ITV

Tag: UTV

  • UTV announces slate of international co-productions with Fox, Will Smith’s Overbrook and Sony Pictures for a total commitment of $37 mn.

    UTV announces slate of international co-productions with Fox, Will Smith’s Overbrook and Sony Pictures for a total commitment of $37 mn.

    LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK and MUMBAI August 20, 2006 – UTV, India’s leading media and entertainment company, today announced an unprecedented slate of co-productions with leading Hollywood Studios, with a total value across projects of USD 37 million – the largest such commitment by any South Asian media major.

    UTV and Fox Searchlight announced a co-production deal on the film I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE, starring Chris Rock. Ronnie Screwvala, CEO of UTV Motion Pictures and Peter Rice, CEO of Fox Searchlight announced this in Los Angeles on Friday. Principal photography has been completed in New York; Fox Searchlight plans to release the film in the U.S. on February 9, 2007. The USD 14 million production is UTV’s second venture with Fox after THE NAMESAKE, directed by Mira Nair, which will be released in March 2007.

    Peter Rice, CEO of Fox Searchlight says, “We are very eager to be partnering with UTV, a dynamic force in South Asian Media. Ronnie’s innovative vision parallels Searchlight’s and after working together on THE NAMESAKE we jumped at the chance to collaborate again on our highly anticipated Chris Rock comedy I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE.”

    The second deal UTV announced is a USD 30 million co-production agreement with Actor/producer Will Smith and his production company Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment, for films to be created and distributed worldwide. This was announced in New York on Saturday by Ronnie Screwvala, Will Smith, James Lassiter, Smith’s partner at Overbrook Entertainment and Amy Pascal, Chairman of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.

    The two-picture deal emerged from a Sony arranged visit Smith and Lassiter took to India in February 2006 to explore co-production possibilities, when they met with media titans and key members of the creative community. As a result of the co-production agreement, UTV and Overbrook will develop films that will have a global reach and appeal. The first two projects will be a live-action film valued at USD 10 million and a CG animated motion picture at USD 20 million.

    Sony Pictures Entertainment has a first look deal for the two productions. According to the terms of the agreement, while UTV and Overbrook will co-produce the movies, SPE will distribute the movies worldwide, excluding India.

    “India is one of the most remarkable places on Earth and its motion picture industry has always fascinated me”, said Will Smith.

    “This unique agreement is the future of our business”, said Pascal. “Sony has been involved with local language initiatives for many years and this deal accentuates the way our industry is becoming more borderless and more global every day.”

    “We are particularly excited to have an animation project as part of this agreement”, said Lassiter, “since India is emerging as the next big destination for animation content and UTV is on the cutting-edge of animation development.”

    Ronnie Screwvala, Chief Executive Officer of UTV states: “UTV is focused on collaborating with like-minded partners like Fox, Sony and Will Smith to produce entertainment for global audiences. For UTV, these projects are a big step in reaching key North American markets and expanding our presence globally. UTV has made the biggest commitment by any South Asian media major to international co-productions and we will continue to lead the way in this regard.”

    About UTV: UTV is a leading integrated media and entertainment company based in South Asia, with international subsidiaries in the U.S., UK and South East Asia. Publicly listed on the Indian Stock Exchange last year, it is a leader in TV content in Asia, with a large Animation and SFX facility; has one of the first fully integrated studio models in movies and occupies a dominant space in the kids programming and broadcasting space in South Asia.

    About Fox Searchlight: Fox Searchlight Pictures is a specialty film company that both produces and acquires motion pictures. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.

    About Sony Pictures Entertainment: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPEs global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com <http://www.sonypictures.com> .

    About Overbrook Entertainment: Overbrook Entertainment is a film and television production company owned by James Lassiter and Will Smith. Overbrook’s film productions include the hit romantic comedy Hitch, the sci-fi thriller I, Robot, the bio-pic Ali, and the upcoming drama The Pursuit of Happyness, all starring Smith. In addition Overbrook produced Saving Face starring Joan Chen, Showtime starring Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy and ATL starring platinum-selling recording artist T.I. For television, Overbrook produces the current CW network hit All Of Us. Overbrook also produced the soundtracks for such films as Wild, Wild West and Men In Black, both of which won the American Music Award for favorite soundtracks.

  • DivX and UTV announce new content partnership in India

    DivX and UTV announce new content partnership in India

    MUMBAI: UTV and DivX, Inc., the digital entertainment company that created the DivX media format, announced a partnership today to make available more movies to Indian consumers by offering a range of premium movie content in the high-quality DivX format. The content is licensed from UTV of India.

    All titles are encoded in high-quality, secure DivX format, compatible with millions of DivX-Certified consumer electronics devices from major manufacturers. Titles that will be available in DivX for the Indian market include: The Myth, Swades, Main Meri Patni Aur Woh, Sin City, Unleashed and Pulp Fiction.

    “As new technologies emerge to give consumers greater control and more choices in viewing entertainment content, UTV is very happy to partner with DivX. Distributing our content in the DivX format will give our consumers more options. Our goal is to enable our users to enjoy more content, quality and value in entertainment whenever and wherever they choose,” said UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala.

    “By partnering with UTV, DivX can continue to expand and reach the global community in effort to create and build a better media future for consumers everywhere. DivX technology enables several movies to fit on a single DVD, and by bundling premium content from UTV with popular DivX-Certified consumer electronics devices such as DVD players, we can work together to improve the digital media experience and allow more users to enjoy higher-quality content in more places,” said DivX, Inc business development Aparna Vashisht-Rota.

  • Screwvala’s target for UTV: Rs 5 billion turnover by 2008

    Screwvala’s target for UTV: Rs 5 billion turnover by 2008

    MUMBAI: Hardly has the ink dried on the landmark deal he stitched with Walt Disney, and UTV’s founder-promoter Ronnie Screwvala is already looking to the future. The Indian media pioneer is bullish on turning his company into a Rs 5 billion company by 2008.

    This will mean a jump in turnover of Rs 3 billion, but Screwvala believes high growth will come, particularly from movies and animation. Besides, he is eyeing acquisitions in gaming and expects air time sales to zoom. Incremental growth from TV content business is also expected.

    On the movie front, Screwvala is close to announcing three international co-production movie deals. While global major Fox will be involved in one venture, Ronnie says the other two will also be with major studios. In an earlier project, UTV has partnered with Fox Searchlight Pictures and Entertainment Farm to produce the $9.6 million Mira Nair-directed film The Namesake.

    “They are three mainline movies and will have a big star cast. Unlike The Namesake where we have three co-producers, these will be two-way partnerships,” Screwvala says. When queried, he rules out the involvement of Disney in any of these projects.
    Screwvala aims to have an annual pipeline of 12 movies, one or two international co-productions and possibly an animation film. Already lined up are three movies with Rakeysh Mehra. “We are making Ashutosh Gawarikar’s next movie and three films with other directors. We have also tied up with Vishal Bhardwaj,” he says.

    The film business will be production-led. “We do not have an aggressive distribution agenda at the moment. We may acquire just one or two movies for distribution. But we will be distributing all the movies that we produce,” Screwvala says.

    Gaming is a new area UTV is planning to enter as an extension of its businesses in animation, post production and special effects. “We are eyeing acquisitions of domestic and overseas gaming companies. There is a model for international companies to look at India as an outsourcing model and an Indian story for going overseas. We are spending a lot of time evaluating the gaming business,” he says.

    UTV has made investments in setting up the animation infrastructure and is having a pipeline across the value chain. “We have a good order book in outsourcing and are involved in originating content as well,” says Screwvala.

    The big script with Disney will also begin with both companies in process of identifying areas where they can work together. “We are looking at animation, movies, TV and gaming. On the movie front, we are exploring possibilities of co-producing with them for Hindi films as well as going mainline with English. Home videos is another area we are looking at to expand our Indian movies overseas through their strong retail network,” says Screwvala.

    UTV will be cash rich by Rs 2.36 billion between the sale of Hungama, fresh equity to UTV and Screwvala’s warrants. “We can leverage the company with a 1:1 debt-equity ratio and have a Rs 5 billion war chest. In media, that offers lots of opportunities,” Screwvala says, clearly relishing the challenges ahead.

  • UTV Q1 revenue up 7% at Rs 523 million

    UTV Q1 revenue up 7% at Rs 523 million

    MUMBAI: UTV Software Communications Ltd. has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 34 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2006, same as in the year-ago period.

    While revenue rose seven per cent to stand at Rs 523 million, operating profit was at Rs 46 million. The company has consolidated the financials of post production outfit United Entertainment Solutions Ltd (UESL), UTV-US, UTV-UK and UTV-Mauritius. The board of directors, in its meeting held today, have taken on record the un-audited consolidated financial results of the company and its subsidiaries.

    Commenting on the quarterly results, UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala said, “The first quarter of the current fiscal has witnessed a marginal growth in revenues over the same quarter last year. This growth is largely driven by the new shows in the television and A&S segments and film revenues have largely remained flat as most of our releases for this fiscal are during the third and the fourth quarter. The margins of the company haven’t shown a corresponding increase mainly because the new shows introduced would take some time to mature in TV and airtime sales business. In our animation business, during past few quarters we have focused on overall scale by strengthening order book, moving up the value chain by entering into production of DVD and theatrical movies and expansion of facilities. These investments are expected to translate into higher revenues and margins going forward.”

    The UTV scrip shed 4.01 per cent to close today at Rs 167.35 in the BSE. Even in the NSE, it lost 4.23 per cent to end at Rs 167.60.

  • Post Hungama, UTV to plan for second stage of growth

    Post Hungama, UTV to plan for second stage of growth

    MUMBAI: UTV will be cash rich by Rs 2.36 billion as a fallout of the Walt Disney deal, allowing it to pursue movie and animation businesses on a large scale.

    The preferential allotment to Walt Disney of 14.9 per cent of the expanded equity capital at Rs 192.5 per share will fetch UTV an aggregate value of Rs 654.5 million ($14 million). Founder-promoter Ronnie Screwvala will contribute Rs 360 million as UTV issues him 1,949,360 warrants, which are convertible into one equity share each, at the same price.

    A further $29.3 million (Rs 1.35 billion) will trickle in from Walt Disney’s buyout of Hungama TV, in a total deal size of $30.5 million with Screwvala getting $1.2 million for his 51 per cent holding in the Hindi kids channel.

    “The huge cash UTV will be sitting on will help us leverage funds for future expansion of the company. Once we set out exercising the synergies with Walt Disney, we can substantially scale up the movies and animation business,” says Screwvala.

    This line of optimism is making Screwvala protect his old stake in UTV. The issue of warrants will help him increase his shareholding in UTV from 42.38 per cent to 47.62 per cent before any issue of 3.4 million shares to Walt Disney. After alloting shares to Disney, Screwvala will hold around 44 per cent in UTV.

    Screwvala plans to use the fresh capital to wipe out UTV’s debt of Rs 900 million. “We will become a zero debt company,” he says.

    So what will the master of deals take up as his next challenge? “UTV, which is currently at the helm of affairs in its specific business segments in the Indian media and entertainment industry, is poised for its second stage of growth. As the Disney investment consummates over the next few months, post regulatory approvals, I am positive that UTV will enter a new phase of growth and strengthen its multi-revenue integrated model.”

    On Screwvala’s expansion plate is not just movies and animation but also new media content including gaming. Be prepared for acquisitions in this space. And Screwvala doesn’t rule out the launch of niche channels. “We incubated and grew Vijay TV and Hungama TV before we sold out to News Corp and Walt Disney. We have the experience in the broadcasting space. With the emergence of digital platforms, there is scope to launch niche channels,” he says

  • Walt Disney to buy out Hungama TV, take 15% stake in UTV

    Walt Disney to buy out Hungama TV, take 15% stake in UTV

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company today announced that it has entered into an agreement to wholly acquire Hungama TV and take a 14.9 per cent equity interest in media company UTV Software Communications Ltd, in each case subject to regulatory approval.

    Disney has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of United Home Entertainment LTD (Hungama TV) at an enterprise valuation of $30.5 million and purchase equity stake of 14.9 per cent of expanded capital in UTV Software Communications LTD, at a consideration of $ 14 million. So, the total combined investment is $ 44.5 million.

    The announcement confirms the news first put out by Indiantelevision.com that Disney would be buying into Hungama TV and picking up a small stake in UTV.

    Hungama TV COO Zarina Mehta will be working closely with the Disney team for the next three months to ensure a smooth organisational and operational integration of Hungama TV into Disney’s portfolio of kids channels. Post that Mehta will be working with Disney as a consultant for a period of six months to a year.

    Once final, the acquisition will firmly establish Disney’s ties in a rapidly growing media market where local content product is key. The combination of the three kids’ channels — Disney Channel, Toon Disney and Hungama TV — will establish Disney as a strong contender against the market leader Turner India (Cartoon Network and Pogo).

    “India is a long term strategic priority for the Walt Disney company. The acquisition of Hungama TV and the investments in UTV will significantly advance our presence in India and allow us to develop a strategic relationship with one of the countries leading integrated media companies,” said Walt Disney International president Andy Bird.

    “Not only will we be acquiring a great channel asset, we will also be able to participate in UTV’s diversified businesses and bring to UTV our global media and synergy expertise, including developing and distributing high quality family friendly content in nearly 200 countries worldwide and expanding related franchises across film, TV, music, merchandise, new media and live entertainment,” said Bird.

    When queried on Disney’s plans to launch a theme park in India, Bird answered in the negative. “We are not looking at a theme park in India,” he said.

    “TV is and will continue to be the major growth engine in building franchise affinity in India. Integrating Hungama TV in the Walt Disney Company’s existing India channel portfolio of Disney Channel and Toon Disney will allow Disney to fortify its already strong presence in India’s kids TV market,” said Disney Channel Worldwide president Rich Ross.

    When queried about the integration process of Hungama TV into Disney, Walt Disney Television International (Asia Pacific) senior vice president and managing director Nicky Parkinson said, “At present we are not sure how the integration will take place. We are in the process of finding out a way to best talk to kids. We are not here to cannabalise the market place. India is a relatively nascent market but one which has phenomenal potential.”

    “Hungama TV has proven its appeal to Indian children and families with compelling entertainment choices and has in a brief period built a strong management team and sucked out a leadership position in the competitive children’s TV environment. We are also delighted that Disney has chosen to make a strategic investment in UTV, which will augment our business in India and around the world,” said UTV group CEO Ronnie Screwvala.

    Launched in September 2004, Hungama is a 24-hour Hindi-language entertainment cable channel for children and is currently in a close fight with Turner’s Pogo channel for the the number two position in the Indian kids space behind leader Cartoon Network. Hungama TV has a staff strength of 71.

    Disney currently reaches over 107 million television homes in India through a programme block on Doordarshan and Disney Channel and Toon Disney/Jetix reached approximately 30 million homes on cable and satellite in India.

    UTV has a diversified set of businesses, which includes television and film production and distribution, animation production, and other services.

  • UTV scrip up on Disney deal buzz

    MUMBAI: UTV Software Communications’ share price has gone up by 18 per cent in the last three trading days on the talk that the Walt Disney Company is buying into Hungama TV. The market is also abuzz with rumours that Disney is picking up a small stake in UTV.

    The scrip opened today at Rs 162, touched a high of Rs 182, and closed at Rs 175. On Thursday, it had gained Rs 14.50 to end at Rs 165.65.

    UTV is making a preferential allotment to Disney, a dealer in a broking firm said. The integrated media company holds 49 per cent in United Home Entertainment (UHE) which runs Hindi kids channel Hungama TV.

    Meanwhile, an earlier deal that was to go through with Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Entertainment Networks has not yet closed, another dealer said. Astro was to take 26.01 per cent in UHE for a consideration of $7 million (Rs 310 million), putting the enterprise valuation at a little under $28 million (Rs 1.24 billion). While UTV was to hold 49 per cent, the balance was to be with UTV founder-promoter Ronnie Screwvala.

    The market buzz is that Disney would hold at least a controlling stake in Hungama TV, a dealer said. UTV had earlier in its FY06 results announced that the capital employed in UHE was Rs 840 million. This was used to fund Hungama TV’s operations. UTV has made investments of Rs 680 million into the channel till then.

    Neither UTV nor Walt Disney Company (India) Ltd were available for comment. UTV had earlier denied a report in a leading financial daily, stating in a notice to the stock exchange that it was not in talks with Walt Disney to sell 30 per cent stake in UHE.

    MTV Networks India had also been in talks with UTV but the two parties could reach no common grounds on valuation. The plan was to have a second channel along with Nick, which was struggling to get audiences. MTV, sources say, was interested in buying out Hungama TV.

    UTV, meanwhile, is planning to merge United Entertainment Solutions Ltd, a post production subsidiary company, with itself. In a move to consolidate the post production business, the company had acquired Western Outdoor in 2002. UTV also has a strong presence in movie production and is into animation business.

  • Eternal Dreams to foray into TV & film production; UTV’s Jain to head

    Eternal Dreams to foray into TV & film production; UTV’s Jain to head

    MUMBAI: Entertainment and event management company Eternal Dreams Pvt Ltd is making renewed efforts to get into television production after its initial experiment to turn around an ailing Marathi channel proved futile.

    Floated by ex-Sony hand Sapna Chaturvedi, the company plans to foray into Hindi film production as well. UTV non-conventional revenues general manager Bonnie Jain has rejoined the company as CEO to take up the task of finding buyers for TV content.

    In 2002, Eternal Dreams had found captive content for its production activities since it took up the management of Rathikant Basu-promoted Tara Marathi. But the channel had to shut operations due to losses.

    The company will now be looking at producing shows for the likes of Star, Zee and Sony in the Hindi general entertainment space and will also be looking at tapping opportunities with Doordarshan.

    Eternal Dreams managing director Sapna Chaturvedi said, “We are in talks with people in the industry for our venture but is too premature to talk to about it at present.”

    Jain was with Eternal Dreams till 2004, post which he joined UTV as channel director – television content. Later, Jain was made general manager of non-conventional revenues at UTV.

    He began his career with the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and has also worked with Amitabh Bachchan’s ABCL, the K Balachander promoted Cuecom Entertainment Pvt Ltd and Kerry Packer’s Channel Nine India.

  • UTV Toons inks animation deals with Porchlight, Mike Young

    UTV Toons inks animation deals with Porchlight, Mike Young

    MUMBAI: UTV Toons, the animation arm of media conglomerate UTV Software Communications Ltd, has inked co-production and animation outsourcing deals worth $ 14 million with Porchlight Entertainment and Mike Young Productions.

    UTV will jointly produce and finance with Porchlight Entertainment a 3D animated feature film, Jay Jay’s Race Around The World, slated for theatrical release during Christmas 2007. Budgeted at $10 million, the feature is based on the popular award winning preschool series, Jay Jay The Jet Plane.

    Scripting for the feature is already underway and pre-production will begin in October at UTV in Mumbai and PorchLight Entertainment in Los Angeles. The entire production will be carried out at UTV Toons. The marketing and distribution strategy of the feature will be jointly created and implemented by the two companies who will have an equal and perpetual share in revenues and exploitation of the property.

    The other co-production deal is with Mike Young Productions’ distribution arm Taffy Entertainment and Method Film France for TV series of Cosmic Quantum Ray (26 episodes x 22 minutes). UTV Toons will have a perpetual 20 per cent share of worldwide revenues and the studio’s investment in this co-production is around $1 million, which would be part payment and part in sweat equity.

    Besides the two co-production deals, UTV Toons has also bagged an animation services contract worth $ 3 million from Mike Young Productions. The service contract is a total of 13 hours of 3D animation for a variety of Direct to DVD as well as TV episodes.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com’s sister concern Animation Xpress.com, UTV COO Ronald Dmello said, “These deals signify an important step in the growth and development of UTV within the animation space. They mark a significant step towards the addition of some very high profile titles into UTV’s animation portfolio and an entry into the elite animated feature film makers’ club.”

    “This is the next step in globally maximising the Jay Jay brand,” said PorchLight CEO and executive producer of Jay Jay the Jet Plane Bruce Johnson. “We took the success of Jay Jay on PBS and grew it into a recognisable licensing brand. Now, having added new characters, new storylines and the PBS Sprout platform to the series, it’s logical to align ourselves with the talents of UTV and produce Jay Jay in a long form format.”

    Commenting on the deal, Mike Young Productions & Taffy Entertainment co-CEO Mike Young said, “We are very excited about starting this new relationship. We expect to benefit hugely from the abilities and experience of UTV’s animation studio and also their pedigree and depth as a media company.”

    The newly announced deals add to the already bountiful UTV Toons order book where production is on in full swing. Starting July, the studio will be delivering 14 direct to DVD titles back to back to BKN. Deliveries on Freej (15 x 22 mins) where UTV Toons is involved right from pre to post, have also begun.

  • Hungama TV to launch new season of ‘Hero’ on 12 June

    Hungama TV to launch new season of ‘Hero’ on 12 June

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV’s popular show Hero is back in a new avatar. Starting 12 June, the channel will air an all new season of Hero at 7.30 pm.

    The show will be aired from Monday to Thursday at 7.30 pm.

    Hero is a live action fantasy about the heroic deeds and adventures of an ordinary boy named Joy, who is bestowed with magical powers by Goddess Durga. This UTV produced show is back by popular demand with a new look and is packed with excitement.

    Hero will be sporting a new look in a new gear and will be blessed with additional powers in the new season.

    Hungama TV COO Zarina Mehta said, “Children take inspiration from their super heroes and try to imitate them. Our endeavor through Hero is to spread the message among kids on how good always triumphs over evil and each and everyone of us can become a Hero in our own special way.