ITV

Tag: sells

  • BBC Worldwide sells football show to three broadcasters

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has announced that it has sold the upcoming football series The Greatest Show On Earth to three broadcasters. The series which has been made in conjunction with football’s governing body Fifa celebrates the history of the World Cup.
     
     

    The series has been sold to Canal Plus in Spain and RTP in Portugal, and the rights have been licensed to specialist agency Mulipole in Latin America and the Caribbean. These sales follow those already secured earlier this year, to SVT in Sweden and SBS in Australia.
     
     

    The Greatest Show On Earth features a combination of official World Cup Fifa film archive and dramatised reconstructions of epic behind the scenes moments in World Cup history which have been filmed exclusively for the series.

    BBC Worldwide commercial director Motion Gallery Mark Fricker said, “We are very pleased with the strong global broadcast interest in these titles which demonstrate the international television audience’s appetite for quality sport documentaries”.

    Tracing the World Cup story from the 1930s to 2002, The Greatest Show On Earth, will feature football’s major protagonists, including Brazil, Italy, Argentina, Germany, France, Holland and England. The programme will also feature special analyses of developing football nations.

  • Hathway sells 1,000 digital boxes in Bangalore in 3 days

    BANGALORE: Hathway unveiled its digital cable TV services in Bangalore yesterday following recent launch in Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune. Mysore is next on the roadmap.

    Mysore will be connected through Bangalore as well as Hyderabad for which company has a separate arrangement, according to Hathway Cable and Datcom MD and CEO K Jayaram.

    Hathway is looking at various viable options, including Railtel for an optic connection between Bangalore and Mysore.

    A set top box (STB) has been priced at Rs.3,150 (exclusive of value added tax) in Bangalore and can be purchased outright by subscribers against a single-time payment or in installments. A buy-back arrangement by Hathway is also part of the offer.

    While speaking to Indiantelevision.com during the Bangalore launch, Jayaram revealed that 1,000 STBs have been sold within the last three days in the city and a total of 20,000 hqave gone out all over the country.

    Jayaram is confident that Bangalore’s STB sales would increase. A joint venture partner of Hathway, who covers the Vijaynagar area, said that 100 subscribers had purchased the digital boxes in his area over the last three days.

    “Wipro’s Azim Premji (the richest Indian, probably) has purchased a box for his home. So has Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani (he has purchased two boxes),”, said an excited Jayaram, hinting that the infotech-savvy have realised the importance of having a digital box for enhanced TV viewing.

    Multi-system operator Hathway has claimed a 30 per cent market share in Bangalore. It has services in areas like Frazer Town, Thomas Town, Cooke Town, Kammanhalli, Banaswadi, Indiranagar, Marathahalli, HSR Layout, Sarjapur Road, Ramamurthynagar, Banashankari II Stage, Koramangala and part of Vijaynagar and Rajajinagar.

  • Crown Media sells intl business including Hallmark for $242 million

    MUMBAI: Crown Media Holdings which owns and operates the Hallmark Channel, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its international business to a group of investors for $242 million.
     

    The sale by Crown Media includes the international versions of the Hallmark Channel. Hallmark which specialises in family oriented fare is distributed outside the US to about 60 million subscribers in 152 countries, The sale also covers the international rights to over 580 titles in the Crown Media library, and the state-of-the-art broadcast facility based in Denver, Colorado, which will continue to distribute the channels throughout the world.

    The sale has been made to a group of investors comprised of Providence Equity Partners, 3i and UK television executive David Elstein.
     
     

    As a result all employees of the international business as well as the broadcast facility will be employed by the investor group. Proceeds from the transaction will be used by Crown Media to reduce outstanding indebtedness under its bank credit facility, for the repayment of certain intercompany receivables and the payment of other liabilities.

    It was only a matter of time before Crown Media took this decision. In 2003 Crown Media’s international operations lost $21 million on about $83 million of revenue. The warning signs that Hallmark was not doing well in Asia came in 2002. That year the company closed down its Singapore sales office. It had also reduced the number feeds for the Asia Pacific region from seven to just two.

    Dwelling on the transaction Crown Media president and CEO David Evans said, “We are very pleased to have signed this agreement. We are confident that the investor group will capitalise on its global media expertise to continue to expand this international business, while we focus our efforts on maintaining the tremendous growth in ratings and distribution we have been able to generate in our domestic business. From a financial perspective, this is an excellent opportunity for our company to reduce leverage and improve our overall capital structure.”

    The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the applicable regulatory authorities. The company expects to obtain approval and complete the transaction within six weeks.

    Providence Equity Partners is a private investment firm. It specialises in equity investments in communications and media companies around the world. The principals of Providence Equity manage funds with over $9.0 billion in equity commitments.

    Elstein is a former Channel 5 CEO. He now serves as the chairman of the British Screen Advisory Council, the Commercial Radio Companies Association, Really Useful Theatres Limited, Screen Digest Limited, Sports Network and Digital Classics.

  • BBC Worldwide sells ‘Eve’ magazine to Haymarket

    BBC Worldwide sells ‘Eve’ magazine to Haymarket

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has sold women’s magazine Eve to UK publishing group Haymarket.

    The decision to sell Eve resulted from the Commercial Review undertaken by the BBC last year. Haymarket will take over publishing responsibility starting with the April 2005 issue.

    Eve launched in 2001. The BBC claims that it is currently Britain’s fastest growing women’s glossy magazine with an ABC of 150,069. Haymarket intends to continue to invest in the title as the foundation for a new women’s interest group of magazines.

    BBC Magazines MD Peter Phippen said, “We are very proud of what we have achieved with eve, and the team we have created is first class. Once the decision had been taken to sell, it was important for the future of the magazine and the staff that we completed a sale as quickly as possible. It was equally important to find a publisher who shares our belief in the aims of the magazine and who was keen to keep the team together.

    “I am delighted that we have secured an exciting future for Eve with Haymarket and believe we have found a new home for the magazine where the team will flourish and continue the phenomenal success that we have achieved since its launch.”

    Haymarket Group MD Eric Verdon-Roe said: “This is a significant move for Haymarket and we are very excited to have the opportunity to acquire such a successful title with the entire publishing staff on board. We aim for Eve to be the flagship of a new women’s interest group and fully intend to invest in its continued growth to ensure that it remains the very best magazine for the definitive woman.”

    Haymarket Group Chairman Lord Heseltine, said that the acquisition was the latest in a series of new investments at the company: “This is the latest step in the expansion of Haymarket into another new area. Before Christmas, we completed the acquisition of the Thalacker Group, the leading horticultural publishers in Germany and earlier in 2004, acquired AJB Publishing, a significant technology publisher in Australia.”

  • Balaji Telefilms opts for Deloitte, Haskins & Sells as auditors

    Balaji Telefilms opts for Deloitte, Haskins & Sells as auditors

    MUMBAI: Leading television software production house Balaji Telefilms has appointed Deloitte Haskins & Sells (DHS) as its auditor.

    The Balaji board has already approved the appointment and all that remains is for its formalisation which is expected to go through at the company’s AGM scheduled for 23 August, Ajay Patadia, company secretary told indiantelevision.com. 

    Balaji’s auditing has been managed by Dinesh Shah, Chartered Accountants, till now. Also associated with Balaji on matters accounting have been Snehal & Associates. That association continues. 

    DHS is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT), one of the fastest growing Big Five professional services firms in the world. 

    Patadia also dismissed speculation in the industry that Balaji had offloaded more stake to a foreign fund in the last ten days. 

    It may be recalled that Balaji sold 10.11 per cent equity to some six foreign funds to improve liquidity in the stock on 29 April. The promoters’ holding in Balaji post sale stood at 57.8 per cent post-sale.