English Entertainment
Nimbus floats Nirvana Television
MUMBAI: Nimbus Communications has announced the formation of a new subsidiary, Nirvana Television, which will produce ‘top quality television software that is bold, cutting edge and consumer focussed’.
Nirvana Television will be a one-stop shop for all creative ideas and individual talent, catering specifically to broadcaster-funded programming on cable and satellite channels, according to an official release. Nimbus Television, the existing software producing arm of Nimbus Communications, will continue to cater to advertiser-funded programming.
Nirvana Television will be headed by creative director Ajay Kapoor, who has to his credit shows like Jeeto Chappar Phad Ke, television events like Femina Miss India and awards shows like Filmfare Awards and Star Screen Awards. Some of the other shows conceived by him include Super 7 Muqabla, MTV’s Cricket in Control and Kuch Kehti Hai Yeh Dhun, which is currently on air on Sony.
Says Kapoor, “We want to focus on innovative and radical programming catering to Indian and international audiences. Our focus will be large scale and we intend to work with big name and top class talent, some of whom are already in the process of being signed on.”
Kapoor has been a producer/director on a number of live broadcasts of cricket events which include the Cricket World Cup 1999, Sharjah Cup 2000 and 2001, the Coca Cola Series – Sri Lanka 2001, and the ICC Champions Trophy 2002. In the field of sports, he pioneered the broadcast of Indian Horse Racing and Golf on satellite television, the release says.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
