MUMBAI: Sky has established a new distribution arm to market the international rights to its originated content by acquiring Parthenon Media Group, a leading independent international distribution and multi-media rights management company.

The current Parthenon team, led by founder and CEO, Carl Hall, will lead the new function within Sky, reporting to Sophie Turner Laing, Sky?s MD of Entertainment, News and Broadcast Operations.

Sophie Turner Laing comments, ?As we continue to increase investment in UK production, this is a natural step in the evolution of Sky?s content business. We are producing world class television - innovative, creatively ambitious and, in many cases, on an epic scale. It?s only right that we match this with world class aspirations for how we take this content to as wide an international audience as possible.?

?We are delighted to be moving into distribution with Carl and the team at Parthenon. I?m confident that together we will be able to create a model that delivers great opportunities for our independent production partners as well as Sky. This is a tremendously exciting time, both for us and those who are making great TV with us.?

Carl Hall adds: ?This is a great day for everyone associated with Parthenon. Over the past ten years, our success has been built upon our unique, boutique-style approach to all our content providers. I am honoured to be leading the new distribution division within Sky. This will also open new and exciting opportunities for international producers looking to benefit from the support of one of the UK?s largest investors in original content and a global leader in the provision of world-class television.?

In line with Sky?s on-going commitment to increasing its investment in original content, the creation of a distribution capability will help Sky accelerate its plans for international rights management. This will include playing a central role in the way Sky?s commissioned content is showcased to the international market.

The new in-house model will help generate additional revenues from Sky?s content investment from the sale of overseas rights, which will enable Sky to reinvest even more in the UK?s creative economy, for the benefit of customers and content makers alike.

Sky is one of the largest investors in original British content. This year alone it has invested more than ?450 million in British commissioning and production. This is set to increase to ?600 million a year by 2014, with most of the growth set to come in genres such as drama, comedy, entertainment, arts and factual.

Mumbai: Marathi general entertainment channel ETV Marathi is gearing up to launch a new game show titled Divided on 30 July.

Having acquired the format from Talpa Distribution, the show is being produced by Endemol India for the channel.

Divided will air every Monday and Tuesday at 9.30 pm, and will be hosted by Marathi cinema and television personality Adesh Bandekar.

Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar said, "Divided in our view marks the coming of age as far as regional game shows go. We are particularly excited of it airing on ETV Marathi, as we are certain that the zest and fervour of the show will appeal to a mass audience that the channel caters to. We at Endemol are constantly looking at beefing up our regional content and Divided is a significant step in that direction."

ETV general manager Prasanjit Singh Roy added, "It has been our persistent endeavour to give differentiated content to our viewers. After tremendous response of our previous shows like WOW, High Tension and DNA we are once again coming with a unique game show Divided which will be hosted by popular anchor Adesh Bandekar. We are confident that Divided and Adesh will spell Magic once again at 9.30 pm on every Monday and Tuesday."

Divided is a format created and developed for television by Talpa, the company of media entrepreneur John de Mol. This game show has been running in UK, Slovenia, Estonia, Korea, Italy, Chile, Netherlands Turkey and Malta.

"We are very excited with the response received for Divided world over. This game show has been running successfully in many regions and we are happy that the Indian audiences will now get to experience this exciting and nerve-wracking game show," Talpa Distribution managing director Maarten Meijs added.

Each episode of the show will see three contestants come together in a race against time to win cash prizes. The episode will unveil a set of 13 questions that increase in value but are bound by time. With every second that ticks away, a part of the available cash prize is lost. The contestants, instead of playing against each other will have to arrive at common consensus within a stipulated time frame to accumulate the cash prize. To win Divided, the contestants must make a unified decision at all times.

MUMBAI: Elizabeth Murdoch, the daughter of News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, is stepping down as CEO of Shine, a move seen as an intent by the senior Murdoch to assign her a bigger role at News Corp.

Alex Mahon will step in as Shine Group CEO from September while Elisabeth will remain as its chairman.

Elizabeth said, ?As Shine further diversifies across genres, geographies and platforms, I believe that the continued growth of the company requires the chairman and CEO roles to be distinct and separate. Alex has earned this new leadership position in recognition of her substantial contribution to Shine?s growth from a single U.K.-based production company a decade ago to the global business we run today."

The division of duties will focus Alex?s attention on managing the operational business, while allowing Elizabeth to concentrate on identifying future strategic opportunities.

MUMBAI: The F?d?ration Fran?aise de Tennis (FFT) and MP & Silva have said that the first year of their collaboration in distributing the European media rights for Roland Garros has seen increased hours of coverage, higher audiences and new channels showing the tournament.

The collaboration with MP & Silva is the first time the FFT has chosen to partner with an agency in Europe following an over 30-year partnership with the European Broadcasting Union.

For the 2012 tournament outside of the home nation (France), European broadcast partners showed over 7,800 hours of coverage across 50 channels, an increase from the 6,629 hours of coverage across 42 channels in 2011.

Of the 25 broadcast partners for 2012, 12 were new, with the likes of ITV in the UK, Cuatro in Spain, PRVA TV and B92 in Serbia, Czech TV in Czech Republic and NTV in Turkey showing action from Roland Garros for the first time.

In keeping with the FFT?s commitment to ensure the widest possible audience for its event, MP & Silva secured free-to-air coverage in 22 countries, up from 20 in 2011. Pay-TV coverage was provided by Eurosport across Europe and by Canal+ in Spain.

FFT?s Media & Sponsorship Director Michel Grach said, ?Our aim is to develop our relationships with MP & Silva and our new broadcasters still further, and to continue to improve the quality and quantity of Roland Garros coverage for tennis fans and tournament partners worldwide."

The 2012 distribution generated 18.8 billion viewing minutes (where one person watching for one minute equals one viewing minute) for the tournament, a 17 per cent increase on the 16 billion viewing minutes achieved in 2011.

Excluding audiences on Eurosport, the 2012 tournament generated 10.8 billion viewing minutes, a 6 per-cent increase on the 10.2 billion viewing minutes for the 2011 event.

The increased audience was achieved despite the overlap this year with Euro 2012 and the poor weather conditions for the men?s final, traditionally the biggest viewing peak of the tournament. Persistent rain forced the conclusion of the match to be postponed 24 hours and it eventually finished on Monday 11 June.

The rain interruptions on the Sunday meant that coverage ended up clashing with Euro 2012?s Spain v Italy group stage match and Formula One?s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

MP & Silva Group CEO Andrea Radrizzani said, "We are extremely happy with the results of the first year of our partnership with Roland Garros. We have worked together with the Federation with full transparency in every deal done with every broadcaster."

MUMBAI: Comedy Central UK has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the Charlie Sheen sitcom ?Anger Management? from Lionsgate?s international television division.

Charlie Sheen?s return to primetime television was picked up by Comedy Central UK at the LA screenings in May and joins top rating show Two and a Half Men exclusively on the channel.

Comedy Central director of programming Chris Collie said, "?Anger Management? was the funniest show from this year?s screenings ? Charlie is back and on incredible form. ?Anger Management? sits perfectly alongside our line-up of the biggest and most talked about U.S. shows ? ?30 Rock?, ?South Park?, ?The Office?, ?Two And A Half Men?, ?Friends? and ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?."

Lionsgate International television executive Peter Iacono said, "We believe that Comedy Central is the perfect home for Anger Management in the UK.and we?re delighted to continue building the show?s momentum through ground breaking sales in territories around the world. The show is off to a record-breaking start in the U.S., and we expect it to have similar resonance with audiences around the world."

?Anger Management? and series two of UK commission ?Threesome? are the first shows from the Comedy Central autumn line-up to be announced.

The new series marks Charlie Sheen?s first return to serialised television since his departure from the CBS series ?Two and a Half Men? a little over a year ago. The show is loosely based on Revolution Studios? 2003 feature film ?Anger Management?, which grossed $178 million in global box office.

In the series, Sheen stars as ex-baseball pro turned anger management therapist Charlie Goodson, who has to cope with some management issues of his own. His female costars are Shawnee Smith as his ex-wife and Selma Blair as his therapist. Bruce Helford heads up the writing team and serves as showrunner.

Lionsgate International has already sold ?Anger Management? in Canada, Latin America, Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and Poland. Lionsgate?s Debmar-Mercury syndication company sold the show to FX Network in the US and will be selling its second syndication window in the U.S. as well.

?Anger Management? debuted on 28 June in the US on FX.

MUMBAI: UK pay TV service provider Sky is estimated to support a ?5.4 billion contribution to UK GDP in calendar 2011.

The impact made by Sky on the UK economy is revealed for the first time in an independent study conducted by the leading economic consultancy, Oxford Economics.

The report, The Economic Impact of Sky on the UK, finds that Sky makes a contribution to the economy in terms of GDP, jobs and taxes paid. It also shows how the company has stimulated economic activity in a wide range of associated companies and industries, through relationships with thousands of UK suppliers and business partners. 

In 2011, Sky generated sales of ?6.4 billion and over 75 per cent of this revenue was retained in the UK.

Sky?s direct contribution to GDP of ?2.2 billion is equivalent to around 40 per cent of the contribution made by the entire TV and radio creative sector in the UK.

For every ?1 billion Sky contributes directly to GDP itself, it generates another ?1.4 billion in the rest of the economy through its purchase of goods and services and staff spending their wages.

In 2011 Sky used 4,000 suppliers across the UK, including 645 independent suppliers in sports production and 110 independent producers in entertainment and the arts.

"Sky?s footprint is UK wide and its contribution is felt in almost every part of the country," the report said.

At the end 2011, Sky employed 22,800 people in the UK, more than half as many as the entire pharmaceuticals industry. This included 9,400 people in London, 6,430 in Scotland, and 1,560 in Yorkshire and Humberside.

According to the report, 2,600 people are employed by Sky in producing and commissioning content. This is set to grow as Sky increases its investment in original British content to ?600 million by 2014. By the end of 2011, Sky had already increased its UK content spend to ?450 million a year.

In the last three years, Sky has hired 3,800 young people (16 to 24 years), including nearly 300 graduate trainees and apprentices.

Sky employs 800 engineers in software development and testing, representing 1 per cent of all people employed in the UK?s software development industry.

In total Sky is estimated to support 118,600 jobs in the UK through its procurement of goods and services and consumer spending out of the wage income of its staff. This includes 1.2 per cent of all employment in London and 0.6% of all jobs in Scotland.

The study also pointed out Sky?s contribution to tax revenues. These include:

- In the financial year 2010/2011, Sky directly contributed a total of ?941 million to the Exchequer.

- Of this, ?337 million came through corporation tax and business rates, with the balance collected on behalf of HM Treasury through employees? labour taxes and customers? VAT payments.

- In total, Sky is estimated to support a ?2.3 billion contribution to tax revenues, including Sky?s procurement of inputs and direct and indirect staff spending is included. This is equivalent to ?36 for every person in the UK.

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said, "We have grown rapidly since our business was established just over 20 years ago. Along the way we have taken risks, invested billions of pounds and been a driving force for innovation and change in our sector. As a result we have transformed UK consumers? experience of television and home communications, while generating significant returns for our shareholders and contributing positively to the UK economy as a whole.

"This report from Oxford Economics measures and explains the scale of our economic impact for the first time. We hope that Sky?s story provides a good example of the important contribution that a successful British company can make, particularly at a time when economic growth is harder to come by. As we look ahead, our appetite to invest remains strong and we hope to contribute even more in the future."