ITV

Tag: New York

  • Star World celebrates ‘Dance Fever’; unveils a world of luxury

    Star World celebrates ‘Dance Fever’; unveils a world of luxury

    MUMBAI: English general entertainment channel Star World is looking to capitalise on the success of American Idol through another music based show.

    The difference is that instead of singing, the contestants on Dance Fever show off their skills on the dance floor.
    The show will air every Tuesday from 9 May at 8 pm. The mission of this dance competition is to find out America’s best dancers. The ultimate Dance Fever contestant or team champion will strut away with a $100,000 grand prize.

    Auditions for Dance Fever were held in New York, L.A., Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta. Of these auditioners, only 48 individuals or teams will make it past the initial audition process and head to Las Vegas for their chance at dancing stardom. The Top 48 can consist of individual dancers, or teams of two to four dancers. Once the elimination rounds begin in Las Vegas, the contestants will meet host Eric Niles.

    The contestants will also face, for the first time, the Dance Fever judges: actress and singer Carmen Electra (Baywatch, Starsky & Hutch); Grammy-winning artist MC Hammer; and director/choreographer Jamie King, who has worked with Madonna, Britney Spears and Ricky Martin.

    The channel will also boost its lifestyle offerings by exposing viewers to a world of luxury. Luxury Unveiled airs every Sunday from 28 May at 7:30 pm. This is a reality – documentary series that goes behind the scenes to find out how these brands swept the world, how they got there, how they keep the magic alive and why men and women from very different countries, cultures and lifestyles spend thousands buying into them.

    Each episode will concentrate on one luxury brand. The cameras will follow as the brands prepare for the latest show; as the designers, the marketers and the manufacturers create the house’s new look. Over the hour, viewers will watch the creation, production and unveiling of a haute couture collection or a new line of accessories or a new scent and all the pain and expectation along the way. At the same time, using historical footage and interviews, the show explains how the brand got here and how many of these firms transformed themselves from provincial family-run shops into huge multi-nationals.

    More reality on air with Beauty and The Geek. The show kicks off on 31 May and airs every Wednesday at 8 pm. It teams up a group of beautiful girls with a bunch of genius guys in the hopes that one group’s strengths will help overcome the other group’s weaknesses. The “Beauties” are a group of stunningly attractive young women who use their looks to manipulate every situation. What they lack in intelligence they more than make up for in beauty.

    Each “Geek” is one of the country’s next brain surgeons, rocket scientists and philosophers, who will create cures and technology that will change the world. But despite their massive intellects, these guys don’t possess the confidence or social skills to even talk to a girl or ask her out on a date. Partnered into Beauty/Geek teams, each will train the other to develop his or her brains or charisma. In a series of hilarious contests, the incredibly hot women go head to head in a battle of smarts, while the troop of genius guys compete to prove who can be the coolest, hippest and sexiest.

  • BCCI calls for tenders for ‘neutral venue’ media rights

    BCCI calls for tenders for ‘neutral venue’ media rights

    MUMBAI: And so the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) continues along its merry road of extracting “maximum value” for its properties.

    The latest money-mopping plan the BCCI has pulled out of its cupboard, which will only add to an already seriously overloaded cricket itinerary, are for matches played by India at neutral venues (non-ICC member countries) over the next five years. The media rights for this latest piece of the India cricket pie will be inaugurated with the two-match Indo-Pakistan limited over series that will be held in Abu Dhabi next month.

    According to a media release issued by the cricket board today, the last date for submission of tenders for global media rights for India matches at these neutral venues would be 5 April, at noon at Nirlon House in Mumbai. The tenders would be scrutinised the same day.

    The financial bids would be opened in Delhi the following day between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Oberoi Hotel, the release adds.

    “The global media rights tender is intended to streamline the process of match telecasting wherever the Indian team is playing. With the number and quality of matches growing, this streamlining becomes increasingly important,” said BCCI vice-president and chairman of its marketing sub-committee Lalit Modi.

    The minimum bid varies with the region/ country being bid for. However bidders have the option to bid for rights in more than one country/ region.

    Some countries tentatively included in the list of venues are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Holland, Toronto, New York and Tristate Area, Houston, Chicago, Palo Alto and bay area, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

    The Indo-Pak Friendship Series to be played at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Stadium on 18 and 19 April is being organised as a fundraiser for the October 2005 earthquake victims in Pakistan and India. These matches are recognised by the ICC and will be counted as official one-day internationals (ODI).

    It was yesterday that the board invited tenders for the stadium ground rights that include all in-stadium branding and on air promotions. The eligibility criteria that the board laid down for this was that interested companies and agencies would need to have a net worth of $5 million. The minimum bid for the ground rights tender package is $3 million.

    “The ground rights sponsorship entails an exclusive sponsorship package, offering logos on all tickets, entry gates, ground logos, stumps etc.,” Modi was quoted as saying yesterday.
    Sealed bid entries will be accepted at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai till 4:30 p.m. 31 March. The bids will be opened at 5 p.m. the same day.

    “This is a unique opportunity for brands to not only reach out to the Indian communities overseas but also promote their brand in a unique manner where, for the first time, all rights are being offered to a single company,” Modiwas quoted in media reports as saying.

  • MTV Video Music Awards returns to New York in August

    MTV Video Music Awards returns to New York in August

    MUMBAI: The 2006 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) will return to New York City. The 23rd annual awards show will air live in the US from Radio City Music Hall on 31 August. The return of the VMAs marks the 13th time that the star studded music awards show will be held in New York and the 10th time at the Radio City Music Hall.

    The show’s host, performers, nominees, and presenters for the show will be announced soon.

    The 2006 VMAs will be a multi-screen experience for fans that will live and breathe on every single MTV platform — MTV, MTV2, mtvU, mtvUber, MTV.com, MTV Overdrive, wireless, and more! More details on the VMAs’ multi-screen elements will be announced shortly.

    MTV US president Christine Norman says, “We will take the VMAs show to unprecedented levels with fans interacting with music and stars through every single screen of MTV.

    “The 2006 VMAs will take advantage of the new ways the MTV audience is connecting with entertainment — broadband, wireless, online — these additional platforms will make this year’s show even more interactive and engaging, beaming the insanity directly to fans.

    “New York is our hometown and we are really looking to showcase the music, culture, and people from every borough of this amazing city on TV, online, broadband, and wireless to fans around the globe.”

    New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says, “We are proud that MTV has made New York its home for the past 25 years, and once again has selected the Big Apple as host for the 23rd Annual MTV Video Music Awards. An event of this magnitude and cultural importance will generate tremendous media exposure and with the thousands of visitors expected will yield a positive economic impact projected in excess of $25 million.”

    New York City Big Events president, Maureen J. Reidy says, “We welcome the MTV Video Music Awards back to world’s most powerful and commanding stage. With New York City’s passion and enthusiasm and our planned celebrations, this year is sure to be the best ever.”

    Utilising the business model created by NYC Big Events, a series of events and promotions is being planned for the months and weeks leading up to the live telecast. Extending far beyond the walls of Radio City Music Hall, all New Yorkers and visitors alike will have the opportunity to participate in special MTV performances, exhibits, educational and sporting activities.

  • CNN once again has its ‘Eye on China’

    CNN once again has its ‘Eye on China’

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN will once again dedicate its global resources to China for incisive debate, programming and insights next month. The network will have its second week-long Eye On China. A 20 member newsgathering team offers analysis, documenting the latest cultural, economic, and social developments in a country rapidly emerging as a pre-eminent global force.

    The week begins with CNN Connects – an hour long debate on The Price of Progress and continues with a blend of live reporting and features from Shanghai in the show CNN Today. Two editions of the talk show Talk Asia also go behind the headlines with China ‘s leading newsmakers.

    Following on from debates in Davos, Beirut , Mumbai, Beijing and New York CNN Connects visits Shanghai for an hour-long round table debate evaluating the issues in balancing double-digit economic growth and the environmental challenges this presents.

    Jim Clancy anchors The Price of Progress with a panel of environmental experts including Jim Harkness of the World Wide Fund for Nature, academics and specialists debating in front of a live audience including students from China’s prestigious and internationally respected Fudan University.

    Throughout the week, Kristie Lu Stout reports live from locations around Shanghai for CNN Today. In addition, Kristie and correspondents Stan Grant, Mike Chinoy and Tara Duffy bring a number of reports charting contemporary China in all its fascinating complexity. Topics cover a wide range of issues including Shanghai ‘s rise as a new business Mecca , preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the nation’s growing environmental challenges, the rise of the blogger and a look at China ‘s new sexual revolution. And, of course, Shanghainese food.

    With the Olympics just two years away, China ‘s political, environmental, and economic outlook is being scrutinised as never before. Eye On China reveals the drive behind modern China, assessing how its inhabitants are adapting to a more affluent economy while also examining efforts to balance modernisation with traditional values.

  • ‘Quest’ goes in search of spirituality in March

    Airtimes: Indian Standard Times Saturday, March 25 at 1630hrs Sun, March 26 at 1130am and 1730hrs From the gurus and ashrams of India to New York’s very own brand of spirituality, CNN’s Richard Quest goes in search of inner peace in March’s edition of QUEST.

    Despite all of life’s luxury and convenience, people are often overworked, over-stressed and ultimately unfulfilled. Quest talks to his Holiness the Dalai Lama, actress Goldie Hawn, musician Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf Islam, and cult film director David Lynch to discover how they make their worlds a happier and more peaceful place.

    Quest’s journey begins with a pilgrimage to the remote village of Dharamsala in the Himalayan foothills of India, home to the 14th Dalai Lama. His Holiness tells Quest how he manages to cultivate inner peace.

    In her apartment 54 floors above Manhattan, New York City, actress Goldie Hawn talks to Quest about becoming a ‘Jew Bu’ – her conversion from Judaism to Buddhism and explains how she found a spiritual path away from Hollywood. Back in London, UK, Quest is captivated by Karen Armstrong’s story. The so-called ‘run-away nun’ broke away from a strict Catholic upbringing to become one of the world’s foremost authors on world religion.

    Pop star Cat Stevens, also known Yusuf Islam, tells Quest that God is indispensable to a spiritual life. However according to scientist and prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins, it’s best to look for answers not in heaven, but in the world around us when it comes to inner peace. Quest also hears from cult film director David Lynch, who argues that “a spiritual nirvana lies inside us – all you need to do is ‘dive inside’ through transcendental meditation or TM.”

    Quest’s journey ends where it began – in India. Outside the southern city of Bangalore, the Art of Living Foundation is preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Over a million dedicated followers travel from all corners of the globe to join in the festivities and pay homage to their spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. To many, Shankar’s blend of philosophy, meditation and breathing exercises make him a messiah. But some sceptics think he is too self-promoting and offers false hope to lost souls. Either way, this modern spiritual movement symbolises a desire for inner peace and the anniversary event promises to be a party that Quest will never forget.