ESPN-STAR Sports (ESS) has announced a new contract with FIFA for the exclusive television rights to broadcast FIFA’s stellar line-up of 275 international football events, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup, for the Indian Sub-continent.
Telecom value-added services provider OnMobile Global has acquired the entire stake in speech technology and language processing software provider Telisma of France for an undisclosed amount.
With the size of cyber audiences rising to over 28 million users in 2008 — an increase of 27 per cent over the previous year — more people in India are online now than earlier.
In a bid to create a greater brand connect with its TG, Education Plus, the education supplement of The Hindu held its first ever International Education Fair in Chennai on July 13-14. The two-day event saw a turnout of 2,470 students registering on entry and total footfalls of over 4,500. Universities and institutions from the UK, the US, Australia, Singapore, Dubai, the Philippines and New Zealand had taken part at the Fair.
Adobe Systems is teaming up with search industry leaders to dramatically improve search results of dynamic Web content and rich internet applications. The company is providing optimised Adobe Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo, which will enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format (SWF).
Nirupama Rao, Sr. Marketing Manager, Mary Kay Cosmetic India, says the company first lets its consumers use the product and then let them decide to do the purchasing. As consultants, its principle is that they may not make money today, but due to their trust the customer would return to the brand one day.
Delhi Press launched ‘Farm ‘n’ Food’, its first national weekly magazine in Hindi, on July 1. The magazine is targeted at people associated with agriculture and allied activities. ‘Farm ‘n’ Food’ joins Delhi Press’ bouquet of 26 magazines in nine languages, including Grihshobha, Sarita, Mukta, Saras Salil, Women’s Era, Alive and Champak.
Vijay TV’s romance with reality show continues. After hitting the jackpot with shows like ‘Hutch Kalakkapovadhu Yaaru’ and ‘Airtel Super Singer’, Vijay TV is ready with yet another reality show titled ‘Amul Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Deva’. The new show will scout for Tamil Nadu’s next Prabhu Deva, dancer extraordinaire.
Network18 Group’s creative unit Cell 18 has bagged two awards at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-Laadli National Awards for Creative Excellence for Social Change. Cell 18 won the awards in the print and animation categories. The Laadli Awards were held in Mumbai on June 30.
Triveni Media has awarded the creative duties of its Hindi news channel Voice of India to Macaw Inc following a multi-agency pitch in which several agencies had taken part. The account size could not be ascertained at the time of filing the report.
Steve Washington, Darren Gersh, Dana Greenspon and Sanjay Jha of PBS Nightly Business Report have won the Loeb Award for the series ‘India’s Promise’ in the Television Daily category. Jha is the first Indian to win this Award, which is considered to be among the highest honours in business journalism.
Rajiv Mishra has come on board CineMaya Media Group Inc as Business Head, Broadcast Media. CineMaya is currently engaged in launching TV channels across North America and Canada. Mishra moves from Digital Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, where he was CEO and MD.
Jayashree Mohanka has joined the ABP Group as Vice-President, in-charge of THE Group’s English daily The Telegraph. She comes in place of Shraman Jha, who had put in his papers last month. Mohanka’s last assignment was with Kolkata-based Eveready Industries, where she was Vice-President, Marketing.
Sidhant Khosla has been appointed as CEO of Metropolitan Media Company Pvt Ltd, which publishes Metro Now. He took charge from July 1. This is in addition to his current responsibilities as Director, Corporate Group, BCCL. Khosla takes over from Sameer Kapoor, who recently quit Metropolitan Media as President.
Zenith Optimedia Delhi has won the Cargill India business following a multi-agency pitch that was held in May. Cargill India is the owner of edible oil brands like Nature Fresh and Gemini. The account size has been pegged upwards of Rs 12 crore. Maxus is the incumbent agency. The creative duties are being handled by JWT.