ITV

Tag: Men In Black II

  • HBO lays claim to number one English movie channel status

    HBO lays claim to number one English movie channel status

    MUMBAI: The war in the English movie channel arena is heating up. HBO, positioning itself as the world’s greatest Hollywood movie channel, claims to have emerged as the number one English movie channel this year.

    Quoting Tam data for the period September 2003 -August 2004 sec A,B,C 15-44 it stated that it had seven of the top ten rated English films. Spiderman was the highest with a rating of 1.95. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9pm to midnight it had the highest share of 1.08 per cent, maximum reach at 62.37 per cent. In addition people spent 48 minutes on HBO each weekend, which was more than archrival Star Movies.

    Addressing a media gathering this afternoon HBO Asia CEO Jonathan Spink said, “HBO’s Big Ones rated higher than Star Movies’ ‘Satruday Night Premieres’. What is more is that in the primetime time arena from 9pm to midnight on all days HBO also emerged as a leader among English general entertainment channels.

    “No wonder the competition (Star Movies) is copying our formula by launching the Big Two. The graphics and packaging even look the same. It takes two of their products to match one of ours. What is next? The big Three, Four, Five? Let us just leave it at that.”

    While conceding that other films that aired in the Big One block like Men In Black II did not manage to match Spiderman’s impressive ratings Spink maintained that this was natural as the English film business is title driven.

    “We are very excited about another huge franchise The Lord of The Rings. The first installment in the trilogy The Fellowship Of The Ring will air in the last quarter. However it is not just the action-oriented fare that is doing well. The family film Stuart Little 2 was the third highest rated English film this year.”

    For the Diwali season where all channels try to put their best foot forward HBO will air the caper film Ocean’s Eleven. George Cloonety and Brad Pitt are among a gang of thieves that try and rob a Las Vegas casino owned by Andy Garcia. Another big film that will bow on the channel is Charlies Angels:Full Throttle. This sees Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore returning in the roles of the super spy trio.

  • Star Movies, HBO take ratings fight to Saturday nights

    MUMBAI: The fight for eyeballs between Star Movies and HBO has reached another level. And it is the Saturday night slot that has become the place for them to battle it out with big titles.

    It is a fact though that Star Movies has some catching up to do. This is because HBO has built a very succesful franchise around it’s weekend prime time movies with its Saturday Night premieres and what has been the real success story for the channel this year – The Big One block, which is also showcased in the Saturday 9 pm slot.

    It was at the start of the year, that HBO started airing a huge blockbuster once a quarter on Saturdays to give their Saturday Night block a boost. The Big One block kicked off with Spiderman.

    The response HBO has garnered from this slot has been so good that in the last quarter it aired two Big Ones – Men In Black II and Spy Game 3: Game Over.

    It was in a bid to take this head-on that Star Movies last month unveiled its own weekend block – Exclusive Saturday Premiere. This means that in addition to a new movie on Friday, once a month, on Saturday, viewers can watch another new film. This month the channel will air Shanghai Knights on 17 July at 9 pm. The Saturday night slot was as yet an untapped one on Star Movies

    But going by data released by HBO pertaining to the last six months (January to June), it has staked claim to a clear lead in the English movie channel ratings stakes. Quoting TAM (C&S ABC 4+, All India, 1 Jan-26 June), it asserts that 7 out of top 10 titles were HBO films making it the number one English movie channel for the period.

    And drawing a direct comparison between its own The Big One and Star Movies’ Exclusive Saturday Premiere., HBO says Spy Kids 3: Game Over saw a TVR of 0.86, ahead of Star Movies’ Kiss of the Dragon (C&S AB 4+, 6 cities, week 26).

    As regards the frequency of The Big One blockbusters, HBO officials say they are undecided as to whether or not to air two Big Ones in each quarter. The next Big One is Rush Hour II which should air sometime next month. The film re-teams Jackie Chan with Chris Tucker. Star Movies, meanwhile, has its own ace up its sleeve in the form of Phone Booth that will also air next month. How these two stack up as regards the ratings should be worth a watch.

    It also remains to be seen as to whether HBO will air its miniseries Angels in America later this year. The series has collected 21 nominations for this year’s Emmys. It has also not yet finalised a decision as to what original television series it should bring to India after Sex And The City.

  • Japanese channel Wowow gets rights to Sony blockbusters

    MUMBAI: Japanese broadcaster Wowow Inc’s president Toshio Hirose yesterday announced a major multi-year feature film output license agreement with Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI).
    With the rights to several SPTI’s blockbuster releases like Spider-Man, Men In Black II, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Bad Boys II and S.W.A.T , this agreement will help Wowow get a competitive edge in the Japanese satellite broadcasting market, a company release states.
    Another important factor of this deal is that the channel will also be able to broadcast films in high definition (HD) format.
    Wowow is one of Japan’s first private satellite and pay TV broadcasters and has a subscriber base of approximately 2.5 million.

  • Sony achieves record quarterly sales, net income

    TOKYO: Sony Corporation today announced its consolidated results for the third quarter ended 31 December 2002. Consolidated sales increased slightly year on year to achieve a quarterly record for Sony of Yen 2,307.7 billion ($19.2 billion).
    Operating income increased Yen 40.9 billion year on year to Yen 199.5 billion ($1.7 billion). Net income reached Yen 125.4 billion ($1.05 billion), the highest quarterly net income Sony has ever recorded. The depreciation of the Yen against the euro had a positive impact on results.
    Despite prior concerns that sales over the year-end selling season, especially in the US would be slow, Sony performed relatively well, achieving record sales and net income for the third quarter of the fiscal year. Sales in the pictures segment increased by Yen 98.0 billion but sales to external customers in the Electronics segment decreased by Yen 59.7 billion.
    Operating income in the pictures segment increased Yen 31.4 billion due to the contribution of record home entertainment sales mainly from last summers theatrical releases like Spiderman, Men In Black II.
    The electronics segment achieved a Yen 10.1 billion increase in operating income due to the depreciation of the yen against the euro and further cost reductions. Operating income in the game segment increased Yen 5.3 billion because of the strength of software sales, the depreciation of the yen against the euro, and continuing reductions in the cost of manufacturing hardware.
    Electronics Sales and Operating Revenue to Customers by Product Category

    months ended 2001

    Y

    Three months ended 2002

    Y
    Change per cent
    Audio
    238,422
    215,565
    -9.6
    Video
    249,742
    257,274
    +3.0
    Televisions
    280,968
    283,956
    +1.1
    Information and Communications
    307,593
    251,718
    -18.2