ITV

Tag: completes

  • News Corp completes acquisition of Intermix Media, Inc.

    MUMBAI: News Corporation and Intermix Media, Inc. announced that Fox Interactive Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation, has completed its acquisition of Intermix.

     

    Under the terms of the merger agreement, Intermix’s common stockholders are entitled to receive $12.00 in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes.

     

    Additionally, preferred stockholders are entitled to receive $12.00, $14.60, $13.50 and $14.00 in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes, for each share of Intermix Series A six per cent, Series B, Series C and Series C-1 convertible preferred stock, respectively, that they hold.

     

    News Corporation had total assets as of 30 June, 2005 of approximately $55 billion and total annual revenues of approximately $24 billion.

     

    Intermix Media, Inc. is a leading online media and ecommerce enterprise and its subsidiaries utilise proprietary technologies and analytical marketing to develop unique content, an active community and innovative ecommerce offerings.

  • HelloSoft Completes $16 million series B financing round

    BANGALORE: HelloSoft, the supplier of signal processing technology and software-defined radio (SDR) solutions for VOIP, Wi-Fi, Cellular, and converged markets, has announced the closing of an oversubscribed $16 million series B financing.

    This round is led by Boston-based TD Capital Ventures with the participation from new investors Mitsui & Company Venture Partners, Entrepia Ventures, and current investors, including Venrock Associates, Sofinnova Ventures and Jump Startup, states an official release.

    “This latest round of funding demonstrates investors’ confidence in our management team, strategy and roadmap. The new investment will help HelloSoft accelerate its development of CelluLANTM for the burgeoning mobile multi-mode handset market. With its experienced team and a innovative technology portfolio, HelloSoft will continue focusing on the world’s most advanced low-cost and low-power solutions,” the official release quotes HelloSoft CEO Krishna Yarlagadda as saying.

    “The convergence of Cellular, VoIP, and Wi-Fi technologies is inevitable and happening at a rate faster than expected. HelloSoft’s deep domain experience and expertise in each of these technologies makes the company uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. HelloSoft’s visionary solutions will enable cost-efficient mass deployment of multi-mode mobile communications devices for the converged marketplace,” says TD Capital Ventures director & investment partner Jim Goldinger.

    “HelloSoft’s expertise in developing flexible signal processing architectures gives the company considerable credibility,” president of Forward ConceptsWill Strauss says.

    HelloSoft V-P Asia Rama Sreeramaneni says, ” We will focus on expanding our technologies which will meet the expectancy of the future market demand in VoIP, WLAN, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, we will be investing the fund raised in the R&D facilities, Marketing and Sales, which will help us accelerate our efforts to bring HelloSoft’s innovations to efficient results, as well as economically viable to consumers. Our R&D team is working round the clock developing new technological innovations in Communication arena”.

  • ESS completes 1st phase of technical overhaul

    NEW DELHI: After more than a decade of running Asia’s sports channel, ESPN Star Sports has unveiled the first phase of a massive makeover that includes an overhaul of its transmission and master control facility.
     

    The expansion project came after many years of deliberation. Detailed planning for the project began in February 2004. The upgrade allows ESPN Star Sports to run in an environment with far more comprehensive automation control.

    “Before this upgrade, our transmission suites were manual and we used automation solely for server control. The ‘live’ nature of our channels did not support an automated environment. But as these systems developed, we saw it as a great opportunity to streamline our operations,” ESPN Star Sports director of engineering Andy Rylance,said in a statement today, ESPN Star Sports runs about 35 per cent of its programmes ‘live’ with the other 65 per cent being repeats of matches and games.

    The upgrade in the ESPN Star Sports facility involved a rebuild that covered the transmission area (TX), TX supervisor area, master control room and engineering workshop among others.
    The broadcaster chose to work with Television System Limited (TSL) as its system integrator.

    Reconstruction of the transmission suites kicked off last July with TSL building and testing the entire system in the UK before it was shipped to Singapore. By February, most of the installations at ESPN Star Sports’ headquarters were complete.
     
     

    The heart of the facility revolves around a multi-channel desk which gives ESPN Star Sports the technical capability to monitor and control any number of channels. Each of the network’s 12 channels has its own master control and channel-branding graphics generator.

    This allows the broadcaster to customize channels for specific markets to specific sponsorship requirements. “In the past, one operator manned each single desk, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This upgrade has enabled us to run our operations more effectively, “Rylance was quoted in the statement as saying.

    ESPN Star Sports now looks forward to the next phase of its upgrade in July 2006 which will involve the installation of a server-based production system, enabling the broadcaster to move towards a tapeless environment.

    ESPN Star Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between ESPN Inc (a Disney group company) and Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Group. On the ground, the ESPN Star Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia, including the Asian X Games and the San Miguel Asian Ball Tour.

    On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. This multilingual, online platform, which is closely integrated with ESPN and Star Sports on air networks, has established the sites as a hot on-line sports destination in their respective markets.

  • Tam’s AdEx India completes 37 years

    MUMBAI: AdEx India, advertising analysis firm and a division of Tam Media Research celebrates its 37th anniversary with a Gala Annual night titled – “Josh 2007.”

    “Josh” is an annual celebration for AdEx India which looks back at the year gone by and honour employees both at the individual and team level in each departments across TV, Press, Radio and Eikona PR Track, informs an official release.

    Tam Media Research CEO LV Krishnan, “A media professional would realize that to be able to monitor over 340 channels, over 800 publications, 20 Radio stations and provide every possible information on brands, advertising expenditure, ad creatives, new campaigns is a very daunting task. More than the state-of-the-art technology, one certainly requires dedicated teamwork and commitment from each member.

    “With the ever growing need for timely and accurate data, I would like to personally thank every single member of AdEx India to have ensured, in their own way, timely and accurate data delivery as well as key analytical insights in the form of regular newsletters.”

    AdEx India AVP and business head K Uday Rao, “It is amazing to see today’s generation of professionals who can tirelessly and so innovatively work towards the growth of the organization. Clever, innovative and effective way of working has been the mantra of my team here. AdEx India has benefited tremendously from every single team member. Josh is an occasion to honour my team members and acknowledge the contributions from every corner of the organization.”

    AdEx India, based in Baroda, which claim to be Asia’s largest advertising monitoring unit, which provides information on advertising audience measurement and marketing communication.

    AdEx India houses around 500 employees who are involved in:

    – Monitoring and Analysis of advertising trends across Print, TV and Radio
    – Monitoring and Archiving of Ad Creatives across Print and TV
    – Special projects on aspects such as In-program brand placements on TV for advertisers and TV Channels
    – Measuring and Analyzing PR and Content across Print, TV and Internet
    – Preparing insightful periodic reports that aid in sound business decisions

  • Etc’s astrology show ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’ completes five years

     MUMBAI: Music channel Etc has announced that the astrological show Kahani Kismat Ki has completed five years. The show airs daily at 8 am.
     

    The broadcaster has stated that the success of this show can be gauged from the fact that it has constantly featured at the top of the top 25 shows on music channels.

    To complement this success, Kahani Kismat Ki has undergone a metamorphosis in looks. It has a new swanky set that is vocal of Vaastu and old Indian architecture. Anchored by Arya Guru Bhagwan Das Ji, Kahani Kismat Ki is divided into five segments.

    Etc has attributed the popularity of the show to the fact that it is not based on any one particular religion. To give the viewers a wholesome perspective on astrology Arya Guru Bhagwan Das talks about the meaning of spirituality and encompasses flavour of all religions in his details. He believes that, “Astrology can foretell the future to an extent but it can not change the destiny. With the help of correct application of solutions, one can only dilute the affect and make it tolerable.” According to him Astrology is a science and should be treated with the same respect and curiosity.
     
     

    Hence he extensively explores the curiosity of people and talks about the sciences connected to astrology. Besides talking about the auspicious timings of the day, he also predicts the daily forecast for all the twelve astrological signs in the segment Rashi Fal.
     

  • Zee’s Jagran channel completes one year

    NEW DLEHI: Zee spiritual channel Jagran successfully completed one year and has claimed a fairly large viewership by giving a fresh outlook to its programming.

    The judicious mix of Hindi and English programmes and introduction of new age group made this possible, Jagran has claimed in an official statement here today, adding new age gurus like Vikas Malkani, Shivender Nagar and Dr. Ratanjit Singh Sondhi proved to be instant hits.

    The channel aims at expanding its target audience to 25+from then conventional 55+ age group. Jagran has some of the top names in religious/spiritual arena including Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Osho, BramhaKumaris, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Sudhanshu Ji, Morari Bapu and Guru Maa.

    On the occasion of the first birthday, Jagran business head Anil Anand said, “We have made a difference not only to our society, but also to the viewers who were looking for something different from the mundane content they get from channels in the same genre.”

    The average time spent by viewers in Hindi speaking market, as per Television Audience Measurement, is the highest ands its reach is growing, Anand claimed. Live telecasts have also been the major focus of the channel, including the longest nightlong jagran from the famous Kangra temple for 15
    hours.

  • StarOne ‘completes’ network’s Hindi entertainment channel offering

    StarOne ‘completes’ network’s Hindi entertainment channel offering

    MUMBAI: The stage is set for the 1 November launch of StarOne, the most ambitious channel offering from India’s lead broadcast network.

    With StarOne’s launch, the circle will be complete for Star India as far as its Hindi general mass entertainment channels are concerned. And as already reported on indiantelevision.com, this new age offspring of Star India is being pitched as the “next generation of Hindi entertainment television”.

    The task before StarOne is clear and unambiguous — to capture urban and upscale non-TV viewers who spend their time at cinema halls, pubs and other means of entertainment. Also, to expand and create of a whole new set of viewers with the opening up of this new “category” in Hindi entertainment.

    If Plus catered to the middle class market and ensured dominance in that area, Utsav, the FTA channel launched earlier this year was to ensure prominent market share in the lower end market by taking on the SAB TVs and Saharas head on. With One’s entry onto Indian television, the effort is primarily to tap into the high end upmarket audience, who currently may not be tuning into television or flirting with the competition (read Sony Entertainment Television), says senior V-P content and communications Deepak Segal.

    SET till date has successfully managed to position itself as a young alternate viewing option that throws up clutter-free programming. Very obviously, StarOne’s entry, apart from attracting newer audiences to the TV viewing pie, will be to eat into Sony’s loyal viewership share.

    “Not often does a brand like this evoke such high interest in the market,” asserts senior V-P marketing and communications Ajay Vidyasagar.

    Interestingly, the philosophy being evolved viewing, the whole StarOne model was designed by keeping Star Plus as the reference point. Everything that Star Plus lacked has been incorporated into Star One. “This is a very brave effort from Star as we are trying to break away from a success formula which we created ourselves,” gushes V-P Content and Communications Ravinath Menon.

    Priced at Rs 10 per household, this premium Hindi channel has a distinct look and feel with interesting programming concepts and cutting edge production values. Launching with an array of 21 original programmes across a range of genres, StarOne is hopeful of attracting high end advertisers that news channels and other niche channels were unable to cater to. Additionally, with the mix of Plus, Utsav and now StarOne, advertisers will be able to cover the entire spectrum of Hindi speaking audiences.

    Although some might see the content as inspired from international formats, all shows have been commissioned to home grown production houses and hence ensures the expansion of the content business across the country.

    STARONE SOON GOING TO UK, US

    The channel also has overseas ambitions with plans to be distributed in the US as well as on the Sky Network in the UK. “This will ensure that the StarOne also caters to the second and the third generation Indians overseas who will find the programming a lot more urban and contemporary,” says Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea.

    With Star’s distribution pretty much in place, Star officials do not seem too concerned about this aspect. However they are leaving nothing to chance and have put in major efforts to ensure high reach of the channel across regions.

    BIG MARKETING SPLASH

    Touted as one of the heavy budget campaigns of the season, Star seems to have left no stone unturned in its marketing endeavour in creating high buzz and optimum visibility for this infant brand.

    What will be interesting to watch now is what impact StarOne will have on Sony’s GRP’s in the coming months. The team at Sony would be hoping that “the whole new set of viewers” that StarOne expects will onto the channel will not principally be made up of its viewer share.

  • etc’s ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’ completes one year

    etc’s ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’ completes one year

    ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’, etc channel’s first non-music and non-films based programme, has completed 365 days and is still going strong.

    Each day at 10.30 pm (repeat programme at 8.00 am next morning) for half an hour Pandit Prakash Bhardwaj makes his predictions for the next day. He also provides easy solutions for the woes of many who send in their queries on the programme.

    ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’ receives more than 10,000 letters, a company press release noted. The questions range from advice on careers to life partners.

    ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’ is the first program of any non-mainline channel to be featured as one of the Top Five programmes on satellite channels, according to INTAM data. 

    Talking about Kahani Kismat Ki, etc CEO Pradeep Dixit says: “etc’s move to venture beyond music has paid off handsomely. It has completed a very successful one year. Its popularity had become evident within three months and we have had to increase the duration of the show (from 15 minutes to half an hour) on viewers demand.”

    etc is music-based family entertainment channel. It is beamed from Thaicom-3 and is a free to air analog channel. More than 20 million household watch etc, according to the release.