Star World To Air Game Of Thrones 7
English Entertainment Channel Star World will premiere the 7th season of Game Of Thrones on 18th Jul, 2017. The show will air every Tues at 11 pm. To celebrate the launch of this penultimate season and take the excitement up several notches, Star World will be conducting a “Game of Predictions” challenge on its Twitter account every Sun during the course of the season.
Tivo Renews Ip Licence Deal
TiVo Corporation, a global leader in entertainment technology & audience insights, has signed a multi – year intellectual property (IP) licence renewal with Foxtel, Australia’s leading pay TV platform. This agreement offers Foxtel ongoing access to TiVo’s industry – leading entertainment discovery patent portfolios.
Sony Awards Title
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has awarded the title & on – ground sponsorship rights of Sri Lanka vs India cricket series to sports management company ITW Consulting. The Sri Lanka vs India series involves 3 Tests, 5 ODIs & 1 T20. ITW had also bagged the on – ground & title sponsorship rights of the on – going Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka series.
9 Pay Channels Launched In Q4
9 new pay channels were launched in the exit quarter of FY 2017, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said in its quarterly performance indicator report. Further, no pay channel was converted into free – to – air (FTA) & 1 chanel, namely Zee Q, was discontinued. Sony Pictures Networks India had launched Sony Rox HD, Sony BBC Earth & Sony BBC Earth HD. The latter is a JV with BBC Worldwide.
FM Guidelines Need To Be Amended
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is wanting to develop an ecosystem which will encourage private FM radio broadcasters to move to digital radio broadcasting. This will improve the audio quality for the listeners & broadcasters will also be able to air 3 to 4 programmes & channels on a single frequency. Under the analogue mode, broadcasters are only able to push through 1 programme per frequency.
Mullen Lintas To Handle Quikr
Online classifieds platform Quikr has appointed Mullen Lintas Bangalore as its creative agency. Mullen Lintas was selected after a competitive multi -agency pitch. What began as a pitch process for 2 verticals quickly went on to the entire Quikr group portfolio & Mullen Lintas has now been mandated to handle all the verticals.
Beibei Fan To Head HBO China
HBO Asia has promoted Beibei Fan to China executive VP new business, MD. In this role, Beibei Fan will oversee all the business aspects of HBO Asia’s business in China from revenue generation to production as well as new business prospects in Asia.
Game Of Thrones: Global Touring Exhibition
HBO will have a global touring exhibition for Game Of Thrones to help fans get up close & personal with the show through images & artifacts. The exhibition will kick off in Europe first. This all new exhibition will drop fans in the centre of the Seven Kingdoms for an up – close & personal look at authentic props, costumes & set decorations from the show. In collaboration with HBO Global Licensing, global events provider GES is designing & building the new 10,000 square foot interactive experience, and will exclusively tour the exhibition to worldwide destinations starting later this year.
BARC India Bolsters Senior Leadership
TV viewership measurement provider BARC India has expanded its leadership team with the addition of 2 senior resources. It has roped in Rohit Sarma as the business head for its TV business & Kumar Rao as the chief of measurement science. Both of them will be based out of BARC India’s Mumbai office.
Zee Café Rules English GEC Order
English GEC Zee Café grabbed the top position from Comedy Central with 411,000 weekly impressions, registering a growth of 8.73%. Comedy Central slipped to the 2nd rank with 374,000 weekly impressions, suffering a drop of 13.22%. According to BARC data for Week 26, AXN & Star World maintained their 3rd & 4th positions respectively, while Color Infinity entered the chart at #5. Meanwhile, Star World HD exited the list.
PC’s Production House To Venture Into Digital Web Series
Priyanka Chopra’s production house Purple Pebbles Production is all set to venture into the digital entertainment space. Priyanka Chopra’s mother Madhu Chopra, who co – owns the production house, stated that the company would venture into the production of web series.
Sony To Launch Comedy Show
Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is all set to air another comedy show The Drama Company from 16th Jul, 2017. The 1 hour show will be aired at 8 pm every Sat & Sun, replacing the existing kids’ reality series Sabse Bada Kalakar. The show will precede the channel’s popular comedy series The Kapil Sharma Show, which is broadcast at 9 pm.
Amazon & Excel To Create Web Series
After releasing its 1st original India web series Inside Edge, Amazon Prime Video is said to be creating a web series about Housing.com founder & former CEO Rahul Yadav. The public spat between Rahul Yadav & Housing.com investors, which resulted in Rahul Yadav quitting the company, will be made into an Amazon web series, reports The Times of India. Excel Entertainment, run by Farhan Akhtar & Ritesh Sidhwani, is behind the project & the show will be launched next week.
Zee Media Makes Organisational Changes
Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) has made some organisational changes including the role of Jagdish Chandra, the CEO of its regional channels. Chandra, who had seen his role grow and was also named CEO of the print daily DNA, will now get less to handle. He has expressed his desire to lighten his load.
Broadband & Cable TV Initiatives
Broadband is getting a boost in Tamil Nadu. In order to expand internet service connectivity, state – owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation has given the green signal to more than 170 companies to go ahead and start the service after receiving over 300 applications. The Tamil Nadu state government expects to provide the internet service to about 24,750 households under this initiative. Arasu had floated expression of interest to become business partners on revenue sharing basis.
DTH Subs Up 1.5% To 63.61 MN
The total net pay active subscriber base of 6 Indian direct – to – home (DTH) companies grew by 1.53% to 63.61 million in the quarter ended 31st Mar, 2017 compared to 62.65 million a quarter ago, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said in its quarterly performance indicator report based on information provided by the DTH operators.
Star’s Sports Biz Looks To Break – Even
Star India is looking to turnaround its loss – making sports business this financial year even as it readies to bid for television & digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The company, which has invested over Rs 20,000 crore in the sports business, is eyeing operational break – even from this segment in FY18. The Indian subsidiary of 21st Century Fox has a Jul, 2017 – Jun, 2017 financial cycle.
Sale Of Reliance Digital TV Part
In a presentation to lenders about its long – term debt reduction plan, Reliance Communications has included the sale of its direct – to – home (DTH) business. The other assets identified for sale include real estate & under – sea cable. RCom plans to bring down it’s nearly Rs 45,000 – crore debt by 60% by Sept, 2017 & 80% by Dec, 2017. Reliance Digital TV, the DTH arm of RCom, has just 2% share of the active subscriber base.
