MUMBAI: Following the successful conduct of the first season of World Series Hockey, Nimbus and Indian Hockey Federation have announced the dates for the second season. The world?s biggest hockey league will be played from 15 December to 20 January 2013.

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, "We are delighted to announce the dates of World Series Hockey Season 2. Season 1 was a resounding success for all the stakeholders - players, commercial partners, franchise owners and above all the hockey fans."

IHF president R K Shetty said, "World Series Hockey has clearly emerged as the biggest hockey league in the world and the second biggest sports league in India after IPL. The second season will be bigger and better. We will shortly announce a host of new initiatives along with the format and schedule."

According to Nimbus, the inaugural season of World Series Hockey reached viewers in over 30 countries on television and over 65 countries on YouTube. The unique television tune-ins in India was over 32 million.

The five week long inaugural tournament created unprecedented buzz in terms of daily prime time action on television and record fan walk-ins in the stadium. An aggressive 360-degree marketing campaign and extensive media coverage resulted in high awareness and consumption of WSH.

Mumbai: MTunes HD, the first Bollywood music channel in HD, is launching a countdown show ?MTunes Trending20? on 4 August.

Presented by Bharti Airtel, the weekly show will air every Saturday at 9pm and Sunday at 11 am and will play the top 20 songs of the week.

MTunes Trending20 aims to bring to its viewers a comprehensive analysis of audience preferences across five platforms. The final chart will be compiled by the media research organisation - Ormax Media.

The five platforms will be Radio popularity compiled by Radio City, Digital downloads provided by Hungama, YouTube views and Heartbeats (weekly music research) by Ormax Media and audience preferences as recorded by MTunes HD. A normalised measurement formula based on TV ratings data, Radio Aircheck, SMS requests, downloads/usage tracking across mobile service providers and views count on popular internet video sites will be collated to generate the weekly chart.

MTunes HD CEO Saravanan P said, "MTunes Trending20 is a reaffirmation of our promise to deliver ?Music Like Never Seen Before? and strengthens a long line-up of path-breaking formats like Kal Ka Superhits, Handmade and MBox already on the channel. We have pioneered the industry by launching the World?s first HD Bollywood Music Channel and are committed to consistently drive growth for our stakeholders. This show will deliver the gold standard of Bollywood music rankings to the industry and is among several initiatives in the pipeline that will make the MTunes HD viewer ?Feel the Music?!"

Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor added, "Today, music is consumed across media - television, radio, internet, mobile phones and other digital devices. MTunes Trending20 is a unique property that captures the combined effect of all these media."
 

MUMBAI: US broadcaster NBC will head to the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con this month to showcase ?Revolution?, the new drama from Eric Kripke, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Jon Favreau; returning series ?Grimm? and ?Community?; the upcoming series ?Hannibal?; and the pilot ?Mockingbird Lane?

On 13 July there will be a discussion on the series ?Community?, a look at the casts? favourite scenes and a tribute to the fans. Stars Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi and Yvette Nicole Brown are confirmed to participate. Stars from "Community" will be available to sign autographs.

On 14 July stars and producers from "Revolution" will be available to sign autographs. There will also be a conversation with television writer/executive producer Bryan Fuller ?Heroes, the creative force behind ?Pushing Daisies? and ?Wonderfalls?. He discusses two of his projects, ?Hannibal? and ?Mockingbird Lane?.

In the mid-season drama ?Hannibal?, one of the most fascinating literary characters, comes to life on television for the first time - psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The upcoming pilot ?Mockingbird Lane? is a reinvention of the 1960?s comedy "The Munsters".

Meanwhile ?Grimm?, NBC?s supernatural mythology drama, returns to Comic-Con to kick off its second season packed with chills and revelations.

NBC will also host its annual invitation-only Blogger Party bringing together stars and creators from NBC?s new and returning shows to mingle with the digital network.

Online NBC.com will once again go behind-the-scenes at Comic-Con to bring videos, photos and interviews to fans who are unable to attend. From the convention floor, press rooms and Gaslamp Square Park, NBC.com will be on hand to capture and deliver a look at all of NBC?s initiatives for SDCC 2012.

NBC will also engage fans via various social media platforms with active updates throughout the duration of Comic-Con on NBC.com, Facebook, Tumblr and YouTube, and by live tweeting during the panels.