MUMBAI: James Murdoch has stepped down as the executive chairman of News International, the publisher of the now defunct News of the World, to focus on the broadcast business of News Corporation, the parent company of News International.

The junior Murdoch will relocate to News Corp?s headquarters in New York as the deputy chief operating officer, News Corp said in a statement.

Tom Mockridge, CEO of News International, will continue in his post and will report to News Corporation president and COO Chase Carey.

"We are all grateful for James? leadership at News International and across Europe and Asia, where he has made lasting contributions to the group?s strategy in paid digital content and its efforts to improve and enhance governance programmes," said News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.

"He has demonstrated leadership and continues to create great value at Star TV, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia, and BSkyB. Now that he has moved to New York, James will continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates, with particular focus on important pay-TV businesses and broader international operations."

James Murdoch, who was under fire from the UK authorities following the phone hacking scandal that had engulfed the News of the World, said he was looking to his relocation to News Corp.

"I deeply appreciate the dedication of my many talented colleagues at News International who work tirelessly to inform the public and am confident about the tremendous momentum we have achieved under the leadership of my father and Tom Mockridge," he said.

"With the successful launch of The Sun on Sunday and new business practices in place across all titles, News International is now in a strong position to build on its successes in the future. As Deputy Chief Operating Officer, I look forward to expanding my commitment to News Corporation?s international television businesses and other key initiatives across the Company."
NOTW ceased publication after 168 years following its final print edition on 10 July which resulted in the loss of around 200 jobs.

The News International publishes three news papers, The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times besides the launch of Sunday edition of The Sun.

MUMBAI: ITV Studios has optioned the rights to Passion Distribution?s ‘100 Mile Challenge‘, which was originally created by production team Paperny Entertainment for Food Network Canada and is a part reality series, part docu-soap, part social experiment.

ITV Studios? agreement covers territories including UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, with the initial interest stemming from ITV Studios France, who optioned the rights in 2010 and have completed the production of the first series (6 x 52?) called ?200 Kilom?tres ? la Ronde? for France T?l?visions.

The show focuses on six families in a close community who accept the challenge to only eat food produced within a 100-mile radius of their homes for 100 days.

The finished programme version of ‘100 Mile Challenge‘ has also sold well to date, with the rights being licensed to territories such as Pan Asia (Sundance International), Germany (Gusto TV), USA (Planet Green), Africa (Royal Channels), Spain (Canal Cocina), Finland (MTV3 for Ava) and Japan (NHK), the company said.

NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan said today that community radio stations had empowered the masses and gave them a sense of belonging by effectively facilitating the growth of peoples? empowerment in the far and remote corners of the country.

He said CRS had bridged the digital divide as the aim was to connect the aspirations of the people to the information highway. CRS provides a platform to people to create their individual and collective identities.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the Second National Community Radio Sammelan, which commenced today with the objective of carving out a new roadmap for mainstreaming community radio as an effective outreach tool for community empowerment.

The three day event, organised by the I&B Ministry in association with Commonwealth Educational Media centre for Asia (CEMCA), also saw the presentation of the first National CRS awards.

I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma outlined the roadmap for the growth of the community radio movement in the 12th Five Year plan. It was necessary to target the uncovered areas in the country with a cost effective and operational business model, he said.

The Secretary called upon the participants to avoid delays in operationalising the licences in view of the scarcity and squatting over spectrum. For the movement to reach a sizeable target it was critical to be innovative, encourage out of the box thinking and learn from the best practices. A critical factor determining the growth of the movement was the need to focus on cost effective technology and research.

Varma said the Ministry had submitted a proposal to the planning Commission regarding state funding in the next five year plan. For being an effective dissemination tool it was necessary to position the relevance of the medium in disaster management.

The awards were given in five categories: Thematic, Community Engagement, Promoting Local Culture, Most Creative/Innovative Programme Content, and Sustainability Model Award.

The Ministry has so far issued 363 permissions to set up Community Radio Stations in the country. Out of this, 126 stations have become operational while others are in the pipeline.

The Sammelan has brought together more than 150 stakeholders including Community Radio operators, UN partners, activists, Government departments and experts from various countries like USA, UK, Australia and South Africa.

In the last two years, Ministry has taken several initiatives to strengthen the community radio movement in India. Permission process for the CR applications has been fast tracked through better coordination with stakeholder Ministries. People can also now apply online and track the status of their applications at www.cronlineindia.net. This has brought about transparency and accountability in the system. A Facilitation Centre has also been opened up in the Ministry with a toll-free phone number where people can call up for any information relating to community radio. Due to these initiatives the number of permissions issued by the Ministry for setting up community radio stations has increased from 186 to 363 and number of operational CRS has increased from 64 to 126 in the last two years.

The Ministry has been organising awareness and capacity building Workshops all over the country from 2007 onwards to create awareness about Community Radio Policy. Around 32 Workshops have been organised so far. These Workshops have proved to be useful not only to spread awareness but also build capacities of the NGOs and other organizations to operate Community Radio Stations in an effective manner.

The Ministry has partnered with Ek Duniya Anek Aaawaz (EDAA) which is an audio content exchange platform for community radio stations, to have a separate micro-site on EDAA for the coverage of the 2nd National Community Radio Sammelan on new media platforms.

EDAA is a web based open content exchange platform for community radio broadcasters. The platform enables the CR stations and other content producers to share their audio content and other resources, thus facilitating meaningful utilisation of resources breaking geographical boundaries. This site is operated by OneWorld Asia, an NGO.

MUMBAI: UK pay TV service provider BSkyB has posted a revenue of ?3.4 billion for first half of the fiscal ended 31 December 2011, up six per cent over the earlier year.

BSkyB reported its highest ever first-half adjusted operating profit, up 16 per cent to ?601 million.

Efficiency programmes delivered lower operating costs. Adjusted operating margin was up 160 basis points to 17.9 per cent. Adjusted free cash flow was also up by 12 per cent to ?495 million.

BSkyB experienced continued growth in products and customers in the quarter. Total net product grew to 26.8 million, up 13 per cent. It added 100,000 new households to reach 10.471 million customers.

BSkyB said it had a good response to price freeze; customer loyalty was strong in a tough economic environment with
churn of 9.6 per cent. There was also a continued improvement in product mix with more than three million customers taking all three of TV, broadband and telephony, up by 26 per cent year on year. Customers are responding to innovation with 2.5 million users of Sky Go to date.

Plans for 2012: The company is bringing more content for customers, including home grown comedy and drama and a new channel dedicated to Formula 1.

BSkyB has done agreements to add BBC iPlayer and ITV Player to Anytime+. It is also offering free access to 10,000 WiFi hotspots to Sky Broadband Unlimited customers. Fibre broadband will be available to 30 per cent of UK households from April, offering up to 40Mb broadband speeds and unlimited usage for ?20 a month.

BSkyB will also launch a new Internet based pay TV service aimed at new customers. It will create 1,300 Sky jobs across the UK and Ireland over the next two years.

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said, ?We expect the environment to remain tough in calendar 2012. No consumer business can be immune to these conditions and we will manage any short-term headwinds as they emerge. Staying focused on the long-term opportunity, we?ve got a strong set of plans to keep delivering for customers and shareholders. This will be an outstanding year on screen, including more original British productions and a new channel dedicated to Formula 1, and we have exciting products in the pipeline that will create more ways to access our content and more reasons to join and stay with us.?

The company delivered a strong first half performance with good growth in customers and products and record financial results.

"We saw growth in every product category, with a particularly strong performance in home communications. As a result, customers are now taking an average of 2.6 products, up 13 per cent on last year, and Arpu continues to rise, reaching a new high of ?544," said Darroch.

Outlook: Sky does not expect any material improvement in the macro backdrop in calendar 2012, with strong consumer headwinds anticipated in the early part of the year.

"While remaining cautious in respect of the economic outlook, we continue to expect that the strength and flexibility of our business will deliver further progress. Our growth will stay broadly-based, increasing product penetration and adding new households where it makes sense. We will also continue to invest in core areas for customers and we have a strong set of plans for the year ahead, including more great content, a strong product pipeline and the launch of an entirely new internet based pay TV service aimed at new customers. Alongside that, we will maintain our focus on operating efficiency because this underpins our ability to keep investing for customers," said Darroch.