News Broadcasting
FremantleMedia to bring the best in US reality to Mipcom
MUMBAI: Fremantle International Distribution (FID), the distribution arm of FremantleMedia, will attend Mipcom this October with a raft of US reality shows to suit all audiences.
For the first time, FID will be offering international buyers the hugely successful fashion reality series, Project Runway, from Miramax and Weinstein Company Inc. Starring super model Heidi Klum, Project Runway, was a smash-hit success when it aired on Bravo in the US last year.
Project Runway, which is set among the glitz and glamour of New York, gives 12 talented fashion designers the opportunity of a lifetime – a chance to have their designs shown in front of the global fashion community and displayed in the pages of Elle magazine. Through a series of challenges, designers are eliminated, ultimately leaving one to claim their place in fashion’s spotlight. In addition, 12 up-and-coming models join the designers on their quest for celebrity. Each week, we see the models eliminated until one is left standing.
FID will also be presenting the brand new and hotly anticipated The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. From Mark Burnett Productions in association with Trump Productions LLC, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart will retain the format of the original hit series including weekly eliminations, but the show will be tailored to Stewart’s personality and brand identity. The tasks will be centred around Stewart’s areas of expertise: media, home renovation, entertaining, design, merchandising, technology and style.
Season four of the original US hit, The Apprentice featuring Donald Trump will be a hot property for Mipcom 2005. This bold reality series tests competitors’ survival techniques in New York City’s corporate jungle. The candidates face weekly business challenges and strive to reach the top. One promising candidate will become an apprentice Trump. Season one was the highest rated new series of the 2003-04 season, gaining an average audience of 20 million viewers. The finalé gained an incredible audience of 28 million viewers – 167 per cent above NBC’s prime time average. Season’s two and three also delivered strong ratings, taking the top two positions as the highest rated entertainment series on NBC.
Another hit series that FID is delighted to debut this October is Season five of American Idol. The television phenomenon that smashed all records on Fox to become the season’s Number One show in the US, returns. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, America’s favourite judges, lend their professional expertise and often unwanted criticism, as they search to discover the next American Idol. With two shows each week, season one grew until over 35 million viewers tuned in for the finale, Season two 2 gained ratings up to 91 per cent higher than Season one, while Seasons three and four became the highest rated series in the US in the 2003-2005 seasons.
Brand new from FremantleMedia’s UK production company talkbackTHAMES the controversial Bring Your Husband To Heel is set to cause a stir among those in wedded bliss. In this hilarious show wives are helped to train their husbands with the help of professional dog trainers. After determining what ‘breed’ their husbands are and what areas they need to improve, the wives begin practicing to command a dog (their husbands). Hidden cameras capture the results, which may include bringing their husbands home early from the pub. Bring Your Husband To Heel debuted on BBC2 in the UK this August.
British grime gurus, Kim Woodburn and Aggie Mackenzie are out in force at Mipcom as FID introduces buyers worldwide to the third series of talkbackTHAMES’s How Clean Is Your House? UK along with the second series of How Clean Is Your House? USA.
Woodburn and MacKenzie uncover the dirty secrets of Britain’s filthiest homes. Armed with little more than a pair of rubber gloves and some valuable household advice, they persuade the unhygienic, the messy and the downright disgusting to clean up their act. Along the way, they reveal some horrifying facts about the bugs and microbes lurking in our homes. Meanwhile, our unstoppable hygiene experts, return to the US for a second season where viewers get to see inside some of the dirtiest homes imaginable and meet the occupants.
In Too Posh To Wash, Kim and Aggie are out again – but this time it’s personal! The queens of clean, with the help of soap and forensics, attempt to expose those committing crimes against cleanliness and shame the offenders into cleaning up their acts and their armpits! Too Posh To Wash is a Talkback Production.
Fremantle International Distribution MD David Ellender said, “We are very proud of the strength of our entertainment slate for Mipcom 2005. Our highlights originate from some of the top entertainment producers in the US and UK. From all-star celebrity talent shows to amusing makeover series, we really do have something to offer everyone.”
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.
