ITV

Tag: Sport

  • Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    MUMBAI Event Capital, the live IP  arm of Laqshya Media Group has roped in Tribe Asia IP director Swaroop Banerjee  as its CEO. Banerjee’s mandate at Event Capital involves expanding the current bouquet of Live intellectual properties owned by Event Capital and introduce focussed live and digital content creations.

    Based out of Mumbai he will oversee development of new verticals in lifestyle, music and sports. Deepak Choudhary, the co-founder of Event Capital, will now focus on acquisitions, collaborations and investments as Director of Event Capital.

    “Banerjee’s unfathomable experience with building IPs, combined with his genuine passion for festival culture, music and alternative sports, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Event Capital as the chief executive. EC currently has several IPs in Lifestyle, Sport, Music, Education and Trade and Banerjee’s strategy of creating the right balance on IP creations and acquisitions is in sync with our vision. We are glad to have him on board”, said Event Capital director and co founder Deepak Choudhary.

    “When we took on the initiative to make Event Capital India’s largest IP creator and aggregator, we were extremely focussed and with the support of our entire Laqshya Media machinery we are committed to make this brand a world class live and digital content hub. Banerjee has been on our mind from quite some time and with him we are confident to take the next big step in this game changing IP environment” Laqshya Media Group MD Alok Jalan added.

    “It is a gigantic opportunity and I am excited to work with such a talented team. I am overwhelmed by their generosity in supporting me and allowing me total autonomy to create a lifestyle, music and sports vertical from scratch and revitalize the existing genres of live content that we own. You will very soon hear announcements from us on larger than life collaborations with Bollywood, International Music, Alternative Sports and Lifestyle”, said Banerjee on his new role.

  • Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    MUMBAI Event Capital, the live IP  arm of Laqshya Media Group has roped in Tribe Asia IP director Swaroop Banerjee  as its CEO. Banerjee’s mandate at Event Capital involves expanding the current bouquet of Live intellectual properties owned by Event Capital and introduce focussed live and digital content creations.

    Based out of Mumbai he will oversee development of new verticals in lifestyle, music and sports. Deepak Choudhary, the co-founder of Event Capital, will now focus on acquisitions, collaborations and investments as Director of Event Capital.

    “Banerjee’s unfathomable experience with building IPs, combined with his genuine passion for festival culture, music and alternative sports, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Event Capital as the chief executive. EC currently has several IPs in Lifestyle, Sport, Music, Education and Trade and Banerjee’s strategy of creating the right balance on IP creations and acquisitions is in sync with our vision. We are glad to have him on board”, said Event Capital director and co founder Deepak Choudhary.

    “When we took on the initiative to make Event Capital India’s largest IP creator and aggregator, we were extremely focussed and with the support of our entire Laqshya Media machinery we are committed to make this brand a world class live and digital content hub. Banerjee has been on our mind from quite some time and with him we are confident to take the next big step in this game changing IP environment” Laqshya Media Group MD Alok Jalan added.

    “It is a gigantic opportunity and I am excited to work with such a talented team. I am overwhelmed by their generosity in supporting me and allowing me total autonomy to create a lifestyle, music and sports vertical from scratch and revitalize the existing genres of live content that we own. You will very soon hear announcements from us on larger than life collaborations with Bollywood, International Music, Alternative Sports and Lifestyle”, said Banerjee on his new role.

  • Australia Network set to launch on DD Direct+

    Australia Network set to launch on DD Direct+

    MUMBAI: DD Direct+ consumers, starting November, will have an added network to their channel list. Following a recent agreement between ABC International and Doordarshan, Australia Network is all set to launch on DD Direct+.  

     

    Australia Network is a 24/7 entertainment and news channel offering viewers a mix of content from around Australia and the region covering news, sport, science, education, arts, children’s programming, drama and English language learning.  The channel is available in 45 countries across the Asia and Pacific region.

     

    To mark the launch of the new service, the ABC’s agenda-setting panel discussion programme, Q&A, wasl broadcast live from Delhi on Monday 18 November.  Q & A’s host, Tony Jones, led a high profile panel which included India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor; former Australian cricketer Stuart MacGill;  Australian-born Bollywood star Pallavi Sharda; outspoken conservative commentator Swapan Dasgupta; Tehelka editor Shoma Chaudhury and award-winning TV host and journalist Karan Thapar.  The panel discussed issues of mutual interest to both countries in front of an audience comprising both Indians and Australians.

     

    ABC International is also set to launch a new website for India, AustraliaPlus.com/India – the new digital home of the best of Australian content covering arts and culture, business, education, health, lifestyle, news and current affairs, science, sports, technology and travel.  The website will offer content in both English and Hindi as well as will have an Indian news feed from Doordashan.  The website’s launch closely follows the introduction of ABC International’s Chinese mobile phone app into the China market last month.

     

    “As 2013 nears an end, we are seeing an enormous growth in the sharing of content between India and Australia through a number of channels,” said ABC International CEO Lynley Marshall.

     

    Marshall said the initiatives reflected the growing demand for more information about contemporary Australian life, the growing connections in business, education and tourism and the people to people links.

     

    DD Direct+ CEO Jawhar Sircar said, “We really look forward to having ABC hosted on our DD Direct+ as it helps Indians to understand and appreciate Australia and its culture in a far better manner, and with more depth than at present.”

     

    “We also look forward to ABC assisting and guiding us in telling Australian audiences more about India, its people, and its culture,” he added.

     

    Australia Network is also available in key metropolitan markets across the Indian sub-continent via a number of regional cable and satellite television operators.

  • Final Ind vs Aus ODI garners unprecedented viewership

    Final Ind vs Aus ODI garners unprecedented viewership

    MUMBAI: Beginning today everyone will be glued to their television screens to witness one of the biggest cricketing moment in history. This will be the last time that cricket fans will get to see the master blaster – Sachin Tendulkar – don the Indian colours.

     

    But, that’s not all – cricket as a sport has always been followed as a religion in this culturally diverse nation. The latest viewership numbers that the seventh and final ODI played between India and Australia witnessed proves it.

     

    The last ODI between India and Australia emerged as the highest rated single day TV event in India for the year 2013. According to data provided by Star Sports, the match garnered 55,561 TVTs (CS 15+, M, SEC ABC, All India ) which remains unmatched on Indian television across all genres this year. It also recorded highest time spent per viewer (TSV) across ODIs in 2013 with 101 minutes on both Hindi and English commentary feed on Star Sports channels.

     

    The recently concluded Star Sports India vs Australia ODI series 2013 was watched by almost 43 per cent of the C&S homes.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Star India head of sports business Nitin Kukreja said, “We are delighted with the viewer traction for the series. There is an upswing of almost 18 per cent in average time spent per viewer per match for the India-Australia ODI series as compared to all India ODIs played in the year 2013.  We are pleased to note the stickiness that Hindi commentary has been able to generate in the HSM markets. This is a clear cut vindication of our strategy of promoting choice of language for the consumer.”

     

    Sports broadcaster Star Sports had launched a high-decibel campaign, with the core theme ‘Fight for No 1’; to promote the India Australia series featuring seven ODIs and a T20 match. The high profile series commenced on 10 October and ended on 2 November, just two days before Diwali.
    ODI 4 and 5 of the series were impacted by rain. India won the hard fought contest 3-2 thereby retaining the number one ranking in the ICC ODI Rankings.

  • Sixth NT Awards celebrate the best in news business

    Sixth NT Awards celebrate the best in news business

    New Delhi: The news television industry came out in droves to celebrate success on 25 March evening at New Delhi’s Taj Palace Hotel. Representative of TV news channels reporting in Marathi, Hindi, English and Telugu all came together under one roof, forgetting rivalries, news breaks and to hold themselves under the spotlight at the Indiantelevision.com’s Sixth News Television Awards.

     

    Presented by LR Active Oil, with the support of many other industry partners, the NT Awards had a packed house as 116 awards in various categories were given away by dignitaries from politics, sport, society and culture.

     

    The chief guest for the evening was Information and Broadcasting Minister of State (independent charge) Manish Tewari. “While the government is all for taking self regulation forward, there is need to decide where freedom of press ends and reasonable restrictions begin,” he said.

     

    He also congratulated the winners and the organisers for celebrating the vibrancy and robustness of the television industry and presented a host of awards to winners.

     

    “We received more than 1000 entries from the various news channels and had lots of help from those in public life and from journalists in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad to short list the winners. Ernst and Young helped us in tabulating the peer judging process,” says Anil Wanvari, CEO and Founder of Indiantelevision.com, “The awards are growing in strength and I thank the industry for all the support it has been giving our initiative.”

        
    The event was anchored by Cyrus Broacha and dashing Kavita Kaushik whose quips had news professionals in splits throughout the evening.

     

    Awards were given for the best in categories like crime shows, sports shows, technology, documentaries with limited episode, TV news presenter, TV news anchor, investigative feature, investigative news report, entertainment news show et al.

     

    Special awards were given to Contribution to News Television, Innovation and Leadership in App Development, Most Extensive Social Media TV News Brand, Best News Channel Website, and for News Cinematographer.

     

    Aroon Purie, founder-publisher and Editor-in-Chief of India Today and the Chief Executive of the India Today Group stated that contrary to the general view, self regulation has made great strides in Indian television. He added that the News Broadcasters’ Association is taking a pro-active stance to raise standards of content. “The verdicts are being accepted by the channels and apologies made whenever required,” he pointed out.

     

    Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief of IBN18 Network, praised the strides by regional channels and expressed the hope that Hindi news channels would mend their “moral compass” by taking up serious issues.

     

    The awards function came at the end of a news summit on “Getting out of the Squeeze – Learning to live in a digitising India” which saw I&B secretary Uday Kumar Varma, I&B joint secretary Supriya Sahu and representatives of leading news channels, MSOs, technology providers and others in the television news industry taking part in different sessions.

  • Ofcom launches PSP consultation

    Ofcom launches PSP consultation

    MUMBAI: UK media watchdog Ofcom has launched its planned consultation to consider the option of an online public service publisher (PSP).

    If given the go ahead, the service would compete with the online operations of Channel 4 and the BBC. The idea was muted by the regulator back in 2004.

    Ofcom notes that although public service content will be provided by the market, it may well not be enough either in terms of quantity or diversity – a market shortfall is likely to arise. This may have adverse implications for the level of UK-originated production, and for plurality in the public service system – the BBC is likely to play a material role in the digital media world of the future, but for a public service culture to flourish, effective competition for quality is needed.

    Ofcom states, ” We are open-minded about the best solution for the future of public service content – we will not report again on the how to maintain and strengthen the quality of Public Sservice Broadcasting (PSB) until the next PSB Review, which must be completed no later than 2009/10.

    “The primary purpose of this paper is to take the debate forward within the UK’s creative industries and policy environment. We continue to believe that there is a real opportunity for a new PSP to make a significant contribution to the public service system, and to create a lasting legacy for the future.

    ” We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s interest in the PSP concept in its inquiry into public service media content.”

    Ofcom has given 23 March 2007 as the last date for obtaining feedback. It is actively seeking responses on:

    – The appropriate nature of intervention in the digital media age, and the balance between TV and non-TV forms of public service content distribution

    – The potential role of the PSP and its creative remit

    – The operating model – in particular, the approach to rights management

    – The scale of funding required. Ofcom notes that the future of PSB in UK television is central to its remit. Its first statutory review of PSB was completed in 2005 and set out recommendations for maintaining and strengthening the quality of PSB against a backdrop of rapid change in broadcasting. The television market has continued to evolve at speed since the review, as a result of which it published Digital PSB in July 2006.

    Digital PSB highlighted a number of market developments affecting the future of public service broadcasting. One of these is that the rapid take-up of digital television is reducing the viewing share of the traditional public service broadcasters, and hence the value of the analogue spectrum

    Viewers – especially younger audiences – are increasingly watching content on internet and mobile platforms, and are starting to move away from traditional TV. Changes in spectrum policy will affect the way in which public service aims need to be financed in the future.

    In Ofcom’s view, these changes mean that the delivery of PSB in a fully digital television world needs to be rethought. While the core public purposes endure, the means of delivery and institutional framework may have to change. As a result, the challenge is to define the appropriate model for PSB for the future, not for the world as it is today – or as it has been in the past. The challenge is as much an opportunity for public service broadcasting as it is a threat to it.

  • Archery sees a surge in TV viewership

    Archery sees a surge in TV viewership

    MUMBAI: The International Archery Federation (FITA) has announced that due to the Meteksan Archery World Cup and the Field World Championships an estimated 900 million people watched Archery on television in 2006.

    Fita has produced and distributed through the EBU newscast and 26 or 52 minutes highlights on each event, i.e. the four World Cup stages, the World Cup Final at the Mayapan pyramids and the Field World Championships in Göteborg. The Final was also broadcast live.

    The main TV channels that showed archery include ESPN Star Asia, Eurosport, Fox International, Sport+, Zee Sport, RAI, RTR Russia, TRT or CCTV.

    The global cumulative audience is calculated so far in 2006:
    – With news coverage : 565 million viewers
    – With live, highlights or features : 324 million viewers
    – Total :889 million viewers

    With the year-end programming, the audience should reach 900 million.

    This has been a successful come-back for Archery on television with the success of the new World Cup. Fita has set up its own Fita TV with the company HTR in Geneva for the live, the highlights and the newscast, which have reached about 100 territories. Moreover, Gillette World Sport, Sports Unlimited and Trans World Sport have broadcast feature stories on each event. The archery TV images were most watched in Asia and Europe, especially in India, China, Russia, Italy, Turkey and France, says Fita.