MUMBAI: Big CBS Prime, an English male-targeted entertainment channel, is eyeing to strengthen it weekend programming with the launch of a special weekend property ?Maha Crime Sunday?.

Starting 21 April, the seven week special will air every Sunday from 8.30 pm-10.30 pm.

The channel, available in dual feeds of English and Hindi, will treat audiences to crime based shows selected from the key programming like 48 Hours: Mystery and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. ?Maha Crime Sunday? has been designed to suit the entertainment penchants of the male audiences in India.

Big CBS Networks business head Anand Chakravarthy said, "This special, is backed with the understanding that audiences seek gripping stories which are well delivered, and wish to move away from story lines and programming which are served to them frivolously and more flippantly. With this offering we handpick episodes, by theme, from two of our key shows CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and 48 Hours: Mystery to highlight social evils. We are confident that this programming innovation will work excellently with both audiences and marketers."

With films and television sharing a symbiotic relationship, ?Maha Crime Sunday? will see its first episode have actor Emraan Hashmi coming on board to reach out to its ?male audience for the promotion of his film Ek Thi Daayan. Ensuring mass appeal, each of the shows will be peppered with Indian content as Bollywood and celebrities takes on the shows to promote their films, where synergies exist.

The property will see the spot-light on a special cause. These will range from cyber crimes to crime against women to domestic violence to sexual abuse and violence.

Big CBS Prime will carry out extensive promotional activities for this fresh new property Maha Sunday Crime to increase its viewership. There will be wide on-air promotions and space in the advertising mediums including TV, Radio and digital.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate CBS CEO Leslie Moonves earned $62.2 million last year, according to a regulatory filing. This was an 11 per cent reduction compared to 2011.

Compensation for CBS executive chairman and controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone rose to $31.3 million from $20.2 million in 2011.

CBS said, "Under Mr. Moonves? leadership, CBS posted record results in 2012, with its highest revenues, operating income, and [earnings per share] since it became a standalone company in 2006. During this same year, CBS stock was up 40 per cent.

"This is the fourth consecutive year that the company?s performance significantly exceeded the S&P 500, resulting in a four-year period, during which CBS stock appreciated by approximately 15 times. In addition, the company?s content once again led the industry in 2012, and CBS was at the forefront of monetizing that content in a host of new, incremental ways. Mr. Moonves? compensation is reflective of all this success."

After Moonves non-fiction broadcaster Discovery CEO David Zaslav was the next highest-paid media executive in the US with $49.9 million in total compensation last year, based on Securities and Exchange Commission rules. Disney chairman, CEO Robert Iger made $40.2 million last year according to company filings.

Mumbai: Big CBS Network is revamping its English male-targeted general entertainment channel Big CBS Prime.

It had recently introduced a Hindi feed aiming at enhancing its appeal across Hindi speaking markets.

Along with revelation of new packaging and logo, the new packaging uses bright colours like magenta, red and purple to communicate the channel?s ?premium? and ?aspirational? positioning to its audiences, which the broadcaster said will help it to live up to its promise of providing the best international content to viewers.

Keeping the channel?s core target audience of SEC ABC 15+ male audiences, the new music bed for Big CBS Prime was created by 92.7 Big FM national creative head Rochak Kohli.
 
Big CBS Networks business head Anand Chakravarthy said, ?Phase II of digitisation has altered the dynamics of television viewing across India. The changing habits have enabled audience evolution ? creating an opportunity for us to expand our reach in HSMs. The new packaging allows us to reach out to a wider set of audiences while creating mass appeal and maintaining the cutting-edge quality and the premium international look and feel synonymous with Big CBS Prime.:

The new colour palette makes for a young and vibrant look which is more relatable to the younger male audiences while creating a more exciting advertisement platform for clients, he added.

MUMBAI: Big CBS Networks will simulcast the finale of their global reality show X Factor USA on Big CBS website, concurrent with the Big CBS Channels.

The show is currently being simulcast on Prime, Love and Spark almost concurrent to the U.S.

The grand finale of X Factor USA will be a two-part series which will be showcased at 10 pm on 21 and 22 December.

Big CBS has created a special page on its website to give the viewers an opportunity to watch the show online as it airs on television. The video will be available to the audience, via the website, on the Facebook page.

Big CBS Networks business head Anand Chakravarthy said, "This move offers our digitally savvy audiences the opportunity to enjoy their favorite hit show online along with our channels. The aim is to amplify reach, and the excellent content that we have, to a larger audience base while also providing an added value proposition to our advertisers. Over the next quarter, we are planning to take several such initiatives in the digital space."

MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has given a straight-to-series order for 13 episodes of ?Under The Dome?, a serialised drama from Steven Spielberg?s Amblin Television based on Stephen King?s best-selling novel of the same name. The series will air next year.

The show is the story of a small New England town that is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an enormous transparent dome. The town?s inhabitants must deal with surviving the post-apocalyptic conditions while searching for answers to what this barrier is, where it came from and if and when it will go away.

CBS and Simon and Schuster will cross-promote the television series and book in advance of the show?s launch with the April 2013 re-release of trade paperback and electronic editions from its Pocket Books imprint. CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler said, "This is a great novel coming to the television screen with outstanding auspices and in-season production values to create a summer programming event. We?re excited to transport audiences ?Under The Dome? and into the extraordinary world that Stephen King has imagined."

In addition to the featured broadcast on CBS, the show will have a unique programming model tailored for a summer launch with a multi-platform window available for each episode shortly after the network airing. The series will be distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and worldwide by CBS Studios International.