MUMBAI: Soccer?s governing body Fifa has announced the extension of its broadcast rights agreement with Brazilian broadcaster Globo for the 2018 Fifa World Cup Russia and the 2022 Fifa World Cup Qatar.

The agreement covers cable, satellite, terrestrial, mobile and broadband Internet transmission across the country.

Fifa Secretary General J?r?me Valcke said, "Globo?s strength in distribution across such a vast territory as Brazil ensures the tournament can be followed by as many people as possible, and this was the determining factor in our decision to extend the agreement with Globo".

Globo chairman, CEO Roberto Irineu Marinho said, "For more than 40 years, Fifa and Globo have developed a very fruitful partnership which has led to significant rewards for both of us. During all these years, Fifa has succeeded in making football the most popular sport with a huge audience all over the world and Globo is very proud of being part of it. The most important thing to Globo is to allow our viewers to be part of the tournaments as if they were on the pitch themselves. For that reason, we are proud to extend this partnership".

Globo, a Fifa broadcast partner since 1970, has committed to unprecedented presence and coverage levels of the 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil onwards, including free TV coverage as agreed between the two parties and in line with Fifa distribution policies.

MUMBAI: Zee expects to obtain the landing rights in China soon, six years after applying for it.

Having already run a profitable syndication and sales business in China, the Subhash Chandra-promoted media company aims to cater to the audience in the Mandarin country with its entertainment content in the toughest media market in the world.

"We haven?t officially got the landing rights yet. It is work in progress. We expect to get the approval soon," a Zee spokesperson said.

Zee has been pursuing the landing rights in China ever since it applied in 2006.

According to a PTI report, a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson has stated that "Zee TV has got the landing rights in China," while briefing reporters on the talks between India?s Foreign Minister S M Krishna and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jeichi.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel), India?s leading broadcasting network overseas, was looking at a 9 per cent growth from its international business this fiscal and would see income up from advertising, syndication and other operations while subscription revenue would stay almost flat.

Zeel has paced up its localisation strategy in global markets, which keeps it far ahead of its rivals. Zee Aflam, for instance, has seen reasonable growth and reached break-even status within three years. Other localisation experiments are already on in Malaysia, Russia and, to a limited extent, in France in partnership with Canal.

MUMBAI: Amid a global economic downturn, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) is looking at a 9 per cent growth from its international business this fiscal.

India?s leading broadcasting network overseas will see international income up from advertising, syndication and other operations while subscription revenue will stay almost flat.

?Historically, we were very subscription-led. But for the last three years we have developed other revenue streams like mainstream advertising and syndication, which are posting growth. That enabled us to launch many products,? said Zeel international business head Bharat Ranga in an interview with Indiantelevision.com, while refusing to disclose any financials.

Zeel had posted an international subscription revenue of Rs 4.09 billion in FY?11, degrowing by 2 per cent over the year-ago period. In the first six months of this fiscal, the company has reported revenue of Rs 1.93 billion.

Zeel announces its international subscription revenues, but does not disclose the break-up of its advertising income from India and other markets.

The depreciation of the rupee against the dollar would somewhat help Zeel in the second half, but the economies of UK and Europe still remain terribly stressed.

?Europe and UK remains a huge challenge but within this turmoil, the South Asians are somewhat better placed. However, because our competitors sell very cheap or even make free content available, growth is still a challenge,? said Ranga.

Zeel launched Zee Caf?, a hybrid channel, to arrest degrowth in that market. The channel airs cricket and regional fiction shows sub-titled in English, among other lines of content.

So will the company launch more channels in global markets? ?We are very selective about launching Indian channels in these markets. We launch only when we spot gaps. In UK, we felt that there was a male product gap. We would like to launch when we see that there is an instant market need. We want to first harness the growth of these new launches,? said Ranga.

Zeel has also paced up its localisation strategy in global markets, which keeps it far ahead of its rivals. Zee Aflam, for instance, has seen reasonable growth and reached break-even status within three years. Other localisation experiments are already on in Malaysia, Russia and, to a limited extent, in France in partnership with Canal.

Will Zeel launch local products in more markets? ?There are plans in additional markets but we can?t disclose now because it is strategic in nature. We have developed homegrown tools to identify markets,? said Ranga.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has announced that the latest series of motoring show ?Top Gear? will be coming to global television screens just days after the UK premiere transmission.

Kicking off with a new ?Top Gear? special in early 2012, series 18 will follow a maximum of 14 days after the UK transmission of the series on BBC Entertainment in India, Africa and Latin America and on BBC Knowledge in Poland and Asia.

BBC Worldwide Channels senior VP programming, TV channels David Weiland said, "It?s an important part of our programming strategy to bring as much of our acquired content to air as closely on our global network as it does in the UK. Top Gear is a hugely popular programme with viewers across all our territories and I?m delighted we are able to bring the latest series to them so close to the UK premiere transmission."

Sold to almost 200 territories worldwide, Top Gear achieves viewing figures of over six million viewers per episode when it premieres in the UK and is regularly the most downloaded programme on the BBC?s UK iPlayer, BBC Worldwide said. Since 2008, four international versions have been licensed by BBC Worldwide in Australia, Russia, China and the US.