ITV

Tag: Pix

  • Ratings: Star Movies maintains edge over HBO; Discovery gains ground

    Ratings: Star Movies maintains edge over HBO; Discovery gains ground

    MUMBAI: The English entertainment scene has been undergoing a few changes. Until recently HBO was off the air waves in Mumbai for several weeks. Arch rival Star Movies continues to be off air.

    Tam data SEC A,B 15+ has thrown up some interesting findings. The period is 1 September – 1 November 2006.

    At an all India level Tam data shows that Star Movies has seven of the top nine English films. Creature features and martial arts films not surprisingly continue to do well. King Kong and The Way Of The Dragon on Star Movies got TVRs of 0.34 and 0.31. Enter The Dragon on HBO got a TVR of 0.31.

    Data also shows that the blackout in Mumbai benefitted Pix and Zee Studio. When you just look at the six Metros Pix has two films in the top 10. At number three it has Bicentennial Man which got a TVR of 0.38. Men In Black rated 0.3. This shows two things. Firstly Mumbai is a very important market for English films. Secondly it lays some credence to Pix’s philosophy that if one has films with good stories no matter when they were made viewers will watch them. Interestingly none of the films in the top 10 whether one looks at the Metros or all India are premieres. Zee Studio also figures in the top 10 at the metro level. It got a TVR of 0.29 for Shaolin Temple.

    If you look at primetime shares 8-11 pm for all the English channels – movies, general entertainment, infotainment one sees that Star Movies and HBO’s shares have gone down partly due to the Mumbai blackout. Star Movies for the period last year had a share of 23. Now it has a share of 17 for all India and 16 for the six Metros. HBO’s share has gone down from 18 per cent to 13 per cent at an all India level. For six Metros there has been a fall from 17 per cent to 11 per cent.

    Pix though it launched recently is neck and neck with Zee Studio. Zee Studio it must be pointed out has doubled its share from three last year to six per cent. Pix does better than Zee Studio when one looks at the Metros. It has a share of eight. At an all India level it has a share of four per cent.

    The biggest gainer by far is Discovery. At the all India level it has a share of 18 per cent versus 14 per cent for the same period last year. This is the most for any channel. At a Metro level it has a share of 16 per cent versus 10 per cent last year. Discovery’s gain would appear to be arch rival National Geographic Channel’s (NGC) loss. Last year for the period NGC’s share was 14 per cent for the six Metros. This time it is eight per cent. Discovery Travel and Living’s (DTL) share has also gone down from seven per cent to five per cent. At the all India level the shares of NGC and DTL are flat at 13 per cent and four per cent respectively. Animal Planet’s share has also stayed the same at eight per cent for the Metros and 10 per cent for all India.

    The History Channel had undergone a repositioning. It is now an entertainment channel with the tagline Live The Story. It shows films, miniseries etc. However its share has only grown marginally from four per cent at an all India level to five per cent. In the Metros its share is flat at three per cent. Its share is comparable to Star World with whom it is now looking to compete for both ad revenues and viewership. Star World has a share of three per cent all India and five per cent in the metros.

    Zee Cafe has shown some improvement. Its share grew from one per cent last year to three per cent this year for the Metros and two per cent at an all India level. The English general entertainment channels all have some work to do to catch up with AXN. The action oriented broadcaster has held steady with shares of nine and 10 per cent at an all India and the six Metro level respectively. No doubt initiatives like the ongoing Amazing Race Asia help viewers to keep going back.

  • Excel Home Video looks to grow the TV DVD segment

    Excel Home Video looks to grow the TV DVD segment

    MUMBAI: Earlier this year Excel Home Video entered the television segment. It released the first seasons of Desperate Housewives and Lost.

    Encouraged by the response the company is now looking to add more titles to that list.
    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com this afternoon, Excel Home Video MD MN Kapasi says, “Our focus is only on English shows as those in the SEC A and A+ segments watch them. They can thus afford to buy them. We will be releasing the second seasons of Lost and Desperate Housewives. These rights were got from Buena Vista.

    “We will now be releasing seasons 1-5 of 24 as well as Prison Break and The Simpsons. These rights we got from Fox. Other titles include Boston Legal and Grey’s Anatomy. The Hindi segment is not cost effective. If you want sell a DVD of a Hindi soap like a Saas Bahu then you would have to price it cheap.

    “By the end of the fiscal year March 2007 we will have eight English TV DVD titles. For the next fiscal we will add another seven to eight titles. We are looking at specialised content like aerobics and possibly adventure sports.” The television venture helps Excel build on the relationship it already has with Fox and Disney as far as films are concerned.

    Excel Home Video has 1,000 English film titles on DVD. One of its latest releases has been Ice Age 2. To push it kicked off an offer in association with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Each DVD has a hologram. If the hologram matches the hologram shown on the channel then the consumer gets Ice Age 2 merchandise which has been imported. This way Kapasi says consumers become more aware of legal products as pirated stuff do not have holograms.

    On the retail level when a consumer buys a DVD he can get an Excel VCD exchanged for a DVD and just pay the price difference. The Ice Age 2 DVD has a coupon. The consumer just has to mail the coupon. To push Ice Age 2 Excel also did wall executions in retail outlets like Planet M, Rhythm House. The dubbed version of Ice Age 2 in Hindi will be released later this month. New titles coming up are Cars, X-Men 3 and Pirates Of The Carribean 2. To push X Men 3 Excel will have ads on Pix and AXN. This too will be a hologram linked effort.

    Excel also did the innovation of re – releasing the first Pirates film on DVD to coincide with the release of the sequel. It also re released the first two X Men films to coincide with the theatrical release of X Men 3. “This strategy of synergy marketing has worked well for us” adds Kapasi.

    He says that 50 per cent of Excel’s above the line marketing activities are done through television. Print he adds has not really delivered. Excel not surprisingly also advertises in select multiplexes through slides as that is one place his TG frequents.

    Excel has also come out with the strategy of having Movies and More outlets. This is a place where one can buy DVDs and VCDs. Right now there are 11 mostly situated in multiplexes. The plan is to increase the number to 40 by the end of the fiscal. There will also be a presence in malls.

    Excel has around 30 Hindi films in its library including Dor and Lagaan. Kapasi rues the fact that there is no method in the price one pays to get the rights for a Hindi film. A producer according to him often quotes a price without looking at factors like the market size. He is hopeful that with new producers like Farhan Akhtar coming in the situation will improve.

    In terms of targets he says that the company expects a 40 per cent growth in turnover for this fiscal. Bottomline growth is expected to be in the range of 18-22 per cent. The efforts of Excel have not gone unnoticed. Fox is happy about the way Ice Age 2 has fared on DVD. Fox VP intl licensees Richard Crook says, “The success has sharpened our focus on India’s growing home entertainment market. Excel Home Videos our licensee in India, has delivered a fantastic job by successfully targetting the festive holidays”.

  • Pix has a treat for viewers next month

    Pix has a treat for viewers next month

    MUMBAI: English movie channel Pix has announced that it has got a treat in store for viewers this month.

    The spread kicks off with Will Smith. He will feature on the interview show Inside the Actors Studio on 1 October at 7 pm. Viewers can also get Jiggy with Will with Men In Black right after on Pix of the Week at 8 pm. Smith incidentally had come down to India for the launch of the channel in April.

    Cameron Diaz on 8 October and Julianne Moore on 22 October will also feature on Inside The Actors Studio. Versatile veterans Ian Mckellan and Ben Kingsley feature on the show on 15 and 29 October respectively

    The channel will also featre Sir Sean Connery in The Great Train Robbery and The Man Who Would be King on 2 and 3 October on Perfect 10.

    Action buffs can check out Cheap Thrills Friday. Krull airs at 8 pm and The Golden voyage of Sinbad airs at 10 pm on 6 October. In Krull a prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet.

    The channel will also air The Greatest Story Ever Told. This is a retelling of the story of Christ and airs on 21 October 2006 at 8 pm on Damn Good Drama.

    Pix will also be kicking off an SMS contest. This basically gives viewers a chance to win a holdiday trip this festive season. Pix also has a contest for Inside The Actors Studio where through SMS viewers can win DVDs.

  • HBO, Star Movies start to feel blackout pinch

    HBO, Star Movies start to feel blackout pinch

    MUMBAI: It has been two weeks since English film channels HBO and Star Movies have been off air in Mumbai. While the Hindi film channels have returned with the undertaking not to air ‘A’ rated films, the problem with the above mentioned two channels is that they do not have enough films rated U and U/A to put on air for 24 hours.

    In Mumbai, Hathway and InCable, which control 55 per cent of the cable homes in Mumbai, have not resumed telecast of these two channels. Even some other areas of Mumbai that have other service providers are not getting them. The first problem is that a significant percentage of the viewership for English movie channels (around 15 per cent) each week, comes from Mumbai.

    The second difficulty is that the channels have to get their films cleared by the Censor Board. A Star official says that the channel is in the process of submitting the films. He was non committal when asked as to when the channel was expected to be back on air.

    HBO too, has a significant backlog to be cleared. While attempts to contact HBO proved unsuccessful, a Zee Turner official says that it is looking to help HBO in the process. The repercussions of the blackout are already starting to show however.

    On the ad revenue front, information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that agencies will ask for some kind of compensation if the problem is not resolved soon. The amount of course will depend on the delay in getting the channels back on the air.

    On the distribution front though, the Zee Turner official says that the cable fraternity has been cooperative and understanding of the situation. Of course subscribers in Mumbai will continue to pay for HBO. So there is no loss there in the absence of addressability.

    The longer this drags on the better it is for the likes of Zee Studio and Pix. While the ratings are not yet out they would have benefitted to some extent as some viewers who would normally watch HBO and Star Movies tune in to them.

    What is interesting though is that Zee spokesperson Ashish Kaul says that the blackout is too restrictive to be a reason for the channel to do anything drastic like push forward its planned marketing campaign. “Had it been a nationwide blackout, the situation would have been different. While more people in Mumbai will tune in to us we need to push ourselves more for them to stay with the channel once HBO and Star Movies come back on. We will be launching new properties and a campaign in around three weeks time. If the blackout is still on (which looks likely) then we will certainly see more visibility.

    “However we recognise that the blackout is temporary and to get viewership in the long term we need to create better visibility for ourselves. It is important that our brand position of being a channel for the movie connoisseur be clear.”

    Another beneficiary from the blackout would be DVD libraries. A spokesperson from a library says that more English movie DVDs are being rented on the weekends. The blackout does not affect rentals the weekdays as people in any case do not have the time, he says. On weekends though the number of English film DVDs being rented is up by around 15 per cent over the past couple of weeks.

  • Pix looks to grow further through original content

    Pix looks to grow further through original content

    MUMBAI: It has been a little over four months since Sony’s English movie channel Pix went on air. The channel positions itself as being different from the competition by airing films which tell a good story, regardless of when they were made.

    In July, to add variety the channel launched the interview based show Inside The Actors Studio. Now it is looking at putting out original content.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Pix business head Sunder Aaron says, “We are looking to have two, perhaps three shows of our own on air some time after the Diwali festival. We are looking at talk shows and other concepts. It could be Bollywood stars talking about their favourite Hollywood films. We are also looking at a show that examines current trends in film, both in India and abroad.

    “We are also looking to do reviews of current films. In the future we will acquire films from independent and medium sized studios. Our main focus is on whether a film tells a strong story. After all, a big budget, big name stars, costly visual effects do not necessarily make for a great film.”

    Aaron also claims that in terms of GRPs and reach Pix is ahead of Zee Studio. “There is still room for improvement here though. We have received an encouraging response from cities like Bangalore and Chennai.” Not surprisingly, information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that Pix had to pay carriage fee to cable operators so as to ensure that the channel had adequate visbility among viewers.

    Says Aaron, “We will now go out to the market and target media agencies to advertise on Pix. We waited to establish our distribution as well as viewership. Our audience is not the teenager who likes flashy blockbusters.

    “It focusses on the discerning viewer. While our TG is 15-44, time will tell whether our channel attracts an older set of viewers (25+) compared to the competition.”

    Pix has also rolled out a marketing campaign which is in the form of among other aspect hoardings. It is being done in the six metros. The message is that the channel watches many movies before handpicking a few for the viewer. The aim is to convey the message that a lot of thought goes into choosing films for that select audience that wants and expects only the best. There are also radio spots. Pix also has a presence in multiplexes in the form of slides and a radio programme. Pix also has an on-air competition. Viewers can answer simple questions by sending an SMS to 2525.

    When asked whether Pix is becoming associated with nostalgia, Aaron said that while that may partly be the case, people watch it and stay with it for the stories. “When we brought actor Will Smith down for the launch of the channel, he said that it was Pix’s commitment to storytelling that attracted him to it. He felt that there was a need on the part of Hollywood to get back to the basics of solid storytelling. Perosnally, I am happy to see that this is the case. The films that were nominated for the best picture Oscar this year all had strong stories.”

  • PIX flies Tara Sharma to New York to interview Daniel Craig

    MUMBAI: The newest Bond film, Casino Royale is highly anticipated. PIX, the new premium English movie channel owned by Sony Entertainment Television, is flying film actress Tara Sharma to New York City to interview Daniel Craig, the newest James Bond.

    Tara will personally interview Daniel Craig, Eva Green (the new Bond Girl), Martin Campbell (the Director), and the whole cast and crew of Casino Royale. She will also see the film in a special screening on 3 November. Then on 4 November she will meet the cast and crew of the movie, asserts an official release.

    Talking about the interview Tara said, “I am extremely nervous and excited. I am a big Bond fan, and just love Daniel Craig. It’s thrilling to be one of the first to see the movie in New York City too. I’ve also been doing a lot of homework, as I will be interviewing artists of international caliber and so I want to be well prepared for the meetings.”

    On 17 November, Sony Pictures Entertainment will release Casino Royale, the latest film featuring James Bond. Its said to be very closely based on the original novel written by Ian Fleming, which shows us how Bond first got his ‘double-O’ license, adds the release.

    PIX will be airing a special show featuring Tara Sharma’s interviews with the whole cast and crew of Casino Royale. This episode will also present ‘behind the scenes’ footage and will be aired on all the SET channels in Hindi.

    PIX business head Sunder Aaron said, “PIX is growing at a fast pace so it’s important we continue to engage the viewers in our dedicated PIX community. While PIX shows English movies, we are also an Indian channel, so are committed to providing quality, original content for our viewers. It’s also great to be the official TV partner for Casino Royale: this allows us to create exciting, unique promotions for the movie that involve PIX, our other networks, Sony Electronics and Casino Royale.”

  • PIX brings the World Television Premiere of “Being Cyrus” – Catch it on the PIX Sunday Parade

    MUMBAI: Saif Ali Khans’ first English film and a debut venture by Director Homi Adajania- “BEING CYRUS” makes its entrance on the small screen with its World Television Premiere on November 19 at 8.00pm on PIX. Being Cyrus has won tremendous critical acclaim by all and happens to be one of the films that have received positive reviews from every section of the media as well.

     

    This is not all PIX has vowed to bring quality content to its viewers and the best in television watching experience, the channel therefore with all its Drums and Trumpets welcomes the “PIX SUNDAY PARADE”. Get ready for an exhilarating entertainment throughout the month of November as a part of PIX Sunday Parade.

     

    Don’t forget to watch out for the one-hour exclusive interview of Homi Adajania in conversation with Onir, Director of My Brother Nikhil at 7:00 pm on Sunday, 19th November. “ Homi Has shared some great insights of being a first time director with Onir. The interview has the quality of a spontaneous chat between two directors – what makes it so interesting is the kind of questions Onir has posed – only a Director could make those observations. The viewers are sure to find this interview fascinating since it is so different from the typical celebrity interviews one often gets to view”, shares Gitanjali Murari, Programming Head, PIX. Homi Adajania – Framed, will be followed by the World Television Premiere of “Being Cyrus” at 8:00 pm. And finally brace yourselves for the Big bumper Bonanza on 26th November with a 2-hour exclusive episode with John Travolta in Inside the Actors Studio and some more of him with Look who’s talking at 8:00 pm on Pix of the Week.

     

    Now you don’t need to worry about how you will spend your weekends, Just sit back, relax and join the PIX SUNDAY PARADE.

  • Pix to launch ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ on 16 July

    Pix to launch ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ on 16 July

    MUMBAI: Pix will be launching the Hollywood talk show Inside the Actors Studio (ITAS) on 16 July. The show will be aired every Sunday at 7 pm.

    Pix has acquired 47 episodes of this series. Some of the guests interviewed include: Will Smith, Antonio Banderas, Hugh Grant, Charlize Ttheron, Richard Gere, Renee Zellweger, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Al Pacino.
    Inside the Actors Studio has been on air in the US for more than 11 years and is now broadcast in over 125 countries.

    From its origin, Inside the Actors Studio has followed an interesting format in which the show is taped in front of an audience made up of students from the Actors Studio’s Master of Fine Arts program.

    The interviewees share intimate and personal experiences that influenced their choice of career and what it is that continues to fascinate them about showbiz. The interview then concludes with a standardised questionnaire of 10 questions that requires candid answers, leading to hilarious and sometimes touching moments on the show.

    The channel has also weaved an ITAS contest wherein viewers will have a chance to win Pix goodies. Contestants can SMS ‘JL’ to 2525 and win DVDs of Hollywood movies.

    The show has won nominations for Outstanding Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Non-fiction Series, 11 Emmy award nominations, the Cable Ace Award as best talk show and The New York Festival Award for the world’s best talk/entertainment.

  • JENNIFER LOPEZ on ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ on Pix

    PIX, Sony’s new English movie channel is all set to bring home to its viewers the best of Hollywood stories and shows. The popular Hollywood talk show, Inside the Actors Studio launched successfully on PIX with ANGELINA Jolie the celebrity guest. So, get ready as PIX airs another exciting episode of ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ with Jennifer Lopez as she chats up with James Lipton this Sunday, 30th July at 7.00pm only on PIX.

     

    About Inside the Actors Studio

    This unique talk show has been on air in the US for more than eleven years and is now broadcast in over 125 countries. James Lipton, the host and the Executive Producer of “Inside the Actors Studio” since its conception in 1994, has interviewed more than 200 of the world’s most talented and accomplished artists – ranging from actors and directors to musicians and comedians. While other Hollywood talk shows focus on gossip and glitz, Inside the Actor’s Studio focus’s on the craft of acting. The penetrating and extremely fascinating interviews of celebrities have led to countless awards including 11 Emmy award nominations and The New York Festival Award for the World’s Best Talk/Entertainment.
     
  • Pix lines up an array of movies in June

    Pix lines up an array of movies in June

    MUMBAI: From romance to comedies, action to mysteries, and horror to dramas, Pix has it all in June. The channel will air blockbuster movies under the brands Perfect 10, Cheap Thrills Friday, Damn Good Drama and Pix of the week.

    Perfect 10 will have a John Travolta special from 12 – 14 June and a Barbara Streisand fest from 28 – 29 June.

    Action, thriller and adventure style movies will take over on Friday nights in Cheap Thrills Friday with movies like Thank God its Friday and I Know What You Did Last Summer, which will air at 8 pm and The Blue Lagoon and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, which will air at 10 pm.

    Dramas will dominate the screen on Saturday nights in Damn Good Drama with back to back movies of stars like Paul Newman amd Al Pacino in Absence of Malice and And Justice For All, which will air 24 June at 8 pm and 10 pm respectively.

    Jack Nicholson’s Easy Rider will also be premiered in June apart from other premieres every Sunday at 8 pm.