the company’s flash memory products. The announcement was made at a press conference in Bangalore that was attended by Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk chief operating officer, and other company officials.

    “India is a logical place for us to expand our global network of research and development centers because of the great talent pool here and because of our existing relationships with companies that support us in hardware, firmware and software testing,” said Mehrotra, who is also SanDisk’s co-founder.

    India, he added, is expected to become a major market for SanDisk products as a result of booming consumer demand for mobile phones and MP3 audio players. “We need to have a solid presence to promote our brand and to leverage the opportunities for growth in the retail sector,” he said. “As we increase our production of flash memory this year, we intend to focus more attention on India, including the addition of more distributors and storefronts.”

    The SanDisk India Design Center will initially concentrate on projects involving NAND memory – the heart of SanDisk’s flash memory cards, USB drives and MP3 players. Later, the team will be expanded to include development work on ASIC controllers, which are the gatekeepers for data in flash memory cells.

    Although the India Design Center is SanDisk’s first stand-alone facility in India, the company already has engineers assigned to several projects at two SanDisk technology partners in India, Wipro and RelQ. Wipro is the world’s largest third party R&D services provider, offering design engineering, product lifecycle management and product realization. RelQ is an independent software testing and validation company. Both have major operations in Bangalore. In total, SanDisk currently has approximately 60 engineers among the three facilities.

    Mehrotra noted that SanDisk’s rapid growth as the leading supplier of flash memory cards requires global strategies in design and manufacturing. In addition to its extensive R & D activities in Silicon Valley, California, SanDisk has research facilities in Israel, Japan and Scotland. And the company has teams of process/device/design engineers located at the semiconductor fabrication plants that are operated in partnership with Toshiba in Japan.

    Ceremonies inaugurating the Design Center were also attended by Yoram Cedar, SanDisk’s executive vice president of handset business and corporate engineering; Tom Baker, vice president of human resources; and Simon Stolero, vice president of Israel operations.

    SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world’s largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S

  • Trai’s Open House Discussion in Bangalore and Delhi

    MUMBAI: The TRAI will be holding Open House Discussions (OHD) in Delhi (on 23.2.2006) and Bangalore (on 21.2.2006) on the Consultation Paper issued on 2.1.2006 on issues relating to convergence and competition in Broadcasting and Telecommunications. The details on date(s), Venue(s) and Time of the OHD have already been placed on the TRAI Website www.trai.gov.in.

    2. All interested agencies / individuals are invited to participate. The consultation paper is available on the TRAI Website www.trai.gov.in. A gist of the comments received from stakeholders has been placed on the TRAI website. Issues posed for public consultation will also be available at the venue of the Open House Discussion.

    For any clarification, please contact Shri Rakesh Kacker, Advisor (B&CS), Ph. 011-26713291, Fax No. 011-26713442; E-mail: rkacker@trai.gov.in.

  • AIR expands news on FM Rainbow radio stations

    AIR expands news on FM Rainbow radio stations

    MUMBAI: All India Radio (AIR) is adopting news as a strategy to expand its audience base on FM Rainbow radio channels. Private operators, in contrast, are not allowed to broadcast news.

    FM Rainbow (earlier called AIR FM I) has decided to progressively increase its news content while retaining the brief two-minute format.

    Starting today, FM Rainbow has expanded the local language news exposure in five cities. While the frequency has been augmented to 18 times in Kolkata (which used to play news once) and Chennai (twice a day), in Mumbai has gone up to 15 times a day (earlier once). FM Rainbow in Panaji (Goa) and Hyderabad will air news across ten and seven time zones respectively.

    The news service was launched in Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu) and Cuttack (Orissa) today. While Tiruchirapalli will play it on seven occasions, Cuttack will have it six times a day.

    “With the two-minute local language news format, we are targeting audiences in the age group of 18-35 years. We are planning to further expand the exposure of news component in our selected FM stations,” a senior AIR official says.

    FM Rainbow is available in 13 cities including Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Jalandhar, Kodaikanal and Lucknow.

  • Radio One kicks off in Bangalore on 1 August

    Radio One kicks off in Bangalore on 1 August

    MUMBAI: The third FM radio station to officially launch in the city of gardens –Bangalore is Radio One FM 94.3 on 1 August.

    Radio One is a Mid-Day Multimedia and BBC Worldwide venture. The radio station will offer a mix of hit Kannada and Hindi music. The entire programming package is designed to celebrate the spirit of young Bangalore with Kannada roots.

    Radio City was the first Fm radio station to launch, but under the Phase I of FM privatization. The Phase II saw the launch of Radio Mirchi.

    “We are very excited with our launch in Bangalore as we believe we are the first private FM station targeted at the majority local population. Given the huge potential gap the latent need of the market we are very confident of a leadership position in Bangalore,” Radio One CEO Rajesh Tahil says.

    “Radio One has been testing its signal in Bangalore for over two weeks now and has already caught the imagination of the city. “We have already started receiving over 1000 responses a day over SMS, email and on the phone. Listeners have welcomed this Hit radio station with a lot of enthusiasm.

    “Radio One has advertisers on-board from the day one of its launch. Clients like Hindustan Levers, Purvankara Builders and Coke reposed great faith in the station on the basis of our product offering and have over 10 clients signed up since launch day.” adds Tahil.

    Early June, Radio Midday Go 92.5 FM underwent a change in its brand identity as well as positioning of the FM channel. From a niche player, Go 92.5 FM entered to a mass player as Radio One.

  • Landmark rolls out national expansion plans

    Mumbai, April 13, 2006: Landmark, the largest book and music retailer in India today announced the launch of its first store in Mumbai, which will kickstart the company’s national roll out plan. The Mumbai store, which marks its foray into the western region, is located at Infiniti Mall, Andheri. With this launch, Landmark will now be present in Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai.

    Spread across 18,500 sq. ft, the new Landmark store in Mumbai will offer a wide range of books, music, movies, stationery, gifts, toys and accessories amongst others. The undisputed leader in the book and music category, Landmark boasts of an exhaustive range of over 1,00,000 titles in books and music alone. With superior customer service and value pricing coupled with an inviting and comfortable environment, Landmark is all set to become the preferred destination for book and music lovers in Mumbai.

    Announcing Landmark’s foray into Mumbai, Ms. Hemu Ramaiah, CEO, Landmark said, “Landmark aims to be a point of cultural and social interaction, where authors, poets and musicians will hold court. For us, Landmark goes beyond business…the product mix ensures a platform for intellectual entertainment.”

    Adds Mr. Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO Landmark,”We are delighted to kick off our national expansion with the first store in Mumbai. Andheri is a very vibrant market and we expect the Landmark experience to make an impact with the evolved customers in this part of the city. Whether it is the depth of our collection or the nature of initiatives that we bring to our customers, Landmark will soon create a brand new experience in book and music retailing across the country.”

    Landmark today has the distinction of pioneering a number of innovations and has always been the first to adopt technology, thereby enhancing customer experience at the store and also provide substantial efficiencies at the back end.

    Landmark enjoys the distinction of being the first:

    Large format book retailer in India
    Integrated Online Retail Store chain in India.
    Retailer to introduce the concept of E-tailing
    Retailer in Asia to be Accredited ISO 9002 and was also awarded British European and International Standard certification BSEN ISO 9002-recognition of Service & Quality

    Launched in Chennai in 1987 Landmark has over the past 19 years nurtured and built its stores on the foundation of providing customers the widest choice and a great overall experience in its stores. In August 2005, Trent Limited acquired a 76% strategic interest in Landmark and its subsidiary firms for a consideration of Rs.103.6 crores.

    For further Information, please contact:
    Shiraz Bhavnani / Poonam Nikam
    Vaishnavi Corporate Communications
    Tel: 022-5656 8787 / 5656 8715
    Fax: 5656 8788

     

     

  • Hathway rolls out broadband services in Chandigarh

    Hathway rolls out broadband services in Chandigarh

    MUMBAI: The Rajan Raheja promoted Hathway Cable & Datacom, in which Star India has a 26 per cent stake, has launched its broadband service in Chandigarh.

    Apart from cable internet services, Hathway is also planning to launch digital cable in the city.

    The company has launched a mix of pre-paid and post paid packages to provide choice to the customers. The packages will be available from 256 kbps for Rs 250 per month (download limit of 400 mb) and 512 kbps for Rs 500 per month (download limit of 1 gb), according to an official release.

    The company is targeting residential, small medium enterprises and corporates. Hathway’s broadband services are available in the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Pune, Nashik, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore and Chandigarh.

    “We are planning to launch our cable internet services in Kanpur as well. We have close to 90,000 broadband subscribers,” says Hathway & Cable Datacom CEO K Jayaraman.

  • Soccer fever: Zee Sports sets itself ‘Goal 2010’ with AIFF

    Soccer fever: Zee Sports sets itself ‘Goal 2010’ with AIFF

    MUMBAI: Just imagine! With football fever spreading across the country thanks to the football World Cup, Zee Sports has set itself an ambitious target.

    Zee Sports and the All India football federation (AIFF) are looking to spread the popularity of football over the next four years. The two parties have announced a visionary project Goal 2010.

    The ultimate aim is to see India play in the soccer World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. Hence the tagline Just Imagine! The two parties will have public relations, youth outreach, training and marketing activities. The first step in the long journey will be a three week long Soccer Carnival in 11 cities including Goa, Mumbai and Delhi. The carnival kicked off in Chandigarh on Monday.

    Elaborating further on the initiative Zee Sports business head Himanshu Mody said, “Football is an international sport for which there is a vast following among the masses in India. We have put in lot of hard work to present Indian Football in a high quality format at viewer friendly times with in depth analysis.

    “That football has entered a new level has become obvious with the strong response we have received from fans and the corporates in the last one-year. Goal 2010 is an assertion of our commitment to make football as the most watched and played sport in the country. We believe that this project will help Indian football make a place for itself in world football.”

    The channel notes that the level of interest in the ongoing soccer World Cup shows on one level that the interest in the game is alive and well. At the same time the poor standard exhibited by the Indian football team in the past few decades is responsible for the domestic clubs and national team’s performances not being followed. The channel rightly notes that should India take part in the soccer World Cup in 2010 interest will skyrocket.

    The parties are looking to take advantage of the rise of interest in football in the public’s consciousness and build the players, leagues and clubs on the plank of “Support your team and it’s player’s in their crusade for the next World Cup”. The Goal 2010 project will encompass all activities undertaken by Zee and AIFF in their preparation to get India to South Africa in 2010.

    Activity Plan: The earlier mentioned carnival will be in the form of roadshows. For three weeks they will travel to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Kolkata. The roadshows will have branding, MC, music, Zeebras and a roll of Canvas on which the channel will make Indians pledge their support to Indian Football’s World Cup 2010 campaign. The promoters will drive traffic to this Graffiti wall.

    In the morning, the channel shall park outside a school or academy to rally student support. In the evening, the channel will cover public parks and the main market areas. There will also be a giant replica of the Fifa World Cup. The channel is hoping that this will instill dreams in Indians that just like cricket their football team too can do their country proud on the global stage.

    During the three-week period in each city the road show will last for three days and will visit various hip and happening locations in each place. The aim is to create fan awareness about different facets of Indian Football, which includes various tournaments and leagues, football players, clubs, legends of Indian football, etc. Besides providing an opportunity to fans to know about Indian football, the carnival will also host a variety of interactive games and contests where they will have the opportunity to win Zee Sports merchandise.

    The carnival will first visit Chandigarh with the football cheerleading squad, the Zeebras. A huge inflatable football will be placed at a prominent indoor location in each city and will remain there for six months. People can come and pledge their support to the Indian Football’s World Cup campaign. All signatures collected during the campaign will be presented to Fifa president Sepp Blatter in October, during his visit here and his support for India’s dream will be sought.

    Zee Sports VP marketing Gaurav Seth says that later in the year the channel and AIFF will conduct inter school competitions where probables for the under 17 and under 19 teams will be considered. The Japanese team comes down in October to play in qualifying matches for next year’s Asia Cup in Malaysia. If the Indian team is able to qualify for the Asia Cup then that will give them excellent practice ahead of the World Cup qualifiers which start in 2008.

    Zee Sports and the AIFF will also conduct clinics for coaches and teachers. This is important in growing football at the grasroots level. A couple of weeks ago, AIFF, with advice from Zee Sports, had chosen Bob Houghton as the Indian football team’s coach. Houghton has in the past helped take China to the soccer World Cup. Seth is hopeful that with the carnival Indian soccer fans will not forget about the sport once the World Cup (which is airing on rival ESPN) ends.

    Zee Sports had introduced the Zeebras as their mascots of promoting Indian football. Dressed in funky outfits, the Zeebras will perform on hit tunes during the carnival.

    Zee Sports had signed a 10 year deal with the AIFF last year. The channel says that since then it has taken prudent steps to popularise Indian Football. For the first time, 100 matches of Indian football comprising of matches from National Football League, Federation Cup and Santosh Trophy were shown live.

    Zee Sports flew down international experts in football production for the telecast of Indian Football. This included directors, sound engineers, visual graphic specialists from the UK, South Africa and South East Asia. Using a 12-camera setup to cover the action from the field, Zee Sports ensured every shot and dribble was viewed from multiple angles ensuring exciting viewing to its consumers.

    The coverage involved more replays, international commentators, new graphic look and various in studios programming leading to the build up. For the 10th edition of ONGC Cup, two world-class units simultaneously broadcast the matches from Kolkata, Mumbai and Goa. British Match director David Horridge, produced the telecast.

    Horridge is involved in directing Champions League matches and is now Germany to work for Fifa on the World Cup coverage. The telecast package will include preview and review shows, half time match analysis and various studio programming. 

    In line with Zee Sports promise to deliver international quality coverage of Indian football, John Helm and former England International player Russell Osman were flown from England for commentary for all the three major domestic football tournament. Assisting them were Zee Sports commentator Debayan and football expert Noel da Lima Leitao.