ITV

Tag: BBC Worldwide

  • Radio One reports improved operating results, lower loss for HY1-2014

    Radio One reports improved operating results, lower loss for HY1-2014

    BENGALURU: Next Mediaworks Limited and BBC worldwide joint venture Radio One (Radio One) reported a growth in revenue of 19 per cent for HY1-2014 to Rs 28.07 crore as compared to the Rs 23.57 crore for the corresponding period of last year. The company was previously known as Mid-Day Multimedia Limited.

     

     The company reported a 340 per cent jump in PBIT for H1-2014 to Rs 3.17 crore from Rs 0.72 crore during the corresponding period last year.

     

    Overall, the company reported about one third (33.8 per cent) loss of Rs (-1.22) crore for H1-2014 as compared to the Rs (-3.61) crore for H1-2013.

     

    Let us look at the figures reported for Q2-2014 by Radio One

     

     Radio One reported revenue of Rs14.14 crore for Q2-2014 which was about 1.5 per cent higher than the Rs 13.93 crore for Q2-2013 and about 12.6 per cent more than the Rs12.56 crore for Q1-2014.

     

    Expenditure at Rs12.83 crore for Q2-2014 was about 4.1 per cent lower than the Rs13.38 crore y-o-y and about 1 per cent higher than the Rs12.71crore q-o-q.

    The company paid 1.43 per cent lower license and royalty fees for Q2-2014 at Rs 1.38 crore as compared to the Rs1.4 crore for Q2-2013 and about 0.7 per cent higher than the Rs1.37 crore for Q1-2014.

     

    Radio One paid finance cost of Rs1.25 crore which was 3.8 per cent lower than the Rs1.30 crore for Q2-2013, but 15.7 per cent more than the Rs1.08 crore for the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    It spent 28 per cent less towards advertising and marketing costs for Q2-2014 at Rs 0.34 crore as compared to the Rs 0.5 crore for Q2-2013 and less than half (42 per cent) of the Rs 0.81 crore for Q1-2014.

     

    Deferred tax for the current period (Q2-2014) of Rs (-0.63) crore resulted in a loss of Rs (-0.57) crore from ordinary activities and minority interest added another Rs (-0.11) crore to bring the net loss for the period to Rs 0.68 crore.

     

    Q2-2014 loss at Rs (-0.68) crore was 13.6 times the Rs (-0.05) loss for Q2-2013 and 28.3 per cent higher than the Rs 0.53 crore for Q1-2014.

     

    Next Radio managing director and CEO Vineet Singh Hukmani said, “It feels wonderful to be part of a team that has met huge challenges and come out on top. Despite a slowdown in the economy, we continue to outgrow the market on profit margins due to our consistent differentiation strategy across all our seven markets. We have doubled the cash generated by the business this H1 as compared to last year and with our debt retirement being on track, this opens doors for us to continue investing into our largest assets, our people, our product and future digital engagement strategies.

  • BBC Worldwide signs a deal with AXN India

    BBC Worldwide signs a deal with AXN India

    MUMBAI:  BBC Worldwide in India today announced a deal with AXN India providing the broadcaster with more than 60 hours of BBC’s factual entertainment and drama programmes. Titles comprise of four series of Top Gear, two series of Orphan Black and three series Sherlock. The deal includes the presale of Top Gear (series 21 & 22), Orphan Black (series two), and Sherlock (series three). All programmes will be seen exclusively on AXN India throughout India and its subcontinent.

     

    BBC Worldwide Asia, SVP and GM and content lead Myleeta Aga commented:  “This new acquisition by AXN is the largest we’ve had with the broadcaster to date.  I’m very excited that viewers in India will now have access to some of the most popular and high quality drama and factual entertainment programmes that have come from BBC in the past year or so. Top Gear is the world’s largest and most popular motoring programme and is the ‘most watched factual programme’ in the world, according to the Guinness World Records. Sherlock has won multiple awards and catapulted its stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Martin Freeman (Watson) to international stardom. The first series of Orphan Black has received critical acclaim, won a number of accolades and has made a break-out star of Tatiana Maslany.”

     

    Talking about their association with BBC Worldwide, AXN India programming head Arpit Mankar, said: “We are very happy to extend our relationship with BBC. The first of our BBC acquired programmes, Sherlock (series one) will premiere on AXN India on 4 November on the Mon-Thu 9.30 pm time band.  We are confident that the series will be well received by our audiences; so much so that we’ve already ordered Sherlock series three even while it’s in production. Top Gear has innumerable fans in India and we are happy to now be the home of the latest series of Top Gear in India. Orphan Black has received such great reviews that we’ve acquired both series’ – even though series two is still being shot. The thriller is bound to take viewers by surprise!”

     

    Top Gear (series 20) started airing in mid October every Friday 9 pm while Sherlock (series one) will launch on November 4. Orphan Black is set to premiere first and exclusively on AXN this December.

  • Blinkbox offering free preview of US pilots

    Blinkbox offering free preview of US pilots

    MUMBAI: Blinkbox has reached agreements with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Bros, HBO and BBC Worldwide to offer customers a free preview of pilot episodes of series before purchasing.

     

    From 24 July to 19 August, customers can preview such series as True Blood, Supernatural, The Americans, The Following and The Wire. Also included are The Big Bang Theory, The Newsroom, Entourage, American Horror Story, Arrow, Veep and The Vampire Diaries, among others. Customers can try as many shows as they’d like during the period.

     

    Blinkbox’s CEO Michael Comish commented: “Great TV continues to be one of our biggest obsessions and the fuel for many conversations. There’s more choice than ever before thanks to services like ours and our insights told us that customers relished the opportunity to try TV before committing to purchase. After all, life’s too short to watch something that you’re just not into.”

     

    “We think you should be able to enjoy great TV all year round, anytime and anywhere, not just when programs are scheduled. We’re confident that we have the best selection of great TV, so offering a teaser for free seems like a good way to introduce people to our service. We’re delighted to be able to say ‘try TV on us”, he adds.

  • BBC Worldwide strengthens south Asian sales team

    BBC Worldwide strengthens south Asian sales team

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has promoted Sunil Joshi to head of distribution for BBC Global News in south Asia, and appointed Stanley Fernandes as sales director for south Asia.

     

    Joshi was elevated from his prior role of heading up distribution for the north and western India. In his new role, he will oversee the distribution sales of BBC Global News’ content, including television, online and mobile productions.

     

    Both will be based in Mumbai and report to Myleeta Aga, SVP and general manager for India and content head for Asia.

     

    Joshi will partner with Sirsendu Chakravarty, who handles the eastern region; Hemang Pathak, who handles the west; Sethuraman Sathyanarayanan, for the southern region as well as digital; and Sandra Fernandes, for corporate.

     

    In Fernandes’ new role, he will build and lead BBC Worldwide’s television content sales to linear channels and digital platforms in India and the subcontinent. Previously, he was the senior manager at Disney Media Distribution.

     

    “Sunil has a great depth of relationships in the distribution network and wealth of insights that will help contribute to our next phase of growth in south Asia,” said Aga. “Stanley has joined us at a very important time as we move into the new regional structure with strong market focus.”

  • BBC Worldwide launches Doctor Who online store in Australia

    BBC Worldwide launches Doctor Who online store in Australia

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC‘s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has announced the arrival of its first dedicated Doctor Who e-commerce site in Australia with free delivery.

    Fans who want to mark the show‘s 50th anniversary with a keepsake or a gift can now get direct access to the latest and most popular products at the official BBC Worldwide Australia website.

    Over 400 clothing, merchandise, toys and DVD products from the world‘s longest running sci-fi series will be available to purchase.

    Other features of the site include: the ability to search products by Doctor as well as by price bracket; recommendations based on browsing; and the opportunity to sign up to a Doctor Who newsletter.

    A special Time Lord Express service is also offered for fans who can‘t wait to get their hands on their Doctor Who goodies.

    The e-commerce site follows the launch of the Doctor Who pop-up shop in Newtown, Sydney, which proved immensely popular, with fans lining up for over three hours for the opening day. The shop has been so successful that it closed after 25 days, due to so much of the product selling out. Now fans can find many of these products on the new online store.

    BBC Worldwide ANZ manager licensed consumer products Elie Mansour said, “The Doctor Who pop-up shop reinforced just how passionate our fans are and we‘re thrilled to be able to offer them the convenience of a dedicated Doctor Who e-commerce site, which will allow us to connect directly with our consumers.”

    BBC Worldwide ANZ has partnered with C8 Group for the fulfillment operations, customer service and, in collaboration with C8 Digital, designed and built the e-commerce website.

    C8 group director Laurie Macolino said, “We‘re excited to be partnering with the BBC to launch their first dedicated e-commerce website for Doctor Who. Offering free delivery to customers in Australia and the quickest delivery service we can, orders will be dispatched on the same day if placed before 1pm and customers have the option of upgrading to a Time Lord Express service.”

  • Universal’s Fast & Furious 6 breaks all speeding limits grossing $500 million worldwide

    Universal’s Fast & Furious 6 breaks all speeding limits grossing $500 million worldwide

    MUMBAI: The adrenaline pumping sixth installment of the Vin Diesel starrer Fast & Furious 6 has zoomed past the $ 500 million mark grossing worldwide. The high octane action flick is still going strong in its third week smashing Universal‘s all records and moving faster than any film in the studio‘s history.

    The sixth installment written by Chris Morgan was directed by Justin Lin and had retained the ensemble cast of its previous installment including the franchise‘s protagonists Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto along with Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and Michelle Rodriguez.

    Over the past two weeks the Fast & Furious 6 held the No 1 spot at the domestic box office and scored Universal studio‘s highest-grossing opening weekend of all time.

    Till date, Fast 6 has grossed $180.3 million domestically and $342.2 million internationally. The film‘s splendid box-office performance helped push the studio past the $1 billion mark on May 31.

    With the success of the street racing franchise scaling new heights its seventh installment with James Wan at the helm of the project, is set to release on 11 July 2014.

  • Anna Gordon is BBC Worldwide director of global sales strategy, business development and planning

    Anna Gordon is BBC Worldwide director of global sales strategy, business development and planning

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC‘s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has announced the appointment of Anna Gordon as director of global sales strategy, business development and planning.

    She joins in a new role, designed to further develop the company‘s position as a world-class sales operator. Her role includes responsibility for the high level sales strategy and supporting the company‘s many sales teams around the world and at major markets including BBC Worldwide Showcase, Mipcom and MipTV.

    BBC Worldwide president, global markets Paul Dempsey made the appointment. His role overseeing all BBC Worldwide‘s business across all non-English speaking territories around the world, also includes global responsibility for sales.

    He said, “I‘m really proud of our sales operation. Customers all around the world respect our teams for their talent and professionalism. But we‘re not going to rest on our laurels. Our aspiration is to be even better, and Anna‘s role has been designed to help us to do that. She joins with excellent credentials from the BBC and I‘m looking forward to working with her.”

    Gordon said, “BBC Worldwide is a world-class sales operation and I am thrilled to be joining such a high performing team. I look forward to working with Paul and the global sales teams as they continue to build on this success for the future.”

    The appointment follows BBC Worldwide‘s reorganisation in April which saw the business reconfigured from divisional to geographical reporting lines across seven major markets, reflecting its ambition to grow internationally.

  • BBC Worldwide Labs to mentor six digital startups this year

    BBC Worldwide Labs to mentor six digital startups this year

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Labs has announced the finalists for the second Labs programme which kicks off next month in London.

    The six digital media start-ups are: Animal Vegetable Mineral, Oddizzi, Future Ad Labs, Social Spree, Peekabu Studios and The Backscratchers.

    The selected start-ups are all at the point of commercialisation where BBC Worldwide Labs can play an important role in their further development and growth. The companies represent an array of emerging trends from the digital arena including: 3D gaming, animation, play captchas, gesture tracking, social media measurement tools and education.

    Following in the footsteps of the first group of companies, the class of the year will be offered the opportunity to work within BBC Worldwide‘s London head quarters with support from teams across legal, sales and marketing, business development and technology, as well as access to mentors from within BBC Worldwide and the BBC and external mentors from companies such as Wayra, Facebook, General Assembly and Google. The programme will also include a number of bespoke networking sessions, development sessions and mentoring all focused on supporting the scaling up of the businesses and the possibility of securing commercial partnership either within BBC Worldwide or with other partners.

  • Sunita Rajan is BBC Worldwide executive VP ad sales Asia

    MUMBAI: Sunita Rajan, who is currently BBC Worldwide senior VP, ad Sales, Asia, becomes an executive VP.

    She adds responsibility for BBC.com and Lonely Planet ad sales activities in Australia, reporting into Carolyn Gibson who is in the new position of executive VP International ad sales.

    This is all part of BBC Worldwide‘s changes to its ad sales business as the company continues its re-organisation along geographic lines. It is also worth noting that BBC Worldwide last year pulled two of its channels from India citing a difficult economic environment for pay TV. Only BBC World News continues to air here.

    Under the restructure, BBC Worldwide‘s ad funded media assets will be partially decentralised as its wholly owned local channel businesses are migrated into the company‘s regions, and it moves these businesses into regional P&Ls.

    As a result of the changes, which alters the scope of the current UK-based leadership role, BBC Advertising executive VP, GM Chris Dobson has decided to leave the business in the summer this year.

    Remaining centralised and based out of London will be global advertising sales for BBC World News, BBC.com and BBC World Service, and for external clients such as Lonely Planet and Viki.com in international markets.

    Mark Gall who is executive VP ad sales, US and Canada will add responsibility for Latin America to his remit for the same assets. He will work with the regional executive VP and will have accountability into Gibson for news elements. This group, along with other key executives in finance and business strategy, will operate the Global Ad Sales Council with Herb Scannell as head.

    Gibson has extensive experience within the BBC most recently as BBC Advertising senior VP, international sales – Europe, Middle East and Africa and Americas. Prior to that, she was one of the founding members of the BBC World News airtime sales team when it was formed in July 1998, following a number of years in international sales positions at IP Network in Europe and Star TV in Asia.

    In her new capacity, Gibson will set strategy and oversee BBC Worldwide‘s key clients that conduct business on an international and global basis. Most prominently will be the international commercial TV channel BBC World News, which is seen in over 200 countries, and its related international site BBC.com, both of which form part of BBC Global News, a separate entity from BBC Worldwide, and strategically imperative for the BBC‘s global ambitions.

  • BBC Worldwide launches YouTube channel

    BBC Worldwide launches YouTube channel

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has launched Earth Unplugged, a new YouTube channel from BBC Earth, BBC Worldwide’s global natural history brand.

    The channel will feature films created for a digital audience by BBC Earth Productions and is set to become a destination site for wildlife and nature.

    Earth Unplugged is BBC Worldwide’s first original-content channel for YouTube and forms part of the company’s plans to build a true consumer facing multi-channel network on the platform.
    BBC Worldwide MD for BBC Earth Amanda Hill said, “With Earth Unplugged we’re seeking to connect a new audience with the world around them. YouTube offers a fantastic opportunity to reach people and grab their attention with innovative nature content that will captivate and inspire.”

    Earth Unplugged has released a trailer for the channel today which can be viewed here: YouTube.com/EarthUnplugged.

    On launch the channel will feature videos for seven unmissable new shows:

    Earth Juice will bring viewers weekly news discussing the latest discoveries in the natural world and revealing amazing facts that they may never have heard before: from bees that have produced blue honey to uncovering the real life vampires in the animal kingdom.

    Meet My Planet is a glossy and intimate look inside the world of people who have been inspired by the natural world. THE mix of people are from explorers, naturalists and filmmakers to artists and musicians – all of whom have a passion for nature.

    Deadliest… is a YouTube exclusive spin-off of the BBC’s TV show ‘Deadly 60‘ and features the ultimate showdowns from the planet’s deadliest animals; the most inhospitable habitats and most dangerous forces of nature.

    ‘Walking with Dinosaurs‘ will see videos specially created for Earth Unplugged – including the sketchosaurus. Meanwhile Earth Files takes iconic nature stories and gives them a unique digital makeover, fusing high-end graphics and surprising music with beautiful photography to create a brand new experience.

    Zoo La La will travel the world uncovering some of the most extraordinary animal behaviour and Bugface, part of Zoo La La, makes insects the star of a new show that has to be seen to be believed!

    Amazing Animal Babies will feature films of baby animals and will reveal the stories these infants have to tell.