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  • Nick launches its first global mobile app

    Nick launches its first global mobile app

    MUMBAI: Kids broadcaster Nickelodeon has launched its first worldwide mobile app Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run in more than 150 countries and eight languages.

    Available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, the app features 3D characters and environments based on the CG-animated series.

    This is a runner ninja combat game, where players run, jump and fight their way across the rooftops of New York in an attempt to save the city from the invading Kraang and ultimate destruction.

    The app will be translated into eight languages, English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish (Latin America) and Spanish (Spain).

  • Intelsat expected to raise $471.7 million from IPO

    Intelsat expected to raise $471.7 million from IPO

    MUMBAI: Intelsat, world‘s leading provider of satellite services, is expected to raise net proceeds of approximately $471.7 million after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, from its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

    This is well below the $1.75 billion target that the satellite operator had set for itself while filing for the IPO 11 months ago.

    Intelsat is offering 19.32 million common shares at a price of $18 per share and concurrent public offering of three million Series A mandatory convertible junior non-voting preferred shares at a price of $50 per share.

    Total net proceeds from the offering of common shares, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, is expected to be approximately $328.8 million.

    Total net proceeds from the offering of Series A preferred shares, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions, is expected to be approximately $142.9 million.

    The Company intends to use substantially all of the net proceeds from the offerings to repay, redeem, retire or repurchase a portion of its outstanding indebtedness.

    Intelsat is the leading provider of satellite services worldwide. For over 45 years, Intelsat has been delivering information and entertainment for many of the world‘s leading media and network companies, multinational corporations, Internet Service Providers and governmental agencies.

    For the fiscal ended 31 December 2012, Intelsat had reported net loss of $146.6 million on revenues of $2.6 billion. The company had a contracted backlog of $10.7 billion.

  • US broadcasters could go to Congress in Aereo dispute

    US broadcasters could go to Congress in Aereo dispute

    MUMBAI: The fight between the US broadcasters like Fox and Barry Diller-backed Aereo is likely to get hotter. There is possibility of the broadcasters could appeal to the US Congress.

    Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia has been quoted in reports saying that in the past broadcasters have gone to Congress. Earlier a US court of appeals had dismissed a plea by broadcasters against Aereo.

    Aereo uses tiny antennas to pick up free over-the-air broadcast television signals and then transmits the video to its customers over the Internet. News Corp COO Chase Carey has threatened to make Fox pay on cable.

    Right now Aereo is only in New York but the plan is to expand to several more cities. Aereo‘s premium subscription plan costs $12 a month.

    The broadcasters want Aereo to pay to rebroadcast their signals, just like cable and satellite providers already do. Broadcast transmission fees are now a multi-billion dollar business. If Aereo can access content for free then cable companies that also retransmit signals might ask for the fee to be removed or reduced.

    Of course Aereo is another case of the disruptive influence of the Internet and the impact it is having on business models and revenue streams.

  • Oscar winner, author Ruth Prawer Jhabvala dies

    Oscar winner, author Ruth Prawer Jhabvala dies

    New Delhi: Oscar-winning screenwriter and award-winning novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has died. She was 85.

    Firoza Jhabvala said her mother died in New York after a long illness.

    The German-born Jhabvala was a longtime member of Merchant Ivory Productions, writing 22 films over four decades.

    She won two Academy Awards for her adaptations of the E.M. Forster novels ”Howards End” and ”A Room With a View.”

    She also was nominated for the screenplay for 1993‘s ”The Remains of the Day.”

    Jhabvala was also recognized for her fiction, receiving Britain’s highest literary honour for her 1975 novel, ”Heat and Dust.”

    Jhabvala is survived by Firoza Jhabvala and two other daughters, her husband, Cyrus Jhabvala, and six grandchildren.

  • Daniel Craig charges million dollars for 7 minutes appearance

    Daniel Craig charges million dollars for 7 minutes appearance

    MUMBAI: Daniel Craig was reportedly paid a whopping USD one million for a brief appearance at a car show.
     
    The 45-year-old Bond star who attended the Range Rover event in New York, angered fans by leaving the venue just after seven minutes, it has been reported.
     
    During the event Craig appeared in a video driving the 2014 Range Rover Sport.
     
    The footage shows the car being driven from the company‘s UK manufacturing plant into New York crossing the Manhattan Bridge and ending up on the red carpet.

  • The Amazing Spider-Man 2 begins production in New York

    The Amazing Spider-Man 2 begins production in New York

    MUMBAI: Columbia Pictures has said that the filming has begun on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in New York. The film is the first in the history of the franchise that will be filmed entirely in New York City and New York State.

    The sequel to last year‘s critical and box office hit The Amazing Spider-Man, the film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Shailene Woodley, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field.

    In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), life is busy – between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can‘t come quickly enough.

    Peter hasn‘t forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen‘s father to protect her by staying away – but that‘s a promise he just can‘t keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.

    The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner, with a previous draft by James Vanderbilt, and based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are the producers.

    The film‘s key behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Dan Mindel, production designer Mark Friedberg, editors Pietro Scalia and Elliot Graham, and costume designer Deborah L. Scott.

    The latest chapter in the Spider-Man story is set for release in 3D on 2 May, 2014.

  • Jack Reacher mktg altered in view of school shooting

    Jack Reacher mktg altered in view of school shooting

    MUMBAI: Film Studio Paramount has decided to make changes in the marketing materials for Jack Reacher, the gritty crime-action, Tom Cruise starrer based on Lee Child‘s character by the same name. Cruise plays a hard-boiled former military cop trying to prove that an alleged sniper was framed in the film that opens Friday.
    Though the studio hasn‘t officially said what the changes are, but buzz is that a scene of Cruise‘s character firing off a semi-automatic weapon is being cut from promotional spots. The reason behind this move is the recent shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School which left 20 children between five to 11 years dead and many others scarred for life.
    Apart from Cruise‘s Jack Reacher Leonardo DiCaprio starrer Django Unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino is slated to open on 25 December. The R-rated Django stars Jamie Foxx as a slave promised his freedom if he helps a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz ) track down a plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). On 17 December The Weinstein Co.
    Announced it was cancelling Tuesday night‘s Django premiere in Los Angeles because of the school tragedy but it would still hold a screening for cast and crew.
    "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event," the company said in a statement.
    At a junket for Django on Saturday in New York, Tarantino said he is weary of defending the violence in his movies. "I just think there‘s violence in the world. Tragedies happen," the filmmaker said. "[Django} is a Western. Give me a break."
    Foxx, however, said Hollywood can‘t "ignore" that violence in movies has an impact. And this summer, Harvey Weinstein, an advocate for gun control, called for a summit on violence in films after the Aurora theater shooting during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

  • Film on agrarian crisis to screen at South Asian International Film Festival, New York

    Film on agrarian crisis to screen at South Asian International Film Festival, New York

    MUMBAI: Baromas, a Hindi film on the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, has been selected to be a part of the 2012 South Asian International Film Festival in New York.

    The film, based on Sadanand Deshmukh’s Sahitya Academy award winning Marathi novel by the same name, would be shown at the festival on 28 October, its producer Pallippuram Sajith said in a statement. “Baromas (forever) is a story of farmers who want their children to move away from the debt-ridden, uncertain life in the dryland,” says Sajith.

    The film also shows how a family copes with the situation in Vidarbha region. It also touches larger issues of corruption, unemployment, methods of farming, and farmers’ suicides amid harsh socio-economic conditions through the story of one family. “We will use the opportunity to bring the issues of the country’s farmers to the attention of the Indian diaspora,” he avers.

    The film is directed by Dhiraj Meshram, a graduate from the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Baromas stars Benajmin Gilani, Seema Biswas, Sudhir Pandey, Subrat Datta, Devika Daftardar and Jatin Goswami in the lead.

    The festival will be held from 24 to 30 October.

  • WPP: NDTV lawyers probed status of settlement

    WPP: NDTV lawyers probed status of settlement

    Mumbai: WPP, the global marketing communications agency, is making its confrontation with NDTV over alleged corruption in TAM’s television ratings louder.

    The agency, in a late night statement on Monday, made further revelations to prove that NDTV was seeking a settlement rather than pursue a costly legal battle in the US.

    WPP, which owns half of TAM Media Research in India through subsidiaries, disclosed that on 21 August NDTV’s lawyers wrote to Kantar’s lawyers enquiring about the possibility of a settlement meeting.

    It said the precise working of the email from NDTV lawyers was: “…..please let us know what the current status is in relation to settlement possibilities and/or a meeting, which we believe is the subject of certain email communications between Eric Salama of Kantar and Vikram Chandra of NDTV.”

    Kantar is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP and is engaged in media research in several countries as TAM Media Research is in India. Nielsen, the other 50 per cent owner of TAM, too is a media research agency and is a rival of Kantar globally.

    WPP stressed that in addition to Vikram Chandra’s email attempting to initiate a settlement meeting, NDTV’s lawyers have also referred to the possibility of settlement discussions on other occasions.

    The email was sent by Chandra to Kantar cEO on 27 July 2012, a day after the lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of New York.

    Though WPP welcomed NDTV‘s statement that it has no desire to get into a prolonged trial by media, it claimed it has issued statements only in order to correct selective and misleading statements in the media.

    WPP has selectively leaked some information in their feud with NDTV since it first issued a statement on 22 August but says it would not resort to an exchange of media statements over the questions posed to the communications agency by NDTV.

    WPP has taken up the cudgels against NDTV, which has accused Nielsen, Kantar, TAM, WPP and its officials of knowingly turning a blind eye to corruption in TAM’s ratings system. The other defendants in the lawsuit have so far kept silent and have not reacted to the lawsuit.

    As for the lawsuit, It said: “We remain of the firm view that it has not been served, the claims in that lawsuit have no merit whatsoever, and that it has been issued in an entirely inappropriate jurisdiction. However, we will deal with those issues in the courts, at the appropriate time.”

  • Woody Allen’s latest has Cate Blanchet, Alec Baldwin

    Woody Allen’s latest has Cate Blanchet, Alec Baldwin

    MUMBAI: Veteran film director Woody Allen has signed Blanchett, comedian Louis C.K. and actor Alec Baldwin for his next yet-to-be-titled project.

    Allen has said that the film would be shot this summer in New York and San Francisco. Incidentally, the Oscar-winning director will use San Francisco as his backdrop for the first time since Take The Money And Run, his directorial debut in 1969.

    The new project will also see the 76-year-old filmmaker return to American soil after having filmed his last three projects in London, Paris and Rome.
     
    Although, details of the plot have not be given, the film‘s cast abounds of comedic and dramatic talent like British actress Sally Hawkins, Lost actor Michael Emerson and Green Lantern star Peter Sarsgaard.

    Allen has helmed more than 40 films over a career spanning six decades.

    His latest film To Rome With Love that stars him alongside Penelope Cruz and Jesse Eisenberg will hit US screens on 22 June.