ITV

Tag: Bengali

  • Travelxp to launch new Tamil channel; 4K feed before Feb

    Travelxp to launch new Tamil channel; 4K feed before Feb

    MUMBAI: Giving competition to Discovery Channel, Prashant Chothani-promoted travel and lifestyle channel, travelxp, is all set to take southern India by storm with the launch of its new channel in Tamil. The channel’s soft launch is scheduled for 13 December. It’s availability on various distribution platforms will be unveiled post its launch.

    The aim of the channel is to connect with the regional audience and broaden the audience base that travelxp already enjoys.

    “We are launching a new channel focussed on the Tamil audience across all age-groups. South India has vast tourist spots which are famous both, nationally and internationally, with some places that are yet to be explored. Our channel will highlight everything — from food to travel to leisure, etc. and will showcase it to the world. ”

    The channel will have original localised Tamil content as well as dubbed shows from travelxp’s existing bouquet. In a year’s time, the channel plans to have a 60:40 ratio of acquired/dubbed as to homegrown content in Tamil language.

    After launching a Bengali version in April this year, travelxp’s Tamil will also explore and travel to new places, finding new cultures and destinations, knowing about different food tastes. The channel’s team would shoot different episodes with various families in their own drawing room.

    The Bengali feed has a line-up of marquee shows such as Bliss, World Spa, Backpack, Great World Hotels, Strictly Street, xp guide, and Food Fact Fun, etc.

    The much awaited 4K rollout of travelxp meantime is also set to launch before it’s speculated time in February 2017. The launch will happen across all the markets.

    Chothani has invested around US$ 2 million in producing his shows in 4K over the past year or so. Using 4K technology, the shows have already produced 100 hours of travel content in UHD and need another 50 hours of content to launch a full-fledged 4K channel.

    The channel has expanded its international footprint by launching in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda by tying up with Africa’s AzamTV network. The channel is already available in North America, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

    Travelxp is currently available on DTH platforms — Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon d2h and Airtel, and leading cable networks like Hathway Cable & Datacom, InCable, Siti Cable, GTPL and UCN.

  • Travelxp to launch new Tamil channel; 4K feed before Feb

    Travelxp to launch new Tamil channel; 4K feed before Feb

    MUMBAI: Giving competition to Discovery Channel, Prashant Chothani-promoted travel and lifestyle channel, travelxp, is all set to take southern India by storm with the launch of its new channel in Tamil. The channel’s soft launch is scheduled for 13 December. It’s availability on various distribution platforms will be unveiled post its launch.

    The aim of the channel is to connect with the regional audience and broaden the audience base that travelxp already enjoys.

    “We are launching a new channel focussed on the Tamil audience across all age-groups. South India has vast tourist spots which are famous both, nationally and internationally, with some places that are yet to be explored. Our channel will highlight everything — from food to travel to leisure, etc. and will showcase it to the world. ”

    The channel will have original localised Tamil content as well as dubbed shows from travelxp’s existing bouquet. In a year’s time, the channel plans to have a 60:40 ratio of acquired/dubbed as to homegrown content in Tamil language.

    After launching a Bengali version in April this year, travelxp’s Tamil will also explore and travel to new places, finding new cultures and destinations, knowing about different food tastes. The channel’s team would shoot different episodes with various families in their own drawing room.

    The Bengali feed has a line-up of marquee shows such as Bliss, World Spa, Backpack, Great World Hotels, Strictly Street, xp guide, and Food Fact Fun, etc.

    The much awaited 4K rollout of travelxp meantime is also set to launch before it’s speculated time in February 2017. The launch will happen across all the markets.

    Chothani has invested around US$ 2 million in producing his shows in 4K over the past year or so. Using 4K technology, the shows have already produced 100 hours of travel content in UHD and need another 50 hours of content to launch a full-fledged 4K channel.

    The channel has expanded its international footprint by launching in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda by tying up with Africa’s AzamTV network. The channel is already available in North America, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

    Travelxp is currently available on DTH platforms — Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon d2h and Airtel, and leading cable networks like Hathway Cable & Datacom, InCable, Siti Cable, GTPL and UCN.

  • Pradesh18.com foresees growth in female audience share

    Pradesh18.com foresees growth in female audience share

    MUMBAI: Network18’s local news portal Pradesh18.com has seen a rapid growth in its user base. The digital destination claims to have more than 10 million unique users in last month and focuses on state-wise news in various regional languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu. More languages are to be added such as Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam.

    The primary growth of Pradesh18.com has come from its Hindi language portal.

    As a changing trend, a lot of content is being consumed through mobile devices and that has added to the growth of the portal facilitating any content, anywhere. Complementary to major growth coming from mobile medium, 74 per cent of its audience are young readers below the age of 34 while 26 per cent are above the age of 40. Though the audience is fairly dominated by males but female share is growing and is at 17 per cent as per October numbers.

    Network18 Digital CEO Manish Maheshwari attributes the success of Pradesh18.com to the product’s unique & single minded proposition to cater to the news & happenings of reader’s locality, district, city and state. He said, “Pradesh18.com is a platform to provide news at district level to its readers & in the language in which one prefers. We aspire to cover India inch by inch. Digital growth will come from vernacular languages and through mobile medium and Pradesh18.com is uniquely poised to benefit from both these factors.”

    Pradesh18.com also contains high quality video news content and live TV content of popular ETV channels in respective states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

  • Pradesh18.com foresees growth in female audience share

    Pradesh18.com foresees growth in female audience share

    MUMBAI: Network18’s local news portal Pradesh18.com has seen a rapid growth in its user base. The digital destination claims to have more than 10 million unique users in last month and focuses on state-wise news in various regional languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu. More languages are to be added such as Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam.

    The primary growth of Pradesh18.com has come from its Hindi language portal.

    As a changing trend, a lot of content is being consumed through mobile devices and that has added to the growth of the portal facilitating any content, anywhere. Complementary to major growth coming from mobile medium, 74 per cent of its audience are young readers below the age of 34 while 26 per cent are above the age of 40. Though the audience is fairly dominated by males but female share is growing and is at 17 per cent as per October numbers.

    Network18 Digital CEO Manish Maheshwari attributes the success of Pradesh18.com to the product’s unique & single minded proposition to cater to the news & happenings of reader’s locality, district, city and state. He said, “Pradesh18.com is a platform to provide news at district level to its readers & in the language in which one prefers. We aspire to cover India inch by inch. Digital growth will come from vernacular languages and through mobile medium and Pradesh18.com is uniquely poised to benefit from both these factors.”

    Pradesh18.com also contains high quality video news content and live TV content of popular ETV channels in respective states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

  • nexGTv on expansion spree; launches video News app

    nexGTv on expansion spree; launches video News app

    MUMBAI: While a majority of the broadcasters and media houses are coming up with their standard news applications, one player has taken an unusual path. After rolling a kids app followed by a comedy app, nexGTv, a subscription-led video entertainment app, has announced the launch of its exclusive news app.

    Breaking free from the traditional story telling perspective, the app will provide news coverage in audio/visual formats in major Indian languages that include Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, etc. The app is open to experiment with more languages.

    nexGTv says that the app will provide 360-degree coverage of the latest reports and happenings from across genres like politics, sports, movies, business, lifestyle etc. For starters, the app will curate and enable news content from more than 40 top regional, national and international channels. It will air real time popular shows like Nation at 10, Aaj Tak Live News, India Reports at 10 and News Now at 11, etc, as a part of its Live TV bouquet. The other news offerings such as interviews, Mann Ki Baat and the topical political cartoon humour — So Sorry can also be viewed through VoD.

    “We want to explore content which caters better to our consumers through news articles and videos. With creating this app a go-to-go platform for all Indian users across boundaries, we are just exploring news content that often gets buried under GEC news. The niche can relate to this app. We have our own data system in India so I don’t see bandwidth as a major constraint. ,” says nexGTv COO Abhesh Verma.

    Following a ‘freemium’ model, most of the news channels are available for free to the end users though there is some content behind the paywall. The news apps has been bundled with nexGTv’s other apps beyond the subscription screen at Rs 35 a week summing to a monthly payment fee of Rs 125.

    With timelines crunches, users are often unable to stay updated with the latest information about their areas of interest. To put an end to this, the app will aggregate and deliver video news content from leading TV news channels, revolutionizing through enhanced accessibility, the way news is currently consumed in the country.

    Treating people who like staying up-to-date with the latest news and developments from the national and global arena, the app will identify the niches which are undercover right now.

    Pointing out the difficulties faced by users in the extremely fragmented viewing experiment, Verma points out how viewers often sit through advertisements, weather reports and repetitive news programmes to consume news. He adds, “This gap in news content delivery and consumption is what we are trying to address with the nexGTv News app. Having been amongst the leading platforms for content aggregation in India, we are now looking to add greater diversity to our news content offerings by partnering with channels that help us cater to our viewers’ specific needs. This will not only boost the quality of our end-user offerings, but will also allow news channels to maximise their consumer outreach through our platform.”

    The VOD player is focussed on enabling a holistic and relevant digital news-viewing experience for the end-consumer and adding value through technology. It has integrated several innovative features that augment and enhance the viewer’s browsing experience. While on the one hand non-stop news will be showcased through news bulletins from leading TV news channels under a single tab, VoD news capsules will give users a brief rundown of the top news highlights of the day in just a few minutes.

    The resume feature allows viewers to pause live streaming and pick up where they left off, while nexGTv’s Advanced Search with Integrated Electronic Program Guide (EPG) helps browse through genre and language-specific news. Other features, such as Quicky, can find the best news content that fits the time available to users, while the Data Saving Mode assists them in managing their data consumption while streaming videos. This integration of technology results in great value addition for users and allows them to watch news content that suits their viewing preference in a convenient and hassle-free manner claims nexGTv.

    “The nexGTv News app leverages state-of-the-art technology to enable features such as VoD news capsules and on-the-go news content. This allows for the delivery of a seamless, on-the-go, and highly relevant 360-degree digital news-viewing experience to our users. With digital video consumption in the country growing in demand, we are confident that the launch of our News app can potentially disrupt the way video news content is viewed in the country,” adds Verma.

    Given that the target audience is mass, a smart marketing strategy has been planned to promote the app. While notifications will be sent to their already existing consumer base about the new addition, social media will be used extensively to make the app visible. It will also be promoted through traditional modes of communication.

    With more features such as interactive UI, minimised player window, reminders, TV guides and Social Connect on offer, the nexGTv news app is already available on Google Play Store. It has also submitted an application to iOS and is awaiting a confirmation in a couple of days. The player plans to unveil few more apps in the coming days.

  • nexGTv on expansion spree; launches video News app

    nexGTv on expansion spree; launches video News app

    MUMBAI: While a majority of the broadcasters and media houses are coming up with their standard news applications, one player has taken an unusual path. After rolling a kids app followed by a comedy app, nexGTv, a subscription-led video entertainment app, has announced the launch of its exclusive news app.

    Breaking free from the traditional story telling perspective, the app will provide news coverage in audio/visual formats in major Indian languages that include Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, etc. The app is open to experiment with more languages.

    nexGTv says that the app will provide 360-degree coverage of the latest reports and happenings from across genres like politics, sports, movies, business, lifestyle etc. For starters, the app will curate and enable news content from more than 40 top regional, national and international channels. It will air real time popular shows like Nation at 10, Aaj Tak Live News, India Reports at 10 and News Now at 11, etc, as a part of its Live TV bouquet. The other news offerings such as interviews, Mann Ki Baat and the topical political cartoon humour — So Sorry can also be viewed through VoD.

    “We want to explore content which caters better to our consumers through news articles and videos. With creating this app a go-to-go platform for all Indian users across boundaries, we are just exploring news content that often gets buried under GEC news. The niche can relate to this app. We have our own data system in India so I don’t see bandwidth as a major constraint. ,” says nexGTv COO Abhesh Verma.

    Following a ‘freemium’ model, most of the news channels are available for free to the end users though there is some content behind the paywall. The news apps has been bundled with nexGTv’s other apps beyond the subscription screen at Rs 35 a week summing to a monthly payment fee of Rs 125.

    With timelines crunches, users are often unable to stay updated with the latest information about their areas of interest. To put an end to this, the app will aggregate and deliver video news content from leading TV news channels, revolutionizing through enhanced accessibility, the way news is currently consumed in the country.

    Treating people who like staying up-to-date with the latest news and developments from the national and global arena, the app will identify the niches which are undercover right now.

    Pointing out the difficulties faced by users in the extremely fragmented viewing experiment, Verma points out how viewers often sit through advertisements, weather reports and repetitive news programmes to consume news. He adds, “This gap in news content delivery and consumption is what we are trying to address with the nexGTv News app. Having been amongst the leading platforms for content aggregation in India, we are now looking to add greater diversity to our news content offerings by partnering with channels that help us cater to our viewers’ specific needs. This will not only boost the quality of our end-user offerings, but will also allow news channels to maximise their consumer outreach through our platform.”

    The VOD player is focussed on enabling a holistic and relevant digital news-viewing experience for the end-consumer and adding value through technology. It has integrated several innovative features that augment and enhance the viewer’s browsing experience. While on the one hand non-stop news will be showcased through news bulletins from leading TV news channels under a single tab, VoD news capsules will give users a brief rundown of the top news highlights of the day in just a few minutes.

    The resume feature allows viewers to pause live streaming and pick up where they left off, while nexGTv’s Advanced Search with Integrated Electronic Program Guide (EPG) helps browse through genre and language-specific news. Other features, such as Quicky, can find the best news content that fits the time available to users, while the Data Saving Mode assists them in managing their data consumption while streaming videos. This integration of technology results in great value addition for users and allows them to watch news content that suits their viewing preference in a convenient and hassle-free manner claims nexGTv.

    “The nexGTv News app leverages state-of-the-art technology to enable features such as VoD news capsules and on-the-go news content. This allows for the delivery of a seamless, on-the-go, and highly relevant 360-degree digital news-viewing experience to our users. With digital video consumption in the country growing in demand, we are confident that the launch of our News app can potentially disrupt the way video news content is viewed in the country,” adds Verma.

    Given that the target audience is mass, a smart marketing strategy has been planned to promote the app. While notifications will be sent to their already existing consumer base about the new addition, social media will be used extensively to make the app visible. It will also be promoted through traditional modes of communication.

    With more features such as interactive UI, minimised player window, reminders, TV guides and Social Connect on offer, the nexGTv news app is already available on Google Play Store. It has also submitted an application to iOS and is awaiting a confirmation in a couple of days. The player plans to unveil few more apps in the coming days.

  • SPN launches regional language feeds for UEFA EURO 2016 in India

    SPN launches regional language feeds for UEFA EURO 2016 in India

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has launched multi-language feeds for its international football property UEFA EURO 2016. The network will roll-out feeds in six languages namely English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam for the tournament.

    The company is aimed at bringing the tournament closer to the TV viewing audience by presenting the content in a localized format for viewers across Indian markets through its multiple language feed.

    Regional feeds for broadcasting sports properties was a pioneering initiative by SPN in India with the Bengali feed on Sony AATH for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

    UEFA EURO 2016 is one of the biggest international football tournaments in the world and will commence on 10 June 2016 until the finals that take place on 10 July 2016.  It showcases the best of football and will have some of the finest European teams including the two time defending champions, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, England and many more playing for the coveted title of European Champions.

    The network recently launched its time to switch campaign with a notion of viewers switching from other sports to football and the multi-language feeds giving viewers another reason to switch to the tournament.

    The tournament will be telecasted live and exclusive on Sony SIX and Sony ESPN channels at primetime slots of 6:30 pm, 9:30 pm and 12:30 am. Sony SIX will telecast the English language feed for the tournament while Sony ESPN will give viewers the option of Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil or Telugu language feeds. On the digital front, Sony LIV will live stream all the matches.

  • SPN launches regional language feeds for UEFA EURO 2016 in India

    SPN launches regional language feeds for UEFA EURO 2016 in India

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has launched multi-language feeds for its international football property UEFA EURO 2016. The network will roll-out feeds in six languages namely English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam for the tournament.

    The company is aimed at bringing the tournament closer to the TV viewing audience by presenting the content in a localized format for viewers across Indian markets through its multiple language feed.

    Regional feeds for broadcasting sports properties was a pioneering initiative by SPN in India with the Bengali feed on Sony AATH for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

    UEFA EURO 2016 is one of the biggest international football tournaments in the world and will commence on 10 June 2016 until the finals that take place on 10 July 2016.  It showcases the best of football and will have some of the finest European teams including the two time defending champions, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, England and many more playing for the coveted title of European Champions.

    The network recently launched its time to switch campaign with a notion of viewers switching from other sports to football and the multi-language feeds giving viewers another reason to switch to the tournament.

    The tournament will be telecasted live and exclusive on Sony SIX and Sony ESPN channels at primetime slots of 6:30 pm, 9:30 pm and 12:30 am. Sony SIX will telecast the English language feed for the tournament while Sony ESPN will give viewers the option of Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil or Telugu language feeds. On the digital front, Sony LIV will live stream all the matches.

  • YuppTV launches on-demand movie streaming service

    YuppTV launches on-demand movie streaming service

    MUMBAI: Over-the-top (OTT) player YuppTV has launched its on-demand movie streaming service called YuppFlix.

     

    Backed by its library of more than 5000+ movies in 12 languages, YuppFlix will offer users on-the-go entertainment across genres like comedy, thriller, romance, action, drama and devotional.

     

    YuppFlix will offer instant movie updates through ad campaigns and push notifications, internet premiers of upcoming movies.

     

    Speaking on the launch, YuppTV founder and CEO Uday Reddy said, “The Indian expat communities living overseas have limited access to legal regional movie content. Having established YuppTV as the digital destination for over-the-top Indian content, we felt the time was right for us to launch YuppFlix as the premier on-demand digital movie solution for Indian expats. With our extensive database of movies in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Punjabi and Kannada, we are confident of delivering high-quality digital movie solutions for our users across the globe.”

     

    YuppFlix’s catalogue has over 25,000 hours of on-demand content accessible with a subscription.

  • Film on Tagore’s sister-in-law wins top award at Washington S. Asian Fillmfest

    Film on Tagore’s sister-in-law wins top award at Washington S. Asian Fillmfest

    NEW DELHI: Bengali film Kadambari by Suman Ghosh about Kadambari Devi, sister-in-law of Rabindranath Tagore with whom he is supposed to have had a close personal relationship and who eventually committed suicide, won the Best Film award at the Fourth Washington South Asian Film Festival.

     

    Chaitanya Tamhane won the Best Director award for Court, a Hindi and Marathi film, which is India’s official entry for the Academy Awards.

     

    Aparna Sen received the Special Achievement Award, while Huma Beg from Pakistan (Veils and Walls) got the Special Appreciation Award Documentary. Sarmad Khoosat received the Special Award for Contribution to Pakistan TV and Films.

     

    The Festival of independent alternate cinema on the theme of “Art and culture transcend boundaries” had 14 features, 10 shorts and one documentary from India, Pakistan, the United States and Canada.

     

    Rough Book by Anant Mahadevan won the best story award, while the actor awards went to Kishor Kadam (Partu) and Konkona Sen Sharma (Kadambari). Bonjour ji by Satinder Kassona was adjudged the best short film.

     

    The audience rated Partu by Indian-American Nitin Adsul as the Best Film and Billu’s Flight by India’s Mayank Tripathi as the Best Short Film.

     

    Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam, who inaugurated the festival said the theme of the Festival reflected a reality. “This is so even though we live in a deeply divided world. These are unsettling times-wars, refugees, terrorism, hate crimes of all types, and boundary disputes. Events such as these dominate the headlines daily,” he said.

     

    He said marketing was a big challenge for independent films, which had to compete with extravagant, studio-backed and star-studded films from Bollywood.

     

    In order to succeed, independent films from India must overcome this stereotype and sea of noise, Islam said.

     

    “This year there was more awareness about the film festival here in the US and in South Asian countries,” said DCSAFF executive director Manoj Singh.

     

    Saari Raat, Aparna Sen’s film adaptation of Bengali playwright Badal Sircar’s drama, was the opening film. There were three films from South Asian Americans: Partu, Miss India America by Ravi Kapoor and For Here or To Go by Rucha Humnabadkar.

     

    The festival also featured two Pakistani films, Manto by actor-director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat on the life of short-story writer Sadat Hassan Manto, and Shah by actor-director on Pakistani boxer Hussain Shah who won the bronze medal at 1988 Summer Olympics.