Media/Entertainment Industry

[robin_a_p]

DreamWorks Animation has tied up with digital video technologies company Technicolor/Thomson to launch a world-class animation studio in Bangalore.


The new studio in Bangalore would work with the other global sites in San Francisco and California on animated feature films in future, said DreamWorks executive producer, Joe Aguilar to the media. "India will become a third site for us. The studio here could work on movies in the future, but that will depend on when we will have the skill sets ready," Aguilar said.


DreamWorks is known for producing blockbuster animation movies such as "Shrek," "Madagascar," "Over the hedge" and "The Bee Movie".

Source

[phaedrus]

wow thats fantastic news!
there were talks about the same happening a couple of years back and its nice to see some movement in this regard.

[phaedrus]

Paprikaas launches recruitment campaign for dedicated DreamWorks unit

Technicolor/Thomson has announced that they have formed a strategic alliance with DreamWorks Animation to set-up a dedicated studio at Paprikaas in Bangalore. Thomson, recently invested in Paprikaas, through their Technicolor business and now with the assistance of DreamWorks Animation, is committed to building on the potential of the existing creative and technical talent base in India to develop a world-class animation studio. DreamWorks will help in building the technology & infrastructure, recruitment, training and on-site creative supervision. Paprikaas will recruit over 300 people in the next 12- 18 months and a part of which will be dedicated for the DreamWorks projects and the rest will be inducted into Paprikaas, taking the total headcount to over five hundred.

[ajay_ijn]

India's Zee Nets to air in China
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...89c0038398c106
NEW DELHI -- Mumbai-based Indian broadcasting group Zee Networks has been granted access to the Chinese market, Indian media reported late Tuesday from Beijing. Similar permission was given to China Central Television's English channel, CCTV International (CCTV-9), by the Indian government more than a week ago, Nath said.

At that time, Zee announced a two-year alliance with CCTV that entailed CCTV licensing Zee Networks the use of news and other programs from CCTV-9 and allowing Zee to transmit its services on its network. In addition, Zee and CCTV networks also planned to hold a China TV Week in India and an India TV Week in China, with TV hosts from both countries co-presenting daily half-hour specials.

[luvBlore]

By Indiantelevision.com Team
(17 January 2008 10:00 pm)

BANGALORE: The Innovative Group, a pioneer in multiplex business in Karnataka, today unveiled the first phase of India’s first multi-million rupee fully integrated entertainment complex - Innovative Film City (IFC). The complex is spread over 54 acres of land. The first phase has cost Innovative a shade less than Rs 1 billion. The overall project would entail investments of about Rs 5 billion.

IFC chairman and MD Sarvana Prasad says, “Our vision when we started the work at IFC was to create a state-of-the-art studio for pan-India moviemakers and also provide a wholesome world-class family entertainment destination for the people at an affordable cost. The vision is finally taking shape and most of the projects in the first phase are almost completed, others are on the verge of completion.”

The first phase will be thrown open to the public in April this year, once the Main (or Retail) Street, a 90,000-square foot convention centre, Mirror Maze, Haunted House, Dinosaur World, Cartoon City, Aqua Kingdom, Velocity (go-carting), Mini Golf, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Louis Tussaud’s Wax Works, Funplex, The Grub Hub, Miniature City, an Amphitheatre, a 4-D theatre are completed. All these will provide readymade, real and live settings for films that had to be shot abroad. IFC will be offered for film shoots by June 2008.

On the anvil are 21 screen multiplex (to be completed by December 2008), signature residences, a star hotel, service apartments, and 11 of the 21 screens for commercial cinema of all languages. The other ten screens will feature film festivals from across the world. Innovative has a three-year contract with Gary Goddard Entertainment for providing the films. Admission to the film festival is free, but on invitation only.

For the Main Street, which has around 300,000 square feet on both sides, IFC has brands such as Pantaloons, Nike, Café Coffee Day, etc. signing up for retail space. For the convention centre, IFC has signed on Orange County which has guaranteed at least 24 events per year. Auto major Audi has also signed on – Audi will display its products, latest models and launch all its new models for India at IFC.

For hospitality, IFC announced a joint venture with ETA Ascon Star Group (ETA) – one of the largest property development companies in the world. ETA plans to bring in one of its own brands for a star hotel – probably Hallmark Hotels if their tie-up with the Taj group does not happen. ETA also plans service apartments, signature villas and celebrity mansions – a replica of Kannada film industry doyen late Raj Kumar’s is one such mansion that will find a place here, with ETA in talks with prominent Bollywood and Tollywood film actors for other mansions.

IFC will be promoted by the government of Karnataka as a tourist destination. TVCs, print campaigns are also on the cards. It has tied with a tour and travel company to bring people in. Initially, Prasad is looking at an average of 10,000 to 12,000 visitors daily and plans to entertain about 6 million within a year

[ajay_ijn]

NBC Universal to acquire 26 pct stake in India's NDTV Networks for 150 mln usd
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...3-22422406.htm
MUMBAI, Jan. 22, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- NBC Universal (NYSE:GE) (NBCU) will take a 26 pct stake in India's NDTV Networks for 150 mln usd, NDTV Ltd told Thomson Financial News.

NDTV Networks is the parent of NDTV Ltd's entertainment and lifestyle channels, digital media and other interests, including media products and services.

NBCU also has an option to increase its stake and become a 50 pct partner with NDTV in the joint venture company through which NBCU is investing, the pair said in a joint release which did not provide financial details.

The option would be exercisable at fair market value in two years' time, they added.

NBCU president and chief executive Jeff Zucker said: 'The Indian TV market is growing at 16 pct annually, which provides huge opportunities now and into the future.'
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[phaedrus]

Watch French films at a theatre near you

Rendezvous with French Cinema, a first-of-its-kind commercial foreign film festival, is being launched this week. It is aimed at moviegoers keen on seeing non-Hollywood fare. All the films featured here have already been pre-sold to Indian distributors who would be releasing them in theatres, perhaps a first for any foreign film festival.
Oscar-winning Claude Lelouch’s Crossed Tracks, Monica Belucci-starrer The Stone Council and animation feature Azur & Asmar are among the current crop of French films acquired by various distribution houses for release in India.
The distributors are hoping to draw 5-10% of the cine audience that watches Hollywood films. “We see a huge potential for growth of world cinema in India owing to an increasingly homogeneous exposure. Right now, around 5% of the total film audience in India goes for Hollywood films. Even if one can convert 10% of that mass to a world cinema audience, it will become a lucrative segment,’’ says Sunil Doshi whose Alliance Media Entertainment has picked up three of the films being shown in the festival—Crossed Tracks, Azur & Asma, and Caramel.
Film buffs in India have been exposed to the works of French masters like Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut for many years now, but these films have usually been accessible only due to government-organised festivals and film-appreciation societies. This is the first time, French films will get a commercial release on such a scale.
Acquisition prices have not been high and distributors feel they can earn their revenue through multiple channels—theatrical, satellite and home video. “One of the reasons that European or other international films have not been able to create a market here is because of the complete absence of distribution and marketing. There is a definite segment, although niche, which would see these films,’’ adds Doshi.
According to him, they have to optimise the opportunities. “For instance, Azur & Asmar is a lovable animated tale from the Arabian Nights. We will be dubbing it in multiple Indian languages because it has a wider appeal and will attract family audiences’’.
Apart from Alliance, other distribution houses like Shemaroo and Palador have also acquired some of the French films. “It’s a very healthy sign that Indian distributors will be releasing these films theatrically. As it is our first festival, it’s a very encouraging sign. India is a huge cinema market and it’s natural that it will look beyond Hollywood at some point of time. These are technically brilliant films, made and enacted by some great names in world cinema. It would be heartening to see them reach out to a larger audience,’’ says Mohamed Bendjebbour, audiovisual attache and head of the French Film & TV Office French Embassy in India.

source timesofindia epaper

[india]

Disney increases stake in India’s UTV

The Walt Disney Company will pay Rs8.1bn ($204m) to increase its stake in India’s UTV Software Communications in one of the biggest investments yet by Hollywood in South Asia’s entertainment sector.

The US media company will increase its holding in UTV from 13.7 per cent to 32.1 per cent as part of plans to deepen co-operation with its Indian partner.

The pair are already in early discussions to make what would be Disney’s first live-action, Hindi-language feature film if the plans are realised.

Vivek Couto, executive director at research firm Media Partners Asia, said: “This is more evidence that, on the media front in Asia, India is it. There’s tonnes of investment coming in”.

Founded by Indian media entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, UTV’s businesses range from movie-making to broadcasting and gaming.

The group is known overseas for last year’s box-office hit The Namesake. It recently released a lavish Mughal epic for the domestic market, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the beauty queen-turned-Bollywood megastar.

Disney’s increased commitment to UTV follows a series of similar deals being agreed in India, with NBC Universal buying a 26 per cent stake in the entertainment division of New Delhi Television for $150m and Viacom partnering with TV18, which runs India’s version of CNBC.

Under Indian stock market rules, Walt Disney will be required to launch an open offer for an additional 20 per cent of UTV.

But Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International, said the US group had agreed not to exercise its voting rights beyond those applicable to the 32.1 per cent stake.

Walt Disney will also invest an additional Rs1.2bn for a 15 per cent stake in UTV’s broadcasting unit, UTV Global Broadcasting. Under his part of the deal, Mr Screwvala will invest a total of Rs3.9bn through a warrant issue to consolidate his stake in UTV at 32.1 per cent.

The deal, which will result in total new investment in UTV of about Rs13.1bn, will give Mr Screwvala more funds to roll out a suite of new cable channels.

UTV is among India’s most ambitious film production houses, with plans to release 20 movies this year at a production cost of $120m.

Mr Bird said Disney remained committed to its own operations in India, which include Hungama, a children’s station it bought from UTV and a stake in ESPN.

But he said UTV would enable it to tap into another source of growth in India.

Mr Screwvala said the partners were already exploring new areas of co-operation, although no details were yet available.

UTV Software shares closed 4 per cent lower at Rs828.25 on Monday, after earlier rising 10 per cent.

[phaedrus]

Anil Ambani group to launch 20 TV channels

The Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Group is set to launch 20 TV channels in the country as part of its plans to expand the reach in the fast-growing broadcast entertainment business, top company officials said.

The group, which has Reliance Entertainment as a subsidiary, is foraying into the broadcast business through two companies Reliance Big TV Entertainment and Reliance Big TV News, the officials added. "We are at the planning stage. So we are not revealing the details of the media project right now. At the appropriate time - very shortly perhaps - we will make a formal announcement," a spokesperson for the group told IANS.

"The first of these channels will go on air probably in July-August this year. We have already applied for approval of these channels from the information and broadcasting ministry," the spokesperson added. Two separate companies are being floated since the government imposes restrictions on foreign direct investment in the news media sector and the group is proposing two general news and two business news channels in Hindi and English.

The group wants to remain open to the idea of roping in an international player in the entertainment TV segment, officials explained. Although the other 16 channels have not yet been finalised, the idea is for two TV channels catering to Hindi entertainment and regional movies. Besides, plans also include channels for children and on lifestyle and leisure.

The Rs.130-billion Reliance Entertainment Ltd has interests in the production, distribution and exhibition of films, besides foraying into FM radio, Internet and television content. The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, through its subsidiaries, also has equity stakes in a number of media and entertainment companies. The group also markets music and movies under the labels of Big Music and Big Flicks.

source economictimes.com

[phaedrus]

PNC, DQ Entertainment in animation pact

Entertainment company Pritish Nandy Communication (PNC) is betting high on animation. The company, which recently bagged the official rights to remake Sholay (animation), has entered into a joint venture agreement with animation and gaming company DQ Entertainment. Under the agreement, both the companies would invest an estimated Rs 200 crore to make animation movies.

PNC chairman Pritish Nandy said: “We have decided to join hands with DQ Entertainment for animation. We expect to make six projects in the next 3-4 years.”

This is the company’s second investment in the animation space. Earlier, it had committed Rs 100 crore investment and tied up with Motion Pixel to develop several projects.

Talking about prospective projects, Mr Nandy said animation movies would not only look at developing Indian mythology characters but would also look at modern, new age animation movies.

The companies would also look at remaking Bollywood classics in the animation format. PNC would also convert these animation movies into comic books. The companies are also looking at making live action movies.

“I think animation has a huge potential in India. Our venture with Motion Pixel has already begun to tap the segment,” Mr Nandy added.

source economictimes.com

[Euromast]

ADAG to launch 20 TV channels

Mumbai, March 21: The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is set to launch 20 TV channels in the country as part of its plans to expand the reach in the fast-growing broadcast entertainment business, top company officials said.

The group, which has Reliance Entertainment as a subsidiary, is foraying into the broadcast business through two companies Reliance Big TV Entertainment and Reliance Big TV News, the officials added.

'We are at the planning stage. So we are not revealing the details of the media project right now. At the appropriate time - very shortly perhaps - we will make a formal announcement,' a spokesperson for the group said.

'The first of these channels will go on air probably in July-August this year. We have already applied for approval of these channels from the information and broadcasting ministry,' the spokesperson added.

Two separate companies are being floated since the government imposes restrictions on foreign direct investment in the news media sector and the group is proposing two general news and two business news channels in Hindi and English.

The group wants to remain open to the idea of roping in an international player in the entertainment TV segment, officials explained.

Although the other 16 channels have not yet been finalised, the idea is for two TV channels catering to Hindi entertainment and regional movies. Besides, plans also include channels for children and on lifestyle and leisure.

The Rs130-billion Reliance Entertainment Ltd has interests in the production, distribution and exhibition of films, besides foraying into FM radio, Internet and television content.

[kronik]

sweet, three of them will be the billionth news, Hindi movies, and Crappywood music channels.

[phaedrus]

Indian entertainment industry to grow over 16 per cent a year

Indian entertainment and media (E&M) industry is poised to grow at an annual rate of 16.7 per cent by 2011, faster than its counterparts in Brazil, Russia and China, according to a report.

In the other BRIC (Brazil, Russia, China, India) countries, the E&M industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 13 per cent in China, 8.3 per cent in Russia and 7.7 per cent in Brazil, said the report by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (FICCI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) released here Tuesday at Ficci-Frames 2008.

source economictimes.com

[phaedrus]

Reliance Entertainment's Big cinemas ready to open in US

Reliance Entertainment Pvt Ltd (REPL) is all set to start its cinema chain in the US under the brand name Big from next month. More than 200 theatres will screen Hindi as well as regional films from India.

Confirming the schedule, a company official said: "We are still renovating and refitting the cinemas we have acquired in some cities there. A formal announcement about their opening will be made later."

Over the last one year, Reliance Entertainment has acquired over 200 cinema halls in 28 North American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and Washington.

Taken on a long-term lease, these theatres will bear the company's entertainment brand name Big, and not Adlabs, as REPL's cinemas in India are called.

It is learnt that REPL has also bought over an American theatre management firm to oversee the operations of its Big cinema chain.

source economictimes.com

[phaedrus]

seems like there's another news channel in the works kronik!

UTV founders tie up with Disney-ABC for news content

The founder group of UTV Software Communictions has tied up with a unit of Walt Disney Co, to source ABC's news programming for its business news channel in India, it said on Wednesday.

UTVi, the English-language channel to be launched this month, ties up with Disney-ABC International Television (Asia-Pacific), the international TV distribution arm of Walt Disney Co, offering the former a global perspective and international programming.

UTV Software may take 20 percent stake in UTVi, Ronnie Screwvala, chief executive officer of UTV Software, said. UTVi will deliver content through television, web and mobile.

The approvals could come in 3-6 months, he added. Unilazer Ltd is the holding company of the promotor group. "Collaborating with UTVi is part of a global strategy for us. We want to distribute our news through new platforms, new technology...and above all to grow our audiences internationally. We've been looking at India for a while," Marcus Wilford, Vice President for International Digital, ABC News Intercontinental Inc. said.

source economictimes.com

[phaedrus]

Anil Ambani group acquires DTS Inc.'s Digital Images Business

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Big Entertainment has acquired the digital images business of US-based DTS Inc for an undisclosed amount.

The American firm's business DTS Digital Images (DDI), also known as Lowry Digital Images, offers picture quality improvement services to movies, television and video content in Hollywood, Reliance Big Entertainment said in a statement on Wednesday.

Further, the acquisition is the first by Reliance Big Entertainment overseas in the digital services space, it added.

Meanwhile, DDI is a leading firm in the field of digital restoration and enhancement of moving pictures and makes use of proprietary tools and algorithms.

Also, DDI works with Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, MGM and 20th Century Fox, among others.

source timesofindia.com

[phaedrus]

Why Reliance is buying US cinemas

For a company that thrives on making news, Reliance Entertainment's latest move has been particularly low-key. Over the past three months the Indian company, part of the Reliance ADA group, owned by Anil Ambani, has been quietly buying up movie theaters in the US. The $29 billion-in-assets conglomerate-with interests in power, telecom, and financial services, as well as music, broadcasting, social networking, and gaming web sites-has acquired more than 200 cinemas in 28 US cities, including San Jose, Chicago, and Washington.

Reliance says it hopes to reach Bollywood fans in the US through its American movie theaters. "The nature of the US chain provides a significant fillip to Indian film distribution in terms of directly and efficiently reaching a large base of Indian consumers," says Anil Arjun, a senior vice-president at Reliance Entertainment. The group has purchased the theaters from mom-and-pop operators and will give them better acoustics and air conditioning. Reliance will not divulge the cost of its investment or the names of the sellers. The plan is to target areas with the densest populations of the Indian diaspora in the US, bringing them Bollywood movies as well as regional Indian films in languages like Tamil and Telegu and other Asian languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Reliance plans to rechristen the theaters as "Big Cinemas."

source economictimes.com

[phaedrus]

Mythology makes a strong comeback in entertainment

Hanuman returns yet again—this time, in a video game. Meanwhile, Star TV and INX Network are working on the Mahabharat. Next month, actors from six countries will gather in Madhya Pradesh to perform the Ramayan in their own distinctive styles.
Mythology has not only endured, it is being given new life and new forms in India. An entire generation remembers the deserted roads of Sunday mornings in the late 1980s, when the conch blew on Doordarshan, back then the sole, state-run television channel, and the Mahabharat unfolded, suspending normal life.
Today, religious entertainment has evolved into an industry of its own. In the process, traditional stories are being retold from different perspectives, or even being modernized.
And so, six-year-olds will be able to play the role of Hanuman on Sony’s portable Playstation and hurry to bring life-saving drugs from the Himalayas to revive Ram’s unconscious brother Lakshman during the battle with the demon king, Ravana.
But, despite the heroics and weapons of the Ramayan, the push for religious entertainment is partly driven by parents in search of cleaner programming.
Hetal Bhuva, business development director of Aurona Technologies, a subsidiary of Pyramid Saimira Group, says the game is the first venture of the London-based gaming company in India. It made a conscious decision to come up with a non-violent adventure game that the audience can connect with, he said.
“Hanuman was a natural choice. He is already a super-hero that everyone knows. He flies around, he is powerful, and in the game, as Hanuman, the player will constantly be making choices between good and evil. This game will also teach values to children and teenagers,” Bhuva said.
Similar philosophies targeting the entire family are behind the serials and remakes of the Ramayan and the Mahabharat.
Two months ago, New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) launched its entertainment channel, NDTV Imagine, with a remake of the Ramayan on prime time; the channel initially launched for free and converted into a pay channel earlier last week. Billed to be one of the most expensive television serials in India, although officials refuse to disclose the amount, it has quickly become the channel’s marquee show.
The show opened with a fi

source livemint.com

[Euromast]

FM, TV news channels hail Trai's move on FDI

Television news broadcasters and FM radio channels have welcomed recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to allow foreign investments up to 49% in the two sectors, saying the move will help in expansion

The regulator today recommended raising the foreign investment limit in news channels and FM radio to 49 per cent. Trai has, however, maintained status quo in case of uplinking of non-news TV channels and downlinking of TV channels at 100 per cent foreign investment limit.


The current limit of foreign investment is 20 per cent in FM radio services, while in the uplinking of TV news channels it was 26 per cen

[phaedrus]

Finally, a Hollywood movie made in India

The sleepy village scene hints at Europe, circa 16th century. Complete with city hall and village green, the quaint setting could be anywhere from the Swiss Alps to the English countryside.
In reality, it is a film set at ND Studio, on a sprawling, dusty expanse of land just outside Karjat, north of Mumbai.
The placid backdrop —sought-after for decades by Indian film industry location scouts scouring other lands to make the perfect picture—has finally come full circle to Bollywood, albeit through artificial construction. And in a marriage made possible in the new global order of entertainment and economics, Hollywood is interested.
The studio, which also offers access to lakes, mountains and sets resembling Singapore, Mumbai and many European locations, is at the vanguard of a new phenomenon: the outsourcing of film production.
US-based movie studio 20th Century Fox has signed a 10-year deal to hire four floors at Big ND Studio, as it is known following last year’s acquisition of a 50% stake by Reliance Entertainment. Walt Disney signed up last year to shoot at the studio for 10 weeks.
It comes on the heels of an approach from Warner Bros. Pictures for floor space at the studio for the filming of Shantaram, directed by Mira Nair.

source livemint.com