ITV

Tag: Keith Urban

  • Fox to bring down curtains on ‘American Idol’ in 2016; lines up new shows

    Fox to bring down curtains on ‘American Idol’ in 2016; lines up new shows

    MUMBAI: Popular reality show American Idol will begin its 15th – and final – season in January 2016 on Fox.

     

    A season-long celebratory event, American Idol XV will feature host Ryan Seacrest and judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr., as they search for the final Idol superstar and pay tribute to the past 14 seasons of talented contestants and the millions of fans who tweeted, texted and championed their Idols.

     

    The reality show began in 2002 and was a huge success. Over the years, American Idol has been responsible for churning out singing stars like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson.

     

    NEW SHOWS

     

    Additionally, Fox also announced that its old hit The X-Files will debut with a special two-night event beginning 24 January, following the NFC Championship Game, and continuing with its time period premiere on 25 January. The thrilling, six-episode event series, helmed by creator/executive producer Chris Carter and starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, marks the momentous return of the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning pop culture phenomenon, which remains one of the longest-running sci-fi series in network television history.

     

    Come September, Fox will also be bringing back the new TV hit Empire. The show is expected to run up to 18 episodes next season, up from the 12 this year.

     

    Fox will also introduce a series of new shows in 2016 like the devilish drama Lucifer, which is based on a DC Comics story and modern gothic action series The Frankenstein Code; and two comedies, The Guide To Surviving Life and animated Bordertown.

     

    In addition, two new dramas – the futuristic Minority Report and the Miami-set Rosewood will debut this fall. Based on Steven Spielberg’s international blockbuster film and the first of his films to be adapted for television, Minority Report follows the partnership between a man (Stark Sands) haunted by the future and a cop (Meagan Good) haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes before they happen.

     

    Ryan Murphy will return with a new show, Scream Queens, which stars Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis. Additionally, John Stamos will lead a new comedy titled Grandfathered, and Rob Lowe and Fred Savage will star in The Grinder. New Girl returns to the Tuesday comedy block in January with a season of uninterrupted episodes.

     

    As previously announced, Grease:Live, a three-hour production of the massively popular crossover musical Grease, starring superstar singers, dancers and actresses Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens, will air live on 31 January, 2016 on Fox.

     

    Additional Fox series include: Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, Bob’s Burgers, Boom!, Bones, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Bullseye, Family Guy, Gotham, Hell’s Kitchen, Masterchef, Masterchef Junior, The Simpsons, Sleepy Hollow, So You Think You Can Dance and World’s Funniest.

  • AHI registers record sales for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards

    AHI registers record sales for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards

    NEW JERSEY: In anticipation of the upcoming ceremony set to air live in the US on 26 January, on the CBS Television Network, Alfred Haber, President of Alfred Haber, Inc. (AHI) announced yesterday the company has racked up record sales for the 2014 56th Annual Grammy Awards, the 3 and a half hour extravaganza billed as Music’s Biggest Night.

     

    With the 2014 show marking 25 years of representation of the Grammy Awards by AHI, global broadcasters to sign on for this spectacular show that continues to be the world’s most popular televised music event include:  Channel 4 (UK), Rogers Media (Canada), ProSieben (Germany), WOWOW (Japan), D17/Canal Plus (France), Televisa (Mexico), Fox International Channel (Asia), Viacom 18 (India), Turner (Latin America), Shanghai Media Group (China), M-Net (Africa), TV 2 (Turkey), NetMedia (Indonesia), Ren-TV (Russia), TV2 (Denmark)  and Cignal TV (Philippines).

     

    “With over a quarter of a century of representation, we at Alfred Haber, Inc. are honored to once again be representing the Grammy Awards to the international television community,” commented Haber.  “Music has the ability to transcend all language barriers and borders and this remarkable event is something that, this season, will be enjoyed by audiences in more than 190 territories the world over.”

     

    Performers announced thus far for this year’s show include current Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles with four-time Grammy winner and 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year Carole King; nominees Daft Punk with nominee Nile Rodgers, nominee Pharrell Williams, and 25-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder; nominee Kendrick Lamar joined by nominees Imagine Dragons; nominee John Legend; nominee Lorde; nominees Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; nominee Paul McCartney; eight-time Grammy-winning group Metallica with Grammy Cultural Ambassador to China Lang Lang; nominee Kacey Musgraves; nominee Katy Perry; nominees P!nk and Nate Ruess (of FUN.); nine-time Grammy winner Ringo Starr; Taylor Swift; nominee Robin Thicke with Grammy-winning group Chicago; nominee Keith Urban; and a special “Grammy Moment” featuring two-time Grammy winner Merle Haggard, three-time Grammy winner and 2014 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Kris Kristofferson, seven-time Grammy winner Willie Nelson, and current nominee Blake Shelton. 

  • Zee Cafe brings 3 of America’s biggest reality shows

    Zee Cafe brings 3 of America’s biggest reality shows

    MUMBAI: The viewers of Zee Café will become a witness to three of America’s highest rated reality series. The channel has signed an exclusive deal with Freemantle Media to bring the latest and multiple seasons of American Idol, America’s Got Talent and The X Factor to India.

     

    Come 19 March, Zee Café will air the 13th season of American Idol that starts in the US from 15 January with a revamped judging panel. While Keith Urban will return for the second time on the judging panel; Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson have been replaced by Harry Connick Jr. and Jennifer Lopez. Ryan Seacrest will return as the host. The last edition of the show was often in the midst of controversies because of the constant cold war between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj.

     

    Interestingly, the finale of the show will be aired live on the channel along with US (Zee Café plans to catch up with US by airing the show on weekdays regularly) and soon after that the channel will air the 8th season of America’s Got Talent. Joining actor Howie Mendel and radio personality Howard Stern at the judges panel this year would be supermodel and host of Project Runway, Heidi Klum, along with former Spice Girls member Melanie Brown (aka Mel B), replacing Sharon Osbourne.

     

    And that’s not all! Following America’s Got Talent would be airing of The X Factor towards the end of the year. The X Factor judges panel will include Simon Cowell, singer and actress Paulina Rubio, former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland and songstress Demi Lovato.

     

    Zee Café EVP and business head Anurag Bedi, said, “We believe in bringing the best and the latest content to our viewers. These shows are synonymous with entertainment and unarguably amongst the biggest reality shows on television. Having seen the affinity the audience here has for reality shows, we are confident that these shows will be amongst the biggest shows of 2014 and will strengthen Zee Cafe’s leadership position in the English entertainment genre”.

     

    Bedi thinks that these shows already have a huge fan following in India, considering the local adaptations on Hindi GECs have worked really well. However, it’s the channel’s marketing initiatives that would work in its favour, says Bedi, who is undeterred by the fact that the previous seasons of these shows were aired on different networks. While American Idol previously aired on two different channels in India – Star World (2004-2011) and Big CBS channels (2012-2013), X Factor aired on the Big CBS channels and America’s Got Talent was aired on VH1. Bedi said, “How a show does on one platform may be very different from how it will perform on another. The content itself is of par excellence and the buzz that we create will definitely bring in viewership. We will bring in appointment viewing with these shows.”

     

    Fremantle Media EVP of sales & distribution Asia Ganesh Rajaram, said: “These shows have become a global phenomenon, engaging audiences all over the world because of its ability to attract amazingly talented hopefuls with brilliant stories to tell. We’re delighted that Indian audiences will get to enjoy these shows on Zee Café.”

     

    Given the magnanimous reach of these shows already all around the world, the marketing strategies have been decisively planned. “Considering that these shows will be amongst our tent pole properties for this year, we will take an aggressive 360 degree marketing approach to promote them,” says Bedi, also adding that the shows will be aired in the prime-time slot and will target the young urban youth. “9 pm has a very high PUT among the TG 15-24 who is the viewer of this content. We are confident it will do well at this time band,” he remarks.

     

    While Bedi didn’t divulge any details about the sponsors on board for the shows, considering the popularity of the shows some interesting deals are to be finalised.

     

    The fans of these English reality shows have seriously something interesting to look forward to!

  • Vh1 to telecast the 2014 Grammy Nominations Concert Live

    Vh1 to telecast the 2014 Grammy Nominations Concert Live

    MUMBAI: The countdown to music’s biggest night of the year has begun and Vh1 is all set to air it live as it happens. The live event will take place on 7 December and be shown at 8:30 am with a prime time repeat at 8:00 pm. There is a lot of buzz and excitement on Twitter as well and viewers can get involved in the action by tweeting with the hashtag #GrammysOnVh1.
     

    Setting the stage for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, the one-hour special will officially kick off the Grammy season by revealing nominations in several categories. This year’s Grammy Nominations Concert will showcase performances by Drake, Robin Thicke, Keith Urban and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Rapper-actor LL Cool J will reprise his role as host for the fourth time this year.

  • Vh1 to telecast the 2014 Grammy Nominations Concert Live

    Vh1 to telecast the 2014 Grammy Nominations Concert Live

    MUMBAI: The countdown to music’s biggest night of the year has begun and Vh1 is all set to air it live as it happens. The live event will take place on 7 December and be shown at 8:30 am with a prime time repeat at 8:00 pm. There is a lot of buzz and excitement on Twitter as well and viewers can get involved in the action by tweeting with the hashtag #GrammysOnVh1.

     

    Setting the stage for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, the one-hour special will officially kick off the Grammy season by revealing nominations in several categories. This year’s Grammy Nominations Concert will showcase performances by Drake, Robin Thicke, Keith Urban and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Rapper-actor LL Cool J will reprise his role as host for the fourth time this year.

  • Big CBS Love to air American Idol’s grand finale live in India

    Big CBS Love to air American Idol’s grand finale live in India

    MUMBAI: Big CBS Love is all set to live telecast the grand finale of singing reality show American Idol season 12 in India.

     

    The telecast marks the first time ever that the finals of an international singing reality show will be aired live on Indian television screens.

     

    The show will witness performances by the likes of the ex-judge Jennifer Lopez and international phenomenon PSY. The grand finale of American Idol Season 12 with the top two finalists Candice Glover and Kree Harrison and judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Randy Jackson will air on 17 May at 5.30 am with a repeat telecast on Friday and Saturday at 9 pm exclusively in India on Big CBS Love.

     

    According to the channel, the American Idol season 12 grand finale promises to be a star-studded musical affair. Joining these stars during the finale will be two Indian singers who through the ‘Love to Sing’ contest conducted in association with Talenthouse India have won the “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to witness the show Live in Los Angeles.

     

    Big CBS Networks business head Anand Chakravarthy said, “We constantly strive for excellence in terms of the quality of content we offer to our audiences. A show like American Idol which is followed by millions across the globe warrantees the need of a live telecast for its grand finale. We are extremely proud to be the first movers in introducing this trend and are confident that the show’s loyal fan following in India will appreciate our efforts. The appeal of the show is sure to attract music lovers across the county while allowing us to provide an added value proposition to our advertisers.”

  • Cox to partner with MTV US on HD channel

    Cox to partner with MTV US on HD channel

    MUMBAI: MTV in the US and Cox Communications have announced a co-branded retail partnership that will promote MHD: Music High-Definition Channel.

    This is MTV’s high-definition music channel. The retail partnership will include in-store and online promotions tied to consumer retail locations around the US. The partnership will also push Cox HD Service, where Cox services are sold

    The retail partnership is designed to not only generate awareness about MHD and Cox HD service, but to also provide a convenient location where customers can learn about the technology, service and programming available.

    VHI GM Tom Calderone says, “Working with Cox Communications, the first provider to launch MHD, allows us to bring television viewers a high-definition experience from the best known music brands in the business. Our retail partnership furthers our commitment to offer Cox customers’ in-depth information about high-definition television in a retail setting where they can get answers and take advantage of promotional opportunities.”

    Cox senior VP marketing Joe Rooney says, “Live concerts and music are among the top reasons customers want high-definition service. MHD content especially appeals to a newer, younger HD consumer who is driven by music and gaming. Our retail partnership is a great way to truly demonstrate the high-definition experience to this audience by offering a ‘front row seat’ to some of the most exciting live music events on television. It also gives us a platform to communicate to these consumers why Cox is the best choice for HD service.”

    Cox will offer the channel to over 80 per cent of its subscribers next year. MHD features a high-definition music programming, including MTV Unplugged: Alicia Keys, VH1 Storytellers: Green Day, CMT Crossroads: John Fogerty and Keith Urban as well as original concert series such as Music with Altitude featuring the Goo Goo Dolls.