English Entertainment
Zee English to air 10th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards live
MUMBAI: It is that time of the year again. The channels are all geared to flash their share of the awards ceremony.
As for Zee English, the channel is flaunting 10th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards. The channel will telecast the ceremony held at Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Centre’s Silver Screen Theatre on Monday 23 February 2004, 8:30 am, live and exclusive.
Zee’s English entertainment channel has announced that besides the live telecast on Monday 23 February 2004 8:30 am, the channel will re-run the ceremony at 8pm.
According to a company release the People magazine and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) will host the Screen Actors Guild post- awards Gala benefiting the Screen Actors Guild Foundation for the eight consecutive year.
Says Zee English business head Abhijeet Saxena, “It is and honour to hold such prestigious awards on Zee English. It has always been our endeavor to showcase the best shows on our channel. Keeping the trend this is another step in the same direction. The highlight of these awards is that the most of the programmes that have received the nomination are currently showcased on Zee English.”
Screen Actors Guild president Melissa Gilbert, Actors Andie Macdowell and Mark Harmon, announced the nominee for the outstanding performance in 2003, in five films and eight primetime television categories in the award ceremony, says the release.
Unlike any other awardss, the screen Actors Guild Awards are selected purely by actor’s peers. The two randomly selected panels, totally 4,200 SAG members from across the United State, chose this year’s nominees, says the release.
Besides bagging the exclusive rights, the channel is kicked about the fact that couple of television show category aired on Zee English being nominated for 10th Annual Screen Guild Awards.
The list includes
Outstanding Performance by Male Actor in Drama Series:
(Character- Show- Actor)
Peter Krause- Six Feet Under- Nate Fisher
Martin Sheen- The West Wing- Pre Josiah Bartlet
Outstanding Performance by a female actor in Drama Series
Stockard Channing- The West Wing -Dr Abigail Bartlet
Frances Connoy- Six Feet Under – Ruth Fisher
Allison Janney- The West Wing- CJ Cregg
Outstanding performance by a Male actor in a Comedy Series
Sean Hayes- Will and Grace- Jack McFarland
Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series
Lisa Kudrow – Friends – Phoebe Buffay
Debra Messing- Will and Grace- Grace Adler
Megan Mullally- Will and Grace- Karen Walker
Complete list of nominations:
PRIMETIME TELEVISION
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries:
(Actor- Telefilm- character-Production company)
Justin Kirk – Angels in America – Prior Walter – HBO
Paul Newman – Our Town- Stage Manager – Showtime
Al Pacino -Angels in America – Roy Cohn – HBO
Forest Whitaker – Deacons for defence – Marcus – Showtime
Jeffrey Wright – Angels in America – Belize – HBO
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Anne Bancroft- Tennessee William’s The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone – Contessa – Showtime
Helen Mirren- Tennessee William’s The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone – Karen Stone – Showtime
Mary-Louise Parker-Angels in America – Harper Pitt – HBO
Meryl Streep- Angels in America – Hannah Pitt – HBO
Emma Thompson- Angels in America – The Angel – HBO
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Peter Krause – Six Feet Under – Nate Fisher – HBO
Anthony LaPaglia- Without a trace – Jack Malone – CBS
Martin Sheen- The West Wing – Pres. Josiah Bartlet – NBC
Kiefer Sutherland- 24 – Jack Bauer – FOX
Treat Williams- Everwood – Dr Andrew Brown – The WB
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Stockard Channing – The West Wing – Dr Abigail Bartlet – NBC
Frances Conroy – Six Feet Under – Ruth Fisher – HBO
Tyne Daly- Judging Amy- – Maxine Gray – CBS
Jennifer Garner- Alias – Sydney Bristow – ABC
Mariska Hargitay- Law & Order: SVU – Det. Olivia Benson – NBC
Allison Janney- The West Wing – C.J. Cregg – NBC
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Peter Boyle- Everybody Loves Raymond – Frank Barone – CBS
Brad Garrett-Everybody Loves Raymond – Robert Barone – CBS
Sean Hayes- Will & Grace – Jack McFarland – NBC
Ray Romano- Everybody Loves Raymond – Raymond Barone – CBS
Tony Shalhoub- Monk – Adrian Monk – USA
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Patricia Heaton- Everybody Loves Raymond – Debra Barone – CBS
Lisa Kudrow- Friends – Phoebe Buffay – NBC
Debra Messing- Will & Grace – Grace Adler – NBC
Megan Mullally- Will & Grace – Karen Walker – NBC
Doris Roberts- Everybody Loves Raymond – Marie Barone – CBS
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – CBS
Law & Order – NBC
Six Feet Under- HBO
The West Wing – NBC
Without a trace – CBS
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Everybody loves Raymond- – CBS
Fraiser – NBC
Friends – NBC
Sex and the city – HBO
Will & Grace – NBC
Screen Actors Guild Awards 40th Annual Life Achievement Award
Karl Malden
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
