NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Yahoo's situation may get tougher before it gets better. As the company reported fourth-quarter earnings, CEO Jerry Yang warned of "headwinds" in 2008.
HBO and Star Movies have some interesting fare lined up for February. While Star Movies is presenting Oscar-mania, beginning February 1, HBO is out to celebrate Valentine’s throughout the month.
Disney Channel will premiere its original animated series ‘Phineas and Ferb’ on February 1, 2008 at 11 am. Produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, ‘Phineas and Ferb’ is an imaginative comedy from noted animation producers Dan Povenmire (‘Family Guy’) and Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh (‘The Simpsons’).
ICICI Prudential’s new tax saving campaign sees its mascot Chintamani in a new avatar – that of a cricketer. ICICI Prudential’s ‘common man’ who had endeared himself to the entire nation while trying to shed his tax burden, this time tries to give his 100 per cent on the field to promote a plan that provides the benefit of 100 per cent premium allocation.
Hindustan Times joined Indoor Media’s portfolio of UK-represented Asian sites in November 2007, and in doing so, created the reach opportunity from any single ethnic media buying point. Launched in 2007, Indoor Media now represents 30 sites, including 10 of the largest South Asian sites in the world.
TRAI has sent its recommendations to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry on certain issues relating to DTH service. TRAI had issued a consultation paper on ‘Issues Relating to DTH’ on March 2, 2007, which covered interconnection issues, quality of service issues and other regulatory issues relating to DTH services.
M&C Saatchi India, the Indian arm of the UK-based M&C Saatchi Worldwide, has made two key appointments – Rajiv Sabnis as Executive Director and Anjali Nayar as Director-Client Services. While Sabnis would head M&C Saatchi's Mumbai operations, Nayar would lead the agency’s Delhi operations.
Zee Group’s cable unit, Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd has declared the unaudited consolidated financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007. WWIL has reported consolidated revenues of Rs 70.4 crore in the third quarter as compared to Rs 49.3 crore, a growth of 43 per cent over the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, was recently conferred with Business India’s Businessman of the Year award for 2007. Arun Sarin, CEO, Vodafone Group, UK gave away the award.
BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has announced key changes to the structure and responsibilities of its advertising sales team in India. The BBC Worldwide team now operates in two streams – news and non-news – under the leadership of Seema Mohapatra, who has been promoted as Regional Sales Director, BBC Worldwide, South Asia.
The digital discussion turned into debate on the first day of the NATPE Conference 2008. Many networks and digital heads still gave the thumbs up to digital, but admitted that there were no revenues in the medium just yet. Some media companies, however, categorically stated that “digital was not business for a TV show”.
The NATPE 2008 Conference saw many players look at international markets as a key area for growth. Needless to say, China and India were two names that kept coming up. However, most players looked at India closely, citing experiences of finding the Indian market “friendlier” for launching businesses.
The NATPE Conference 2008 began with a keynote address by Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal. Zucker spoke on NBCU’s focus on international markets such as India; the changing consumer and content demands and also on broader aspects of the US television industry, where he spoke on the need for a better regulatory environment.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), too, is in the list of the companies that has India high on the 2008 agenda. MGM officials informed that the company was all geared to enter India with a library English movie channel to begin with, and licensing deals. MGM is in the midst of finalising the business model for this venture.
“I would not say that our ice cream is more expensive than other brands. We are definitely premium but the quality, taste and service which one gets from Baskin Robbins makes it an extremely value proposition. This is something that is borne out by the feedback we get from practically anyone who experiences the magic of Baskin Robbins.”