ITV

Tag: broadcaster

  • The History Channel’s ‘Great Battles of Rome’ to be adapted as a video game

    The History Channel’s ‘Great Battles of Rome’ to be adapted as a video game

    MUMBAI: US video game developers Slitherine Software and Black Bean Games have partnered with US broadcaster The History Channel to deliver a gaming experience, The Hustory Channel Great Battles of Rome.

    Combining gameplay, historical footage and battle simulation, the product allows players to fully immerse themselves into history as never before. The game will begin to roll out worldwide in the second quarter of this year.

    Merging action and strategy in a setting that replicates the atmosphere of the period, the game allows players to take control of a series of campaigns against Barbarian hordes, while carving out the Roman Empire.

    Over 100 battles are available for play including the Punic and Samnite Wars, and Julius Caesar’s conquest of Britain. Players can customize and control massive armies with an array of soldiers including legionaries, archers, cavalry and even mighty war-elephants. The game delivers battle realism in various environments, including steppe, forest, desert and coastline, with both day and night lighting.

    Players can also choose to either plan their own battle tactics by selecting an army to suit a gameplay situation, or they can leave strategy decisions to the AI, freeing them to be involved in nothing but action.

    The game also features 3D special effects and instant control response.

    In addition, 30 programme clips from the archives of The History Channel have been specially blended and narrated to match the game and guide the player through the greatest story of all time.

    Black Bean marketing head Marco Minoli says, “We are proud of this collaboration between The History Channel, Slitherine and Black Bean enabling us to publish a licensed video game with excellent graphics and realism. The endorsement of such a prestigious brand, reinforces and confirms Black Bean’s global credentials as one of the most innovative and respected publishing houses in the business.”

    Slitherine’s Iain McNeil says, “We have been working with The History Channel and our partner Black Bean to bring the highest quality and exciting historical video games to our audience. Our relationship with The History Channel has enabled us to use material from their archives that we could only dream about. This builds on our previous range of historical strategy games and brings a new dimension to the genre”

    The History Channel director licensing Carrie Trimmer says, “We are very pleased to be working with Slitherine and Black Bean on the development of The History Channel Great Battles of Rome, the first international console game to be released under our brand. The History Channel is always looking for ways to make history experiential for our viewers, and by giving them the power to build their own armies and plot battle strategy, this game truly allows players to be a part of the building of the Roman Empire.”

  • Discovery US, Intl undergoes corporate retructuring

    Discovery US, Intl undergoes corporate retructuring

    MUMBAI: After taking over the reins of US broadcaster Discovery earlier this year its CEO David Zaslav is ringing in the changes at the senior management level.

    Some key people will leave. They are Discovery US president Billy Campbell. Discovery international president Dawn McCall, Animal Planet president and GM Maureen Smith, The Learning Channel president David Abraham and senior executive VP human resources Pandit Wright.

    Campbell and Smith’s positions have been eliminated. Media reports state that Animal Planet will now be consolidated with Discovery’s other family-centric networks under the heading Animal Planet Media and Discovery Kids Media, That group will be led by Marjorie Kaplan, who is being promoted to president and gm of the new unit. She was earlier Discovery Kids GM.

    The bad news does not stop there. Reports add that broader layoffs are expected. Zaslav had said that if the broadcaster is to invest more in new media and business, then it has to invest less in infrastructure. Therefore he is taking a long look at the firm’s traditional cost basis.

    Discovery has hired Joel Berman, former president of CBS Paramount Worldwide Television, and Tom Wolzien, a veteran media analyst as consultants. Reports add that the shakup is a sign that companies are having to adjust in the face of the advent of digital media.

    Zaslav in a staff memo says that the focus is to create a lean and aggressive organization that fosters a real performance culture. “The objective is to push authority and accountability down across the company.”

  • Channel 4 postpones sex shows after Shetty controversy

    Channel 4 postpones sex shows after Shetty controversy

    MUMBAI: Following the criticism of racism on its show Celebrity Big Brother which saw Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty win, UK broadcaster Channel 4 has decided to postpone a series of shows on sex.

    The series of programmes were to be themed around masturbation. One show media reports state was a documentary about a charity ‘masturbate-athon’. Another programme called Virgin School, was to feature a 40-year-old former vicar being taught sex techniques in Amsterdam

    A spokesperson for the channel though was quoted saying that they will evenutually air. Clearly the channel does not want to air content that has the potential to lead to more negative publicity.

    Meanwhile the row over Celebrity Big Brother continues to make headlines.

    Reports state that one of Shetty’s three alleged tormentors, glamour model Danielle Lloyd, has met police for a three-hour discussion about the race row.

  • MTV Euro chief Simon Guild quits

    MTV Euro chief Simon Guild quits

    MUMBAI: The latest in line of executive departures at MTVN, MTV Networks Europe president and CEO Simon Guild announced his decision to not renew his contract. Guild has put in over 14 years as a broadcaster of niche channels including Nickelodeon, MTV, and TMF.

    “As my contract was up for renewal I decided it was time to look for something new,” Guild said in a statement to the press.

    MTV Networks vice chairman Bill Roedy said, “Over the past 14 years, Simon has been instrumental in driving the growth of the company’s European business, which has become the region’s biggest portfolio of leading multimedia brands under his leadership.”

    Guild also added that “I have had 14 great years at MTV Networks Europe and I am proud to have played a key role in developing the business, but I want to move on to new challenges.
    “As my contract was expiring, it seemed like a logical time to make a change. I know that I am leaving the business in the hands of some extremely capable executives across Europe with whom I have enjoyed working enormously.

    Over the next few weeks, I will work with them and the company’s leadership to ensure a smooth transition.”

    During his time at MTV, Guild helped to establish a vision for developing MTV Networks’ major brands, such as MTV and Nickelodeon, and expanded them across consumer products, digital media, events and marketing partnerships.

  • Fox’s new reality show to put a spin on gender roles

    Fox’s new reality show to put a spin on gender roles

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster Fox will expose the battle of the sexes, turning traditional gender roles upside-down and giving women all the power on When Women Rule The World.

    The release date will be announced later.

    What if it was a womans world? What if women made all the decisions and men are their subjects? These questions and more will be explored when a group of strong, educated and independent women, tired of living in a mans world and each with a personal axe to grind, rule over a group of unsuspecting men used to calling the shots on the show.

    The show will reveal how women and men react in a world where women are in charge and men are subservient, and each genders ability to adapt to a new social order will be put to the test.
    The participants will be brought to a remote, primitive location where the women will have the opportunity to rule as they build a newly formed society one where there is no glass ceiling and no need to dress to impress. For the men, their worlds of power and prestige are turned inside-out and upside-down. And for these women, turnabout is fair play.

    In order to win, the men must accede to the womens every command, 24/7, while building a new world. Here, women command and men obey. Over the series duration, the men will be eliminated by the women until one last man is standing.

  • TDSAT adjourns Tata Sky vs Zee case

    TDSAT adjourns Tata Sky vs Zee case

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal on Friday adjourned the hearing in the appeal by Tata Sky against Zee Turner’s demand for carrying all the channels they have on offer.

    The case, which relates also to the technical issue of transponder constraint, has been adjourned till 9 February, as the counsel for Zee Turner contested the contention of Tata Sky that the regulations of Trai did not have a “must carry” provison., but just a “must provide” provision.

    The Zee Turner counsel said that there exist two specific Trai-issued documents that could be placed in the court right away, or later, as the court thought fit, which show that Trai regulations carry a “must carry” provision. The court finally fixed 9 February as the date for filing those documents with a note from the Zee counsel.

    Reading out the affidavit to seek to prove his point, the Tata Sky counsel said that Trai had made four points in the affidavit: first, that it was considering the issue and consultative paper would be issued, without fixing a timeframe for that; secondly, that the affidavit does say that there are capacity constraints on the transponders; thirdly, that DTH is at par with the cable operations, being an addressable system; and finally, that Trai says its regulations did have a “must provide”, but not a “must carry” provision.

    Tata Sky’s argument was that since the regulations did not enforce any “must carry” provision, the DTH operator was not bound to carry all the channels provided as package/s by a broadcaster.

    To this, however, the Zee counsel asserted that there were two earlier documents by Trai that specifically assert a “must carry” provision, and these could be produced in the court.
    Part of the dispute between Tata Sky and Zee Turner rests on the fact that the latter has been insisting that the DTH operator carry all its channels and could not “pick and chose” from them.

    The former had argued that the transponder constraint does not allow them to run each and every channel from a broadcaster they take signals from.

    In this context, in the earlier hearing on 2 January, Tdsat had asked Trai to look into the transponder issue as well as other issues. Trai has said today that transponder constraint is a reality.

    On this, Tata Sky today pleaded that since Trai was considering issuing a consultation paper, and yet, not fixed a date for that, Tdsat may ask Trai to fix a date and issue an interim order to that effect.

    However, the proceedings took a different turn with the Zee Turner counsel bringing up the issue of Trai documents mandating a “must carry” provision.

  • Broadcasters sign up for Fifa Club World Cup

    Broadcasters sign up for Fifa Club World Cup

    MUMBAI: Sports marketing firm iSe International Sports and Entertainment AG reached broadcasting agreements for the Fifa Club World Cup Japan 2006.

    It got deals with broadcasters for 219 territories. 199 territories broadcasted the tournament matches live. An additional 20 territories covered the event via news access.

    iSe president/CEO George Taylor says, “We are highly pleased with our achievements in selling and delivering the broadcast rights for the FIFA Club World Cup 2006 and especially with the broad coverage we could secure.

    ” For this second edition of the tournament, it was of utmost importance to again reach the broadest possible global audience to carry the 2006 edition of the tournament into the world, in order to build on the successful implementation last year and to substantially grow it for the many years to come.

    “We have again seen competitive games of highly motivated teams that have excited football fans around the world. The Final match on Sunday, which crowned Internacional Porto Alegre of Brazil as the Fifa Club World Champion 2006, was broadcasted into 219 territories.”

    iSe had concluded agreements in all continents. In the tournament hosting continent of Asia, ESPN Star Sports covered cable and satellite television in 22 territories corresponding to South Asia, South-East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. iSe had also awarded exclusive terrestrial, cable and satellite rights to ART Sports in 13 territories. Additional rights were awarded to prestigious broadcasters in individual markets, such as CCTV in China, IB Sports in Korea, ANTV in Indonesia, and others.

    In the Americas, iSe had again partnered up with Fox and TV Globo. Fox Sports International covered a total of 47 territories in North America, South America, and the Caribbean. TV Globo had acquired the exclusive broadcast rights in Brazil, the home of 2006 Copa Libertadores champions Internacional Porto Alegre who were crowned FIFA Club World Champion 2006. Televisa carried the terrestrial signal in Mexico.

    In Africa, iSe had secured major agreements for complete coverage via all types of TV transmission and languages. In addition to its coverage in Asia, ART Sports was again awarded the exclusive rights in 8 territories in North Africa. This included coverage in Egypt, the home market of CAF Champions League 2006 winner Al Ahly.

    LIM was awarded nonexclusive terrestrial rights for Africa in 37 territories, while Supersport had acquired the nonexclusive cable and satellite rights in 38 African territories. In addition, Supersport had secured exclusive rights in South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho. The coverage in Africa was rounded out effectively by an agreement with Canal+. In addition to exclusive terrestrial, cable and satellite rights in France, Canal+ broadcasted the tournament in French language into 48 territories via non-exclusive terrestrial, cable and satellite transmission.

    In Europe, a major and exclusive agreement was reached with Media Pro, representing the domestic market of 2006 UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona. It broadcasted the event via La Sexta and TV3 Catalunya. Barca TV also showed highlights of the matches. In a successful market-by-market approach, iSe had secured coverage with additional prestigious broadcasters in Europe such as Sport Italia in Italy, Canal+ in France, and many more.

    The coverage was completed by various TV news access as well as radio agreements. Reuters and SNTV ensured global news access, the EBU covered prime stations in Europe. In both Spain and Brazil, iSe could sign up four radio stations each.

  • Real Madrid sells TV rights in $1.4 billion deal

    Real Madrid sells TV rights in $1.4 billion deal

    MUMBAI: Real Madrid, soccer’s richest club by sales, has sold its television rights to its games through 2013 to production company Grupo Mediapro for $1.4 billion, in what it called a record deal for a sports team.

    Media reports state that Mediapro, which already owns the rights to matches of European and Spanish champions Barcelona, beat off competition from local broadcaster Telemadrid and cable operator Sogecable.

    Sogecable currently owns the rights to Real Madrid’s matches
    The agreement is the most expensive TV rights deal in club soccer, Real Madrid said in a statement. Mediapro was the highest bidder, the club said.

    Mediapro is a major shareholder in the new free-to-air Spanish channel La Sexta, which was launched this year. Mediapro recently agreed to share local TV rights with broadcaster Sogecable SA.

    Mediapro’s deal with Real Madrid ends several weeks of uncertainty for Mediapro and Sogecable, after Spanish media reported that state-owned TV network Telemadrid was also attempting to obtain the rights.

  • CNN takes an in-depth look at Japan next month

    CNN takes an in-depth look at Japan next month

    MUMBAI: The week of 4 December 2006 on CNN marks a series of special programming focusing on the diversity and complexity of Japan. The news broadcaster presents a series of talk shows and feature programs in the initiative Japan Now that includes five consecutive episodes of Talk Asia from Monday through Friday, Revealed and Business Traveller over the weekend.

    Talk Asia off the week of specials with the likes of Bulgarian sumo wrestler champion (Ozeki) Kotooshu, architect Tadao Ando, ‘Mr. Nintendo’ Shigeru Miyamoto, and R&B Japanese pop singer Ken Hirai. Revealed then catches up with Japan’s most internationally recognized football star Hideotoshi Nakata at the crossroad of his career. Recruited by Italy’s series A, the world’s toughest football league, after representing Japan in the World Cup in 1998, he was the first to show the world what Japanese players are capable of on the pitch. Shocking Japan with his early retirement, the program follows Nakata on a post-retirement trip around Asia.

    Also known as the city of merchants, Business Traveller flies to Osaka, Japan, to feature one of the most expensive cities in the world. Correspondent Richard Quest follows a daily routine of a businessman and attempts to replicate the same day in Osaka on a shoestring budget. The show will also focus on foreign expatriates, asking for their tips on how to survive and thrive at business scenes in Japan.

  • Pubcaster DD does high definition twist

    Pubcaster DD does high definition twist

    MUMBAI: The Marathi TV creative community in Mumbai was excited last month. The reason: pubcaster Doordarshan flagged off a high definition (HD) production studio at its Mumbai kendra. Set up at a cost of Rs 18 crore, the studio has already started producing music programs, plays, series and shows such as Aaj Che Dawedaar Uddyache Super Star and Dhina Dhin Dha which come on DD Sahaydari.

    Mukesh Sharma says that the broadcaster is moving towards an HD world

    While this is great, says a media observer, it is a case of putting the cart before the horse as DD has no HD transmitters. The net result: it has been downgrading the programs to standard definition (SD) for terrestrial and satellite telecasts of DD daily.

     

    Agrees DD Sahyadri Additional director general (programming) Mukesh Sharma adding that the studio will only be used for HD content production. “We are looking at changing and adapting to HD and this is the first stage,” says Sharma.

     

    The Mumbai HD set includes six new Ikegami HD cameras, Dolby surround system, new microphones, a Kayak switcher as well as a new post production set up for editing. The system integration for the approximately 900 sq metre of an old studio in the new DD building in central Mumbai was done by Shaf Broadcast. The pub-caster currently has plans to upgrade its old world SD transmission network to HD over the next few months. Reports are that some 10 terrestrial HD TV channels are on the anvil.

    It says it does not want to wait until it starts transmitting in HD; it would rather build its program catalogue in HD now for future exploitation. We are going to have more studios in metros like Chennai, Bangalore, and Kolkata very soon, added Sharma. The first to come online with its HD set up was Delhi in May 2013.

    DD’s attempt to adapt to changes by introducing HD systems

     

    Questions are being raised whether DD is doing the right thing migrating to HD? Will it be more money down the drain for a broadcaster which has a mandate of public service? Are private players generating enough excitement amongst media planners to allow them to plonk their advertising dollars on their HD chanels?

     

    “Not really,” observes the media observer. “Advertisers are approaching HD channels cautiously. They prefer a shot gun approach on SD channels where they get mass audiences than in a HD service which is being watched by smaller more elite audiences. They obviously are playing safe so far.”

     

    NDTV Lifestyle chief executive director Smeeta Chakrabarti too tends to agree. She has been filming the channel’s show in HD for a few years now and says advertisers have been chary of parking their bucks there. Says she: “The cost of buying HD equipment is not much higher than normal ones but the cost of broadcasting is not recovered through revenue.”

     

    “I don’t know why such a brou-ha-ha is being made about DD moving to HD,” says another media observer. “Almost all of the terrestrial broadcasters the world over have made the transition; DD is doing it in its unique fashion like it does so for all its activities. So be it.”