Wednesday, July 23, 2008

"Lak FM" now on test

Sri Lanka's newest radio channel "Lak FM" is now running test transmissions on FM 92.0 from their tower located in Kelaniya.

This channel is owned and operated by Mr. Hema Nalin Karunarathne. According to information they have also obtained a license to operate a television station.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

ESS captures 2010 & 2012 Olympic Broadcast rights

Pay television channel ESPN Star Sports has captured the rights for the broadcast of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games & London 2012 Summer Games for 22 countries including the Indian subcontinent. According to the agreement the channels will offer complete coverage via cable and satellite television platforms including IPTV & Mobile TV platforms.

This is the first time that the IOC has provided broadcast rights to a pay television channel in this region. This is in addition to the acquisition of rights for the 2010 FiFa World Cup and the 2009 Confederations Cup for the Indian sub continent.

ESPN, Star Sports & Star Cricket are available across all pay television platforms in Sri Lanka.






Thursday, July 10, 2008

"Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader" to premiere on Star World

The reality television show "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader" will be premiering on Star World on Friday 11th July 2008 on fridays at 9pm.

This is all part of an effort by Star World to push more reality programming onto their viewing slots after American Idol 2008 was completed. The other reality show to make a premiere last night was "America's Got Talent".

Star World which was one of the regions front line English entertainment channels is now coming under criticism for being lacklustre and premiering shows several years after they complete airing in the US.


Thursday, July 03, 2008

Star World to premiere "America's Got Talent"

Pay broadcaster Star World will be telecasting the reality show "America's Got Talent" commencing July 9th @ 9pm. This is the first time that this show is being telecast in this region. We are still unable to ascertain which season will be telecast since Season 3 premiered on June 17th 2008 on NBC USA.

It is likely that an older season like Season 1 or Season 2 will be telecast but if Season 3 is telecast then it would be better since Star World is famous at telecasting older seasons of popular programming. The only programme telecast with minimum delay is "American Idol". Star World premiered "Prison Break S2" on July just a week after it concluded on FTA channel Art TV in Sri Lanka.

ESPN Star Sports bags 2010 FIFA World Cup rights

Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has bagged the rights to broadcast the 2010 FIFA World Cup in the Indian Sub Continent. ESPN who acquired the rights for the 2006 edition has now successfully done so for the 2010 edition. ESS successfully broadcast the UEFA Euro 2008 which concluded a few days ago.

The closest bidder to ESS has been Ten Sports with only $9 Million separating the two.

ESS is available on all pay television operators in Sri Lanka.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Zone Reality exits Asia Pacific

Reality Channel "Zone Reality" has exited the Asia Pacific region due to low ratings on the channel according to Zone Reality.

The channel will be missed by the many loyal fans that they had in this region since they had created a niche audience but sadly this audience was not enough to this channel going. The exit of this channel is a severe blow to reality programming in this region.

We hope that the channel is reintroduced with some revamped programming in the near future, if this is happening it will happen after about 5 years.

Please contribute your thoughts on the exit of Zone Reality in the comments section under this post.