ITV

Tag: South Africa

  • Taylor Swift joins cast of The Giver

    Taylor Swift joins cast of The Giver

    MUMBAI: The Lois Lowry novel adapted by The Weinstein Company and Walden Media has got Taylor Swift as part of its cast. The latest addition to the cast was Katie Holmes.

     

    Swift will be playing Rosemary, the last teen mentored by ‘The Giver’ before he meets Jonas. The film is written by Michael Mitnick and is scheduled to start filming in South Africa this October.

     

    Jeff Briedges is playing the title character while Meryl Streep is the clan leader. Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan are also part of the cast.

     

    The release date set for the movie is 15 August 2014.

  • SES enables Chinese startimes to expand tv reach in Africa

    SES enables Chinese startimes to expand tv reach in Africa

    MUMBAI: SES (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced today that StarTimes Communication Network Technology, China’s most influential system integrator, technology provider and network operator, has signed a 10-year contract on SES-5 at 5 degrees East to expand its media footprint in Africa and deliver direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast services across the continent.

    StarTimes, which is the fastest-growing digital TV operator Africa and has over 2.6 million digital terrestrial television (DTT) subscribers, also acquired SES’ 20% shareholding in South African pay-TV operator Top TV.

    The contract will see StarTimes utilise four transponders as of October 2013 and a fifth transponder from February 2014 to grow their DTH subscribers in Africa. The Chinese broadcaster will continue to broadcast TopTV on SES-5 by using three of the newly-contracted SES transponders that were formerly leased by ODM. The other two out of the five SES transponders contracted by StarTimes will be used to complement their DTT offering in remote and non-urban areas and grow their pay-TV business.  

    “The recent success of StarTimes’s strategic investment in ODM will allow us to reach new audiences in South Africa. The partnership with SES enables StarTimes to have a DTH platform in addition to the existing DTT and mobile TV (CMMB) platforms in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the high-powered SES-5 at the prime orbital location of 5 degrees East is ideal in overcoming the challenges of terrestrial coverage to reach large audiences. This will allow us to extend our broadcast reach across the continent and ensure excellent service and picture quality for our viewers,” said StarTimes Group Chairman and President Pang Xinxing.

    “We are honoured that StarTimes has chosen to work with us to complement their DTT business across Africa and to deliver more exciting content to Africa’s dynamic markets,” said Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer of SES. “The new partnership with StarTimes will illustrate how the combination of DTH and DTT is a key enabler in Africa’s migration to digital TV and also help set pace in the continent’s digital migration race.”

  • Meryl Streep to star in ‘The Giver’

    Meryl Streep to star in ‘The Giver’

    MUMBAI: The famous Devil Wears Prada actress will be playing Chief Elder in the film – The Giver. The movie is an adaptation of the Lois Lowry novel of the same name that will be directed by Phil Noyce.

    A co-production between the Weinstein Company and Walden media, it will start shooting in South Africa in eight weeks. Streep will play the Elder, who is the authoritarian in charge of keeping order in a society that seems utopian. The trouble begins when the man who receives the ‘memories of life‘ brings out a rebel in him.

    The book had won the Newbery medal in 1994. The movie is being produced by Bridges and Nikki Silver. Streep is repped by CAA.

  • South African Tourism’s Brand Ambassador Jonty Rhodes Launches “My Travel Escapades in South Africa” travel guide

    South African Tourism’s Brand Ambassador Jonty Rhodes Launches “My Travel Escapades in South Africa” travel guide

    MUMBAI: South African Tourism Brand Ambassador in India, popular cricketer Jonty Rhodes, today launched “My Travel Escapades in South Africa”, a travel guide he has written in association with Lonely Planet Magazine India, to showcase the fascinating experiences in his home country.
    After the successful launch of Rhodes’ “My South African Diary” last year, South African Tourism looked at a completely new facet of attracting travellers to South Africa by announcing an unprecedented ‘Take Me to South Africa’ contest. The four lucky winners of the contest embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to South Africa with Rhodes, who played the role of host and tour guide during this trip.


    From the country’s magnificent wildlife, iconic beaches, adrenaline pumping adventure activities, to its world-class cities, shopping, nightlife, food & wine, the chosen winners were at the forefront of some amazing, unforgettable travel experiences. Inspired by this awesome holiday in his home country, Rhodes penned the new travel guide, “My Travel Escapades in South Africa”, aimed at showcasing the varied, fun-filled, adventurous and experiential holiday offerings of South Africa to the Indian travellers.

    Talking about his travel guide, the charismatic Rhodes, who has proved to be a popular Brand Ambassador in the Indian market for South African Tourism, said, “There’s no other country in the world like my home country South Africa that combines varied natural beauty, amazing fun-filled experiences and cultural diversity so brilliantly. From the time I heard about the contest to the moment when the contest winners arrived in Johannesburg, I was ecstatic to explore the exciting itinerary put together by South African Tourism and to take the opportunity of showcasing my fascinating country to them. With this comprehensive travel diary, I have shared some of the group’s most memorable experiences through the two week trip. It was my pleasure to be their host and hopefully this travel guide will inspire and encourage more Indians to travel to and experience South Africa.”

    “It was an exciting step for us to get Jonty on board as the brand ambassador to promote South Africa in India. The travel guide is part of our first unique initiative undertaken with him to showcase the varied experiences offered by South Africa. Jonty’s love for travel, his passion for his country and enthusiasm to promote South Africa among Indian travelers opened up the perfect platform for this unprecedented initiative. We would like to take this opportunity to thank him and all our South African partners for making this initiative a great success,” said Ms. Hanneli Slabber, India Country Manager for South African Tourism.

    The “My Travel Escapades in South Africa” guide encapsulates Jonty and his group’s exciting journey through Johannesburg, Cape Town and surrounds, Garden Route, various game reserves, scenic winelands and the gorgeous city of Durban. The guide offers a 44-page narration of their extraordinary travel experiences across the magnificent country.
    “Last year, we joined hands with South Africa Tourism to bring you a unique look at this country, and we are delighted to once again let loose Jonty Rhodes, kickass cricketer, all-round nice guy and alarmingly enthusiastic traveler, in his homeland. He went further this time, in the spirit of a true Lonely Planet traveler, and played host and guide to the winners of ‘The take me to South Africa contest’ , we don’t know whether they played cricket on the way, but clearly they had a very, very good time” said Mr. Vardhan Kondvikar, Editor, Lonely Planet Magazine India.

    To further promote the guide, South African Tourism has partnered with NDTV Good Times as the electronic channel partner and Lonely Planet magazine India as the distribution partner. NDTV has captured the exciting South African journey of the four lucky winners with Jonty Rhodes in a three episode series titled “South Africa with Jonty Rhodes” scheduled to be telecast from 12th August, every Monday at 9:30pm. Lonely Planet will assist South African Tourism to reach out to the urban youthful reader profile of the magazine by distributing the travel guide with their September issue of the magazine.

    According to the latest arrival figures, South Africa received 106,774 Indians tourists between January to December 2012. This is an increase of 18.2% to the corresponding period last year.

  • ICC World Cup 2015 launched: India and Pakistan grouped together

    ICC World Cup 2015 launched: India and Pakistan grouped together

    MUMBAI: Co-hosts of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Australia and New Zealand, have been drawn in the same group for the tournament, while title-holders India will face off against arch rival Pakistan, it was announced on Tuesday.

     

    The first match of the prestigious one-day tournament will be held in Christchurch, the New Zealand city devastated by an earthquake in 2011, when the locals take on Sri Lanka on 14 February.

     

    The day-night final match will be at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 March.

     

    Australia and New Zealand are grouped with England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and two qualifiers.

     

    Title-holders India are pooled with Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and one other qualifying team.

     

    The top four sides from each group will move on to the knockout stage.

     

    49 matches will be played in 14 venues across the two host nations, with Australia staging 26 games at grounds in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

     

    New Zealand will host 23 games in seven cities, including Christchurch where international cricket is set to return for the first time since the 6.3-magnitude quake which killed 185 people in 2011.

     

    Other New Zealand cities to host games are Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington.

     

    Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who launched the tournament in Melbourne, said the contest would likely be watched by a global television audience of one billion.

     

    Pool A

     

    England, Australia (co-host), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand (co-host), Qualifier 2 (TBD), Qualifier 3 (TBD)

     

    Pool B

     

    South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Qualifier 1 (Ireland), Qualifier 4 (TBD)

  • Debutant cross-cultural film and television awards SAIFTA launches brand campaign

    Debutant cross-cultural film and television awards SAIFTA launches brand campaign

    Mumbai, July 2013: Film and Television are mediums of communication which bring people together, connecting them with an invisible but tangible force; understanding this connection is the South Africa India Film and Television Awards (SAIFTA). Organized by Celebrity Locker along with Toursim KZN, SAIFTA is a maiden venture bonding the cultures of the two countries, India and South Africa. Ushering in a spirit of brotherhood between the Indian and South African entertainment industry; SAIFTA aims to reward outstanding performers, while promoting and enhancing the exchange of the diverse cultural elements. Representing the coming together of these two distinct cultures, SAIFTA is launching its new brand identity, giving the world a taste of the impending awards event at Durban on the 6th of September 2013.

    The brand campaign, created by Mumbai based design firm Two, is a contemporary twist on the traditional Indian and South African motifs joining together on a vibrant canvas. There is a play of juxtaposing motifs from the two cultures such as the tabla in harmony with the bongo drums and a vibrant colour palette and design culture that are intrinsic to both countries. These motifs are wonderfully offset amidst a vibrant and opulent design against the black and gold elegance of the logo. Complimenting the opulent design language are distinctively crisp fonts communicating in a welcoming tone; A Window to South Africa, Where Cultures Meet, Where Films and Television Meet along with Where Music and Entertainment Meet. The campaign is based on intertwined themes of film and television, music and culture, fashion and glamour;

    embodying the true spirit of SAIFTA which is a cultural curry consisting of two distinct cultural melting pots.

    Commenting on the new logo, Mr. Kedhar Gawde, Creative Director, Official Spokesperson of SAIFTA and Director of Celebrity Locker said,” The spirit of SAIFTA is the union of the Indian and South African cultures, in order to showcase and celebrate this fact we decided to create a novel identity for ourselves. Our new brand identity is an apt representation of the two culturally rich countries against the vibrant tapestry of South Africa. We are very excited about the campaign and cannot wait to share it with the world.”
    According to Arti Agarwal and Siddharth Khandelwal, Co-Founders, Two

    Design, “The design language is a result of the merging of traditional South African and Indian motifs that represent entertainment themes but with a contemporary twist. Themes such as film + television / music + culture / fashion + glamour from two culturally rich countries against the vibrant tapestry of South Africa.”

  • India to have highest IP traffic growth in four years

    India to have highest IP traffic growth in four years

    NEW DELHI: India is set to have the highest Internet Protocol (IP) traffic growth rate with a 44 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2012-2017 followed by Indonesia (42 per cent CAGR) and South Africa (31 per cent CAGR) over the forecast period, a new study has revealed.

    The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2012-2017) projects that global IP traffic will grow three-fold between 2012 and 2017.

    By 2017, the highest traffic-generating countries will be the United States (37 exabytes per month) and China (18 exabytes per month), says the report.

    At the regional level, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will continue to be the fastest growing IP traffic region from 2012-2017 (five-fold growth, 38 per cent compound annual growth rate over the forecast period); MEA was the fastest growing region last year as well (10-fold growth, 57 per cent compound annual growth rate for 2011- 2016 forecast period) in this category, the report said.

    Asia-Pacific (APAC) will generate the most IP traffic by 2017 (43.4 exabytes/month), maintaining its leadership from last year.

    According to the report, by 2017, there will be about 3.6 billion Internet users – more than 48 per cent of the world‘s projected population (7.6 billion). In 2012, there were 2.3 billion Internet users – about 32 per cent of the world‘s population (7.2 billion).

    By 2017, there will be more than 19 billion global network connections (fixed/mobile personal devices, M2M connections), up from about 12 billion connections in 2012.

    Global network users will generate 3 trillion internet video minutes per month, that is six million years of video per month, or 1.2 million video minutes every second or more than two years worth of video every second.

  • Kartavya Healtheon seeking expansion in Disease Management at Dubai and South Africa

    Kartavya Healtheon seeking expansion in Disease Management at Dubai and South Africa

    MUMBAI : Kartavya Healtheon, a leading pioneer in ‘patient care management’ across the country will soon roll out their chronic disease management services in evolving countries like Dubai and South Africa. The company is also seeking expansion to streamline the benefits of DM services in these countries by enhancing their presence in assisting patients of chronic diseases. They will also provide patient care support programs like counseling, diet and nutrition, disease awareness and medication adherence into disease management hubs.

    In addition to this Kartavya Healtheon is eyeing to enlarge their Disease Management portfolio by providing preventive and self-managed care to patients. This will grow the company’s margin and the needs of primary health care in these countries. Kartavya Healtheon’s CEO Mr. Vikram Srivastava said, “We felt a need as we received many queries that made us to think about it. We see a great potential in these countries as Disease management is gradually picking up pace. We have aimed to make this sector more organized by targeting Africa and middle east. In order to control the viral spread of the chronic illnesses, we at Kartavya Healtheon will soon introduce the concept of self-controlled patient management through subscription based model. In India, by next 1 year we will come out with various programmes for chronic disease which would significantly reduce the healthcare burden cost on patients and provide better outcome of the treatment / therapy”

    Chronic diseases like Cancer, hepatitis B, HIV and diabetes are increasing rapidly across the country. Also, there is a continuous gap in chronic care and lifestyle condition awareness, screening and behavioural modification. We are doing this because access to information and disease awareness is very low and healthcare cost is rising day by day.

  • ‘River Monsters’ returns to Animal Planet on 27 May

    ‘River Monsters’ returns to Animal Planet on 27 May

    MUMBAI: Animal Planet’s show ‘River Monsters’ featuring biologist and fishing detective Jeremy Wade returns for a new season on 27 May every night at 8.00 pm.

    He has spent 25 years exploring the planet’s remotest rivers and lakes, hunting for monster-sized fish. The show aims to go where no wildlife programme has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of inland waterways.

    Wade travels worldwide to solve freshwater fish tales and lures in watery culprits that allegedly attack mankind. This season, he finds himself in places he’s never explored as he travels to the far reaches of the globe – from serpentine underwater caves to remote rivers filled with freshwater crocodiles. Jeremy searches for the giant cousin of the piranha that – with its gnarly teeth and gnawing jaws – has turned from vegetarian to meat eater, with a particular interest in male genitalia.

    Viewers can follow him to Thailand where the adventurous angler goes in search of what is thought to be the largest freshwater fish – the giant freshwater stingray. Also known locally as the “wish-you-were-dead” fish, this UFO-shaped marine monstrosity is said to measure about 16-feet long and seven-feet across and is approximately 1,300 pounds; but what could really kill is its 18-inch barbed, bayonet-like tail that could whip extremely painful venom through an unfortunate passerby. But even that is not going to stop Jeremy from tracking down this mysterious monster. Jeremy’s adventures take him all over the world to solve freshwater fish mysteries in locations such as Congo, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Alaska, and Florida.

    Wade said, “This season, I get into even more unfamiliar territory. The destinations are diverse, the stories strange, and the fish every bit as fearsome but in unexpected ways. I encountered fish with invisible powers, others that live to a century, the largest true freshwater fish so far and the longest struggle I’ve had with a live fish to date.”

    Wade discovers a freshwater fish that can grow as long as a whale, a species of shark that lives in freshwater 100 miles from the sea, and a fish with teeth as big as a lion’s as well as other creatures and moments captured on film for the first time. Pushing his mental and physical limits to the maximum, join the extreme fisherman as he attempts to capture these amazing creatures and tell their tales.

  • Amazon expands Appstore availability to 200 countries

    Amazon expands Appstore availability to 200 countries

    MUMBAI: Amazon.com continued the global expansion of its Appstore by announcing that developers can now submit their apps for distribution in nearly 200 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa, South Korea, and even Papua New Guinea and Vatican City.

    These apps will be made available in the coming months when the Amazon Appstore for Android launches internationally for consumers. Registered developers who want international distribution will have their apps automatically made available for download, unless they designate otherwise. This international expansion is the latest in a series of Amazon Appstore for Android launches, which have included the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan.

    “Amazon‘s platform is a complete end-to-end solution for developers wanting to build, market and monetize their apps and games on Kindle Fire and Android devices,” said Amazon Vice President of Apps and Games Mike George.

    “Allowing developers to target distribution of their apps and games in even more international countries is yet another important milestone as we strive to serve consumers and developers globally. Many of our existing developers have localized their apps and games for international consumers, and we look forward to working with new developers that have been waiting to bring their apps to more Amazon customers across the globe.”

    Amazon.com claims that developers throughout the world are experiencing strong monetisation and user engagement through Kindle Fire and the Amazon Appstore.

    The success is being driven by Amazon‘s large customer base and industry-leading e-commerce features like 1-Click purchasing, Amazon‘s APIs for In-App Purchasing (IAP) and A/B Testing, and GameCircle, Amazon‘s gaming experience for Kindle Fire. A recent study of more than 500 games that utilize in-app purchasing on Amazon found that GameCircle-enabled mobile games earned 83 percent more average revenue per user (ARPU) than non-GameCircle games.