ITV

Tag: Dubai

  • Emirates Invites Travellers to Explore Dubai

    Emirates Invites Travellers to Explore Dubai

    Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines is inviting passengers from India to visit its home city by announcing a range of fares. The return economy class fare including taxes from Chennai to Dubai is INR 19,869. The fares are valid for sale and travel until 31st March 2014.

     

    The fares are on offer from all 10 Emirates gateways: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata and have been specially designed to give travellers from India the chance to experience Emirates’ award-winning product and service and the airline’s home city at an even more attractive price.

     

    An added benefit is that until 7th October 2013 Indian nationals can apply for a Dubai “Express Tourist Visa” at the cost of the “Normal Tourist Visa” for only Rs 5150, a saving of 25% from the normal price.

     

    “We are extremely pleased to give our passengers across India the opportunity to experience Emirates’ renowned product and service at even better value for money”, said, Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice President India and Nepal. “As the fares are valid until March it allows people to plan their trip and visit our home city when they wish. With so much to see and do in Dubai there is always a reason to visit and there are plenty of upcoming attractions in the coming months.”

     

    Emirates offers many features on its flight to and from India which have been specially tailored for its passengers from India. The award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice offers up to 1500 channels and includes programming in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Gujurati, Punjabi and Urdu. Some highlights onboard this month include:

     

    30 Hindi movies including 4 New Movies in Sept- Go Goa Gone, Shootout at Wadala, Race 2, Jolly LLB

     

         *   4 Kannada movies  including Bheema Theeradalli
         *   4 Marathi movies including Premachi Goshta
         *   6 Malayalam movies including Businessman
         *   6 Tamil movies including Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga
         *   4 Telegu movies including Mr. Nookaiah
         *   4 Gujariti movies including Ver Ni Vasulat – Ek aag
      *   A large selection of TV channels including dedicated channels to Bollywood Pop     Videos, Hindi Classic Songs, Comedy and many more.
      *   Hours of dedicated music & audio channels featuring today’s most popular including:
         *   The soundtrack to Chennai Express (movie soundtrack)
         *   Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (movie soundtrack)
    In addition the airline offers three regional menus onboard designed to cater to the Indian palate and a generous baggage allowance of 30 kilogrammes in Economy Class, rising to 40kgs in Business Class and 50kgs in First Class.

     

    Once in Dubai, there are many activities to keep visitors entertained. The Dubai International Film Festival in December features many movies from Bollywood. The ever-popular Dubai Shopping Festival will start in January and the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature follows in March.
    Dubai is also home to a number of world-famous sites and attractions for visitors to enjoy. From experiencing skiing indoors on year-round snow, experience the view from the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, a walk around the gold and spice souks or enjoying the world-class shopping and hotels; Dubai has so much to offer.

  • Ten Sports’ Rajesh Sethi’s relocation challenge

    Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi is clocking a lot of flying miles these days. And it is easier to catch him aboard a flight en route to Dubai than in his office. Reason: Well! He is busy organising a massive relocation of staff from Ten Sports’ Dubai office to Noida in Uttar Pradesh.  

    It is not only Sethi who is caught up with this shifting. Even those who have agreed to relocate are busy wrapping up rent agreements for accommodation in Dubai, repaying local loans, seeking admissions for their kids in schools in Noida, packing their bags and searching for new accommodation options in north Indian industrial town and surrounding areas.

    Ten Sports Network (TSN) which operates five sporting channels- Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action, Ten Golf and Ten HD is today owned by Zee which bought out the Dubai-based Bukhatir group’s 95 per stake in Taj Television in 2010. And it had seen some sort of an exodus even then. Senior managers, mainly expatriates, headed for the exits following the acquisition by India‘s most known TV network. Among those who bailed out included:  COO Peter Hutton along with his number two Mark Denton, both of whom cofounded the network with former CEO Chris McDonald who had left even earlier.

    We are now consolidating our operations in India with the purpose of increasing stakeholder value and also enhancing viewership experience expounds Rajesh Sethi

    TSN has some prime cricket properties which can be considered hot viewing options for Indian sports TV viewers. This includes the exclusive India rights to telecast action on the field for five cricket boards – South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As compared to this, rival ESPN Star Sports has the rights to domestic Indian cricket, which it pocketed after committing close to $770 million dollars to the BCCI.  Neo Sports – another sportscaster in India – has the rights to New Zealand cricket, while Sony Entertainment boasts of the highly popular and profitable though controversial Indian Premier League. This apart, TSN has also signed up other sporting properties such as WWE, US Open, ATP Tournaments, WTA, Ryder Cup, Moto GP, Euro league, PGA Championship, Asian Tour, European Tour and Tour De France.

    Clearly, when Ten Sports was set up in Dubai, it was headed by expats who were tapping into investments provided by Bukhatir with employees having several different nationalities as is the practice amongst companies in west Asia. At the time of being set up, the company had more than 100 staff and it had stated that “Taj represents Dubai‘s premier television production resource. No other production facility in the UAE can match Taj in terms of technology, experienced personnel and efficiency. “

    When Zee TV acquired the network from Bukhatir, chairman Subhash Chandra too had waxed eloquent about having an outpost in west Asia. “The acquisition of a stake in Ten Sports not only gives us a strong foothold in the arena of sports broadcasting across Asia but also strengthens our operations in the Middle East,” Chandra had said then.

    The Zee Network currently operates popular entertainment channels in the Middle East and has a team – headed by Mukund Cairae – which looks after its interests there. In fact, Cairae has done very well for Zee in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and has been ranked 24 in a list of powerful Indians for the region.

    A Dubai-based broadcast professional who has been in the Middle East for more than a decade gives his perspective on Zee TV there. Says he: “Zee TV‘s operations in the Middle East involve turning around its GECs and movie channels and producing and acquiring local Arabic content for its channels Zee Alwan and Aflam. It also garners local advertising revenues for its bouquet of channels. Cairae and his team operate out of the same Ten Sports building from the third floor.”

    Two years on after acquiring Ten Sports, Chandra discovered that it was bleeding badly and running up losses running into crores, something which a former employee says upset him greatly. He decided to shift Ten Sports’ base to India to generate whatever sayings he could generate from the move. For the network, it became a mandate to be implemented.

    Says a sports broadcast veteran: “The sports business is pretty tricky, especially international sports rights. You buy the rights in dollars, which have been appreciating consistently against the rupee, and you take advertising in rupees. The rise in advertising rates has not been making up for the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. Hence, unless distribution revenues go up significantly which have not so far, losses are bound to be there. For the Zee Network it made eminent sense for Ten Sports to shift its technical operations including play out, production and post-production to a lower cost base like Noida where it has its uplinking hub, rather than operate out of expensive Dubai where employee costs are pretty stiff, and everything is costlier.”

    Agrees Sethi: “The move is a part of our decision to make India a hub for better synergies, virtues and also for huge scales of economy, which the country, as a common central location, offers us. We have a significant set up in Noida with huge facilities and have invested heavily in both technology and modern equipment. We are now consolidating our operations in India with the purpose of increasing stakeholder value and also enhancing viewership experience.”

    An investment analyst expects the Ten Sports shift to Noida to generate savings in double digit crore annually for the Zee Network. A local TV professional estimates that the savings will be in the region of $4-5 million per annum, mostly in employee costs. “It’s a very good reason for them to shift,” he says.

    Since Chandra’s diktat was announced, the rumour mills had been running internally that relocation was coming, and several employees had already started looking for other options. Dubai-based Ten Sports COO Sanjay Raina left the firm in June end and is reportedly working with Fox International in Dubai.  A handful quit to take up jobs with other regional broadcasters, according to local reports.  Additionally, Mumbai-based TSN CEO Atul Pande chose to take up another posting within the Zee Network and Sethi was brought in as his replacement in mid-2013.

    Sethi claims that the first communication regarding the shift was relayed in March this year while the final letter went out in August.

    The Dubai-based broadcast professional – quoted earlier – highlights that “Effectively only a month’s notice was given to employees. The way TSN management has dealt with the relocation is objectionable. They could have dealt better with it on the human resources front. Employees have been given just one month’s severance pay; look at Network18 in India, it is giving employees a three month severance package. You have to remember the Dubai media job market is saturated with very few jobs going around. Working rules in the Middle East are pretty tough for Indians. Many of the former Ten Sports employees are literally on the streets; and this after serving the organisation for so many years. Remember their families’ future is also in jeopardy.”
    But Sethi empasises, “Every Dubai-based employee has been given an opportunity to relocate to Noida. While few are happy, there are a few who are anxious about the change. People are free to either take the opportunity or refuse. No one is being laid off.”

    Employee reaction to the offer has been mixed, says the Dubai-based broadcast professional.  He explains: “Most staff that had earlier moved to Dubai had done so to get higher salaries and to upgrade their life style. These executives and professionals are now apprehensive about shifting to Noida, where they will have to start from scratch. For many employees, this was more than a hint to resign. “

    Sethi however maintains that quite a few of the staff are looking forward to the change even as “There are others who are happily ensconced in the Arab emirate and not very enthusiastic about the shift. This is because of nationality issues. While there are a few who are happy and are in fact pushing to bring forward the shift date, there are others who are uncomfortable because they do not have roots in India. This is basically due to mixed nationalities that Ten Sports employs.”

    Out of the 114 employees with Ten Sports in Dubai, it is learnt that around 15 Pakistani employees have chosen to discontinue as working in India was not feasible.  And about 25-30 of them are actually boarding the relocation boat to Noida. The others are struggling to stay afloat.

    For employees being yanked out of the relative comforts of Dubai, things don’t just end with moving to a new workplace in crowded and noisy Noida. Concerns are also being aired about their pay slips being clipped.

    “The base salary according to Indian standards is anyway less. Additionally, there are taxes. One can expect a 30-40 per cent cut in the salary,” informs the Dubai-based broadcast professional.

    Sethi begs to differ. “We are not majorly cutting salaries of those we are relocating.  The taxation laws in the two countries are different. While India has a huge taxation policy, Dubai is a tax-free nation. And I do not think this can be termed as a salary cut,” he says.

    The TSN CEO expects the relocation exercise to keep him busy for at least another couple of months. Settling down the staff to a routine could take a little longer.

    But when it is completed and Ten Sports’ operations start purring smoothly out of India, he would have fulfilled what he had been mandated to do when he was hired for the job earlier this year.

  • A two-sided story

    A two-sided story

    MUMBAI: The rupee going into a tailspin or prices shooting through the roof; be damned. The wheels of general entertainment channels (GECs) seem to be in continual motion, what with a new soap here or a new reality show there. Makes one wonder as to what exactly these television majors do to keep their employees happy and productive, despite taxing schedules and OTT deadlines.  

    Well, the answer lies in the kind of incentives and rewards these channels, rather – their human resources teams, are willing to heap on their staff just so as to make them want to come back every morning, ready for the grind.

    And we’re not simply talking boxes of chocolates or free tickets to movies here. Imagine an iPad being gifted for a clean and decorative desk or a five-star hotel stay in Australia or even a shopping spree in Bangkok…

    An example of the kind of moolah these companies are willing to splurge on their employees is Star India, which took its top management (nearly 35 people) on an extravagant tour down under a month or two back.

    While Viacom18 arranged separate tours to exotic destinations like Egypt or more popular ones like Bangkok early this year. In a similar vein, Sony took its employees to Dubai last year whereas Zee ferried its entire team to the beaches of Thailand. We hear Sony is currently planning an itinerary for its annual trip this year.

    While these junkets (even called off-sites) don’t come cheap for these companies, there’s a catch: they aren’t entirely about fun and booze. There are leadership and team-building exercises, presentations on progress reports, panel discussions about the future etc. built into these trips.

    But with employees not expected to shell out anything from their own pocket, they’re fun nevertheless.

    However, there’s another side to this ‘Television (GECs) shining’ story.
    Even as most of them are coughing up crores of rupees on such junkets, there are other channels like news channels that are finding it difficult to survive in the present economic situation.

    There have been widespread instances of companies handing out pink slips to their employees in the past few months.

    First, NDTV shut down its Mumbai operations, followed by Network18 relieving around 350 employees across the network in little over a month. Next in line was Bloomberg TV which terminated the services of nearly 30 employees and the latest to join the bully gang is Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP), which is learnt to have issued notices of non-renewal of service contracts to as many as 127 employees and speculations are ripe that even Business World magazine is closing shop soon.

    According to a study by the New Delhi-based Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), the weak rupee hasn’t spared even Bollywood producers, who’re shying away from shooting overseas. In the past four months, foreign film shoots have dropped 30-35 per cent owing to the volatility in currency.
    Given this not-so-bright side of the television (and film) industry, one wonders if life is truly a soap opera for GECs… 

  • U2opia Mobile Pioneers USSD Gateway on Cloud with Tigo Group

    U2opia Mobile Pioneers USSD Gateway on Cloud with Tigo Group

    New Delhi, August 6, 2013 – Singapore-based mobile technology start-up, U2opia Mobile, has pioneered the next wave in value added services by extending their USSD platform and hosting a USSD gateway on cloud.

    USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a session-based technology that enables access to social and content services on mobile without an Internet connection. Among its most popular implementations is Facebook for USSD, which allows users to access Facebook on mobile, without internet. Its other implementations include access to Twitter, Google Talk and a host of content services.

    With this innovation, the final barrier is removed for any telecom carrier to implement USSD services on its network, as it removes all dependency on the carrier’s own USSD gateway.

    By deploying the USSD gateway on cloud, implementing USSD services becomes a plug-and-play process for any operator, vastly reducing the time and resources required. It successfully removes all hardware dependency from the process, making its implementation, as easy as a single-day process.

    The first deployment of USSD gateway on cloud has been with the Tigo Group across El Salvador, Paraguay and Bolivia and the service has already racked up close to 70,000 users in the space of two weeks.

    Commenting on the innovation, Sumesh Menon, CEO, U2opia Mobile, said, ‘While services powered through Fonetwish were a runaway success in practically every country we entered, deploying services through the host carrier’s USSD gateway did present a layer of complexity. There would invariably be issues relating to hardware, bandwidth and so on, thereby increasing the time needed for implementation.

    By deploying the USSD gateway on cloud, that complexity is removed and the process is practically plug-and-play. It opens up a world of opportunity for every carrier globally, to provide value added services to their non-smartphone user base.’

    U2opia Mobile pioneered the implementation of social and content services through their USSD platform Fonetwish in 2010 and now have operations in 25 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, catering to millions of users in 6 global languages across 40 telecom carriers.

    The mobile technology start-up creates applications catering across the handset spectrum – from basic/feature phones to smartphones. With financial backing from Matrix Partners, they have offices across Singapore, India, Dubai and San Francisco.

  • Kartavya Healtheon seeking expansion in Disease Management at Dubai and South Africa

    Kartavya Healtheon seeking expansion in Disease Management at Dubai and South Africa

    MUMBAI : Kartavya Healtheon, a leading pioneer in ‘patient care management’ across the country will soon roll out their chronic disease management services in evolving countries like Dubai and South Africa. The company is also seeking expansion to streamline the benefits of DM services in these countries by enhancing their presence in assisting patients of chronic diseases. They will also provide patient care support programs like counseling, diet and nutrition, disease awareness and medication adherence into disease management hubs.

    In addition to this Kartavya Healtheon is eyeing to enlarge their Disease Management portfolio by providing preventive and self-managed care to patients. This will grow the company’s margin and the needs of primary health care in these countries. Kartavya Healtheon’s CEO Mr. Vikram Srivastava said, “We felt a need as we received many queries that made us to think about it. We see a great potential in these countries as Disease management is gradually picking up pace. We have aimed to make this sector more organized by targeting Africa and middle east. In order to control the viral spread of the chronic illnesses, we at Kartavya Healtheon will soon introduce the concept of self-controlled patient management through subscription based model. In India, by next 1 year we will come out with various programmes for chronic disease which would significantly reduce the healthcare burden cost on patients and provide better outcome of the treatment / therapy”

    Chronic diseases like Cancer, hepatitis B, HIV and diabetes are increasing rapidly across the country. Also, there is a continuous gap in chronic care and lifestyle condition awareness, screening and behavioural modification. We are doing this because access to information and disease awareness is very low and healthcare cost is rising day by day.

  • South Indian movies to follow IIFA, host awards abroad

    South Indian movies to follow IIFA, host awards abroad

    MUMBAI: Dubai will play host to the first-ever South Indian International Movie Award (SIIMA) on 21 and 22 June. The award function will reward the best works in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada cinema.

    SIIMA will be an annual affair and will take South Indian movies to new territories on the lines of the IIFA.

    SIIMA will reward greatest achievements in cinema during the year 2011 which will be nominated by a jury of artists and professionals from all the four industries.

    Vishnuvardhan Induri, the man behind the successful Celebrity Cricket League, has conceptualised the awards function. According to a statement by the organisers, this will be the first time that the South Indian film industry will have its awards abroad. With the function, the organisers will promote South Indian cinema on a global platform that would increase overseas revenues.

    Though the industry down south constitutes the largest number of films released in India and the Indian box office collections of a hit South Indian movie is at par with any hit Bollywood film, the overseas revenue of a South Indian movie is 10 per cent of a Bollywood movie, the statement observed.

    The organisers have sent out invitations to all the big stars across India with a hope to get participation not just from those who have been nominated and those who are performing but from the film fraternity at large.

  • Asha Bhosle’s Maee to release in May

    Asha Bhosle’s Maee to release in May

    MUMBAI: Asha Bhosle’s debut film Maee, earlier scheduled to release in September last year, is now being readied for a May release.

    “It’s true we were planning to release the film in September but then Ram Kapoor got busy with his serial Bade Ache Lagte Lagte Hain. Right now Ashaji is busy with her reality show Sur Kshetra in Dubai. I and my co-producer Subhash Dawar are making all efforts to release the film in May as we’re keen that the audience gets to know the actress in Ashaji,” said producer Nitin Shankar.

    Maee is the touching story of a mother-daughter relationship in the present day, with the role of her daughter played by Padmini Kolhapure and also her son Anand Bhosle.

    The film has been directed by Mahesh Kodiyal.

  • TV Today appoints Rahul Shaw, Vikram Das and Devleena Majumder

    TV Today appoints Rahul Shaw, Vikram Das and Devleena Majumder

    MUMBAI: As a part of the growth agenda set by the new leadership, TV Today Network has announced three key appointments to raise the bar and to chart the new growth strategy. The new inductions have happened across ad sales, international distribution and HR divisions.

    While Vikram Das has joined as general manager – International Distribution, Rahul Kumar Shaw is VP – ad sales (Headlines Today) and Devleena Majumder joins in the capacity of general manager – HR.

    TV Today Network CEO Joy Chakraborthy expects the new team to script a rapid growth and to take the company to newer heights. He said, “We are thrilled to add Rahul, Vikram and Devleena to an existing very strong team at the TV Today Network. With their strong skill sets in the three core functions, the network will be strategically placed to consolidate and grow the leadership position. The industry is competitive and only solid planning and speed of execution will win.”

    Shaw comes with rich experience in ad sales. He has earlier worked with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel), INX News, NDTV Imagine, Star India, Set India, Turner International and Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). In his new role Shaw will be responsible for Headlines Today sales and will be reporting into TV Today senior VP and business head – Headlines Today Rajnish Rikhy.

    Majumder joins from Viacom 18. Prior to that, she has worked with Zoom Entertainment Network, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, IBM Daksh, Wipro Spectramind and Transworld Group of Companies. She will be responsible for the human resource function at the news network.

    Meanwhile Das joins in from Neo Sports Broadcast. Prior to Neo, he has workedwith Star (Middle East) and ABN Amro Bank, Dubai.

    Both Majumder and Das will report in to Chakraborthy.

  • Publicis Groupe acquires ME digital agency Flip Media

    Publicis Groupe acquires ME digital agency Flip Media

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe has acquired Middle East digital agency network Flip Media.

    Flip Media will be folded into Leo Burnett Worldwide and will retain its name.

    Flip Media CEO Yousef Tuqan will report to Leo Burnett Middle East North Africa CEO, Raja Trad. Its founders, Martin Diessner and Dinesh Lalvani, will continue to be involved with the new entity as non-executive directors.

    Leo Burnett Worldwide CEO Tom Bernardin said, “Flip Media is a strategic and cultural fit for our company, and we believe its service offering of digital strategy, design, production and content delivery will be a perfect complement to the incredibly strong digital presence we have built across the region.”

    Flip Media provides end-to-end solutions that include digital strategy, digital design/production, content/delivery and technology/platforms.

    Lalvani and Diessner added, “This acquisition is the logical next step for Flip. Integrating with a large network gives us the opportunity to provide a strong foundation for through-the-line communications strategy with digital at its core. We‘ve been lucky to have the talent and dedication of a strong management team, which has been integral to the success we‘ve had. Being part of Leo Burnett and the larger Publicis Groupe family will bring with it access to more clients, people and resources, all of which are key to take a company like ours to the next level.”

    Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Dubai (UAE), Flip Media has more than 100 employees across the Middle East and India, working on a number of iconic brands.

  • UTV set to release Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu on 10 Feb

    UTV set to release Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu on 10 Feb

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures and Dharma Productions are all set to release their joint venture movie, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, on 10 February.

    The film, starring Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor, is a light hearted, tragicomedy about a guy in his mid twenties, going through a breakdown in his personal as well as work life.

    Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan), 26, loses his job as an architect in Vegas and by a twist of fate he meets Riana Braganza (Kareena Kapoor), a quick-witted hairstylist who is everything he isn‘t.

    Normally, stars promote their films in as many locations as possible before release, but Imran Khan is doing it with a twist. He has decided to bring along all his fans with him through the power of video and YouTube.

    The leading man will travel to Dubai, New York and the UK as well as 5 to 6 Indian cities after which he will document his journey and upload it on UTV’s and Dharma Productions‘ YouTube accounts to give his fans back home a taste of what it means to live life as a high-profile jet-setting Bollywood star.