News Broadcasting
GRB Ent. to offer 100 hrs of programming at MIPCOM
CALIFORNIA: GRB Entertainment has anounced an extensive content lineup at the trade fair MIPCOM 2003. The event takes place from 10-14 October this year in Cannes, France.
The company has stated that its shows offer broad audience appeal throughout the international marketplace.
The company is offering over 100 hours of programming, as well as a diverse list of formats. The company’s international senior VP Gavin Reardon has been quoted in an official release saying, “In today’s competitive marketplace we must be ahead of the curve to find and deliver the next big thing! We have done that with Next Action Star and we are doing it again with the rest of our formats. We have created an array of programmes produced to attract the audience our international partners want to reach.”
Formed 16 years ago, GRB Entertainment claims to be one of the world?s leading producers and distributors of non fiction programmes. The company produces 75 hours per year of prime time programming for the US and international television markets.
Leading this year’s offerings is GRB’s Next Action Star. On the reality front, GRB is also offering two seasons of The Surreal Life . The show brings together a diverse group of American celebrities who move in together and share a fun and funky house in the Hollywood Hills for ten days. Another product Outdoor Outtakes which consists of 13 half hour episodes gives an entirely new spin on recreational activities by capturing, and delivering hi-jinx, belly slapping bloopers and outdoor mishaps on tape.
The company informs that another show Gagsters! combines elements of Candid Camera and Mission Impossible while adding another ingredient bright kids with attitude. GRB also twists the real in reality, by offering Graveside Groupies and Mysterious Worlds for content distributors who are interested in shows that push the envelope.
The reality line up also includes the competitive, survival-based Destination Unknown, X-Quiz and the uncompromising futuristic cat and mouse game of The World’s Most Dangerous Game.
It remains to be seen whether or not AXN, Reality TV and their ilk accept the bait.
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.
