ITV

Tag: Tara Sharma

  • Sony BBC Earth launches ‘Earth Champions’, an initiative to celebrate real life Earth heroes

    Sony BBC Earth launches ‘Earth Champions’, an initiative to celebrate real life Earth heroes

    MUMBAI: Love for the Earth has been the central theme of all of Sony BBC Earth’s programming and marketing initiatives. The channel has always brought stories – in the form of landmark natural history shows like Blue Planet II, Climate Change: The Facts and A Perfect Planet, among others – from around the globe that not only deeply connect the viewers with the natural world but also sensitize them about the importance of sustainability.

    Now with its latest IP Earth Champions, Sony BBC Earth is bringing to light stories of real-life heroes who are making this planet a better place with their relentless efforts and daily action. Through this property, the channel aims to inspire others to follow the steps of these ‘Earth Champions’ towards a greener and a more sustainable world.

    Starting off as a digital property which will be promoted on-air and on social media, Earth Champions’ first guest is UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth awardee – Afroz Shah, who will be in conversation with the host and Earth lover Tara Sharma on Earth Day – 22 April – at 7PM. Afroz will talk about his journey, about organizing ‘Biggest Beach Clean-up in World History’, about being recognized by the Honorable PM of India – Narendra Modi, and about continuing the cleaning till the oceans are made plastic and filth free.

    From renowned environmentalists and nature enthusiasts to climate warriors and commoners from all walks of life, Earth Champions aims to bring to light the power of individual actions that can collectively become a force of positive change and action. Creating conversations is key to raising awareness and hence Sony BBC Earth plans to recognize and celebrate an Earth Champion every month and thereby encourage others to make sustainable choices in their everyday living.

    Tune-in to Sony BBC Earth’s Instagram page (@SonyBBCEarth) to watch the LIVE conversation between host Tara Sharma and #EarthChampion Afroz Shah on Earth Day – 22 April at 7PM. And stay tuned for more conversations with other Earth Champions each month.
     
    Sony Pictures Networks India English cluster Marketing Head Rohan Jain said, “Sony BBC Earth has always championed for positive storytelling and inspiring ideas via its programming and marketing properties. Earth Champions is another such initiative and a seamless extension of our previous brand IP Young Earth Champions. It is backed with an intent to recognize and celebrate real-life heroes who are driving positive change of action via their relentless efforts in the space of sustainability. We are happy to support these Earth heroes and via them enlighten more people on the benefits of collective action”.

  • The 120 Media Collective & Diagonal View to launch digital video platform

    The 120 Media Collective & Diagonal View to launch digital video platform

    MUMBAI: India based The 120 Media Collective has inked a joint venture with UK’s Diagonal View to form a company called Sooperfly.

     

    The new company in the digital video space will offer video creation, distribution and monetisation for the Asian market.

     

    The partnership is the first of its kind in the rapidly growing digital video space, where two companies have come together to provide talent and publishers with an opportunity to enter the world of video creation, distribution and monetization. The 120 Media Collective will package professional content and substantial audiences to drive premium ad sales and brand integrations.

     

    The company will have a three-pronged approach to empowering the entire digital video ecosystem:

     

    1. Bringing new and existing talent into the digital ecosystem by breaking down barriers and providing an entire suite of services including development, production, channel management and audience building. The content will range from the self-promotional for individual talent to premium content that can fit into emerging subscription platforms.

     

    2. Tap into large publishers and curate, manage and monetize their existing content.

     

    3. Sooperfly will also empower and enable brands to turn publishers with the creation of video led properties around the enormous talent pool that exists in the ecosystem today.

     

    Sooperfly aims to forge 200 partnerships during 2015, across individuals, publishers and content collectives, who will co-produce content across a range of genres including lifestyle, beauty, fashion, comedy, sports, education, technology, the performing arts and more.

     

    The network already has on board journalist Vir Sanghvi, celebrity chat show host Tara Sharma and stand-up comic Radhika Vaz, while collectives such as Shalom Films and The Rolling Garaari bring in a variety of topical and serial content.

     

    Initial advertiser partners will be announced later this quarter.

     

    Currently internally funded by the partner entities, the company aims to be amongst the top three in digital video across the APAC region over the next 36 months.

     

    The 120 Media Collective founder and CEO Roopak Saluja said, “Sooperfly is The 120 Media Collective’s digital video distribution arm that gives us the capability to build content brands direct-to-audiences. It capitalizes on the production expertise of Bang Bang Films and Sniper and the digital marketing credibility we’ve built with Jack in the Box Worldwide but most importantly, it leverages our credibility with brands built over nine years.  Diagonal View as the global leader in audience development and channel management is the ultimate partner to join forces with in taking Sooperfly to a position of leadership in empowering digital video across Asia.”

     

    “The market for professional video is global, and through local partners we have had great success throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East. We see huge potential in the Asia Pacific market, and believe this partnership and its unique skill sets will deliver professional video to substantial audiences. Our past success and experience with audience management and IP creation meets a current need gap in the APAC market, whether it’s brands looking at a scientific approach to video, or content creators and publishers looking for better management of their online properties,” added Diagonal View founder Matt Heiman.

  • Times Now launches two new shows

    Times Now launches two new shows

    MUMBAI: Times Now adds two new shows on lifestyle and travel are vivid and experiential to the weekend lineup. The channel has launched High Life and Take A Break on 18 November.

    Take A Break is all about short getaways to locations that don’t exist on the tourist map where Malaika Shenoy shares the experiences. The show airs at 10:30 pm every saturday. High Life showcases the best that money can buy and other lavish houses, extraordinaire office spaces, night life, collectibles etc. The show will be hosted by model and film actor Tara Sharma and will air at 7.30 pm.

    Talking about the new shows Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said, “At Times Now, we believe in offering viewers shows that they can both enjoy watching and which are useful to them. High Life celebrates the high life, and will be very good viewing. And, just ahead of the holiday season, Take a Break is a ready reckoner on places about town where one can take a few days off. Both the shows add to the already exciting fare on Times Now weekend”

    Both the shows are produced in-house and the executive producer programming Preeti Prasad adds, “At Times Now we’ve always believed in producing high quality programmes in-house, these two shows reinforce our commitment. Our shows like Line of Duty (that won an award in Rome) have set the standards in non-fiction television production. Our new weekend shows entertain both the voyeur and the voyager in you!”

  • PIX flies Tara Sharma to New York to interview Daniel Craig

    MUMBAI: The newest Bond film, Casino Royale is highly anticipated. PIX, the new premium English movie channel owned by Sony Entertainment Television, is flying film actress Tara Sharma to New York City to interview Daniel Craig, the newest James Bond.

    Tara will personally interview Daniel Craig, Eva Green (the new Bond Girl), Martin Campbell (the Director), and the whole cast and crew of Casino Royale. She will also see the film in a special screening on 3 November. Then on 4 November she will meet the cast and crew of the movie, asserts an official release.

    Talking about the interview Tara said, “I am extremely nervous and excited. I am a big Bond fan, and just love Daniel Craig. It’s thrilling to be one of the first to see the movie in New York City too. I’ve also been doing a lot of homework, as I will be interviewing artists of international caliber and so I want to be well prepared for the meetings.”

    On 17 November, Sony Pictures Entertainment will release Casino Royale, the latest film featuring James Bond. Its said to be very closely based on the original novel written by Ian Fleming, which shows us how Bond first got his ‘double-O’ license, adds the release.

    PIX will be airing a special show featuring Tara Sharma’s interviews with the whole cast and crew of Casino Royale. This episode will also present ‘behind the scenes’ footage and will be aired on all the SET channels in Hindi.

    PIX business head Sunder Aaron said, “PIX is growing at a fast pace so it’s important we continue to engage the viewers in our dedicated PIX community. While PIX shows English movies, we are also an Indian channel, so are committed to providing quality, original content for our viewers. It’s also great to be the official TV partner for Casino Royale: this allows us to create exciting, unique promotions for the movie that involve PIX, our other networks, Sony Electronics and Casino Royale.”

  • Zee Sports adds special features to enhance cricket viewing experience

    Zee Sports adds special features to enhance cricket viewing experience

    MUMBAI: After quite a wait Zee Sports has finally got some serious cricket. It is currently telecasting the Abu Dhabi series between India and Pakistan. The channel is pulling out all the stops to make sure that the viewer experience is complete.

    Speaking on this, Zee Sports marketing VP Gaurav Seth says, “TWI is doing the production for us. Our aim is to ensure that the viewer gets a complete experience. There have been reports about how too many ads on other channels (read Sahara) are spoiling the cricket experience. We wanted to avoid that at all costs. Therefore, our senior management got together to work out a way by which the breaks were sequenced so that not a single moment on the field is missed.

    “One new technical feature we introduced was the ball meter. This graphic on the top right hand corner of the screen tracks the movement and pace of the ball from the time it leaves the bowlers hand. So, you will see it slowing down and then picking up pace again.”

    Zee Sports also has the usual Hawkeye and other features. As Seth says, “We wanted to put our best foot forward. One way to do this is putting together an expert panel of commentators on our pre and post special Cricket Cafe. We have among others Navjot Siddhu, Ajay Jadeja, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan.”

    The channel is using Kapil Dev in an innovative way through the segment Kapil’s Corner. Here, the former Indian captain who helped India win the World Cup in 1983, talks from different venues like a golf course, swimming pool on how the game has changed over the years and how he views it today.

    The channel has also roped in Bollywood actress Tara Sharma who sends postcards. She visits different parts of the city to give the viewer at home a flavour of what it offers. Face Off is an irreverent, funny section featuring former cricketers Arun Lal and Rameez Raja. While Lal talks about why he thinks Pakistan will win, Raja talks about India’s chances.

    Another segment in the first match saw Band Of Boys singer Verghese who is a VJ for the broadcaster talking to television stars, film actors about how cricket compares to Bollywood and to television serials. The question was whether an India-Pakistan match is bigger than a Saas-bahu serial and a major blockbuster featuring the likes of Amitabh Bachchan. The consensus was that India-Pakistan was bigger.

    The question remains as to whether fatigue will happen since India and Pakistan are playing each other with greater frequency. To this, Seth points out that a fan is always a fan. While there might be some fatigue, an India-Pakistan match will always have good viewership as it generates passion. “The attitude is that it is more painful for India to lose to Pakistan than it is to lose the World Cup final. So you can imagine the level of interest when these two teams meet.”

    In terms of advertising, Seth says that both Pepsi and Coke are on board. “We also roped in Motorola, BSNL, DLF among others. We were initially apprehensive about co-marketing the event with DD. But, the result has been very good and DD brought its experience of marketing cricket for the past several years to the table.

    “In addition to being careful about the number of spots aired we also made sure that our pop ups were non intrusive. Often on other channels ads pop up in such a way that it blocks the view and thus compromise the experience. We had pop ups that came and disappeared quickly. They were also relatively smaller compared to what one can see elsewhere.”

    On the distribution front, Seth concedes that carriage fees have been paid to some operators. “However one objective of cricket is to show the cable fraternity that we are in the game for the long term. We are not just looking to make a quick buck. Our aim is to reach 60 to 70 per cent of cable & satellite homes by the end of the month.

    “We are aware that it is difficult for a sports channel to be present if there is no cricket on account of bandwith shortage. However, our aim for the next 12 months is to achieve a 60 to 70 per cent penetration level, regardless of whether we have cricket or not. I would say that we have already achieved that level of penetration. in the East and North where football is followed.

    “Also, it will not take more than two to three years for tennis and football to act as some sort of a driver for sports channels. I do not think that hockey can be a driver. If you go to any school you will see kids playing football in addition to cricket.

    “The elite play tennis. Indians, I think, have some degree of difficulty relating to hockey. Football, of course, is the most global sport played by 182 countries compared to cricket where only 10 countries participate and hockey which has around 10 participating countries. If the Indian national football team can improve its performance, the sport will go places,” says Seth.