MUMBAI: Encouraged by the onset of digitisation, Turner International India, a Turner Broadcasting System affiliate, is weighing channel launches as part of its growth strategy for the Indian market.

Without divulging any details, Turner International India MD Siddharth Jain reveals that the company is looking at various genres including kids and English entertainment.

"We have plans to launch channels, but it‘s premature to talk about it. We are looking at many options - it could be kids, it could be in the English genre, but it‘s too early to say anything," says Jain.

Like other American media conglomerates namely News Corp, Walt Disney and Viacom, India is a key market for Turner. It has a strong presence in kids and English movie genre in India.

"India has been seen as a growth market not only in Asia but also globally as far as the Turner family goes," the Turner India boss adds.

Turner‘s India portfolio comprises of Cartoon Network and Pogo in the kids TV space while the English movie channel business comprises of Warner Bros (WB), HBO South Asia and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

It also had a presence in the cash-guzzling Hindi general entertainment (GEC) genre through Imagine TV, which was shut down in April last year, due to financial unviability.

The company also runs a distribution joint-venture with Zeel called Zee Turner which in turn runs an equal JV with Star Den called Media Pro, India‘s biggest content aggregator.

"We are very strongly established in the kid‘s genre despite competition. Cartoon Network and Pogo continue to be the leader channels in the kid‘s genre. If you look at English entertainment, WB and HBO have a strong foothold in this genre as well," he adds.

Turner had recently expanded its bouquet by launching two ad-free hybrid movie channels in partnership with Eros International. The two channels, HBO Hits and HBO Defined, are available in SD as well as HD but it‘s the latter that Jain is betting on.

"That‘s the next step we have taken because HD is expanding and as every home moves from analogue to digital, consumers would want to experience HD next," he affirms.

The two channels are being offered at a special introductory price of Rs 49 and Rs 69 for SD and HD services respectively for three months till the end of May. Following that the sticker price will be Rs 99 for the SD channels and Rs 129 for the HD channel pack.

"HBO Hits and HBO Defined are ad-free channels and the differentiator here is that we have priced them high because we feel that there is a market here that wants to watch a movie in HD and without any advertisement breaks and they are willing to pay subscription for that," avers Jain.

HBO Hits and HBO Defined, which are available on the Airtel digital TV and Dish TV, will soon be available on all major DTH and cable platform in the next 3-4 months, asserts Jain.

"This is slightly long-term and we are patient. We believe in 14-16 months we will be where we want ourselves to be," declares Jain.

On digitisation, Jain believes that the move will bring in transparency which will translate into better subscription revenues. It will also bring down the cost of launching new channels which will be a boost for niche offerings.

He, however, confessed that the benefits of digitisation will percolate over a period of time as the process has just begun. The good thing is that the process has kick-started.

"We are still going through the process and it is not yet complete. If you look at mandated digitisation in markets like the US, it took seven years. So you cannot expect it to happen overnight considering the country‘s size and scale," argues Jain.

Jain, who is on the Board of Directors of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), says that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India‘s (Trai) ad regulation is ill-timed and rather than bringing it in the middle of digitisation process the regulator should have brought it after the process was completed.

"I am not against it but what I am saying is that instead of implementing it overnight it could have been implemented in a way once the digitisation process was settled," says Jain explaining his position on the regulation.

The ad regulation, he says, will spell doom for smaller broadcasters who are dependent on ad revenue for sustenance.

MUMBAI: In a one of its kind partnership, Cartoon Network has partnered with Rovio Entertainment to bring Angry Birds Toons, an animated TV series based on the globally successful and trendsetting game Angry Birds, to Indian kids.

Scheduled to premiere on 16 March, this weekly series will air in the mornings.

The series is based on the life of the Angry Birds living on Piggy Island. Red and his fearless feathered companions, Chuck, Matilda, Bomb, Blues and Terence, must band together to protect their eggs - and their future - from the wily plotting of the Bad Piggies.
 
"We?ve long wanted to tell our fans the story of the Angry Birds and the Bad Piggies, to introduce their personalities and their world in detail," said Rovio Entertainment CEO Mikael Hed. "We?re delighted to partner up with some of the best video-on-demand providers and TV networks across the world. It is an important milestone for us on our journey towards becoming a fully-fledged entertainment powerhouse."

Turner International India Senior Director and Head of Kids vertical Krishna Desai said, "At Cartoon Network, we pride ourselves on understanding kids and delivering innovative and entertaining content to them. The Angry Birds games are a global phenomenon with kids and adults and we look forward to partnering with Rovio Entertainment as the broadcast partner for Angry Birds Toons animated series. We are certain that kids will be enthralled and excited to watch this adaptation of Angry Birds on Cartoon Network."
 
Angry Birds Toons will feature 52 episodes, with a new episode released each week.

Additionally, Rovio Entertainment is launching one of the world?s biggest video networks in its Angry Birds game titles on smartphones and tablets. Fans can watch the latest adventures of the birds and pigs through a dedicated channel available in all Angry Birds apps.

MUMBAI: LucasFilm, which was acquired by Disney, has entered into a new era focussed on the next Star Wars trilogy. A whole new Star Wars series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming is in the pipeline.

In a statement Lucasfilm said, "After five highly successful and critically acclaimed seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we feel the time has come to wind down the series. While the studio is no longer producing new episodes for Cartoon Network, we?re continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen. Stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content. In the video below, Supervising Director Dave Filoni offers a peek of what is to come in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
 
At Star Wars Celebration VI last year, George Lucas gave fans a glimpse at the animated comedy series Star Wars Detours from Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, and Todd Grimes. "Detours was conceived and produced before we decided to move forward with the new Star Wars trilogy, and in the wake of that decision, Lucasfilm has reconsidered whether launching an animated comedy prior to the launch of Episode VII makes sense. As a result, we?ve decided to postpone the release of Detours until a later date," Lucasfilm said.