News Broadcasting
SPTI acquires five formats from 12 Yard Productions
MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has acquired the Asian format rights for five game shows from 12 Yard Productions, the format creators and producer in the UK.
SPTI’s agreement with 12 Yard Productions includes Beg, Borrow or Steal, No Brainer, In It To Win It, Eggheads, and Dirty Money, which SPTI will offer to Asian broadcasters at Mipcom. The event which will be held on 9 October to 13 October at Cannes.
The announcement was made today by SPTI VP format sales international production Paul Gilbert.
The show In It To Win has been aired as a weekly series on BBC 1 and has just completed its fifth series. While, Eggheads has aired on BBC 2 and on cable channel, Challenge. Dirty Money has aired as a daily series on Sky One and ran for one series. Beg, Borrow or Steal has aired as a daily series on BBC 2 in 2005.
“12 Yard Productions has been highly successful in turning out creative, successful, quality formats, and SPTI is thrilled to team up with 12 Yard in this exciting agreement” said Gilbert. “SPTI has an incredibly successful history as a global distributor and we look forward to further exciting deals of this nature in the future.”
12 Yard Production deputy managing director Mike Beale says, “We are very pleased to be working with SPTI in this collaboration as we believe they are ideally positioned to successfully market these game formats into key territories in Asia.”
The announcement follows a series of other successful formats that SPTI has distributed and or produced in the Asian region including Dragons’ Den, You’re Hired and the Gong Show.
SPTI has produced over 9,000 hours of television programming in over 30 countries, with production offices in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Miami, the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The division oversees the production and distribution of such formats as the hit reality show Dragons’ Den, The Dating Game, Pyramid, The Newlywed Game, You’re Hired, Russian Roulette, Karaoke Showdown, Zulu Bingo and Party of Six.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to host Kolkata Town Hall on Hooghly River
‘Bhalobasa Bengal Inspiring Bharat’ event on April 20 brings cultural icons, trailblazing women and leaders aboard a cruise to celebrate Bengal’s enduring influence.
MUMBAI: Bengal is about to make fresh waves on the Hooghly and this time the current is pure conversation. CNN-News18 is taking its iconic Town Hall format to the waters of the iconic Hooghly River on 20 April 2026 with a special edition titled ‘Bhalobasa Bengal – Inspiring Bharat’. The floating event will celebrate the state’s rich cultural legacy and how its ideas, creativity and spirit continue to shape the rest of the country.
The unique riverside setting draws on Bengal’s history as a cradle of reform, art and intellectual thought. The speaker line-up mirrors that diversity: cultural heavyweights Mithun Chakraborty and Sreenanda Shankar will share the stage with trailblazing “Devis” such as Tanya Sanyal (India’s first woman firefighter in aviation), Ipsita Chakraborty (Kolkata’s first woman bartender) and Reshma Nilofer Visalakshi (Nari Shakti awardee and marine pilot). Music will flow through the celebrated pianist-vocalist duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, while public life and governance will be represented by Smriti Irani, Leander Paes, Saira Shah Halim, Keya Ghosh, Rekha Patra, Roopa Ganguly and Babul Supriyo.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director, Rahul Shivshankar, said the event honours voices that carry Bengal’s legacy forward. Smriti Mehra, CEO – English & Business News, Network18, added that Bengal’s stories resonate far beyond its borders, especially as the state heads into polls.
From the first woman to battle flames in the skies to legendary actors who shaped Indian cinema, the gathering promises a rich mix of inspiration, courage and candid dialogue. In a city where culture has always flowed as freely as the river itself, CNN-News18 is turning the Hooghly into a floating forum for ideas that matter.
Tune in on 20 April on CNN-News18, CTV and YouTube to catch Bengal’s heartbeat in full flow.
