ITV

Tag: Nottingham

  • WWE to expand brand presence in UK

    MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has major plans up its sleeve for the UK market. The organisation has said that it will extend its brand presence significantly in the UK over the next year.

    This will form a part of a major global expansion initiative.

    Building upon WWEs successful UK TV and Live Event presence, the WWE brand initiative will introduce UK-based television production, additional live events. In India WWE airs on Ten Sports.

    In October the WWE will produce its two flagship programmes Raw and SmackDown! from the UK at the Manchester Evening News Arena. This marks the first time ever that the two shows will be produced outside the US.

    As a lead up to the above mentioned televised events the WWE Superstars will perform in Belfast, Sheffield, Nottingham and London. This will form a part of a ‘double header’ WWE European tour. 
    In April 2005, the WWE plans to return to the UK. It will once again produce Raw and SmackDown!.

    On the marketing front in the UK this year there will be promotional programmes, licensed product launches, and on-the-ground appearances from the WWE superstars.

    The campaigns involving WWE commercial partners will include promotions, competitions, in-store appearances and school visits. New product launches featuring the WWE Superstars are already in the planning stage. These are part of the UK-specific branding operation that will see a significant increase in presence for WWE licensees, retailers, promotional and media partners.

    Elaborating further on the initiative WWE executive VP global media Shane McMahon said, “Our fans in the UK are incredible. Their loyalty, combined with the exceptional retail and licensing programmes we have in the UK, is a linchpin to our strategy to expand WWEs global presence.

    “Our UK initiative is groundbreaking for us, our business partners, and our fans. It will develop the model we plan to use in other countries as we further implement our global expansion strategy.”

    In support of this initiative, WWE is undertaking a UK-specific ad campaign that will result in greater awareness for the brand. Licensees, retailers, promotional and media partners will all focus their WWE efforts around the same brand message. As a result of these synergies, there will be a significant increase in activities developed for their consumers.

  • Mike Atherton features on ‘Harsha Online’ Wednesday

    Mike Atherton features on ‘Harsha Online’ Wednesday

    ESS has announced that former England captain and opening batsman Michael Atherton will be the special guest on Harsha Online – the interactive one-hour programme presented by Harsha Bhogle. The show airs on Wednesday 4 September at 6.30 pm on Star Sports.

    In the course of his test career, Atherton scored 7,728 runs at an average of 37.69 with 16 centuries since his debut against Australia at Nottingham in 1989. He scored 1,791 runs in the shorter version of the game at an average of 35.11 with the help of two centuries. Atherton last played for England in the fifth test match against Australia at The Oval in 2001. Three years earlier he was dropped from their one-day squad after playing against Sri Lanka at Lord's.

    Fans can also dial 9628-400-400 or e-mail at harshaonline@espnstar.co.in to get up close and personal with Atherton. 

  • BBC World report leads to windfall for Oxford University

    BBC World report leads to windfall for Oxford University

    A report from Mike Baker, BBC Education correspondent, broadcast on BBC World, the BBC’s international news and information channel, has prompted an expatriate British millionaire to donate $500,000 to Oxford University. 

    The benefactor, Kevin Malone, originally from Nottingham, England but now based in New Jersey, USA, was inspired by the BBC World report which highlighted Oxford’s efforts to broaden access to higher education for students from low income families by launching the Oxford Bursaries Scheme and featured pupils from inner-city Nottingham visiting Oxford. After watching the report last summer, Malone contacted the university to offer his donation, an official release states. 

    The $500,000 donation will be used to pay bursaries to students from low-income families. Malone, a regular BBC World viewer who never had the opportunity to go to university and had no prior connection to Oxford, has also now included the university in his will.

    Commenting on news of the donation, Mike Baker said: “I have sometimes had viewers offering help to people or schools I have reported on but never to the tune of $500,000 – and probably a lot more as he has now included the university in his will. Obviously raising money for good causes is not our main purpose but it is very nice to know that my report has not only been watched carefully but also acted upon.” 

  • SABe TV to air in UK from Friday

    SABe TV to air in UK from Friday

    Add one more to the list of TV channels that are trying to get the attention of viewers belonging to the Indian diaspora across the globe. Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network (SABTNL)-promoted Hindi entertainment channel SABe TV is all set to start airing in the United Kingdom from Friday, 22 February.

    The move marks a major advance in the global ambitions that Markand Adhikari, vice-chairman and managing director, SABe TV, has for his channel. Adhikari said today his company had entered into a joint venture agreement by acquiring a 50 per cent stake in a UK-based channel  MATV Channel 6  the only operator among Asian channels to have secured a restricted service licence (a requirement for terrestrial broadcast).

    MATV is a Leicestershire based free-to-air Asian channel that was launched in 1999 as a terrestrial broadcaster. From April 2000, MATV has been broadcasting through cable networks as well. MATV has achieved cash break even so there are no liabilities that SABTNL has to take up as part of this transaction.

    Elaborating on the rollout plans that he has set forth, Adhikari said that initially, as a transitionary step, the channel will have both logos (MATV and SABe TV’s) displayed on-screen. The channel’s coverage will be spread across the entire United Kingdom, Adhikari said, while adding that every day the channel would have a one-hour slot devoted to news and current affairs. The unique feature of this one-hour slot is that local flavour has been brought in by demarcating content that differs from one county to another. Each county will have its own half hour news show with the remaining half hour devoted to happenings in that particular county. This could be in the form of events, interviews, profiles of individuals, all with a local flavour to it, Adhikari said.

    Queried as to the kind of money that had gone into the venture, Adhikari said an initial investment of $1 million had been pumped in to acquire the channel. One of the clauses in the deal that works well for Adhikari is that a major chunk of the content on the channel will be sourced through SABTNL. This means a guaranteed revenue source and Adhikari expects to garner revenues of somewhere in the region of 500,000 pounds (Rs 35 million) through providing roughly 2,000 hours of programming a year to the channel.

    Adhikari said this was the first major initiative on the part of SABTNL to leverage internationally the programming that it had built up over the years. SABTNL already has joint ventures in Sri Lanka and Indonesia for providing programming but that is small change when compared to what is planned for the UK.

    One area where SABe TV UK will differ from its Indian counterpart is that it will be showcasing Hindi films, something that Adhikari has avoided here.

    Asked whether there were other international markets he was looking to beyond the UK, Adhikari said the US as well as Australia were possible areas where SABe TV might have a presence at some point.

    About MATV:
    *Launched on 27th May 1999 through terrestrial broadcast, MATV has started broadcast through cable networks in Leicestershire from 1st April 2000. 
    *The channel MATV has already achieved a cash breakeven. 
    *Currently MATV reaches about 50,000 homes which accounts for about 200,000 viewers. 
    *Joint Venture plans to expand its reach through NTL cable network in nearby counties Nottingham, Derby, Coventry Manchester, Bradford and London city during the current year. 
    *The expanded reach will provide for connectivity to around 250,000 to 300,000 households with around a million to 1.25 million viewers. 
    *MATV has an alliance with SKY Television for the broadcast of SKY News. 
    *MATV broadcasts about 63 hours of new content a week in Hindi and Gujarati language of which about 18 hours of content is produced inhouse.