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Racing Games website

2010-03-14T17:09:00.003+05:30

Hello, i just come through another racing games website it seems quite nice with very nice collections of games which is categorized in racing games bike games car games truck games parking games and the best this i like about this is site is very nice and clean design with no pop us etc, hope you guys will love this site.

Shootinggames88.com review

2009-10-03T22:24:00.002+05:30

If you like shooting games than shootinggames88.com is for you we have 100s of games for you to play for free and make your highsocre we are trying to add all highscore games but if you find any of our game does not work you can always report us about it.

Review of beearcade.net

2009-06-18T23:22:00.002+05:30

Beearcade.net is the new arcade site and our focus is to only add best games on this site we don't want to add 1000s of games there but we want to add the best online games on beearcade.net as we want our gamer to find our every game is the best and we are mainly focusing on Arcade games , bike games , car games , and action games hope you will enjoy your stay there on Arcade Games . Hope you guys will love it and stay there so long as you can.

8 Proven Weight Loss Tips

2009-05-31T10:33:00.002+05:30

There are a lot of “crash” diets out there that promise that you’ll drop a considerable amount of weight in days or a week.

I have tried a few of these, and in my experience the weight always comes back on, just as quickly since the weight loss tips given are not something that will work with your body.

One thing you don’t want to do if you are actually serious about losing weight is to follow these fad diets and their ridiculous weight loss tips.

After their ineffectiveness has been proven time and again, people will start to wise up to that particular diet, and will head off in search of a new craze.

Lets be honest, people are always searching for new weight loss tips because they want to lose pounds and they want immediate results, but this is just wishful thinking.

To lose weight permanently and effectively it will be a rather slow progress, all depending on your metabolic rate and how much you need to lose.

There are however some proven tried and true weight loss tips for aiding in the weight loss process, and I can make you familiar with them.

Weight Loss Tip 1
Don’t skip breakfast. Whatever you do follow this advice, because otherwise you are much more likely in fact prone to binge later in the day.

Weight Loss Tip 2
Don’t eat anything for at least an hour before going to bed.

Weight Loss Tip 3
Don’t snack while watching TV. It’s acceptable to eat a meal while watching television, but never is snacking at this time acceptable.

Weight Loss Tip 4
Substitute fruits like; bananas, watermelon, plums, peaches, and oranges for sugary treats like; cookies and candy.

Weight Loss Tip 5
Substitute honey for sugar, and carob powder for chocolate in all recipes. These taste just as good if not better when used properly.

Weight Loss Tip 6
Eat more vegetables. This can even be enjoyable if you have a good cookbook like Good housekeeping’s latest edition.

Weight Loss Tip 7
Avoid unnecessary high calorie foods. Instead of a high calorie salad dressing for instance try cottage cheese or yogurt to improve the salads taste and peel of the pounds.

Weight Loss Tip 8
Exercise at least a half hour each day for five days out of the week. Biking on a stationery bike while reading is a great form of exercise to slim legs.

In conclusion there is nothing stopping you from losing weight except yourself. Get off the “I can’t do anything about my weight problem” bandwagon and start dropping pounds today!

More weight loss tips

Radio Mirchi to revamp with new signature tune

2007-11-26T14:37:00.000+05:30

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Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM is all set to sport a contemporary new avatar, starting 26 November.

As part of the revamping exercise, the FM station will introduce a new signature jingle and will also increase the number of songs per hour.

The signature jingle will premiere in Mumbai station, which will be later carried forward to all the other Radio Mirchi stations across India.

The new jingle composed by music director duo Vishal- Shekhar is a combination of hip-hop and special sound effects including whistle.

With a target group of 15 to 25 years across SEC A and B, Radio Mirchi will increase the number of songs to 12 to 13 per hour. The FM station generally plays only 10 songs per hour.

Radio Mirchi chief programming officer Tapas Sen says, "Apart from changing the signature jingle and increasing the number of songs, we will be doing lot of other new things to repackage the station in the next 30 to 45 days. It is part of our activity to get a fresh feeling of the station."

Sen, however, refuses to give out any further details on the repackaging activity.

WWE to celebrate 15 years of 'Raw' next month

2007-11-26T14:35:00.000+05:30

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US broadcaster USA Network and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will have a three-hour TV special on 10 December that will celebrate 15 years of the Monday night show Raw.

Raw has been a staple of cable television since its debut on USA Network in 1993. Raw also pushed talent like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, John Cena, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus and Stacy Keibler. In India WWE airs on Ten Sports.

USA Network and Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer says, "It's hard to believe it's been 15 years since Raw redefined the television landscape. It's an incredible run for a one-of-a-kind entertainment franchise, and we're thrilled to celebrate with Vince, Linda and the entire WWE family."

WWE chairman Vince McMahon says, “Monday Night Raw started as, and continues to be, the most unique television show in history. With its ever changing blend of athleticism, humour, action, drama, soap opera and rock concert content, Monday Night Raw continues with a variety show concept that appeals to a variety of demographics generation after generation.”

Hollywood studios take $2bn hit on new movies in 2006

2007-11-26T14:24:00.000+05:30

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London based media analyst firm Screen Digest has launched Global Media Intelligence (GMI), a new division dedicated to delivering high quality research and analysis to institutional investors in the US.

GMI's latest report - 'Do Movies Make Money' - published projects that after five years of exploitation across all global media, the 132 medium-to-big budget films released by the leading US studios in 2006 will produce a loss of $1.9 billion pre-tax. This compares to a profit of $2.2 billion for the new releases of 2004.

Despite a recent surge in box office returns, GMI believes that the movie business has seen costs rising faster than revenue for the past several years.

Revenues from DVD sales, which accounted for 75 per cent of growth and significant profits from 1999 to 2004, have experienced a worldwide decline over the past three years. A detailed title-by-title analysis was carried out for this report which shows the trend accelerating further in the first half of 2007 with US DVD sales down 12.5 per cent from 2006. International sales mirrored this decline.

Some executives in the Hollywood studios are looking to the new technologies of Video on Demand (VoD) and subscription based TV to fill the gap left by DVD. However, GMI estimates that while VoD will offer a superior share of the consumer dollar over traditional pay channels (60 per cent versus 40 per cent), it will not deliver at the lofty levels predicted in the early days of the industry and will not help the studios put 'old wine in new bottles.'

Financing films has also become a major concern. Until recently, the industry used to generate its own capital entirely from internal sources. However since 2004 when revenues started to decline, the industry has been forced to seek outside financing, mostly from hedge funds and private equity. GMI believes that this source of capital will not be available on the attractive terms that until recently prevailed. Sophisticated investors are becoming aware of just how thin, or even non-existent, movie profit margins can be.

One of the biggest sources of increasing costs is for the stars of the movies, particularly the 'gross participations' paid to top actors, directors and producers. These costs totalled $3 billion in 2006 - nearly double that of five years ago. While the studios are currently in negotiations with writers, actors and directors over fees, these salaries are not the main issue; the current cost of producing, casting and advertising movies in the present environment simply exceeds the likely returns.

Roger Smith, author of the report believes the outlook is bleak. "Our analysis of the business of the Hollywood studios may come as a surprise to investors and even some people within the industry. We believe there is little chance of the negative revenue trend reversing in the coming years.

"New technology will not deliver anything like the revenue initially predicted, and as DVD sales continue to decline and the cost if making movies increases, the message is simple: the Hollywood studio's must begin a serious attempt to reign in costs, like News Corporation's Fox have done, if they are to survive."

Shemaroo releases Dhamaal DVD

2007-10-28T22:32:00.000+05:30

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Shemaroo Entertainment released the comedy hit Dhamaal in DVD format for Rs 199 and the VCD for Rs 49. This comedy has brought the hit 'jodi' of 'Munnabhai' fame - Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi - together once again.

The DVD has bonus features which includes - making of the film and cast and crew interviews. The story revolves around four friends who live and work together, where their idea of work is doing small time con jobs.

Considering that the film has mass appeal, the affordable pricing may be an attractive bargain for home viewers.

Nielsen to measure online TV viewing for Google

2007-10-28T22:31:00.000+05:30

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Google and Nielsen have entered into a multi-year strategic relationship wherein Nielsen will measure online television viewing behaviour and bring demographic data to the Google TV Ads advertising platform.

The Nielsen data is intended to provide advertisers with better demographic data on viewer audiences. It will record the data Google collects through the set-top boxes from its cable and satellite partners.

Google TV Ads, which was launched on trial basis in April, offers a way to better target television commercials. The system offers an auction system to determine prices at certain time slots.

However, TV Ads may not be the only platform on which Google and Nielsen partner up. The two companies said that they would "explore a number of other opportunities " on which to collaborate.

Google has already been expanding its AdWords program, launching programs for radio and print media, along with the TV service.

Google TV Ads is similar to its AdSense program for online advertisements, which charges only for clickable ads.

Advertisers purchase time by bidding on specific time slots within programs. The charges are then determined by the number of television sets that actually display the advertisement.

Xbox Live, Percept tie up for 'Hanuman Returns'

2007-10-28T22:30:00.000+05:30

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Call it sheer coincidence or the lure of Bollywood. Both gaming majors Microsoft Xbox Live and Sony Playstation are dangling the Bollywood carrot for their product launches in the competitive festive season ahead.

While Sony launched its game 'Singstar Bollywood' recently, now Microsoft Xbox Live has tied up with Percept Picture Company (PPC) for its upcoming animation film Hanuman Returns. The film is a sequel to the successful Hanuman which released in 2005.

Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan (left) and Percept Holdings joint MD Shailendra Singh.
Through this initiative, Percept will bring a whole new world of gaming and entertainment from Hanuman Returns content on the Xbox 360 Live. Moving forward Percept Picture Company will extend Hanuman through a series of animation films.

"We are excited to showcase the hugely anticipated Hanuman Returns on the Xbox Live service - a next generation platform for complete connected entertainment with an existing community of millions of users worldwide," said Percept Holdings Joint MD Percept Holdings Shailendra Singh.

Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division global president Robbie Bach said, "We have just celebrated the first anniversary of Xbox 360 in the country this year and it is with a celebratory spirit that we offer our Indian consumers even more entertainment options on Xbox 360. This is not only a firm reiteration of our commitment to the Indian market but also an exciting foray into connecting our Indian consumers to a world of 7 million Xbox Live members around the world."

Xbox Live is currently available in 25 countries across the globe. India will be the 26th market to launch Xbox Live.

India to have one million IPTV subscribers by 2011

2007-10-28T22:29:00.000+05:30

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India will have one million IPTV subscribers by 2011 but for it to succeed companies need to get their act together in the areas of access, content and technology.

This was a point made at the IBE 2007 Conference in a session that examined IPTV's growth prospects in India. The speakers were IOL wholetime director AS Oberoi, Seachange India MD Vishwajeet Deshmukh and MTNL's Vandana Sethi.

Oberoi notes that IOL offers a content delivery network to MTNL and BSNL. IOL launched commercial operations in August in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. It has also launched trial operations in other cities like Chennai.

In terms of access, companies need to have fibre optic infrastructure. A strong DRM system is also needed; otherwise, content owners will be wary pf parting with their offerings.

Oberoi says that IPTV offers the most robust DRM system which has made it easier for the company to deal with the Hollywood studios. Its VoD service offers thousands of English and Hindi movies. It has also tied up with companies like Satyam for e-learning. As time goes by, the company will also offer games on demand and music on demand.

He adds that IOL has deals with several firms. They include Seachange which offers servers, Amino for set top boxes and Cisco for routers. HP will help with IOL's Internet data Centre.

Sethi notes that IPTV allows for time shift viewing of television. HDTV can also be transmitted on the same network, provided it is modified accordingly. She notes that newer compression standards are available for more effective video delivery. The challenge is that customers are demanding and will not compromise on the quality of service.

Vh1 Digital announces 3 senior promotions

2007-10-28T22:28:00.000+05:30

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Vh1 announced the promotion of Tina Imm as SVP and GM of the Vh1 digital division. The announcement was made by Vh1 GM and EVP Tom Calderone.

In her new role Imm will be responsible for overall strategy, creative direction, content development, and production for Vh1 Digital's platforms including: Vh1.com, Vh1Classic.com, Vh1 Mobile, Vh1 Games, and several of Vh1's existing and planned vertical sites.

In this position, she will also lead the content, promotional, and branding convergence between Vh1 and its digital properties.

Imm will also work under the oversight of Courtney William Holt, EVP of digital music and media for MTV Networks' Music Group, on digital strategy and initiatives, stated an official statement.

"Under Tina's leadership, Vh1 Digital has grown immensely. In addition to video streams on Vh1.com achieving triple-digital growth over the last two years, the last three months were our most streamed quarter ever," said Calderone.

"Tina's team has successfully grown our digital business by developing and launching made-for-mobile and broadband series, new sites like Vh1Classic.com and products like our Vh1.com syndicated video player."

Most recently, Imm was VP, Vh1 Digital a position she held since joining Vh1 in July 2004. Previously, Imm served as COO for Complex Media LLC, a media company that develops creative for youth culture through various media outlets.

Calderone also announced that Tony Carbone and Deb Kadetsky have been elevated to VP digital production and programming, and VP digital marketing respectively.

In his new role Carbone will manage and supervise all production and programming for Vh1 Digital. He will continue to oversee the digital and broadband production and programming departments.

Kadetsky will continue to lead the company's efforts to develop and implement strategic programming and promotional plans to support Vh1's digital initiatives across platforms - online, digital music, mobile and games.

Big FM hits air waves of Ranchi & Vizag

2007-10-28T21:46:00.000+05:30

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Big FM has added two more stations to its kitty with the launch in Ranchi and Vizag. This takes its total number of stations across the country to 35.

Big 92.7 FM Ranchi has various programmes like Vandana followed by breakfast show Big Chai, Episode 927, Ye Meri Life Hai, Pyar Pange etc, Big Googly and Raater Chandni Main Aur Kaun.

In Vizag listeners will be exposed to a mixed content of Big Luck, Voice of Vizag, Andhra Soda buddi, Tollywood Tamasha, Style, Serial Killer, Lunchkosthava, Sye ante Sye and Sagar Kinare.

Commenting on its launches in Ranchi and Vizag, Big FM regional head east and south Soumen Ghosh Choudhury said, "We are completely geared and are eagerly looking forward to entertaining the cities of Ranchi and Vizag. It is our aim to create content that is relevant, credible and has an aspirational value for the listeners. We are sure the cities will welcome us with open arms and will enjoy the programmes on our station."

Lycra MTV crowns Shah Rukh Khan as Maha Style Icon

2007-10-28T21:44:00.000+05:30

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Shah Rukh Khan has been voted 'Maha Style Icon of the Year', while Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai were voted the 'Most Stylish Actor' in the male and female category respectively at the Lycra MTV awards announced Thursday evening.

The awards held annually, honour the most stylish people in India across various categories. Hrithik and Aishwarya were also voted as the 'Most Stylish Couple of 2007' under a special poll for MTV viewers.

Meanwhile, Karan Johar was selected the Most Stylish Person in Television, while Atif Aslam was recognized for being the most Stylish Person in music.

Dhoom-2 was declared the Most Stylish Film.

Further, Ignatius Camello and Joey Matthew won the awards for the Most Stylish Person on ramp in the male and female category respectively. Abhishek and Nandita bagged the award for 'Lycra Breakthrough Designer of the Year.'

Amongst the lot that turned out to be a part of the awards were the star cast of Farah Khan directorial Om Shanti Om along with Dino Morea, Gul Panag, Gulshan Grover, Kim Sharma, Sanjay Gadhvi, Raghuvendra Rathod, Ashok Amritraj, Pooja Batra and Chak De gang-of-girls, amongst others.

The evening also saw special theme based acts from Atif Aslam with Vikram Phadnis ('My Tee' range), Shafqat Amanat Ali with Abhishek and Nandita ('Uniforms') and Hard Kaur with Vikram Phadnis ('Gangs' collection) and finally Raghu Dixit with Jatin Kocchar (Universe of the Young - Lycra brand line).

Meanwhile, Manish Malhotra displayed his collection based on the 'Retro' theme, with Arjun Rampal and Deepika Padukone walking the ramp.

The panel of judges for the awards comprised Atul Kasbekar, Farah Khan, Neha Dhupia, Anaita Adajania Shroff, Raghuvendra Rathore, Ramona Narang, Sheetal Malhar, Rohit Bal, Prahlad Kakkar, Manoviraj Khosla, Ambika Pillai, Narendra Kumar Ahmed and Mickey Contractor.

The Lycra MTV Style Awards will be telecast on MTV on 3 November at 1 pm.

Lip lock kiya jaye?

2007-10-28T21:35:00.000+05:30

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My television screen nearly misted over this week. Conservative, staid television does take a stab or two at bold expressions once in a while. After a very long time, one actually got to witness a lip lock, although a very modest one, on Sab's Love Story this week.

Star Plus' Kasautii Zindagi Kay didn't go as far, but the serial that normally makes a living out of zooming in on Prerna and Bajaj's faces, actually had a pretty intimate scene between a young couple on air this week. Of course, the guy decently turned out the bedside lamp before the information and broadcasting ministry could point fingers at something objectionable.

The last time a Hindi soap bothered with a kiss was on Sony's Hubahu nearly four years ago, when Sandhya Mridul locked lips with Alyy Khan in a swimming pool. The incident created minor ripples (not in the swimming pool, duh!), but didn't jostle the TRPs much either.

Anurag Basu's Love Story shot its scene subtly and the kiss was portrayed as just an expression of young love. Most channels appear to have kept away from such scenes fearing backlash from conservative audiences and a Big Brother government. The result is assumed intimacy between romantic couples, while fights and squabbles are depicted in detail. So, while you may have witnessed a thousand showdowns between Tulsi and Mihir, or Saloni and Nahar, do you remember them getting intimate any time? I don't.

On the other hand, Star One's Chhoona Hai Aasman went a bit heavy on the gore this week. The lead pair who are a part of an air force division apparently ventured perilously close to enemy territory (although their cockpit windscreens stayed curiously stationary, with no shifting reflections) and were nearly shot at. Over in enemy land, there's conflict and some killing ensues. Knife at throat and gun at forehead, the killer prolongs torture for a while with the knife before finishing off his victime. A bit gruesome for prime time actually.

****

The Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Sa Ga continues...

Once on to a good property, it must be tough to let go the temptation to keep milking it. Viewers barely breathed easy after the end of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007, before being hit by the Lil Champs. Zee has this time roped in a bespectacled Sonu Nigam (who returns as judge after being anchor once upon a time) and veteran singer Suresh Wadkar, who looked distinctly uncomfortable in his new role in the inaugural episodes. It isn't easy bonding with very young participants, who come in from all corners of the world with stars in their eyes. Hope Wadkar settles in his groove as soon as he can.

Another music channel, some more Krazy Kiya Re and Main Hoon Don...The music stays the same, but if the first look of 9XM (INX Media's music channel that's just had its soft launch) is anything to go by, there will be lots of animated characters jumping in and out of the frame to aid proceedings. Apparently, it's just what the doctor ordered for the teenager who needs that bit of extra in his regular dose of Bollywood music. Let's see how the Vs and MTVs react to this one.

Couch potato's pick of the week - The weekends are getting busier, with Jjhoom India too launching on Sahara One. If you haven't got your fill of TV celebs exhibiting their hidden talents, head for this one!

India can become largest pay TV market in the world: Chandra

2007-10-10T00:46:00.000+05:30

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During his keynote at Mipcom today, Zee Group CMD Subhash Chandra asserted that India had the potential to become the largest pay television market in the world.

However, Chandra remained steadfast that while newer distribution avenues would eat into the dominant share that cable enjoyed in Indian television households, that was not to imply that platforms like direct-to-home (DTH) would take over.

Chandra made the point during his interaction with Chris Forrester, Rapid TV News Editorial Director, who asked: "Do you see this threat (to television viewing) that today's youngsters will remain on a gaming, animation, or maybe mobile path?"

Chandra dismissed the notion as being higher on hyperbole than fact. "I don't see that day. When we started television everybody in the film industry said this is going to kill the industry. It didn't. It actually enhanced the film experience.

"Today in India, more than 70 films are screened per day and available to 70 million homes but still people watch cinema. Similar things will happen. All these newer avenues (for content to flow) will consume more and more media as they are made avilable at cheaper prices. As the newer applications come, they will all complement each other. Today we are showing gaming on the DTH platform."

Queried over whether going forward, he saw DTH becoming the primary feed into TV homes, Chandra responded: "It will not become the primary feed because regulation will not allow it, which is a good thing. But I do agree that other delivery platforms will take 40-50 per cent of the distribution market over next five-seven years."

On the issue of there being only one dominant or at the most two competing DTH platforms in other television markets, Chandra said: "India is a country of surprises. We will still be able to see two or three DTH platforms operating. Not five or six as is the case now though. So in that sense we will see consolidation."

On regulation, Chandra was quite clear that India needed it if the industry was to be able to grow in an orderly fashion. Said Chandra, "There should be regulation. Actually there is no regulation in India today. Only some guidelines on FDI caps and this kind of thing, nothing else."

Moser Baer acquires 800 Hindi films from Ultra Video

2007-10-09T23:55:00.000+05:30

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Moser Baer India's aggressive play in the home video market continues. In a bulk deal, the Mumbai-based company has acquired over 800 Hindi and 100 Gujarati titles from home video major Ultra Video.

Ultra Video currently has a library of over 2200 movies.

Some of the Hindi titles are Sholay, Koi Mil Gaya, Andaz Apna Apna, 36 China Town, Iqbal, Dillagi, Bombay to Goa, Hero No 1, Saagar, Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hai Kaun, Aradhana and Amar Prem.

The Gujarati movies include Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya, Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasar, Unchi Medi Na Uncha Mol, Hiran Ne Kanthe, Jode Rahejo Raj and Moti Verana Chawk Ma.

Moser Baer will be releasing these titles in the home video market on DVD and VCD formats at attractive price points. It will use its proprietary and patented technology.

Says Moser Baer CEO Entertainment business Harish Dayani, "With this acquisition, we own or have license for over 2500 Hindi titles and for over 400 Gujarati titles. This acquisition enables us to offer some latest hit titles to consumers at affordable prices points between Rs 28 - Rs 39 for VCD / DVD, by leveraging upon our patented and proprietary technology."

The company will leverage its distribution reach to market these titles. Moser Baer has already lined up over 475 distributors across the country and stocks shall be soon available in around 100,000 outlets.

Moser Baer says its new division is close to acquiring copyrights / exclusive license for more than 9,000 titles in all major Indian languages, which comprises a third of all movies produced till date in India.

Related Post

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Shemaroo releases 'Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi' on home video
Shemaroo brings Bollywood movies on mobile phones

Raj TV plans to launch Tamil news channel on 14 November

2007-10-09T23:47:00.000+05:30

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Chennai-based Raj Television Network (RTN) has said that it plans to launch a Tamil news channel on 14 November.
The company has received approval from the information and broadcasting ministry for the news channel.

The proposed channel will have a mix of general and business news, the company said.
Raj Television is expanding its bouquet of channels as it strives to increase audience share in a Tamil market which is dominated by Sun TV Ltd.
Raj TV shares dropped 4.82 per cent on Monday to close at Rs 218.25 at the BSE.

DishTV targets 8 mn users; to invest Rs 1100 cr

2007-10-09T23:39:00.000+05:30

Betting big on its new campaign with Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan along with its new offerings, Essel Group promoted DishTV is expecting over three-fold increase in its subscriber base to 8 million by 2011.

The DTH player has also earmarked Rs 1,100 crore in the next two years for expansion.

"We will invest Rs 1,100 crore in the next two years for expansion which includes introducing new services, advertising among other things," DishTV CEO Arun Kapoor told media.

The company, which currently has a subscriber base of 2.3 million, is targeting 8 million users by 2011, he said.

DishTV, which has roped in Shahrukh Khan as its brand ambassador, would seek to make people aware about the DTH technology and its benefits through the new advertising campaign.

It is aggressively targeting people all across the country through print, electronic media, outdoors and other media of advertising to strengthen the company's brand and maintain its dominant position in this industry.

Apart from DishTV, two other operational DTH players include Prasar Bharati owned DD Direct (2 million users) and private player Tata Sky (1 million users).

However, the DTH market is expected to witness a lot of competition in the near future with Bharti, Reliance, Sun TV and Videocon slated to enter the field.

Commenting on the upcoming competition in the DTH sector, Kapoor said, "we welcome competition as this will open up the DTH market".
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Dish TV signs on Shah Rukh
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Enjoy first day, first show of latest movies at home

2007-10-06T14:54:00.000+05:30

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Indian movie buffs may soon be able to watch the latest movie first day, first show in the comfort of their homes. US-based media solutions company, DG2L Technologies, plans to launch one of the first HD (hi-definition) interactive media services through an advanced set top box (STB). The company would launch its services under BOX Networks in the first quarter of 2008. The company would invest about Rs 300 crore to launch its hi-definition services in India.

DG2L Technologies chief executive officer Ankur Sheth said, “ In the first phase, our MPEG4 set top boxes would offer Bollywood content on demand. In the second phase, we would source live cricket content on hi-definition.” The company is initially looking at tapping about 1.8 million subscribers in metros.

“We are in talks with several top Bollywood content makers to be able to release their movies on our interactive hi-definition services. We are also looking at getting a strategic investor which would be a content maker in our company,” he said.

Besides launching its own hi-definition media services, DG2L Technologies is also looking at tying up with operators for live hi-definition content.” We are already providing our set-top boxes to WWIL and are in talks with several DTH operators,” he added.

The company is working on a subscription model. Besides selling individual STBs , the company has also tied up with Panasonic Plasma TV and will bundle its STBs. Currently, DTH and MSO operators offer pay per view services on digital cable.

Under this model, a consumer can watch a movie at a particular time and pay for the number of times he/she watches it. In video-on-demand , the consumer can pay for a movie and own that content for 24 hours and pause, forward and rewind the movie.

Last year, the digital media solution company had entered into a joint venture with UFO Moviez for end-to-end digital solution. The company has already digitised about 1,000 screens pan-India.

NDTV Good Times launches ACTVE Cooking on Tata Sky

2007-10-06T14:45:00.000+05:30

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For viewers of NDTV Good Times on Tata Sky, the channel will showcase 'ACTVE Cooking' a feature service with round the clock cooking recipes and demonstrations along with tips and trivia.

All subscribers of Tata Sky across the country can access the ‘ACTVE Cooking’ service to plan their menu of the day and see dishes being prepared, at the click of a button.

Viewers will be able to access ‘ACTVE Cooking’ service from the ACTVE services bouquet menu on Tata Sky. The recipes and demonstrations can also be availed by clicking the red button icon that will appear on the channel every time the viewers tune into the channel.

The ‘ACTVE Cooking’ menu will have four window options with four recipes for that day - breakfast, lunch, dinner and an International recipe. Viewers can click on any of them, watch the recipes, and scroll the text on the side to note down their favourite recipes using the service. The recipes will change on a daily basis.

NDTV Lifestyle CEO Smeeta Chakrabarti said, "ACTVE Cooking is a novel concept and a unique interactive experience for our urban audiences comprising of working mothers and bachelors. The service will offer them easy access to cooking recipes and will allow them to cook, eat and relish some of the best dishes at the click of a button, wherever and whenever they want to, courtesy NDTV Good Times. It's like catching the cricket highlights of the day, whenever you can."

NDTV Good Times is a lifestyle channel targetted at a largely cosmopolitan, socially upbeat audience. NDTV has come together with the Kingfisher Brand in a first-of-its-kind media alliance for the promotion of the channel.

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Tata Teleservices launches Hindi infotainment zone on Indicom phones

2007-10-06T14:39:00.000+05:30

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Tata Teleservices has unveiled 'Tata Zone' an infotainment space on Tata Indicom BREW-enabled mobile phones, in Hindi.

The company states that the rationale behind launching this is that about 66 per cent of all Indians speak Hindi, while less than 5 per cent understands English. Hence it is trying to increasingly embrace Hindi to drive adoption of data services among the non-English speaking population.

The Tata Zone - Hindi facility hosts a variety of applications like cricket, faith and prayers, Bollywood and Hollywood movies, news, astrology, funzone and games. The entertainment-packed zone also features an impressive and latest collection of ringtones and wallpapers.

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Google faces hacker threat

2007-10-06T14:35:00.000+05:30

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You may need to be careful when you next log in to your Gmail account. Government has sounded an alert that the popular Google system, including its search engine, email and photo-sharing software, has reported "multiple vulnerabilities".

The prime official agency on computer security has issued an advisory that these Google products, and others like its Blogspot, have loose ends. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERTIN), working under the department of information technology (DIT), has also noted a "persistent email theft issue" affecting the popular Gmail service.

The advisory has been put on CERTIN's website — www.cert-in.org.in — amid reports that many government websites and emails of senior Union ministers and officials were being hacked.

CERTIN's director Gulshan Rai refused to specify factors that led to the advisory but said it was backed by valid reasons.

"We work on the principle of complete confidentiality. I cannot tell you any more than the advisory which is in the public domain," Rai said.

Google India's R&D head Prasad Ram recently announced that its vision for India was to empower users "by providing organised, easily accessible information and products which encourage the creation and consumption of locally relevant content".

The IT major's media managers said they were examining the advisory and would respond soon. An active Indian white hat — a hacker who operates in an "ethical or legal" domain on cyber security tasks — said while hacking was an ongoing activity, he was not aware of the Google system turning vulnerable.

As opposed to white hats, black hats indulge in activity that is criminal in nature while there is also a community of grey hats who, as might seem obvious, stride both fields.

CERTIN claimed that cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities — of "high" severity rating — have been reported in Google. XSS, it said, occurred when a web application gathered malicious data from a user. "The data is usually gathered in the form of a hyperlink which contains malicious content within it. The user will most likely click on this link from another website, instant message, or simply just reading a web board or email message," CERTIN explained.

CERTIN aims to become the "most trusted referral agency of the Indian community" for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur.

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Tata Indicom festive offers

2007-10-04T23:52:00.000+05:30

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Tata Teleservices Ltd has announced exciting schemes for Tata Indicom customers that could potentially win a brand new Tata Indica (diesel) car, which is the bumper prize.

As a part of Pandaga Samabralu offer, this is applicable for purchase of Huawei C2285 phone and a Walky for Rs 1,199 plus EMI of Rs 99 for three months.

The scheme also has other offers that come with a Pantech Slider colour phone and a Walky for Rs 1,999 plus EMI of Rs 99 for ten months. The customer also gets other assured gifts.

Commenting on the scheme, Mr S. Ramakrishna, Chief Operating Officer, AP Circle, Tata Teleservices Ltd, said this is a follow up of similar schemes offered by the operator in the past and hope this would motivate more customers.

20 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS

In another statement, TTSL announced that it had crossed the 20-million subscriber mark, which has come through in four years, which is the shortest among operators.

Commenting on the achievement, Mr Ashok Sud, President, Corporate Affairs, TTSL, said, “We have achieved this in four years while it was about 10 years in the case of other operators.”

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Dish TV signs on Shah Rukh

2007-10-04T23:50:00.000+05:30

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Direct-to-home service provider Dish TV has signed on actor Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador. The actor will feature in the new advertising campaign that the Essel Group company is launching shortly.
“Shah Rukh is a natural fit with the personality of the brand as we are harbingers of entertainment in this country and there is none better than him to symbolise the epitome of entertainment in India,” said Mr Arun Kumar Kapoor, CEO, Dish TV, in a statement.
Designed by Mr R. Balakrishnan, Executive Creative Director, Lowe, the campaign would be launched “simultaneously through a multi media blitzkrieg across the country”.
“I like the futuristic product idea and a fabulous brand theme that is simple but very interesting and very me. I hope people will warm up to my new look with Dish TV,” Shah Rukh Khan is quoted as having said.

Zee Sports America launches on Dish Network

2007-10-04T23:48:00.000+05:30

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Zee TV USA has launched its sports channel Zee Sports America on EchoStar's satellite service platform Dish Network.

The channel was launched on 26 September on the Dish Network on channel 576.

The channel will provide coverage of South Asian sports such as Indian football, cricket, golf, and motor sports including Zee's original productions such as the Daily Sports News, Sports Café, Football Café, Sports Sunday, World Motor Sports Magazine, Twenty Two Yards, Cricket Talk and Cricket First.

"Zee Sports is the first homegrown Indian sports channel and through its grassroots activities redefines the traditional role of a television channel. Launching in the US is the first step in its continued attempts to spread its wings," stated Zee Sports CEO Himanshu Mody.

Zee Network head of Americas S Venkatasubramanian said, "This is a very important channel to the south Asian community in the US and we are very pleased to expand on our long term relationship with Dish Network that dates back to 1998. Zee Sports programming is broadcast today throughout south Asia and with the launch of this channel much of that quality content will now be available to the South Asian community in the US."

Zee TV USA manages the America's business of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) and it commenced operations in 1998. It operates four 24x7 South Asian television networks, Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Alpha etc Punjabi and Zee Gujarati. Zee Sports America is the fifth television channel from its stable.

Eros International acquires 100+ new Hollywood titles

2007-10-04T23:43:00.000+05:30

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Eros International has announced plans to expand its library of Hollywood films by acquiring 146 English titles.

The new titles include Rambo 4, Rush Hour 3, Lonely Hearts, The Accidental Husband and Incubus.

Eros International director and president India Sunil Lulla says, "We are excited about adding to our existing range of home entertainment and as part of our consolidation strategy, tapping into new markets and reaching out to a wider spectrum of home viewing audiences”.

Eros senior VP – India operations Hanif Khatri says, “Eros plans to add a further 1000 titles to its international repertoire shortly and offer customers a wider range of premium Hollywood films”.

With this acquisition, Eros adds to its catalogue of Hollywood titles which include the Kill Bill series, the Oscar winning Aviator, Finding Neverland, Scary Movie III, My Boss’ Daughter.

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Airtel crosses 50 million customers in broadband & telephone

2007-10-02T23:49:00.000+05:30

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Bharti Airtel has announced that it has crossed the 50 million customer mark.

The customer base covers mobile as well as broadband and telephone customers.

Commenting on this landmark, Bharti Airtel joint MD Akhil Gupta said, "We are delighted to have achieved this major landmark, which puts Bharti Airtel amongst the top telecom companies in the world. It underlines the strength of our unique business model and our vision to provide affordable services like lifetime prepaid to customers across the length and breadth of the country."

"This milestone highlights the emergence of India as one of the top telecom markets in the world and we are proud to have been at the forefront of this growth. Going forward, we believe this growth momentum will remain intact and we are gearing towards the 100 million customers mark," added Gupta.

To establish presence in all census towns and over 500,000 villages across India by 2010, the telecom major has plans to invest in network expansion. The company's focus will be on further strengthening the Airtel brand through better customer service, which is backed by wide national distribution.

In the Enterprise business, Bharti Airtel will invest substantially in the long distance business to achieve the scale of a global carrier within next 2-3 years.

In Broadband and Telephone SBU, Bharti Airtel will initiate large-scale deployments of broadband network infrastructure in 94 towns, with a focus on the home and SME segments. It is readying to offer triple play to its customers with the launch of its IPTV service. The company is also looking at commencing national DTH operations by the end of the current fiscal, stated an official release.

Bharti Airtel president and CEO Manoj Kohli added, "We are committed to create a world-class organization and benchmark it with the best in the world. As the market gets ready for the next wave of growth, we are committed to expanding our telecom networks wider and deeper across the country and partner India's growth story."

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Zee TV launching weekend prime time show 'Naaginn…'

2007-10-02T23:46:00.000+05:30

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Zee TV will be launching a new weekend show Naaginn…waadon ki agniparikshaa on 5 October in the 8:30 pm slot.

The show, airing Friday to Sunday, is produced by AK Films.

Naaginn is a tale of an Ichadhari Naaginn who transforms herself to take revenge from the Rathod family that had killed her parents for attaining the invaluable Naagmani. She gets married in the same family but her duty as a wife and her love towards her husband comes in between her desire for revenge.

Zee TV business head Punit Goenka said, "The past one and a half years has seen Zee TV recover its sheen and glory through an excellent mix of programming and marketing. We have always believed in creating subjects in viewers' interest. The concept of Naaginn and it's unfamiliarity with the masses has always been of intrigue with the Indian audiences and I am confident that this show would largely appeal to them."

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Boogie Woogie’ to go international

'Boogie Woogie' goes international, to hold auditions in Dubai

2007-10-02T23:42:00.000+05:30

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Sony Entertainment's long running dance show Boogie Woogie has gone International.

Auditions have now been extended outside India with participation invited from across the globe with the first destination being Dubai.

This first ever international audition for the show will be held in Dubai from 18 October to 20 October. Naved Jaffrey and Ravi Behl will be present on the grounds to hand pick contestants who they think can be the part of Boogie Woogie.

Speaking about the reasons for conducting auditions in Dubai, Sony Entertainment Television president Rohit Gupta says, "Dubai is a key market for Sony Entertainment Television and we always attempt to bring big entertainment opportunities for our viewers and advertisers here. After the huge success of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa event last year during Dubai Shopping Festival, followed by our first ever International auditions for Indian Idol 3 in Dubai, we now bring Sansui Boogie Woogie for the first time to Dubai."

For 11 years, Boogie Woogie has been running innumerable themes, special shows, championships that have given a platform to a cross-section of people from all ages, and cities to showcase their talent on the small screen.

"Opening the platform for participation to talented and aspiring dancers of all age-groups, we are sure that our Dubai viewers will welcome the show with a huge response as always. I would like to thank all our associates and partners in Dubai for their consistent support and commitment in making our every effort in Dubai a huge success and look forward to coming back with more such surprises to Dubai," Gupta added further.

To make participation and registration easy, Sony Entertainment Television has set up an exclusive SMS gateway. Aspirants of all age-groups can participate by sending and SMS DANCE to 3536.

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Big FM to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti in 'Gandhigiri' style

2007-10-02T23:33:00.000+05:30

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Big FM Kolkata is celebrating Gandhi Jayanti by hosting a daylong activity to promote camaraderie between commuters and drivers of public vehicle.

As a part of the campaign the FM station is organising a meet and greet for drivers and commuters of Kolkata at three important bus stands. Eminent Kolkatans and RJs of Big FM will speak about the important issue in the meet.

Big FM Kolkata station director Bodhayan Roychaudhury said, "An eye for an eye will only lead to blindness, and what better way than through Gandhigiri to assuage the friction between drivers and commuters. We invite all Kolkatans to join hands in a Big way for this initiative. We are confident that our drive will unite the entire city on a common platform as they come together for this common cause."

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Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon gets positive response

2007-10-01T23:11:00.000+05:30

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The Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon takes place next month.

Some big names in long distance running, led by the defending champions among men and women, Francis Kibiwott and Lineth Chepkirui, have confirmed their presence for the third edition of the event.

Promoters Procam International say that they have been swamped by a deluge of last minute entries. The firm claims that indications are strong that all the categories will be oversubscribed, with the event getting 30,000 participants.

The 2,500 running places in the Senior Citizens’ Run and the 200 in the Wheelchair Category have been filled up, with figures fast piling up for the Half Marathon and the Great Delhi Run. In view of this, and accounting for some amount of rejections, promoters Procam International are yet accepting entries because a window of opportunity still exists for runners desirous of enjoying the half marathon experience.
The response to the charity drive has also been encouraging, with personalities from all walks of life signing up for the Dream Team, while major corporate entities are lining up for the Corporate Challenge and the Corporate Sporting Challenge. In the past two editions the event has generated in excess of Rs 20 million towards charity and concerted efforts are on from GiveIndia, the Official Charity Partner, to ensure that the figure is eclipsed this time around.

Powerful Charity Drive: Film actresses Yana Gupta, Nafisa Ali, Ajay Bakaya of the Sarovar Group of Hotels and Ajay Bijli of the PVR Cinema Group are some of the prominent names already confirmed for the Dream Team, while some of the corporate majors who have signed up for the Corporate Challenge include HSBC, HDFC, Google, Apollo Tyres, Cannon, American Express Bank, Coca Cola, TV 18, NDTV, ABN Amro, ONGC, DELL, Ericsson, to name a few.

World Class Field: The best timing among men in the elite athlete field is credited to Kenya’s Patrick Makau, whose personal best is 58.56 minutes. The other names with sub-hour personal bests are Kenya’s Philip Rugut (59.45), the winner in 2005, Kenya’s Evans Cheruyiot (59.12), the winner at Rotterdam in 2007 and defending champion Francis Kibiwott of Kenya ( 59.26). Makau’s and Cheruyiot also have the distinction of recording the second and third fastest timings in the half marathon this year

Among the women, defending champion Lineth Chepkirui of Kenya will have to contend with the 2005 winner Irina Timpeyeva of Russia. The other big names in the field include Kenya’s Pamela Chepchumba, and Alice Timbilil, the winner and runner-up respectively at the Philadelphia half marathon 2007.

One of the new initiatives for the third edition of the Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon has been the Marathon Training Programs being conducted by Reebok, the Official Training and Sportswear Partner. The training programs have received an encouraging response from the people of Delhi and the corporates and will be one of the major vehicles towards improving and bettering the physical standards of running enthusiasts in the years to come.

Vodafone Initiatives: Vodafone has announced an invitation to the Residents Welfare Associations (RWA’s) of Delhi to be part of the Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon. It will provide an ideal platform to bring the welfare associations to centre stage by motivating the residents to participate in spirit and body. The best RWA will be judged by a noted celebrity on the race day basis certain predefined criteria.

The winning team will be given a cash prize of Rs. 100,000 which can be used effectively for the benefit of the RWA. In addition, the team members of the winning team will also get a cash prize of Rs. 5000 each. Besides, the three runners up teams will also get a cash prize of Rs. 20,000 each.

Hamster wheels have been put up in high congregation areas around the NCR region for people to get a feel of running the marathon. Young and energetic fitness enthusiasts are cheerleading those running on the Hamster wheel

Test your Stainless Will: An event like the half marathon throws up stories of the triumph of the human spirit and very few of these come to light during the event. The build-up till Race Day is as important as the actual run – the discipline, the practice, the teamwork, the motivation, the camaraderie and obviously the stainless will!

In another initiative, supported by Associate Sponsor Jindal Stainless, Procam International invites those who have experienced the magic of the half marathon to tell the world his or her story. The best stories will be put up on the official website and the top stories will be rewarded with Jindal Stainless art d’inox products.

Your Race Day Photos : Procam International has tied up with Marathon-Photos.com. For the first time in India, each runner will have an opportunity to own his/her momentous running highlights captured in photographs by Marathon-Photos.com, the official Photographer of the Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon.

Sahara One launches prime time daily 'Main Aisi Kyun Hoon'

2007-10-01T23:05:00.000+05:30

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Sahara One Television launched its new serial Main Aisi Kyun Hoon which will start airing from 8 October.
Slotted for primetime at 8:30 pm, this is a daily serial that will air weekdays from Monday to Thursday.
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Sahara One Television programming head Kalyan Sundaram said, "This is our attempt to present our viewers with varied shades of entertaining storylines through our shows. With Biggest Loser doing so well for the channel, I am confident about this one as well."
Main Aisi Kyun Hoon is a story of a 26-year-old girl brought up in a conservative middle class Maharashtrian family. Sanjana is hyper imaginative girl with modern outlook towards life. Her family is pressurizing her to get married but Sanjana is against it. Her life takes an unexpected twist when her childhood love Siddharth returns from US married. Nearing her 30s Sanjana refuses to let go her past and move on in life.
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Sundaram further added, "Our programs are an outcome of researches done to find out what our audience wants. Latest research concluded that viewers want regressive storyline."
"This show tells us the story of today's changing times where Indian women are highly progressive yet practising and respecting their cultural values. Main Aisi Kyub Hoon will show Sanjana;s relationship with everyone around her," added Sundaram.
The show is produced by actor Paresh Rawal's Playtime Creations which has also produced Shubh Mangal Savadhan for the channel earlier.
The lead character of Sanjana is played by Nazneen Patel and Khalid Siddiqui will play Siddharth.

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Microsoft storms Google’s turf

2007-10-01T22:59:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has used its might, clout and smarts to take on any number of products and services—the browser, the operating system, the portable music player, to name just three—with varying degrees of success. Now, it is taking solid aim at a business that is arguably outside its core competence: advertising. And it is deliberately facing off against a specialist, Google.

The general in charge of part of Microsoft’s assault, Brian McAndrews, joined the company just last month and is still learning its way of doing things. But he does know the Internet ad business, having run aQuantive, the advertising company that Microsoft acquired for $6 billion last month.

AQuantive’s main competitor in technology is DoubleClick, the ad company that Google announced it would buy for $3.1 billion in April, so the competition will be face to face. Google, the dominant force in Internet advertising, has a running start, but Microsoft has a leg up: Its deal for aQuantive is done, while Google’s bid for DoubleClick still faces scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission.

McAndrews has a long-term strategy that boils down to divorcing online advertising from Internet searches. The two have been viewed as a couple, because so many people use portals and search engines as their home base on the Web, but McAndrews says that model shortchanges advertisers and Web publishers.

McAndrews’ proposed system, called “conversion attribution”, would track all of the online places where consumers see ads and give advertisers a fuller picture of the various ways that consumers reach them. Tracking is important, because the site that gets credit for prompting a user’s visit is the one that gets paid for it.

McAndrews contends that search engines, which long have claimed credit for sending people to companies’ websites, do not deserve it all.

“Google gets all the credit, and in fact, you might have just gone to Google to type in the URL,” McAndrews said, pointing out that people often search for companies’ names after seeing their ads elsewhere.

Using technology from aQuantive’s Atlas division, Microsoft will be able to provide advertisers with a log of all the places on the Internet where people see ads before going to the advertisers’ websites. The data is based on individual computers’ electronic signatures, not individual people.

Atlas, which delivers online ads to websites, has been working on such a system for more than a year and is running pilot tests with it.
DoubleClick introduced a similar technology in July.

But Atlas contends that the system will be expensive to deploy without Microsoft, because it requires vast server capacity to analyse billions of ad impressions each day, said Young-Bean Song, a vice-president of Atlas. He said that Microsoft would be able to use the new tracking capability to prove the value of its ad space, much of which is unrelated to search.

“Microsoft recognises that in order to get TV dollars and traditional advertising dollars, you need this type of measurement to really show this value; otherwise the answer over and over again is: ‘buy more search’,” Song said. “All the portals, including MSN, have a lot to gain from this.”

While this system is still a work in progress, Microsoft will announce a more modest advance: changes to the MSN Video site that are supposed to make the ads there less intrusive and more ubiquitous. This development is a response to Google’s announcement in August that its YouTube site would overlay advertisements on the bottom of some online videos.

MSN Video will play fewer video ads in a session, but increase the reach of the ads by showing them once every three minutes. Until now, video ads have appeared at the start of every two clips, even if those clips were only 10 seconds long. The change is also meant to make sharing videos easier, which MSN hopes will encourage more online video watching.

Since announcing the deal to buy aQuantive, Microsoft has been expressing its online advertising ambitions more loudly. “We are hell-bent and determined to allocate the talent, the resources, the money, the innovation, to absolutely become a powerhouse in the ad business,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, at the company’s financial analyst meeting in July.

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Tata Sky expands offer to 140 channels

2007-09-30T00:49:00.000+05:30

Tata Sky Ltd., the JV between the Tata Group and STAR, recently introduced 15 Sun channels, Kalaignar TV, NDTV Good Times, UTV Bindass, Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus taking its product offering to 140 channels and interactive services. Tata Sky has also launched ActveTM Cooking, the first-of-its-kind interactive service that allows viewers to get recipes when they want, at the press of a button.

To cater to its rapidly expanding customer base in south India, the company has introduced new channel packages starting at Rs 200 per month, designed especially for customers in the region, said Vikram Kaushik, managing director and CEO, Tata Sky Ltd

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Indian Idol contest sparks violence, 30 injured

2007-09-30T00:45:00.000+05:30

India's version of "American Idol" sparked violence on Friday when police clashed with supporters of the winner, leaving at least 30 people injured. Officials said the army had been called in to maintain calm.

Prashant Tamang, an ethnic Nepali youth from the eastern state of West Bengal, beat Amit Paul from Meghalaya state, inflaming regional rivalries after a closely contested final round on Sunday.

The animosities subsided after the two contestants appealed for peace, but a radio station stoked further trouble by making inflammatory remarks about Tamang this week, angering ethnic Nepalese.

On Friday, thousands marched in West Bengal's Siliguri town to protest the remarks. The procession later turned violent, forcing police to fire tear gas shells and use batons.

"The situation is tense. We have placed the entire region under heavy security cover," Ravinder Jit Singh Nalwa, a senior police officer, said.

"Indian Idol" is among a slew of singing contests on Indian television judged by audience vote. The voting is heavily parochial with contestants drawing maximum votes from their native state.
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Petition in HC against Eklavya's entry to Oscars

2007-09-30T00:35:00.000+05:30

Eklavya — The Royal Guard, which was on its way as an official Indian entry to the Oscars is now courting trouble. Bhavna Talvar and WSG Films have filed a writ in the Bombay HC against the Film Federation of India and the selectors for choosing on September 24, the Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt starrer as India's official entry for the Academy Awards. The petition is expected to come up in court on Saturday.

Talvar on Thursday even shot off a legal notice to Supran Sen, secretary of the federation through her lawyers — Amit and Vineet Naik. The notice said that WSG Films are producers of the film Dharm, starring Pankaj Kapoor, Supriya Pathak and directed by Bhavna Talwar.

"The film is a story of a staunch Hindu pandit who lives in Benaras as per the scriptures of the Vedas. He adopts a little child and this child helps him get in touch with the reality of his way of life. The Film conveys that Dharm as a word does not actually mean 'religion' but the 10 fold paths that you take to salvation. The film preaches that Hinduism is not a religion; it is a way of life."

What the notice said essentially was that the film Dharm received critical acclaim and was selected as the closing film of the Tous les Cinemas Du Monde at the prestigious Cannes film festival, Cancun 2007, and Palm Springs 2008, among others and that Talvar is the "first Indian woman director to be officially selected at Cannes."
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Nickelodeon is No 3 among children’s channels

2007-09-30T00:28:00.000+05:30

Television channel Nickelodeon reached the number three position amongst children’s channels last week with its television rating point (TRP) growing at 104 per cent during the year.

The channel, also known as Nick, is now planning to increase its reach through 360 degree marketing before the coming holiday season, said Ms Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Vice-President and General Manager Nickelodeon.

“We are also considering expanding our merchandise categories to include toys, activity books and stationary,” she added.

The channel share, according to Ms Jaipuria, has grown from 9 per cent of the segment in January to 18 per cent in August. Nick’s distribution reach has also gone up to 20 per cent. “Our loyal audience base was very small. The challenge was to get children to staple our channel,” said Ms Jaipuria.

Reaching out

The channel launched a 360 degree marketing strategy reaching out to children wherever they were—through school contact programmes, at cinema halls during launches of blockbusters such as Spiderman, at malls, in Diamond comics, radio and even on general entertainment channels.

It also advertises during popular shows such as Saregamapa on Zee, Boogie Woogie on Sony and during the television premier of the movie Krish.

Direct contact

It plans to keep its direct contact with viewers active through contests and other ground events.

“We have also recently introduced Nick Home Cinemas, with movies both from our library and acquired titles from Sony and Ultra,” said Ms Jaipuria.

Distinguishing itself from other channels by keeping humour at the heart of things, Nick has also added on advertisers during the year, taking the number from 17 at the beginning of the year to 50 at present.

The channel is also targeting smaller towns.

In spite of its ‘dubbed’ content, Nick enjoys the highest (34 per cent) audience share in the children’s entertainment category in Uttar Pradesh.

“For kids content has universal appeal. Take our driver shows, SpongeBob is American, Ninja is Japanese,” said Ms Jaipuria.

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Sony Pictures to distribute Fifa supported 'More Than Just A Game'

2007-09-30T00:16:00.000+05:30

Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has acquired the international distribution rights to the feature length FIFA-supported docu-drama More Than Just A Game, from Distant Horizon.

The docu-drama stars Presley Chweneyagae (Tsotsi) and tells the dramatic and little-known story of organized football played among prisoners on Robben Island in South Africa where Nobel Peace Prize Winner Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. The announcement was made today by SPTI president Michael Grindon, and Distant Horizon CEO Anant Singh.

Told through the stories of five former prisoners, More Than Just A Game follows the story of how political activists who were unjustly imprisoned on Robben Island in the 1960s rise above their incarceration by creating a football league, the Makana Football Association (Makana FA), and find an outlet for their passion and commitment to discipline through football.

This deal comes on the heels of Sony Corporation's global partnership deal with FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) that went into effect in January of this year.

As a FIFA Partner, the highest level of sponsorship status which is accorded to only six companies, Sony will be the official Digital Life sponsor of over 40 FIFA events, including the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 and the FIFA World Cup in 2014 due to be held in South America.

Grindon stated, "This is truly an inspirational story and we are pleased to be working with Distant Horizon to bring this amazing tale of hope to audiences around the world. We are also pleased to continue our association with FIFA, as they recently announced their support for the film and it is a timely acquisition for SPTI in light of the fact that the next FIFA World Cup is being held in South Africa."

Producer Singh added, "We at Distant Horizon are thrilled to be working with Sony Pictures Television International on the international distribution of More Than Just A Game. The film has relevance not only to people in South Africa, but to people around the world. When considering this project, I felt that there was potential for this film because it is a story about human beings trying to succeed against all odds and to survive using football as their inspiration, which in everybody else's terms, was very simple. More Than Just A Game is a tribute to the people on Robben Island who fought for the privilege to play football."

"The Makana FA and Robben Island have great symbolic significance in FIFA's fight to eradicate racism and all forms of discrimination from football and society as a whole. We are very proud that, thanks to our Partner Sony, its subsidiary Sony Pictures Television International and producer Anant Singh have teamed up to distribute this unique docu-drama More than Just a Game around the world. The film shows just how football can help to build a better future," commented FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter.

The movie's worldwide premiere is scheduled around the Preliminary Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup taking place in Durban, South Africa on 24 November 2007. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa from 10 June through 11 July.

More Than Just A Game is a Distant Horizon production in association with Telkom Media and Distant Horizon, with script development supported by the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa (NFVF). It is executive produced by Sudhir Pragjee and Sanjeev Singh and produced by Anant Singh and Helena Spring with Chuck Korr, Lord Ted Rowlands, Dave Crowe and Hannelie Bekker co-producing. The screenplay is by Tom Eaton and it is directed by Junaid Ahmed.
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Zee Cafe launches 11 fresh shows currently on air in US

2007-09-28T15:07:00.000+05:30

The Zee Group's English general entertainment channel Zee Cafe today claimed to have become the first channel in the country to run popular sitcoms simultaneously with their launch in the US.

The channel today announced the launch of 11 new programmes in different genres commencing between today and early next year, which are being launched around the same time as their showing in the US, where they have been or are being produced.

Zee Cafe business head Neil Chakravarti said that the new programmes had been decided after six months of intensive research among Indian viewers who said they learnt a lot about new shows from the internet or sites like YouTube, and could not wait to see them several months or years later.

Chakravarti told a press meet here that Zee had therefore worked out deals with its studio partners in the US to get these programmes for showing within days or hours of their first showing. He admitted that this meant paying 75 to 200 per cent more than the normal payment, but said it was worth the effort.

He said there were only two general entertainment English language channels in the country, the other being Star World, and claimed that Zee Cafe was different in that it only picked programmes that would appeal to Indians.

At least four of the shows on the channel - Aliens in America, The Big Bang Theory, Unhitched, and the on-going Notes from the Underbelly - star south Asians, Neil revealed.

He said the Survivor series was probably the world's first reality show on television when it first commenced in the last decade. The 15th season Survivor: China begins in Shanghai and is the story of castaways attending a Buddhist ceremony. Having commenced in the US on 20 September, it will come on Zee Cafe early next month.

The Big Bang Theory and Unhitched are comedies, Aliens in America is a drama-based sitcom, The Sarah Connor Chronicles beginning early next year is a re-invention of the Terminator series, while Pushing Daisies, Back to You and Journeyman are romantic dramas. The others are Gossip Girl, Army Wives and Travel Girls.

Chakravarti later told Indiantelevision.com that the channel had experimented with some English shows made in India, but felt that Indian audiences were not yet ready for English fiction.

Denying that the channel showed content meant only for adult audiences, he claimed that 60 per cent of the cable and satellite homes in the country were seeing Zee Cafe, and said there were attempts to give greater publicity to these progrrammes on all the 27 Zee channels. He said that the channel was interactive in that viewers could write back on the zeecafe.tv website.

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Star One to launch musical quiz show 'Bol Baby Bol'

2007-09-28T14:58:00.000+05:30

It's the season of music based format shows on Hindi entertainment channels. Star One is set to launch a musical reality show titled Bol Baby Bol.

"Star One is launching a nonfiction musical quiz show Bol Baby Bol soon. The time slot is yet to be fixed. The auditions are starting from tomorrow in Mumbai," an industry source reveals.

"Bol Baby Bol will be very much like Kaun Banega Crorepati but here the person who sits on the hot seat will have to complete the missing lyrics of the given song. The show will be anchored by singer Adnan Sami," adds the source.

When contacted however, Star India VP marketing and communication Prem Kamath declined to comment.

The source explains that after choosing from a variety of genres, period, singer and music director the contestant of the nonfiction show will be asked to complete the lyrics of the song which will be played. As in KBC, the level of difficulty of the questions will be raised with each correct answer. A contestant can win prize money of up to Rs 250,000 every week.

As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Star One will soon unveil a host of new shows to its programming line up as part of a content refurbishing process. Star One will launch at least 12-14 new programmes within the next four months.

The bank of new properties will kickstart with a fiction programme that launches next week.

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Shemaroo releases 'Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi' on home video

2007-09-28T14:45:00.000+05:30

Shemaroo Entertainment released the home video of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi the popular TV show from 1980s.

Shemaroo has colour corrected the images, improved the picture quality and audio by restoring it for more clarity. The original master of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, which was in 'Low Band U-Matic' format, is now digitally restored and upgraded which enhances the visual appeal of the serial for viewers.

Shemaroo Entertainment VP Hiren Gada shares his thoughts, "It is a great pleasure to have the Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi team with us for the launch of its home video. This reunion is certainly a triumph for all of us, where we are taken to a state of nostalgia. We are breathing life into something which is more than two decades old, yet which is the top most recall among audiences."

The VCDs and DVDs of this serial would be available at all the leading stores across the country. Season onewhich has episodes till 24 has been released in four separate volumes.

The DVDs are priced at Rs 149 and the VCDs are priced at Rs 99.

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Dishtv offers Sun channels to counter TataSky in southern language space

2007-09-28T14:12:00.000+05:30

DTH player dishtv, which pioneered the platform in India, has made the entire Sun bouquet of 15 channels available to its subscribers, in the wake of TataSky doing the same two days ago.

Company officials had in August told indiantelevision.com that dishtv had already signed an agreement with Sun for carrying their channels, but would wait for the Sun DTH platform to start operation and go on air simultaneously, as that had been the tacit understanding between the two companies.

However, dishtv had also then said that if TataSky went ahead with their airing of Sun channels before Kalanithi Maran's Sun DTH operations start, they would break with that agreement and start carrying the Sun channels.

"This is precisely what has happened, as TataSky started carrying the Sun channels two days ago, so we informed Sun and with their consent, have started carrying the Sun bouquet from yesterday," a dishtv official said on condition of anonymity.

The addition of Sun channels takes up dishtv's offering to 180 channels in 12 languages across the country.

With the addition of Sun channels, the dishtv south Indian language line-up will now have 17 Tamil, 12 Telugu, 12 Malayalam and 10 Kannada channels, including channels from other southern broadcasters.

The new channels are an interesting mix of genres across general entrainment, news and music, movie and kids, in short, catering to the entertainment needs of the entire family.

In the present day scenario of emerging India, almost 10-20 per cent of the young population is dislocated from their home states for better opportunities, the company statement added.

The inclusion of new channels will also satisfy the needs of the southern language populace residing outside their home state, dishtv officials say.

Commenting on the occasion, Arun Kapoor, CEO, dishtv said, "Dishtv believes in offering variety to its subscribers. From the very beginning, we have aimed to cater to the language specific needs of the regional belt spread across the length and breadth of the country."
Kapoor adds that it has been dishtv's constant endeavour to incorporate tastes and preferences of our subscribers in the offerings.

"Dishtv enjoys strong support from Southern viewers and is completely in tune with their entertainment preference," he says.

By this move, dishtv now has the complete southern bouquet of channels which can cater to and will be of interest for all southern language speaking audiences.

The Sun channels will be available under four different packages, namely Dish Freedom- 100 channels @ Rs. 150, Dish Freedom plus-105 channels @ Rs. 200, Dish Welcome-130 channels @ Rs. 300 and Dish Maxi-159 channels @ 350.

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Eros International to release 'No Smoking' globally

2007-09-25T23:40:00.000+05:30

Eros International will release the film No Smoking in cinemas worldwide on 26 October 2007.

No Smoking is directed by Anurag Kashyap and is produced by Eros International with Kumar Mangat and Vishal Bharadwaj.

Starring John Abraham in lead role with Ayesha Takia and Paresh Rawal, 'No Smoking' is the story of K (John Abraham) who is addicted to smoking and refuses to do anything about it. But when K's wife, Anjali (Ayesha Takia), walks out on him, he decides to go meet Baba Bengali, Sealdahwaale (Paresh Rawal), who runs 'Prayogshala', a centre for rehabilitation from all sorts of addictions and afflictions. And when K goes to meet Baba Bengali, Sealdahwaale; he walks into an agreement he can't walk out of.

Proud and desperate, K pushes the buttons, throws caution to the wind and challenges Baba's diktats. What follows is a breathless, smoky game of one-upmanship between the self-assumed all-knowing gatekeeper of the netherworld and a frantic, unsuspecting man. Finally, K realises that he can't escape Baba no matter what he tries. Until of course the contract is complete.

Eros will be releasing the music of No Smoking on Eros cassettes and CDs on 26 September 2007.

Buoyed by T-20 success, ADAG group to promote other sports

2007-09-25T23:14:00.000+05:30

Buoyed by India's success in the ongoing Twenty20 cricket World Cup, the event's main sponsor Reliance Communication has decided to promote other sports apart from cricket.

"We are considering promotion and sponsorship of other sports which include beach-volleyball, hockey and some adventure sports," Reliance Communication president branding and marketing Sanjay Behl told PTI over phone.

The recent win of Indian Hockey team in the Asia Cup where they routed Korea 7-2 might have generated corporate world's interest in sponsoring hockey.

"Sports like beach-volleyball and adventure sports are something new to India and therefore need promotion to become popular here," company officials said.

"The success of the Indian cricket team, which have reached first ever Twenty20 final is a very good thing. The ADAG group is also thinking of sponsoring future cricket tournaments like one day series with Australia and is also looking forward to sponsor the 2011 World Cup to be played in the sub-continent," Behl added.

"Our association with the game goes a long way with Reliance World Cup in 1987 in which Indian team had reached semi-finals. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is our brand ambassador, who has now become captain of Indian one-day side also," he said.

"We are also sponsoring Saurashtra and Kutch cricket associations," he added.

Apart from Reliance Communication, other ADAG group companies like Reliance Capital will also sponsor and promote various sporting events, Behl added.

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Kolkata policeman Prashant Tamang is 'Indian Idol 3'

2007-09-25T23:00:00.000+05:30

In a grand musical extravaganza, Prashant Tamang from Darjeeling was last night crowned Indian Idol 3 after a count of an estimated 70 million votes received through SMS or mobiles.

Tamang, who is of Nepali origin, is a constable with the Kolkata police.

The grand finale last night saw actor John Abraham name Prashant out of the two finalists, the other being Amit Paul of Shillong, a great favourite in Delhi and the metros.

In addition to a recording contract with Sony BMG, Prashant was awarded a contract worth Rs 10 million with Sony Entertainment Television. Both Prashant and Amit were also awarded one Maruti SX4 and one Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone.

Fireworks lit up the sky as the winner was named after the slip containing his name was taken out by Abraham. In a recent episode of Indian Idol, Abraham had announced his preference for Prashant.

After the announcement, Prashant took the blessings of the judges and then gallantly walked to the front of the stage with Amit, both holding the Sony Trophy presented to the winner. As in the two earlier segments, the finale of the Indian Idol was an all-male affair. Interestingly, Amit had been eliminated in the earlier rounds but was chosen by the judges to be brought back into the competition.

All the judges – lyricist Javed Akhtar, music director Anu Malik, and singers Udit Narayan and Alisha Chinai – were also present on the grand stage at the National Small Industries Corporation Exhibition Ground in Okhla in south Delhi. Others present were the parents of the two finalists, and the presenters Mini Mathur and Hussain.

Both the finalists, Prashant and Amit, also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandi during two days they were in the capital preparing for the finale. Congress President Sonia Gandhi said that she's proud of the youngsters and they are idols in their own way.

All those who had qualified as the thirteen shortlisted after the piano round presented musical items, including the title song which they have rendered for the John Abraham-Bipasha Basu starrer ‘Goal’.

Others who performed at the finale included Indipop singer Mika and playback singer Sukhwinder Singh, apart from Malik, Alisha, and Udit. Two former winners of Indian Idol, Abhijeet Sawant and Sandeep Acharya also performed. The huge audience was in raptures and stood in their seats as Sukhwinder sang Chak De India.

A special item was the presentation of some of Anu’s best songs by the two finalists, with Anu himself overseeing the music accompaniment. Anu was also a judge in the first two segments of Indian Idol.

Earlier, in interviews to indiantelevision.com, the judges had said the aim of Indian Idol 3 had been to find just one voice who would be ‘Bharat ki shaan’ (Pride of India) and would be proficient in modern, classical, semi-classical, pop and also in dancing. Indian Idol 3 was produced for Sony Entertainment TV by the Delhi-based Miditech headed by Niret and Nikhil J Alva.

The third series commenced as a Friday-Saturday show, starting with 24 contestants and gradually coming down to 13, and then two in the finals to select the lone winner. However, the channel attempted to capitalize on the popularity by extending it to other days of the week towards the beginning and then the end.

The preliminaries were held in 12 cities. The cities are Jodhpur, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Srinagar, Nagpur, Vadodra, Bhopal, Kampur, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Meanwhile, in recent interviews, the finalists said they feel that a major benefit of the music competition, even if they are not selected, would be the new confidence they have gained to face the future.

Launched in Britain as Pop Idol, the Idol series had already traversed to 28 countries in 40 channels all over the world. Sony was bound by the rules set by Pop Idol, but made a change with the introduction of a fourth celebrity judge. However, Shola Rajachandran who heads Media Communications at Sony told indiantelevision.com that this had been done keeping in mind the theme of the week. For example, it was Ila Arun for the week when folk songs were sung, Anil Kapoor when patriotism was the theme, and Sonu Nigam when modern film songs were sung.

Though Prashant is the lone winner, some of the others have already been recorded songs for Bollywood, and Alisha Chinai is recording an album with Meiyang Chang from Dhanbad who is a dentist of Chinese origin and was eliminated towards the end. Alisha had protested and left the show, but had been convinced by Chang to return. (Chang brought a special painting as a gift for Alisha to the finale.)

Sony sources said the top eight or nine participants in each of the first two editions had already been either lapped up by the film industry or achieved success in stage performances in India and overseas. For example, she said Prajakta who had been a finalist in the last edition had already recorded in 17 languages.

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Sony Pictures, Eros enter film partnership

2007-09-25T22:43:00.001+05:30

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Eros International will co-invest in a slate of Hindi films to be released in India and around the world.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement, Sony and Eros will jointly develop, produce and acquire multiple films for the new Hindi film slate. Sony Pictures is expected to distribute some of the titles in the US, and Eros will use its established infrastructure to distribute the films in other international territories. The two companies will work jointly in India.

Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Michael Lynton said, "This deal continues Sony Pictures dedication to the region as we embrace and support local talent and invest in films made specifically for audiences in India and the Indian diaspora.

"As a global company, we are committed to international cinema in India and around the world – we want to satisfy the demand in local markets for high quality original stories told in their original languages. We have a strong track record of film and television production and distribution in India and we're proud Eros International, the leading player within the Indian entertainment arena, will be working with us to find unique and inventive films for Indian audiences and fans of Indian cinema everywhere."

Lulla says, "I am delighted to establish this important relationship between Eros and Sony Pictures, a prominent Hollywood studio with a global brand and reputation of the highest quality. I am excited by the potential benefits to both parties from working together and pleased that Sony chose Eros as its Indian partner.

"Since our London listing last year, Eros has successfully carried out the first phase of consolidation of the fragmented Indian entertainment sector. We continue to strive to make a humble contribution in shaping the future of Indian entertainment in the years to come," he said.

The deal marks the latest step in Sony Pictures’ longstanding commitment to local language film production around the world. In April, Sony Pictures launched its International Motion Picture Production group, under the direction of Gareth Wigan and Deborah Schindler, in recognition of the evolution and significance of the world market for motion pictures.

The new co-financing arrangement also continues the longstanding collaboration between Eros and Sony Pictures. Sony Pictures owns a majority stake in Sony Entertainment Television channel (SET) in India and Eros has an option to own 24 per cent of the television channels B4U Network. The Set channel and B4U Network created a joint venture company in the UK, named BEN-Set Limited, in September 1999, through which SET and B4U jointly market and sell their television channels to DTH subscribers in the UK. Set also licenses films from Eros.

Over the past year Eros has secured more than 50 projects through a combination of content production, co-production, output deals and talent agreements.

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2007-09-25T22:43:00.000+05:30

Historical moment of indian cricket

2007-09-24T23:55:00.000+05:30

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India the first TT winner

Vodafone to bid fond farewell to animated boy-girl characters

2007-09-24T14:25:00.000+05:30

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With the spotlight on Vodafone at the moment, the brand is playing its cards carefully in the Indian subcontinent. The brand started off with a simple introduction message: ‘Hutch is Now Vodafone’; knowing the repercussions of sudden shifts, it plans on continuing with this campaign for a while. The iconic pug has also been continued, and it is possible that the ‘Hutch boy’ could also be recalled, but not immediately.

The animated boy-girl duo (a Hutch hallmark), currently being used as mascots to ‘introduce’ Vodafone to consumers, will be dropped in subsequent campaigns. Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, O&M, says, “These two characters so essentially represent the old brand ‘Hutch’ that they will have to be dropped eventually.” They are likely to be replaced by a cooler, suave boy-girl couple (also animated) who will become the face of Vodafone in India.

Vodafone’s global corporate thought, ‘Make the Most of Now’, will be imported into India soon. O&M India will come up with a corporate campaign based on this thought. However, the idea used will be completely Indian, and not an adaptation of a foreign creative. Hutch’s tagline, ‘Wherever You Go, Our Network Follows’, will also be retained by Vodafone, but only for those commercials that are based around the network premise.

‘Make the Most of Now’ essentially encourages people to take time out of their busy lives and enjoy each moment of each day. This thought was arrived at after extensive research by Vodafone to gain in-depth understanding of customer perceptions and behaviour. The study – conducted in more than 13 countries – reveals that time is key to making the most of life.

Harit Nagpal, director, marketing and new services, Vodafone Essar, says, “Humans today are constantly multitasking and trying to be in 10 places at the same time.” So clearly, Vodafone’s take is that its technologically advanced products and services help people achieve this by breaking down geographical and time barriers. Essentially, the corporate campaign will revolve around the concept of managing one’s time better and, thereby, managing one’s life better.

Nagpal further adds that as humans, we all have said at some point, ‘I wish I had more time’, which will form the insight for Vodafone’s communication in India.

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Brand Yuvraj in new celestial orbit

2007-09-24T14:12:00.000+05:30

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Yuvraj Singh’s teammates call him Yuvi as the letter ‘V’ stands tall in his unfinished nickname. The question is whether it’s V for vendetta or victory. Going by the Punjab southpaw’s belligerent form in the Twenty20 World Cup matches, it’s a bit of both, skyrocketing Brand Yuvraj to a new celestial orbit. With nine brands in his kitty and slightly over a crore per brand riding on him on an average, Yuvi’s hunger is telling.

On September 19, when India took on England at Kingsmead, Yuvraj reduced to pulp fast bowler Stuart Broad with six sixes in an over, a feat YouTube has been showing to over half a million viewers for three days now. A day later, he called his sixes “heavenly justice”.

He was referring to a similar feat by England’s Dimitri Mascarenhas in the NatWest Series tie at the Oval two weeks back, when Mascarenhas hit Yuvraj for five sixes in his over. At Kingsmead, Yuvi took a long sharp look at Mascarenhas at mid-wicket in Broad’s over and hoisted the ball over him in the fifth delivery – sheer vendetta.

It is this fury that’s fuelling such form, many a times pitchforking Yuvraj as the architect of India’s victories in the tournament, and eventually helping the country reach Monday’s final against Pakistan. And advertisers seem to be lapping up his spirit too. For Hero Honda, Yuvraj represents the key values of youthfulness, dynamism, trust and durability. “He also signifies a new India – confident, fearless and ready to take on the world.

His performance has vindicated our faith in cricket,” says Anil Dua, senior vice-president of Hero Honda, the motorbike brand Yuvraj has been endorsing for the last six years. “Brand Yuvraj is all about passionate determination. His performance stems from somewhere deep.

A nagging angst, like he has been denied something and now he will show the world what it means to take him on. He is in control. You can see the power in his eyes. He represents the new India. The caged tiger is breaking free,” says Josy Paul, national creative director, JWT India.

Yuvraj works hard at his game and his management agency reciprocates that by targeting the right ads that go with his swashbuckling psyche. “It’s not about quantity. The quality of ads are important too and we choose brands which are representative of his character,” claims Vinita Bangad of Percept Talent Management.

A quick look at the brands Yuvraj endorses – Pepsi, Microsoft, Hero Honda, Trent, SBI Cards, Seagram, Marico, Reebok and Donear Suitings – shows his association largely with leadership brands. “On an average, his brand loyalty spans three to four years,” says Ms Bangad.

A quick glance at the numbers show that India’s Twenty20 vice-captain, Yuvraj Singh, is giving captain MS Dhoni a good run for his money when it comes to endorsements. While Yuvraj makes Rs 10 crore by endorsing nine brands over 40 days a year at 4.5 days per brand, Dhoni bags Rs 8 crore by endorsing 12 brands over 75 days in the same timeframe, at about 9.5 days to a brand, points out sources.

The vice-captain works less, earns more out of the ads by clearly focusing on image or identity-driven brands that complement his attitude. By the way, both are 26-year-olds.

Critics have always nailed Yuvraj for his inconsistencies – just 30 fifties and seven hundreds in 183 ODIs. Also, his recurring back strain has put him out of action on several occasions.

But the Twenty20 World Cup seems just the right platform for Yuvi’s twin Vs to come together. Victory with a Vengeance – that’s the mantra if India were to overcome arch-foes Pakistan tonight.

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Google programme enlists mini sites as selling tool for advertisers

2007-09-24T13:56:00.000+05:30

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Google is seizing on the popularity of widgets—small online tools that function like mini websites—for a latest push into advertising.

The online giant is launching a Gadget Ads programme that will provide tools for advertisers to run widget ads in Google’s AdSense network.

Marketers can use the space within these display ads on Google’s network to show videos, offer chats with celebrities, play host to games or other activities. If consumers like the widget ad, they can save it on their desktops or on their profile pages on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

The new widget ads represent a more aggressive push by Google to attract big brand advertisers who like flashy ads rather than the simple text ads commonly run in Google’s ad network.

One big advantage of the technology is that the consumer does not have to click through to a website. A weather widget, for example, would constantly update the weather report in a particular area. Similarly, marketers could feature content to attract consumers while constantly updating their messages.

More than 48% of Internet users in the United States—over 87 million people—now use widgets, according to comScore, the online measurement company. Some of the most popular widgets on Facebook, for example, are the “Top Friends” tool, which allows people to go to their best friends’ profiles with a single click, and iLike, which lets users add music to their profiles.

“Consumers are pulling in content from multiple sources” said Christian Oestlien, a business product manager at Google who is overseeing the new ad programme. “It is what we are calling the componentisation of the web. The web is sort of breaking apart into smaller pieces.” Many widgets have been built by media outlets, like Lucky Magazine’s shopping widget, which features fashion and beauty products. And some companies like Slide are developing networks of widgets made by individuals that advertisers can place ads within.

But consumer brands like Sierra Mist and Honda Civic have also been creating their own widgets as a way of providing content or tools to potential customers. Google is hoping marketers will pay to place these widgets throughout its AdSense network.

Advertisers bid for keywords to place their widget ads in Google’s network in the same way they do other Google ads. Since many users will interact with the ads within the ad units and not click through, Google has developed a new interaction measure to document the interest in the ads.

tested its Gadget Ads programme this summer with a group of 50 marketers. To encourage more advertisers to make such ads, Google is offering to host videos for the ads in YouTube’s servers—a cost-saving for advertising agencies. And Google provides tools for updating the ads, even if marketers do not bid for ads in Google’s network. Marketers pay Google only for the ads that run in its networks and not for any downloading or saving of those ads that consumers may choose to do.

“We’re not trying to monetise every single event in a creative,” Oestlien said, adding that they wanted advertisers “to make rich creative ads that are really useful to the end user.”

Google’s tools are convenient for ad agencies because they make it easy to create a widget quickly, said Dimitry Ioffe, chief executive of Media Banners, a division of the Visionaire Group, a digital agency based in California. Ioffe ran a widget ad for Paramount Vantage’s movie A Mighty Heart this summer in Google’s new programme.

Ioffe said that Google’s tools will help marketers to cut expenses.

Instead of paying news sites to run videos from a movie’s premiere, studios can make it easy for consumers to post the videos on their own sites or social network profiles, providing free advertising. “Widgets are a dream for marketers,” Ioffe said. “They allow brand extensions off individual sites and allow them to live as long as consumers want them to live.”

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Google unveils Gadget Ads & AdSense for Mobile

2007-09-20T13:19:00.000+05:30

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Google Inc. has introduced two new ways for advertisers to communicate with users through Google Gadget Ads and AdSense for Mobile.

Google Gadget Ads is an interactive ad format that is currently in an expanded beta with a select group of AdWords advertisers worldwide, while AdSense for Mobile unlocks the potential of the mobile advertising market by enhancing the mobile experience with relevant ads that will help people find what they're looking for quickly when they are searching or browsing content on their mobile phones.

"We are delighted with the response of Indian advertisers and publishers, who are using Google AdWords and AdSense as central tools for their business to generate revenue," said Google India managing director Shailesh Rao. "The launch of Gadget Ads and AdSense for Mobile will provide them with even more exciting formats and targeted technology to enhance their monetization potential."

AdSense for Mobile will be available in the following 13 countries in the coming weeks: US, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, and Japan, states an official release.

Gadget ads - non-traditional ad units with interactive, rich media capabilities - not only enable advertisers to target audiences in a flexible and timely manner via regular updates within the ad unit, but also allow users to engage with ad content in a way static ads haven't facilitated in the past.

Gadget ads can incorporate real-time data feeds, images and video in a single creative unit and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of both. Designed to act more like content than a typical ad, they run on the Google content network, competing alongside text, image and video ads for placement. They support both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options to ensure the ads reach relevant users with precision and scale.

Gadget ads are also built on an open platform, allowing anybody from individual advertisers to agencies to set up and run ads on the Google content network, the world's largest global online ad network. Plus, gadget ads will not command any serving or hosting costs.

Feedback from preliminary beta participants, including brand advertisers such as Pepsi-Cola North America's Sierra Mist, Intel, Honda, Six Flags and Paramount Vantage, has been positive. Advertisers are enthusiastic about this fresh marketing solution that empowers them to interact with targeted users through dynamic and engaging content.

Pepsi-Cola North America director, interactive marketing John Vail said, "Google Gadget Ads allowed us to reach the right audience at the right time, with an interactive message that brought our light-hearted Sierra Mist campaign, 'Squeeze More out of Summer,' to life."
Intel global marketing manager Stephanie Dillard said, "Google Gadget Ads provided a unique and efficient means to further promote our Centrino Duo campaign. Our goal was to enhance visibility and engagement with the consumer while taking in key learnings of Google's evolutionary advertising offerings. We look forward to utilizing the interactive gadget ad format with our new 'Chips' campaign that shifts focus back on the processor."

Says Google vice president product management Susan Wojcicki, "Google Gadget Ads are built on an open platform that enables distribution across the Google content network and can be shared on iGoogle and other personalized web pages at no additional cost to advertisers."

Meanwhile, AdSense for Mobile, is a program that contextually targets ads to mobile website content. AdSense for Mobile also allows AdSense publishing partners the ability to earn revenue from their mobile websites through the targeted placement of mobile text ads. With this program, advertisers can connect with the growing number of mobile publishers, ultimately providing users with an enhanced mobile experience that helps them find what they are looking for more quickly and efficiently on the go.

AdSense for Mobile is intended for AdSense partners who have created websites specifically for mobile browsers, and who want to monetize their mobile content via contextual advertising. Like Google's other AdSense products, mobile text ads run on an auction model. The system automatically reviews the content of publishers' mobile websites and delivers text ads that are relevant to the websites' audience and content. Publishers earn money whenever mobile users click on the ads.

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Eros International, Sony Pictures plan to co-invest in Hindi films

2007-09-20T13:09:00.000+05:30

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Eros International and Sony Pictures Entertainment on Wednesday entered into a non-exclusive agreement to co-invest in a slate of Hindi films to be released in India and around the world.
Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement, jointly announced by Kishore Lulla, chairman and chief executive officer of Eros International, and Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Pictures, both companies will jointly develop, produce and acquire multiple films for the new Hindi film slate.
Sony Pictures is expected to distribute some of the titles in the US, and Eros will use its established infrastructure to distribute the films in other international territories. The two companies will work jointly in India.
“This deal continues Sony Pictures’ dedication to the region as we embrace and support local talent and invest in films made specifically for audiences in India and the Indian diaspora,” said Lynton.
“As a global company, we are committed to international cinema in India and around the world. We want to satisfy the demand in local markets for high quality original stories told in their languages.”
The deal marks the latest step in Sony Pictures’ interests in local language film production around the world.
In April, Sony Pictures had launched its International Motion Picture Production group, under the direction of Gareth Wigan and Deborah Schindler, in recognition of the evolution and significance of the world market for motion pictures.

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Tata Sky enters kitchens too

2007-09-20T13:05:00.000+05:30

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Ahmedabad, Sept. 19 After launching a campaign in 2,500 schools across India to woo children to its interactive educational programmes, DTH operator Tata Sky has launched an interactive cooking programme nationally.
Home-makers, particularly housewives, can now press a button on their Tata Sky remote control to find out the latest on the DTH menu. The service provider will dish out four how-to-cook recipes every day on demand.
The recipes will include snacks and continental dishes, Mr Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, told Business Line.
With the recent inclusion of channels such as Mee Marathi, UTV’s Bindas and NDTV’s Good Times, the total number of channels beamed by Tata Sky has reached 140, he added.
For cricket lovers, the DTH provider has roped in cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Using a Tata Sky connection, the fans can now interact with Dhoni and get his autographed bat.
Eyeing interactive advertising as a new source of revenue, Tata Sky is making its platform available to insurance companies, mutual funds, car-makers and mobile phone service providers.
The customer would only have to press the active button to know the details of the offers being made by these companies. “Marketers targeting attention-span of people beyond the 30-second commercial can make their advertising content available through information brochures on our platform,” Mr Mehta said.

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Hutch makes way for Vodafone in India; runs roadblock on Star Network

2007-09-20T12:56:00.000+05:30

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Following Vodafone's acquisition of Hutchison Essar in May this year, the renamed entity Vodafone Essar will finally be visible as the company will unveil its brand identity in India on 21 September.

With this, the bright pink Hutch logo, will be transitioned to Vodafone across the country. The brand change over the next few weeks will be unveiled nationally through a high profile campaign spanning all media including outdoor, print and an aggressive push on television.

Vodafone Essar managing director Asim Ghosh said, "We've had a great innings as Hutch in India and today marks a new beginning for us. Not as a departure from the fundamentals that created Hutch, but an acceleration into the future with Vodafone's global expertise."

The company has tied up with Star India to run a complete roadblock of its fresh campaign on the entire network by unveiling the 24-hour nationwide rebranding campaign.

Vodafone will use all of the commercial airtime across all 13 channels in five languages (Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and English) from 9 pm on 20 September to 9 pm on September 21. This exercise will include TV commercials, transition bumpers and contest spots to promote the Vodafone Essar brand. Commercial spots have also been purchased on Sony.

Vodafone Essar marketing and new business director Harit Nagpal says the telecom player has inked deals with all television broadcasters for the launch campaign.

The Zee Network was also in talks with Vodafone but declined to accept the roadblock. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd president and revenue head Joy Chakraborthy opines, "This strategy of a roadblock goes against our principles as it is not fair to our other clients. We don't like to be seen as opportunists."

Yet media specialists advocate the roadblock approach for Vodafone's launch campaign. Maxus MD Ajit Varghese says, "Conventionally awareness for a new brand takes some time to build. However, Vodafone wanted to achieve this task at the shortest possible time. Maxus and Star Network worked closely to address this challenge and came up with the idea wherein during the day of the launch a complete roadblock on the Star Network channels was conceptualized.

"Considering that the Star Network is the lead network in India, this was the most apt platform for Vodafone launch. This strategy helps not only in achieving build rapid brand awareness but also breaks the clutter during such an important launch in the most happening category - telecom. This is a first of its kind mega media initiative in India by any brand."

Nagpal added, "This transition is probably the largest brand change ever undertaken in this country and arguably as big as any in the world. It is even larger than our own previous brand transitions as it touches over 35 million customers, across 400,000 shops and thousands of our own and our business associates' employees."

While the campaign is heavy on television, it will also include all other media vehicles. The print campaign kicks off on 21 September, a day after the television splash.

Market reports have put the marketing spends for the monster campaign to be in the region of Rs 3 billion. Nagpal, however, dismisses these numbers as highly exaggerated."The marketing spends for our launch campaign is only a mere fraction of that number," he points out.

The Vodafone mission is to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected world - enriching customers' lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities be more connected by delivering their total communication needs.

Vodafone's logo is a representation of that belief - The start of a new conversation, a trigger, a catalyst, a mark of true pioneering.

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Sony to showcase week long special of 'Indian Idol 3'

2007-09-19T01:26:00.000+05:30

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In an attempt to build up the intensity as Indian Idol 3 approaches its finale, Sony Entertainment Television will showcase some excerpts of the journey of the two finalists before the final gala round.

The week long journey begins on 17 September at 9 pm and will culminate on 23 September. The half hour episodes will have excerpts from the musical journey of the two contenders Amit Paul and Prashant Tamang.

The episode on 17 September and 18 September will follow the journey of Tamang and Paul from their respective cities.

The episode on 19 September will show the recent experiences of both the contestants when they visited their hometowns.

On 20 September, the show will salute Udit Narayan, Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar and Alisha Shenoy, the judges of the show. On 21 September Sony will telecast the last public performance by both the finalists in Kolkata.

The final performance of the two contestants which will decide their fate on the show will be shown on 22 September. This will be followed by a sneak preview to the second season of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa which will replace Indian Idol 3 on 28 September.

The grand finale crowning the winner of the third season will be held in Delhi and will be aired live on 23 September from 9 pm to 12 pm.

Hutchison-Essar to be rebranded Vodafone

2007-09-18T21:30:00.000+05:30

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The much-awaited brand transition for Hutchison-Essar, India’s fourth-largest mobile service provider, is expected to be kicked off in the next three or four days.

And contrary to expectations, the new name will not be a hybrid but just Vodafone, reflecting the majority ownership of the world’s largest telecom company.

Vodafone’s worldwide CEO Arun Sarin will be visiting India to launch the transition from the deep pink logo to Vodafone’s trademark deep red speech mark in the 16 circles in which the service provider operates. The speech mark logo was introduced only in 1998.

Vodafone acquired 67 per cent in the company from Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa some months ago for an enterprise value of $12 billion. The campaign, which is expected to be in the form of a simple announcement, especially print, has been undertaken by Ogilvy & Mather, the agency that worked on the popular Hutchison-Essar campaign with a pug dog.

As part of a Rs 300-crore advertising blitz, Vodafone has booked virtually all the ad slots on Star TV for September 20. Star sells 10 minutes of commercial time per hour.

There has also been some bulk booking on other channels like Sony TV. Vodafone will spend Rs 8.5 crore across Star channels and around Rs 5 crore on Sony Entertainment Television on the first day.

This apart, it has signed a bulk deal for nearly Rs 30 crore with Star for two months, according to media buying sources.

Star executives confirmed the bulk bookings, about which Sony declined to comment. When contacted, Asim Ghosh, MD of Vodafone-Essar, merely said: “We will comment at the appropriate time.”

However, sources close to the Ruias, which own 33 per cent in the company, confirmed the development and said that the roll-out would take place in a few days. However, the date of September 20 had not been finalised, they added.

Hutchison-Essar itself went through a major brand transition a few years ago from its popular Orange brand to Hutch which was supported by an advertising blitz.

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2007-09-15T03:18:00.000+05:30

Zorro Tank

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Cool tank game with 2 modes.

Flash Game Pelican Lost

2007-09-15T03:12:00.000+05:30

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Fly your pelican through the city, avoid other birds, planes and helicopters and crap on cars.

Cricinfo.com Taps AdMob as Mobile Ads Provider

2007-09-13T10:10:00.000+05:30

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Cricinfo.com, the world’s largest cricket content source, has selected mobile advertising network AdMob to monetize its mobile Internet traffic. AdMob will deliver ads globally for Cricinfo, while allowing advertisers to reach users in local markets using sophisticated targeting. This marks one of the first global and local mobile advertising partnerships.

Key markets for Cricinfo include India, North America, the UK, Australia and other cricket playing nations. “Cricket is a sport that lends itself perfectly to mobile coverage,” said Anil Nair, Head, Wireless Media, Cricinfo. “The length of time over which the game is played means many consumers cannot watch broadcasts of entire matches and want anytime, anywhere access to the latest news and results.”

AdMob will serve ads on Cricinfo pages, connecting its advertiser base of hundreds of brands to the Cricinfo demographic. In August, AdMob served over 350 million ads in India alone across its network of over 2,000 mobile Web publishers. AdMob serves both global and market-specific advertisers, offering industry-leading ad targeting.

Cricinfo launched ads with AdMob just in time for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, which is expected to draw millions of fans searching for information via their mobile devices from around the world. Mobile Web users visit Cricinfo for up-to-date match scores, schedules, results and more.

“The challenge is reaching our five core geographic markets of India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa with a relevant and effective advertising campaign that truly reaches cricket fans,” Nair said. “The AdMob Marketplace has proven to be effective at filling ad inventory with quality advertisers worldwide and we are excited to be working with them.”

Acquired by ESPN in June of this year, Cricinfo reaches seven million cricket fans each month, with a core male audience 18 and older, and is the world’s leading resource for cricket entertainment and information. With the majority of the sport’s fans residing in India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa, the Web site sought the services of AdMob to target specific geographic markets more effectively.

“Cricinfo has a worldwide following of users who are passionate, and hungry for score updates, match reports, and all the other buzz that will swirl around events like the Twenty20 Tourney,” said Niren Hiro, Vice President, Business Development, of AdMob. “This is a great example of how the global strength and reach of our network can be used by an international brand like Cricinfo to monetize its audience locally.”

About Cricinfo

Cricinfo is a wholly owned subsidiary of ESPN Inc., the world’s leading multimedia sports entertainment company. Ranked number one in all of its major markets, Cricinfo now reaches more than seven million users every month. The site was founded in 1993, and its continuing success is built on the combination of live ball-by-ball coverage of all Test and one-day international matches, news and features written by some of the world’s best cricket writers, and in-depth statistics on every one of the 3,000 international and 45,000 first-class cricketers to have played the game. The site’s reach, authority and brand recognition are unrivalled in the online cricket world. And Cricinfo now reaches beyond the Internet — so that fans can get Cricinfo content on mobile applications and at some of the world’s leading Internet portals. Cricinfo Mobile is one of the leading providers of mobile applications and services, including SMS, MMS and audio services in key cricket markets across the globe.

To learn more about Cricinfo, visit http://wap.cricinfo.com from your mobile or log on to www.cricinfo.com.
For questions about Cricinfo, please contact:
Premdeep Gangadharan / Head of Marketing
premdeep.gangadharan@cricinfo.com

About AdMob

AdMob is the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, having served more than 7 billion advertisements since launching in December 2005, and currently serving more than 1.5 billion ads monthly. AdMob allows advertisers to reach their customers on the mobile Web and publishers to increase the value of their mobile sites. AdMob offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to target and personalize advertising to their customers in 160 countries. AdMob customers include Coca-Cola, Electronic Arts, Starbucks, MSN, Paramount Pictures, Reuters, MTV and many more. AdMob serves ads for over 2,000 mobile Web sites, including ESPN, CBS, Weather Underground, Maxim and Peperonity.

Shemaroo brings Bollywood movies on mobile phones

2007-09-13T10:04:00.000+05:30

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Home video rental major Shemaroo Entertainment is converting full-length films into 15-minute movies that one can see with ease and without fatigue on one’s mobile.

Shemaroo Entertainment VP Hiren Gada said the project was still on an experimental stage, and had been launched on BPL Mobile's Mobile TV Service. Shemaroo is also in talks with other operators in India and Overseas to launch these movies on their networks.

He clarified that these 15-minute movies on mobile phones are not teasers or highlights — they are short version of the entire film - entertainment that can be enjoyed when one is stuck in bumper to bumper traffic or taking the train back home.

Gada said, 'We thought that it would be fun to have the essence of the story and movie re-edited into a linear format. The skill is in picking the right scenes'.

While the 15-minute mobile movie is for people on the move, the effort is to connect today's generation to these classics through a medium and format that they use everyday. However, Shemaroo now plans to go by audience reactions and feedback on various aspects. Shemaroo flirted with this thought of presenting linear content like themes, songs or 'the best of' scenes on mobiles as a first step to stepping onto the mobile platform with its huge video content library.

Gada said “These movies are like 'snacking-in-between' meals, where one can take a break and catch glimpses of movies”.

Zee's DMCL launches 'Page 3' website; expands web presence

2007-09-13T10:02:00.000+05:30

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Zee network's Digital Media Convergence Limited (DMCL) is expanding its presence on the web through a slate of portals exploring genres like social networking, entertainment, sports, parties and service outsourcing.

It created the Essel Group's Indian Cricket League (ICL) website, which is functioning as DMCL's sports portal and now it has officially launched a page 3 format website titled Page3flicks.com.

Targeted at an elite audience (SEC A+, male and female) in the age group of 15-30+ years, Page3flicks.com will run on an advertiser-driven model. It has already roped in lifestyle brands like Bacardi, Sangini, Golds' Gym to advertise on the site.

"Currently we are testing the waters for a niche offering like this. Depending on the response received, we plan to upload premium content for subscribers, which will then provide an alternate revenue stream," says Satyabrata Das who heads the Isee project. Isee is DMCL's flagship platform to take the Zee library's content on mobile and the web.

"The site has been in the beta phase for over four months. Our in-house team is promoting the site through viral marketing. From internal reports, we have observed that users are spending an average of 12-15 minutes on the site, browsing through various sections," he said.

Apart from outdoor promotions, Page3flicks.com is currently being promoted on Zee Cafe, Zee Studio and Zee Music through endorsements by anchors on these channels, says DAs

DMCL has put in place a team of freelance photographers who will supply content for the site. Rajeev Walia is the design head, while Neville Darukhanawala is responsible for the overall content for the site. Former NDTV entertainment correspondent S Ramachandran has been roped in to play a role at an advisory level.

Das said that new elements and contests like 'Celebrity of the Month', 'Best party of the month' would be introduced in the coming months. "These contests will culminate with the 'Page3 Awards', which we are planning to host in December. We are currently putting in place a jury and categories for the same," he said.

Speaking about the content on the site, DAs said, "Page3flicks will have photographs from the most happening parties in town. Our focus will be on uploading pictures from parties as early as 20 minutes from the time that they get over."

Elaborating further, he said, "In the last few years, there has been a rapid growth in the number of lounge bars, discotheques and party culture in metros. It is turning out to be huge industry and Page3flicks.com will bank on images from the resulting party circuit."

BigAdda.com offers users a South Africa trip

2007-09-13T10:00:00.000+05:30

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Reliance ADAG's social networking platform BigAdda.com is trying to attract users by giving them a chance to win a trip to South Africa for the 'Twenty20 cricket world cup'.

One has to log on to BigAdda.com and post slogans on 'Cheer for India in South Africa' on 'The 20/20 cricket adda'.

The winners of this contest will win a four days and three nights stay in South Africa. The winners also get the opportunity to cheer for the Indian cricket team live in South Africa accompanied by three friends, all sponsored by BigAdda.

BigAdda COO Siddhartha Roy said, "Cricket and bollywood are two things that bind the people in this country together. Indians' sheer love for cricket has inspired us to give the youth an opportunity to cheer for the Indian cricket team, live in South Africa."

Boogie Woogie’ to go international

2007-09-10T16:43:00.000+05:30

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The show ‘Boggie Woogie’ (Sony) was one of the first dance shows to hit the television screens. The presence of judge and host Javed Jaffrey and the sweet and sour interaction between hosts and producers Naved Jaffrey and Ravi Behl have only added to the entertainment value of the talent show.
Now, there are plans to launch the show internationally as well. “Yes, there are plans to take ‘Boogie Woogie’ abroad. By God’s grace, the show is doing very well here,” says Javed.
Javed further reasons, “If we can ape other shows or even start Indian versions of international series by taking their franchise, why can’t we take our shows to an international level?”

Apart from the show, Javed is busy with his movies, the latest one being ‘Dhamaal’ where he shares screen space with Sanjay Dutt.

“It’s sheer modesty on Sanju’s part to share equal screen space with other actors. He has no complexes. Not all actors are open to this,” says Javed who feels his dancing skills and comic flair are God’s gifts.

“I had it in my genes as well, though I had to work a lot on my comic timing. Watching my dad (veteran comedian Jagdeep) in his movies was another learning influence,” says Javed.

Speaking on his brother, Javed says, “Naved is totally involved with ‘Boogie Woogie’. He is more of a party person. I spend my free time at home with my kids. But Naved is young, single and ready to mingle,” laughs Javed.

Incidentally, ‘Boogie Woogie’ has been on air for almost 10 years.

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Radio Mirchi to air special series for Literacy Day

2007-09-10T16:34:00.000+05:30

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Radio Mirchi will air special series, Do padhai likhai, Stop fight ladai on the occasion of World Literacy Day on 8 September.

Radio Mirchi RJs will descend on the streets with two books of Hindi and English for do line to dhang se translate karke dikaho, where the RJs will test the learning of the Mumbaikars.

The show Hello Mumbai will feature on-air howlers experiences of Bollywood actors, while Bumper 2 Bumper will have a spot poll on "Who do people think among the stars would be the most padha likha?" The poll will be based on listeners' perception on how well they know the stars over the years.

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SRK to release 2K prints of Om Shanti Om

2007-09-08T11:05:00.000+05:30

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The Don would rather discuss Red Chillies Productions’ new movie Om Shanti Om (OSO), slated to release this Diwali. After inking the alleged highest deal for a Hindi movie at around Rs 75 crore (inclusive of worldwide rights, but excluding music and satellite rights), OSO is set for another record, the highest number of prints any Indian movie has ever released.

SRK will release 2,000 prints of the movie. “Yes, that is the attempt,” says SRK. That would make the 800-plus prints of Rajinikanth’s superhit Sivaji The Boss look commonplace. “A chunk of these (prints) will be digital installations. There is definitely a huge market out there. And post the success of Chak De, the interest level is even higher. Germany for one, even sent down a huge contingent of scribes while we were shooting and Poland, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia all non-traditional markets too have seen a demand for more prints,” says SRK.

SRK, as reported by ET in July, was said to have sold the entire rights of OSO excepting music to Eros International for Rs 75 crore while the music is said to have sold to T-Series for Rs 8-9 core. While refusing to confirm the deal size, SRK, however, clarifies that the satellite rights are not part of the deal with Eros.

Keeping with his commitment to Star TV and his long-term relationship with the channel, the satellite rights in all likelihood will to go to Star. But the competition among channels in buying rights of a big movie, especially an SRK-starrer, is intense.

While the usual practice is to buy the rights for a decade, SRK sold his Main Hoon Naa to Star for a five-year period. And OSO rights could be even shorter. “I believe in underselling my film. So less money for less time which means that in the case of OSO, it would be sold for a period of 3-5 years at the most, not longer,” says Mr Khan.

According to industry insiders, the prices for satellite rights for big films swing wildly between Rs 8 crore to Rs 20 crore, with the outer figure being quoted for an SRK movie. Insiders in the TV industry, however, say the outer figure is ridiculous.

Any movie, big or small gets its maximum TRP in its first airing and even with a movie like OSO, they estimate that with advertisers the maximum moolah any channel can rake in during this first airing is Rs 4-5 crore. So even over five years, it does not make sense to pay anything more than Rs 10 crore as the maximum for a movie, they point out.

Eros International, meanwhile, says its investment is safe. This in spite the fact that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya is releasing on the same day, November 9. “For one, we are securing our content pipeline, secondly, the distribution business is very sophisticated and we feel that the market can take two films,” says Eros COO Jyoti Deshpande.

She, however, concedes that if both were Eros films, then she would not have had them clashing at the box office. Ms Deshpande’s confidence also comes from the international market power that SRK holds. “He has markets which no other star has, from Poland to Australia to Germany of course,” says Ms Deshpande who says the split for the release will be 70:30 domestic to international.

While refusing to give the exact money he has sold OSO for, Khan says it is an expensive film. In Khan’s lexicon, anything which is Rs 12 crore is cheap, anything between Rs 20-26 is medium and anything above Rs 27 is expensive.

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Mobile boom helps India reach internet goal before time

2007-09-07T00:00:00.000+05:30

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India has surpassed its internet subscriber target of 40 million, more than three years ahead of time. Department of Telecommunication (DoT) had set a goal of 40 million internet subscribers through ‘various technologies’ by 2010 which has been met in 2007.

However, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not happy, saying that internet on mobile is not a pure play, feature rich service and thus those who access the internet on mobile phones cannot be counted among the subscribers.

As of March 31, 2007, India had about 9.2 million internet subscribers on personal computers (PCs) and 31.3 million subscribers on mobile phones (both GSM/CDMA). The DoT had set a 40 million subscribers target in its broadband policy of 2004. DoT is now planning to set a new target.

However, when it comes to broadband, India is far behind the DoT's target of 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010. The broadband target for 2007 was 9 million subscribers. But the government is still not able to fulfill the 3 million broadband subscribers target for 2005, even in 2007. As of March 31, 2007 India had about 2.3 million broadband users.

ISPs are rubbishing the achievement of internet subscriber target, saying that internet access on mobile is not a feature rich application and thus cannot be counted. "Internet on mobile is not used for downloading purpose. You cannot use full features of internet on mobile phone. It does not even promote IT literacy. So the comparisons between both (PC access and mobile phone internet access) don’t exist," says an Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) official.

ISPAI is also unhappy with the new internet service guidelines and alleges cartel among government, regulator and cellcos. "There seems to be a cartel to circumvent the pureplay ISPs. If this attitude of the government continues towards pureplay ISPs, most of them will have to surrender their licences or get acquired," says ISPAI.

The ISPs are also incensed over the new guidelines for providing Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). "Putting a limit of Rs 100 crore on net worth to provide IPTV services is in favour of the large telcos and is anti-ISPs. We all know that not many ISPs will meet this criteria," says ISPAI president Rajesh Charia.

ISPs observe that India will not be able to achieve the broadband target for 2010 if the government continues with discriminatory guidelines.

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RCom, ICICI Bank tie up for money transfer over mobiles
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Eros acquires distribution rights for five films

2007-09-06T23:56:00.000+05:30

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Eros International is set to release five films by December and has acquired the international distribution rights for the same.

It has acquired international distribution rights of Darling, which will release on 7 September. A romantic thriller from Ram Gopal Varma, it stars Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol and Isha Koppikar in lead roles.

The company has also acquired the global distribution rights of Nanhe Jaisalmer starring Bobby Deol which releases globally on 14 September. This is the second film to be released as part of the five-year output deal with K Sera Sera that was announced in September last year.

After releasing two comedies Partner and Heyy Babyy, Eros will be releasing another comedy, Bhool Bhulaiyaa on 12 October in the overseas market. Directed by Priyadarshan it stars Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja, Ameesha Patel and Paresh Rawal.

The company has also acquired the international distribution rights of Salman Khan's next release God Tussi Great Ho and Sanjay Dutt starrer Mehbooba. Both films will be tentatively released by the end of December.

Eros International India president Sunil Lulla said, "Eros has an exciting line-up of releases planned for the rest of the year."

Earlier, Eros announced a collaboration with White Feather Films Ltd for the acquisition of global film distribution rights. The deal includes approximately 15 films to be acquired by Eros over a five-year period, some of which will come from White Feather’s art-house division.

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Delhi to host 'Indian Idol 3' grand finale on 23 Sept.

2007-09-06T23:51:00.000+05:30

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The finals of the third edition of Indian Idol will take place in Delhi on 23 September as a two-hour musical extravaganza.

After the elimination of Ankita Mishra last week, the three contestants in the fray are Amit Paul from Shillong, Prashant Tamang from Darjeeling and Emon Chatterjee from Kolkata.

Soon after the elimination of one more contestant, the reality TV show from Sony will see its two finalists go on a nationwide promotional-cum-concert tour, before coming to Delhi.

The winner will be trained by Sony BMG for one year before recording the first album to bring perfection to his voice. In addition to a recording contract with Sony BMG, the winner will be awarded a contract worth Rs 10 million with Sony Entertainment Television.

The third edition was different in terms of the number of Indian cities it had covered – 12 - apart from two foreign destinations during the audition stages.

The auditions rounds were held in Jodhpur, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Srinagar, Nagpur, Vadodra, Bhopal, Kampur, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

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Zapak to open 250 gaming cafes by March-end

2007-09-06T23:42:00.000+05:30

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Reliance ADA group's Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd (ZDEL) plans to launch 250 gaming cafes in India by March-end and a payment card in the next two weeks, a top company official said on Wednesday.

ZDEL's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Rohit Sharma said here that it would launch ten cafes in top cities of the country over the next two weeks. "We are creating high-end gaming cafes with best of ambience and best of bandwidth," he said.

"Our vision is to open 3,000 gaming cafes with 50,000 gaming seats in India in the next two-three years." Mr Sharma said ZDEL would launch within two weeks Zapak card, a gaming cash card available for purchase, noting that in the gaming value chain, pay ment mechanism and access are critical, besides content.

ZDEL's first year revenues were driven by advertising on the portal. "When we launch MMOG (massive multiplayer online game) products, revenues would start coming", he said.

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India's first Web 2.0 matrimonial website

2007-09-06T23:19:00.000+05:30

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SimplyMarry.com has launched India's first Web 2.0 enabled "metro-monial" portal that allows users to register and update their profile in real-time, providing instant activation of user profiles which are searchable as soon as they register.

Users also get an instant confirmatory SMS and email on registering, a press release said.

Web 2.0 technology allows the users to save their edits as frequently as they want. The user just fills in a single-page form that provides details about them and their ideal soul-mate, simultaneously displaying a profile completion bar, indicating how much information critical to the profile, has been provided.

Users can also update and check how their profile looks to others in real time, with a "How do I Look" Tab on the site. A new match alert algorithm alerts them on a regular basis with suitable matches to their profiles.

SimplyMarry.com is the fastest growing metro-centric matrimonial website in the country with over 80 per cent of the profiles being created by the youth of India's major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Pune. A door-step service of subscription collection is also offered.

It has also launched the "MarryZine" - an e-magazine on matrimony and related matters that provides a perfect solution for grooming a person before marriage by focusing on the latest marriage trends, health and fitness, relationship issues, lifestyle guide and even assistance in deciding upon honeymoon destinations.

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After Pepsi ad, Shahrukh and John team up again

2007-09-05T11:36:00.000+05:30

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After giving us a hilarious Pepsi ad, the newly discovered combo of SRK and John will be seen on the silver screen for yet another acclaimed director – Rajkumar Hirani’s next film. And believe it or not there is more to the already great combination. The film is based on the famous book “Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT” by Chetan Bhagat.

Three hostelmates - Alok, Hari and Ryan get off to a bad start in IIT - they screw up the first class quiz. And while they try to make amends, things only get worse. It takes them a while to realize: If you try and screw with the IIT system, it comes back to double screw you. Before they know it, they are at the lowest echelons of IIT society. They have a five-point-something GPA out of ten, ranking near the end of their class. This GPA is a tattoo that will remain with them, and come in the way of anything else that matters - their friendship, their future, their love life. While the world expects IITians to conquer the world, these guys are struggling to survive. Will they make it? Do underperformers have a right to live? Can they show that they are not just a five-point-somebody but a five-point-someone?’

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Chak De India enters Oscar Library!

2007-09-05T11:31:00.000+05:30

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Chak De for the team! The movie’s exceptional script by Jaideep Sahni will be at a very deserving place – no where else but the Oscar Library! “A copy of the screenplay has already reached the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, which hosts and hands out the Oscar Awards, to be a part of their script collection.”

The script will be kept at the Margaret Herrick Library and will be accessible only to film students, filmmakers, writers and actor. Now that is truly Chak De! India.

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SRK into Om Shanti Om

2007-09-05T11:21:00.000+05:30

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Yet another Shahrukh Khan starer and a mega production is coming to light this November – it is none other than Farah Khan’s second film “Om Shanti Om”. Revisit the 70s of Bollywood with film!

Here is the synopsis of the film’s promos as circulating on net:

Noor-e-haq sham-ae-ilahi ko mita sakta hai kaun Jiska haami hai khuda usko mita sakta hai kaun

Alright, so the hardcore Urdu couplet that kick starts the promo of Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om rewinds you back to the sixties social, a la Yash Chopra’s Waqt where the poetic meaning forewarned us, as to what is going to follow. Well, it goes without saying that the premise of this hugely mounted entertainer has movies as its backdrop. Shah Rukh is a junior artiste with star-gaze as his only respite; while ravishing Deepika Padukone is the proverbial amply-endowed star of the sixties-seventies, with a smile that kisses her dimples like the dewdrops sliding on a nubile flower petal.

The dream girl is off to a premiere of her big ticket flick while love-struck SRK (in a check coat) is driven away by guards forcefully. Montages of transition follow. A convertible biggie car stops with a screech. ‘STAR’ shines on its number plate. SRK has a Filmfare award in his hand while Padukone draped in a Kanjeevram sleeveless sari dances away to glory on a big dhol (obviously it’s an ode to Sridevi of Himmatwala). Helen is not to be left behind, as totally transformed Deepika oozes out of a life like cage draped in the Monika ensemble. Phew!

SRK on his part showcases many of the characters that he has played in his career. There are traces of Raj-Rahul as he dances in a lavish party, sings the open-chested romantic duets, rides a macho bike, the blood smeared Baazigar who also dabbles in Devdas for a while. There’s a Shah Rukh Khan voiceover that takes this ninety second promo forward proclaiming adherence to escapist cinema. Yes, no bad endings for this one. “Picture abhi khatam nahin hui hai,” he says in an inebriated tone.

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Saawariya – the saga in green posture

2007-09-05T11:18:00.000+05:30

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Yet another grand presentation by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Saawariya feature debutants Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. Ranbir – son of Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, and Sonam daughter of Anil Kapoor. Rani and Salman also make special appearances in the movie. The Diwali release is already making rave news with the theatrical trailers being released. Enjoy the first publicity posture released officially!

Who will replace Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan?

2007-09-05T11:10:00.000+05:30

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Now that Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan are under the police eye, Bollywood is finding itself in a great jeopardy. Who can replace the two of the most countable actors? The question has shaken quiet a few. “They are cult figures and they have a certain equation with the audience which makes them indispensible,” says David Dhawan.

Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik roshan, the other countable stars have their hands full. So the only ones remaining are Amir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, John Abraham and Saif Ali Khan. Will they be able to deliver more number of quality acts than they usually do? So the hope remains on the recent comers Riteish Deshmukh, Sharman Joshi and the debutant Ranbir Kapoor and the likes. Let us see who grabs the show now that there are two great holes in the closely knit competition.

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Sony mulls launching movie download service

2007-09-05T10:59:00.000+05:30

Sony is considering the possibility of launching a movie download service. If that happens, it will compete directly with Apple iPod and itunes producing its own movie download service and products.

Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said, "Music and video downloading has been available through networks and we are looking into the area as a possible business."

Last week Sony revealed a new Walkman video player that comes with Microsoft Corp's Windows Media Player 11 that is capable of managing digital libraries in the US and Europe. The LCD mounted players, which will be compatible with MPEG-4 encoded video and AVC, are already available in Japan.

During CEO Howard Stringer's tenure in 2005, Sony was forced to cut jobs, close down plants and dropped unprofitable divisions in a turnaround attempt that the company has been trying to put into place since then.

Stringer is reportedly going to use Sony's PS3 and and Play Station portable videogame machines, apart from its Bravia HD television sets to create products and services that will enable users to download television shows and movies in a similar manner that it is downloaded on Apple's Tunes store and iPods.
In late August, Sony said it would phase out operations at its Connect digital music store in favor of a new breed of digital media players open to more formats. It had also announced that it was shifting emphasis to other network services, specifically one for users of its Play Station game consoles.

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RCom, ICICI Bank tie up for money transfer over mobiles

2007-09-05T10:58:00.000+05:30

Telecom company Reliance Communications and private financial institution ICICI Bank are close to offering money transfer services over mobile phones. The service, first of its kind in the country, is expected to be launched shortly, if not within a week.

The move is of importance as other cellular providers are likely to follow suit, ushering in an m-commerce (mobile commerce) revolution in the country.

The two companies have completed trial runs in metroes and leading circles across the country, according to sources close to the development.

The new service will enable ICICI Bank customers to transfer funds to other account holders registered with the financial institutions website.

A customer of the bank can transfer up to Rs 5,000 per transaction, using Reliance Communications’ pre- and post-paid services. The service will allow multiple transfers, enabling subscribers to transfer higher amounts to other accounts of ICICI Bank.

When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson confirmed the development. He also added the company was looking at promoting mobile commerce as a value-added service (VAS).

At present, ICICI Bank has over 24 million customers and Reliance Communications has around 37 million subscribers. The Anil Ambani group company’s m-commerce services include bill payments, railway and airline ticketing, shopping, auctions, movie and event ticketing among others.

There are around 180 million cellular users in the country, but mobile commerce is still a nascent industry. This is because India is primarily a cash economy.

However, the segment is expected to post rapid growths with subscribers beginning to use SMSEs to buy, sell and book movie tickets.

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BCCI finally advertises for coach's post

2007-09-05T10:52:00.000+05:30

The Indian cricket board on Monday advertised for the post of the national coach, but with stringent pre-requisites like familiarity with the country's "culture and ethos".

The contract will be for two years starting Oct 1, 2007, though the terms and conditions are "negotiable", Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said in Mumbai.

The coach's post fell vacant following the completion of former Australia captain Greg Chappell's two-year term in March.

Initially, the board was against advertising for the post.

Only those who have a minimum of Level III coaching accreditation from Cricket Australia, England or India can apply. But, interestingly, there is no bar on Indian coaches.

Those interested can send their CVs to the board headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium by Sep 15.

"We have requested other cricket boards to post this on their website," said Shah in a statement.

The board has listed 11 conditions in the 'knowledge, skills and expertise' column and eight stipulations in the 'key responsibilities' that the applicant is supposed to bear.

The Indian team toured Bangladesh in May with stand-in cricket manager Ravi Shastri.

The BCCI then interviewed former England spinner John Emburey and Graham Ford, Kent county's director of cricket, in June. It selected Ford but he surprisingly declined the offer after initially agreeing to take up the job. Later, Emburey also turned down the offer.

Currently, the Indian side in England is being managed by 73-year-old Chandu Borde after BCCI's talks with Dav Whatmore, a former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach, also did not fructify.

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BCCI to reveal Twenty20 plans in 10-15 days, says Pawar

2007-09-04T22:38:00.000+05:30

Turning the heat on the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), BCCI President Sharad Pawar said the Board would announce its own Twenty20 plans in the next 10-15 days.

Pawar, who watched India beat England in the fifth one dayer here at Headingley on Sunday, derided ICL, calling it a 'purely commercial proposition' and said the Board would soon make its own Twenty20 plans public.

Turning the heat on the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), BCCI President Sharad Pawar said the Board would announce its own Twenty20 plans in the next 10-15 days.

Pawar, who watched India beat England in the fifth one dayer here at Headingley on Sunday, derided ICL, calling it a 'purely commercial proposition' and said the Board would soon make its own Twenty20 plans public.

Google stitches license deals to host news on site

2007-09-04T22:37:00.000+05:30

Google has begun hosting news items produced by The Associated Press and three other news services on its own web site.

In the past two years, the internet search giant negotiated licensing deals with the AP and Agence France Presse, The Press Association in the United Kingdom and The Canadian Press. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The news services had raised concerns about whether Google had been infringing on their copyrights, by sending readers to their destinations.

The move could, however, reduce internet traffic to other media sites where those stories and pictures are also found. Further, this could reduce the online advertising revenue of newspapers and broadcasters.

This means that now visitors on Google in reading an AP story will remain on Google's website unless they click on a link that enables them to read the same story elsewhere.

Previously, because wire services' Web sites typically feature either a small sample or none of their stories, the way to read their articles was go to the sites of their syndication clients, such as newspapers.

Google reasons that under this new approach, readers won't have to pore through search results listing the same story posted on different sites. That would make it easier to discover other news stories at other Web sites that might previously have been buried.

Google News Product manager Josh Cohen said, "This may result in certain publishers losing traffic for their news wire stories, but it will allow more room for original content."

Despite Google's dominance in search, its news section lags behind rival Yahoo. According to comScore Media Metrix data, in July, Google News attracted 9.6 million visitors compared to Yahoo News' 33.8 million.

Google has not made any immediate plans to run ads alongside the news hosted on its site.

Good Earth Super Series kicks off in Chennai

2007-09-04T22:32:00.000+05:30

The Good Earth Super Series 2007 has kicked off in Chennai. Organised by Havas Sports, this is a five city-six tournament tennis event.

The first edition of the series spans Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai in that order. The Good Earth Super Series aims to promote young talent below the age of 16 and groom them to be internationally competitive at an increasingly younger age.

To qualify for the tournament finale, players would need to participate in a minimum of three of the five tournaments that are a part of the Super Series.

Akin to the 'ATP Masters', the grand finale will have the top eight players from each age group compete for the ultimate honor of becoming the Good Earth Super Series Champion 2007. The grand prize for the winners includes a fully sponsored three-week tennis training camp in France followed by four tournaments in their respective age groups across Europe.

Around 350 entries have already been registered for the Chennai tournament qualifying rounds. The tournament will be held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam.

Moving from city to city, the Good Earth Super Series is set amidst plenty of on-ground activation designed to create awareness around tennis as a sport, the need for health and fitness in one’s life especially the need for a healthy, nutritious and well balanced diet. The event is scheduled for 9 September between 2 pm and 6 pm at the SDAT Tennis Stadium with Vijay Amritraj being present for the occasion to interact with the children. Other exciting activities will be conducted to create a true carnival atmosphere for all present.

Each of the five cities will also have its own large format school contact programme that takes the spirit of the associated brands and the game of tennis to the targeted children. A poster campaign across 100 schools, followed by the Jetix Hardest Hitter contest in 50 of the 100 schools was launched.

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association is playing an active role in helping Havas Sports spread communication around the tournament to popularise the tournament and call for entries in the interior markets that have a strong tennis focus.

Victoria Beckham to guest star on 'Ugly Betty'

2007-09-04T22:29:00.000+05:30

Soccer star David Beckham's wife and member of pop group Spice Girls Victoria Beckham will pay a visit to US broadcaster ABC's comedy Ugly Betty in an episode.

She will play herself, a celebrity bridesmaid at the 'wedding of the millennium': Wilhelmina Slater's (Vanessa Williams) nuptials to publishing mogul Bradford Meade (Alan Dale).

In India the show airs on Star World.

Prasar Bharati to let ESPN market T20 World Cup for Doordarshan

2007-09-04T22:26:00.000+05:30

Prasar Bharati will let ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) undertake the marketing of the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup cricket matches telecast on Doordarshan. The catch is that ESS will have to meet the reserve price per match fixed by DD for the World Cup matches.

As reported first by ET, ESS will share live and clean feed (without ads) with Prasar Bharati for all the matches India plays, the semi-finals and the final, irrespective of whether India reaches the final stages.

The marketing model will be on the lines of the arrangement between DD and private broadcaster Nimbus for the India-West Indies series earlier this year. During the one-day series, DD had said it would be able to generate Rs 4.26 crore for the series, while Nimbus (which held the rights for these matches) had said it would generate Rs 22 crore if it were to undertake the marketing for DD.

Nimbus was allowed to market the entire commercial airtime for the series exclusively through its ad sales arm — Nimbus Media Solutions — on a 70:30 revenue share basis in its favour.

For the Twenty20 World Cup, Prasar Bharati and ESS will follow a 75:25 revenue share ratio in favour of the private broadcaster as specified by law. When contacted, ESS executives refused to comment.

DD sources said Prasar Bharati officials would meet their ESS counterparts over the next couple of days to discuss the issue of marketing rights, among other matters. “If they do not agree to the base price set by us, we will market the advertisements slots on our own,” DD officials said. The Twenty20 World Cup begins in South Africa on September 11.

“The revenue share is applicable on the entire amount they raise, and not just the base price. At the same time, if the deal goes through, there will be another clause which stipulates that ESS must pay 25% of the base price even if the revenues raised by the private broadcaster are lower than this amount,” DD sources added.

The sources also said ESS would be able to command higher ad rates as the private broadcaster would be able to offer combo slots on both the channels simultaneously to its advertisers. Besides, ESS will also be able to charge single rates for ads and other promotional material across the different channels.

As reported earlier by ET, ESS has already sold the series at rates about 100% higher than even the 2007 World Cup, with rates averaging Rs 2.75-3 lakh per 10 seconds.

Players to support HIV-AIDS campaign at ICC Twenty20

2007-09-04T22:21:00.000+05:30

Cricket stars from across the world will support the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) partnership with UNAIDS and Unicef at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 2007, which takes place in South Africa from 11 to 24 September, to highlight the situation of children and young people living with and affected by HIV.

The partnership is also supported in South Africa from loveLife – South Africa’s national HIV prevention program for youth – to engage the youth audience.

Players including South Africa captain Graeme Smith, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and India’s Yuvraj Singh will feature in public service announcements for the ‘Unite for Children, Unite Against Aids’ campaign highlighting how HIV impacts on the lives of young people. This will be made available to broadcasters in 105 countries across the world as well as be watched by fans on the big screens at the 27 matches during the tournament.

Other stars will visit Unicef and loveLife community-based project activities in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg to promote HIV and AIDS awareness to young people and encourage them to develop life-skills to keep them HIV-free. Select players are expected to wear red ribbons in selected matches to show their support for people living with HIV.

Apart from player-related activities, 500 volunteers working at the event have all received HIV and AIDS education from loveLife health trainers, supported by UNAIDS. There will also be advertising boards at the grounds dedicated to promoting the ‘Unite for Children, Unite Against Aids’ campaign.

The African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS – a coalition of more than 50 African broadcast companies – will also be supporting the partnership, promoting player visits and event activities related to the partnership.

Cricket is popular in many of the countries that are most impacted by AIDS, including India and South Africa. Together, these two countries are home to around 11 million of the 40 million people estimated to be living with HIV.

Neo Sports inks deal with Tata Sky

2007-09-03T20:48:00.000+05:30

Sports broadcaster Neo Sports and direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Tata Sky have announced a long term agreement.

According to the deal, the two channels Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus will be available on the Tata Sky platform with immediate effect.

Neo Sports CEO Shashi Kalathil said, "Neo Sports' carriage on India's premier DTH Platform, Tata Sky, is a major and propitious announcement that we are making as an independently distributed bouquet. There are several customer interactive innovations possible around cricket and we shall be working closely with Tata Sky to bring to our viewers an unmatched viewing experience during the upcoming India Australia series."

Tata Sky MD and CEO Vikram Kaushik said, "We are delighted that Neo Sports with their unparalleled depth of India cricket rights will now be available to our viewers on Tata Sky."

Two months back, Neo Sports decided to independently distribute its TV channels after terminating their distribution arrangement with Star India.
On the cable front, Neo Sports is on an aggressive distribution ramp up for the forthcoming October India-Australia ODI series.

Kalathil said that Neo Sports had already signed cable distribution deals in major cities in North, Central and parts of West India. These include Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Camper, Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda.

Kalathil said, "Traditionally broadcasters have been very advertising focused and have played for high stakes in the metros such as Delhi and Mumbai and advertising critical centres such as Gurgaon, where most of the media agencies have offices. Our approach has been different. In Phase-1 we went to the traditionally less penetrated states such as MP, UP and Rajasthan. It is incidental that while doing so we are now 100 per cent lit in Gurgaon and the large cities of Gujarat too. This is Phase-1 of our rollout strategy."

Kalathil went on to further clarify that in phase-two of the rollout by the end of the first week of September, Neo would cover platforms such as DTH and some of the major MSOs.

The third phase of the rollout by mid September would cover much of the South, another traditionally less focussed region for national broadcasters. "This is critical to our multi language cricket broadcast strategy" he added.

The final part of the roll out would be in the large metros and would be complete by middle of September, in time to catch the October India - Australia ODI series.

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Google Earth now scans the heavens

2007-09-03T13:07:00.000+05:30

A new function in Google Earth has opened up the cosmos to Internet viewers. The new “sky” portion of the software allows users to view the starry skies, navigating through the galaxies with the click of a mouse, says Google spokesman Stefan Keuchel from the company’s Hamburg offices. Constellations, planets, and nebulae are all offered alongside information about their position, size and orbits.

The highest resolution images of space come from scientific installations such as the Baltimore’s Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Views normally reserved just for astronauts are provided through 129 images of NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Animations illustrate the course of the moon’s phases and the position of planets two months ahead of time. The various stages of the life of a star are also depicted.

ESPN to share Twenty20 World Cup feed with DD

2007-09-03T12:59:00.001+05:30

Millions of cricket lovers in non-cable households will be able to watch ICC’s Twenty20 World Cup kick off in South Africa on September 11. After weeks of dragging its feet over the issue, ESPN-Star Sports has conceded to Prasar Bharati’s demand to share its feed with Doordarshan for all the matches India plays, the semi-finals and the final, irrespective of whether India reaches the final stages.

While ESPN-Star Sports officials declined to comment, a source at Prasar Bharati confirmed the development. A top Prasar Bharati official told ET: “Doordarshan had sent a communication to ESPN-Star Sports requesting share of live feed of all matches India plays, including semi-finals and finals.

ESPN-Star Sports has not responded to our communication yet, but we have been given to understand that they have agreed to share the feed with us. A formal communication from ESPN-Star Sports is, however, awaited.”

Sharing feed of the Twenty20 format is not mandatory for the private broadcaster, unlike one-day matches and Tests telecasts. However, officials in the I&B ministry and Prasar Bharati had insisted that since the event was of national importance, the feed of the Twenty20 series too should be shared with Doordarshan.

Anticipating huge viewership, Prasar Bharati had demanded that sharing of the feed be made mandatory on the grounds that Twenty20 matches fall in the same category as one-day internationals. As per the law on mandatory feed sharing, the revenue sharing model is 75:25 in favour of the broadcaster.

Meanwhile, ESPN-Star Sports has sold the series at rates about 100% higher than even the 2007 World Cup, with rates averaging Rs 2.75-Rs 3 lakh per 10 seconds. “The format is new, and India’s performance has been encouraging, so advertisers are keen on the series,” a media source said.

WPP’s Group M, for example, has bought out 60% of the series inventory for $15 million on behalf of all its clients, including presenting sponsors Nokia, Havells, Hero Honda and associate sponsor PepsiCo. The deal also includes spot buys, which will be priced according to the performance of the Indian team across various stages.

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ESPN to share Twenty20 World Cup feed with DD

2007-09-03T12:59:00.000+05:30

Nokia launches new web services under 'Ovi'

2007-09-01T23:39:00.000+05:30

Nokia has launched a series of web services under the brand name 'Ovi' that allows users to download games, maps and music directly to their cellphones.

Nokia's new Music Store, which is in direct competition with Apple's iTunes offering, makes it a large step forward in accessibility. Compared to Apple's iTunes which is less expensive and allows users to download songs directly to their computers, Nokia's Ovi users can download songs directly to their phones.

Nokia has struck deals with the world's biggest music labels Universal Music, Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG and gamemakers Electronic Arts and Game Loft for its game store, N-Gage.

The first Nseries handset with the capability to access Ovi will be the the 8GB memory equipped N81. The device has been slightly optimized for gaming and it comes with a navi-scroller that is touch sensitive, similar to an iPod scroll wheel.

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Zee Turner adds CNN-IBN, VH1 moves to One Alliance

2007-09-01T23:34:00.000+05:30

VH1 will hop from Zee Turner to The One Alliance bouquet, joining its sibling channels MTV and Nick. The move comes into effect from 1 September.

Zee Turner, on the other hand, is replacing VH1 with English news channel CNN-IBN to expand its second package. The company also has recently added distribution of Zee Talkies, a newly launched Marathi movie channel.

"VH1 is now discontinued for distribution upon termination of the agreement by the company," Zee Turner said in a release.

MTV Networks South Asia SVP network development Sanjeev Hiremath said the migration of VH1 was in process. "Our term with Zee Turner was expiring. We got a better deal with One Alliance. Besides, we will have all our three channels residing in one distribution bouquet," he added.

One Alliance, which is a joint venture between SET India and Discovery, distributes channels like Sony Entertainment Television, Max, Discovery, Ten Sports, Discovery Travel and Living, Sab, Pix, AXN, NDTV India, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit, Animal Planet and Animax.

Commenting on the addition of VH1, SET India CEO and SET Discovery chairman Kunal Dasgupta said, "With the addition of VH1, viewers will now enjoy the music and lifestyle offering and this will complete the all inclusive entertainment package of The One Alliance bouquet. This partnership will mark a landmark deal and mutually benefit VH1 and The One Alliance offering incremental viewer base."

Discovery Networks India MD and Set Discovery director Deepak Shourie said, "The One Alliance has got the best entertainment available on television today; be it factual entertainment, wild life and nature, sports, family entertainment, Hollywood, lifestyle, action, music, news, kids' entertainment or comedy. VH1 will only add to being the best in international music and lifestyle channel."

Talking of the transition MTV Networks Hiremath said, "Over the last 2 years, VH1 was available on the Zee-Turner platform and has a viewership across 20 million households in India. VH1 is now migrating to the The One Alliance platform. VH1 is sure to augment The One Alliance's offering to its consumers."

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DTH has to offer subscribers instalment schemes: Trai

2007-09-01T23:29:00.000+05:30

Direct-to-home (DTH) operators will now have to offer subscribers rental or hire purchase schemes on hardware equipment.

This is the latest regulation on Quality of Service (QoS) issued for the DTH sector by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Trai says that any DTH operator must from now give the prospective subscriber all three options, contrary to the outright purchase practice so far. The operators will have to mention clearly on every application form the three options, schemes and prices.

This makes the DTH initial connectivity more akin to that of Cas (conditional access system), bringing down the entry barrier for consumers as they can now go for instalments on the hardware equipment including set-top boxes (STBs).

Subscribers who wish to give up the DTH services, would also be refunded the amount due to them.

The Regulation also says that the operators will levy no charges payable towards repair and maintenance of DTH Customer Premises Equipment acquired under the hire purchase or rental scheme. This facility will be valid during the period of hire purchase or rental scheme.

Trai has even said that while subscribers would be able to change their schemes at any time they wanted, the operators would not be able to hike the prices for a scheme opted for by a subscriber within six months of the person getting the connection.

Quality Control Measures

Customer empowerment also includes strict quality control measures, including attending to problems and solving them within a given timeframe, and also severe restrictions on disconnections.

Trai regulation says that the operators would neither be allowed to discontinue any channel, or the entire service, nor be allowed to disable the STBs without sufficient reason and proper notice.

The regulation says that DTH operators would refund the security deposit or advance payments, if any, after appropriate and reasonable adjustments in case of return of DTH Customer Premises Equipment by a DTH subscriber. This, too, has to be made clear in the application form.

"In case the equipment made available to any subscriber before the commencement of this regulation does not conform to the BIS as applicable, the operator shall within seven days of the commencement of these regulations replace at no extra cost equipment that conforms to the BIS," the regulation says.

However, this will not apply to those pieces of equipment that have been tampered with by the subscriber, the regulation says.

A person seeking connection, disconnection or shifting of DTH service connection will now have to make an application in duplicate to the operator in a format specified by the latter, and the application shall be provided to such person by the DTH operator.

The application form shall contain name, address and telephone number of the applicant; details of schemes for provision of DTH equipment; details of subscription package indicated by the person; the number and names of all the channels and value added services.

The operator will then have to give a unique customer identification number and provide a copy of the Manual at the time of subscription. All information furnished by the applicant would have to be kept confidential.

The operators will have to evolve procedures for handling requests for shift in the place of installation of the service, transfer the service from one subscriber to another, as well as for disconnection or re-connection of the DTH service.

"No DTH operator shall take off the air or discontinue exhibition of any channel without giving prior notice to the DTH subscribers, says Trai and adds that the notice shall have to be published widely.

Besides, no operator shall discontinue the service to its 'direct to me' equipment made available to any DTH subscriber before the commencement of these regulations, if it does not conform to the Indian Standard set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

In case DTH service is required to be interrupted for the purpose of facilitating preventive maintenance, the subscribers shall be given a prior notice indicating therein the expected date of resumption of service.

If the home subscriber does not owe any dues (including any arrear towards instalments of hire purchase scheme or arrears of rent for equipment of such operator) the operator shall not be able to disable the STB of that subscriber.

"No DTH operator shall increase the charges for a subscription package offered by him to the disadvantage of the DTH subscriber, or change the charges to the disadvantage of the DTH subscriber for a minimum period of six months from the date of enrolment of the subscriber," the regulation says.

However, this regulation does not stop any operator to reduce the price of the subscription package within the period of six months.

Besides, from the commencement of the regulations, a subscriber can opt, during the period of six months, for any other subscription package offered by that particular operator or any other DTH operator.

Billing Issues

On the billing issue, Trai has said that every operator shall issue bills on post-paid basis specifying the charges for such package; the charges for the value added services availed by such subscriber; the charges for equipment; and the nature and rate of applicable taxes.

The operator shall supply to the subscriber, at a reasonable cost, the information relating to the itemised usage charges showing actual usage of DTH service.

Call Centres

The operators shall have to, on or before the date of commencement of these regulations, establish one or more Call Centres for the purposes of registering of requests, answering queries, registering of complaints and redressal of grievances of its subscribers.

Such call centres will have to made accessible to subscribers round the clock during all days in a week.

No call charges are levied upon, or payable by its DTH subscriber, for calls made to the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number" or special number, as the case may be.

Redressal of Complaints

The operators will have to take steps to address all requests or queries or redress all complaints by the subscriber as early as possible. The regulation lays down clearly the time frame of reddressal of specific types of complaints.

In case the operator fails to redress the complaint within the period specified in sub-regulation, it shall give proportionate rebate to the DTH subscriber for the period during which such complaints had not been redressed.

Every complaint relating to billing of DTH service shall have to be redressed within seven days of receiving such complaint from the DTH subscriber and refunds, if any, due to him, shall be made to such subscriber within 30 days of making of such complaint by him.

What is important also is that the operators would have to appoint a Nodal Officer in each state, whose contacts would have to be made known to subscribers and the latter would have the right to complain to him either in writing or through phone or Internet.

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Reliance Entertainment enters home video market

2007-08-30T18:08:00.000+05:30

Reliance Entertainment Pvt Ltd plans to open home video retail stores starting next month, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The firm, part of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group which runs Adlabs Films Ltd, plans to invest $100 million in home video retail over five years, Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment, said launching its BigFlicks.com web site.

The site would allow downloads and free streaming, he said. "The idea is to start engaging with the customers then we can move the customer who is coming to the shop to home delivery model," Sawhney said. The retail format would move customers gradually to broadband as India's broadbrand presence increases, he added.

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Bajaj Auto plans bike that runs 109 km a litre

2007-08-30T18:04:00.000+05:30

Bajaj Auto is planning to launch a fuel-efficient 125 cc bike that offers 109 km a litre.

This bike, called Exceed, is slated to be launched in mid-September, according to Mr Vimal Sumbly, National Sales Manager.

Speaking to newspersons, he said that the company is launching a new-generation engine ahead of the rollout of bikes to educate people about the advantages of new technology that combines the features of fuel efficiency and performance.

Data from the last 8-10 months show that sales of 100 cc bikes ahs gone down to 61 per cent (73 per cent); this has a direct correlation with 21-31 per cent growth during the same period in 125 cc bikes, he said.

“The 100 cc bike segment is estimated at about 1,80,000 bikes and we expect to step up sales in the 125 cc segment.”

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CNN.com, Google tie up for AdSense service

2007-08-30T18:00:00.000+05:30

CNN.com and Google have entered into an agreement designed to enlist Google's AdSense advertising program on the former's website.

Through this collaboration, the AdSense service places contextually relevant ads alongside CNN.com content, allowing both small and large advertisers to target CNN.com specifically and connect with high quality content and traffic.

Under the terms of the deal, Google will serve as the exclusive provider of auction-based text advertisements throughout CNN.com.

CNN.com SVP and GM David Payne remarked, ''At CNN.com, our mission is laser-focused on providing up-to-the-minute news and information to our users. Our new relationship with Google will deliver relevant ads to our users, enhancing their overall experience on CNN.com. We look forward to a successful partnership.''

Google offers publishers a simple way to monetize their content by connecting them with hundreds of thousands of advertisers. With a variety of ad formats including text, image and video, AdSense gives advertisers the ability to communicate their messages in compelling ways and allows publishers to customize the look and feel of their sites to give consumers the best possible online experience.

Google strategic partnership director Marc Leibowitz added, ''CNN.com is an important and respected news source, and we are pleased to enhance the reader experience through the targeted placement of relevant ads. By connecting CNN.com to our valuable base of advertisers, our AdSense program provides an effective and efficient way to monetize quality online content, ultimately benefiting readers, advertisers, and CNN.com.''
AdSense has a number of targeting options so publishers can maximize their revenue potential and advertisers can effectively meet their campaign goals no matter what their budget. Site targeting, a feature of AdSense available to all program participants, helps publishers earn even more revenue by connecting them with new advertisers who are willing to bid a higher cost-per-thousand impressions for space on their site.

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ICC announces partners for Twenty20 WC in South Africa

2007-08-30T16:47:00.000+05:30

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced partners for its inaugural ICC World Twenty20 tournament, set to take place in South Africa next month.

It has announced that telecom firm Reliance, real estate company Emaar MGF, handset manufacturer Nokia and soft drinks and snacks firm Pepsi are global partners.

Yahoo! is the official website and portal for the event.

Four South Africa-based local sponsors were also announced: Standard Bank of South Africa – financial services, South Africa Tourism, Southern Sun Hotels and Imperial Car Rental.

"In return for their commitment, I believe our sponsors will receive extensive value thanks to ESPN Star Sports' extensive rights agreements which will ensure coverage in more than 110 countries," said ICC CEO Malcolm Speed.

Further details of sponsor activations before and during the tournament will be announced in due course.

The trophy for the tournament made of 12 kg of silver-rhodium was also unveiled at the event.

The tournament begins with hosts South Africa playing the West Indies at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 11 September and culminates with the final at the same venue on 24 September.

The tournament is the first of 18 ICC events over the organisation’s new commercial period of 2007 – 2015. The period includes two ICC Cricket World Cup tournaments, in the Asian sub-continent (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) in 2011 and Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) four years later.
The International Cricket Council also today indicated it would not recognize the Indian Cricket League, though it said any sponsor was free to hold cricketing events within the country.

Speed said recognition to any new organization was only possible after consulting the existing member in that country, in this case the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).

Speed said he had forecast two years ago that many sponsors would come forward to promote cricket in every country, and so he was not surprised that this was happening.

But he said that the Indian Cricket League promoted by Subhash Chandra had not yet applied to seek recognition of the ICC for hosting a domestic Twenty 20 series. However, if it did so, the ICC would first refer the matter to the BCCI.

Other criteria applied by the ICC for granting recognition included verifying who were playing in the game, whether the venue was safe from the security point of view, and whether the interest of the sponsor was charitable or developmental.

He said there was no reason to stop ICL from sponsoring a series within the country, but ICC would only work with BCCI. And he added that the ICC would not recognize a body which was only using retired players.

Meanwhile, Speed said the ICC had applied to the International Olympics Association for membership. Answering a query, he said that whenever approved, the Twenty 20 series would be ideal for the Olympics games since they took less time than the one-dayers.

"The aim was to keep cricket alive. If test matches proved too long, the one-dayers brought in the money. The Twenty 20 will bring a range of new audiences," Speed added.

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Tata Indicom launches Samsung Flo

2007-08-30T01:14:00.000+05:30

Tata Teleservices Ltd, a CDMA telecom service provider, on Tuesday announced the launch of Samsung Flo, a slim slider phone with touch sensitive keypad. Priced at Rs 7999, the product carries a one-year warranty from the date of activation.

The phone has 1.3 megapixel digital camera, coupled with video recording and streaming facilities.

According to Tata Teleservices, Samsung Flo will be made available across the country through the retail outlets of the company.

Said Abhijit Pal, the chief operating officer of the Kolkata circle, "The Samsung Flo is the latest entrant into the CDMA handset market and it has been introduced to suit the changing lifestyle of mobile users

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Times Now available on Watchindia.tv

2007-08-30T00:53:00.000+05:30

Times Now has entered into an agreement with Watchindia.tv by which the English news channel is available online in the internet platform. This is the first time that Times Now is available outside India.

Times Now telecasts real time on Watchindia.tv with streaming bit rates of 400Kbps and 800kbps.

Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla said, "As the Indian expatriate population continues to grow in the U.S. and globally, we need to find new medium to report the news to a wide audience. WatchIndia is the perfect outlet to deliver the news to our dispersing culture. It allows viewers to keep up with Indian news, politics and culture at home."

WatchIndia spokesperson Tripti Singh, "As the largest news outlet in India, Times Now is the perfect partner for WatchIndia. The Indian diaspora in the U.S. only now can access news with Indian commentary getting an insider's point of view therefore feeling a bit more connected with life in Inda."

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'Heyy Babyy' grosses Rs 410 million worldwide

2007-08-29T23:19:00.000+05:30

The success run of comedies at the box office continues. After hits like David Dhawan's Partner and Rajat Kapoor's Bheja Fry, now Sajid Khan's comedy Heyy Babyy is quickly climbing the charts.
Eros says Heyy Babyy has grossed over Rs 410 million in its opening weekend.
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The film which is part of the output deal signed by Eros International and Sajid Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, released on 24 August and has touched UK's top 10 in the same period, the release adds.
Heyy Babyy which stars actors Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan and Ritesh Deshmukh and Vidya Balan, is a comedy based on the lives of three men sworn to bachelorhood and the events which follow when an infant mysteriously lands at their doorstep. Actor Shah Rukh Khan also makes a special appearance in the film.
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Eros International India president Sunil Lulla says, "Audience reactions world-wide to Heyy Babyy have been extremely encouraging. With Sajid Khan's direction and talent like Akshay, Fardeen, Ritesh and Vidya, the film was bound to be a stupendous hit."
Heyy Babyy joins the league of big grossers this year which includes films like Partner, Guru, Chak De India, Bheja Fry and Namastey London.

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