MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) has created a hybrid channel mixing entertainment content from Big Magic, business news from Bloomberg UTV and some of its owned televised awards and special shows.

The channel, Big Magic International, will launch in Canada and then move on to other international markets like the US, Middle East and Australia.

"About 60-70 per cent of the channel?s content will be from Big Magic. The intellectual property shows and business news from Bloomberg UTV will make up the remaining quotient of the content," said RBNL?s spokesperson.

Helping the launch in Canada will be Ethnic Channels Group (EGCL), a Canada-based television broadcasting, distribution and communications company that specialises in multicultural television channels for the North American market. The channel will be available across all major distribution platforms like Rogers Cable, Bell DTH and Bell Fibe.

"We will reach a relevant audience base of 0.2 million across these platforms. The revenue model is based on subscription and ad-sales," RBNL said.

Big Magic International has been tailored after closely mapping the entertainment preferences of the South Asian audiences in Canada. According to market estimates, the South Asian population in Canada is 1.2 million, accounting for 5 per cent of the country?s population.

Big Magic International?s programming will include a mix of daily sitcoms, shows on varied genres ranging from socio-mytho, dramas and crime.

RBNL?s intellectual property vertical?s televised award shows providing entertainment doses from across India include India?s Sexiest Bachelor, India?s Glam Diva, I Love Style, Big Hindustan Rising Star Awards, Big Hindustani Music Awards and Big Bangla Music Awards. Additionally, the channel will also feature shows that will appeal across age groups like stand-up comedies and cultural quiz shows.

RBNL believes the channel?s differentiator will be the half-hour updates from the Indian capital markets from Bloomberg UTV - India that will air thrice a day. The channel will also air a special weekend feature show created around the Indian business world and investments in India.

RBNL CEO Tarun Katial, CEO, said, "We are happy to reach out to the Canadian market with Big Magic International which has been designed to fulfil the need gaps in the infotainment genre for South Asian audiences there. The channel will bring an increasing variety of fresh and relevant programming to the viewers which will include not just entertainment but also daily business updates from India. With this move, we are optimising the use of our robust and extensive content library to reach out to both viewers and marketers in the market. The launch of Big Magic International opens new and exciting opportunities for the execution of our expansion and growth strategy."

MUMBAI: Former Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) business head- central India cluster Madhukar Pandey is launching his own venture.

Pandey is introducing an internet radio website, which is expected to go live by mid-July.

Titled Radiowhiskey.in, the tagline of the website says ?Nasha music ka?. The internet radio channel will predominantly be playing Indian music along with other popular music 24X7.

The core target of the website is youth, from school going students to 36-year-olds.

Pandey said, ?Internet radio is pretty known phenomena in West, but somewhat not very popular in India. The entire positioning of the channel is towards Indian music and not just Indian audiences. It will have a global feed. Internet radio is a very popular phenomenon in the US and hence we are also basing our server there. It will have the popular music around the world, though our main focus will be Indian music. RJ talks will be in Hindi and English.?

Pandey said the company has applied for licenses and is acquiring labels. ?We have got electronic confirmation for the licenses but will announce the names once we have license in hand. The background team is building the inventory further.?.

The company will be promoting the website on digital medium aggressively (Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, E-mail, SMS).

?We are telling the advertisers that whatever they pay FM channels for one city, we will be charging even lesser than that and entire globe will listen to you. Also, because our target is youth, who is not very interested in seeing or listening to ads, we will have not more than 3 minutes ads in an hour and that will be split into 6 slots of 30 seconds each. This will help the advertiser getting sure shot listener,? Pandey added.

Pandey has over 14 years of experience in life insurance and information technology. Prior to joining RBNL, he was with MetLife Insurance as GM regional head. He had also worked with NIIT, CMC, and Informatics in various capacities.

Mumbai: Big CBS Spark, the youth channel from the JV between Reliance Broadcast Networks (RBNL) and CBS Corp, has bagged the television rights for a three-day musical event hosted by Lou Majaw?s as a tribute to Bob Dylan.

The event will be held in Shillong and with this move Big CBS Spark will make a debut in the north eastern region. The concert titled ?Knocked Out? and ?Loaded? will most certainly be a musical offering that will be unique and cannot be missed, the channel said.

With the exclusive television rights of the concert, the channel promises to take it to a national level and further strengthen its reach in what is known as the music hub of India.

Majaw lives Dylan?s music and hosts the concert each year on Dylan?s birthday. He pays tribute to the American singer-songwriter, musician and artist Dylan, by performing on some of his best songs. The concert will also witness some of the bands like Indus Creed performing and paying tribute to Dylan.

MUMBAI: Big RTL, the television JV between Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and Europe?s entertainment firm RTL Group, has named its new channel as Thrill.

The new channel marks RTL Group?s entry into the Asian television market. This is Reliance ADAG?s second International JV in the broadcasting space, the first being with CBS Studios International.

Positioned as the ?first action entertainment? channel, it will be launched by the end of June. The company believes that there is a void in the action space. Thrill will serve international content from across the globe, dubbed in Hindi.

The target audience that the channel will cater to is males in the age group of 15-44, across metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in the Hindi-speaking markets, who are action and adventure lovers.

RBNL CEO Tarun Katial said, ?We are excited to offer India its first action entertainment Channel, Thrill which will showcase world-class international content, dubbed in Hindi. The channel fills a need gap that exist in the entertainment landscape and we are confident that our proposition, backed by consumer insights, will resonate excellently with viewers and marketers alike.?

In order to provide diverse programming content, the channel has signed strategic deals with various leading international content providers for successful global formats and series across a variety of genres: action reality, action thrillers, fighting and wrestling championships, shocking, never seen before films, extreme sports, late night entertainment and a robust library of hit Hollywood action movies, all dubbed in Hindi.

Big RTL has teamed up with DTH service provider Reliance Digital TV, a Reliance ADAG company, to distribute Thrill. The company says that this will help in giving the channel access to 3 million digital television homes across India. It is in the process of closing deals with other operators.

Thrill will be distributed as part of a 7-channel bouquet of RBNL which includes Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Love, Big CBS Spark, Big CBS Spark Punjabi, Big Magic and UTV Bloomberg.