GECs
Sony’s interactive games for UK digi sat viewers
CALIFORNIA: Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment has launched GoPlayTV, a service offering digital satellite viewers in the United Kingdom interactive versions of Sony Pictures’ globally recognized Wheel of Fortune and JEOPARDY! games.
Although the service launched without any heavy promotion, it has nevertheless already resonated with satellite users during its pre-marketing period. GoPlayTV is available with any Sky Digital remote control.
SPDE President Yair Landau said, “GoPlayTV is the latest example of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment’s mission to deliver premium content to consumers across all networked platforms, This is SPDE’s most significant foray into Europe where interactivity via set top boxes is well ahead of the United States.”
The service launches with Wheel of Fortune and JEOPARDY!, with additional games to be added later, from both Sony Pictures’ deep content library as well as third party content partners. Wheel of Fortune was on the air in the UK for years, and the show continues to be the number one syndicated programme in the US where the format was born over 20 years ago.
With GoPlayTV, users at home can spin the wheel, guess the letters, and solve the puzzles, all using their Sky Digital remote control. JEOPARDY! is also a global phenomenon, having been locally produced in numerous countries around the world, including the UK. With GoPlayTV, JEOPARDY! players can test their mental prowess by guessing the correct question that goes with a given answer and choosing from a variety of categories and point levels. GoPlayTV features include winners lists, near real-time top scores lists and always-fresh content. The service also gives players the opportunity to win daily, weekly and monthly prizes from Sony and other leading companies.
GoPlayTV can be accessed day or night by pressing the Interactive button on any Sky Digital remote control.
GECs
Zee scales syndication with global tie-ups, 350 plus channel MCN
Vertical, dubbed and audio formats boost digital reach
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is giving its content library a fresh passport. The company has stepped up its syndication push, signing global partnerships, experimenting with new-age formats and building a multi-channel network that now spans more than 350 channels.
With the newly secured MCN licence, Zee can manage, distribute and monetise content across leading digital platforms at scale, strengthening its presence in the fast-growing creator and short-form ecosystem.
To keep pace with changing viewing habits, the company is also reshaping its content into formats built for the small screen in your hand. In a tie-up with micro-drama platform Story TV, select titles are being reworked into vertical, short-duration episodes tailored for mobile-first audiences.
Beyond India, the syndication team is widening its global footprint with foreign-language dubbing and regional partnerships across Europe, Africa and Latin America, opening up fresh markets for Indian stories.
Zee is also tapping into the audio boom. It has begun licensing audio remake rights for legacy properties such as Zee Horror Show, with several more titles lined up for audio-first adaptations.
On the digital front, the company has made progress in monetising non-exclusive rights for library films, while converting select shows and movies from horizontal to vertical formats to improve discoverability on short-form platforms.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. business head syndication Vinod Johri, said syndication has emerged as a strong growth lever for the company. He noted that the combination of a large MCN network, global partnerships and new formats such as vertical video and audio is helping build a future-ready engine that extracts more value from the content library.
Together, these moves signal a platform-agnostic approach to storytelling, as Zee repackages, localises and redistributes its IP across geographies, formats and screens, ensuring its catalogue keeps working long after the first broadcast.
