ITV

Tag: Deal

  • Amazon closes acquisition deal with movie studio MGM

    Amazon closes acquisition deal with movie studio MGM

    Mumbai: Amazon has completed its $8.45 billion acquisition of movie studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) recently. MGM is the studio behind franchises such as ‘James Bond’ and ‘Rocky’.

    The decision to close the deal comes after a deadline passed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to challenge the deal. Earlier this week, the European Commission had approved the deal.

    Amazon is set to acquire 4000 film titles, 17,000 TV episodes, 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmy Awards. It will bolster the content catalogue offered on its video streaming service Amazon Prime Video. The talent at MGM will be merged with Amazon Studios to create diverse entertainment choices for consumers.

    MGM’s catalogue includes TV shows such as “The Handmaid’s Tale”, “Fargo”, “Vikings” and films such as “12 Angry Men’, ‘Basic Instinct’, ‘Creed’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘Silence of the Lambs’, ‘Tomb Raider’ as well as this year’s Oscar nominee ‘Licorice Pizza’.

    The MGM staff will join the organisation of Prime Video and Amazon Studios senior vice president Mike Hopkins. Amazon had announced the deal in May 2021.

  • Ultimate Kho Kho inks three-year deal with Rise Worldwide

    Ultimate Kho Kho inks three-year deal with Rise Worldwide

    Mumbai: Ultimate Kho Kho has signed Rise Worldwide as its exclusive broadcast production partner and league consultant in a three-year deal.

    Rise will work closely with Ultimate Kho Kho to give the game a makeover and make it more viewer friendly. It will help create standard operating procedures from the TV broadcast perspective in terms of presentation such as the look and feel of the game, duration of the game, grooming and training players and experts and sponsor integration.

    “The motive is to create a brand that builds on all elements within the league and helps develop the sport year on year with exclusive and well researched enhancements,” said the statement. “This partnership will leverage the extensive experience Rise has with regard to building and sustaining leagues, to establish brand Ultimate Kho-Kho in the sports landscape of India.”

    “Our emphasis is to bring forth Kho-Kho’s new avatar and make it popular among the masses,” said Ultimate Kho Kho CEO Tenzing Niyogi. “We are delighted to welcome RISE Worldwide on-board. The game changes within seconds in this sport. It prepares the players to respond swiftly and in a different way, making them as dynamic as the sport itself. And this partnership will put major emphasis on the versatility within the coverage and creativity in providing uniqueness to different segments in the broadcast. I am also confident that with the coming together of Ultimate Kho Kho and RISE Worldwide, Kho-Kho is ready to take over India and the globe.”

    “We are excited to partner with Ultimate Kho Kho and take the game, which has been played in rural India for centuries, to the world stage,” said Rise Worldwide head of broadcast James Rego. “Viewers would get to see kho-kho in a stunning new avatar which will inspire youngsters and help grow the sport.”

    He added, “High on pace, high on strategy, the enhanced version of this game will make for an interesting, high-octane viewing experience through our world-class production expertise, leveraging our multi-sport brand experience, multilingual content to lend thrill and intrigue to a fast-paced sport, engaging the audience. We are committed to working closely with the team at Ultimate Kho Kho to make watching kho-kho a world-class experience.”

    Ultimate Kho Kho has signed Sony Pictures Networks India as its official broadcast partner and the league’s live action will be available on SPNI’s sports channels as well as on its OTT platform SonyLIV in English, Hindi and multiple regional languages.

    ​​​​​

  • Vivo becomes FIFA’s smartphone sponsor in a six-year, US$ 450m deal

    MUMBAI: Football is one of the most fascinating sports, and the FIFA World Cup one of the top global sporting competitions. The global smartphone brand Vivo announced its agreement with International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to sponsor the FIFA World Cup for six years, covering two tournament cycles.

    FIFA reportedly secured the vital financial support of the smartphone maker in a US$ 450 million (EUR 400m) sponsorship deal. According to people in the know cited by Financial Times, Vivo will pay about EUR 60m– EUR 70m a year to sponsor tournaments run by FIFA until the 2022 cup in Qatar. FIFA has in the past lost several big-time sponsors, such as Sony and Emirates, when their contracts expired.

    Vivo, which is the sponsor of the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ongoing Pro-Kabaddi League in India, has been presented as FIFA’s official smartphone sponsor under an agreement that will cover the next two editions in 2018 and 2022. As one of the world’s largest sporting events, the FIFA World Cup has tremendous influence and worldwide coverage. Apart from IPL and PKL, Vivo’s previous involvement in sport includes a strategic partnership with the NBA to become NBA China’s official mobile handset sponsor.

    Vivo became FIFA’s twelfth sponsor for the 2018 World Cup. Before the previous tournament in Brazil, FIFA had 20 corporate partners on board, which supported payment of of US$ 2bn cost of running the event.

    The announcement was made in Beijing at the historical and iconic Imperial Ancestral Temple in the presence of Vivo executive vice-president Ni Xudong and FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura. Vivo’s persistent focus on constant improvement was attractive to organizers of the FIFA World Cup. Vivo became the third Chinese company to sponsor the World Cup in 2017-18 after Wanda and Hisense.

    Vivo will sponsor the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups as well as the FIFA Confederations Cup. The global reach of this partnership is set to take Vivo to new heights. The Vivo logo will appear during every match on pitch advertising boards, match tickets, media releases and other key promotional platforms. The agreement includes special marketing activations such as the right to select guests to be a Vivo phone photographer during pre-match player warm-ups. Vivo will also gradually introduce a customised FIFA World Cup phone that will offer a unique experience for football fans around the world.

    Xudong explained: “Football is a sport full of passion and moments of wonder, creating happiness for millions of people. The spirit of football is about constant progress. As a global sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, Vivo hopes to strongly associate itself with the football spirit and show consumers all over the world Vivo’s creative, joyful and international brand image. In the meantime, Vivo will bring more personalised, energetic and youthful elements to the FIFA World Cup experience and the game of football.”

    Samoura said: “Football and technology are coming closer by the day, on and off the pitch, and it is a great moment to start a partnership of this nature with the leading global smartphone brand. We are very excited to be working closely with Vivo and keen to see their involvement in the next editions of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Confederations Cup.” Samoura told the FT that seeking and pocketing sponsorship was not an easy business anywhere, but to have China as the partner for the third time in a year showed that football was a global sport and that China would be an important client.

    FIFA rights include special marketing programs such as the right to invite guests to be Vivo phone photographers during pre-match player warm-ups. Later, Vivo will introduce a customised FIFA World Cup phone to offer a one of a kind experience for Vivo consumers and football fans. Additionally, FIFA staff will use Vivo smart phones on-site and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, which will begin on 17 June, marks the start of Vivo and FIFA’s cooperation.

    Sports marketing: From 2014, Vivo began to expand into markets in Southeast Asia and other regions. Deploying localized product and marketing strategies, Vivo saw rapid growth, and was strongly embraced by local consumers. Vivo has continued to invest in R&D, and established seven major research centers across China and the United States. Vivo has also used sports marketing to increase brand awareness in international markets.

    In 2015, Vivo became the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a sporting association that is highly influential in British Common Wealth countries and India. In 2016 Vivo started a strategic partnership with NBA China as its Official Mobile Handset Sponsor, inviting NBA superstar Stephen Curry to become the product ambassador for Vivo’s flagship Xplay6. As sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, Vivo seeks to earn itself even more attention on the international stage.

    According to FIFA’s annual reports, revenues from commercial and marketing deals related to the 2018 World Cup were US$ 246m in 2015, down from $404m in 2013. The lack of sponsors, alongside legal costs related to corruption probes, contributed to FIFA making a $369m loss in 2016.

  • JIB’s NHK World TV launches on Tata Sky in India

    JIB’s NHK World TV launches on Tata Sky in India

    MUMBAI: 24 hour English language news and entertainment channel NHK World TV from Japan International broadcasting has inked a deal to offer its channel on Tata Sky in India. Launched on May 6, the channel has so far seen four million Tata Sky subscribers watching it.

    “With the longstanding close cultural and economic ties shared between Japan and India, NHK World TV’s programs will further strengthen those bonds by offering subscribers a source of information from Japanese- Asian centric perspective. We are confident Indian viewers will find the channel useful as a first choice option for news from around Asia, and our lifestyle programs a source of quality entertainment,” said Japan International Broadcasting CEO and President Yoshihiko Shimizu.

  • JIB’s NHK World TV launches on Tata Sky in India

    JIB’s NHK World TV launches on Tata Sky in India

    MUMBAI: 24 hour English language news and entertainment channel NHK World TV from Japan International broadcasting has inked a deal to offer its channel on Tata Sky in India. Launched on May 6, the channel has so far seen four million Tata Sky subscribers watching it.

    “With the longstanding close cultural and economic ties shared between Japan and India, NHK World TV’s programs will further strengthen those bonds by offering subscribers a source of information from Japanese- Asian centric perspective. We are confident Indian viewers will find the channel useful as a first choice option for news from around Asia, and our lifestyle programs a source of quality entertainment,” said Japan International Broadcasting CEO and President Yoshihiko Shimizu.

  • Rentrak inks deal with Portland’s TV rep firm Katz

    Rentrak inks deal with Portland’s TV rep firm Katz

    MUMBAI: Rentrak has inked a deal with Katz Television Group, Portland’s television sales company, which represents more TV stations and broadcast groups than any other firm in the country.

     

    The new agreement will provide Katz with Rentrak’s full suite of local market ratings services, including its automotive and political Advanced Demographics, for all common client stations.

     

    Katz will use Rentrak ratings and Advanced Demographic information to gain a deeper understanding of how local TV audiences view television across the entire year, in every local market. Using Rentrak insights, Katz is able to sell the value and relevance of their partner stations’ audiences, not just their size. 

     

    “Katz Television Group is committed to working with innovative companies that help us best represent our station partners to the national agency community. Rentrak has proven to be a unique, forward-thinking company that is committed to pushing the local TV industry into a new era of measurement,” said Katz EVP of strategy, analytics & research Stacey Lynn Schulman. 

     

    “We look forward to working with Rentrak in developing the systems and interfaces that will make them a valued currency with our trading partners. Consumers are shifting behaviors and consuming content across many screens. The time is now to work with progressive organizations like Rentrak who can help develop new opportunities for local stations to expand their businesses,” Schulman added.

     

    “We are very excited for our new partnership with Katz Television Group and are eager to work closely with them and all of our mutual client stations in the national spot marketplace,” said Rentrak executive vice president of local television Steve Walsh.

  • Miditech wins two Rapa awards for ‘Deal…’ and ‘M.A.D’

    Miditech wins two Rapa awards for ‘Deal…’ and ‘M.A.D’

    MUMBAI: Miditech has won two awards in the 31st All India Radio & TV Advertising practitioners’ Association (Rapa) Awards 2005. The first one is for Sony’s Deal Ya No Deal, which won in the game show category in Hindi and the second for Pogo’s Music Art Dance (M.A.D) in the children’s serial category.

    Deal Ya No Deal, which is in its third season is a show that tests a contestant’s ability to make the right choices and survive in a game of luck, risk and tension, given a choice of 22 cash boxes, which might have anything up to Rs 10 million. Rajeev Khandelwal now hosts the show, which was earlier being hosted by R Madhavan and then Mandira Bedi.

    International versions of Deal Ya No Deal have enjoyed high viewership worldwide including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Mexico, the Middle East, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey and Thailand.

    M.A.D. is a unique, refreshingly original and exciting series for pre-adolescent children. Each week, with the help of a couple of mini M.A.D. kids, our hosts, explore a theme through music, art and dance. Whether it be using familiar items to create innovative and engaging things, trying stunts like using their whole bodies as paintbrushes, creating musical acrobatics and rhythmic dancing or looking through the viewers gallery, we always take our audience with us, encouraging kids to re-evaluate the things they see and hear every day.

    The Rapa is one of India’s oldest associations of media professionals. It came into existence over 31 years ago and has contributed significantly towards promoting audio visual works of excellence. Every year the awards function recognises and honours outstanding radio and television productions and the people who create them.