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Tag: BBC

  • Sky adds Channel 4’s 4oD to a catch-up TV service

    Sky adds Channel 4’s 4oD to a catch-up TV service

    MUMBAI: UK pay TV service provider Sky customers will be able to access that the company says is a complete catch-up TV service following the addition of 4 on demand (4oD) to its On Demand service.

    The upgrade comes at no charge for Sky customers who have connected their Sky+HD box to broadband and can download catch-up content at a push of a button. New figures show that the surge in connections has continued in the early part of 2013, with the total number of connected Sky+HD boxes now surpassing two million and continuing to grow rapidly.

    With the launch of 4oD, catch-up content from Channel 4‘s portfolio of channels – including Channel 4, E4 and More 4 – will be available alongside hundreds of hours of great content from Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, the BBC, ITV, Channel 5, the History Channel, National Geographic and others. Taken together, it means that Sky+ offers the most complete catch-up TV service in the UK, so customers never need to miss out on shows.

    At the same time, older shows and series from the Channel 4 archives will also become available to download from the library section of Sky‘s On Demand service, where box-sets of classic shows and series are available. Channel 4 series available on Sky will include ‘The Inbetweeners‘, ‘Shameless‘, ‘Spaced‘ and ‘The IT Crowd‘.

    In addition to joining the On Demand service on Sky+, Channel 4 is also the first terrestrial network to offer its channels and programmes on Sky Go, Sky‘s award-winning internet and mobile TV service. Sky Go users can now enjoy Channel 4 and More4 live on their laptop, smartphone, or tablet, with E4 and Film4 to follow shortly.

    In addition, a range of classic Channel 4 shows will be available within the On Demand section of Sky Go. And for Sky customers who upgrade to Sky Go Extra, those Channel 4 shows can be downloaded to watch offline, so they can enjoy TV on the move even when they‘re not connected to the internet.

    And finally, More4 HD joins Sky‘s line-up of HD channels, giving Sky‘s 4.5 million HD customers an even greater choice of their favourite TV in HD. Film4 HD will also join the Sky platform in September, further extending Sky‘s market-leading line-up of HD channels.

    Sky director of TV products Luke Bradley-Jones said, “The way people enjoy TV is changing as customers embrace technology to take control over their viewing. We know customers have busier lives than ever, which is why we‘ve created the most comprehensive catch-up service in the UK.

    “Over 2 million Sky customers have already connected their Sky+ box to the Internet so they can enjoy our full catch-up and On Demand service. But we are working hard to get even more Sky homes connected as we know our customers love the control and flexibility it gives them – it‘s a perfect complement to Sky+.

    “Offering great TV from Channel 4 on demand on Sky+ and on Sky Go at no extra charge is all part of our continued commitment to offer our customers the best combination of content and innovation.”

    Channel 4 director of commercial, business development Sarah Rose said, “The launch of our successful VOD service, 4oD, on the Sky on demand and Sky Go platforms this month will extend the reach of our content to enable even more viewers to enjoy our wide range of programmes. And through the recent arrival of More4 HD and much anticipated launch of Film4 HD in September, we‘re delighted to complete the roll out of our HD portfolio”.

  • BBC celebrates 90 years with campaign

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has launched a new campaign celebrating over 90 years of innovation, telling the story of broadcasting, engineering and technological progress since 1922.

    Innovation, the BBC says, is central to its remit to inform, educate and entertain in new ways, and to bring new technology and services to everyone in the UK now and in the future. From the birth of radio and TV, to the first steps into the digital world with BBC Micro Computers and Ceefax, through to more recent innovations like BBC iPlayer and delivering the first truly digital Olympics in 2012, the BBC has consistently pioneered exciting new technologies for its audiences.

    The 60-second launch film illustrates how the BBC has ushered in the future of broadcasting throughout its history, using archive footage to highlight significant BBC milestones and moments. Combined with innovative animation and CGI techniques, characters from these clips walk through time from one ground-breaking achievement to the next. The music is an original piece composed by the Creative Director of the BBC‘s Radiophonic Workshop, using a variety of non-instrumental sounds, including finger-tapping, footsteps, heavy-breathing and singing, to create a unique soundtrack.

    The campaign launched online today and will premiere on-air this weekend. The campaign will run throughout the year to highlight on-going innovation at the BBC.

    The BBC has also published a making-of video and an interactive timeline of BBC innovation (bbc.co.uk/wherenext) highlighting key milestones from the birth of BBC Radio in October 1922 to the present day.

    BBC director of marketing and audiences Philip Almond said, “The BBC is a world-class innovator and has been throughout its history. We wanted to bring the BBC‘s achievements to life for our audiences, and show them the impact we‘ve made in pushing the boundaries of broadcast technology. The BBC is innovating for everyone and we hope this powerful untold story will capture the imagination of audiences and make them wonder…‘where next?‘
    BBC Future Media director Ralph Rivera said, “The BBC has a long history of broadcasting innovation that benefits our audiences and the wider industry. More recently, the BBC brought audiences the first truly digital Olympics in 2012, setting a new digital standard for large event coverage and broadcast online. Innovation is part of the BBC‘s DNA and we want to celebrate the huge technological contribution we‘ve made throughout the history of broadcasting, and get people excited about where we‘re headed next.”

  • Kavita Kapoor joins iris as regional digital director

    MUMBAI: iris, a marketing and advertising agency, has appointed Kavita Kapoor as regional digital director of operations to lead and grow the innovative technology capabilities out of the iris Delhi office.

    Kapoor will join this month and will report to iris India MD Ashish Mathur.

    She will drive the development of the agency‘s global digital innovation production studio.

    Her role will help to further boost iris‘ regional focus on creating ‘Participation Brands‘, leveraging digital technologies to link the online universe with real-world, physical experiences.

    Mathur said, “Kavita will be a great addition to our range of talent and experience here in iris India. Our clients will see a great benefit from having Kavita on the team I‘m sure. We‘re really excited about pushing the boundaries of digital even further.”

    Kapoor said, “While working at London 2012 I had been incredibly impressed by iris. Their ideas creation, agile ability to execute a brief and collective talent made digital delivery a real pleasure. So when the opportunity arose to lead iris‘s innovative technology team the move was natural.”

    Prior to iris, Kapoor played a pivotal role in The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games where she was involved in a range of award-winning components of The London Olympic and Paralympic Games including travel, volunteering and the iconic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville, which iris designed and created.

    Trained as a software designer, Kapoor started her career in Fujitsu where she was subsequently seconded into roles for a diverse range of media clients including BBC and Sega before moving on to Channel 4 Television in London.

  • BBC Two to launch HD feed on 26 March

    BBC Two to launch HD feed on 26 March

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has announced that it will launch BBC Two HD on 26 March. BBC Two HD will be available on Sky HD (169), Freeview HD/YouView (102), Virgin Media (187), Freesat HD (109) and BT Vision (852).

    BBC One HD was launched on 3 November 2010.

    BBC Two HD will replace the existing BBC HD Channel and will be available subscription-free on all digital television platforms offering HD channels.
     
    BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow said, “BBC One HD has already proved to be highly valued by our audiences and I‘m delighted that we‘re able to follow this with the launch of BBC Two in HD. The launch of BBC Two HD will allow us to showcase more of our programmes at their very best – helping to highlight our commitment to high quality, engaging and ambitious programmes on BBC Two.”

    The BBC Two HD channel will be a simulcast network version of the BBC Two schedule with a raft of new programmes available in HD for the first time including ‘Paul Hollywood – Bread‘, ‘The Fall‘, ‘Science Britannica‘ and ‘Keeping Britain Alive‘.

  • BBC launches sports mobile app for international audiences

    BBC launches sports mobile app for international audiences

    MUMBAI: BBC‘s international website BBC.com has launched a sports mobile application for iPhone and iPod touch devices across the globe.

    The free app will deliver news, live scores, stats, commentary and analysis on-the-go. An application for Android devices will be introduced soon.

    The application has a customisable menu that allows audiences to keep up with their choice of sports providing breaking football news and gossip, live text coverage of the UK Premier League, Rugby Union Six Nations championship and the upcoming F1 season.

    The application has new features like a mobile football live scores section that allows users to follow the action even though they may not actually be at the stadium. It provides a league-by-league overview of the latest scores and goal scorers at a glance, with dedicated match pages for more in-depth information, bringing together starting line-ups, match stats, live text commentary and the post-game report.

    In addition, a fixtures and results section has been developed to help users keep on top of all the major UK and international football competitions, by simply selecting any day in the season from the app‘s calendar.

    BBC Global News controller of digital and technology James Montgomery said, “Thanks to our responsive mobile site, the sports content we provide on mobile devices is already a large traffic driver for the BBC, which gives us a competitive edge in international markets. Now with the launch of our international sports app for iOS devices, we are giving users another simple way to get the content they love, whether it‘s checking out how their team have got on, following live text updates on the day‘s sporting action or catching up with the latest news.”

    Recently, BBC.com introduced a new design so that the site will now automatically scale to fit different sized screens from feature phones, smartphones to any mobile/ tablet device up to 7″ in size.

  • Netflix makes first episode of ‘House of Cards’ available to non-members for one month

    Netflix makes first episode of ‘House of Cards’ available to non-members for one month

    MUMBAI: OTT service provider Netflix has made available to everyone in its territories the first episode of the drama series ‘House of Cards‘ to enjoy for one month.

    Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said, “The creative team in front of and behind the camera have delivered a riveting 13-chapter narrative that we‘re proud to present to Netflix members today. By offering the first episode for free, including to non-members, we are opening up this fascinating world for everyone to see and are confident they‘ll want more.”

    Current Netflix members are now able to watch the entire 13-episode first season of the drama series, in territories where Netflix is available – U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Brazil and the Nordics.

    From director David Fincher ‘The Social Network‘, who directed the first two episode ‘House of Cards‘ is based on the BBC miniseries of the same name. This political drama starring Kevin Spacey Robin Wright and Kate Mara slithers beneath the curtain and through the back halls of greed, sex, love and corruption in modern Washington D.C.

    The show explores power, ambition and the American way. Francis Underwood (Spacey) is the House Majority Whip. Underwood is the politician‘s politician – masterful, beguiling, charismatic and ruthless. He and his equally ambitious wife Claire (Wright) stop at nothing to ensure their ascendancy.

  • BBC launches a second-screen app for ‘Top Gear’

    BBC launches a second-screen app for ‘Top Gear’

    MUMBAI; When the new series of ‘Top Gear UK‘ returns to TV screens on BBC channels across the world next month – just days after UK transmission – a new second-screen app from BBC Worldwide will accompany the international broadcasts for the first time in the show‘s history.

    Top Gear Bingo! was developed using UK-based Monterosa‘s LViS platform, and encourages viewers to look out for well known phrases, cars and items synonymous with the hit motoring entertainment programme, ticking them off on their screens in a similar style to a traditional bingo game. The free-to-play web app is accessed by logging into the local BBC channel‘s site where viewers can invite friends to join them through Facebook, comparing scores while playing along with the live broadcast. A new game is available with every episode.

    BBC Worldwide commercial director of ‘Top Gear‘ Duncan Gray said, “We wanted to create a free Top Gear game that enhances our international viewers‘ enjoyment of the show‘s premiere broadcast. Top Gear Bingo! does just that, allowing fans to look out for words, phrases and items that appear, competing with their friends to see who can get the highest score each week via a leaderboard if you log in with Facebook. And we hope that the unique way we‘ve been able to integrate advertisers into the proposition will be well received.”

    Monterosa commercial director Tom McDonnell said, “LViS is our versatile platform that allows us to quickly and economically develop fantastic second-screen apps that can live anywhere and scale globally. Working with BBC Worldwide, we‘re giving fans a way to enhance their viewing experience and broadcasters a new way to activate sponsorships and to create additional advertising opportunities through the second-screen. It‘s an exciting time for second-screen and we‘re proud that LViS is becoming the best way to make and deploy global apps for mainstream TV shows.”

  • BBC Knowledge launches in Cyprus on Cablenet

    BBC Knowledge launches in Cyprus on Cablenet

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has signed a brand new distribution deal with Cablenet that will see the launch of BBC
    Knowledge in Cyprus for the first time from today.

    This deal follows in the footsteps of BBC Knowledge launching for the first time in Romania and Hungary in January and is the third milestone in an ambitious roll-out plan for the channel across the CEE region in 2013.

    The deal with Cablenet arrives shortly after BBC Knowledge launched for the very first time on RCS & RDS in Romania, DIGI in Hungary on 1 January and Romania’s Romtelecom on 3 January.

    BBC Knowledge will be available in the Basic package on Digital cable, reaching over 6,500 subscribers in Cyprus. BBC Entertainment and BBC World News continue to be available in the Basic package on analogue and digital cable reaching over 35,000 subscribers.

    BBC Entertainment is already shown on Cablenet in English, and BBC Knowledge will follow its lead.

    BBC Worldwide Channels SVP and GM EMEA Ian McDonough commented, “We are delighted to announce that BBC Knowledge will air in Cyprus from 1st February 2013. As we’ve already seen with recent deals in Romania and Hungary, there’s a huge appetite in the Central and Eastern European market for the kind of quality content the BBC has to offer. We are looking forward to bringing our award-winning, factual programming to viewers in Cyprus, and to this latest exciting chapter in the story of BBC channels in the CEE region.”

    Cablenet MD Nicolas Shiacolas commented, “It is our constant goal to enrich our TV bouquets with quality channels, ensuring we continually offer our customers better value. The BBC has always stood for and offered the very best in TV entertainment, so we are truly pleased that BBC Knowledge has become available for Cyprus and we can add it to our digital service.”

    BBC Knowledge showcases British factual and natural history programming. Programmes include the epic series Wonders of the Universe in which Professor Brian Cox explores the link between humanity and the origins of the universe, Richard Hammond’s Crash Course which follows the Top Gear presenter take on America’s biggest working vehicles and the major global viewing astronomical event Stargazing, an original co-commission exclusive to BBC Knowledge.

  • BBC launches 3 pay channels in Cambodia on One TV

    BBC launches 3 pay channels in Cambodia on One TV

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has inked a deal that will see the inaugural launch of three of BBC‘s pay TV channels in Cambodia– BBC World News, BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle on Cambodia‘s newest digital pay TV platform, One TV.

    BBC World News is the BBC‘s commercially-funded international 24-hour news and information channel. BBC Knowledge showcases high-quality factual entertainment from the world‘s foremost producers of non-fiction and documentary programming; while BBC Lifestyle offers inspiration for home, family and life with programmes on home and design, food, fashion and style, to entertain, engage and inspire viewers.

    All three channels will officially launch on One TV, the first provider of digital TV services in Cambodia. With this launch, BBC World News, BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle will now be potentially available to the 1.2 million households subscribing to the Cambodian DTT service.

    “We ended last year with introducing BBC World News, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies in Burma for the first time; and we have kicked off 2013 with entry in another new market – Cambodia – where we are proud to be delivering our wide range of highly rated and award-winning programming to viewers. We are confident that this year, we will deliver our great content to even more new viewers in Asia,” commented BBC Worldwide Channels Asia SVP and GM Mark Whitehead.

    One TV CEO Samir Badzhadzh commented, “Viewers in Cambodia appreciate quality content. We are thus delighted to partner with inspirational broadcasting corporations like the BBC and BBC Worldwide to bring amazing viewing experiences to our subscribers.”

  • BBC to broadcast from HD studio beginning 14 Jan

    BBC to broadcast from HD studio beginning 14 Jan

    MUMBAI: Fresh from announcing new distribution deals in the US and Burma, the BBC‘s international television news channel, BBC World News, is unveiling a new look next week when it re-launches from new studios in central London.

    From 12 GMT on 14 January the channel will broadcast from new state of the art High Definition studios in the BBC‘s new London headquarters, the redeveloped Broadcasting House.

    The channel will also feature a refreshed line-up of programmes and presenters, and will be investing heavily in additional news gathering capacity around the world.

    BBC World News journalists will be at the heart of ‘the world‘s newsroom‘ where the BBC‘s UK and international journalism teams have come together to provide output across digital, radio and television and 27 different languages, reaching an audience of 239 million people around the world each week.

    Eventually, 6,000 people – more than a quarter of all BBC staff – will be based in Broadcasting House, one of the world‘s largest broadcast complexes, BBC said in a statement.

    The channel will also debut new on air talent including Yalda Hakim, one of Australia‘s brightest international journalists, who has joined the channel as a current affairs correspondent and presenter for a new weekly current affairs programme.

    BBC World News has also announced that long time BBC News presenter and reporter Jon Sopel is joining the channel to present Global with Jon Sopel, a new weekday international news programme.

    BBC Global News Controller of English Richard Porter said, "BBC World News is kicking off the new year with an entirely new look and feel. From virtual reality capability to full HD production, new presenters and a programming line-up that goes from strength to strength, BBC World News audiences will have access to not only the best, most dynamic journalism in the world, but also the latest technology to enhance storytelling and bring viewers inside the stories that shape our world."

    BBC Global News COO Jim Egan said, "This re-launch marks the biggest change for BBC World News in at least a decade and is part of a sustained commitment by the BBC to build on our long history of delivering high quality international news by enhancing our TV and digital offers to viewers, advertisers and distribution partners. We aspire to be recognized as the world‘s best international news provider and will be making a series of investments this year to support that ambition.