ITV

Tag: Maldives

  • Worldspace inks cricket rights deal with Espn Star Sports

    Worldspace inks cricket rights deal with Espn Star Sports

    MUMBAI: Worldspace Satellite Radio has signed an exclusive broadcast license agreement with Espn Star Sports to provide subscribers with live audio coverage of cricket, further enhancing its content offering and providing consumers with a truly unique listening experience.

    Under terms of the agreement, Play, the Worldspace -branded all sports channel for South Asia and the Middle East, will have exclusive broadcasting rights throughout South Asia for 12 tours and over 200 days of cricket comprising both test matches and one-day internationals.

    Three of the 12 tours include India — Worldspace Satellite Radio’s primary market in the Asia region. Coverage begins 19 November, 2006 with India’s tour of South Africa, and runs through February 2008, with conclusion of the India-Sri Lanka-Australia Triangular Series in Australia, informs an official release.

    “The exclusive acquisition of these premier cricket internationals is another demonstration of Worldspace’s continued commitment to providing the best in audio entertainment for our listeners,” said Alexander Brown, co-chief operating officer, Worldspace.

    Subscribers will have “ball-by-ball,” real-time coverage of all matches as well as a host of ancillary programming surrounding each match. The coverage will feature matches with the national teams from India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, and will also include the biennial Australia-England test series, “The Ashes.” Broadcasts can be received in countries covered by the Worldspace AsiaStar satellite’s West Beam and include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Qatar, and UAE.

  • Sony sets out IPO plans; seeks controlling stake in Ten Sports

    Sony sets out IPO plans; seeks controlling stake in Ten Sports

    MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India is stepping up plans for an initial public offering (IPO). The company is looking at a period after the cricket World Cup gets over in April 2007, a source close to the development says.

    The merchant bankers are yet to be appointed but the IPO plan is being actively pursued. “The board has approved an IPO plan, but subject to the capital market and other related conditions,” the source adds.

    Sony is also in active negotiations to buy a controlling stake in Ten Sports. SET India already has the rights to distribute the sports channel in India. “The negotiations are on to acquire a majority stake. But nothing has been finalised yet,” the source says.

    Ten Sports, it is learnt, is willing to part with a 50 per cent stake. No agreement has been reached on the valuation, the source says. It is worth noting here that a report put out by CNBC TV18 yesterday had said “the deal is believed to be worth between $ 55-60 million.”If this report proves correct, it would mean that Ten Sports has been valued at between $110 million to $120 million.

    When contacted, Taj Television Ltd CEO Chris McDonald said the company was in talks with several companies for strategic partnerships. “There is no deal at this stage,” he added. On being queried whether the company was willing to part with controlling stake, he refused to comment on specific details. Dubai-based Taj Networks owns and operates Ten Sports.

    SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta denied that anything definite on Ten Sports or the IPO had been decided at this stage.

    Zee Telefilms Ltd. (ZTL), which was in negotiations over a year back, has not resumed talks, a source in the company said. ZTL plans to bid for cricket rights like the ICC which will come up for grabs rather than buy a stake in Ten Sports, he says. Another reason that ZTL dropped any acquisition strategy in regards to Ten Sports is that the channel is already locked into a five-year distribution deal with the rival SET-Discovery One Alliance, the source adds. ZTL in any case runs Zee Sports, which is in the hunt for acquiring cricket properties to provide strength to the channel.

    Taj Entertainment has mandated Ambit Corporate Finance to find a strategic investor. With Harish Thawani’s Nimbus preparing to launch a sports channel, analysts say the acquisition price would continue to be high with more broadcasters chasing cricket properties.

    Ten Sports would require capital infusion even as the cricket properties it currently holds (Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan boards) come up for renewal. By doing a distribution deal with Sony, it will be assured subscription revenues on a guaranteed basis.

    “The buying into Ten Sports would be seen as a good time before the IPO,” a market analyst said.

    SET India has also conducted a restructuring exercise which is seen as a precursor to a public float. The company recently acquired sister company SET Singapore. Though it had obtained clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for this purpose a few years back, it had deferred this process as the proposed restructuring transaction would have attracted capital gains tax.

    “Sony is keeping everything ready for the right time to hit the market,” the source says.

    SET India had obtained clearance from the FIPB to acquire 100 per cent shares of SET Singapore through a share swap transaction. According to the proposal, one share of SET India would be exchanged for 16 shares of SET Singapore. Post-restructuring, 60.65 per cent of the SET India equity would be with the Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) entities, 19.83 per cent with non-resident Indians and overseas corporate bodies, 7.68 per cent with foreign institutional investors and 11.84 per cent with Indian shareholders.

    Taj Television is 100 per cent owned by Bukhatir Investments Limited, a UAE-based conglomerate with interests in banking, construction, real estate, trading, information technology, sports and broadcasting. Ten Sports is a sports channel which broadcasts in the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan and Hong Kong.

  • SAARC nations to evolve strategy to exchange information during calamities

    SAARC nations to evolve strategy to exchange information during calamities

    MUMBAI: The Press Information Bureau additional principal information officer B S Chauhan will be heading the Indian delegation at the Third Conference of Editors and Working Journalists of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries at Male. On the agenda is SAARC countries evolving a strategy to exchange information on media usage during calamities

    The prime criteria is that reaching out is a must in disseminating critical information for those in the concerned affected areas.

    India has reiterated that SAARC Nations should make special efforts through media so that the people, especially women and children of these areas can be brought closer to the mainstream.

    With a view to reach out to people affected by terrorist acts and hilly terrain in India, Chauhan emphasised that radio coverage should be strengthened to reach the affected zone, informs an official release.

    Sharing the experience of India on media management during Tsunami crisis, he said, all stations of All India Radio in southern states of India and East Coast including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where continuously broadcasting information on the developing situations in the affected areas are based on live inputs by districts and State authorities from different locations.

    Radio and TV stations also broadcast information about relief measures like helplines and measures to combat epidemics. He said that, the media must be involved as a participatory agency which combines the media, government officials, government multimedia implementing agencies, NGOs, public opinion representatives and the beneficiaries.

    Apprising the member countries of transparency measures being taken by India, Chauhan said India had recently adopted a legislation in Parliament relating to the Right to Information (RTI). The RTI Act is a major stride in further increasing transparency in the country and is expected to go a long way towards making officials more responsive to people’s urges articulated through the media. This is an idea, which the other countries in SAARC region may like to emulate.

    SAARC is an association of eight countries of South Asia including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan,Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The two-day conference is being attended by the representatives of the SAARC countries except Nepal.

  • Maldives appeals to ABU for Fifa World Cup broadcast on FTA TV

    Maldives appeals to ABU for Fifa World Cup broadcast on FTA TV

    MUMBAI: The Government of the small island nation of the Maldives has called on the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) to help it gain access to the Fifa World Cup 2006.

    The country’s only free-to-air television station, TV Maldives, is being asked to pay more than $600,000 to broadcast a limited number of games.

    The minister of Information and Arts Mohamed Nasheed mentioned this at the opening ceremony of the ABU’s 80th Administrative Council meeting held in the Maldives this week.

    Situated in the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka, Maldives has a population of less than 300,000. The minister said that the local cable operator had been given the broadcast rights to all 64 games, but they had only 25,000 subscribers.

    Most of the population on the 20 atolls which made up the island nation would therefore not be able to see the World Cup unless it was broadcast on free-to-air television.

    The country was one of those badly affected by the 2004 tsunami and is still recovering from the economic hardships brought on by the catastrophe. Some of the islands were completely destroyed by the tsunami.

    The minister suggested that the holder of the broadcast rights was taking advantage of the Maldivians’ love of football. “Charging a small public broadcasting organisation such as ours whose only interest is to show its nationals their life-blood game is like taking away the means of our life and charging an exorbitant amount to return those means.

    “We cannot be victimised by this and we do not want to accept such manipulative deals,” the minister added.

    Nasheed said that the satellite operator which had acquired the broadcast rights from Fifa was asking TV Maldives to pay “a tsunami amount of money”.

    “$600,000 is equivalent to nearly 7.7 million rufiyaa. Divide that by 300,000 people, it comes to 25.7 rufiyaa per person. This is an enormous amount.

    “And if we understand correctly, there are richer and bigger countries that would pay only US$40,000 to watch all the 64 games,” the minister said.

    Nasheed has appealed to all members of the ABU to support its cause to obtain the Fifa World Cup 2006 rights “at a bearable cost that is commensurate with our nation, its population and its capacities.”

    ABU secretary-general David Astley said that the price being asked of TV Maldives was a 3,000 per cent increase on what the broadcaster paid for the same rights in 2002.

    “It is outrageous that the rights holder should be asking for an increase of this magnitude at a time that this small island nation is recovering from the devastation of the tsunami. The amount being asked is totally out of proportion to what other countries of this size are being asked to pay.”

    Astley said he had been informed that the Government was drafting ‘listed events’ legislation which would require events like the World Cup to be made available to free-to-air television at a reasonable cost.

    “This could have been avoided if the pay-TV provider had been willing to negotiate a fair price with the free-to-air broadcaster. I believe it is a case of the pay-TV operator simply not being aware of the market conditions in the Maldives,” he said.

    Astley said that the ABU’s head of sport John Barton would hold discussions with the pay-TV operator concerned and was hopeful that a deal could be reached which would not necessitate the Maldives Government rushing new legislation through parliament.

    The administrative council also discussed a number of proposals relating to how the ABU could assist broadcasters in dealing with a possible avian flu pandemic, and plans to hold the third World Electronic Media Forum in Asia in December 2007.

    Following the meeting, the councillors visited a village community on a nearby island and also the studio facilities of Voice of Maldives and TV Maldives.

  • HBO Asia’s James Marturano retires; Chua to replace

    HBO Asia’s James Marturano retires; Chua to replace

    MUMBAI: HBO Asia executive vice president and HBO South Asia managing director James Paul Marturano has retired, thus ending his two decade long tenure at the company.

    Marturano will be succeeded by HBO Asia senior vice president sales and marketing Suarina Chua, who has been with the company for the last 12 years. She joined HBO in 1994.

    Marturano will continue to work with HBO as a consultant. He played an integral role in establishing the channel in Asia. HBO is now available in 22 countries across the Asian region.

    HBO Asia CEO Jonathan Spink said, “Jim has been a pivotal figure in driving the company’s long term growth in the region since our operations began in 1992. There’s nobody who’s done as much for the growth and development of HBO Asia. He leaves behind a significant legacy.”

    As executive vice president of HBO Asia, Marturano headed the sales and marketing division and also looked after the company’s business development. He was also responsible for managing the operations of HBO ventures in South Asia that included India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives.

    Beginning his tenure with HBO in 1986, Marturano relocated to Singapore in October 1991 as director, international operations, and was responsible for overseeing the developmental work for the HBO Asia project. He was promoted to vice-president, sales and marketing in April 1992 and as senior vice-president, sales and marketing, for HBO Asia in January 1997, overseeing the distribution and marketing of HBO and Cinemax throughout Asia.