News Broadcasting
Nippon & Envision announce first scripted co-production ‘Connected’
Mumbai: Having announced their co-production partnership last year where the two companies plan to combine their “Western and Eastern sensibilities” to develop new scripted projects for the global market, Nippon TV – Japan’s multiplatform entertainment powerhouse and Envision Entertainment – the London-based content production company on Tuesday announced their first project together entitled – “Connected.”
“Connected” is an innovative crime drama series taking place largely online, perfect for today’s world defined by hybrid communication. The concept was inspired by Nippon TV’s successful scripted series “Double Booking,” produced and broadcast in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and the same production team led by Nippon TV’s creative director Itaru Mizuno is participating in this project, said the statement.
The worldwide format rights for “Connected” will be offered for the first time at the upcoming Series Mania Forum with a special showcase set for 22 March in Lille.
“What we believe is strong about ‘Connected’ is its relatability you may see in young fresh heroes and their struggles, not necessarily charismatic but charming, and that is how these multilayered and globally expanding stories are told through online and offline world just like how we experience these days,” commented Nippon TV business producer for international business development Sayako Aoki. “We will be thrilled to see Japanese ‘episode zero’ lead to UK version and to numerous more opportunities, diversifying the universe invented through this East-West collaboration.”
The Japanese version of “Connected” will air in Japan on Nippon TV in April. Envision Entertainment and Nippon TV are simultaneously in advanced development for a UK version of the series, which is set in the same shared universe.
“We are immensely proud of our work with Nippon TV on ‘Connected,’ an infinitely flexible crime format which can combine stories in any number of languages and territories in an unobtrusive and believable way,” said Envision Entertainment chief content officer Michael Nakan. “Our unique approach to hybrid communication between characters is a million miles away from forced ‘Europudding’ co-productions and offers a genuinely seamless opportunity to tell stories with local resonance and international scale. We look forward to working with partners around the world to develop a truly global group of homebound detectives.”
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
