ITV

Tag: MTV

  • David Gale is MTV US executive VP, new media, specialty film content

    David Gale is MTV US executive VP, new media, specialty film content

    MUMBAI: David Gale has been named to the newly created position of MTV US executive VP, new media and specialty film content.

    In this new role, Gale will find, develop, acquire and produce long-form narrative content and branded films for all platforms including online, wireless, theatrical, DVD and VOD.

    As the technology, delivery platforms and audience experiences for films continue to expand Gale will help lead MTV’s efforts in finding new, cutting-edge talent to bring a diverse slate of content to audiences, from branded films and long-form narrative productions, to documentaries and more.

    In addition to continuing to work with MTV, he will bring projects to all global MTVN brands, including Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, Logo and CMT, coordinating his efforts with their production teams. In this new position, Gale will will also continue to run the day-to-day operations of MTV Films until his successor is named.

    Gale’s new role helps fulfill a key component of MTV’s global digital strategy — to combine its mission to discover, produce and showcase unique new talent and entertainment, with its continued goal of launching audience-engaging platforms such as MTV’s Overdrive, Comedy Central’s Mother Load, VH1’s VSpot, Nickelodeon’s Turbo Nick, countless 3G wireless channels and MTV Networks’ recently launched digital music service URGE.

    MTV chairman Judy McGrath says, “Our amplified efforts in creating visually rich experiences on television, as well as on computers, wireless screens and in theaters, allow us to personalize each entertainment experience our audience engages in. With David‘s new role, we’re looking to launch a new paradigm in finding, producing and distributing long-form digital content across the globe.”

    In addition to coordinating with each of the MTV Networks’ International Brand and Group Leaders (MTVN Entertainment president Doug Herzog, MTVN International president Bill Roedy and Nickelodeon & MTVN Kids & Family Group president Cyma Zarghami) for new content under the specific brands, Gale will also work closely with key executives for digital platforms on the release of film and other original long-form projects.

    Gale will also continue to work with the Paramount specialty film divisions, Vantage and Classics, to seek out the type of unique and original feature films that have made the MTV brands so distinctive in the entertainment industry.

  • Digital radio is where it’s at

    Digital radio is where it’s at

    SINGAPORE: Looks like it’s time for traditional radio stations in India to pull up their socks, as digital and internet radio is already being lapped up by about 50 million music lovers across the world.

    Not just that, but new ways of accessing music, (via wireless and Internet) has brought in a paradigm shift in the functioning of the traditional audio medium…

    Just a quick dekko at some facts and sweeping changes. With Podcasting gaining ground, interactive and savvy consumers are creating their own customized radio stations online. We already have have more than 40,000 radio stations podcasting live; which is a disturbing fact considering that there are only 30,000 traditional radio stations across the world. Also, the success of sites like myspace.com have gone on to show that social networking sites will become more important for selling music as compared to TV or Radio.

    Media futurist, & ThinkAndLink, CEO, Gerd Leonhard dwelled at length on the future of radio yesterday, the last day of Broadcst Asia. Addressing a packed audience of professionals from across the world, Leonhard said, “Digital & internet radio is now big in countries like UK, Japan, Korea, Scandinavia and very soon it’s going to catch on across the world. Traditional radio companies have to accept this and move ahead with the changes.”

    He further added, “The radio industry is touted to be roughly around $ 50 billion a year, constituting around 15 per cent of total advertising revenues. Now, this pie is going to be further fragmented and shared by mobile companies, and even companies like Apple, Google; even mobile companies as well as wireless companies. What has now emerged is that content owners will not hold distribution rights to their content anymore, so the only thing is to accept this and try to monetize from this. So, one will see a a new type of advertising which will be the revenue driver along with the content.

    Some relevant data which emerged from the session was that myspace.com, which currently has 28 billion page views, seems to be more important tpo advertisers than even a heavy rotation on MTV. Also, to listen to music, it’s the always with you/always on devices that are critical (2 billion mobile users, coupled with 50 million ipods). 
    When queried on his views on the Indian radio market, Leonhard said that, India along with China, and some untapped markets in Africa and Middle East will lead the rapid growth.

    Also, with the mobile and technology revolution sweeping India, the rates will fall further and people will access digital radio sooner than even other parts of the world.

  • MTV Asia to hold first movie awards show in October

    MTV Asia to hold first movie awards show in October

    MBAI: MTV Asia will roll out the red carpet and welcome the biggest stars of Asian and international movies when it stages its first movie awards show on 7 October 2006 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

    As part of the creative vision of the event, the iconic Southeast Asian performance venue will be fitted-out in true Hollywood glitz and glamour to accommodate the star-studded night and will set the tone for a night of awards, superstar presenters, musical tributes and celebrity antics.

    As is the case with the US show the MTV Asia Movie Awards will take a unique twist to ‘traditional’ movie kudofests by offering off-the-wall categories appealing to MTV’s audience such as “Best Kiss” and “Best Fight” filling out the list of golden popcorn trophies awarded on the night.

    The awards will also feature live performances from international and regional acts, making the event a blend of movie glamour and popular music.

    MTV notes that Asian stars, directors and films are increasingly captivating the global movie buffs. The show will feature the biggest names from Hollywood to Bollywood. Industry A-listers from India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore will share the spotlight with international headline-grabbing celebrities who top the list of nominees, presenters and attendees taking part in the MTV Asia Movie Awards.

    MTV executive VP creative David Flack says, “The MTV Asia Movie Awards will give a unique spin to the only telecast hailed as the wackiest awards show around. With so many Asian filmmakers, stars and movies impacting global pop culture, there has never been a better time for MTV to celebrate and highlight the Asian Movie Industry with its unique sense of fun and humour.”

    The MTV Asia Movie Awards will be staged under the US$50 million strategic alliance formalised between MTV Asia and the Singapore Tourism Board in February 2006. Singapore will host 17 MTV and Nickelodeon events under the alliance; the first MTV Fashionably Loud event featured Placebo in March, with Coldplay performing at the upcoming MTV Centrestage in July.

  • MTV’s IFilm launches Fifa World Cup section

    MTV’s IFilm launches Fifa World Cup section

    MUMBAI: IFilm, the online destination for user-generated and professional short-form entertainment has launched a World Cup Soccer section, providing soccer enthusiasts and consumers alike with World Cup coverage.

    Delivering content for the full four weeks of the World Cup, the section offers video clips of the greatest World Cup and professional soccer moments, riots, celebrations and commercials as well as 2006 World Cup news, much of which will be unique to IFilm, according to an official release.

    IFilm will capture the World Cup Soccer news coverage and the online users will find video clips about their favourite soccer personalities, outrageous riots, enthusiastic celebrations and inspiring commercials as well as the most funny, peculiar and unusual events of the tournament.

    “Even if you have no interest in soccer, this is a showcase of uniquely compelling video that everyone can appreciate. Watching the World Cup through IFilm’s unique user generated perspective shows why this event is perceived as magical by billions around the globe,” IFilm VP content and programming Roger Jackson says.

    IFilm curates and programmes user generated video, music videos, movie clips, short films, TV clips, video game trailers, action sports content and its renowned ‘viral videos’ collections. 

    Through its broad network of distribution partners, IFilm content can be found on portals, social networks, blogs, consumer electronics devices, television networks, and mobile video services. The company recently launched its first television series, Web Junk 20 show, in collaboration with VH1. IFilm is owned and operated by MTV Networks.

     

  • MTV Intl wins 2006 One World Media Award for Aids film ‘Transit’

    MTV Intl wins 2006 One World Media Award for Aids film ‘Transit’

    MUMBAI: MTV International was recently honoured at a ceremony in London with a 2006 One World Media Award in the category of ‘Popular Features’ for its first-ever made-for-TV film Transit.The film premiered on 1 December 2005 World Aids Day as part of MTV’s Staying Alive HIV and Aids prevention campaign.

    Transit was shot in St. Petersburg, Mexico City, Nairobi and Los Angeles, using the backdrop of these cities to tell a story about love, sex and youth. It has an international cast that includes British actress Shelly Conn Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Humberto Busto Amores Perros, Transit was developed by MTVNI in conjunction with The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

    In addition to airing on MTV channels around the world, Transit was offered to all broadcasters worldwide cost and rights free to get HIV prevention messages out to the widest audience possible. More than 50 additional broadcasters in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America, South America and Russia aired the film.

  • MTV launches animated series ‘Wulffmorgenthaler’ on mobile TV

    MTV launches animated series ‘Wulffmorgenthaler’ on mobile TV

    MUMBAI: Created exclusively for MTV Mobile TV, MTV Networks International has launched its made-for-mobile animated series Wulffmorgenthaler inspired by the world famous comic strip of the same name.

    The Wulffmorgenthaler shorts, a coproduction between MTVNI and Mikael Wulff and Anders Morgenthaler.

    Comprising 20 short animations featuring the comical twists of different characters and storylines, it is available on MTVNI’s mobile TV channels and mobile video on demand across Europe, Australia and the US for eight weeks.

    It will be distributed on MTVNI’s broadband services, according to media reports.

    MTVNI has 20 mobile TV channels in 19 countries.

    “Wulffmorgenthaler delivers on our promise to provide audiences with the most original, compelling content on multiple platforms around the world. These edgy animations will offer audiences a new, bite-sized burst of humour and creativity that only MTV can offer,” said MTVNI senior VP digital media Gideon Bierer.

    The Wulffmorgenthaler shorts join MTVNI’s other made-for-mobile productions including Head and Body, produced in partnership with Motorola.

  • Sony-Discovery reach agreement with Dish TV

    Sony-Discovery reach agreement with Dish TV

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: It’s been a long time coming but after endless rounds of discussions, India’s first direct-to-home service Dish TV has finally reached mutually agreeable terms with the Sony-Discovery One Alliance distribution bouquet to carry their channels.

    The two parties arrived at a memorandum of understanding today and the official signing will happen anytime in the next few days, sources close to the developments tell Indiantelevision.com.

    The One Alliance channels will begin beaming off the Dish platform within the next few days and the billing cycle is effective from 1 July on. The financial terms that the two parties have agreed to were not available at the time of filing this report.

    For Dish TV, this resolves one half of the problem it has been facing ever since its launch – its inability to offer subscribers channels from the One Alliance and Star bouquets.

    With the addition of the Sony bouquet, Dish TV can look forward to a major ramp up in subscriber numbers. Two key events that are expected to drive acquisitions in the immediate term are the ongoing India-West Indies Test series and the Fifa World Cup. The Word Cup kicks off in Munich, Germany, on 9 June while the second Test in St Lucia, West Indies, will take place between 10 and 14 June. ESPN Star Sports (already on the Dish network) has exclusive rights to the World Cup while Ten Sports – part of the One Alliance bouquet – is exclusively airing the cricket in the Caribbean.

    A contentious issue that automatically gets resolved with Sony’s sign-up on Dish is the legal spat that Subhash Chandra’s DTH service has been having with Viacom channels MTV and Nick since last year. Both channels are part of the One Alliance.

    In a letter sent to the information and broadcasting ministry last month, Dish TV had petitioned that despite the sector regulator’s directive on making available content to all platforms and a favourable judgement from disputes tribunal TDSAT, the “conduct of MTV” has been “clearly in violation” of the interconnection regulation of 2004.

    Dish TV’s parent ASC Enterprises’ contention was that despite carrying on commercial negotiations with MTV Networks India for several months, the content provider and its distributors in India (One Alliance) had stalled any fruitful conclusion of such talks.

    ASC Enterprises, an Essel Group company, holds the licence for a DTH service in the country, which is marketed under the brand name Dish TV.

  • MTV launches celebrity romance reality show ‘Ishq Deewane’

    MTV launches celebrity romance reality show ‘Ishq Deewane’

    MUMBAI: MTV is premiering a celebrity romance reality show MTV Ishq Deewane on 3 June at 7:30 pm. 

    Through its 12 episodes, MTV Ishq Deewane will unravel the real world of the couples and introduce audiences to the little things that bind them together, states an official release.

    The half-hour format consists of three segments – meeting the couple, setting up the task and the big suprise in the end. 

    The channel will showcase the celebrity couples like Shweta & Manav Gohil, Rajeshwari & Varun Badola, Manasi & Rohit Roy and Delnaz & Rajiv Paul amongst others in the show, adds the official release.

    MTV Networks India VP and GM creative and content Ashish Patil says, “With shows like Loveline, Love ke liye and more, MTV’s always been a love guru. We now take it to level 2 with true life love stories and some really wicked surprises delivered MTV style by your favorite celebrities only on Ishq Deewane!”

    On the marketing front of MTV Ishq Deewane, the channel plans an aggressive push on-ground. Within the first two weeks, MTV plans to engage its audiences on-ground innovatively through road shows in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

    It has also tied-up with Baskin Robbins and launched a special double-scooped Ishq Deewane Sundae. Anyone who orders this sundae, gets another one of the same, free. 

    On the home entertainment front, the channel has tied-up with Excel Videos, to put out MTV Ishq Deewane Superstars Ka Super Pyaar DVD Collection Offer

  • Nick increases its laughter quotient with MTV’s ‘Bakra’

    Nick increases its laughter quotient with MTV’s ‘Bakra’

    MUMBAI: Nick is now hoping to ride on the success of its sister channel MTV’s much popular show – Bakra.

    Starting 5 June, Nick will air Bakra, which is produced by MTV, in the Nick Hahaha comedy block. The Bakra episodes on Nick, chosen from the existing library, have already run on MTV over the last few years.

     Bakra will air every weekday at 6.30 pm with repeat telecasts at 9.30 pm. On weekends, the show will be aired as a one-hour specials at 4 pm.

    Nick India vice president and general manager Hema Govindan said, “Bakra, whose popularity transcends all ages, will be a valuable addition to our already laugh-riotous Nick Hahaha block, which also includes Kenan & Kel, Drake & Josh and Laurel & Hardy. We’re sure that during summer vacations, Bakra on Nick will keep our young audiences smiling.”

    Bakra is a half-hour show sportingly cons and makes ‘bakras’ of unsuspecting people. Host Cyrus Broacha and his team put the regular junta through strange situations with sometimes unexpected – but always hilarious – results, all captured on hidden cameras.

  • Diddy to produce dance show for MTV

    Diddy to produce dance show for MTV

    MUMBAI: MTV Networks inks a deal with Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs to produce an untitled dance competition series.

    The project will focus on street dance troupes from around the country as they train, compete and express themselves. The television projects is between Bad Boy Entertainment and MTV. Combs will provide executive producer services for the dance competition pilot.

    The airing of the dance show has not yet been announced.

    This show will showcase the drive, determination and expression of this dance generation picture Rocky but with dance troupes.

    Diddy’s last reality TV project, Celebrity Cooking Showdown, was a flop and was pulled from the schedules after just four shows.

    The news follows on the heels of Jennifer Lopez is also developing a new reality dance show title Moves with MTV bosses.