I’m pleased to announce that Andrew Wallenstein will be joining us to write about the digital-entertainment business, based in Los Angeles. Andy, who will be a senior editor for us, will also help develop new editorial features for the sites. If you had any doubts about the newsiness of the…

UK’s Satellite Information Services Ltd, a company that pioneered the live broadcast of horse racing in that country, may be chosen over Mumbai-based Nimbus Communications Ltd as the producer and broadcaster of the 2010 Commonwealth Games that will be held in New Delhi, reports PTI. Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has…

Exhibitor Fame India (Formerly Shringar Cinemas Ltd) rose 4.95% to close at Rs30.75 even as the benchmark Sensex closed down 0.53%, or 88 points from its previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Fame India scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs30.9, following a block deal for 46.95 lakh…

Broadcaster Star India has introduced two of its channels on Mimobi.tv, a mobile TV portal. Hindi GEC Star One and Tamil GEC Star Vijay will now be available for mobile users on supporting networks. Mimobi.tv is currently available on BSNL, Idea, Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), MTNL Delhi, Aircel Tamil Nadu and…

A.P. Parigi, who, two weeks ago, said he was leaving the Times Group as he had turned 60 and wanted to pursue other interests in life, has joined Eros International as group CEO for Indian operations. He stepped down as the MD of Entertainment Network India Ltd early August, but…

After 14-hour-long negotiations that ended this morning at 2:30am, Bollywood producers and multiplex owners have reached an agreement on the contentious revenue sharing formulae, ending a crippling two-month long standoff that saw the film industry suffering a combined loss of Rs300 crore and left viewers with no cinematic relief this…

Scam-hit Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that P.S. Saminathan, who was barred by the capital market regulator Sebi recently, is stepping down as chairman of the company. He will, however, continue as managing director. N. Narayanan, a promoter-director of the company, will take over as…

Balaji Telefilms Ltd, the Mumbai-based producer of television software, posted its first quarterly loss yesterday. The company swung from a net profit of Rs23.85 crore for Q408 to a net loss of Rs14.62 crore for the corresponding quarter this fiscal. Consolidated net profit dropped 99.14% from Rs95.59 crore, to Rs47…

Negotiations this afternoon failed to resolve the month-long impasse in India’s Hindi film industry, where Bollywood producers and multiplex chains are locked in a tussle over sharing revenues. The standoff has affected both sides badly, with multiplex occupancies down to a trickle and more than 15 films awaiting release. “There…

Business Standard reports that Reliance Big TV, the direct-to-home service of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is in talks with a clutch of marquee private equity firms such as Sequoia Capital, Carlyle Group, KKR as well as US-based DTH firm Direct TV, to offload a 49% stake. Indian laws allow…

The rebelling shareholders of The Indian Film Co. Ltd, the AIM, London-listed speciality film investment firm part owned by Network18 Group promoter Raghav Bahl, may be able to gain some concessions at the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Feb. 5, including their own representative on the board, reports The Economic…

It’s a boomtime investment during a slowdown. Bollywood portal Chakpak.com which hopes to make money from advertising and merchandising has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Canaan Partners and the existing seed partner, Accel India, formerly Erasmic Venture Fund. ET puts the funding amount at $5 million. What prompted…

Well, at least big Hollywood names can still get a line of credit in these trying times. The heads at DreamWorks SKG have firmed up a $1.2 billion deal to leave Viacom’s Paramount Pictures and form a new venture funded by Indian telecom and media conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, WSJ…

Shemaroo Entertainment, the studio, distribution and production conglomerate has tied up with the Israel Mobile and Communication Association (IMA) to ‘explore mobile entertainment’. IMA claims to be the “nucleus of the Israeli communications industry” and represents 100 portfolio companies that offer solutions and services in communications technologies. Although the report…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is close to formally launching its iTunes store in India states this BS report. A truncated version of the India store, featuring only iPhone apps has been live for a while. The main meat, which includes music, movies, podcasts and TV shows are conspicuous by their absence.…

—Anil Ambani is one busy man. Dreamworks SKG is near an agreement tbe funded by Reliance ADAG reports Bloomberg. As with an as yet un-finalized deal, the reports are conflicting. While in one place it states the funding is to the tune of $550 million, a sentence later it states…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is planning to host Bengali movies on YouTube as well as post literary works of renowned novelists on the web. As per the release, West Bengal IT Minister Debesh Das is quoted as stating Google has evinced an interest to include Bengali classical literature and movies in…

P2P TV platform Babelgum is adding what it says is the largest collection of online Bollywood films to its catalogue. Its Colours Of Bollywood channel includes over 100 hours of titles like Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naan and Ishq Hai Tumse, thanks to a deal with distributor WEG India Pictures. Well-financed…

The Sanjay Gaikwad led Indian tech-media group Valuable Group has announced the acquisition of MovieBeam. The release claims the acquisition includes all assets, including trademarks and intellectual property rights which its past suitors, including Disney (NYSE: DIS), Intel (NSDQ: INTC) and Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) amongst others, reportedly spent $200 million…