ITV

Tag: NYT

  • CABLEready to manage international sales of NYT TV’s medical reality series

    CABLEready to manage international sales of NYT TV’s medical reality series

    MUMBAI: New York Times Television, the television production unit for The New York Times, has chosen program distributor CABLEready to handle international sales for seven medical reality series produced for TLC and Discovery Health in the United States.
     
     
    The agreement – the second largest in CABLEready’s history – includes 195 hour-long episodes from such series as Trauma: Life in the E.R. and Maternity Ward, which ran for seven seasons and five seasons respectively on TLC, and First Days, now in production for a 2005 premiere on Discovery Health, states an official release.
     
     
    “New York Times Television has perfected the art of medical ‘verite’ television production with these series that are interesting and dramatic provide viewers with vital health-related information,” said CABLEready CEO and president Gary Lico. “With medical care a key concern worldwide, we expect a great response from programmers when we introduce The Times shows at MIPCOM in October.”

    “CABLEready’s excellent track record and aggressive positioning of major US series internationally make them logical choice to expand the worldwide presence of our medical ‘vérité’ programming,” added New York Times Television senior VP Christian Gwinn.

  • Documentary film on Rupert Murdoch releases in US

    Documentary film on Rupert Murdoch releases in US

    MUMBAI: Robert Greenwald’s controversial documentary film – Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, was released in theatres on 6 August in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC. The film is being distributed by Cinema Libre Distribution.

    Since its debut on home video more than two weeks ago, Outfoxed has sold well via the Internet while simultaneously creating noteworthy controversy among the media and public alike. Prior to its release on DVD, Center For American Progress sponsored ‘premieres’ and MoveOn.org organised 3700 ‘house parties’ across the US. The DVD has been listed as Amazon.com’s bestseller for two weeks with over 145,000 hits on Yahoo!, a company release states

    Fox had earlier offered a strong rebuttal to the documentary at a press conference in New York soon after the film’s home debut. The Murdoch owned broadcaster also launched a full-frontal attack on The New York Times, which had published an article on 11 July about the movie.

    Fox News issued a statement claiming illegal copyright infringement actions on the part of of moveon.org in cooperation with The New York Times. This included cutting a deal not to give Fox News adequate time to react to the film. Fox went on to accuse the NYT of corrupting the journalistic process.

    Meanwhile, during the Democratic National Convention, the film screened to consecutively sold-out audiences. Since its debut, demand for the film by theatre bookers and distribution companies has prompted Cinema Libre to bring the film immediately to theatres in major metropolitan areas.

    The film purports to examine how media empires, such as Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a ‘race to the bottom’ in television news. The film likewise claims to expose the dangers of huge corporations assuming control of the public airwaves and the public’s right to know.

  • Murdoch ‘Outfoxed’ by doc accusing Fox of slanting news

    MUMBAI: It is not just Michael Moore’s Bush bashing documentary Farenheit 9/11 that is stirring controversy. Rupert Murdoch is understandably less than pleased with a new documentary.
    Outfoxed, which recently released on DVD and VHS in the US, criticises Fox News for allegedly slanting its news.

    Outfoxed is being promoted by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn and has been directed by Robert Greenwald. The documentary takes potshots at Fox News’ claim of being a fair and balanced network. Greenwald has reportedly offered Fox the opportunity to air his film for free. Greenwald also made The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth about Enron, which aired recently in India on Hallmark.

    Greenwald has been quoted in the US media as saying, “We examine how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a ‘race to the bottom’ in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public’s right to know.”

    The film explores Murdoch’s burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swathe of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including veteran anchor Walter Cronkite, Jeff Cohen (Fair) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.

    Fox offered a strong rebuttal to the documentary at a press conference in New York. The Murdoch-owned broadcaster also launched a full-frontal attack on The New York Times, which had published an article on 11 July about the movie.

    Fox News issued a statement claiming illegal copyright infringement actions on the part of of moveon.org in cooperation with The New York Times. This included cutting a deal not to give Fox News adequate time to react to the film. Fox went on to accuse the NYT of corrupting the journalistic process.

    The documentary allegedly reveals the secrets of former Fox News producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it’s like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a “right-wing” point of view or risk their jobs.

    Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said “There’s no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can’t be crossed.”

    Coming back to the NYT issue, the publication had quoted from internal memos sent to Fox staffers by a senior vice-president. They seemed to illustrate a conservative bias. While Fox said that they had been given just one day to respond before publication of the article, the NYT claimed that a three-day notification had been issued.

    As far as the employees who appear on the film are concerned, Fox referred to them as being in the low level category, adding that some left due to incompetence. Moreover, none of them had expressed differences about the editorial policy of the broadcaster.

    In an interview to iwantmedia.com Greenwald added, “The goal of my film was to tell a story that we haven’t seen told in film before. We used Fox News’ own words, images and sound bites. I used the material that Fox News sends out to the US every day to make the case that they are a biased network.”

  • Italian parliament passes TV modernisation bill

    Italian parliament passes TV modernisation bill

    ROME: The lower house of the Italian parliament passed a fiercely contested bill intended to modernise television and create more choice on the Italian airwaves.

    A New York Times (NYT) report also states that the opposition criticised the move as prime minister Silvio Berlusconi owns the country’s largest private television network and indirectly controls 92 per cent of Italy’s public broadcasting channels. However, the opposition gathered votes to amend the bill and limit its scope, it says.

    The NYT report states that the bill proposed to quicken the country’s path to digital television; overturned a law ready to go into effect at the end of the year banning ownership of more than two non cable television channels; and eased restrictions on crossover media acquisitions. The owners of television networks, like the prime minister, could have bought newspapers and raised ceilings on advertising revenues.

    The detractors passed an amendment that extracts the bill’s teeth and ensured that it would impose the limit of two on the number of channels any company may own and would block the other changes. So instead of potentially broadening his Mediaset television empire, Berlusconi may be forced to unload one of his three private channels, says the NYT report.

    Conflict-of-interest accusations have hounded “tycoon prime minister” Berlusconi since he took office in 2001. Mediaset’s competitor is RAI and it is not percived to be much of a threat.

  • Discovery, ‘NYT’ may soon offer common buy ad package

    Discovery, ‘NYT’ may soon offer common buy ad package

    MUMBAI: Now this is what is called taking cross-media advertising to a new level. Discovery Communications and the New York Times are reportedly planning to soon offer a consolidated advertising package wherein the placement of an ad on one of the Discovery channels will entitle the advertiser to one in the newspaper.

    Strategies on innovative avenues to leverage each other’s brands to common advantage have gained further impetus following NYT’s recent $100 million investment in Discovery Civilisation.

    The renaming and rebranding of Discovery Civilization with a name that incorporates some aspect of NYT’s name and logo will likely form a part of this deal, emonline.com has reported.

    For Discovery, such deals are integral to its business plans. Unlike other multinetwork media companies, where cross-platform deals represent at best a small fraction of total upfront business, what Discovery calls “integrated portfolio” sales accounted for 75 per cent of all upfront agreements, Bill McGowan, executive VP, general manager, US ad sales and global integrated partnerships, Discovery Communications, was quoted by emonline.com as saying.