ITV

Tag: Chris Sharp

  • ‘Desperate Housewives’ travels to China

    ‘Desperate Housewives’ travels to China

    MUMBAI: Touchstone Television’s hit series Desperate Housewives will debut in China on December 19, 2005 on state run CCTV8. In the US, the show revived the fortunes of ABC while in India the show airs on Star World.

    In an agreement brokered by BVITV-AP and London based Zone Vision Networks, the series will be dubbed into Mandarin and will air as three back-to-back episodes per night, with the entire first season running in one week.

    Buena Vista International Television – Asia Pacific senior VP, MD(BVITV-AP) Steve Macallister says, “We are delighted to be working with Zone Vision as a partner in China. Desperate Housewives has been breaking records around the world and we are sure it will be a hit with Chinese viewers.”

    Zone Vision Networks GM, chief programming officer Chris Sharp says, “As part of our commitment to our relationship with CCTV and our viewers in China, we have made it a priority to acquire the very best Hollywood and international series and movies for our ‘Jiayi’ programme block. Certainly the multi award-winning Desperate Housewives series satisfies those very high standards. It is a truly unique series and a worldwide phenomenon, and we are delighted to work with Disney and Touchstone Television to bring this incredible series to China for the first time.”

    Desperate Housewives is a dark funny look into the secret lives of suburban families and neighbours living on Wisteria Lane.

  • Zone Vision, Minotaur sign extensive licensing agreement

    Zone Vision, Minotaur sign extensive licensing agreement

    MUMBAI: Zone Vision Enterprises has signed an extensive licensing agreement with Minotaur International which will bring 10 new series to its Reality TV channels around the world.

    Under the terms of the agreement, Zone Vision will gain the rights to the series for three years. Six of the series in the deal will air in the US for the first time beginning February 2005. The announcement was made by Zone Vision chief programming officer and general manager Chris Sharp.

    “This is one of our most significant licensing agreements in terms of quantity and quality,” said Reality TV vice president Steve Cole. “We are especially delighted to be able to provide our US feed with so many first-run series from the UK. Minotaur has been a fantastic programming partner and we look forward to working with them in the future.”

    Among the premiere series for the US are Jane Goldman Investigates (16 one-hour episodes), Sixth Sense with Colin Fry (40 half hours), Medics of the Glen (15 half hours), Baby ER (20 half hours), Drama School (nine half hours) and Don’t Drop the Coffin (six half hours). These series will also air on Reality TV’s various other feeds around the world. Other series in the deal include: Urban Angels of Medicine (13 half hours), LA Cops (five one-hour episodes), Honolulu PD (six half hours), and Club Reps (30 half hours for EMEA only).

    “Our focus moving forward is to aggressively pursue more deals like this one,” said Cole. “For the US and the UK especially, we are continually on the lookout for break-through programming that will help us further distinguish ourselves in the increasingly competitive digital channel environment.”

    “Reality TV is the natural home for these shows. Following the success of these series worldwide, we are extremely excited on behalf of our producers to have them premiere in the States, and for Colin Fry and Jane Goldman, among others, to become household names in America,” added Minotaur senior sales executive Dayna Donaldson.

  • Reality TV goes in for localisation in India

    Reality TV goes in for localisation in India

    MUMBAI: Reality TV, an entertainment channel that entered India in 2003, depicts stories of real people in real life situations and shows events as they actually happened. Now Reality has taken steps towards localisation of the channel in India by way of introducing fillers.

    The fillers — captured thrilling and astonishing true life vignettes — will be aired on the channel starting in the end of this month. These three-minute India-specific creative fillers cover a variety of themes and each one of these would be a stark portrayal of the unconventional Indian.

    Four-limbed writer, candle haircutter, electricity man and supernatural woman are among the ones to make a debut on the channel. These fillers have been shot in ten different locations across the country and have been produced in India in collaboration with Zonsta Creation, stated the press release.

    Chief programming officer of Reality TV Chris Sharp said, “The encouraging response received from the audience in India has helped us take this step towards localisation of the channel. This further reaffirms our commitment to providing a complete entertainment channel to our viewers. These fillers will carry forth our tradition of providing non-stop real-life entertainment. The production of these fillers is part of several other initiatives, which we will be undertaking to get closer to our audiences in the country.”