MUMBAI: Prime Television New Zealand has picked up the broadcasting rights for the US version of cooking competition show ?The Taste?. ?The Taste? has already been picked up by Fox for India, Australia?s Nine Network and M6 in France.

ABC has ordered nine episodes of "The Taste" in which famed foodies Nigella Lawson and Anthony Bourdain head a distinguished panel of four judges to pit America?s most skilled cooks against one another. ?The Taste? was created by Kinetic Content, RedArrow?s US production company led by Chris Coelen.

Prime Channel manager Kathy Wright said, "We are delighted to include ?The Taste? in Prime?s schedule for2013 as it brings enormous value to our lifestyle lineup.

"Food and lifestyle programming is a popular part of our prime-time viewing and Nigella Lawson has been a familiar face for our viewers for many years, so we are very much looking forward to introducing our audience to her latest venture with Anthony Bourdain in this fantastic new competition series".

Red Arrow International regional sales director Asia and Pacific Yan He said, "This exciting blend of competition and cooking really hits a nerve! Here at ATF, buyers love ?The Taste? and I?m thrilled that now the Kiwis get a chance to watch it on PRIME." The Taste For the first time ever, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson are teaming up to get down to what truly matters: the way the food tastes! Our culinary superstars are going back to basics: the taste! Both home cooks and restaurateurs are given the opportunity of a lifetime, as they sharpen their skills and train with the best culinary experts in the business. Our superstar mentors will each coach a team of cooks, who they handpick based on their dishes alone. In each episode there are two challenges; a team challenge and an individual challenge. At the end of each show the mentors must decide together who to eliminate."

MUMBAI: BAG Films? television broadcasting business has turned profitable on a more than 100 per cent rise in revenues from a year earlier. In the second quarter ended 30 September, the company?s broadcasting business made an operating profit of Rs 87.8 million against operating loss of Rs 18.67 million a year earlier.

The company, which runs News 24 and E24 channels, saw its revenue from television broadcasting rise to Rs 251.3 million from Rs 124.5 million a year earlier.

The company?s television broadcasting business had reported operational loss of Rs 66.19 million in the first quarter ended 30 June. For the first six months of this year, it had an operational profit of Rs 21.60 million against operational loss of Rs 31.38 million a year earlier.

BAG?s operating profit from radio business fell 90 per cent to Rs 1.25 million in the second quarter from Rs 13.14 million a year ago as revenue stayed flat at Rs 18.1 million against Rs 18.3 million a year earlier.

Its audio-visual production business also turned operationally profitable with a profit of Rs 20.68 million against operational loss of Rs 20.7 million a year earlier. Its revenue from the production business jumped three fold to Rs 89.9 million in the second quarter from Rs 29 million a year earlier.

On a consolidated basis, BAG Films? reported a net profit of Rs 56.18 million in the second quarter against a loss of Rs 66.53 million a year earlier. Its revenues from operations almost doubled to Rs 361.3 million from Rs 171.9 million a year earlier. The company?s total expenses were up about 14 per cent to Rs 336.4 million in the second quarter from Rs 295.8 million a year earlier.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television will join PricewaterhouseCoopers at the television trade event Mipcom 2012 to discuss the future of media, entertainment and broadcasting.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) global leader entertainment, media practice Marcel Fenez will present the annual PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook at Mipcom on 8 October, outlining forecasts in the media and leisure industries. This industry report will be followed by interviews conducted by Fenez with Sony Pictures Television president of International Production and Sony Pictures Entertainment president of international Andrea Wong.

In her Mipcom keynote interview, Wong will discuss the PwC Outlook findings and how they are reflected in the production activity that SPT International Production undertakes around the world, as well as international production and commissioning trends.

Wong heads the studio?s international television production business, overseeing the creative teams outside the US as well as the 18 owned and joint venture international production companies around the world.

Organised by Reed Midem, Mipcom will take place in Cannes, France from 8-11 October.

MUMBAI: Turner Broadcasting System Asia will launch a multi-language Toonami channel early next year across Southeast Asia.

Toonami, which is based on the same programming block on Cartoon Network, will be a channel that Turner Broadcasting System Asia describes as "the ultimate home of the superhero." 

The channel will feature anime and animated action-adventure series. The channel?s lineup will include Dragon Ball Z, along with other animated series such as Young Justice, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Turner International Asia Pacific senior VP, MD for entertainment networks Sunny Saha said, "Our aim is to make Toonami a socially-charged, multi-platform experience for fans, by fans. We?ll invite input from viewers on everything from programming to showcasing fan art submissions on-air and online."

Turner Broadcasting System Asia will also launch the channel that will feature animation catered to younger viewers aged 3-7.

Adult Swim, the cable and satellite network that is paired with Cartoon Network, relaunched its Toonami programming block in the US in May. Cartoon Network had previously ended Toonami in 2008 after an 11-year run.

NEW DELHI: The government hopes to earn over Rs 15 billion from the auction of 839 FM radio channels in 294 cities.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevison.com that it will hold ascending e-auction as recommended by the Group of Ministers and followed in the case of 3G and BWA by the Telecom Department.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended reduction in the minimum channel spacing from 800 KHz to 400 KHz within a licence service area in FM radio sector in India. The recommendation is under ?active consideration? of the Ministry, the sources said.

Under the Phase III Policy, the permission for the channels would be granted on the basis of non-refundable one-time entry fee, that is, the successful bid amount to be arrived at through an ascending e-auction process mutatis mutandis as recommended by the GoM. The cost would be determined through price discovery during the e-auction process.

The e-auction, expected to begin early next year, may take another two or three years in view of the large number of stations.

The sources said apart from the problems that may arise because of the first-time e-auction for which cabinet permission will be sought in advance to avoid delays, issues such as charging of migration fee from existing permission holders, and specific departures in the Requests for Proposals (RFP) had not been taken into account when the Cabinet had approved the Phase III proposals on 7 July last year.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a note which has been circulated to the concerned ministries/departments for their views, before it is put up before the Union Cabinet in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is expected to call for tenders for e-auction later this month. The pre-qualification for the bidders is expected to be completed in another two months, following which the qualified companies will be allowed to participate in the e-auction for FM Phase III.

FM Phase-III Policy will extend FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities. Among the four metros, only Kolkata is not getting any new FM channel. While Mumbai will get two, Delhi and Chennai will get one each.

Under Phase-II currently in existence, 245 FM channels are operational covering 86 cities, each with a population of over 300,000 or more.

NEW DELHI: All India Radio has a spectrum of just 4.7 MHz exclusively reserved for its FM services and will need more spectrum to achieve its objective of setting up 385 new FM transmitters in the Twelfth Plan to increase the FM coverage to India?s 90 per cent population.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said that only 100 to 103.7 was presently reserved exclusively for FM broadcasting services by AIR.

In contracts, 103.7 t0 108 MHz and 91.5 MHz to 95 MHz is exclusively reserved for expansion of the private sector FM services.

At present, AIR FM reaches out to 41.43 per cent population and 29.18 per cent area. This is part of the total AIR coverage of 91.87 per cent area and 99.19 per cent population.

Even prior to the 12th Plan scheme, FM Transmitters of varying capacities are being installed in 224 more places throughout the country by AIR, apart from 40 MW transmitters. This will take the coverage to 38.75 per cent area and 53.53 per cent population including villages and hamlets.

The sources said 87 to 91.5 MHz and 95 to 100 MHz is shared between Fixed/Mobile and FM broadcasting services. But Fixed/Mobile Services have priority over FM broadcasting services.

Meanwhile, 531-1602 kHz (Medium Frequency) is an exclusive band for radio broadcasting according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). AIR gets allocation for Medium Wave radio services. Furthermore, 3-26 MHz (High Frequency) is an exclusive band for radio broadcasting and AIR gets allocation for Short Wave radio services.

In addition, AIR is also using the Insat satellites for linking/feeding of programmes to various stations in the country through S-Band: 2550-2590 MHz (Transponder S-1); 2590-2630 MHz ((Transponder S-2); and C-Band : 4105-4145 MHz.

The sources said the assessment of spectrum requirement for broadcasting and radio is done by Wireless Planning Coordination Wing (WPC) of the Department of Telecom through a Committee under the chairmanship of Wireless Advisor while drawing up of National Frequency Allocation Plan. The NFAP 2011 is the latest frequency allocation plan.