ITV

Tag: CEO

  • After Mumbai, Fame rebranding to Inox commences in Bengaluru

    After Mumbai, Fame rebranding to Inox commences in Bengaluru

    BENGALURU: After commencing rebranding of Fame screens in Mumbai to Inox, it is the garden city’s turn now. Of the 73 multiplexes and 284 screens across 40 cities that Inox boasts of, 25 multiplexes with 94 screens belonged to Fame India.

    Inox has launched an extensive marketing campaign across print, outdoor, radio and digital activations across cities which have multiplexes under the Fame brand name. The campaign is being handled by Lintas.

    Speaking on the brand change at one of the Inox theatre’s in Garuda Mall in Bengaluru, Inox Leisure Limited (Inox) CEO Alok Tandon said, “In a country where movies are a way of life, we are grossly under-screened. Inox has been on a steady expansion mode through organic as well as inorganic growth on its journey to its current leadership position. Our goal is to maintain our leadership position by continuing our sustained momentum of growth. As we announce the brand change from Fame to Inox, we will continue to provide the best movie going offering to our guests and emphasise on our tagline ‘Live the movie’ experience as the complete Inox experience.”

    “All Fame mutliplexes are now 100 per cent 2K digital and 3D enabled,” he added.
    “We expect to complete the Fame rebranding to Inox across all the screens acquired by us over the next one to one and a half months. To begin with the brand change will be experienced by guests in Mumbai and Bengaluru followed by Kolkata and the remaining cities in a phased manner,” revealed Tandon to indiantelevsion.com.

    Tandon expounded that despite producing about 1,000 movies a year, India had only 10 screens per 10 lakh people as compared to European countries which have 35 screens per 10 lakh people and the US which has 125 screens per 10 lakh people.

    As mentioned earlier, besides plans to expand into cities like Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Jalgaon, Madurai, Jamnagar and Manipal as also increase the existing number of multiplexes in places like Lucknow, Raipur and Surat., Tandon explained that Inox is open to acquisition route for expanding its screens.

     

     

  • Aegis Media acquires China’s Trio Digital

    Aegis Media acquires China’s Trio Digital

    MUMBAI: Aegis Media acquired Trio Digital Integrated, a full-service digital agency in China.

    The acquisition will see Trio rebranded as Trio Isobar and become part of the Isobar China group, which already includes wwwins Isobar and OMP.

    Chris Chen will continue as CEO and executive creative director of Trio Isobar, supported by general manager April Chang and deputy general manager Britney Pai.

    Commenting on the acquisition, Aegis Media Asia Pacific CEO Nick Waters said, “Trio is a top class digital marketing agency with high quality creative credentials. Bringing Trio into the group adds another dimension to our market leading digital capabilities in China. This is an exciting move and we welcome Chris and his team to the company.”

    Isobar Asia Pacific CEO and global chief strategy officer Jean Lin added, “Trio offers great credibility in China when it comes to integrated creative and digital innovation, not to mention the agency’s pioneering spirit and strength of talent – something Isobar is always on the lookout for around the world. The addition of Trio will make Isobar one of the largest digital marketing agency networks, with over 700 digital specialists in China, including wwwins Isobar and OMP.”

    “Isobar’s reputation is strong in China, so when the opportunity arose to join the Aegis Media network, it was an obvious decision and one that will grow our business exponentially,” Trio Isobar CEO and ECD Chris Chen said, adding, “Isobar’s full-service digital focus and scope also allows us to connect with clients across Aegis Media in China and provide increased capabilities across the network.”

  • PIB’s Manish Desai becomes interim CEO CBFC

    PIB’s Manish Desai becomes interim CEO CBFC

    MUMBAI: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is soon to see a change of face. 20 September was outgoing CEO Pankaja Thakur’s last day in office. PIB Mumbai Director Manish Desai has been roped in to oversee the board till the time a new CEO is appointed. He has taken charge of the CBFC from today.
    Manish Desai

    The government had issued notice in national newspapers calling candidates to apply for the post. Once the due process of going through the applications and interviews is completed, the ministry of information and broadcasting will approve the successor to Thakur which could take some time. Till then, Desai will hold additional charge as CEO while continuing with his responsibility as director of PIB (Mumbai). He, however, is not one of the applicants for the post.

    Talking about the dual post, Desai says: “Since the two offices are not far off I will try to do justice to both by managing my time.”

    Thakur took charge of a post that had been kept vacant for nearly ten years in 2010. Before that it was the chairpersons who overlooked the CBFC. Thakur has faced severe criticism from the film fraternity for her decisions but has also received support from certain parts of the industry. Leela Samson is the current chairperson of the CBFC.

  • NBA elections conclude; K V L Narayan Rao continues as president

    NBA elections conclude; K V L Narayan Rao continues as president

    MUMBAI: Results of the just concluded elections to News Broadcasters Association (NBA) are out. NDTV executive vice chairperson K V L Narayan Rao retains his post as president for the year 2013-14, making it his fourth term in office after succeeding DEN Founder Sameer Manchanda in 2010.

    Similarly, MCCS CEO Ashok Venkataramani, who heads the channels ABP News, ABP Majha and ABP Ananda, continues to be Vice President of the association.

    However, Network 18 Group CEO B Saikumar, touted as India’s youngest entrepreneur, has taken over from his predecessor – TV Today’s Anil Mehra – as treasurer.

    However, it isn’t going to be a smooth ride for Rao. “It is not just an appointment. It is responsibility as well. I hope that I will be able to deliver what the industry wants,” says Rao.

    Efforts are on to convince the TRAI and the government to understand their dilemma with respect to the ad cap that has been stayed by a TDSAT order till 11 November. Other problems news channels are grappling with include carriage fees, DAVP rates, and self regulation of content.

    Meanwhile, TV Today’s new representative is Ashish Bagga as Mehra has decided to step down from the NBA. Other members include Independent News Services chairman Rajat Sharma, Times TV Network CEO Sunil Lulla, Zee News CEO Alok Agrawal, TV Today Network director Ashish Bagga, News 24 Chairperson Anurradha Prasad.

  • Colors bets big with 24 premier on 4 Oct

    Colors bets big with 24 premier on 4 Oct

    MUMBAI: It’s raining shows on Colors. The channel has ambitions to retain its audiences and lure new ones with its slew of new show launches which it hopes will send its TVTs on an expansion mode. Just as Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa ended, in came Bigg Boss and, on 4 October, the international thriller 24 is set to premier on the Viacom18 general entertainment channel.

    The weekend slot of Friday and Saturday at 10 pm is what it has been given. This means that Uttaran and Bani will now have just 4 episodes a week and Comedy Nights with Kapil will be cut down to just once a week, that is Sunday, which could be disappointing for comedy lovers who have made it a hit. But Colors’ management says they don’t have a choice. “We have a problem of plenty. So shows need to be dropped to accommodate them,” says Colors CEO Raj Nayak.

    Safari Storme is said to have paid around Rs 16-18 crore to be the presenting sponsor. Next – part of the Videocon group – has been signed on as one of the associate sponsors. As per sources, the show has been created at 20 times the cost of a normal fiction show making it Colors’ biggest fiction property.

    Nayak says that the channel has mastered the art of monetizing big properties. That the show may run into losses is also expected but hopes are that it may just click with the audience. They believe it should get TVTs equivalent to TRPs totting between 2.8 to 3.

    The show has big plans on the digital front. Keeping the peg as ‘Race against time’ which is what 24 is all about, all activities undertaken revolve around it ranging from contests which play on the word ’24’. “The concepts will be time-bound,” says Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava.

    On social media, special behind-the-scenes, exclusive pictures, chats and possibly a hangout with Anil Kapoor are all in the line up to build the buzz around the show. Special emphasis is being given to build characters on social media and digital platforms to get fans to continue to stay connected with them. “We don’t have the luxury of 100 episodes to establish a character here,” says Srivastava.

    Although the views that a show gets through digital is much less compared to television, online activity helps generate conversations. The Colors Facebook page annually gets about 150 million views. However, it is very important since it helps them create brand bearers through normal people. An announcement on the application is expected soon, which Srivastava says is going to be very unusual. On the day of launch, a 15-minute preview is expected to be played before the actual telecast of the first episode.

    Made like a movie and treated like one as well. That’s the channel’s mantra to market this big property. The first phase includes visits to HSM (Hindi Speaking Markets) where Kapoor will interact with lay viewers, media and opinion leaders. Visits to Jaipur, Delhi and Patna have already been wrapped up successfully while more are in the pipeline. Integrations on Bigg Boss and Kapil and a few other fiction shows such as Madhubala are also to be expected in the coming days.

    Someone switching on the radio will soon hear something about 24 every 24 minutes on almost all FM channels including the big boys 98.3FM Mirchi and Red FM 93.5. Trailers have been planned to air on over 60 channels including news, regional and music. Print advertisements are planned to appear near the launch date in all leading editions of newspapers such as Times of India, Dainik Jagran.

    Theatres have already started playing promos during Madras Cafe and Grand Masti and the soon-to-premier Besharam is next in line. “We have something innovative planned in the outdoor space,” says Colors marketing director Rajesh Iyer.

    Speaking about the unusual timing for the show weekend programming (nonfiction) head Manisha Sharma says that it cuts out pressure from Comedy Nights with Kapil since comedy writing is not an easy task. 24 will take one episode’s place for three months after which Kapil will be back to two episodes per week. “The time slot is perfect because people who go to office can come home and watch it,” says Nayak.

    Plans are already afoot for the second season, even though the first season is yet to go on air. Now that’s what we call advance booking!

  • Discovery’s Hollinger to step down in June 2014

    Discovery’s Hollinger to step down in June 2014

    MUMBAI: For many broadcast vets in Asia, Mark Hollinger is a familiar face. The president & CEO of Discovery Networks International has pushed growth for the network outside of the US, especially in Europe and Asia in its early days of expansion globally. Come June 2014, Hollinger will no longer be winging it to Asia on Discovery business. The reason: he has decided not to renew his contract with the network when in it expires mid next year.

    The 20 plus year old Discovery veteran informed president and CEO David Zaslav of his decision last week, the network says. What prompted him to do so was the fact that he is tired of the many air miles his job demands in countries in times zones out of kilter with the US (more than 150 days each year for the past several years). Hollinger added that he wants to spend more time staying rooted in Uncle Sam and with family.

    Hollinger joined Discovery in 1991 as Vice-President & Deputy General Counsel. In 1994, he was named Acting General Manager for Discovery Channel Asia. Based in Hong Kong, he was responsible for overseeing and coordinating all activities related to the operation and launch of the flagship network in Asia.

    Hollinger today oversees the strategic development and daily operations for a division that distributes 42 entertainment brands, in 45 languages, to more than 1.6 billion cumulative subscribers in 224 countries and territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

    In 2012 and 2013, Hollinger oversaw the expansion Discovery’s international operations with the acquisitions of Takhayal Entertainment and its affiliated companies in Dubai and Egypt, including its flagship TV network, Fatafeat, the No 1 food network in the Middle East; Switchover Media in Italy and its portfolio of four free-to-air channels and one pay-TV channel, making Discovery the third largest broadcaster in the country; and the largest transaction in Discovery’s history with SBS Nordics, a top-three portfolio of television brands across Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland that feature leading nonfiction content, locally produced entertainment programs, sports and the best scripted series and movies from major studios. Hollinger also engineered the investment of a 20 per cent stake in TF1’s Eurosport, a top destination for live sporting action for viewers across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

    Said Zaslav: “Mark is a consummate professional and amazing leader who has made a huge impact on all of us at Discovery Communications over the 23 years he has been at the company, and I am so grateful for his contributions, leadership and unwavering integrity.”

    Discovery Communications announced that it would be looking for a successor for Hollinger immediately.

  • Zoom’s Facebook boom

    Zoom’s Facebook boom

    MUMBAI: Not only does Times Television Networks’ channel Zoom enjoy the distinction of being the first Indian television channel to air all the hot gossip from tinsel town, it is now also the first to cross five million likes on Facebook.

    Indeed, at the time of filing this news piece, the number stood at 5,164,957 with 484,777 ‘talking about it’ (the channel).

    So how does Zoom pull it off? The channel claims its target audience is mainly youth, which is most interested in the happenings in the Bollywood universe.

    The Facebook page keeps audiences updated on all that they’ve missed out even if they’re not actively watching the channel. “Zoom has systems in place to ensure that even if one is not in front of the TV, one never has to lose access to the latest news,” explains Zoom CEO Avinash Kaul.

    It’s a known fact that building traffic is difficult and sustaining it even more so. In such a scenario, Zoom claims it focuses on understanding conversation patterns to come up with newer, more innovative posts in the future.

    “The choice of topic, stars, the time of the day (when an update is put out) and selection of hash tags – all comes from a close and mindful study of past trends,” elaborates Kaul, adding that the channel tries to put out breaking news to create buzz among youngsters.

    An in-house team handles social media and is responsible for selection of posts to keep audiences engaged, which includes contests, trivia and news. According to Kaul, the team micro manages the posts to draw and keep traffic. “Immediate response and relevant content through posts is our key focus that has ensured a fantastic interaction,” he says.

    Zoom’s Facebook page, which started in 2009 and reaches 95 million people weekly, also has a show called ‘Zoom It’, which plays song dedications made by its Facebook followers. The fact of the matter is Zoom has sped past GECs in terms of Facebook likes and the reason, according to Kaul, is: “As part of family TV viewing, the youth has to follow GECs even when they’re not their most preferred choice of entertainment. In the digital space however, it’s entirely up to them to choose and watch exactly what they want.”

    As things stand, only MTV just crossed the level of five million likes as well, coming a close second to Zoom with 5, 013, 539 Facebook likes, followed by Zee with 49, 349, Star Plus with 3, 184, 230 and Colors with 2, 225, 824.

    While Zoom may want to be cautious about MTV’s proximity in terms of Facebook likes, for now, it sure is leading the pack…

  • Media agencies go ‘deewana’ with Max

    Media agencies go ‘deewana’ with Max

    MUMBAI: Is busy schedules, hectic targets and meetings all you can picture while imagining a media agency? Well! At least for a change, you can shed that image as the agencies are gearing up for Sony Max’s No Talkies.

    The media agencies that are busy brushing up on their knowledge of movies and not brands for the dumb charades are now also discovering a bit of deewangi in one another.

    As reported earlier by indiantelevision.com, the game which is spread over three rounds will be held in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The registrations for the competition began 3 September and continued for two weeks on the microsite http://notalkies.sonymax.tv/.

    The list of agencies who have already registered for the fun-zone are Madison, Group M, Maxus, Starcom, Lodestar, MPG, Zenith Optimedia and OMD.

    Excited, Platinum Media (Madison media) CEO Basab Dutta Chowdhry exults: “I think it’s a great initiative taken by Max. It sounds great and fun for agencies. Generally people are so busy and caught up with work and life; this is a new niche initiative where everybody can participate. There are very few initiatives like these- ‘Max-No Talkies’ which gives a chance to everyone to participate.”

    The agencies are all kicked about this competition, which is more of nostalgia for a lot of them.  To top it all, they see it as a good opportunity to meet and interact with new people. Vivaki Exchange CEO Mona Jain agreeing on this says: “No Talkies is a good and interesting initiative. It’s a first time initiative, unlike the regular parties. It also goes back to the DNA of the channel. The industry was very small earlier and people knew each other well, but the scenario is different now, the industry has expanded, so it will be a good opportunity to meet and interact with new people.”

    “It is not going to be a typical game of dumb charades,” says Sony Max VP marketing Vaishali Sharma. She further goes on to say that the channel is bringing loads of innovations to ensure engagement and an exciting evening for those who are participating.  The finale will have a Bollywood theme with different rounds, all with a twist. To amplify all the fun and frolic, the finale will be hosted by the witty and charismatic VJ, actor and presenter Gaurav Kapoor.

    Lintas Media Group vice-president Ramachandran Venkatasubramanian states: “The initiative is very interesting and this kind of activity has never been done before. No Talkies is supposed to be an interactive game and I am waiting for it. Normally bonding with people happens differently, with a game like dumb charades the bonding will happen uniquely. The game itself is very engaging and people interact with each other through it, also dumb charades is all about movies and it gets back to the genre of Max.”

    The city rounds of the activity will take place in Delhi on 18 September, followed by Bengaluru on 19 September and will close with Mumbai on 25 September. A total of five shortlisted teams – two from Delhi, one from Bengaluru and two from Mumbai will battle it out in the finale scheduled in Mumbai on 1 October at Blue Frog.
    So for agencies, it’s ready, steady, Po!

  • Arghya Chakravarty takes over as CEO Times OOH

    Arghya Chakravarty takes over as CEO Times OOH

    MUMBAI: Times Innovative Media has appointed Arghya Chakravarty as its CEO. He will be directly reporting to Times OOH MD Sunder Hemrajani.

    On the new appointment, Hemrajani said, “He comes from a great pedigree and I’m sure that with his rich experience and insightful business acumen, he is sure to take Times OOH to even greater heights!”

    Prior to this, Chakravarty was with Pepsi Co where he was working as executive director, sales and beverages. He has more than 15 years of experience during which he has worked with several organisations such as Asian Paints, Akzo Nobel Coatings and Tata Steel.

    Chakravarty began as a trainee at Tata Steel in 1995 and after completing his post graduation in management from IIM Calcutta, went on to join Asian Paints in 1997. He spent eight years at Asian Paints, and after a short stint with Akzo Nobel Coatings went on to join Pepsi Co where he served in different capacities during his six year stint with them.

  • RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network gets Jonas Engwall as CEO

    RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network gets Jonas Engwall as CEO

    MUMBAI: The newly formed joint venture between RTL Group and CBS Studios International (CBSSI), RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network has a new leader in Jonas Engwall as CEO.Engwall will be based in Singapore and report to the new company’s board of directors.

    RTL Group executive VP of regional operations and business development for CEE and Asia Andreas Rudas and executive VP of international channels at CBSSI Reed Manville said in a joint statement: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Jonas Engwall as CEO of our new Asian venture. Jonas has vast experience in international broadcasting, and a passion for television. He has been with RTL Group for many years and was instrumental in launching its first channel in India, BIG RTL Thrill. As head of the new venture, Jonas will lead a strong team which brings together the best of two global TV giants RTL Group and CBS.”

    Engwall said: “This is an unprecedented partnership between two leading global broadcasters in a region with huge growth potential. Together with my team, I look forward to launching our two first channels, RTL CBS Entertainment HD and RTL CBS Extreme HD, across Asia. Our new channels will offer world-renowned content including exclusive first runs of some of Asia’s favourite reality programmes America’s Got Talent, Fear Factor and The X Factor USA; dramas Under The Dome, Elementary and Beauty and the Beast and daily shows Entertainment Tonight and Late Show with David Letterman. I am very confident that these programmes will prove extremely popular across our footprint and represent a highly valuable proposition for all our partners. We have already had very positive feedback from all premier platform owners in the region.”