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Tag: Sony Le Plex HD

  • Celebrate 90 years of Oscar with a weeklong movie festival on Sony Le PLEX HD

    Celebrate 90 years of Oscar with a weeklong movie festival on Sony Le PLEX HD

    MUMBAI: Everyone knows that Oscar is the most prestigious award ceremony worldwide. Everyone keeps an ear out to know the list of nominated movies every year. Everyone bookmarks these movies for viewing and reviewing…but not everyone ends up watching these glorious movies. As this elite award ceremony enters its 90th year, its only befitting that Sony Le PLEX HD, home to Hollywood’s most acclaimed and loved movies, celebrates the occasion with a weeklong special line-up of Oscar nominated and Oscar winning movies.

    The week-long celebration on Sony Le PLEX HD, starting 26th February to 4th March from 6am to 1am, is the place to be at for the community of movie lovers. Movies starring Living legends like Julia Roberts, Daniel Day Lewis, Sean Penn and Bryan Cranston who have submitted whole heartedly to their characters in movie such as Erin Brockovich, Lincoln, Milk and Trumbo make for a compelling watch. 

    Not just that, from excellence in direction and editing to music composition and scriptwriting, the line-up recognises and honours the best of talent in film making with movies such as Manchester by the Sea, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, The Imitation Game, Social Network, Gladiator, to name a few. 

    Be a part of this celebration and feel the joy, love, passion gone into the making of each movie making it a must watch for the community of Movie lovers – only on the Premium Hollywood Movie channel, Sony Le PLEX HD #WhereYouBelong

  • It’s raining colorful movies and shows this Holi on SPN’s English Cluster

    It’s raining colorful movies and shows this Holi on SPN’s English Cluster

    MUMBAI: The festival of Holi is synonymous with colours, food, laughter, dance, music and entertainment. This year, SPN’s English Cluster will heighten the entertainment quotient with special line-up of movies and shows on Sony PIX, AXN, Sony BBC Earth and Sony Le PLEX HD full day on March 2. 

    Sony BBC Earth, India’s leading factual entertainment channel, will make you feel alive with its most iconic nature and wildlife content showcasing the varied ‘Colors of Earth’. From the greens of the rainforests in Planet Earth II to the deep blues of the oceans in The Hunt; from the intense shades of yellow in deserts of Africa to the burst of colors from different facets of Hidden India and Nature’s Greatest Dancers, each handpicked episode promises an explosion of color from the natural world.

    Sony PIX, home to Hollywood’s biggest premieres and blockbusters, has a special line-up of vibrant and colorful movies for the full family. Binge-watch on Hollywood’s most revered animation movies starting 9 am with Despicable Me 2, The Secret Life of Pets, Big Hero 6, Sing, Finding Nemo, The Angry Birds Movie and Kick-Ass 2.

    Sony Le PLEX HD, home to Hollywood’s most acclaimed and loved movies, promises to brighten up the day with award-winning movies such as The Danish Girl, The Help, Tangled, Nocturnal Animals, The Way We Were and The Imitation Game starting 9AM.

    AXN, India’s leading GEC that is home to the most iconic shows and characters, will offer a heavy dose of reality, entertainment and drama for the right amount of adrenaline rush. Watch ‘Best of Total Wipeout’, Survivor, American Ninja Warrior and Brave for a full day of fun-tertainment.

    SPN’s English Cluster wishes everyone a Happy and colourful Holi.

  • SPN English cluster innovations for 2018

    SPN English cluster innovations for 2018

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) is prepping to engage the world’s second largest English-speaking market where 60 per cent of the population is under 35. With an active English cluster, SPN has some global offerings for India in 2018.

    It has picked up some of the best films from the biggest studios in Hollywood including Walt Disney, Universal, Warner Bros and PVR Pictures among others. SPN India’s English Entertainment cluster includes four channels catering to three genres – Sony Pix and Sony Le Plex HD for movies, AXN for English entertainment and Sony BBC Earth for English infotainment.

    As per data shared by SPN for All India: NCCS 15-40 AB, Sony Pix, in the tier 1 space, is ranked second with an 18 per cent market share and time spent by viewers (TSV) of 23 minutes just behind Star Movies which has a 20 per cent market share and TSV of 24 minutes during the calendar year 2017.

    SPN India classifies audiences into influencers and adopters – the influencers are the compulsive viewers, active across digital platforms and watch rated and recommended content. The adopters prefer watching TV with a relatively low awareness quotient and often seek advice on the content they need to watch.

    Sony Pix reached around 34 million households in 2017. The content on the channel is curated from the top five studios in the world that included Disney, Warner Bros, NBC Universal, Sony and Lionsgate.

    According to SPN India EVP of English channels Tushar Shah, the ad sales revenue for the whole of English entertainment and movies genre is upwards of Rs 700 crore. “We are extremely competitive as far as the ad rates are concerned,” says Shah. The prime time for the genre is 8-11 pm.

    When asked whether the trend of content consumption on OTT has affected traditional media, Shah says that there is always a churn between different platforms around the world. But this hasn’t led to viewership shrinking. Instead, it has grown by 54 per cent for the English category between 2016 and 2017. The English movies genre overall has grown by 67 per cent in 2017. “Some of the new content which we have curated will be on the OTT platform for a period of time,” adds Shah.

    “The launch of OTT has augmented the growth of TV channels in India,” says SPN India senior VP- marketing English entertainment Neville Bastawalla. SPN’s movie catalogue consists of 500 films with movies like The Fast and the Furious 8, the latest The Mummy, Despicable Me 3, which Pix will air for the first time on TV in India.

    “There are no other channels in the market that offer such diverse content from the top five studios in the world,” Shah says. “Our distribution is very tight and best in the industry and is backed by excellent creative ideas and execution.”

    SPN India’s premium English movie channel, Sony Le Plex HD, is at the top position with 29 per cent share in the premium category, according to the network. SPN India channels will showcase movies like Happy Death Day, Victoria and Abdul, The Red Turtle, Mary Magdalene, Dragon Heart etc.

    AXN, SPN India’s twenty-year-old legacy brand, topped the charts with a 25 per cent market share and a reach of 26 million households in CY 2017, according to the network. Compared to 2016, the channel witnessed a spectacular growth of 118 per cent in viewership in 2017 claims SPN India. AXN will host the Indian television premiere of the show with two Golden Globes and eight Primetime Emmy Awards – The Handmaid’s Taleon 5 February. AXN will also have the much awaited new seasons of shows like Vikings and Billions and the return of popular reality shows such as Top Chef and Top Gears.

    Sony BBC Earth is set to benefit from the quadrupling of HD subscription by 2030 according to a Chrome Data & Analytics HD report. “Sony BBC Earth airs extremely premium content. We don’t believe in thrills which are for the sake of being there and for attracting viewership. As of this week’s HD data, the channel has 14 per cent market share,” informs Shah.

    BBC claims to have made the most expensive natural history series Planet Earth 2 which took three years across 40 countries. The channel has content for all types of audiences from 8 pm to 12 pm starting with science at 8 pm followed by nature and wildlife at 9 pm and adventure at 10 pm. Sony BBC Earth will air a new show Blue Planet 2, which took four years to make with underwater shooting filmed at depths of up to 8 kilometres. Apart from this, it will also cover the length and breadth of India and reveal some of its untold stories from a new perspective.

    Also Read :

    Content segmentation defines English entertainment, movies in 2017

    Sony Pix signs content licencing deal with Warner Bros

    Sony Pix and Le Plex HD brings special line-up this Christmas

  • TV channels ready Republic Day programming line-up

    TV channels ready Republic Day programming line-up

    MUMBAI: With the Republic Day holiday upon us, broadcasters have readied a slew of programmes to keep viewers enthralled. To build the excitement around the day, various special shows and movies have been lined up. Let’s take a look at a few of them:

    Sony BBC Earth is celebrating the day by premiering shows such as Joanna Lumley’s India—recipient of the prestigious Bafta Fellowship. The show entails Lumley taking an evocative journey around the country of her birth. The other show, named The Ganges with Sue Perkins, traces the course of the Ganges, from source to sea, to tell the story of modern India at a crucial point in its history. To make things more interesting, the network will telecast World’s Busiest Cities, the most awaited Blue Planet II and Fishing Impossible.

    AXN, meanwhile, is premiering a number of shows such as the Handmaid’s Tal, which is an American television series created by Bruce Miller based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, with an IMDb rating of 8.6. Other shows include Vikings season 5. With the death of King Ragnar, his sons are at war against each other. From the executive producer of the show Homeland, The Brave revolves around DIA deputy director Patricia Cambell and her team, who put their lives at risk and embark on challenging missions behind enemy lines. Another heart-racing show is Doubt, which is about a successful defence lawyer at a boutique firm who becomes romantically involved with a client who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime.

    The list of programmes for the Sony cluster doesn’t end there. Sony PIX also has a strong line-up in place for the day. The channel will premiere Ouija: Origin of Evil, which is a show about a widow and her two daughters that use an Ouija board to help people move on with life. Other movies include Fifty Shades Darker, The Fate Of The Furious, Despicable Me 3, and American Made. Another movie to watch out for on the channel is Pitch Perfect 3.

    Sony Le PLEX HD has a line-up for shows such as When the Bough Breaks, which is about a surrogate mom for a couple who becomes dangerously obsessed with the soon-to-be father, and All We Had. Adding to the entertainment quotient are Nocturnal Animals and Sing.

    Stepping beyond the contours of television, Nickelodeon is celebrating Republic Day with the school kids across various cities. Through its Republic Day campaign, #BeRepublic, the channel took the charge of educating and bringing awareness to the kids. The campaign saw fun videos that captured quick facts about Republic Day and enlightened children about the rich heritage of our country and the importance of parades. Fun gifs and informative posts on social media supported the celebration session. The celebrations continued when Nicktoons took charge of the classroom and converted it to a fun-filled yet informative session at schools across various cities. The toons enlightened children through various placards on quirky unknown facts about our constitution-making syllabus for the day fun and memorable. 

    With such great programming in the works, this Republic Day is all set to be memorable for viewers across age groups.

  • Sony: Tushar Shah now heads English cluster, Saurabh Yagnik shifted to new role

    Sony: Tushar Shah now heads English cluster, Saurabh Yagnik shifted to new role

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN has announced the following changes in the leadership team portfolio.

    Saurabh Yagnik, will move into a newly created role of EVP – monetization strategy and consumer insights. In this role, Yagnik will lead the identification of organic and inorganic monetization opportunities in partnership with the revenue and channel heads, to increase SPN’s participation in the marketplace. He will also leverage consumer insights to identify and facilitate implementation of new business opportunities for the network. Yagnik moves into this new role from being SPN’s EVP and Business Head for the English cluster of channels, where he was heading AXN, Sony Pix, Sony Le Plex HD and Sony BBC Earth.

    Tushar Shah will take on the role of EVP – AXN, Sony PIX, Sony Le Plex HD, Sony BBC Earth and Sony Aath. Shah moves into this role from being SPN’s EVP & Business Head –Sony Aath.

    Both these roles will report into SPN CEO NP Singh.

    Yagnik has been with SPN for over four and a half years and Tushar has been with SPN for over eleven years. These moves are in line with SPN’s philosophy of providing exciting career opportunities to internal talent and the network’s focus on the future.

  • Macbeth on 23 April: Sony Le Plex HD remembers the Bard

    MUMBAI: “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” said Shakespeare (the Bard of Avon). Legends never die. One such legend is William Shakespeare.

    An English poet, playwright, and actor, he passed away 400 years ago, but his work still reverberates in our lives. As a tribute on his death anniversary, Sony Le Plex HD will telecast the Indian television premiere of Macbeth on 23 April at 1 pm and 9 pm.

    Sony Le Plex HD, the premium Hollywood movie channel from the English Cluster of Sony Pictures Networks, caters to avid English movie lovers who enjoy watching critically acclaimed Hollywood cinema.

    Macbeth is a tragic play written by Shakespeare in 1606 that went on to become one of his most celebrated work. It is a story of a Scottish general who comes to power after killing the king of Scotland but is consumer by guilt and paranoia. The play has been adapted to many films, attracting some of the best known actors to play the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

    The film, directed by Justin Kurzel, stars some of Hollywood finest actors like Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Jack Reyan. The movie was also chosen by Cannes Film Festival to compete for the Palme d’Or – the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

    Witness some powerful performances as one of the most epic plays comes to reel life on Sony Le Plex HD #WhereYouBelong.

  • Oscar-winning ‘Danish Girl’ unsuitable for TV despite theatrical release, Sony expresses regret

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: The Oscar-winning Hollywood film The Danish Girl, which had been released in theatres in the country in January 2016 with an ‘Adults only’ certificate and no cut, has been denied its television premiere in India on Sony Le PLEX HD channel.

    A Central Bureau of Film Certification (CBFC) source said that TV channels are generally not permitted to screen films with ‘A’ certificate, but can apply for a fresh certificate whereby some scenes found offensive can be sliced and the film screened with a ‘U/A’ certificate.

    The internationally-acclaimed film’s theme is loosely based on the story of Lili Elbe, a 1920s painter who was born into a man’s body as Einar Wegener and underwent the first gender confirmation surgery in the world.

    The CBFC source said this theme was unsuitable for viewing by the Indian TV audience, particularly children. As to why the route of suggesting cuts was not recommended to the rights-holders or the TV channel, the source said that it was difficult to edit a film when the subject itself is so controversial and unsuitable for TV viewing.

    The film had been slated for telecast on Sunday evening, and the Sony Network channel Sony Le PLEX HD sent out a tweet apologising for being unable to telecast the film as the necessary certification had not been received. But, the channel promised to keep up efforts to get the certification and inform the viewers. Even as it regretted any inconvenience caused.

    The Danish Girl is a 2015 British-American biographical romantic drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 2000 fictional novel of the same name by David Ebershoff and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener.

    The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery. Others in the film are Alicia Vikander, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

    On its Twitter handle, Sony stated:

    Sony Le PLEX HD‏ @SonyLePLEXHD  Mar 24

    We know how much you wished to watch The Danish Girl this Sunday & regret the inconvenience caused. We thank you for your constant support.

    Also Read:

    CBFC won’t ‘chill’; Pan Bahar ‘Bond’ ad banned

    No plans to regulate TV content through CBFC: MIB

     

  • Sony Le PLEX HD to air tribute-movies of Hollywood actors

    MUMBAI: This February, Sony Le PLEX HD will pay tribute to those well-known actors who passed away too soon into their career. From Heath Ledger to Paul Walker, Hollywood has lost some gems too early, leaving fans and critics disheartened and wanting for more. `WatchIt’s 9O’Talk themed ‘The Tribute’ will feature five great movies with a common theme for the week starting Feb. 20, 2017.

    Robin Williams is another name in the list. After playing iconic characters in movies like `Jumanji’, `Hook’ and `Mrs. Doubtfire’, he garnered a massive fan following all around the world. His death left a void in the entertainment world.

    Another shocker that came to Hollywood was when the young heart-throb Paul Walker lost his life in the tragic car accident while shooting for `Fast & Furious 7’. The remaining part of the movie had to be created with the help of VFX and body doubles.

    Other names in this tribute list include Philip Seymour Hoffman and Chris Farley. While Philip died during production of the blockbuster film `The Hunger Games –Mockingjay Part II’, Chris (known for his comic timing in Saturday Night Live) passed away leaving quite a few unfinished projects and a lot of sorrowful fans behind.

  • Guest Column: English content consumption showed upward trend in 2016

    Guest Column: English content consumption showed upward trend in 2016

    Consumption of English content continued to show growing trends during the year 2016 and the momentum is expected to be sustained this year as well.  An interesting and encouraging trend was the continual surge in Hollywood box office collections in India as compared to previous years. This reflects the growing affinity of Indian audience towards English content. There has also been substantial growth in social media conversations on Hollywood and other English content and expect the trend to continue in a big way in 2017.

    Coming to Hollywood movie channels, the key to success is to have a strong pipeline of premieres and library films. This is at the core of our business and a big reason why we invested aggressively to get the best content for our viewers. The tie up with NBC Universal enhanced our programming with blockbuster films and franchises like Jurassic World, Fast& Furious, Minions, Steve Jobs, Straight Outta Compton, Jason Bourne, Sing and Secret Life of Pets to name a few. We have also extended the PIX Brand to the South Asian markets.

    public://Sherlock_s4_ep1_006 (1).jpgOur market research indicated that the audiences are segmenting into two parts. One that loves mainstream cinema. The second is that loves good cinema, irrespective of the fact it being mainstream or not. We capitalised on this opportunity with launch of our new movie channel in 2016 – Sony Le PLEX HD – which brings to its viewers movies that are critically acclaimed and are based on powerful stories and characters. Our objective was to create a differentiated product and present content in a never-seen-before manner, while positioning the channel as a fun hangout for the community of movie lovers who converse around quality cinema. With premieres of Oscar winning film like Spotlight, The Walk, Concussion and other acclaimed movies on the new channel we have opened up an opportunity to consume great cinema for an audience set whose needs were grossly underserved.   

    public://raptors_owen_960.pngIn the English general entertainment space we relaunched our flagship channel AXN making it more contemporary and appealing to the audience through the new brand positioning – Live R.E.D. We were able to build strong character and show associations with the channel which was one of the key tasks we had set out to achieve. Our content is highly diverse, which is reality, entertainment and drama – and that is what Live R.E.D stands for. From a viewer gratification perspective, LIVE R.E.D. stands for Rush Excitement and Dream; that is what our shows provide. We have leveraged R.E.D. to define our characters as well. For example, Live Eccentric, Live R.E.D defines Sherlock’s character.

    In the general entertainment category, there exists two distinct audience segments. The first set is called the influencer and the other set is called the adopters. While the influencer is an audience who is clued on to the latest shows as and when they are released worldwide, the adopters are those who are easing into the category and would want to consume long running cult shows. Our programming caters to both the audience segments. It consists of new as well as old shows that have been well received by the US audience. For instance, under AXN’s property Fresh from the US, we enable the audience to watch the latest and popular shows closer to the US timeframe like Sherlock, Billions, Orphan Black, Bull, Elementary and Supernatural to name a few. Getting to watch new shows on their TV sets will certainly discourage the viewers from downloading content and help curb piracy.

    public://Benedict-Cumberbatch-and-Martin-Freeman-in-Sherlock-Season-4-Episode-2.jpg2017 is going to be a year where we will consolidate the gains from our investments of the previous year. Our programming strategy is likely to remain consistent with the previous year and we don’t foresee significant changes in the audience behaviour or need.

    Maintaining our loyal fan base along with targeting fresh consumers is another task at hand and I am sure we will execute it well. We have a lot of exciting content in store for the year 2017 across channels as we strive to bring the best of Hollywood to our viewers. And we start all of this with the much awaited premiere of Sherlock season 4 on AXN.

     

     

    public://Saurabh-Yagnik-800x800.jpg (The writer is EVP and Business Head, English Cluster, Sony Pictures Networks, India. Views expressed in this article are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them.)

     

     

  • Guest Column: English content consumption showed upward trend in 2016

    Guest Column: English content consumption showed upward trend in 2016

    Consumption of English content continued to show growing trends during the year 2016 and the momentum is expected to be sustained this year as well.  An interesting and encouraging trend was the continual surge in Hollywood box office collections in India as compared to previous years. This reflects the growing affinity of Indian audience towards English content. There has also been substantial growth in social media conversations on Hollywood and other English content and expect the trend to continue in a big way in 2017.

    Coming to Hollywood movie channels, the key to success is to have a strong pipeline of premieres and library films. This is at the core of our business and a big reason why we invested aggressively to get the best content for our viewers. The tie up with NBC Universal enhanced our programming with blockbuster films and franchises like Jurassic World, Fast& Furious, Minions, Steve Jobs, Straight Outta Compton, Jason Bourne, Sing and Secret Life of Pets to name a few. We have also extended the PIX Brand to the South Asian markets.

    public://Sherlock_s4_ep1_006 (1).jpgOur market research indicated that the audiences are segmenting into two parts. One that loves mainstream cinema. The second is that loves good cinema, irrespective of the fact it being mainstream or not. We capitalised on this opportunity with launch of our new movie channel in 2016 – Sony Le PLEX HD – which brings to its viewers movies that are critically acclaimed and are based on powerful stories and characters. Our objective was to create a differentiated product and present content in a never-seen-before manner, while positioning the channel as a fun hangout for the community of movie lovers who converse around quality cinema. With premieres of Oscar winning film like Spotlight, The Walk, Concussion and other acclaimed movies on the new channel we have opened up an opportunity to consume great cinema for an audience set whose needs were grossly underserved.   

    public://raptors_owen_960.pngIn the English general entertainment space we relaunched our flagship channel AXN making it more contemporary and appealing to the audience through the new brand positioning – Live R.E.D. We were able to build strong character and show associations with the channel which was one of the key tasks we had set out to achieve. Our content is highly diverse, which is reality, entertainment and drama – and that is what Live R.E.D stands for. From a viewer gratification perspective, LIVE R.E.D. stands for Rush Excitement and Dream; that is what our shows provide. We have leveraged R.E.D. to define our characters as well. For example, Live Eccentric, Live R.E.D defines Sherlock’s character.

    In the general entertainment category, there exists two distinct audience segments. The first set is called the influencer and the other set is called the adopters. While the influencer is an audience who is clued on to the latest shows as and when they are released worldwide, the adopters are those who are easing into the category and would want to consume long running cult shows. Our programming caters to both the audience segments. It consists of new as well as old shows that have been well received by the US audience. For instance, under AXN’s property Fresh from the US, we enable the audience to watch the latest and popular shows closer to the US timeframe like Sherlock, Billions, Orphan Black, Bull, Elementary and Supernatural to name a few. Getting to watch new shows on their TV sets will certainly discourage the viewers from downloading content and help curb piracy.

    public://Benedict-Cumberbatch-and-Martin-Freeman-in-Sherlock-Season-4-Episode-2.jpg2017 is going to be a year where we will consolidate the gains from our investments of the previous year. Our programming strategy is likely to remain consistent with the previous year and we don’t foresee significant changes in the audience behaviour or need.

    Maintaining our loyal fan base along with targeting fresh consumers is another task at hand and I am sure we will execute it well. We have a lot of exciting content in store for the year 2017 across channels as we strive to bring the best of Hollywood to our viewers. And we start all of this with the much awaited premiere of Sherlock season 4 on AXN.

     

     

    public://Saurabh-Yagnik-800x800.jpg (The writer is EVP and Business Head, English Cluster, Sony Pictures Networks, India. Views expressed in this article are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them.)