Rupert Murdoch’s surprise $ 5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, faces tough times following the company’s controlling shareholders declaring that they would block it.
BIG 92.7 FM has announced the launch of mobile search using the short code 5454, in association with OnYoMo. The service will currently be available in Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bangalore and Chennai.
The online promotional videos for Zapak Mail, created by Tuckbox Films, have been showcased as the ‘Fast Film Festival’. These short videos are essentially the spoofs of some famous English movies.
Red FM has announced weekend programming changes in Mumbai. The station has also launched a 360-degree campaign for its Delhi properties and also announced changes in music content for Kolkata.
BIG 92.7 FM has launched its Guwahati station and this is the 17th station to go on air. The launch in Guwahati is part of the second phase of launches in mini-metros by BIG 92.7 FM.
Sahara One has launched a new primetime show ‘Babul Ki Bitiya Chali — Doli Saja Ke’. The show premiers on May 7 in the 10 pm slot and will be aired from Monday to Friday.
Star One is back with the business of laughter for a third season. The channel is all set to air ‘Britannia 50-50 Chutkule The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ from May 18, 2007, on Fridays and Saturdays at 9 PM. Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shekhar Suman will continue to be the judges.
Maxim has dared to create a new landmark by taking the cover price to Rs 150 for the ‘Hot Summer Special’ May issue that has pop star Christina Aguilera on the cover wearing almost nothing at all. The issue also comes with a free CD of Yana Gupta’s backstage shoot video in special packaging.
Internet portal indya.com has announced the appointment of Elephant Advertising for the launch of its digital entertainment on-demand online service, indyaondemand.com. The new service makes available some of India’s most popular entertainment content for online download. The service is available worldwide and is targetted at broadband-enabled South Asian audiences in the US, the UK, Canada and South East Asia.
Adlabs Films has entered into an agreement with Rave Entertainment, promoted by Sailesh Gupta of the Jagran Group, to acquire the right to conduct cinema exhibition business at one operational multiplex in Kanpur and six more projects under implementation in other North India markets totalling 23 screens.
Sujit Unni has joined McCann Erickson as Creative Chief for the Bangalore office. He comes from Euro RSCG and will take charge of his new role mid-May 2007. Unni would be reporting to Prasoon Joshi.
BBC Worldwide has announced the launch of BBC Entertainment and CBeebies in India from May 2. The two 12-hour channels launch first on Tata Sky’s DTH platform, with BBC Entertainment on air at 6 PM local time and the dual-language CBeebies channel from 6 am local time.
After successfully launching Mid Day in Bangalore last year, Mid Day Multimedia launched its Delhi editionon May 2, 2007. The relaunched Mid Day Delhi is on the same lines as the Mid Day Mumbai edition. The 32-page tabloid will be available from Monday to Saturday.
Yatra.com has appointed Leo Burnett as its creative agency. The account size is pegged at Rs 8 crore. The incumbent agency was Everest Brand Solutions.
Having recently announced the launch of www.aol.in, AOL has appointed Madison Media as its media AoR, while Saatchi & Saatchi will handle the creative duties. Sources close to the development have pegged the total ad spend in the region of Rs 5-7 crore. The Bangalore offices of the two agencies will handle the account.