Mumbai: Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd. (WWIL), the leading cable television service provider in India will be offering highest number of channels in the first phase of digitization in its three lucrative markets of Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, under SITI Cable brand name.

SITI Cable is on the forefront to provide advanced IP based digital delivery platform that will transmit superior quality TV signal to subscribers. It will also delight subscribers by offering 400 SD channels having better quality picture and audio compare to analogue cable TV. Further it will offer 30 HD Channels and TV signals that remain uninterrupted even in bad weather. The subscriber needs to install SITI digital Set-Top-Box (STB) with their TV set to receive these high quality TV signals.

With about three months to go for first phase of digitization of cable tv networks in Delhi, Mumbai & Kolkata comes into effect; the company has made all arrangements to deploy three million set-top-boxes in these three cities. STB?s are getting procured from multiple vendors so as to ensure smooth supply of STB?s to the subscribers. The STB deployment to the subscribers has started in Delhi and Kolkata market

The multi-fold increase in subscriber number is expected with the digitization. Such exponential growth in subscriber numbers requires huge infrastructure to serve them as well, for which SITI Cable is well positioned.

The company is technologically ready to further augment its channel carrying capacity in times to come.

Mumbai: STAR Pravah has achieved new heights in Wk 13?12 as the channel was crowned Maharashtra?s No 1 Channel beating its existing HGE and MGE competition with an impressive 240 GRPs. According to TAM; the channel beat its own record 234 GRPs in Wk 5?12 making it Maharashtra?s most viewed channel in the past week.

STAR Pravah offers its viewers the right mix of Marathi fiction and movie content including the recently launched fiction show Devyani and the World Television Premiere of National Award winning Best Film, Deool. STAR Pravah has been consistently growing over weeks and in a process of generating unique and fresh content for the audiences. STAR Pravah has assumed leadership in Maharashtra beating its MGE competitors and is now in a close leader amongst its HGE counterparts in Maharashtra. In Mumbai the channel has garnered a whopping 300 GRPs while it leads the Pune market with 373 GRPs.

Shrabani Deodhar, Head of Programming, STAR Pravah, says, ?STAR Pravah has always been inclined to delivering the best of variety entertainment to our audiences and offering some of the unique and never seen before concepts. We are immensely happy with the overwhelming response from our viewers.?

STAR Pravah boasts of path breaking shows like Pudhcha Paul, Swapnanchya Palikadle, Bhanda Saukhya Bhare that have been slot leaders at their respective time slots at 7.30 pm, 8 pm and 6.30 pm. In week 13?12, Pudhcha Paul (7.30 pm) and Swapnanchya Palikadle (8.00 pm) fetched the highest TVR across MGE with a 4.2 and 4 TVR respectively. STAR Pravah also ranks No 1 with a maximum of 114 GRPs in the weekday day time part cutting across its HGE and MGE competition. Continuing its legacy of premiering some of the best Marathi blockbusters, the channel will be soon airing National Award Winner Best Marathi Film Shala in the month of April exclusively for its viewers.

Commenting on this notable feat, Yogesh Manwani, VP Marketing, STAR Pravah says,? We are extremely happy with the support our viewers have shown towards us and the ratings are a proof of their appreciation of our efforts. We promise to continue to deliver a wide variety of entertainment that the viewers have never seen before."

Mumbai: 9XM, India?s No.1 Bollywood Music Channel has crossed 1 Million Fans Milestone on the Channel?s Facebook community ? www.facebook.com/9xm.in. The winning combination of super hit Bollywood Music, humor, animation, e-commerce and innovative content has catapulted 9XM to the 1 Million fans club on Facebook.

The colossal fan base on 9XM?s Facebook Community was achieved in just over a year?s time, by making it the one-stop destination for Bollywood news, humor and gossip presented in the true 9XM style. From the latest movie reviews to hot gossips on film stars and their parties to Bollywood fashion ? it?s all there on the 9XM Facebook Community. The fans regularly voice their opinions, likes and dislikes on all the happenings in Bollywood, making the page the most preferred Bollywood hangout.

Commenting on the achievement, Ms. Vibha Gosher VP-Digital 9X Media Group said ?We are extremely thrilled to get over a million thumps ups from Bollywood Music Fans on 9XM?s Community on Facebook. Besides the 1 Million Fans that we have on the page, 9XM is showing unprecedented buzz amongst users. While all the Indian music channels on Facebook see 2-3% average level of buzz, 9XM sees more than 9%. When we talk about the engagement and user?s interest in the brand, 9XM towers above the others in the genre. The content on the 9XM community is 16% ?Share-able?, whereas the top performing brands on this space have merely 10-13% viability. It produces minimum 1 mention every 22 minutes about the brand on the internet ecosystem. This is extremely motivating and reaffirms our commitment to connect and engage with our viewers and fans across all possible platforms.?

9XM, the flagship channel of 9X Media Pvt. Ltd has a robust digital presence in India and has introduced many innovative concepts on the internet. 9XM is India?s first Music Channel to stream its content live on its website ? www.9xm.in and is available across various mobile TV platforms.

In the recent past, 9XM in partnership with Hungama.com, has launched an online Bollywood Music Store - ?9XM.Hungama.com? and 9XM Radio ? the on-the-move radio for Bollywood Songs, Celebrity interviews, Bade& Chote?s Bakwaas, etc. These services are available on web, WAP and IVR platforms.

9XM also offers Caller Tunes, giving the viewers an instant opportunity to set caller tunes of the latest Bollywood songs aired on the channel. 9XM has launched ?Mezza 9X? the Ecommerce portal by the network selling quirky merchandise.

9XM has also launched many games and applications for the iPad and iPhone users. Fans of 9XM?s animated characters can select and download their favourite games like the Angry 9XM Heroes, Silly Chicken and Talking Silly Chicken (India?s first Talking Application) from the IOS App store.

MUMBAI: Mobile operator Idea Cellular has announced innovative 3G Data plans for its prepaid and postpaid mobile customers in Maharashtra, Goa.

The new data plans allow Idea prepaid and postpaid 3G customers to experience unlimited 3G services, with rentals starting from Rs. 750 for post-paid customers and Rs. 950 pre-paid customers.

Idea has introduced unlimited 3G data plan for its customers thereby becoming 1st GSM operator to have 3G unlimited plans on Mobile Phone & Data Cards

Idea Cellular COO Maharashtra, Goa Rajendra Chourasia said, ?We have noticed that the customers in Maharashtra and Goa have high data usage and requirements. To meet the growing demands of our 3G customers we have introduced these unlimited 3G data plans on the Mobiles and NetSetters in the circle. We have always supported our customers? requirements with the best voice and data benefits and these innovative offers allow Idea customers to have high-speed wireless network access on the go and unlimited surfing without bothering about the bill?.

Mumbai: Milestone Brandcom, a leading and fastest growing integrated Out-of- Home brand communications agency in India breaks an exciting campaign, cutting through the monotonous displays out-of-home, to announce the launch of the Tata Docomo Brand store across MPCG.

Docomo has launched over 15 new Brand Stores across MPCG. The media mandate was to generate awareness & create buzz & hype around the newly launched stores.

Today, mobile services are not merely used for calling your loved ones. The role a telecom operator plays in our day to day lives goes way beyond the basic functionality of making a phone call. The concept behind the BRAND STORES is to convey to the audiences, with Tata DOCOMO life is much more than just talking, that Tata Docomo understands the various expectations of their customers to fit their life in a store.

?The communication objective was to generate maximum footfalls to the store and urge the audiences to live the dynamic world. The strategy adopted was that of location branding, by being present within a kilometer radius of the stores to announce the arrival of Tata Docomo in the consumers? neighbourhood? said Imtiyaz Vilatra, Founder Member & Managing Partner at Milestone Brandcom.

Milestone Brandcom creatively depicted the exciting theme of ?fitting in an entire life in a store? with an actual car mounted on a billboard in Bhopal with some suitcases stacked up on it. The car was outlined with white led lights along its edges to give it an attractive glow during the night catching a good visibility & glow in the night almost up to 200-300 meters. While the actual creative displayed a car with luggage piled up on its top, the OOH innovation replaced it with actual car and real luggage, making it stand out and get talked about. So much was the impact that almost all leading dailies captured the innovation and wrote about it in press.

Somdev Sen, Head of Marketing at Tata Docomo (MP&CG), said, ?People buy newspapers to read news, people tune in to radio for music, or watch Television for news and entertainment ? hence advertising is looked upon as an interruption. But Outdoor is the only medium where advertising is not an interruption but a welcome platform for information dissemination. We wanted to infuse life into an otherwise static medium; and this initiative by Milestone has not only managed to grab mindshare but also noticed attention from press and got great PR coverage which is impressive?.

New Delhi: The Indian Premier League is back in its fifth season with its electric mix of cricket and entertainment and CNN-IBN will be there to give its viewers the most comprehensive coverage of this sporting spectacle with its lineup of special programming called Cricketainment.

The CNN-IBN team of some of India?s most experienced sports journalists will be joined by well-known experts of the game such as Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Aakash Chopra, Anil Kumble, Shishir Hattangdi, Maninder Singh to give the viewers the sharpest and most precise analysis of every game in the tournament.

Cricketainment begins its innings on CNN IBN from April 2 and continues till the end of the IPL season on May 27. The coverage will be divided in two stages:

1. PRE-IPL:
The show will feature celebrities and guests and will discuss strengths and weaknesses of all IPL teams and try to predict who will come out on top in IPL 5.
Timings: April 2 @ 7:00 PM & April 3 @ 7:00 PM

2. DURING IPL:
Daily pre & post-match analysis where the experts will discuss & analyze the teams? performance
Timings: April 4 ? May 27, Everyday @ 3:30 PM, 7:30 PM & 11:30 PM Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN, IBN7 & IBN Lokmat, said, ?The tournament that shook cricket and enthralled fans is back and so is our boundless IPL coverage on and off the field. Cricketainment aims to give viewers multiple perspectives of the tournament with the most pertinent experts and our team of reporters who add the extra spark into the game.?