ITV

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  • ‘Desperate Housewives’ continues to blow the TV ratings roof off

    MUMBAI: If there is one truism about American television it is that a lot of the time, if a show has done well in its debut season, chances are that viewers will flock in droves for more.

    Such is the case with ABC’s Desperate Housewives. The first episode of the second season aired a few nights ago. The show attracted more than 28 million viewers. In India the show airs on Star World.
     
     

    The episode of Lost saw 23.5 million viewers tuning in. This meant that ABC got its best first-week performance of a new TV season in five years. It was the first time since 1995 that ABC won the first week among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic most important to advertisers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

    The network got five out of the top 10 programmes for the opening week of the new TV season. The hospital soap Grey’s Anatomy saw 19 million viewers tuning in. Invasion saw 16.4 million viewers watching and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was able to attract 16.4 million viewers. While Desperate Housewives’ performance was excellent it was below the 30.3 million figure that the final episode of the first season got for ABC.
     
     

    It is CBS that is still the number one network. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation got 29 million viewers. However the overall first-week ratings were down seven per cent which has been attributed by observers to the absence of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. For the opening week 19-25 September 2005, CBS averaged 12.9 million viewers, ABC had 12.3 million, NBC 9.9 million, Fox 6.5 million

    NBC as the figures show is in third spot and reports indicate that the business based reality show The Apprentice is slipping as is the sitcom Joey. NBC would have been last were it not for the fact that American Idol has not yet started airing on Fox. Martha Stewart’s version of The Apprentice managed only a little more than seven million viewers.

  • AXN off to a strong start in Korea

    MUMBAI: The action oriented AXN says that it got off to a great start in Korea, achieving the top position among retransmission channels over the weekend. It started broadcasting on SkyLife Channel 333 from 15 July 2005.

    Miller rides into AXN’s launch event in Korea

    At the launch event Sony Pictures Television International senior VP and MD Asia Todd Miller made an entry on his mountain bike to clearly epitomise the personality of the AXN brand, as well as the attitude and spirit of an AXN viewer – adventurous, irreverent, edgy, daring and exciting. Korean subtitling has been provided on the channel.

    AXN ranked number one among the retransmission channels, and also achieved an overall ranking of 16th, out of over 80 channels on the SkyLife platform (excluding terrestrial stations), marking it the most successful launch of a retransmission channel in Korea.

    Miler says, “AXN is thrilled to broadcast into Korea with our partner SkyLife. AXN is a channel full of energy, life, excitement. We are committed to bringing top quality action and adventure programming that will deliver what we call ‘The Buzz’ to Korean viewers. We at AXN also deeply appreciate the Korean Broadcasting Commission’s retransmission license to AXN as the first international general entertainment channel to retransmit into Korea.”

    SkyLife CEO Dongkoo Suhr said, “We are pleased to have such a high-quality channel as AXN join our family in SkyLife, we are confident the addition of this exciting new channel will cement our position as the leading Korean digital satellite broadcasting company and we hope to see this partnership help boost the Korean broadcasting industry to new levels.”

  • Star switches off signals to Asianet Satellite

    MUMBAI: Star India has discontinued services of its bouquet of channels to Asianet Satellite Communications, the largest cable TV network in Kerala.
     

    The signals were switched off on 7 May due to non payment of dues. “We gave them a month’s notice as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) requirement,” says a Star India spokesperson.

    Star had earlier moved the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against Asianet. The case is posted for further hearing on 16 May. The multi system operator (MSO) in Kerala has already paid Star Rs 60 million after the TDSAT directive to pay up at Rs 50 lakh a month.
     
     
     

    “The TDSAT asked us to pay Rs 50 lakh a month. We have paid Rs 60 million on 22 April as per the directive of the Tdsat. The case is set for further hearing on 16 May,” says Asianet chief executive officer Mahesh Kumar.

    Star admits it has received payment from Asianet, but says there is still an outstanding amount which is yet to be cleared. “Asianet has not paid us the full amount. So we decided to switch off signals,” says the Star spokesperson.

    Star and Asianet have been engaged in conflict over the outstandings for the last six months. “The TDSAT has not been functioning after chairperson Justice DP Wadhava completed his term on 4 May. We are waiting for the final verdict,” says Kumar.