News Broadcasting
Chernin visit boosts buzz that News Corp exploring film prodn. in India
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The $ 24 billion News Corporation COO, Peter Chernin, came, saw and will be going back from India more or less satisfied.
On a short visit to India, as part of his Asia tour, Chernin arrived in Mumbai on Thursday to have a first hand look at Stars Indian ops and met up with industry representatives, including joint venture partners, and advertisers.
The News Corp No. 2 is slated to fly out of India tomorrow. He was accompanied on his India visit by Star Group CEO, Michelle Gutherie.
News pan-Asian venture ,Star, is on a strong financial wicket fuelled essentially by revenue growth from India.
According to information available with Indiantelevision.com, the News Corp top honcho, considered to be only next to chairman, Rupert Murdoch, in the company, yesterday exchanged notes with some top Indian film producers too.
Its reported that Chernin met up with top people from Balaji, Stars content partner, yesterday. Star holds 26 per cent stake in the production company that has given the network the bulk of its television hits.
Though Star is tightlipped on such meetings, industry observers indicated that the meeting with film producers is certainly interesting; indicating that News Corp company ,20th Century Fox, might explore getting into movie production in India, either independently or in association with local companies.
20th Century Fox, producers of blockbusters like Independence Day and Titanic, which shuttered its distribution arm in India early this year, had previously never forayed into film production here.
“During the quarter, we launched and heavily promoted a new weekend lineup on Star Plus, including several new and higher costing shows, News Corps chief financial officer, David DeVoe, was quoted by MPA as saying.Ratings from KBC2 have been very strong, giving us the confidence that Star will deliver sizable profit growth for this fiscal year (FY ending June 2006),”he added.
News Corps Q1 FY 2006 (September 2006 quarter) earnings, reported 11 November, has shown 19 per cent Y/Y growth in operating income to $ 909 million, driven by reduced losses at satellite pay TV platform Sky Italia and continued growth from the companys film and cable businesses, including India.News Corporation had total assets as of approximately $ 55 billion and total annual revenues of approximately $ 24 billion 30 June, 2005.
Star Groups turnover for the period grew by 22 per cent Y/Y, driven primarily by advertising revenue at Star Plus and by higher subscription revenues from new channel offerings in India and international distribution of several Star channels, the Hong Kong-based Media Partners Asia has stated in its latest newsletter.
Other joint venture partners of News Corp in India include the Kolkata-based ABP group, controlled by the Sarkar family, and the Tatas, with whom theres a JV for a proposed DTH service in India.
News Corporation is a diversified international media and entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
