Tag: Dutch

  • Music licensing firm Broma 16 taps Indian veteran to crack subcontinent gold rush

    Music licensing firm Broma 16 taps Indian veteran to crack subcontinent gold rush

    MUMBAI: Broma 16, a Dutch music licensing outfit, has hired Sunnyy Vyas from India’s streaming wars to spearhead its assault on the subcontinent’s booming digital music market. The Amsterdam-based firm, which specialises in maximising royalty collections online, appointed Vyas as head of India as it seeks to capitalise on the country’s explosive streaming growth.

    Vyas arrives with battle scars from 19 years in India’s cutthroat music and broadcasting industry. Most recently, he served as head of Wynk Studio at Airtel Digital, where he shepherded community engagement and podcast distribution for the telecom giant’s music platform. Before that, he led music promotions for ByteDance’s original content push and founded Music Plus, billed as India’s first dedicated music business portal.

    The appointment comes as international music companies scramble for a slice of India’s digital pie. With smartphone penetration soaring and data costs plummeting, the country has become a critical battleground for streaming supremacy.

    Vyas cut his teeth in traditional radio, working his way up from radio jockey at Radio City to cluster manager at Radio One, where he managed celebrity campaigns across four cities. His early career included stints as programming head at 94.3 MY FM in Nagpur, where he helmed an eight-strong team and chased ratings gold.
    The new hire will debut Broma 16’s Indian ambitions at All About Music in Mumbai later this month, where the company’s team will court potential partners and clients. For a firm with just 11 to 50 employees, landing a market veteran of Vyas’s calibre signals serious intent in a region where rights management remains fragmented and undermonetised.

    Whether Broma 16 can navigate India’s labyrinthine music licensing landscape remains to be seen, but with Vyas at the helm, it has secured a guide who knows where the bodies are buried.

  • FremantleMedia picks 75% stake in Dutch producer No Pictures Please

    FremantleMedia picks 75% stake in Dutch producer No Pictures Please

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has acquired a 75 per cent stake in Dutch business No Pictures Please, a controversial factual programming company owned by presenter and producer Ewout Genemans.

     

    The company will sit alongside FremantleMedia’s entertainment and scripted businesses in the Netherlands, Blue Circle and FourOne.Media. 

     

    No Pictures Please is best known for De Roze Wildernis (Fathers Pride), about gay sons and their fathers; Super Fans: Mijn idool is mijn leven(Super Fans: My idol is my life), which follows fans as they try to get closer to their idols; and From Russia With Love, a look at the men who travel to the former Eastern bloc to find love.

     

    This is the latest in a number of recent investments by FremantleMedia including scripted businesses Wildside (Italy), Fontaram (France) and Corona Pictures (UK). 

     

    The No Pictures Please deal was brokered by Blue Circle CEO Georgette Schlick. 

     

    “Ewout has been on Dutch screens for more than ten years and has developed a very keen eye for what audiences want. We’re delighted to be working with him and excited for what he will continue to produce for the Dutch and global market,” Schlick said. 

     

    Genemans added, “Being a part of Blue Circle and ultimately FremantleMedia presents a great opportunity to work with a fantastic Dutch operation as well as a globally established network of some of the best creative minds in television.”

  • Infront, HBS win Judges’ Award at IBC2006 in Amsterdam

    Infront, HBS win Judges’ Award at IBC2006 in Amsterdam

    MUMBAI: Infront Sports & Media, the company which handled the worldwide marketing and sales of the broadcast rights to 2006 Fifa World Cup and its subsidiary Host Broadcast Services (HBS) have won the Judges’ Award at the IBC show in Amsterdam.

    HBS was responsible for the host broadcast operations of the 2006 Fifa World Cup.

    The award was for New Media production at the 2006 Fifa World Cup in Germany. The tailored production services provided by HBS transformed the coverage of the event for New Media in terms of quality and content. The prospect of tailored production drove sales – this was the most widely covered sports event on the internet and on mobile phones to date. More than 100 countries were covered by 50 licensees in Mobile Telephony and World Wide Web.

    A team of 40 producers and journalists created a special New Media Content Package – tailor-made for licensees, designed for exploitation without the need for extensive editing and incorporating various innovations designed specifically for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The near-live clips were enhanced with specific or customised match and competition summaries, graphics, background sound, music and commentary.

    The fact that this was the first FIFA World Cup covered entirely in HDTV opened the door to improved picture quality for New Media. HD video-based Pan and Scan technology was utilised, allowing the editor to zoom in and capture the core action, producing a clear picture more exciting than ever for tiny handsets.

    HBS also offered a voice-over commentary service in the language of one’s choice. A total of eight different languages were booked and produced simultaneously in the IBC during the tournament: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swiss German.

    The benefits for licensees were considerable – better quality production, reduction of cost per licensee through central multilateral production and HD-based content, delivering “never seen before” picture quality in small formats.

    HBS director of production Peter Angell received the Award on behalf of HBS and Infront. He said, “This award confirms that our two companies, Infront and HBS, were right in deciding to embed new media requirements in the overall production strategy, providing licensees with a level of service never experienced before. The fact that all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup were filmed in HDTV has transformed the quality of New Media coverage.

    ” Combined with the use of Pan and Scan technology to capture the core action in a way that is relevant for tiny handsets, it has delivered pictures of unprecedented quality. Licensees and consumers were thrilled”, he said in his acceptance speech.

    HBS CEO Francis Tellier said, “This special award acknowledges the quality of services and innovations our team has provided in the area of host broadcasting. The new media production of the 2006 Fifa World Cup has been the defining step forward and underlines our ambition, to lead the industry through innovation.”

    Infront Sports & Media president and CEO Philippe Blatter says, “We are proud that the outstanding production capabilities of the Infront Group have been recognised and we see this year’s IBC Judges’ Award as a challenge to push even further in future”.