NEO
CHANNELS ON THEONEALLIANCE
Neo
Sports has entered into a 3 year deal for Neo Sports
and Neo Cricket to be distributed on MSM-Discovery's
TheOneAlliance bouquet. The distribution contract
which is effective from 1st Sept 2010, covers Cable
TV & HITS. DTH distribution will continue to be
handled by Neo Sports. "There is a short transition
phase. TheOneAlliance will distribute the channels
from 1 September. Neo will continue to distribute
the two channels on DTH," confirmed Neo Sports
Broadcast president affiliate sales Arun Poddar.
Multi
Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh said, "Having
Neo with its coverage of BCCI cricket complements
the strength the bouquet draws from IPL and gives
our bouquet the two largest cricket properties and
a year round sports presence. TheOneAlliance has a
significant presence in every genre and is the strongest
distribution bouquet in India."
Neo
Cricket has the rights of all the BCCI events in India
till 2014. Its line up for the next few months includes
the Australia and New Zealand tour.
Neo
Sports, on the other hand, showcases football, tennis,
golf and other sporting properties.
TheOneAlliance
has in its family channels like Sony, Max, Sab, Pix,
AXN, Discovery, Discovery Travel and Living, Discovery
Science, Discovery Turbo, Discovery HD World, Animax,
Animal Planet, Aaj Tak, Tez, Headlines Today, NDTV
24X7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit.
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MCBS
BAGS HDTV ORDER FOR C'WEALTH GAMES
MCBS
has won the Turnkey Contract Including Supply, Installation,
Testing, Commissioning, Operation, Maintenance, of
High-Definition Cable TV System for Commonwealth Games
2010, Delhi. The cable headend system is to cater
for total 45 channels, 33 in High Definition Format
and 12 in Standard Definition Format at the input
of the headend.
It
consists of 30+3 HD Sports channels and 10+2 SD Sports
channels to be transmitted on MPEG-4 Part-10 (H.264)
over cable for distribution at various locations.
MCBS
will be getting the HD-SDI signal feed on fiber from
the cameras and will encode it using H.264 HD encoders.
Modern
Communication and Broadcast Systems Pvt. Ltd. (MCBS)
is firmly established as a leading Indian manufacturer,
innovative technology solution provider and system
integrator for broadband cable, satellite and wireless
systems. It has achieved a distinction of being knowledge-based
company with immense experience in communication and
broadcasting. It has achieved numerous milestones
by developing and introducing several technologies
for the first time in India.
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DISH
TV TAKES TEN SPORTS HD FEED
Dish
TV has partnered with Ten Sports for the High Definition
(HD) telecast of the Micromax Cup India-Sri Lanka
Test Series 2010 and One-Day Tri-Series between India,
New Zealand and Sri Lanka to its subscribers.
"Under
the partnership, 3 test matches of the Micromax Cup
(between India and Sri Lanka) and one-day tri-series
between India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, starting
July 18, 2010, would be available for our subscribers,"
Dish TV COO, Mr Salil Kapoor said.
"After
FIFA World Cup, we are now offering international
cricket series free to all Dish TV HD subscribers,
new and existing," he said. The ODIs will be
available in a multilingual feed - Tamil, Kannada
and Telegu - in both HD and Standard Definition (SD
) formats, he added.
Dish
Tv and TEN Sports are both part of the Zee empire.
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INDIA
- WORLD'S LARGEST DTH MARKET ?
Strong
growth of the domestic DTH broadcast market may soon
take India into the No. 1 position globally in terms
of the largest DTH subscriber base, ahead of the US,
an industry official said.
"As
at June-end, the DTH subscriber base in India stood
at 23.5 million, which is equivalent to the size of
the markets in other countries. By this year-end,
we will leave the US behind, which has got a 32 million
subscribers base, making us the largest DTH country,"
Bharat Business Channel Limited (BBCL) Chief Executive
Officer Anil Khera told the press.
Ofcourse,
Indian DTH ARPUs lag far behind those of their US
counterparts.
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CHHATTISGARH:
ENT TAX ON DTH
One
more state - Chhattisgarh has levied entertainment
tax on DTH connections in the state in towns &
cities having a population of over 10,000.
"The
per connection charge for towns having populations
between 10,000 to 50,000 will be Rs 10 while the charge
for towns exceeding populations of 50,000 persons
will be Rs 20," said a statement from the state
commercial tax department. The tax will be applicable
from June 2010, and is to be collected by the DTH
dealers, the statement added.
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MAA
TV ACQUIRES HOLLYWOOD MOVIES
MAA
TV has acquired the Telugu Satellite telecast rights
of 58 movies from Warner Bros' Hollywood film library.
The
channel will telecast the Telugu version every Sunday
and the first movie to go on air will be Matrix on
July 25.
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DD
RURAL CHANNEL PLANNED
To
give wider publicity to the UPA govt's flagship social
sector initiatives, the ministry of rural development
has decided to have a dedicated TV channel, which
would focus on programmes relating to agriculture,
water, and sanitation issues, amongst others. Modalities
for the new channel are being worked out in close
co-ordination with the I&B ministry. The rural
development gets a budgetary allocation of more than
Rs 80,000 crore for running mega programme including
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MHNREGA), Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana,
Indira Awaas Yojana.
According
to sources in the I&B ministry, the government
may transform one of the 17 existing Doordarshan channels
for this purpose.
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SENA
WANTS MARATHI ON PRIME BAND
Regional
language politics has again raised its head in Maharashtra.
Shiv
Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has demanded that Marathi
songs be played on private FM channels.
Parallel
Sena outfit MNS under Raj Thackeray wants more, as
he stepped up his campaign to woo Marathi voters.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) wants cable operators
to carry Marathi channels on their prime band.
Raj
Thackeray had earlier pushed the distribution of a
Marathi channel that was launched by a leading media
group.
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FIFA
TOPS VIEWERSHIP
According
to aMap ratings, the FIFA World Cup final match, played
on Sunday, 11th July, got a share of 25.3% out of
all television channels including Hindi GEC, news
and regional channels.
It
was also the most viewed midnight match of the tournament
with 1.5 million viewers in cable and satellite homes
in the 15-plus age group (C&S 15-plus) category.
The
total viewership for the tournament in the C&S
15-plus category stood at 61 million for 64 matches.
The average viewership for each match was just short
of 10 lakh viewers per match.
The
success of the FIFA World Cup also proved to be a
monetary success for the broadcaster in India, ESPN
Star. Industry experts estimate the sports channel
generated close to Rs 150 Crore from advertisers,
compared to Rs 55 Crore for the pervious FIFA World
Cup series, held 4 years ago.
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I&B
THRUST FOR NORTH-EAST
The
I&B ministry has earmarked Rs 256.85 Crore for
the North Eastern states. The package includes setting
up of software production facilities, launch of 2
new Doordarshan channels for the region & setting
up of a high-power transmitter at Kokrajar. Doordarshan
will also set up 2 maintenance centres at Agartala
and Passighat.
Doordarshan
will also distribute 25,000 free DD Direct receivers
& colour TV sets in villages in the region that
do not receive DD's terrestrial transmissions.
The
ministry also plans to make it mandatory that 35%
of all display advertisements be given to small and
medium newspapers in the region including those in
Bodo, Manipuri, Mizo, Khasi and other tribal languages
certified by state governments.
16
new cities in the region will receive private FM radio
stations, after the Phase III FM radio frquency auction.
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GOVT
PROPOSES NBAI AS BROADCAST SUPERVISOR
To
reign in news channels, the Centre has proposed setting
up of a government appointed committee - the National
Broadcast Authority of India - that will have the
power to screen programmes or advertisements before
broadcast, and formulate the content code.
The
committee will have all the powers that were part
of the controversial Broadcasting Services Regulation
Bill, 2007, which had to be shelved because of fears
that it would have led to censorship.
The
I&B ministry's new draft envisages a 3 tiered
redressal structure with the initial 2 tiers of content
monitoring based on self-regulation. Grievances or
complaints that are not settled by the channel itself
or by the industry association (at the second level)
will then go to the NBAI. The NBAI will be the final
authority for all issues related to content and carriage.
The
ministry's task force report gives the NBAI the power
to authorise officers to block news content if public
tranquility is disturbed as described under Section
19 of the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act.
It also suggests that the Centre retain powers to
intervene in the interest of sovereignty and integrity
of the country.
The
NBAI will have 1 media representative and 6 other
"eminent persons" with 15 years experience
in law, public administration, finance, IT and social
work. They will be appointed by a committee headed
by the Vice President and including the Lok Sabha
Speaker, a Supreme Court judge or alternatively a
nominee of the President or Press Council of India
chairman.
Broadcasters
have been consistently opposing government control
over news content, and have submitted their own self
regulation codes. The News Broadcasters Association
(NBA) has formulated the code for news channels &
the Indian Broadcasters Federation (IBF) for non news
channels. The government has not yet accepted or commented
on these self regulation codes.
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PIX
TO FOCUS ON INDIAN HOLLYWOOD CHANNELS
Sony
Pix plans to create a niche in the Rs 250 Crore Hollywood
movie channel market by concentrating on broadcasting
English movies with an Indian flavour.
"Unlike
our rivals, we are the only English movie channel
based out of India. We want to show Hollywood films,
but with an Indian connection. It's all about context.
We want the Indian viewers to strongly identify with
the movies shown on our channel," s aid Mr Sunder
Aaron, business head, Sony Pix.
"With
a market share of around 25% from the present 20%,
we want to be right there on top with market leaders
in the next couple of years," Mr Aaron said.
Pix
has acquired TV rights for films like Aparna Sen's
'15 Park Avenue' and Oscar-winning 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
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UTV
PLANS 3 NEW CHANNELS
UTV
Software plans to scale up its broadcasting business.
"We are looking at two or three specialty channels
that can break-even in 18 months and we can have a
360 degree approach to it. We have identified those.
Broadcast is a high growth area for us. We can build
that into a Rs 1,000 Crore business." Managing
director Ronnie Screwvala told the press.
In
July, the company reported broadcast revenue of Rs
48.1 Crore in April to June, out of total revenue
of Rs 208 Crore. The company's net profit for the
quarter was Rs 46.6 Crore. The broadcasting business
had operating profit of Rs 3.8 Crore, but going forward
it could deliver 25-30% operating margin from the
next financial year.
The
projected broadcasting revenue for the year to March
2011 is Rs 220 Crore, double that of last year.
Mr
Screwvala said that the broadcasting arm may be listed
as a separate company, sometime in future.
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KERALA
OPS CONTINUE ASIANET BOYCOTT
The
Cable TV Operator's Association - Kerala State, continue
their boycott of both Asianet channels. 'Asianet'
is a News and General Entertainment Channel while
'Asianet Plus' is an entertainment-driven youth oriented
channel. The parent company - Asianet Communications
Ltd is now owned by Star Jupiter Entertainment Television
and STAR India.
'Asianet'
and 'Asianet Plus' both turned pay a few months ago,
after Sun Network's Malayalam channels Kiran TV and
Surya TV turned pay, asking cable operators to pay
Rs 15 per subscriber per month. Kerala's cable operators
have opposed the move, and refused to carry the 2
as pay channels. Viewership of both channels has been
badly affected.
Cable
TV operators association has stated in its press release
"The channel management should withdraw their
decision to convert the channels to pay till the implementation
of Conditional Access System (CAS), thus the consumers
have the choice to select the channels as per their
choice and financial capacity."
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MAHUAA
BANGLA TV CHANNEL LAUNCHED
Century
Communication Ltd, in association with Mahuaa Media
Pvt Ltd, has launched a new Bengali general entertainment
channel 'Mahuaa Bangla'. The new channel marks the
company's entry into the Bengali regional market.
Mohuaa Bhojpuri, the country's first Bhojpuri channel,
was earlier launched by the company and is doing well.
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KBC4
ON SONY WITH BACHCHAN
The
KBC-Amitabh Bachchan combo will return to TV screens,
by this year end, maybe even in time for Divali. However,
this time, Kaun Banega Crorepati-4 will now be on
Sony, not STAR Plus.
Bollywood
superstar Amitabh Bachchan will host the fourth season
of the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Bachchan told the press "I am happy to be back
on KBC."
For
KBC-4, the format of the show will undergo quite a
few changes. The prize money has been reduced back
to Rs 1 Crore, from double that amount in KBC-3. Other
changes have been kept under wraps.
KBC
was hugely popular and attracted audiences from all
age groups. Not only did it help Amitabh Bachchan
relaunch his Bollywood career but also propelled Star
Plus to become India's No. 1 Hindi GEC.
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DISNEY
SUED FOR NOT PAYING FAIR AMOUNT
Last
month, the Walt Disney Compay was ordered by a court
jury to pay US $ 269.2 million to Celador International
- the company that licensed "Who Wants to Be
a Millionaire" to Disney's ABC network in the
USA.
UK
based Celador International contended that a series
of "sweetheart deals" struck between a clutch
of Disney-owned companies & ABC Network, falsely
showed that the show made a loss of US $ 73 million.
This was despite the fact that "Who Wants to
Be a Millionaire" was ABC Network's biggest show
of the decade.
Celador
had sued for $395 million in broadcast license fees
and $10 million from the sale of "Millionaire"-related
merchandise. The jury awarded Celador $260 million
in license fees and $9.2 million for the merchandise
sales.
Disney
is reported to have said in a statement, "We
believe this verdict is fundamentally wrong and will
aggressively seek to have it reversed."
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