News Broadcasting
CBS brings third season of ‘Big Brother’ live on Internet
American cable network CBS and RealNetworks have joined forces once again to provide exclusive, 24/7 live video streaming from the Big Brother 3 house.
The webcast, which premieres today can be ordered through the official Big Brother 3 website at http://www.CBS.com and through RealNetworks’ RealOne(TM) SuperPass subscription service. The live webcast, featuring four live camera feeds, will be available only as a subscription service. To view webcasts, consumers will need the RealOne Player, available for download at http://www.real.com. RealNetworks now claims to have more than 700,000 paid monthly subscribers to its premium subscription services.
Big Brother 3 is a reality show on CBS, currently running its third season on the network, in which twelve strangers living together in one house try and vote each other out until only one remains and goes home half a million dollars richer. Meanwhile, the viewers are watching every move. Viewers get to rate them in the Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em poll, then go to the Grand Prize poll to cast the first vote for the HouseGuest most likely to win the half million.
CBS claims that last year’s launch of the innovative video streaming package had over 50,000 viewers subscribing to the streams. CBS/Endemol Entertainment will provide the content from the Big Brother 3 house while Real Broadcast Network(TM) (RBN(TM)), RealNetworks’ Content Delivery Network division, will deliver the 24/7 live streaming webcast feed. To preserve the drama for Big Brother 3 television viewers, CBS may block or delay the webcast for a limited number of real-time events that transpire in the house.
Other components of the official Big Brother 3 website will include detailed summaries of all the events that happen during each televised broadcast, a live 24/7 chat room, an interactive Big Brother Fantasy League game, popularity polls, opinion polls and a virtual tour of the Big Brother house, descriptions of the week’s challenges, voting history pages, photo galleries and a HouseGuest section with complete profiles.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
