MUMBAI: Ace cricketer Yuvraj Singh?s battle with cancer is set to hit small screens with Viacom18-owned channel entertainment channel Colors planning to air a three-part series late October.

Colors has partnered Singh?s foundation YouWeCan to broadcast the show Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai, which will also be simulcast on Viacom18?s youth entertainment brand MTV India.

The GEC broadcaster sees the show as part of its corporate social responsibility to raise awareness about the disease among the masses. It has decided to donate the revenue earned through the show to YouWeCan Foundation.

The broadcaster has roped in Birla Sun Life as the title sponsor. The life insurance company, which has Yuvraj as its brand ambassador, feels the series will help them in communicating their core philosophy of avoiding uncertainties in life by taking insurance.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak reasoned that the objective behind Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai is to highlight Yuvraj?s extraordinary fight against cancer to create hope among cancer patients that they too can overcome the disease.

"We are not looking at Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai as a show, we feel that as a responsible broadcaster we can do something for the society by helping in creating awareness about cancer," Nayak said.

"Some of the parts of the series is still being shot, so it will go on-air late October. We haven?t decided on the time slot. Our production team will take a call on that," he added.

The series, which is being directed by Gurmeet Sapal, is still under production. With ?Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai?, Yuvraj narrates his experience with the disease to create wider awareness on occurrence, early detection, and therapy.

The show reveals his story from the first moment of shock on finding out that he has a rare form of cancer to his absolute grit and determination as he emerged as a winner while showcasing his will and determination to make a comeback as a healthy cricketer.

Speaking on this emotional occasion, Yuvraj said, "Through my battle with cancer, I have realised that what?s within us matters more than what lies behind and ahead of us. Cancer is a disease that can eat through lives and I hope that my story inspires the millions affected by it to fight harder and conquer it. I am extremely glad that Colors is supporting my cause and through Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai, allowing my voice to reach millions of households across the country."

Aditya Birla Group CMO-Financial Services Ajay Kakar added, "At Birla Sun Life we are proud to have Yuvraj, not as a mere Brand Ambassador, but as a Philosophy Ambassador, who has chosen to share his fears and tears, as also his hopes and ambitions with the nation. We are proud to partner Colors and the YouWeCan Foundation to bring Yuvraj?s story to mass India so that it can touch many more lives and provide unprecedented inspiration to the nation."

MUMBAI: Eccholine, a dedicated line production company for non-scripted shows, has partnered with Miditech to bring their adventure reality TV show ?Peking Express? to India.

The celebrity version of the show ?Peking Express? features celebrities giving up their privileged lives for a journey that fame cannot buy. The celebs are taken to lesser known parts of the world and paired into teams of two. They then race across an unknown landscape to a remote finish line in order to win big money for their chosen charity.

Eccholine is led by Ludo Poppe, Gert Van Kerckhove and Axel Boer- all with backgrounds at companies like Zodiak, Endemol and Sony Entertainment. With a passion for making creativity work and for driving change in the industry, they have launched their initiative so as to make large scale projects accessible to individual markets, a statement said.

Eccholine MD Axel Boer said, "We have developed Peking Express further in a variety of business models to suit the wide range of needs from our clients. As Peking Express is a high end-format, we need a solid, high end partner to produce the show with for the local market.

Founded in 1995 by the Alva Brothers, Niret and Nikhil, Miditech is a production company and is recognised for television programming across genres. Its client list includes Turner (Pogo/Imagine), News Corp (Star Plus/Star World/Star Gold/Channel V), the Zee Network , BBC, Disney, Doordarshan, Viacom18 (COLORS/MTV), Times Network (Zoom), Multi Screen Media (Sony/SAB/MAX) and Real Global Broadcasting (REAL)/Food First.

MUMBAI: Viacom18 will soon launch Rishtey in UK, a new mass entertainment Hindi entertainment channel that will complement its existing flagship channel Colors.

Rishtey will be launched in UK first by IndiaCast, showcasing content from a spectrum of genres including format shows, fiction, music and news.

The free-to-air (FTA) channel will be available on Sky Digital, it is learnt. Test signals are on and the launch is expected next month.

Rishtey will air re-run shows of Colors and also have original content.

Viacom18 operates a bouquet of channels including MTV, Nickelodeon, Vh1, Colors, Sonic and Comedy Central. It is also engaged in the film business through Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

Says Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats, ?While we have a horizontal presence across television entertainment, with the launch of Rishtey, we now begin the phase of strengthening our presence in each vertical as well.?

Colors CEO Raj Nayak adds, ?With ?Rishtey?, we intend to create a new category within the general entertainment space, and given the rich mine of content within the Viacom18 Group, we?re confident of ?Rishtey? resonating well with both ? viewers as well as advertisers.?

IndiaCast COO Gaurav Gandhi states, ?Rishtey offers a wide range of variety entertainment programming that will engage, entertain and delight the South Asian audiences in the UK. As a free-to-air service, Rishtey perfectly complements our flagship brand Colors, by reaching out to a much wider audience base and giving them a taste of our much loved programming."

MUMBAI: TV18 and Viacom18?s venture, IndiaCast, has launched the international version of MTV India in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. With this launch, MTV India?s international distribution footprint now spans 31 countries.

MTV India will be available on Pehla branded packs across DTH, Cable, IPTV and SMATV in Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan and Mauritiana. MTV India will also be launching on other platforms shortly.

Featuring music and youth reality content from India in Hindi, MTV India will complement Viacom International Media Networks? (VIMN) existing MTV channel, which services the Middle East and North Africa region with Arabic and international music and entertainment content.

This is IndiaCast?s second channel in the region after Hindi GEC COLORS was launched in September 2010. The company?s team in Dubai, which currently distributes and handles advertising sales for COLORS, will be managing the distribution and sales for MTV India as well in the region.

This launch expands the offering for advertisers in the region, allowing them to reach both family and youth audiences.

IndiaCast COO Gaurav Gandhi said, "Indians are passionate about their music and Hindi Music in particular has a huge following both in India and overseas. The launch of MTV India in the Middle East & North Africa region, will give an opportunity for the South Asian and other audiences to connect with the Indian music and reality programming that they love most. MTV India is our second brand in the region and we intend to grow our presence here with more offerings from our extensive news and regional channel portfolio in the near future."

MTV India business head Aditya Swamy said, "MTV India has constantly engaged and entertained young India and now the opportunity to do so with young people in the other countries is very exciting. While we will leverage our cult franchises such as Roadies, Unplugged and Rush in these markets, we will also look at some region specific initiatives which will resonate with the local audience."

MUMBAI: MTV, a youth entertainment channel from Viacom18, in association with Yamaha Motor will soon launching a new show titled ?Yamaha MTV Road to Love?.

The show will bring together two ill fated lovers, separated by distance. The 12-episodic series will feature 11 love stories and a grand finale.

The theme of the program is based around 11 couples, their love stories, their separation and finally an opportunity to meet. Each episode will portray the lovers separated by a distance of 200-500 kms in India.

The launch date of the show is yet to be announced.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Skype will act as modern day cupids in their lives. The program is meant for lovers who due to financial constraints or busy schedules, are unable to meet their loved ones. MTV will identify and select some of these "love-struck" and separated couples and gives them a chance to meet each other.

According to the channel, in the show, the lover rides Yamaha Fazer to meet his loved one in an economical, yet comfortable journey. During the journey, the lover will have to overcome three obstacles which will be rewarded with a night?s stay and gifts for their loved one. Having travelled anywhere between 200 to 400 kms, the lovers will be united for time immemorial.
 

MUMBAI: The weak ad environment caused by the economic slowdown is starting to hit the bottom line of Viacom. The US media conglomerate has reported a fall in its profit and revenues.

While profit fell by seven per cent, revenue decreased 14 per cent to $3.24 billion, driven primarily by the mix of film titles and lower ad revenues. Adjusted operating income was $903 million in the quarter, down nine per cent, reflecting the overall decline in revenues, partially offset by lower expenses.

Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom declined by 12 per cent in the quarter to $512 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations decreased by two per cent to $0.97 per diluted share.

The comparison with 2011 was impacted by the fact that Viacom?s 2011 third quarter included substantial timing benefits from major films and television event programming, as well as digital distribution agreements.

Viacom executive chairman Sumner M. Redstone said, "We continue to develop outstanding creative content on every platform while efficiently executing Viacom?s strategy. We are confident that Viacom?s unrivaled portfolio of powerful brands will continue to grow and evolve over the long term as we entertain and inspire new audiences around the world every day."

Viacom president, CEO Philippe Dauman said, "Despite challenging year-on-year comparisons with last year?s strong third quarter, Viacom remains committed to pursuing its long-term strategy of international expansion, continued programming investment and ongoing focus on operational discipline. Viacom continues to bring cultural powerhouses to fans around the world, and we are aggressively investing in our brands to create new hits, like Workaholics and Legend of Korra, now the most watched kid?s program on cable in the quarter. Paramount also continued to strengthen its platform by aligning its slate to provide upcoming releases with the best possible opportunity to succeed in the global marketplace."

Quarterly revenues of $3.24 billion decreased from $3.77 billion in the prior year. Media Networks revenue declined 5 per cent to $2.27 billion, driven by lower advertising and ancillary revenues.

Domestic advertising revenues decreased 7 per cent, impacted by the timing of event-driven programming compared with the prior year?s quarter. Worldwide advertising revenues decreased 9 per cent in the quarter.

Domestic affiliate revenues decreased 1 per cent, reflecting the significance of digital affiliate revenues in the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of digital distribution arrangements, domestic affiliate revenue growth rate was in the high-single digits. Worldwide affiliate fees increased 1 per cent.

Film revenues were down 29 per cent to $1.01 billion. Worldwide theatrical revenues decreased by 52 per cent in the quarter to $283 million, reflecting the number and mix of the company?s current quarter releases. During the quarter, Paramount released three films,DreamWorks Animation?s ?Madagascar 3: Europe?s Most Wanted?, ?The Dictator? and ?Titanic 3D?. In the comparable period of 2011, Paramount released four films: DreamWorks Animation?s ?Kung Fu Panda 2?, Marvel?s ?Thor?, ?Super 8? and ?Transformers: Dark of the Moon?.

Worldwide home entertainment revenues declined by eight per cent in the quarter, driven by the mix of available titles, and worldwide television license fees decreased by 24 per cent reflecting both the number and mix of titles. Worldwide ancillary revenues increased by 44 per cent to $104 million in the quarter, driven by higher digital revenues.

Adjusted operating income decreased 9 per cent to $903 million in the quarter. Media Networks adjusted operating income declined $99 million, reflecting lower overall revenues, partially offset by a decrease in expenses. Filmed Entertainment adjusted operating income decreased $3 million, reflecting the revenue decline, substantially offset by lower expenses. Corporate expenses decreased $15 million, principally reflecting lower variable compensation costs.

Quarterly adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom decreased $71 million, or 12 per cent, in the quarter ended 30 June, 2012, principally due to the decline in adjusted operating income. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the quarter were $0.97, a decrease of $0.02 from the prior year?s comparable quarter.