ITV

Tag: SAW

  • Bahl’s SAW to launch on Zee bouquet in UK

    Bahl’s SAW to launch on Zee bouquet in UK

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahls international venture South Asia World (SAW), which has been looking at the UK space for a while now, has signed a distribution pact with Zee Telefilms.

    SAW would be bundled and distributed with the Zee channels. The infotainment channel, which made its debut in the US last year, is now looking at charting a new route in the UK market around May.

    According to broadcasting industry sources, a memorandum of understanding with regard to distribution pact has already been signed with Zee Telefilms. However, as of now, other financial details of the deal are not available.

    SAW will be the fifth pay channel in the Zee bouquet on the Rupert Murdoch-controlled BskyB digital platform.

    In the Zee platter on the BskyB platform, Zee TV and Zee Cinema cost £12.99. Alpha Punjabi as a stand alone channel is priced at £ 9.99 while Zee Music is a free to air channel.

    For UK, SAW is likely to be uplinked from India to HongKong from where it would be picked up by BskyB hub to BSkyB’s main broadcast center in London.

    SAW is operated through a company named India World Network USA Inc, which is promoted by Bahl.

    In a related development, SAW would foray into the Middle-East market where a sizable South Asian population exists. SAWs’ roll out in the Middle-East market is likely to be in tandem with its debut in UK market. Barring last moment hitches the channel would beam after a couple of months.

    The channel primarily aims at targeting the Asian community. SAW will deliver news and views from India and the subcontinent. Its programming also includes local coverage of the South Asian community within the United States and the UK.

  • CNBC’s international channel titled South Asia World

    CNBC’s international channel titled South Asia World

    NEW DELHI: Publicly traded Television Eighteen’s proposed international channel is to be called South Asia World (SAW). It would be formally launched sometime in December, around the time when a Hindi business news channel too would debut.     

    According to broadcasting industry sources, the name SAW, which is undergoing test beaming at the moment, was coined, as the target audience would mostly comprise people of South Asian origin.
    The proposed international channel will be uplinked from Delhi, while the uplinking base of the on-air business channel, CNBC TV18, would now be shifted to Mumbai.
    The international channel’s programming and packaging, according to the sources, would be different as it would contain lot of entertainment-based news and some lifestyle shows too.
    The channel would also have a fairly sizeable amount of news originating from the UK and the US, which would be done out of the New York studio, at present being readied. The name of the Hindi business news channel, however, hasn’t been decided yet as the chosen advertising agency, Lowe, is to get back to the company with a branding plan for the channel.
    It has also not been decided what would be the modality for the involvement of CNBC Asia, the current partner of Television Eighteen Ltd.
    “Television Eighteen is awaiting announcements of amendments to the uplinking norms for news channels that the government had said is being looked into,” an industry source says.
    Earlier, the government had said that the information and broadcasting ministry is contemplating some changes in the uplink norms for news channel, which were likely to be completed by 31 October.
    With two proposed channels from the Television Eighteen stable slated for a December launch, it’s action time for the company that has been registering steady growth. The company’s stock closed the day on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 154.30, gaining 1.65 per cent.
    The TV-18 group clocked revenues of Rs 169.42 million in the first quarter of FY 2005 ended 30 June 2004. The operating profit stood at Rs 86.37 million, while net profit recorded Rs 62.09 million (excluding forex gains/losses and deferred tax adjustment).

  • ‘Millionaire’ to end prime-time run in US 27 June

    ‘Millionaire’ to end prime-time run in US 27 June

    The Indian avatar of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Kaun Banega Crorepati, came, saw, conquered, and has gone into the history books as the show that redefined the dynamics of entertainment television in the country. KBC ended its run on Star Plus in January after providing the thrust that drove Star into pole position in the channel stakes.

    Across the Atlantic, the US version of the Celador-licenced show is also set for its walk into the sunset. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire officially ends its just under three-year run on 27 June, ABC announced late on Monday.

    To send it off, the network will reportedly air a 90-minute edition of the Regis Philbin-fronted gamer. After that, Millionaire will be revamped as an occasional series of specials, similar to how the programme debuted in 1999. 

    With the departure of Millionaire and NBC’s Weakest Link from this fall’s primetime schedules, the trend has now gone full circle: quiz-based game shows have once again been relegated to daytime, syndication and cable.

    And that looks like a trend that is going to be replicated in India as well because the gameshow is increasingly looking to be a losing proposition.