English Entertainment
Steady does it for Discovery Travel & Living
MUMBAI: Though it’s early days yet, initial figures of Discovery Travel & Living, India’s first international lifestyle channel, indicate that the channel has had a modest and positive start.
As per Tam data findings for the period 26 September to 27 November (TG CS 15+ AB, six metros) the channel has attained a reach of 8.71 per cent.
Speaking to indiantelevision.com about the channel’s performance thus far, Discovery Communications director marketing Aditya Tripathi says, “We would call it a positive start, since these are actually figures achieved before we started our advertising campaign. Though a niche channel, we expect the reach to grow in the coming months as we are now concentrating on 1 million + cities. So, though our primary viewership is really in the SEC A bracket, we are also concentrating on the aspirational audience. To widen the scope of our viewership, we are in the process of launching new programmes by the next month.”
Asked for his take on the positioning of the channel and on the data released, general manager, investments and new initiatives, Starcom, Manish Porwal says, “In terms of reach for the initial period, one expected modest numbers for a niche lifestyle channel like Discovery. One would say the reach anywhere below 20 per cent for any new channel is a modest start. In the future too, one doesn’t expect some crazy numbers in terms of reach simply because the channel is aimed at a target audience with a different mindset.
Source: TAM Peoplemeter System, TG: CS 15+ AB, Period: 26/9/04 to 27/11/04, Market: 6 metros
Porwal further adds, “What the channel has to look at is a reach for 5 min or 10 min, which would determine the stickiness of the programmes and to attract certain brands. So, in the long run, the channel has to concentrate not on the number of people watching it as it would necessarily concentrate on SEC A, but for how long they watch it.”
Way to go for this premium, niche lifestyle channel!
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
