ITV

Tag: Video-on-demand

  • Fox acquires new thriller from J.J. Abrams, Stephen King, Bridget Carpenter

    Fox acquires new thriller from J.J. Abrams, Stephen King, Bridget Carpenter

     

    MUMBAI: 11.22.63, the event series thriller from executive producers J.J. Abrams, Stephen King and Bridget Carpenter will premiere in select European territories this spring exclusively on Fox.

     

    The deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution secures exclusive first-run linear and non-linear rights in 18 European markets, including Bulgaria, Flemish-speaking Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.

     

    Based on King’s best-selling 2011 novel, the epic new nine-hour event series 11.22.63 combines the talents of Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, best-selling author King with executive producer/writer Carpenter and Warner Bros. Television.

     

    Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald directs and serves as executive producer for the two-hour series premiere. Distributed around the world by Warner Bros. International Television Distribution, the series is executive produced by Abrams, King, Carpenter and Bryan Burk.

     

    11.22.63 will roll out weekly over eight weeks on Fox channels and via associated video on-demand services.

     

    Fox EVP for distribution Caleb Weinstein said, “The golden age of television is being driven by serialised drama. And in 2016, Fox channels across Europe are at the forefront: delivering on-demand access to the best content in the world, whenever and wherever our Pay TV subscribers want to watch.”

     

    Fox SVP global acquisitions Jason Simms added, “We are delighted to be working with Warner Bros. on 11.22.63. With its epic and suspenseful story complemented by an absolutely incredible array of talent, both behind and in front of the camera, we are confident our audiences will love what promises to be one of 2016’s hottest shows, first on Fox.”

     

    Starring an ensemble cast, 11.22.63 hurtles viewers deep into the unpredictable darkness of the American Dream. Academy Award nominee James Franco stars as Jake Epping, a high school teacher at a loss with his life, who wants to make a difference and do something meaningful. Encouraged by his ailing friend, Al Templeton (Chris Cooper), Jake journeys back in time in an attempt to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

     

    The story transports audiences into the world of 1960s Texas as Jake explores the multiple mysteries surrounding the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald (Daniel Webber). But Jake’s mission faces threats not only from Oswald, but also from Sadie Dunhill (Sarah Gadon), a beautiful librarian he falls in love with, and from the Past itself…which doesn’t want to be changed. And if the Past doesn’t want to be changed, it will push back – often violently.

     

    The cast also includes Cherry Jones, Lucy Fry, George MacKay, Leon Rippy, Kevin J. O’Connor, T.R. Knight, Jonny Coyne, Brooklyn Sudano and Tonya Pinkins, with Josh Duhamel.

     

     

     

  • Viacom18 christens VOD platform as VOOT

    Viacom18 christens VOD platform as VOOT

    MUMBAI: The digital space in India is going through a revolution of sorts. Broadcasters as well as content companies are firming up their plans to provide content to consumers on the go. The latest to join the bandwagon is Viacom18 Digital Ventures, which has christened its new digital video-on-demand (VOD) platform as VOOT, going by the popular expression used by today’s digital generation to express happiness, enthusiasm and triumph.

     

    Besides being the singular and exclusive destination for Viacom 18 network’s content portfolio, VOOT will also have an aggressive original programming strategy.

     

    The brand identity for VOOT, which is expected to go live in the coming months, has been created by Brand Gym and Elephant Design.

     

    Over the past few months, Viacom18 Digital Ventures has been working with a set of strategic partners on the brand design and logo with the aim of keeping it distinctive, differentiated and in-sync with the brand mission to create a fun filled world of entertainment.

     

    In July, Viacom18 appointed IndiaCast Media Distribution group COO Gaurav Gandhi as the chief operating officer of Viacom18 Digital Ventures. The company also recently mandated Monika Shergill to drive content and programming strategy as content head for the digital business.

     

    Viacom 18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats said, “As one of the fastest growing media companies in the country, for us at Viacom18, digital content creation, delivery and access are essential focus areas for driving growth. With VOOT, we set out to leverage an already digitally engaged audience with our content offerings. VOOT will not only be the singular and exclusive destination for Viacom18’s content portfolio, but will have an equally strong focus on original programming created especially for the platform. The brand mission of VOOT is to create a whole new world of entertainment, filled with happy discoveries and addictive content.”

     

    Gandhi added, “The idea of creating this new brand VOOT comes from our desire to create a new, alternate and differentiated world of entertainment for audiences in the digital space. The core essence of the brand is ‘infectious fun’ and ‘happiness’, and this is something that not only flows through in our bright and colourful logo, but will also resonate in our content philosophy. Just like the expression VOOT, the entire philosophy and experience of the service promises to be joyous and celebratory in nature. The digital video market, both in terms of audiences and revenues, is set to explode over the coming years. VOOT will not only target to gain a sizeable share of this market over the years, but also lead the way and set new trends in original content creation in this space.”

     

    Working with technology, content and branding partners in India and across the globe, VOOT will deliver high quality content to consumers on a wide variety of connected devices over Wi-Fi, 4G, 3G and 2G networks.

  • Star Gold to premiere ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ in 4K on DTH

    Star Gold to premiere ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ in 4K on DTH

    MUMBAI: Breaking new ground every now and then in the television space, Star India is yet again taking the lead by premiering the Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan in 4K on three direct-to-home (DTH) platforms.

     

    Bajrangi Bhaijaan will be the first Hindi movie to be premiered in 4K on Tata Sky, Videocon and Airtel DTH’s Star Gold 4K channel. This also marks the launch of the Star Gold 4K service, which is especially delivered for the film premiere. However, it will be available only for two days (10 & 11 October) on the three DTH platforms.

     

    Along with Star Gold 4K, the movie will also be simulcast on the Star Gold HD and SD on 11 October, 2015 at 12.30 pm.

     

    With the service, the channel aims to provide its viewers a superlative viewing experience of the film. As a build up to the 4K premiere, the channel will showcase specially created promos and short format content videos in the same service. The content will be delivered in the same way as Video On Demand content is housed by the respective DTH operators.

  • ‘What’s Wrogn With Virat?’ asks exclusive video on hotstar!

    ‘What’s Wrogn With Virat?’ asks exclusive video on hotstar!

    MUMBAI: Using exclusive content to drive interest, engagement and conversations amongst the digitally active, premium young audiences on mobile, India’s largest digital content platform, hotstar, has now added an exclusive video with Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli and cricket lovers.

     

    The video is now live and available exclusively to the users of hotstar, which has raced to over 25 million downloads within just over 7 months of its launch.

     

    Cheekily entitled What’s Wrogn With Virat?, the video offers several never-seen-before, humorous and heartwarming takes on India’s batting sensation and heartthrob of the nation, Virat Kohli.  It begins with  young cricket fans sharing their opinions on a variety of topics like what they feel is wrong with Virat, their take on his aggressive play on the field, Virat as a captain, who between Dhoni and Virat is the better captain, the position Virat should bat on, the strategy the Indian team should adopt, and more. Even as the youngsters freely speak their minds, they are blissfully unaware that Virat himself is watching them from the adjacent room, and reacting to each comment as only he can. Emotions hit the roof when, to the surprise and shock of the young cricket fans, Virat suddenly appears in front of them while they are in mid-sentence!

     

    The youngsters’ candid opinions and Virat’s reactions to them, and then the speakers’ own reactions when Virat walks on to the set, are what the video builds up to. The best part, of course, is the answer to the question in everyone’s mind: How will Virat react to their feedback, and how he will interact with them.

     

    To know, watch  What’s Wrogn With Virat, live now, exclusively on hotstar, the fastest grown digital content platform with a truly rich and compelling content library of over 50,000 hours from sports, TV shows,  movies, events and more in seven languages

     

    hotstar is the destination of choice for marketers and brand custodians seeking to reach its large and premium, digitally enabled and active young audiences across India. Film producers are increasingly looking at hotstar as a preferred choice for digital-first promotional content premieres for the young, upwardly mobile and discerning audiences of hotstar.

     

  • VoD broadcast primetime viewing sees 22% growth

    VoD broadcast primetime viewing sees 22% growth

    MUMBAI: The total time spent on viewing Free on Demand (FOD) television content in the Broadcast Primetime category increased 22 per cent compared to the previous year, with 32.8 million more hours per month watched in Q1 2015 than two years ago.

     

    A report titled ‘State of VOD: Trend Report’ by Rentrak includes two years Video on Demand analysis and year-to-date metrics from Rentrak’s On Demand Essentials measurement service. Since Rentrak started issuing the report five years ago, findings show that time spent watching Broadcast Primetime on Demand has doubled.

     

    Insights from the Rentrak report include:

     

    Free on Demand (Broadcast Primetime): Transactions are up 19.8 per cent

     

    Free on Demand (Cable Series Content): Transactions are up 8.2 per cent

     

    The majority of primetime viewing On Demand happens after day three, with more than 50 per cent occurring day seven and beyond.

     

    “Much has been written about the movement from TV to digital viewing, however, Rentrak shows that while live TV viewing is slightly down, television viewership is largely unchanged as more viewership is occurring on DVR and VOD over 28 days,” said Rentrak corporate president Cathy Hetzel.

     

    “With 100 per cent of all primetime series shows now available on VOD, consumers know that favourite shows will be available when they want to watch. The water cooler effect is also driving higher usage as consumers now have the opportunity to watch shows they hear about, from the first episode on,” Hetzel added.

     

    “It is no surprise that Free on Demand continues to see growth. On Demand is truly the ultimate engagement medium. No commercial avoidance for primetime content available on FOD makes On Demand one of the most effective platforms on which to target your most desirable consumers. Our recent ‘Report’ proves that VOD advertising should be sold at a premium price,” said Rentrak CEO and vice chairman Bill Livek.

  • “Disorganisation of analogue cable in Phase III & IV will help DTH”: Harit Nagpal

    “Disorganisation of analogue cable in Phase III & IV will help DTH”: Harit Nagpal

    MUMBAI: While India has witnessed Phase I and Phase II of digitisation, the remaining two phases (i.e Phase III and IV) will go a long way in aiding more transparency. Direct to Home (DTH) platforms too are an enthused lot, hoping it will help them gain additional subscribers. 

     

    Speaking about the expected development Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal said, “As digitisation rolls out, we are hopeful that a large number of consumers will move to DTH because analogue cable is little less organised in Phase III and IV of digitisation.”

     

    Nagpal said that the first two phases impacted approximately 15 per cent of the TV population. According to him, when it came to the process of conversion from analogue cable to digital, about 40 per cent of the analogue subscribers picked up DTH.  Nagpal was speaking at the Asia Pacific Operators Summit (APOS) held in Balli recently.

     

    Speaking about net additions, he said that the pace had not slowed down. “Even when we were acquiring close to 10 million subscribers as gross, we were getting three to four net additions. Today, the industry picks six to seven million gross, it still makes three to four million net.” Nagpal further added that this would be facilitated by digitisation in places where the first two phases were complete.

     

    Nagpal believes that the top four DTH players will become cash positive very soon. “It’s on the horizon now. We have already been covering our operational costs. The investment that is really going into the business is going to fund the growth,” he said.

     

    According to Nagpal, an investor wouldn’t mind finding the growth because on a 10-12 per cent churn, the life of a customer is seven to eight years. As such if the pay back is three years, then an operator has about six to seven years cash life with the customer.

     

    “Thus an investor is happy to invest and add the gross adds faster and does not mind paying for the investment,” he added.

     

    While on the one hand, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera expressed his displeasure over premium content being distributed for free by Over The Top (OTT) platforms, Nagpal explained his point of view. “I treat myself, i.e. a content access provider, as a grocer. We buy soaps and cereals in bulk and sell them in small packets. If three generations in a single family want to consume bread, rice and pasta we have it stocked. Secondly, if these three generations ordered the food respectively via in shop, over the phone or placed an order online, I have to cater to that and make it convenient for customers.” 

     

    He further said that he would not go about cursing people as to why content is being given out for free. “I have to make it convenient for the customer to find everything at one place,” he stressed.

     

    On the added service of video on demand (VOD), Nagpal said that four years ago when Tata Sky launched VOD, it had seen an investment of close to $10 million. Currently the operator was just breaking even on operating costs. “But we know it’s a long term play. It’s not necessarily a play of premium content. In fact, on our first VOD we made available Hindi movies and not English. The reason being English movies’ rights holders were sceptical and insisted on minimum guarantees.”

     

    On the issue of broadband bandwidth, Nagpal stated that going by the current world wide web phenomenon it was obvious that  video cannot be carried by over the air as the last mile has to be connected by at least some form of wire. He hoped a new entity would cater to this business very soon. 

     

    “Currently there are a lot of entrepreneurs who provide broadband very well in some areas. They have just been constrained by expansion. We are hoping that in a year’s time the landscape will change. Some funding will come in and then they will expand,” he concluded.

  • Sony to premiere ‘Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanumaan’ on Sony Liv app and web

    Sony to premiere ‘Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanumaan’ on Sony Liv app and web

    MUMBAI: “Digital is the future.” While one has been hearing this on various occasions over the years, it’s only recently that the Indian television industry has started thinking digital.

     

    What started with sports channels putting content on the digital platform has now moved to the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) as well.  The genre which so far was looking at targeting mostly housewives is now going young, thus making presence on digital even more important.

     

    Taking cue from that, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is premiering its upcoming mythological show Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanumaan on Sony Liv mobile app at 12 noon on 4 May, way before its on-air telecast at 8 pm.

     

    The show will present the tale of the mightiest God – Hanumaan from the perspective of Lord Krishna. Born to God Kesari and Anjani Devi, Hanumaan is considered to be the greatest devotee ever born on earth. The show will take viewers on a journey of his beautiful and eventful life right from his childhood from being a devotee of Lord Ram to being the vanquisher of all evil.  It will also bring out his qualities and derive morals from his life which are relevant in everyday life. With extremely advanced VFX, the show promises a never-seen-before visual experience.

     

    Sony Liv is aimed at providing entertainment on the go for young India on the move and this new step further reinstates this brand promise. The video on demand (VOD) service has been consistently bringing marquee shows from Sony’s stable to its viewers on devices that they could access anywhere, anytime, including shows like KBC, Indian Idol etc.

     

    Sony Entertainment EVP and digital head Uday Sodhi said, “Sony Liv mobile app is one of the leading entertainment app and it is featured amongst the top apps in the app world. The show offers a perfect blend of untold and popular mythology around Lord Hanumaan in a never seen before format, state-of-the art special effects, immersive visuals and stellar acts and performances. The show will present the tale of the mightiest God from his childhood, in a whole new way.”

     

    Sony Entertainment Television senior vice president marketing Gaurav Seth added, “Our marketing innovations and promos have already created a lot of buzz for the show. Besides the web premiere, the show has also seen some unique digital innovations like live streaming of the Grand Press Conference held at Kingdom of Dreams and an auction of Mahabali Hanumaan’s Gada! Looking at the excitement over the internet and social media, we have decided to bring forward the launch and give netizens an exclusive preview of our most awaited show.”

  • Pepsi IPL 2015 reigns on Hot Star with 110 million views

    Pepsi IPL 2015 reigns on Hot Star with 110 million views

    MUMBAI: After setting the record for the largest sporting event on digital with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Star India’s Video On Demand (VOD) platform Hotstar is blazing a new trail for the ongoing Pepsi Indian Premier League 2015.

     

    The platform has recorded more than 110 million views for the tournament to date. In comparison, the entire 2014 edition of the tournament registered 62 million views on starsports.com last year.

     

    With 13 million views on Pepsi IPL 2014 at a similar point in the tournament last year, Hotstar has registered an 8.5x growth in viewership.

     

    Hotstar is streaming all the 60 games of the IPL, as well as programming original sports shows including a made-for-digital pre show 20-Minute 20-Second Twenty20 as well as a weekly show, Juicy Half Volley.

  • Time Warner Cable adds live TV to TWC TV app on Xbox One

    Time Warner Cable adds live TV to TWC TV app on Xbox One

    MUMBAI: Time Warner Cable has added live TV to its TWC TV app on the Xbox One video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

     

    Time Warner Cable customers with Xbox One consoles will have access to almost 300 live TV channels alongside a selection of 8,000 free and subscription titles from a vast Video On Demand (VOD) catalog.

     

    TWC TV made its debut on the video game system last month, adding Xbox One to a growing stable of devices that includes Apple’s iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Roku and many others.

     

    TWC TV on Xbox One takes advantage of all the benefits of the powerful Xbox One console, smoothly integrating with its interactive features such as Kinect and Snap mode, which enables customers to switch quickly from one entertainment experience to another.

     

    TWC TV is available for download at no additional cost from the Xbox Live apps marketplace for all Xbox Live members in the US. Available content, channels and offerings vary by market and depend on the customer’s underlying video subscription package.

  • Rentrak inks TV ratings & VoD measurement deals with Game Show Network

    Rentrak inks TV ratings & VoD measurement deals with Game Show Network

    MUMBAI: Rentrak has inked TV ratings and video on demand (VoD) measurement agreements with Game Show Network (GSN).

     

    “GSN consistently ranks within the top 25 per cent of all broadcast and cable networks and Rentrak ratings information provides us the ability to highlight the unique quality of our audience. Rentrak’s granular TV measurement service will play a key role in supporting our research needs across the board,” said GSN vice president, research strategy Michael Michell.

     

    “We are excited to have GSN subscribe to our TV services and we look forward to helping them advance their business,” added Rentrak president of national television Chris Wilson.

     

    Rentrak’s television ratings service is the only fully-integrated system of detailed satellite, telco and nationwide cable TV viewing information from more than 30 million TVs, and Video on Demand viewing from more than 117 million TVs in the US and Canada, including granular information for TV stations in all 210 local markets projected to the US population.