MUMBAI: Cashing in on India's victory in the Champions Trophy 2013 tournament, sports broadcaster Star Sports announced a special week-long episodic series - Champions Ka Champion.

Star Cricket will showcase five special half hour episodes every day starting Monday, 1 July from 8.00 pm onwards. Each episode will contain never-before seen footage of the Men in Blue as they engage in a candid chat about their lives, their careers, ups and downs and what made them hone themselves into match winning champions.

Every episode will get viewers up close and personal with Team India heroes like Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma. The series culminates on Indian captain M S Dhoni?s birthday, July 5 with a special episode on the Captain himself and his journey as a leader over the years.

The first show to be aired on Monday, 1 July will be anchored by Ex-India star turned analyst, Navjot Singh Sidhu, wherein he takes viewers through a voyage of India?s finest through the entire tournament and how they went from strength to strength to finally emerge as Champions. This will be followed by episodes containing exclusive chat-ups with Shikhar Dhawan (2 July) and Dinesh Karthik (3 July). The fouth episode will carry interviews with other Team India stars like Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma followed by a special episode on the captain, M S Dhoni (5 July).

Each episode will touch upon the lives of the players, their inner thoughts, match preparations, dressing room banter and other interesting stories which will show these superstars in a new light for the Indian sports fan.

New Delhi: Deepika Padukone is the new face for 2013 for Vogue Eyewear, thus becoming the first Indian face of the brand in India.

A Vogue release says Padukone?s talents are multifaceted and she is perfectly in line with the playful and youthful spirit of Vogue Eyewear. Fashion icons Gisele B?ndchen, Kate Moss and Eva Mendes have earlier been the face of Vogue.

?It is a privilege being the face of 2013 Vogue Eyewear communication campaign in India, as I like playing with my looks, be it on or off screen, by mixing and matching various ?in? accessories. Thanks to its colorful, stylish models, both optical and sunglasses, Vogue Eyewear enables me to have a complete different look depending on the situation: flirty, feminine, chic or even geeky smart like my various on screen characters?, says Padukone.

The 2013 India communication campaign of Vogue Eyewear features six brightly colored images, shot by the ace fashion photographer Prasad Naik and was exclusively styled by the ultimate fashion authority - Anaita Shroff Adjania; keeping in mind Padukone?s dynamic and vivacious personality as well the high glamour world of Vogue Eyewear.

Vogue Eyewear global brand director Mariavittoria Di Stasi said, ?We are truly happy to have Deepika as the face of our communication campaign. She is very feminine, sensual, astonishing beautiful and at the same time fun and playful. She is stylish, smart and she likes to be updated without losing a personal touch in her style: she really reflects the core values of our brand and this is why we think she is the perfect fit for Vogue Eyewear!?

MUMBAI: Ajit Andhare, the founder and CEO of Colosceum Media, has decided to step down from the post.

Andhare will, however, continue to be associated with Colosceum as a director and mentor to the team. Without divulging any details, Andhare said he is moving on.

"This is a day of mixed emotions for me. Building Colosceum from scratch into one of the India?s leading studios has been a very fulfilling journey as a professional turned entrepreneur," Andhare said in a statement.

The production house best known for properties like MTV Roadies and Splitsville has appointed Lalit Sharma as chief operating officer and Rajiv Lakshman as chief creative officer.

Sharma and Lakshman, who have been a part of the founding team, will assume the responsibility as co-heads of the company. They are now set to steer the company to its next phase of growth and innovation.

The development gives credence to the rumours doing the rounds in the industry that Andhare is looking to offload his stake in Colosceum.

Andhare, it is believed, is keen on selling his stake in the company but that is if the valuation is right.

Capital18, which is a majority shareholder in Colosceum with 90 per cent stake, is also looking to bring down its stake in the company as part of its strategy to profitably divest stake in non-broadcasting businesses.

Capital 18 CEO Satbir Singh refused to comment. All that he said is,"We are constantly on the lookout to monetise our investments."

Andhare along with Lakshman owns the remaining 10 per cent stake.

The buzz in the industry is Mukul Deora?s Watchtower Entertainment, which was behind Bheja Fry2, is eyeing a stake in Colosceum.

A source close to the development says, "Watchtower Entertainment is keenly interested in Colosceum. KPMG is doing the due diligence for the company."

Colosceum is believed to have done a cumulative turnover of Rs twobillion in five years.

NEW DELHI: Stakeholders in broadcasting and new media feel that news on television can be interesting only if it is interactive and engaging.

Speaking at the panel on "Technological innovation for the news TV business in a digital environment", the various speakers said that newer technologies such as tablets, mobiles and varied types of downloadable apps have helped make TV viewing interactive. It will also help broadcasters to reach out to young audience.

NDTV, CTO, Dinesh Singh said that introduction of a new window called NDTV Second Screen had helped to get more people to write in with the kind of news they wanted to see. This had changed the look and feel of NDTV which was very different from other news channels. In answer to a question, he said that the channel had been able to monetize this.

Singh added that while internet is the future, television will continue to be on the rising phase as that is what generates the content for the other new media, including the internet.

Cellcast Asia Holdings, Founder & CEO, Pankaj Thakar stated, "Re-purposing content" to make interactive will need re-doing the content that may be already had been made for television. Referring to mobile phones he said that reach was much larger and the effort should be to create the pay per view model that is not driven by advertisements, which may prove to be an intrusion.

This provides, "humongous possibility of monetization". Interestingly, while the content of mobile phones is driven by people?s choice, the content on news channel is driven by the news editor.

He added that 95 per cent of the revenue of the music industry comes from mobiles.

Ericsson, Head-Content and Media, Supriyo Mookherjee added that personalisation of content was possible on the internet since the customer is able to decide what he wants and the apps that he wants to download.

Referring to mobile phones he said one can do narrowcasting by giving ads directed at specific regions. He stressed that the viewers today wanted news on the go.

Qtube-Quantel, Subject Matter Expert, Christophe Messa emphasized the possibility of sharing of content through downloading of AAPs that are now available for all subjects.

MUMBAI: Harman International Industries, a global audio and infotainment company, has entered into a multi-year distribution arrangement with Sahil International to market and sell its products in the country.

Sahil International is Harman?s exclusive distributor in India for JBL, Infinity and JBL Selenium branded aftermarket car audio products. It will also market and sell other Harman home and multimedia products under the JBL, Harman/Kardon, Infinity, and AKG brands.

Sahil International is the authorised representative for Harman Lifestyle brands in India and a leading consumer electronics importer since 1999.

Harman?s lifestyle division president Sachin Lawande stated, ?We are pleased with the support we have received over many years from Sahil International, both with respect to their marketing and sales excellence and we look forward to many more years of strong partnership with them to grow the India market for our products.?

Sahil International director Sahil Sani said, "This is a momentous occasion for our company and reaffirms the fact that as partners, Harman?s technologies and Sahil International?s local innovation and reach have helped to achieve the common goal of making Harman?s brands the leading choice in audio solutions for our esteemed Indian customers?.

MUMBAI: Travel media outfit Lonely Planet Television (LPTV), Singapore

-based production company Beach House Pictures (BHP) and the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) announced at Mipcom the launch of a new 13-part flagship television series Lonlely Planet: Roads Less Travelled, in conjunction with broadcaster National Geographic International and distributor BBC Worldwide.

The show is a cross-platform travel adventure franchise featuring for the first time real-life Lonely Planet authors on the job as they scour the world?s roads less travelled in search of the latest and greatest travel experiences on earth. Lonely Planet founder and independent traveller Tony Wheeler is slated to be one of the four authors featured in the new series.

Lonely Planet Television head Laurence Billiet says, ?Everybody thinks being paid to travel is one the best gigs in the world but at Lonely Planet we know it?s a really tough job. In this series for the first time on television we?ll reveal behind-the-scenes what it?s really like to be a Lonely Planet author.?

The show will premiere on the Nat Geo Adventure channel next year in Asia, France, Germany

, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Australia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. A cross-platform initiative, the new series will be supported by a website showcasing the itineraries featured in the TV series as well as complementary Lonely Planet destination content and travel services. Over time, the multi-platform franchise is expected to span DVD, mobile and web-TV.

The series will be co-produced with Beach House Pictures, who have worked with Lonely Planet on a number of television productions since signing an agreement with LPTV in 2005 to co-produce all Lonely Planet-branded television series in Singapore.

Beach House Pictures MD Jocelyn Little says, ?We?re excited by the opportunity to join forces with the Media Development Authority of Singapore, National Geographic and BBC Worldwide for the first time on such a major flagship series. All the partners believe strongly in the potential of this unique series, and expect it to turn into an on-going multi-media franchise?.

MDA CEO Dr Christopher Chia says, ?Lonely Planet is a cultural icon well-loved by many all over the world. This is a wonderful opportunity for Beach House to co-produce with well-known international partners who share the same vision of delivering quality content on multiple platforms to the global audiences and showcase the world?s best travel experiences to the world?.