Mid-Day has elevated Manajit Ghoshal as CEO of Mid-Day Infomedia Ltd., a newly formed subsidiary of Midday Multimedia Ltd., which would handle the print and dotcom business of the group. He will lead the initiative of making Mid-Day into a multi-city, multi-media brand. He will also continue to be the CFO for the entire Mid-Day Group.
MapmyIndia has announced a massive addition of detailed maps to its award-winning GPS navigation device, MapmyIndia Navigator. MapmyIndia Navigator 2.0 is now available with street-level maps of 174 cities. With this, GPS navigation has moved beyond metro cities and entered Tier II and III cities.
Big FM has initiated a new campaign, ‘Bendethu Bengaluru’, to connect with its listeners and look at the issues faced by Bangalore residents. The two-week campaign will address one major issue everyday starting July 7 and will conclude on July 19.
With devotees from the world over thronging Puri for the annual nine-day Jagannath Rath Yatra festival, the religious event is being extensively covered by media. FM stations in Bhubaneshwar, too, have geared up in full force to bring alive the festive spirit and share the fervour with their listeners.
In a move to strengthen its printer business, Samsung India has launched various initiatives. The company recently launched enhanced its product offering with the launch of seven new printer models. To support its new printer range, Samsung has launched a new communication campaign ‘Say Hello to Printelligence’.
July Systems has joined hands with NDTV Convergence to launch Mi SMS, touted as a revolutionary mobile Internet information service specifically created for the Indian market. The Mi SMS service will deliver Mobile 2.0 live, personalised, interactive and multi-media experiences on mobile devices.
South-based business conglomerate Muthoot Group has ventured into the media space with its first radio channel, Chennai Live. The talk radio is targeted at the 25-plus age group. The Group has invested Rs 20 crore in this radio venture, and according to George M George, Executive Director, Muthoot Group, “This is just the beginning of our media enterprise”.
Star Ananda has acquired the television rights for the Sahara Calcutta Football League for the next four years. The League, which has eight first division clubs of Kolkata participating, kicked off from July 8, 2008.
Doordarshan’s direct-to-home service will be adding nine more channels in the next two months. Revealing this, Baljit Singh Lally, CEO, Doordarshan, further said that the number of channels would be increased to 200 in the coming months.
DishTV is expanding the bouquet of channels on its DTH platform. Close on the heels of adding 9X to its channel offering, NDTV Imagine has also come on board DishTV’s DTH platform. Hindi GEC NDTV Imagine was launched in January 2008.
DDB Mudra India has recently won the Indian account for Tourism Australia. It is known that India is one of the nine countries to be shortlisted for promoting Australian tourism across the world. Sources close to the industry have confirmed the news to exchange4media that DDB Mudra India won the creative duties after a showdown with Saatchi & Saatchi India. DDB Mudra India will now have a significant share of the total global account won by DDB Worldwide, which is estimated at around £85 million.
The BBC is bringing together its international expertise into one central world news hub. From July 7, BBC World News television, the BBC’s world online and newsgathering teams, and representatives from BBC World Service radio and online, have combined forces to create an unrivalled multimedia world news operation.
Big Street, the recently commissioned OOH division of Adlabs Films Ltd, is sprucing up its team to meet its extensive expansion plans. The company has taken on board Mayank Pande as Regional Vice President, North and East.
Vineet Mittal has been appointed Head of North & East regions at the India unit of Xpanse Asia, the specialist small town and rural marketing network of Publicis Groupe. He will be based in Delhi.
There is a change of guard at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Pradeep Guha, CEO, ZEEL, is moving out of the organisation, and Punit Goenka, who is the current Network Operating Officer, is taking over as CEO. Guha and ZEEL officials have confirmed the development to exchange4media and further informed that this change takes place with immediate effect.
With the completion of its first year of operations, E18 has stepped up its activities in India. The entertainment and brand solutions venture of Network18 has announced the launch of its B2B property, ‘World Strategy Forum’. E18 has also lined up a slew of live concerts, starting with the five-city Independence Rock concert in July-end.
Prem Menon has been appointed as CEO of Real Estate TV, India’s first 24x7 TV channel dedicated to the real estate and infrastructure industry. Menon will oversee all aspects of the channel, including programming, marketing, advertising sales, and finance, among others.
Alok Agrawal has put in his papers at Bates 141 Delhi, where he has been Branch Head and Executive Vice President. Sources close to the development have confirmed the news and informed that he is slated to join Cheil Communications as COO. However, when contacted, Agrawal refused to say anything on the development.