The dotcom boom gave entrepreneurs a taste of big money through venture capitalists. With this in the backdrop, different industries took advantage of venture capitalist funding. The private equities have been an obvious gainer through big investments.
With countries like India looking at non-US markets to expand their share of the digital content pie, Singapore could provide the ideal gateway with its positioning as the regional business hub for computer animation, according to speakers at the session on ‘Digital Content Management’.
GEO TV, from the Independent Media Corporation of Karachi, will have an Indian audience soon. The Pakistani TV network from the publishers of the ‘Jung’ daily is preparing to launch its entertainment channel in India soon, according to Imran Aslam, President, Independent Media Group. However, he refused to commit a timeline.
After launching Fanta's new brand ambassador actress Trisha, Coca Cola India is reported to have roped in actor Vikram to endorse Coke in Tamil Nadu. While Coca Cola remained mum in spite of numerous queries and media reports on the new brand ambassador, reliable sources confirm that shoots with actor Vikram are underway under ad filmmaker Rajeev Menon's direction.
The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) on Monday announced that it is launching a CASBAA India Chapter. This move is in line with a regional strategy, Mr Marcel Fenez, Chairman, CASBAA, said.
UK-based East Coast Media, the media training division of 75-year old Grimsby Institute, is looking to launch a media training institute in India beginning June 2005. The institute is currently scouting for an Indian partner to commence operations, according to Priya Vardhan, Business Development Consultant for the Institute.
Dr Badri Seshadri, Co-founder and Managing Director of CricInfo, is to move to his own regional language-publishing venture. His last day at office at Wisden CricInfo will be sometime in mid-April. After a long and eventful journey with CricInfo since 1993, he has decided to take on the mantle of publisher at 'New Horizon Media Private Limited,' a year after the publishing house started operations.
The business model of co-production in animation is more relevant now than ever before. The new model comes in the wake of the increasing difficulty in finding funding for animation series as well as garnering advertising revenues to completely fund content. The speakers at the sessions on animation, titled 'Co-production: A win-win game', at FICCI FRAMES '05 agreed that co-production is the way forward.
Diamond Trading Company (DTC) has recently roped in Bollywood actress Kajol for its contemporary brand Asmi. Kajol will be the Asmi's brand ambassador for two years.
As the mercury soars, there is heated activity around the refrigerator business. All players are gearing up for this season with new offers, product launches, advertising campaigns and of course the aggressive targets.
After the successful launch of the UP edition six months back, India Today Hindi, has recently launched another edition covering the entire MP and Chattisgarh market. The group is looking at a circulation of 50,000 to begin with for the MP edition.
'Branded entertainment' has been an age-old phenomenon in the entertainment industry though it may seem like an emerging concept, said Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, GroupM. "While we have seen this in the 60's in the soap operas, in the film industry it has always existed as an organised business of supplying props although today we have only complicated the concept," said Srivastava in the 'Branded Entertainment' session at FICCI FRAMES.
In the ongoing telecast row between BCCI and Zee Telefilms, Chennai High Court on Monday granted stay on the appeal by Zee Telefilms, restraining BCCI from any action on re-biding until the next hearing scheduled for April 20.
Financial Dynamics, London, which had been in talks with Indian communications agencies for sometime, today announced its strategic alliance with Vaishnavi Corporate Communications. FD and Vaishnavi will collaborate in the areas of communications consulting, M&A, investor relations and public affairs.
If one had to use a phrase to define FICCI FRAMES –Day 1, it would be ‘A Day of answers’ and they were largely coming from the Information and Broadcast Minster, Jaipal Reddy. The questions came from the likes of Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Zee Telfilms and Kunal Dasgupta, CEO, Sony Entertainment.