To jump off a cliff or to fly: ITV sees a happy ending but the City…
The News Review:
- To jump off a cliff or to fly: ITV sees a happy ending but the City…
- Youth movement
- Why Gordon never gets the hump with big money
- A Good Life for all as ‘grow your own’ booms
- Will ITV cuts help it make the Grade?
- For the love of food
To jump off a cliff or to fly: ITV sees a happy ending but the City…
The Independent - Independent - Sep 16, 2007
By 2012, I want ITV to be widely acknowledged as the UK’s favourite source of free, original entertainment across all popular platforms and devices, not just on television,” he adds. With more of ITV’s production being brought in-house. Grade wants home-grown productions to represent three-quarters of ITV1’s schedule, up from today’s 54 per cent. He is looking across the Atlantic for inspiration, where channels such as ABC have had worldwide hits with TV series like Lost. ITV hopes to define its entertainment brand with home-grown blockbuster drama series. This year, ITV is investing around £1bn across its channels in line with its existing programme budget. To contain costs, it will be using new talent and suppliers, commissioning longer runs and seeking commissions where ITV does not fully fund the programme, which was its traditional business model… Grade wants home-grown productions to represent three-quarters of ITV1’s schedule, up from today’s 54 per cent. He is looking across the Atlantic for inspiration, where channels such as ABC have had worldwide hits with TV series like Lost. ITV hopes to define its entertainment brand with home-grown blockbuster drama series. This year, ITV is investing around £1bn across its channels in line with its existing programme budget. To contain costs, it will be using new talent and suppliers, commissioning longer runs and seeking commissions where ITV does not fully fund the programme, which was its traditional business model. It also aims to win a greater share of advertising budgets by increasing opportunities for advertisers to fund content. According to a source at ITV, the company is extremely interested in using product placement, allowing advertisers to display branded goods in drama productions.
Youth movement
San Diego Union Tribune - Sep 16, 2007
The Padres, who have a promising young infield, believe they are building a strong farm system. Even the creaky Giants have an enviable store of young pitchers. The Diamondbacks are in playoff contention largely because of home-grown ace Brandon Webb and their kids. Several of their regulars are under age 26, including center fielder Chris Young, shortstop Stephen Drew, first baseman Conor Jackson, third baseman Mark Reynolds and right fielder Justin Upton, a 20-year-old bundle of athleticism and aptitude. Arizona even has a baby-faced general manager, Josh Byrnes. A former staffer with the Indians – one of several AL franchises that produced loads of talent in the 1990s – Byrnes is a powerful advocate of young players. He also is a workaholic who seemingly has a cell phone attached to his head.
Why Gordon never gets the hump with big money
Guardian Unlimited - Sep 16, 2007
New Labour was founded on the assumption that Old Labour had nowhere else to go and that reckoning has survived until now. Perhaps Brown should be more worried about the millions of law-abiding people who have paid their taxes and seen him waste far too much of their money. Sooner or later, they are going to realise that they’ve been required to subsidise tax breaks for private-equity barons, foreign billionaires and home-grown tycoons and companies with boltholes in tax havens. As I’ve said before, we are living in unprecedented times. No previous Labour government has got itself on the wrong side of a conflict between the working and middle classes and the rich. This week, the irrepressible GMB press office is moving on to the country estate of the new boss of the AA. They’re hiring a local poultry farm so they can do a ‘chickens are coming home to roost’ stunt, and are bringing along Teifet for old times’ sake.
A Good Life for all as ‘grow your own’ booms
The Observer - Sep 16, 2007
Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver’s latest series is attracting some 2. As with the Fearnley-Whittingstall programmes filmed at his Dorset cottage, Oliver professes the joy of eating fresh home-grown produce that has travelled only a few yards to the kitchen. Both have tapped into public concern about the carbon footprint of food and how it is produced. ‘Celebrity chefs have done a lot to encourage people to start growing their own vegetables and herbs through the large number of cookery shows on television,’ Knowles said. ‘Food traceability is another key factor; more and more people want to know where their food comes from and that it is free from pesticides.
Will ITV cuts help it make the Grade?
Guardian Unlimited - Sep 16, 2007
On the creative side, few doubt that Grade has more to offer than Allen and morale at ITV has improved as a consequence. Everyone knows the key to recovery is to make good programmes, but what’s the best approach? According to Grade, one way is to boost the amount of programming coming from ITV’s inhouse production unit from 54 per cent to 75 per cent. But the danger is that ITV will be more inclined to buy home grown content than invest in top-drawer programmes available on the international market. ITV’s share price has slid back since Grade’s statement and trades well below the 130p Greg Dyke was prepared to offer 18 months ago. Investors have hung on in the belief that Grade will eventually sell ITV to a larger media group. That is probably the best they can hope for.
For the love of food
Economic Times - Sep 16, 2007
Chatterjee’s first job was at the Taj Mahal Hotel in
Mumbai, which lasted for just a year. A two-year stint in Ananda Bazar Patrika
followed, and Chatterjee juggled a MBA in marketing at the Jamnalal Bajaj
Institute of Management studies while working. Finally it was time to go solo
and with wife Minoo, he started Situations Advertising, working on home-grown
brands like Ujala, Cello, Everest and Super Vasmol. But food was uppermost on
his mind, and finally the couple opened their first restaurant, Only Fish, in
Mumbai’s Prabhadevi. In a few months, word got around and Only Fish began to
attract people from all over including celebrities like Anupam Kher and Jaya
Bachchan. “That’s when the entrepreneur in me said, ‘Why not look at food
seriously?” says Chatterjee. He
got a few former Taj colleagues to join him, and Specialty Restaurants was born
in 1993.