ITV

Tag: LG

  • LG, Sony to stop making 3D TV sets

    LG, Sony to stop making 3D TV sets

    MUMBAI: At one stage it was touted as the future of television. Thanks to the stupendous success that James Cameron’s 3D version of Avatar achieved at the box office with its spectacular 3D graphics and colors. A rash of manufacturers rushed in rolling out 3D TV sets which could be watched with either wearables or with a screen to make the images jump out at viewers. 3D channels by DirectTV, Sky, ESPN, Comcast, Sony and other players in different parts of the world were launched.

    But 2017 will be the year when 3D TV was given a quite burial or cremation if you so like. The world’s largest manufacturers of TVs – LG, Sony – informed CNET last week that they were going to stop integrating 3D capabilities into the TV sets they manufacture from 2017.

    The reason: the technology required viewers to sit stationary and view the programming from a specific angle. Which consumers did not buy into at all.

    The channels that were launched were shuttered quickly but 3D TV capabilities continued to be offered by manufacturers. Until this year, that is.

    “3D capability was never really universally embraced in the industry for home use, and it’s just not a key buying factor when selecting a new TV,” said LG’s director of new product development Tim Alessi, to CNET. “Purchase process research showed it’s not a top buying consideration, and anecdotal information indicated that actual usage was not high. We decided to drop 3D support for 2017.”

    Manufacturers will now be focusing on 4K, UHD, HDR and smart TV features going forward.

  • Vivek Dhyani new group creative director Havas – Gurgaon

    Vivek Dhyani new group creative director Havas – Gurgaon

    MUMBAI: * Vivek Dhyani has joined Havas (formerly, Havas Worldwide) in Gurgaon as the group creative director from August Communications, where he was, till recently, one of the founder-directors.

    Dhyani, who started off as a scriptwriter with the All-India Radio, Najibabad, has spent over 19 years in the advertising industry with Saatchi & Saatchi, Capital Advertising, Grey Worldwide, McCann-Erickson and August Communications. He has worked on brands such as Hyundai Santro, Panasonic, Maruti Suzuki WagonR, Maruti Suzuki Corporate, Escotel Mobile Communications, LG, LML Motorcycles, Samsung, Aviva Life Insurance, Wrigley’s, Incredible India, Nescafe, Coca-Cola, Perfetti Van Melle, General Motors, Dabur and MetLife, among others.

    Says Havas India CCO Nima Namchu: “I bumped into Vivek during my stintn with Capital Advertising and later at McCann. He is the kind of writer who always leans towards writing copy with bite. Just to give you a taste of what you can expect from him – he came up with “Baaki sab gaye tel lene,” when he was asked to write a poster on fuel economy for Maruti Suzuki.”

    At Havas, Dhyani will partner senior creative director Anuranjan Dogra and will be handling some of the agency’s main brands. Navin Theeng, ECD Havas India, Gurgaon feels Dhyani is “a potent addition to the creative team that we have at Havas. A much-loved and respected creative in the Delhi advertising circle, I’m sure his humour and unique way of looking at things will give our work a new dimension.

  • Vivek Dhyani new group creative director Havas – Gurgaon

    Vivek Dhyani new group creative director Havas – Gurgaon

    MUMBAI: * Vivek Dhyani has joined Havas (formerly, Havas Worldwide) in Gurgaon as the group creative director from August Communications, where he was, till recently, one of the founder-directors.

    Dhyani, who started off as a scriptwriter with the All-India Radio, Najibabad, has spent over 19 years in the advertising industry with Saatchi & Saatchi, Capital Advertising, Grey Worldwide, McCann-Erickson and August Communications. He has worked on brands such as Hyundai Santro, Panasonic, Maruti Suzuki WagonR, Maruti Suzuki Corporate, Escotel Mobile Communications, LG, LML Motorcycles, Samsung, Aviva Life Insurance, Wrigley’s, Incredible India, Nescafe, Coca-Cola, Perfetti Van Melle, General Motors, Dabur and MetLife, among others.

    Says Havas India CCO Nima Namchu: “I bumped into Vivek during my stintn with Capital Advertising and later at McCann. He is the kind of writer who always leans towards writing copy with bite. Just to give you a taste of what you can expect from him – he came up with “Baaki sab gaye tel lene,” when he was asked to write a poster on fuel economy for Maruti Suzuki.”

    At Havas, Dhyani will partner senior creative director Anuranjan Dogra and will be handling some of the agency’s main brands. Navin Theeng, ECD Havas India, Gurgaon feels Dhyani is “a potent addition to the creative team that we have at Havas. A much-loved and respected creative in the Delhi advertising circle, I’m sure his humour and unique way of looking at things will give our work a new dimension.

  • NBCU’s Fandango acquires Warner’s Flixster & Rotten Tomatoes

    NBCU’s Fandango acquires Warner’s Flixster & Rotten Tomatoes

    MUMBAI: Once known simply as an online movie ticketer, NBCUniversal’s Fandango has made impressive strides over the last several years to evolve its business into an experience brand that super-serves consumers throughout a movie’s lifecycle.

    Now going a step further, Fandango has signed an agreement to acquire digital movie brands Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, owned by Warner Bros Entertainment.

    The addition of Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, along with Fandango’s recent acquisition of on-demand video service M-GO, will expand the company’s theatrical ticketing business and create the industry’s premier digital network for all things movies.  

    With this acquisition, Fandango’s combined audience reach will grow to over 63 million unique visitors per month and more than 100 million mobile app downloads, and offer consumers the most comprehensive resource for movie information, theatrical ticketing, movie trailers and original video content for movie discovery, and home entertainment.  

    Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, including its world-famous Tomatometer rating tool (representing the percentage of positive professional reviews for a given film or television show) will continue as consumer-facing brands, as well as exciting new additions to Fandango’s digital network. As part of the deal, Warner Bros. Entertainment will take a minority ownership stake in Fandango and serve as an ongoing strategic partner. Fandango will remain a unit of NBCUniversal.

    “Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes are invaluable resources for movie fans, and we look forward to growing these successful properties, driving more theatrical ticketing and super-serving consumers with all their movie needs,” said Fandango president Paul Yanover. “Our new expanded network will also offer unparalleled capabilities for all of our exhibition, studio and promotional partners to reach a massive entertainment audience with innovative marketing and ticketing opportunities,” he added.

    In January, Fandango acquired M-GO, a leading digital distributor of new release and catalog movies to a wide variety of connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices including Android, iOS, Samsung, LG, Roku, and others. With M-GO (to be rebranded later this year), Fandango plans to work with exhibitors and studios to build streamlined solutions for “super tickets,” theatrical ticketing and home entertainment product bundles, gifts with purchase and other new promotional opportunities.

    Fandango’s vision for super-serving consumers throughout the movie lifecycle is also extending globally.  Just four months ago, Fandango made its first move internationally and acquired Brazil’s Ingresso.com, the top online ticketer in South America’s largest movie marketplace.
    The addition of Rotten Tomatoes will also strengthen Fandango’s presence overseas, as the Tomatometer is also used by international movie lovers.

    Fandango’s most recent acquisitions follow on the heels of the company’s record-breaking year in 2015, where it experienced 81 per cent growth in US ticketing, and for the first time in a single year, received more than one billion visits.

  • NBCU’s Fandango acquires Warner’s Flixster & Rotten Tomatoes

    NBCU’s Fandango acquires Warner’s Flixster & Rotten Tomatoes

    MUMBAI: Once known simply as an online movie ticketer, NBCUniversal’s Fandango has made impressive strides over the last several years to evolve its business into an experience brand that super-serves consumers throughout a movie’s lifecycle.

    Now going a step further, Fandango has signed an agreement to acquire digital movie brands Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, owned by Warner Bros Entertainment.

    The addition of Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, along with Fandango’s recent acquisition of on-demand video service M-GO, will expand the company’s theatrical ticketing business and create the industry’s premier digital network for all things movies.  

    With this acquisition, Fandango’s combined audience reach will grow to over 63 million unique visitors per month and more than 100 million mobile app downloads, and offer consumers the most comprehensive resource for movie information, theatrical ticketing, movie trailers and original video content for movie discovery, and home entertainment.  

    Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, including its world-famous Tomatometer rating tool (representing the percentage of positive professional reviews for a given film or television show) will continue as consumer-facing brands, as well as exciting new additions to Fandango’s digital network. As part of the deal, Warner Bros. Entertainment will take a minority ownership stake in Fandango and serve as an ongoing strategic partner. Fandango will remain a unit of NBCUniversal.

    “Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes are invaluable resources for movie fans, and we look forward to growing these successful properties, driving more theatrical ticketing and super-serving consumers with all their movie needs,” said Fandango president Paul Yanover. “Our new expanded network will also offer unparalleled capabilities for all of our exhibition, studio and promotional partners to reach a massive entertainment audience with innovative marketing and ticketing opportunities,” he added.

    In January, Fandango acquired M-GO, a leading digital distributor of new release and catalog movies to a wide variety of connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices including Android, iOS, Samsung, LG, Roku, and others. With M-GO (to be rebranded later this year), Fandango plans to work with exhibitors and studios to build streamlined solutions for “super tickets,” theatrical ticketing and home entertainment product bundles, gifts with purchase and other new promotional opportunities.

    Fandango’s vision for super-serving consumers throughout the movie lifecycle is also extending globally.  Just four months ago, Fandango made its first move internationally and acquired Brazil’s Ingresso.com, the top online ticketer in South America’s largest movie marketplace.
    The addition of Rotten Tomatoes will also strengthen Fandango’s presence overseas, as the Tomatometer is also used by international movie lovers.

    Fandango’s most recent acquisitions follow on the heels of the company’s record-breaking year in 2015, where it experienced 81 per cent growth in US ticketing, and for the first time in a single year, received more than one billion visits.

  • NBCU’s Fandango snaps up DreamWorks & Technicolor’s movie streaming service

    NBCU’s Fandango snaps up DreamWorks & Technicolor’s movie streaming service

    MUMBAI: NBCUniversal’s Fandango has acquired the movie streaming service M-Go, which is jointly owned by Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation.

     

    M-GO offers new release and catalog movies from studios and television programming to a wide variety of connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices including Android, iOS, Samsung, LG, Roku, and others.

     

    The acquisition comes on the heels of Fandango’s record-breaking 2015, when the company experienced 81 per cent growth in ticketing dollars year-over-year and added more than 1,600 new screens, bringing its total US screen count to more than 27,000. 

     

    “With the addition of M-GO, we’ll be able to accelerate the ticketing momentum achieved in a record-breaking 2015 by creating compelling new digital products that serve consumers throughout the movie lifecycle,” said Fandango president Paul Yanover. “We’re excited to start working with our studio and exhibition partners to bundle theatrical tickets and home entertainment products in the form of ‘super tickets,’ gifts with purchase, and other promotional offers.”

     

    By creating theatrical ticketing and home entertainment bundles, Fandango will offer compelling “super ticket” products such as special “movie catch-up” bundles with franchise movie instalments, home entertainment pre-sell opportunities, and bundles with bonus content, collectible memorabilia, fan experiences, and more. 

     

    Furthering its goal to super-serve moviegoers, in 2015 the company increased its investment in ticketing and launched FandangoLabs, a new research and development group that was formed in collaboration with movie and technology industry leaders to innovate and enhance the moviegoing experience. Moving forward, FandangoLabs will utilise the capabilities of the M-GO platform in the creation of new moviegoing products and services.

     

    Along with the acquisition, the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Technicolor will work together to explore opportunities to collaborate on next-generation video technologies, inclusive of augmented and virtual reality, to accelerate innovation in this immersive space.

  • NBCU’s Fandango snaps up DreamWorks & Technicolor’s movie streaming service

    NBCU’s Fandango snaps up DreamWorks & Technicolor’s movie streaming service

    MUMBAI: NBCUniversal’s Fandango has acquired the movie streaming service M-Go, which is jointly owned by Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation.

     

    M-GO offers new release and catalog movies from studios and television programming to a wide variety of connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices including Android, iOS, Samsung, LG, Roku, and others.

     

    The acquisition comes on the heels of Fandango’s record-breaking 2015, when the company experienced 81 per cent growth in ticketing dollars year-over-year and added more than 1,600 new screens, bringing its total US screen count to more than 27,000. 

     

    “With the addition of M-GO, we’ll be able to accelerate the ticketing momentum achieved in a record-breaking 2015 by creating compelling new digital products that serve consumers throughout the movie lifecycle,” said Fandango president Paul Yanover. “We’re excited to start working with our studio and exhibition partners to bundle theatrical tickets and home entertainment products in the form of ‘super tickets,’ gifts with purchase, and other promotional offers.”

     

    By creating theatrical ticketing and home entertainment bundles, Fandango will offer compelling “super ticket” products such as special “movie catch-up” bundles with franchise movie instalments, home entertainment pre-sell opportunities, and bundles with bonus content, collectible memorabilia, fan experiences, and more. 

     

    Furthering its goal to super-serve moviegoers, in 2015 the company increased its investment in ticketing and launched FandangoLabs, a new research and development group that was formed in collaboration with movie and technology industry leaders to innovate and enhance the moviegoing experience. Moving forward, FandangoLabs will utilise the capabilities of the M-GO platform in the creation of new moviegoing products and services.

     

    Along with the acquisition, the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Technicolor will work together to explore opportunities to collaborate on next-generation video technologies, inclusive of augmented and virtual reality, to accelerate innovation in this immersive space.

  • LG to offer Amazon titles in HDR on webOS Smart TV platform

    LG to offer Amazon titles in HDR on webOS Smart TV platform

    MUMBAI: LG Electronics has launched High Dynamic Range (HDR) streaming on 2015 LG OLED 4K TVs, allowing consumers to enjoy exceptional HDR picture quality streaming directly via the Amazon Video app, available on LG’s webOS Smart TV platform.

     

    Amazon Video is the first to deliver HDR titles on LG OLED 4K TVs, offering the highest picture quality and most comfortable HDR viewing experience on the market.

     

    Popular Amazon Original Series Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle as well as the pilot episode of the upcoming comedy series Red Oaks are now available to stream in HDR on LG’s latest OLED 4K Ultra HD TVs, including the just-announced EF9500 Flat OLED 4K TV series and the currently available EG9600 Curved OLED 4K TV series.

     

    The EF9500 series comes with full HDR capability built in, allowing consumers to play back HDR content from both streaming content partners and external source devices. LG’s EG9600 series received a firmware update so consumers can stream content from current and future providers.

     

    “LG is committed to delivering the best viewing experience, and it doesn’t get any better than HDR content on an OLED 4K display. Amazon has played an invaluable role in helping LG bring consumers the best way to enjoy streaming content and an incredible HDR experience,” said LG Electronics USA head of new product development Tim Alessi.

     

    LG’s webOS Smart TV platform is designed to make finding and switching between content options – including broadcast TV, streaming services and external devices – intuitive and fast.

  • Syfy and LG team up to deliver interactive TV experience

    Syfy and LG team up to deliver interactive TV experience

    MUMBAI: Syfy and LG Electronics USA have launched a new interactive TV consumer experience. The new Syfy Sync for LG Smart TV app allows viewers to go inside their favorite Syfy shows in a whole new way by recognizing the episode viewers are watching and delivering contextual content to their LG Smart TV in real time.

     

    Syfy Sync for LG Smart TV launched with the Season 3 premiere of Defiance on 12 June on Syfy. Viewers with LG Smart TVs can get behind-the-scenes trivia, participate in interactive polls and learn more about the backstory of the series. The Syfy Sync app responds to what viewers are watching and delivers a whole new level of interaction while they are actively watching their favorite Syfy shows on their LG Smart TV.

     

    The Syfy Sync app for Defiance is available exclusively on LG Smart TVs, delivering an engaging new dimension to home entertainment with fun, interactive features paired with leading LG TV display technology.

     

    The interactive feature will be available on Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)-enabled LG TVs with Netcast since 2012, and will be available soon on LG Smart TVs featuring LG’s award-winning webOS Smart TV platform. LG webOS makes the Smart TV experience fast and simple with an intuitive interface that enables users to spend more time enjoying their home entertainment experience, and less time finding and switching between content options.

     

    “From its inception, Syfy Sync has always been seen as a multiplatform play and we’re thrilled to be partnering with LG to bring the experience it to a new platform with season 3 of Defiance. The LG Smart TV platform provides an incredible user experience along with an incredible TV picture quality for Syfy’s devoted fans to go even deeper into our programming,” said Syfy vice president of digital media and strategy Matthew Chiavelli.

     

    LG Electronics USA vice president of marketing David VanderWaal added, “Interactive TV with Syfy’s Defiance delivers a new, engaging TV experience, leveraging the power and simplicity of LG’s webOS Smart TV platform along with our incredible picture quality. Syfy and NBC Universal have been pioneers in real-time interactive TV for second-screen viewing, and LG is enthusiastic to work with them to bring this integrated experience to the big screen.”

     

    Syfy engaged Watchwith to power the in-program interactive engagement that appears as a subtle broadcast graphic-style overlay in the upper left portion of the screen. Watchwith’s unique in-program interactive audience engagement platform delivers an award-winning Syfy Sync experience right to the living room screen.

     

    LG’s recognition and interactive platform is powered by Cognitive Networks, the leading provider of ACR services on Smart TVs. Cognitive’s system allows Smart TVs to become contextually aware, enabling the launch of intelligently synchronized HTML5 web applications and the real-time seamless connection of live or time-shifted over-the-air programming with services delivered via broadband. 

  • India through LG’s (curved) eyes!

    India through LG’s (curved) eyes!

    MUMBAI: If the penetration of mobile phones in the country is anything to go by, we would realise that talking to our loved ones is one of the most treasured activities.

     

    And giving the consumers the best way to enjoy their conversations are the mobile companies which come up with new technology with the launch of new models every now and then. This time around, it is LG that launched its G-Flex mobile handset.

     

    The hi-end phone was officially launched in the country today (6 Feb). LG G Flex, the latest device in LG’s premium G Series, is designed to fit the palm of the hand and follow the contour of the face.

     

    To showcase its special features, the mobile company collaborated with photographer Atul Kasbekar and his 12 photographers to come up with a campaign – “India at 67”.

     

    “The main aim of the campaign is to showcase India as it is in the present. It also symbolises the ‘now’ and the ever changing future of India which is similar to a transformative and disruptive brand like LG,” says LG Mobiles marketing head Amit Gujral.

     

    On Republic Day, the 12 photographers stepped out to capture “India” over 24 hours from midnight to midnight through the G-Flex. The campaign (showcasing these pictures) will be promoted on the digital platforms which according to the company will give it the most exposure. The campaign will be created and promoted in-house before other platforms are explored.

     

    When asked about how different the phone is from the rest, Gujral remarks, “It is the world’s first phone which has curves and flexible displays,” adding that the vertical curve creates an environment where users can be immersed when viewing videos or playing games in landscape mode.

     

    The six-inch OLED screen android is priced at Rs 69,999. Commenting on the hi-end price, Gujral says that today the market has an equal opportunity wherein people are willing to shell out a lot of money for the quality provided.