ITV

Tag: Hallmark Entertainment

  • MGM names former DreamWorks and Miramax Films Rick Sand as COO

    MUMBAI: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has roped in former DreamWorks and Miramax Films Rick Sands as its chief operating officer. 
    The announcement was made by MGM chairman and chief executive officer Harry E. Sloan.
    Rick Sands, till most recently was the president and chief operating officer of DreamWorks SKG and the former chief operating officer of Miramax Films. 
    As the new COO at MGM, Sands will also supervise the company’s finance, operations and business affairs. Sands’ appointment is effective immediately and he will be based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Century City, Calif.
    In this newly created position at MGM, Sands takes on the initial responsibilities of leveraging and managing the world’s largest modern film and television library across all platforms including the new media landscape of internet and mobile as well as the traditional channels of distribution — television, video and international.
    According to an official release, the MGM library comprises approximately 4,000 titles and over 10,400 episodes of television programming. Its film library has received 208 Academy Awards, one of the largest award winning collections in the world, and includes numerous successful film franchises including James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky. 
    Sands will also devise plans to identify new content and channel opportunities for MGM with the company’s strategic equity partners, including Sony Corporation of America and Comcast Corporation.
    In making the announcement, Sloan stated: “I am thrilled to have Rick join MGM’s executive leadership team, where we will benefit immensely from his solid experience and great track record in managing and growing entertainment libraries at such leading companies as DreamWorks, Miramax and Hallmark Entertainment. Rick has a long history of working with extensive entertainment assets and this is key to furthering the exploitation of our content.”
    Sands added: “To be involved with MGM is a rare opportunity, having the ability to take an existing brand and to build an even stronger content-based leading enterprise. With the sweeping changes in the distribution business, I plan to bring a unique approach to the MGM library and to create new value and content. I also look forward working with Harry Sloan to expand what is at present one of the blue chip content providers in the industry.”

    Also read:
    MGM president Daniel Taylor to resign

  • Reed Midem to honour Halmi at MIPTV

    Reed Midem to honour Halmi at MIPTV

    MUMBAI: Reed Midem will award Robert Halmi, Sr., chairman of Hallmark Entertainment a Lifetime Achievement Award at MIPTV. Halmi has to his credit more than 200 TV movies, series and miniseries.

    Paul Zilk, CEO of Reed Midem, remarked, “Robert Halmi, Sr. is an exceptional figure. Throughout his lengthy career, marked with success, the international television community has come to appreciate and respect a man of letters, an artist and a businessman.”

    Halmi has bagged 97 Emmys and 13 Golden Globes for titles such as The Josephine Baker Story, Gypsy and Gulliver’s Travels. His current projects include A Christmas Carol and Hercules for NBC, according to a press release.

  • Crown Media net revenue up 52 per cent

    Crown Media net revenue up 52 per cent

    MUMBAI: Crown Media Holdings has reported its operating results for the three months ended 30 September 2002, posting a net revenue increase of 52 per cent.

    The media major’s net revenue in the quarter just ended stands at $40.1 million, up from $26.3 million in the prior year’s quarter. Advertising revenues for the quarter totaled $18.2 million, an increase of 103 per cent from the third quarter of 2001. Hallmark Channel subscribers increased 15 per cent to 95.7 million worldwide as of 30 September 2002, from 82.9 million subscribers as of 30 September, 2001.

    It was reported last month that the channel would look to cut over 100 jobs in the Asia region in a bid to contain operating costs. It has already closed down its Singapore sales office.

    The channel ended the quarter with 47.5 million subscribers in the United States and 48.2 million international subscribers across 110 countries. Subscribers of the domestic channel increased 20 per cent, and subscribers of the international channel increased 12 per cent over the third quarter 2001. For the twelve months ended 30 September 2002, Hallmark Channel was the fastest growing cable network in the US based on subscribers, claims an official release.

    In the US during the quarter just ended, the channel premiered the two-part Hallmark Entertainment produced Johnson County War, which became the network’s second highest rated original mini-series. Total day viewership increased by 50 per cent for female adults (25 to 54) as compared to the third quarter of 2001.

    Hallmark Channel US will launch the Hallmark Keepsake Sweepstakes in conjunction with approximately 4,500 Hallmark Gold Crown(R) stores this November. The largest ever promotion between a cable channel and a retail network, it will include the broadcast of five world premiere holiday events from mid-November through Christmas, the release says. Over 140 million game pieces will be distributed and more than two million prizes will be given away in this holiday “match and win” contest.

    Crown Media, that announced corporate restructuring of its operations in October plans to implement its new strategy by decentralizing many oversight and non-technical support functions located in its US offices and transferring these responsibilities to regional staff. In Latin America, the company is in negotiations to enter into a strategic alliance with a local distribution partner who, under Crown Media’s direction, will manage the Hallmark Channel in this region, says the release. 

    The restructuring, which is expected to be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2003, will result in a 30 per cent reduction of the Company’s workforce, the release says.

    Hallmark Channel will continue to be distributed to its global subscriber base of over 95 million. Once the restructuring is completed, the company expects to realize annual savings of $25 million related to decreased overhead and amortization costs, facilitating the company’s plan to achieve EBITDA breakeven in the second half of 2003.

  • Kermit Channel’s K2K plans for Y2K

    Kermit Channel’s K2K plans for Y2K

    The 40 year old Kermit Channel which entered India in 1999 has drawn up strategies for the year 2000. The Jim Henson Company’s and Hallmark Entertainment Television’s joint venture has drawn up a campaign which will be called “K2K” to design a creative platform to introduce viewers to the new programming that will be shortly premiered on the channel and to provide a timely and contemporary platform to showcase the human characteristics of ‘Kermit the Frog’s’ personality which viewers can identify with as a positive role model.

    The K2K campaign would be an image campaign and would have a separate logo. It portrays Kermit as the world’s greenest friend, hero, heartthrob and a celebrity. New shows like ‘Jim Henson’s Construction Site’, ‘Brats of the last Nebula’ and ‘The secret world of Alex Mack’ would be introduced which have a blend of entertainment as well as educational value for the kids mainly aged between 2 and 12. The on-air and print campaigns for the K2K campaign have been designed in-house.

    The 24 hour pay channel claims to have a penetration of over four million Indian households.

  • Hallmark Entertainment parent company Crown Media enters interactive television marketplace with Crown Interactive

    Hallmark Entertainment parent company Crown Media enters interactive television marketplace with Crown Interactive

    Crown Media Holdings on Wednesday announced the formation of Crown Interactive, a new division of the company designed to leverage the wide array of products and services from Crown Media’s affiliated companies, Hallmark Cards and Hallmark Entertainment, in the burgeoning interactive television marketplace.

    Crown Interactive has formally begun its beta testing stage in Singapore, offering video-on-demand (VOD) on a non-exclusive basis in conjunction with Sharkstream, a streaming portal specialising in interactive multimedia entertainment for the Asia Pacific region. Sharkstream is a subsidiary of Indian media company United Television (UTV).

    Consumers throughout Singapore can now view full screen streaming video of some of the best titles from the Hallmark Entertainment library, including, “Gulliver’s Travels”, “Merlin”, “Cleopatra”, “Jason and the Argonauts” and “Arabian Nights”. Other cutting-edge interactive services and capabilities including video greetings and e-commerce should be added to the Singapore platform during its beta phase period with a full roll out of Crown Interactive in the region scheduled to begin during the second quarter of 2001, according to a press release.

    By leveraging Hallmark’s readily available, cross-divisional assets, including technology, creative resources, infrastructure, content and professional relationships worldwide, the Crown Interactive platform will become a comprehensive, user-friendly broadband service for consumers and platform operators, available through both PC-based systems and digital set-top boxes.