Good morning! It's
Wednesday, February 23, 2005,
and this is your first early morning
Multi-Cultural
briefing.
Nielsen Media Research has announced it will set up a plan to
create a research fund to the tune of $2.5 million. The fund would
support a year's worth of research, which Nielsen proposes to conduct
in conjunction with its client body. Depending on the success of the
first year's research, a budget will be established for future years. The
project is designed to answer the ongoing and growing concerns of the
Nielsen client base, as well as focus on the rapid growth of Hispanic and
Asian populations, as well as hone in on the increase in home technology
(VOD, DVR, Tivo, etc).
HISPANIC MARKET:
Charter Communications, Inc. and digital kid's
Spanish language cable network Sorpresa! have inked a multi-year
carriage agreement to deliver the Hispanic kid's TV network as part of
Charter Latino. Charter will begin the roll-out of Sorpresa! in
targeted markets over the next few months. Targeted primarily to
K6-14, Sorpresa!'s programming also includes a morning and afternoon
slate for preschoolers and an evening lineup for older teens. Other
current Sorpresa carriage deals include those with Cablevision, Charter,
Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and the National Cable TV
Cooperative. Sorpresa is owned and managed by Firestone Communications,
Inc., a privately held media company.
In newly inked agreement, DIRECTV, Inc. is offering GolTV
free to its DIRECTV Para Todos Opcion Ultra Especial con Canales Locales
programming package and/or DIRECTV Sports Pack subscribers.
Starting this week, GolTV will be available in Spanish on DIRECTV Channel
426 (DIRECTV Para Todos) and in English on DIRECTV Channel 614 (Sports
Pack).
As the Mexican National Soccer Team's Official Wireless Partner
for its US Coca-Cola Presents Real Mexican Soccer tour this year,
Cingular Wireless will pick up advertising, marketing and
promotional rights to the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol's logo and player
appearance rights. In addition, the wireless provider will have
on-field signage and multimedia and print branding in the stadium for the
tour's 5 matches. Cingular inked the agreement with Soccer United
Marketing (SUM), a US promoter of international soccer matches. SUM
is the exclusive American promoter/marketing representative for the
Mexican team and its annual US tour. Other aspects of the Cingular
sponsorship include a "Futbol Fiesta" stadium fan zone
interactive area and wireless soccer-themed content (player images and
ringtones).
Comcast Cable is debuting The History Channel en espanol in
its South Florida region on March 1. The 24/7
Spanish-language network centers on Latin American history and
achievements and will be offered on Channel 612.
In addition to launching its first Spanish-language website
(www.2424leche.com),
the National Hispanic “got milk?” campaign has named medical
expert Dr. Aliza Lifshitz as its spokesperson. Dr. Aliza is
the medical correspondent for a television news magazine program, a radio
show host as well as her own private LA practice. The National Milk
Mustache "got milk?" ad campaign was created by Lowe with the
"got milk?" mustache tagline developed by Goodby Silverstein
& Partners for the California Milk Processor Board. The
campaign is financially supported by Washington, DC-based MilkPEP Board
and Rosemont, IL-based Dairy Management Inc.
LATAM MARKET:
Televisa has signed a licensing/merchandising
agreement with United Media. The New York-based company
will receive the rights to the network's kids' telenovelas and the Chavo
del 8 comedy show for the US. The Latin American comedy series has
1300 episodes in syndication already with merchandise currently sold in
Mexico.
ASIAN/INDIAN MARKET:
Soul City Publications' RAVE*SQhas
inked a deal with Hudson and Universal Newsstands for major US
distribution. The new bi-monthly South Asian-American
magazine has a lifestyle editorial focus with celeb interviews, art,
media, fashion, cuisine and travel. RAVE*SQ's first issue
will spotlight Saira Mohan, Mira Nair and Ismail Merchant and more.
The publication will make tsunami donations to UNICEF from its January,
February and March proceeds to support the children affected by the
disaster. More info at
www.ravesq.com.
Regional TV and print media ad spending in greater China
experienced a growth from $34.6 billion in 2003 to $43.2 billion.
The nearly 25% jump was broken down with China comprising $23.3 billion
(54%) of the total in 2004, followed by Taiwan with 35% and Hong Kong
with 11% according to CTR, a market research company. The country
actually exhibited a 39% increase from 2002 to 2003.
Top 10 Japanese Box Office Estimates for the weekend of February
11-13, 2005 The Bourne Supremacy (United Intl.
Pictures) $3.12
million opening wk
Ocean's Twelve (Warner
Bros.)
$2.13 million 4 wk total $26.13m
Howl's Moving Castle
(Toho)
$1.81 million 13 wk total $170.22m
The Grudge
(Herald)
$1.35 million opening wk
Alexander
(Herald)
$1.31 million 2 wk total $5.72m
You've Got a Call 2
(Toho)
$1.23 million 2 wk total $5.28m
The Phantom of Opera (Gaga
Communications) $1.12 million 3
wk total $16.18m
Kitano Zero Nen
(Toei)
$1.09 million 5 wk total $17.52sm
The Notebook (CJ
Ent.)
$450,908 2 wk total $3.33m
Tokyo Towers
(Toho)
$444,747 5 wk total $12.61m *Source: Nielsen EDI and Variety
ARAB MARKET:
The Network of Arab-American Professionals
(NAAP) and The Monk star Tony Shalhoub are collaborating as
co-sponsors of the first Arab-American Filmmaker award
competition. The contest's winning screenwriter of Arab origin
will receive the monetary funds necessary to produce his/her work in
Hollywood. The winning short film will premiere at NAAP's 2005
conference in the fall. In order to participate, contestants
must be a US-residing Arab-American and submit 30-minute or less
individual screenplay by March 1, 2005. More info at
http://www.naaponline.org/filmaward.asp.
INTERNATIONAL MARKET:
National Geographic Television International
(NGTI) has brought on two co-production collaborators for its new
special, King Tut's Curse. France 5 and
Channel 4 join NGTI's current partner, Brando Quilici Productions
in Italy. The 90-minute program focuses on analyzing King
Tutankhamen's tomb through the opinions and data of explorers, scientists
and Egyptologists.
Universal Pictures International has set up a new Russian video
distribution division called Universal Pictures Russia.
The first title to be released from the subsidiary will be The Bourne
Supremacy in March. Egor Borisov was named as Managing
Director. He will report to the London-based Wayne Borg, VP of
Latin America/Asia Pacific. Universal's previous distribution in
the country was accomplished through licensee deals.
Through its summer 2004 co-production agreement with the US' Casino
& Gaming TV (CGTV), the UK games channel Challenge
(Flextech Television subsidiary) will debut a new casino series named
Vegas Virgins in May. The Lion Television-produced (owned by
All3Media) show will include 10 British and American amateur gamblers as
they push to win a $10,000 prize
OMNI.1 will premiere the English-language documentary World
Bites on February 26 at 9 pm as part of Rogers OMNI Television' OMNI
Signature Series. The half-hour program's Italian language version
will air on March 5 at 10 pm. Produced by Montreal's Copie Zero
Television and Media, the documentary centers on ethnic food traditions
and the history behind them with Italian Canadian radio/television
commentator Marianna Simeone.
etc., ALL MARKETS:
Univision Communications Inc. upped Alina
Falcon to EVP/Operating Managerfor Univision
Network. She will oversee all aspects of operations such as
programming, promotions, talent relations, technical operations and news.
Alina was previously EVP/Operating Manager for TeleFutura Network.
She will be based in Miami and report to Ray Rodriguez, President/COO of
Univision Communications Inc.
Minds Eye International upped Annmarie Lesiuk to
Managing Director. She will continue with her current sales
responsibilities as well as take on the company's programming purchases
(with an emphasis on lifestyle and kids/teen drama series).
Annmarie was previously sales director for Southeast Asia, the Pacific
Rim and the US.
ImaginAsian TV named Charles Hendrickson as CFO. The
announcement was made by Michael Hong, CEO of ImaginAsian Entertainment,
Inc. He was previously with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette as managing
director/treasurer for 16 years.
. Discovery Networks Europe named Lars Wagner as the
Channel Manager of its Discovery Geschichte. The
channel will soon launch on the network's pay platform Premiere this
year. Lars was previously with the UK-based Bruce Dunlop &
Associates as business director for BDA Germany.
La Raza Newspaper named Joe Matessa as General Sales
Manager. He will focus on regional and local sales and manage
the publication's sales team. He was previously with Newspaper
Services of America (NSA).
Answer to Yesterday's Movie Trivia
Question:This Tennessee Williams play was
adapted for the movies, and takes place in New Orleans. What's the title?
STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Kudos to: Fred Petrosino-Jones
Sagansky Bcst Group/NY; Adriano Schmid-Discovery Latin America/Miami;
Brenda Jones-Cablevision of NY/NY; Gregory Chang-The ImaginAsian/NY;
Kathy Alexander-SpotPlus y Mas/Dallas; Eric Montoya-KTLA/LA; Alicia
Pritchett-Mindring Prods/LA.
Today's Movie Trivia
Question: Here's the quote - you provide the movie
title: "I love the smell of napalm in the
morning." (click
here with your answer
and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone with your
answer. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers
from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you've been mentioned in
any of the Cynopsis editions, you can't be mentioned again that calendar
week.)
Saludos - Ariana
Ariana Rawls for Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis: M-CE 02/23/05 3:19am Press Releases forMCEcan be
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