Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Sirasa TV bags Twenty20 World Cup rights

Private television broadcaster Sirasa TV has bagged the rights for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup that will be held in September.

Sirasa TV has successfully televised cricket tournaments before and were also the channel that broadcast the Athens Olympic Games. We hope that Sirasa will take steps to carry out a high quality broadcast of this tournament.

The pay television rights for this tournament is held by ESPN Star Sports.


Friday, July 27, 2007

A new Sinhala Radio Station by EAP

According to initial reports it seem that a brand new Sinhala Radio Station is going to be launched by Colombo Communications Limited (An EAP Company) in place of Raja FM which was ordered off air under controversial circumstances.

The name of the station is not clear but the reason we are lead to believe that it is operated by EAP is due to reports that only Swarnavahini is advertising this new station. The frequencies of this station are Colombo 104.5 FM, Kandy 103.1 FM and North Central 91.5 FM, test transmissions are reportedly commencing at 10am.

We like to thank Shamitha for providing the above information to us.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Game on….. Dialog Sattelite TV vs LBN

The two pay television services who were shutdown last year under controversial circumstances are now making giant strides in the pay television market. Dialog TV backed by Dialog Telekom is presently in the process of expanding their channels to include those of Star and have already included Ten Sports, Hallmark, Neo, God TV etc. They are also testing HDTV services.

LBN is also on an expansion drive and will be adding channels such as BBC World, Animax, etc and have already added channels such as Star Cricket, Discovery Network and they too are testing HDTV services and will also be introducing cable based internet services soon.

So it looks like the pay television war is now hotting up with LBN taking on Dialog TV and not wanting to play second fiddle to the larger competitor. Apart from coverage LBN is clearly on a level playing field as Dialog TV.

LBN are also on a coverage expansion drive by expanding services out of colombo to wattala by acquiring a pay television operator in the area. (Please read... LBN launches services in Wattala).

However it is sad to note that Comet Cable is let lagging behind and may eventually have to do a complete overhaul or face the consequences. SLT IPTV will add to this competition and clearly the public is set to benefit greatly from this competition.

Pay television has been a service that was fairly restricted due to the pricing and affordability but now with competition things will begin to change very soon.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Voice of Asia Networks to launch English Radio Station

Voice of Asia Networks the operators of Siyatha FM have formulated plans to launch an English Language Radio station and test transmissions are likely to commence towards the end of this month. This is in addition to the launch of Siyatha TV which is likely to take place next month.

The frequency of the English Radio station is not known yet. Please keep us updated on the latest news on these developments as the days progress.

We could expect to see a plethora of television and radio stations commencing transmission soon due to the stance taken by the government to cancel all licenses issued over the last few years if the license holders do not commence stations.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

FM 95 - New Sinhala Language Radio Station

Today while traveling we noticed posters indicating FM 95. When we tuned into the frequency it seems that it is a new Sinhala Language radio station operating on that frequency. We are unable to ascertain the name of the station but it maybe called "FM 95" or the name may be revealed later.

Please update us on any information regarding this radio station.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Actors take your hands off television stations

Actors Ravindra Randeniya and Sangeetha Weeraratne have clashed with private television stations over the television tax that was imposed several months ago. The clash erupted at a meeting called by the treasury officials over the controversial tax. Capital Maharaja have stopped paying the tax over the past few weeks in protest over the affect on the financial viability of the television stations. It also seems that this tax should be paid before the programme is screened.

The problem with the tax issue should be a discussion between the Treasury/Finance Ministry/Media Ministry and the private media, the actors should not get directly involved. If these actors want their dramas/movies to do well then they should act properly and should be involved in high quality productions. They are not happy that the latest English/Hindi/Tamil movies are being screened in Sri Lanka almost at the same time as their International release.

These actors view imported television entertainment and movies as a threat to them, but this should not be so. They should learn from international productions and raise their level so that local productions will be able to compete directly. This is unfortunately something that these people are not prepared to do, at least the group led by Sangeetha and Ravindra do not want to do it, so the only way they can think of doing to popularise the industry is to curtail the choice that the general public have and force them to watch their third grade acts. A person who has common sense will know that this is difficult since DVD's are readily available in the market and content can be downloaded off the internet.

Sangeetha has also mentioned that dubbing staff employed in television stations are not part of the industry. If they are not part of the industry, we wonder what they are part of. This shows the level of intelligence of some of these high profile stars.

The film industry should discard actors and actresses such as these who hold narrow minded views and let them stick to soap and insurance commercials. They should source younger people who are able to take the challenge and act in productions that are able to compete directly with the international productions.

This tax has a very damaging effect on the operations of mainly the English Language stations which have a limited audience, a sentiment echoed by both Channel One MTV and ETV. It also seems that the government has no proper plan on how to make use of this money collected by this tax. In fact these actors/actresses should be more worried on how the money collected is being spent but they are concentrating on things that do not concern them. This is in itself proof that they are not in the least concerned about developing the industry but are more concerned in achieving petty political goals and oppressing the choice of the general public.

Please refer the following links
Clash over controversial TV Tax - The Sunday Times July 8th 2007
Sri Lanka TV industry hit by penal tax - LBO July 07th 2007

Siyatha TV Test Transmissions

Siyatha which launched its new and updated website catering for its radio listeners and also announcing their soon to be launched TV station. The website consists of on line streaming of Siyatha FM which will be immensely helpful for Sri Lankan expatriates.

One of the striking announcements on this website is the launch of Siyatha TV for which according to the website the test transmissions have already commenced. The test transmissions of this television station is said to be going on air from time to time and the official launch date will be announced shortly. According to reports received a few months back the Siyatha TV test transmission should be on UHF Channel 46, however we are unable to confirm this, however the frequency may have changed.

Please keep us updated on the latest developments regarding Siyatha TV and anyone who is able to receive the test transmission is requested to provide us the time at which the testing is taking place.

Siyatha Website : http://www.siyatha.com/

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

New Yes FM Morning Show from July 9th onwards

Yes FM will be launching their new look morning show from July 9th onwards. The Morning Show will be from 7am to 11am. Information has not been released on who the new DJ's are. Many are looking forward to the return of Mark though.

The Yes FM Morning Show has arguably been the most popular morning among English Radio Stations in Sri Lanka.

Please keep us updated on any news regarding this new look morning show.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

"V FM" Web Site

One of Sri Lanka's newest Sinhala Language Radio Stations V FM have launched their web site with a whole host of features including on line streaming and multi language facilities. The Web Site can be viewed in Sinhala or English, this we believe is the first time a Sinhala language station has introduced a dual language website.

The link to the website is : http://www.vfmlanka.com/

Monday, July 02, 2007

Sun FM's crazy Morning Show

In an attempt to draw listeners from the now defunct Yes Morning Show with Shaq and Mark, Sun FM pinned their hopes on Eric and Shri to deliver the goods. Unfortunately the show is nothing short of a miserable failure. Eric tries to do a Mark and Shri tries to do a Shaq but they are very unsuccessful since they are no where close to the calibre of Shaq and Mark.

However with the sudden disappearance of Mark from Yes FM, the Sun FM show has gained a bit of popularity but that may be short lived since Yes FM is planning a new look morning show.

The duo on Sun FM keep mumbling some dry jokes and attack each other with stupid remarks and in addition if one listens carefully it is the same thing that is repeated day in and day out.

While wishing Sun FM all the best as they have entered their 9th year of operation in Sri Lanka yesterday, July 1st 2007 we hope that steps are taken to do a complete revamp of the morning show and have a better lineup of programmes throughout the day. Sun FM has no doubt made an impact on radio broadcasting in Sri Lanka.

We hope that Sun FM will be capable of doing an original morning show with a unique style like they have done successfully before, instead of copying another station.

"Live Earth" to be broadcast in Sri Lanka

The concert calling for awareness on global warming called "Live Earth" to be held on 7.7.07 will be broadcast live on Yes FM. This entire event is a series of concerts that will last 24 hours over several locations around the world. We are unable to ascertain whether Yes FM will carry the event for 24 hours but they will broadcast at least one leg of this concert from 4:30pm onwards.

We are not sure whether any television station will carry it live but pay television subscribers in Sri Lanka will be able to watch the whole concert spanning 24 hours, Live on VH1 from 2:30pm on July 7th to 2:30pm on July 8th.

VH1 is available on all pay television networks in Sri Lanka.

Live Earth Website : http://www.liveearth.org/