Mumbai, India – February 3, 2016: Dr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman of the Essel Group & ZEE, has been named as the sixth recipient of the prestigious Canada India Foundation (CIF) Chanchlani Global Indian Award, instituted by Canada India Foundation. He will receive the Award in Toronto on April 22, 2016. With this Award, Dr. Chandra will be joining a select group of globally renowned persons of Indian origin who have received this honour.

CIF is a public policy organization formed in Canada in 2007 to strengthen Canada India relations and to celebrate the global Indian community. The CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award was instituted to:

• Recognize the transformation of India into a global economy and ascendancy in world stage
• Celebrate the contribution of individuals to this transformation
• Raise the Global Profile of people of Indian origin

The Canada India Foundation recognised Dr. Chandra for his Global leadership, Strategic vision in globalizing India, and Professional Excellence.

Mr. Ajit Someshwar, Chair of CIF said “The Board of Governors of Canada India Foundation is honoured that Dr. Subhash Chandra has agreed to accept the CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award. Millions of people of Indian origin have been able to stay culturally and information-wise connected to their motherland, thanks to his initiatives with Zee Media and Zee Entertainment, which have also spread the India brand to non-Indian communities as well.”

The past recipients of the CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award are:
• Sam Pitroda (2008), architect of India’s telecom revolution
• Tulsi Tanti (2009), Founder and Chairman of Suzlon
• Ratan Tata (2010), former Chairman of the Tata Group
• Deepak Chopra (2012), renowned US-based author and speaker, and
• N.R. Narayana Murthy (2014), Founder and former Chairman of Infosys

Chief Guests at CIF’s first Award Gala in 2008 were late former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and then Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. The Award includes a cash amount of $50,000 (Cdn), given to a charitable organization of the Award recipient’s choice. A number of India-based charities have benefitted from these contributions.

==============================ENDS=================================

3 Feb, 2016 – Tencent, one of China’s and the world’s leading providers of online products and services, has reached an agreement with ESPN, Inc., the global leading sports content company. The groundbreaking agreement builds on Tencent’s vast user base across the globe and ESPN’s expertise in sports content creation. Through the collaboration, ESPN’s content will be localized and exclusively distributed and promoted by Tencent’s digital platforms in China.

“Tencent boasts a huge pool of users. Every single day, hundreds of millions of people watch streamed sports games and read sports news on Tencent. We’re really pleased to establish this relationship with ESPN, a world leading sports media group. It will accelerate Tencent’s development as a comprehensive and professional digital platform and set benchmarks for the Chinese sports media sector,” said SY Lau, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Online Media Group.

Under the agreement, Tencent’s live sports coverage and digital products in China will now feature exclusive Chinese-language (Mandarin) ESPN content — a combination of original and localized content — initially focused on the NBA and international soccer, with the potential to expand to other sports over the course of the agreement.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with one of China’s most innovative companies, and our relationship with Tencent marks an exciting new era for ESPN’s global business. This agreement will help us serve millions of Chinese fans and bring our coverage of basketball, international soccer and other sports to them like never before,” commented Russell Wolff, Executive Vice President, ESPN International.

Beginning with the 2016 NBA Playoffs, ESPN experts will be on-site at five games per week to provide exclusive, live Chinese-language analysis as part of Tencent’s NBA coverage. ESPN will also provide a weekly NBA opinion and debate program for Tencent users.

To satisfy the growing user demand for popular international sports content, Tencent will also license from ESPN the exclusive, live digital rights in mainland China to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament (aka “March Madness®”), more than 100 regular season college basketball games and the X Games.

Caitlyn Chen, Corporate Vice President of Tencent, said, “We recognize each other’s strengths and expertise. Together, we will further enhance our sports media platforms by taking advantage of each other’s enriched portfolio of assets to better serve the growing demands of Chinese fans.”

Added Mike Morrison, Vice President and General Manager, ESPN Asia Pacific, “We’re excited to expand ESPN’s reach in China. Chinese fans have great knowledge and passion for sports, and bringing together the strengths of Tencent and ESPN will mean they get the best content and coverage across world-class digital products.”

ESPN will have dedicated Chinese-speaking content experts and on-air talent to support the joint effort.

Tencent’s QQ Sports (Sports.qq.com), a leading Chinese online sports portal, will help ESPN establish its most significant digital presence ever in China by launching an ESPN section. ESPN’s content will also be integrated across other QQ.com channels and sections.

ESPN will provide original Chinese-language (Mandarin) stories focused on the NBA and international soccer, as well as deliver a selection of its award-winning English-language NBA and soccer information and video to be translated and published on QQ Sports.

Added Yuefeng Sam Xie, General Manager of Marketing and Business Development of Tencent Sports, “The combination of Tencent and ESPN will create more value among advertisers and across the industry thanks to complementary nature of their businesses. After years of evolution, China’s sports media is now at a crossroads and is ready to transform its traditional way of development. The collaboration between Tencent and ESPN will open an era of customization and innovation in China’s sports media sector.”

3 Feb, 2016 – Bruce Tuchman, President of AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global, has confirmed his intentions to leave his role at AMC Networks this April, following MIPTV.

Read more at Advanced Television

2 Feb, 2016 – The BBC and Discovery Communications have confirmed a long-term Olympic Games agreement in the UK, building on a 30-year partnership between the two global media organisations. The deal means that the BBC will sub-license (from Discovery) exclusive free-to-air audio-visual and non-exclusive radio rights to the 2022 and 2024 Olympic Games. In turn, Discovery will sub-license (from the BBC) exclusive pay-TV rights in the UK to the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games are highly valued and hugely popular with audiences. The London 2012 Olympic Games was watched on the BBC by more than 50 million people in the UK, 7 million people in the UK accessed the BBC website every day, with 111 million requests for video throughout the Games and over 2 million people downloaded the app. It was truly the first digital Olympic Games and the BBC raised the bar in its coverage.

Read more at Advanced Television

3 Feb, 2016 – Although the BBC seems to be shedding sports that were one seen as its mainstays, with the loss of Formula 1, horse racing and exclusive coverage of the Open Golf Championship, it has responded to the increasing demand to follow sports online by agreeing a four-year digital rights deal for international cricket that will see the BBC Sport website cover all major events sanctioned by world cricket’s governing body the International Cricket Council ICC), starting with immediate effect and going through to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which will be hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Read more at Advanced Television

Rani R. Raad has been appointed to the new role of President, CNN International Commercial.

In this role, Raad will continue to be responsible for CNN’s commercial functions outside the U.S. In addition, the development of Turner International’s programmatic trading strategy will be facilitated under his leadership.

Previously as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, CNN International, Raad has led the CNN International Commercial group since it was created in 2013 to directly align all of CNN’s international commercial activity into one organisation. This activity spans core business activities such as advertising sales, content sales and partnerships, business development, marketing and research.

Gerhard Zeiler, President, Turner International said: “Rani has a remarkable track record in leading a diverse portfolio of commercial initiatives across international markets. He has built a new digital team that is the authority in this space and has transformed the commercial operation for CNN internationally, bringing in a new leadership team to deliver best-in-class and award-winning ad sales solutions as well as re-setting the licensing and content sales businesses to yield a suite of new branded initiatives around the globe.”

Rani Raad said: “I’m excited and passionate about the role that CNN continues to play in today’s fast-changing news and media landscape. As the world’s news leader, our commitment to innovation underpins our commercial activities as well as the brand’s editorial output. I look forward to being part of this change as we bring to market even more sophisticated, data-driven and creative solutions for our wide range of commercial partners.”

About Rani Raad
Raad previously held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, CNN International, and prior to that was Senior Vice President and Managing Director for CNN International Ad Sales. He will continue to have responsibility over Turner’s Kids and General Entertainment businesses across Turkey and the Middle East.

Raad began his career with CNN in New York and is now based in London. In 2013, Raad was listed at number 71 in the Arabian Business Power 500 list of the world’s most influential Arabs, and in 2015 Raad was named by Arabian Business as the 13th most powerful Arab under 40. In 2011, the World Economic Forum recognised Raad as a Young Global Leader, for his contributions to the media industry. In 2015, Raad was named as one of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications’ 50 Forward – 50 alumni selected from Newhouse School’s 50-year history for their achievements in the media sector.

Raad graduated with a B.S. from The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York.

About Turner International
Turner International operates versions of core Turner brands, including CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, and TCM, as well as country- and region-specific networks and businesses in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. It runs Pay- and Free-TV-channels, as well as Internet-based services, and is a commercial partner with various third-party media ventures; it teams with Warner Bros. and HBO to leverage Time Warner’s global reach. Turner operates more than 180 channels showcasing 38 brands in 34 languages in over 200 countries. Turner International is a subsidiary of Turner, a Time Warner company.

Contacts:
For more information, please contact Oliver Herrgesell, Senior Vice President, Communications, Turner International on +44 20 7693 1991 / +49 173 523 9940 / +852 6323 9644 or Oliver.Herrgesell@turner.com

2 Feb, 2016 – Singapore pay-TV operator Star Hub is making 150 channels available as a free preview offer to see in the Chinese Year of the Monkey.

The free entertainment will be available from 12pm on 5 February to 12pm on 10 February 2016. Programming will include live shows like Jiangsu Spring Festival and TVB Golden Viva Spectacular 2016, along with blockbuster movies such as Ah Boys To Men 3: Frogmen, Big Eyes and Thor: The Dark World.

“StarHub looks forward to ushering in the Year of the Monkey with an abundance of treats for our customers,” said Howie Lau, chief marketing officer, StarHub.

Read more at Rapid TV News