MAM
Sharp ties up with NBC Universal for AQUOS
MUMBAI: Sharp Electronics, the U.S. subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, has entered into a five-year partnership with NBC Universal that will make the Sharp AQUOS the official high-definition television of the NBC Experience Store.
More than 150 Sharp AQUOS LC-TVs have been installed throughout the store and selected areas of the NBC Studio Tour, providing a high-definition (HD) upgrade to the popular visitor destination. Sharp’s stunning 65-inch AQUOS, the world’s largest available LCD, will serve as the centerpiece, displayed in a dedicated Sharp window on 49th Street and in the main Rockefeller Plaza entrance, states an official release.
“NBC is a pioneer in bringing HD content to broadcast, and Sharp is a pioneer in bringing high-definition LCD TVs into consumers’ homes,” Sharp Electronics Corporation senior director of retail & consumer marketing Judah Zeigler. “This collaboration will bring the excitement of HDTV to even more consumers, and allow them to see firsthand the amazing clarity of HD content as well as the superior picture quality of the AQUOS LCD TV.”
“We’re excited to team up with Sharp to make the NBC Experience Store truly state-of-the-art with high-definition AQUOS televisions,” NBC Universal VP Retail Operations & Consumer Marketing Judith Dutch said. “This upgrade provides added value to customers in the store, enabling them to watch our HD content up close, and to interact with it while on the NBC Studio Tour.”
The partnership is part of the second phase of Sharp’s “More to See” brand campaign, which focuses on expanding the brand’s recognition to a wider and influential audience. Many of the AQUOS sets displayed in the NBC Experience will show content from the high-profile campaign, including the acclaimed broadcast commercial.
The partnership extends beyond the NBC retail store, placing AQUOS units in the windows outside the “TODAY” studios that face Rockefeller Center as well as throughout the famed Studio 8H, where “Saturday Night Live” is produced in HD, and selected areas of the NBC Studio Tour, the release adds. AQUOS sets inside the Experience Store will also play a variety of NBC Universal’s HD programming. NBC is a pioneer in the high-definition revolution.
The AQUOS collection offers consumers the widest selection of screen sizes and stylish designs of LCD TVs available today. All products in the AQUOS line feature Sharp’s Emmy(R) award-winning LCD technology, offer a long-life backlight (60,000 hours), 170-degree viewing angles, multiple video signal inputs, one or more built-in cable TV tuners, remote control, V-Chip and high brightness for more vibrant colors in darker environments. AQUOS LC-TVs are currently available in 13- to 65-inch screen sizes, in traditional 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 aspect ratios.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
