ITV

Tag: V. Sivaramakrishnan

  • Sifymax inks deal with SET for ‘Bigg Boss’ website

    Sifymax inks deal with SET for ‘Bigg Boss’ website

    MUMBAI: Sifymax.com, the broadband portal from Sify Limited, has announced an alliance with Sony Entertainment Television to be the official website of their Indian adaptation of Big Brother, the reality show Bigg Boss. As per the tie-up, Sifymax will feature exclusive footage from each episode, as well as footage not shown on television.

    Sifymax will feature the Bigg Boss show format, profile of the anchor, profiles of contestants who are part of the show, weekly results, chats and message boards. Exclusive podcasts-voice excerpts from the evicted participant and Bigg Boss will be also be aired on a weekly basis.

    “The site is interactive with Bigg Boss fan polls, task ideas, poll feedback, Big Boss blogs and an exclusive Bigg Boss merchandise store. Apart from being the official broadband partner for the program, Sifymax also holds the rights to market the website www.biggboss.sifymax.com, informs an official release.

    Sony Entertainment Television executive vice president and business head Albert Almeida said, “The launch of Bigg Boss has given an all new meaning to reality television and we are happy to extend the same excitement and unseen drama to a larger audience through our web partner. Given the success of our partnerships during Fame Gurukul and Indian Idol, we have immense confidence in the popularity of Sifymax among Internet users and hope that Sifymax-Bigg Boss partnership will take our show to another level.”

    Commenting on the alliance Sify Ltd president portals V. Sivaramakrishnan said, “Bigg Boss has captured the imagination of television viewers across the country with its unique reality show format. Sifymax is the pioneer in broadband content and is consistently innovating to offer a richer entertainment experience to our consumers. We are certain that with this partnership Bigg Boss’ viewers will experience a closer connect with the participants that they have loved or hated. Most of the major programs on the lead television channels are already hosted on Sifymax and for we would like to be the ultimate web destination for all forms of entertainment, including popular reality shows.”

  • Sify capitalises on TV’s talent hunt craze as auditions go online

    Sify capitalises on TV’s talent hunt craze as auditions go online

    MUMBAI: Aspiring contestants waiting for endless hours in maddeningly long queues, organisers struggling to cope with the logistics pressure and complications – all kinds of chaos break loose when television channels conduct their national auditions for talent hunt shows.

    Sify Limited has spotted a good revenue opportunity here and is offering to make the whole process much simpler with the use of its national Iway network.

    The company has already associated with national networks such as Star India and Zee to offer them online solutions for the audition process. For example, Zee TV has associated with Sifymax for the video auditions of its upcoming talent hunt show Cinestars. The auditions will be held in 154 cities across India using the technology edge of Sify’s 3400 plus iWay cyber cafes.

    Similarly, Star India’s Vijay TV conducted video auditions for its comic hunt Kalakka Povadu Yaaru 2 (KPY 2) through Sify Iways in June.

    “Sify is ideally positioned with the Sify Iway network (over 3000 Iways across 154 cities) and the broadband portal, SifyMax.com, to manage massive customer video interaction activity like the Zee CineStar activity. The customer can take the tutorial on SifyMax and the auditions can be recorded at the Iways or uploaded online on SifyMax.com. The customer is charged for these services,” explains Sify Ltd Portals president V Sivaramakrishnan.

    Zee TV marketing head Tarun Mehra agrees, “Zee Cinestars is an all India contest and understandably the auditions demand a lot of hard work. But, with the help of Sifymax, we have simplified the whole process. The technology lessens the load and this helps us to channelise our resources to the other areas of the project.”

    Sify will be soon exploring the facility for an in-house talent hunt, the Net Jockey Hunt. The contest will be conducted at popular Malls in Mumbai for its city specific broad band portal www.mumbailive.in.

    Speaking on the strategy, Sivaramakrishnan offers, “Without any registration /subscription fee, we reach out and offer value added services (entertainment and information content in video format) to this segment. Almost 34 per cent of the Sifymax users access the internet via cyber cafe, through the Sify Iway cyber café chain. Hence we are leveraging on this huge strength.”

    On the revenue front, Sify is expected to push this revenue model to deliver this fiscal. However, Sivaramakrishnan refuses to divulge the target. “It is early days to comment on this,” he says.

  • Sify promotes Sivaramakrishnan to president, portals

    Sify promotes Sivaramakrishnan to president, portals

    MUMBAI: Sify Limited has promoted V Sivaramakrishnan as the president of its portal business. Prior to this, he was vice president of iWay cyber café chain business.

    A management graduate from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Sivaramakrishnan has worked in companies like Procter & Gamble and Ford, both in India and abroad. During his tenure with them, he led brand, sales and customer service teams, marketing and sales initiatives for brands such as Vicks, Pampers, Old Spice, Ford Fiesta, Ford Ikon and Ford Endeavour.

    Sify Limited CEO and managing director Raju Vegesna said, “I am very pleased to announce Siva’s promotion as President, Sify Portals. In his earlier role as vice president of the iWay cyber café chain business, Siva brought a deep insight and understanding of consumers, and executed initiatives to grow business revenues through innovative services, products and promotions in synergy with our portal strategies.

    “While we will see the result of these efforts going forwards, I believe that he will bring a fresh perspective to how we grow our portals and online advertising business both in India and overseas. With his rich experience in building brands, understanding of media, marketing and consumer behavior, I am confident he will play a key role in further strengthening and growing our portal business in tandem with our access strategies.”

    Sivaramakrishnan said, “I am really excited about this opportunity as it will enable me to bring to bear all of my previous experience with consumers, brands, marketing, media and the Internet in building our portals business. The Net is the most exciting medium of our times, and it will be our intention to maximize the opportunities presented by this versatile medium for compelling and relevant online content for Indians, to add to the quality of their lives. This includes extending the leadership we have in broadband content with www.sifymax.in, our popular portal www.sify.com, our city-centric broadband portal strategies, and www.samachar.com, the most popular site for non-resident Indians.”

    “I will also be involved in growing the online advertising business with marketers as they begin to understand the flexibility, focus and power that online advertising gives them for cost effective brand promotions, and overseeing Sify’s consumer brand marketing for both the portals and access businesses for greater synergies. I believe this will be the most exciting and challenging phase of my career, and I look forward to making a difference to Sify’s pioneering efforts for exciting India-centric online content in synergy with our access businesses,” he added.