MUMBAI: As the English movie landscape gets more competitive Multi Screen Media?s (MSM) channel Pix has done a deal with MGM which will see titles from the Bond, Pink Panther, Rocky, Terminator franchises among others to air.

The deal is for three years. Pix business head Saurabh Yagnik said that the deal also covers new films like the new Bond film ?Skyfall?, ?The Hobbit? and in future the remake of ?Robocop?. "In all, we will be able to expand our library by 50-60 films.

"In addition, we will also showcase all Bond titles and popular movies from MGM?s stable like the Rocky series, Terminator, Species, The Pink Panther and Conan the Destroyer".
 
Late last year MSM had poached Yagnik from category leader Star Movies in a bid to get a leg up on the competition. This is his first major move since then. Pix which had started as a library channel made the transition to more current films when it did an output deal with its parent Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) a couple of years ago. The next major title from SPE is ?The Amazing Spiderman? which will air on the channel in June. As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com Himmat Butalia will move from Pix to AXN to head marketing. Pix has started the search for somebody to fill his role.

Mumbai: Turner International India has prmoted Dhawal Katkar as senior director and network head for the English vertical.

In his new capacity, Katkar will take on newer responsibilities for managing integrated communications and the content portfolio of Turner?s English vertical which includes HBO and WB.

Over the last two years, Katkar has been instrumental in leading marketing communications for the kids segment and his new role comes into effect immediately.

Katkar will report to Turner International India managing director south Asia Siddharth Jain.

Jain said, ?It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dhawal Katkar as Senior Director and Network Head for English vertical. He brings attributes including a sharp marketing brain, a sound understanding of our brands and past experience of FMCG and consumer products and has the credentials to take this key vertical to the next level of success. I congratulate Dhawal and look forward to working with him to achieve more in an increasingly competitive market.?
 
Dhawal has over 14 years of experience in the FMCG industry with various consumer brands. After he joined Turner in April 2011, Dhawal led multiple on-air and on-ground communications programme for kids. Dhawal has also been responsible for various digital campaigns for WB that has helped build reach by driving online traffic to the channel via real time innovative contests.