MUMBAI: Global media and communications investment firm Saban Capital Group has announced the opening of a new office in Hong Kong by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Saban Capital Group (Asia).

The office is led by Sumeet Jaisinghani, who has re-located to Hong Kong from Saban Capital Group?s Los Angeles office, and serves to expand the firm?s investment activities in Asia.

The Hong Kong office is Saban Capital Group?s first office in Asia.

Saban Capital Group began investing in Asia in 2010 and has three existing portfolio investments in the region: Indonesian
vertically-integrated media company Media Nusantara Citra; Celestial Tiger Entertainment, a joint venture with Astro and Lionsgate on pay TV channels and content creation and distribution across Asia; and Taomee, a children?s online entertainment company in China.

Jaisinghani, who joined Saban Capital Group in 2008, has been involved with all of the firm?s investments in Asia.

Saban Capital Group president, COO Adam Chesnoff said, ?The expansion of our investment practice into Asia represents a strategic priority for Saban Capital Group. Our presence in Hong Kong provides us with a regional connection to the many exciting investment opportunities in media and communications in Asia while supporting our existing investments in the region. Our approach of partnering with strong entrepreneurs and management teams, and contributing our expertise, relationships and capital to help them achieve their global growth objectives, is a unique proposition in these dynamic markets.?

Saban Capital Group (Asia) director Sumeet Jaisinghani said, ?As a highly specialized, and long-term, investor with a flexible mandate and a long track record, we believe we are an ideal partner for entrepreneurs and companies in Asia. Our investment profile in Asia includes the spectrum of growth equity, active minority investments, recapitalizations and co-control situations."

In the Hong Kong office, Mr. Jaisinghani will be overseeing an investment team dedicated to transaction sourcing and execution.

Saban Capital Group was established in 2001 by Haim Saban and its private equity investments outside of Asia have included: Univision Communications, the largest Hispanic media company in the United States; Bezeq Telecommunications (TASE: BEZQ), the incumbent telecom operator in Israel; and ProSiebenSat.1 (FSE: PSM), the largest television broadcast company in Germany.

MUMBAI: Members of the multichannel TV industry in the Asia Pacific have rallied to raise more than $72,000 for Plan International Hong Kong.

Casbaa CSR Committee co-chair, Doug Fraser of Australia Network said, "We could not be more pleased with the generosity shown by individuals and organisations to support Plan International?s Early Childhood Care and Development Project benefitting underprivileged children in the Philippines."

Plan Hong Kong CEO James R Murray said, "The partnership between Casbaa and Plan International Hong Kong demonstrates the value of professional associations such as CASBAA and its members who are committed to addressing the ills that affect children without access to the basics of good health, nutrition and education."

Through a combination of individual and corporate donations along with a Top Table competition and silent auction during the annual Casbaa Charity Ball presented by Turner at the Casbaa Convention 2011, the Association raised much needed funds that will assist children living in poverty in the Philippines.

As part of Casbaa Cares, the partnership between Casbaa and Plan International Hong Kong supports over 5,600 children aged two to five living in rural areas of Masbate in the Philippines.

Plan International is a development organisation specifically focussed on children, supporting more than 1.5 million kids and their families around the world.

MUMBAI: Nokia Music Connects 3 has left no stone unturned to provide the Indian music Industry and its allied sectors a common platform to discuss major issues and challenges faced in the music business.

The annual conference will take place on 16 - 17 November 2011 at a spanking brand new venue, The ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai.

Nokia Music Connects is a joint venture conceptualized by Hong Kong based Branded (which runs Music and Digital Matters) and leading Indian media portal Indiantelevision.com‘s Radioandmusic.com.

With more than 75 proficient Indian and International music panelists and speakers, the two-day long music conference "Nokia Music Connects - the Indian music forum 2011 in association with Artistaloud.com" will throw light on major changes that have evolved in the Indian music industry.

Speakers at the panel will share their expertise on the music in Bollywood films to Indian pop, religious, regional pop, classical music, the digital value chain, live music scene and the future of independent artistes. The event will also witness unique live performance by Grammy award winner Imogem Heap.

Speaking on the occasion, Nokia India MD Viral Oza said, "After the success of Nokia Music Connects two years in a row since we started in 2009, we hope to take Nokia Music Connects 2011 to newer heights. A forum such as this one offers an ideal platform where diverse industry voices coalesce to build and strengthen the music & entertainment ecosystem; all the more so, since the Indian music industry and the entertainment industry at large is poised for momentous change now."

Other important panel discussions will include debate on the legal and copyright side of the music business. Key industry executives will discuss on the new music tools like the Internet mobile radio and streaming services, followed by discussions on music TV reality shows , the live scene and the core of music-the artiste management.

The various panelist include regulatory heads, music label honchos, advertising gurus, corporate heads as well as top notch creative professionals from the music industry, from both India and abroad. Those participating in the conference will be key players from all these sectors, making the event as much of an exciting networking platform as a forum where vital issues facing the industry will be discussed and a path to the future will be forged.

The venture is supported by the umbrella organisation of the music industry, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) in partnership with MMX, PPL and IPRS in association with Hungama.com and Artistaloud.com, Industry partner Saavn.com, Session partners Sony Mix and British Council, Lanyard partner BMI, Endorsed & Supported by SIMCA, Official Festival partner Only Much Louder, Opening Party partner Shiro, supporting partners Indiantelevision.com, Branded, Canadian Music week, Music2Deal, MediaNama, Casbaa, and Media partners - Afaqs, IMT, IHT, Campaign India and PR partner CMCG, Co-Produced by Music Matters and Radioandmusic.com

Speakers and Panelist at NMC 2011 (Alphabetical order):-

Achille Forler (Managing Director, Deep Emotions)

Adarsh Gupta (Head - Music Business, Saregama India Ltd.)

Aditya Swamy (Senior Vice-President, MTV)

Hardeep Singh Anand (Lawyer)

Anil Wanvari (Founder CEO, Indiantelevision.com Group)

Anthony Zameczkowski (Head of YouTube Partnerships, Google Hong Kong Ltd.)

Apurv Nagpal (Managing Director & CEO, Saregama)

Arvind Krishnan (Director - Marketing, Bacardi)

Atul Churamani (Content Head, OnMobile)

Ben Thomas (Managing Director, Kurian & Co.)

Bharath Subramaniam (Director, Xone)

Brandon Bakshi (Executive Director - Europe & Asia, BMI)

Devraj Sanyal (Managing Director, Universal Music Group)

Farhad Wadia (CEO, E18)

Imogen Heap (Grammy Award Winning Artist)

Jasmeet Gandhi (Head - Devices OPM & Services Marketing, Nokia India)

John McLellan (Partner, Haldanes)

Jon Slade (Founder, Elastic Artists Agency)

Jordan Berliant (Linkin Park‘s Manager)

Jyrki Rosenberg (Vice President, Entertainment & MeeGo, Nokia)

Kapil Raizada (Director - Applications & Voice Products, OnMobile)

Mandar Thakur (COO, Times Music)

Mark Wood (Imogen Heap‘s Manager)

Martin Elbourne (Glastonbury Festival)

Mukesh Bhatt (Chairman & Managing Director, Vishesh Films)

Myles Keller (Membership Development Director, PRS for Music)

Natasha Haddad (Programmer, The Great Escape/ Mean Fiddler)

Neeraj Roy (Managing Director & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.)

Neeraj Vyas (Executive Vice President & Business Head, SONY MAX & SONY MIX)

Owen Roncon (Partner, Oranjuice Entertainment)

Pakul Chaturvedi (Chief - Asia Pacific, Promo Sapiens)

Param Singh (Co-Founder, Saavn.com)

Peter Jenner (Discoverer of Pink Floyd, subsequent Manager of many, Advisor to WIPO)

Pradeep Anand (Managing Director, MeraGana.com)

Prashant Bahadur (Vice President & General Manager, The Orchard)

Prashant Dogra (Vice President - VAS, Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Prasoon Joshi (Lyricist, Screenwriter, Copywriter)*

Rajesh Dhupad (Jt. Secretary Simca)

Raju Singh (Music Composer)

Ralph Simon (CEO, Mobilium International)

Rob Lewis (Executive Chairman, Omnifone)

Robert Horsfall (Head, Sound Advice Legal, LLP)

Ruth Daniel (Founder, Un-Convention)

Ruuben van den Heuvel (Independent Consultant - Digital, Media, Music,

Sabbas Joseph (Founder Director, Wizcraft)

Sameer Nigam (CEO, Mime360)*

Shehzad Azad (Head - Business Development & Alliances Spice Digital)

Siddhartha Roy (COO - Consumer Business & Allied Services, Hungama Digital Media

Sita Raina (CEO, The Peninsula Studios)

Soumini Sridhara Paul (Associate Vice President, Artist Aloud)

Stephen Budd (Managing Director, Stephen Budd Music Ltd. & Founder/ Council Member, Music Manager‘s Forum)

Sulaiman Merchant (Music Composer)

T. Suresh (Managing Director, EMI Music India)

Ted Cohen (Managing Partner, TAG Strategic)

Tom Baker ( Founder, Eat Your Own Ears)

Vijay Lazarus (President, IMI / PPL)

Vipul Pradhan (CEO - Licensing Division, PPL)

Viral Oza (Director - Marketing, Nokia India)

Vivek Paul (Director - Digital, Sony Music)

MUMBAI: English movie channel Movies Now has kicked off the Planet Action festival from 14 November.

Action movies will air Monday - Thursday at 11pm.

Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell are trying to bust the drug baron Jack Palance‘s operations in ‘Tango and Cash‘. In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, a small group of adventurous American soldiers (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube) set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, but they discover people who desperately need their help in the intriguing blend of action, drama and comedy -Three Kings.

Clive Owen stars in an action thriller ‘Shoot ‘Em Up‘ as Mr. Smith, a gun-toting fearless man with a hair trigger and an unknown past. In Passenger 57, John Cutter (played by Wesley Snipes) is grieving over the death of his wife at the hands of an armed robber and blaming himself for her death. The flight he is on is hijacked by a bunch of kidnappers. Snipes puts his special training and martial arts skills to good use to combat the kidnappers.

Meanwhile, Jet Li plays an ex-officer from Hong Kong, who finds himself torn between his love and his desire for justice against the men who killed his brother in ‘Romeo Must Die‘. ‘Fair Game‘ stars Naomi Watts as a CIA agent whose cover was blown.