Nimbus extends deals for IPL telecast overseas

Nimbus, which won the television broadcast rights to the IPL globally, has inked deals with a number of broadcasters globally.

According to Nimbus COO Yannick Colaco, Deals have been extended with Setanta in Ireland, Echostar (pay per view) in the US, Rogers Communications in Canada, Astro in Malaysia and Pacific Broadcasting Corporation in Fiji.

Neo Cricket will broadcast the IPL in the US and in Australia Nimbus is searching for a fresh partner as earlier, Ten Network cancelled the contract it had with World Sport Group (WSG).

Colaco said that, they had received three offers already and were waiting for two more to come in. In addition to money, they were also looking for reach of the channel and the inclination to market and promote the IPL. He further added that, the other deals they have stitched were a combination of short and long-term deals.

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Ten Sports to broadcast IAAF World championships

Dentsu has inked a deal with Ten Sport, in which Ten Sport will broadcast the IAAF World Championships and World Indoor Championships covering seven territories during 2011 to 2014. Ten Sports is holding these rights with the IAAF and Dentsu for the first time and it has committed to offer a good broadcast.

Dentsu is a commercial partner of The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for all media rights worldwide excluding Europe and Africa.

Dentsu also extended its contract with TyC Sports for all events of the IAAF World Athletics Series for the period 2014 to 2016 for Latin America.

Telered Imagen owned channel TyC Sports has acquired all exclusive rights for the event in Argentina and non-exclusive delayed pay cable rights in 14 other Latin American territories.

IAAF President Lamine Diack said that, Athletics is the most universal of sports, and the package of TV rights agreements being negotiated by Dentsu successfully mirrored that reach. The guarantees which had been achieved ensured that the athletics fans of Indian Sub-Continent and Latin America would be able to enjoy their World Athletics Series events in particular the biennial IAAF World Championships which were their sport’s brightest jewel.

STAR TV to go HD in India

STAR TV has decided to launch the HD versions of its key channels-STAR Plus, STAR One, STAR Movies and STAR Gold in the Indian market. The HD versions are likely to go on air on April 18.

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) a global digital services group has been selected by STAR TV to design its content operations infrastructure. PFT, a part of the Prime Focus Group, is a content management company with a platform that can handle HD multi-platform content operations.

The infrastructure is based on PFT’s CLEAR technology platform, which helps manage the end-to-end digital workflows and enables STAR TV to drive operational efficiencies within its organisation, make content more creative and leverage the opportunity to liquidate new multi-platform delivery models.

Sanjay Gupta, chief operating officer, STAR TV said that, the future of the broadcasting industry lies in digitisation. With that initiative, they were opening the door to digital workflows, allowing them to more effectively scale their business, embrace the migration to HD and increase their focus on non-linear platforms.

Namit Malhotra, global chief executive officer, Prime Focus commented, they would drive the transition from tape to file, recasting broadcast infrastructures to cater to next generation consumers and their multi-screen entertainment requirements.

BIG CBS Networks Enters Distribution Deal with SCOD-18 & Home Cable

BIG CBS Networks Pvt. Ltd., the joint venture between, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd. and Us’s, CBS Studios International, announced the signing of the deal with SCOD-18& Home Cable – a company operated by a consortium of Mumbai’s cable operators, has launched its own digital and analog cable services, to further strengthen its distribution network in one of the most relevant markets of Mumbai. With effect to this alliance, the channel has further strengthened the distribution network to vast populace of relevant households. �

SCOD-18 & Home Cable customers can now enjoy the latest, freshest and hottest shows on BIG CBS Prime with hit shows like NCIS, Bellator, Survivor and BIG CBS LOVE with shows like Oprah Winfrey, America’s Next Top Model, Rachel Ray straight from the US. Further, the network’s soon to be launched channel BIG CBS SPARK will also be available on this platform.

Speaking on the occasion, Arup Gopikrishna, Vice President Distribution said, “BIG CBS Prime in a short span of time has managed to slide up to number 3 position and BIG CBS Love is also grabbing eyeballs. With a strong distribution network we want to reach the Channel to all relevant audiences who seek near live, international English entertainment. We are excited to reach the customers of SCOD 18 world class entertainment in their homes.”

CBS PRIME is already available across over 30 Million HH’s in all major digital cable and DTH platforms like Hathway, In Cable , Digi Cable, DEN, 7 Star, WWIL, ICC, Sun Direct, Reliance Digital, Videocon D2H , Airtel Digital TV and now on SCOD-18 & Home Cable. It is also available across many MSOs in smaller centers on their Digital networks, covering overall over 400 cable networks.

COLORS enters in UK

Now, General Entertainment Channel, Colors will be available in UK, on their cable platform, as Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd, an equal JV between Viacom Inc. and Network18 joins hand with Virgin Media in the UK.

Earlier, COLORS has been available on the SKY platform, as a part of the View Asia bouquet since Jan 2010 in the UK. Looking at the increasing demand of this channel with hugely popular shows and Bollywood movies, company decided to launch the channel on cable.

As the Asian programs are high on demand in UK, Virgin Media has given a new color to its Asia Mela by adding COLORS to the package to serve customers round-the-clock family TV entertainment, which has the richness of Asian culture with the importance on community, family and entertainment.

Viewers in UK will be entertained by the weekday dramas such as Balika Vadhu, Uttaran and Bigg Boss as well as thrilling reality shows including Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khilaadi – Season 4.

Gaurav Gandhi, Head – International Business Viacom 18, commenting on the channel’s presence on the Virgin Media platform said, “After the successful launch of COLORS in the UK last year on the DTH platform, we are delighted to now launch the channel on Virgin’s cable platform. We are confident that with the addition of COLORS, India’s favorite entertainment channel, the Asian Mela package will reach newer heights. The substantially increased reach of COLORS in the UK market will now make the channel available to the majority of the South Asian diaspora.”

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media said, “We’re constantly looking at ways to cater to our diverse customer base and the refreshed Asian Mela package is perfect for anyone interested in the latest TV shows and Bollywood movies. We hope viewers will be able to really enjoy a taste of the colour and passion of Asian culture with this new collection of programmes from the COLORS stable.”

Dish TV to distribute Real Lifestyle’s food channel FOOD first

Alva Brothers owned Real Lifestyle Network has joined hands with Dish TV in order to distribute its premier offering, FOOD first – a 24×7 English language channel dedicated to food and food related entertainmen, on DTH platform.

FOOD first, a pay channel, will now be available on channel 460 on Dish TV network in addition to select digital and analogue cable networks across the country. FOOD first will cater mobile English speaking viewers of age group 18+ .

Speaking on the announcement, Manisha Tripathi, Business Head – Real Lifestyle Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd. said, “FOOD first promises to be an exciting destination for all food lovers with its entertaining programmes made with world class production values showcasing some of the best and most renowned culinary talent from India and around the world. The viewers can enjoy the most recent programmes hosted by the international culinary icon Gordon Ramsay, see an enchanting journey through Spanish cuisine with Hollywood star and foodie Gwyneth Paltrow and her celebrity friends.”

She further added, “We are extremely happy to partner with Dish TV as it enables the reach of FOOD first to over 10 million relevant viewers across the country, offering them the best in FOOD entertainment from around the world and India.”

Commenting on the tie-up, Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Dish TV said, “As the market leaders and innovators, Dish TV has delivered many firsts to its ten million plus subscribers. With FOOD first, our subscribers can embark on an entertaining gastronomic journey with some of best chefs and renowned celebrities. This association reflects our commitment to offer world class TV viewing experience to our customers.”

FOOD first will present some of the best food focused programmes shot in high-definition, featuring the biggest names in the world of food. To the viewer, FOOD first promises to be a highly entertaining experience of the world through food.

Discovery Communications to introduce science with a new look

Discovery Communications, the network which is watched in more than 68 million homes, has come up with a new look and television’s most dynamic logo “Morph”. The channel will reveal its new look on Science on June 8 at 10:00 PM, in combination with the world premiere second season of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman.

Morph has been design in a way that it will change its shape, texture and sound constantly to surprise and challenge even the most daring and wild imaginations.

Debbie Adler Myers, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Science said that, Science is more than a channel; it’s a multifaceted, multiplatform community that captures a distinct zeitgeist within their culture. To reflect that, they were officially dropping the “Channel” from their network name. He added, he was thrilled to unveil their new logo, Morph. It’s futuristic, it’s novel and there is nothing else like it on television. Morph is constantly in motion and always would be changing, on-air and online.

The Science will not only change in its look and packaging but also in its content and the way of looking.

Commenting on this new move Myers further added, he always said that Science is far more provocative than men in white lab coats. It’s for people who look at the world differently. Science is full of questions, curiosity, mystery, and wonder. It rides the edge of what’s possible. They were not changing the direction of the network; they were just recruiting a bigger audience to sample the joys of Science.

Autentic to launch two new HD channels

Autentic, a German Media Company has planned to air two new HD channels for worldwide distribution on pay-TV platforms.

As the Company is known for the production of documentaries, Science channel Spark will show documentaries from the rights stock of Autentic and ZDF Enterprises, the commercial subsidiary of German public broadcaster ZDF. The schedule will consist of various topics from science and technology, discoverers and discoveries to environmental issues, nature and animal films.

The other channel is a Movie channel Freestar, which will give the platform for the productions from independent studios and films from international festivals. Video-on-demand service will also be there on the channel.

The Company has very strong portfolio, which consists of history channel Spiegel Geschichte on German pay-TV platform Sky Deutschland and three thematic channels on South-African pay-TV platform TopTV.

Al Jazeera to launch Children’s Channel in English

The Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (JCC) is planning to introduce an English-language station for broadcast outside the Arab world and will be available by the end of next year.

Mahmoud Bouneb, the executive general manager of JCC said that, they had an ambition to create an international feed for JCC that would benefit other markets, such as Asia and North America.

JCC also broadcasts Baraem TV a pre-school station owned by Qatar Foundation. The Arabic-language stations are accessible via the Arabsat, Nilesat and Hot Bird satellites across the Middle East and parts of Europe.

The Qatar Foundation owns a 90 per cent stake in JCC, while the news broadcaster Al Jazeera holds a small stake. The Qatar Foundation owns 100 per cent of Baraem TV.

Mahmoud Bouneb further said that, they were thinking probably by the end of 2012 because it takes a long time to prepare and to penetrate the market. They had so many requests from Asian countries to bring Al Jazeera in Arabic and to be dubbed in English.

Mr Bouneb added, The English-language version would mean greater content acquisition costs and if they add the English probably they had to pay three or four times more to acquire content. But he thought it was worth to try. Qatar Foundation was investing around US$110 million [Dh404m] to $120m a year.

BBC Worldwide: Coming Soon in New Zealand

A recent deal between BBC Worldwide and Prime Television, TVNZ and TV3 has paved� ways for British drama, comedy and natural history to come into the television arena of New Zealand. In a deal that delivers over 20 hours, BBC Worldwide has licensed the reimagining of Upstairs Downstairs, the detective drama DCI Banks and natural history programmes Human Planet and Polar Bear – Spy on the Ice to Prime Television.

As a part of a deal with TVNZ over eight hours of drama and comedy content will come on air to the viewers of New Zealand. TVNZ has also acquired comedy series Live at the Apollo series 6 and Michael McIntyre’s – Live & Laughing which will air later this year.
Moreover, a separate deal with TV3, Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams will entertain the audiences, with ‘Come Fly With Me’ in coming times.

BBC Worldwide Australia’s Sales Manager, New Zealand Robyn Campbell commented that these deals demonstrated the demand for British content at present and he assured that it would grow more in future.