English Entertainment
India’s ITC Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates reveals ‘Trinity – Truffles Extraordinaire’
MUMBAI: : Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates, the home-grown luxury chocolate brand from ITC Ltd, acclaimed for creating unparalled chocolate experiences in the country has taken the Indian luxury chocolate market to newer and greater heights. Fabelle has revealed its most expensive chocolate listed under GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS with the launch of its limited edition Fabelle Trinity – Truffles Extraordinaire.
The chocolate was unveiled at a high octane event in ITC Grand Central Mumbai, in the presence of the Legendary, Michelin Star Chef Philippe Conticini – who is credited for numerous innovations over the last three decades and is the co-curator of Fabelle’s Trinity – Truffles Extraordinaire. This range brings alive the cycle of life represented by the Creator, Nurturer and Destroyer in a box of unique handcrafted truffles, each representing a concept.
The limited edition offering will be encased in a unique, hand-made wooden box, each containing 15 truffles, each weighing approximately 15 gms. The made-to-order box will be available at an indulgent price of £1093 or ₹1, 00,000 (inclusive of taxes)
The Trinity – Truffles Extraordinaire range that represents the Creator, Nurturer and Destroyer is co-curated by Chef Philippe Conticini and Fabelle’s Master Chocolatiers using some of the rarest ingredients and finest single origin cacaos in the world. Consumers and chocolate connoisseurs in India will experience Fabelle’s signature multi-sensorial and multi- textural experience through this trio of truffles, each of which are an expression of a hero ingredient representing the cycle of life. Like the coconut which symbolizes the beginning in Creator, the rare Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee in Nurturer or the Grand Cru dark chocolate in Destroyer, each master piece unfolds a mystical story for the Indian consumers to experience.
Expressing his delight on setting higher benchmarks for the Indian luxury chocolate market, ITC Limited Chief Operating Officer – Chocolates, Confectionary, Coffee and New Categories – Food Division Anuj Rustagi said “ We at Fabelle are extremely happy for setting new benchmarks not just in the Indian luxury chocolate market but also now in the world with achieving the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS feat. At Fabelle, handcrafting priceless, uplifting and unmatched tasting experiences for chocolate connoisseurs is at the very heart of who we are. Our emphasis has always been on quality and the approach entirely artisanal and Trinity – Truffles Extraordinaire serves as a perfect testament to the same. This master piece is a reflection of best of both the worlds coming together. With Chef Philippe Conticini’s international expertise and Fabelle’s understanding of Indian chocolate consumer preferences and institutional strength, we have been able to deliver a world-class product which we take pride in. After several months of R&D, we have delivered a product, in which India can take pride in and stayed committed in our constant endeavour of being at the forefront of introducing Indian consumers to distinct chocolate experiences.”
Sharing his experience on co-curating Trinity with Fabelle, Michelin Star Chef Philippe Conticini, shared “Being a part of something so experiential, thought provoking and innovative has always been my passion. I am glad to have found a partner in Fabelle to work on a complex and ambitious project in bringing alive the concept of ‘Trinity’ in the form of a Truffle range. It’s heartening to know that with expert Fabelle master chocolatiers, we were able to deliver an unparalleled, first-of-its-kind chocolate product from India, setting a new global benchmark”.
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.
