Media UK

DTR

This is an archive of news about DTR, Downtown Radio. Some links may no longer work, due to the transient nature of the internet.

Freeview Playback becomes biggest DTR
From Digital Spy. Posted March 11 2008, 2.57pm
Freeview Playback won more than 50% of the digital television recorder market in 2007, figures show. (more)

WRN’s international radio networks go mobile with spodtronic
From Media Network Weblog. Posted January 18 2008, 12.28pm
WRN, the international television and radio transmission company, has made two of its 24/7 international news and current affairs radio networks available to mobile phone users via the spodtronic content hub.  WRN’s two channels, one English and the other German, provide listeners with some of the best international news and current affairs programming from public broadcasters [...] (more)

Seattle Radio Listeners Lose Larry Nelson to Cancer
From radio.about.com. Posted November 30 2007, 12.42pm
According to seattlepi.com: "Larry Nelson, who for nearly three decades provided what one listener described as "the soundtrack of the morning" for Seattle radio audiences, died early Thursday. He was... (more)

New Bollywood show heads to Sabras Radio
From Biz Asia. Posted November 13 2007, 9.27pm
A new weekly Bollywood show is being launched on the Midlands renowned Sabras Radio, starting this Saturday (17th November). The programme called 'Filmi Access' will be presented by newcomers Vishali and Minesh between 09:00 - midday. 'Filmi Access' will feature all the very latest breaking news stories from tinsel town, plus star interviews, music and film reviews, as well as live correspondents from the capital city of Mumbai. 'Filmi Access' will also launch the all new Top Ten Bollywood soundtracks, which will be compiled by Sabras Radio airplay, public votes and record sales in the Midlands. The Bollywood Top Ten will air at 11:00 during the show. The new show replaces the long running 'Bollywood Buzz', which has been on the station since its launch twelve years ago. Its presenter Shama Malik will be moving to Sunday evenings in a weekend schedule shake-up. BizAsia.co.uk's Founder and Operations Manager at Sabras Radio, Raj Baddhan, said, "We are always reviewing our programmes here and the new Bollywood show is being launched based on the response we have collated from our listeners. We're filling a gap in the market to inform and entertain our listeners through our exciting three-hour show - Filmi Access, which is going to be a one-stop shop for all Bollywood fanatics." More on the new weekend Sabras Radio changes soon only on BizAsia.co.uk. (more)

Shahid Kapur to promote film on 'Nach Baliye 3'
From Biz Asia. Posted October 9 2007, 9.25am
The latest news doing the rounds is that Shahid Kapur will be a special guest on STAR Plus' immensely popular celebrity dance show, 'Nach Baliye 3'. Shahid is likely to shoot for 'Nach Baliye 3' on the 15th for the episode that will be telecast on the 18th. This is part of the promotion campaign for Imtiaz Ali's keenly awaited 'Jab We Met' releasing in the UK on Thursday 25th October (26th worldwide). Says our source, "Shahid will be the celebrity guest on Nach Baliye 3. He will comment on the participants' performance and at the end of the show go up on stage and shake a leg to the remix of the Mauja Hi Mauja track from the film." Weeks back, Kareena Kapoor had released the soundtrack of 'Jab We Met' on ZEE TV's 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Challenge 2007'. Related links: STAR Plus' drama actress in 'Jab We Met' 'Jab We Met' music premieres on Sabras Radio (more)

'Jab We Met' music premieres on Sabras Radio
From Biz Asia. Posted September 19 2007, 9.11pm
The music of this season's romantic comedy 'Jab We Met' directed by Imtiaz Ali was given an exclusive play on the Midland's popular Sabras Radio on Tuesday (18th September), days before the music is officially out. The song "Mauja Mauja" sung by Mika Singh premiered on the station's 'Drivetime' show. Today, a teaser featuring clips of all the songs from the soundtrack was carried by Sabras Radio. Furthermore, the music of the film is reportedly being released by the film's lead star Kareena Kapoor on television. Industry insiders inform that Kareena is all set to shoot for ZEE TV's immensely popular programme, 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' for a dedicated 30-minute 'Jab We Met' episode, which will unveil the film's soundtrack, composed by Pritam. Along with the contestants and the show's anchor Aditya Narayan, Kareena will launch the audio, which officially hits the market later this week and is being tipped to be a charbuster. This special episode will air this weekend on ZEE TV UK. Her co-star Shahid Kapoor, who is currently shooting in Canada, was unable to join her for the shoot. 'Jab We Met' is being released internationally by Studio 18 on Friday 26th October. (more)

Sony creates surreal HD ad with Iron Maiden soundtrack
From Media Guardian. Posted July 10 2007, 1.00am
8am: Sony has shot an ad for HD TV products featuring a 1971 Ford Mustang, a poodle and 5,000 litres of foam. By Mark Sweney. (more)

Exclusive Review: Asian Network's Love Bollywood
From Biz Asia. Posted June 17 2007, 1.30pm
As part of its programming changes, the BBC Asian Network unveiled a series of new shows, the most ambitious one being 'Love Bollywood', which launched on Saturday 16th June and Sunday 17th June. I had a listen to the eight-hour marathon over the two days and spoke to key industry and media insiders, representatives from the listening community and of course his own mind, to critique the shows, which clearly left a lot to be desired! "Is it wrong to buy pirate CDs and DVDs?" (Yawn!) This age-old issue isn't even a debate anymore - the answer is a foregone conclusion. But 'Love Bollywood' (replacing the hugely popular 'Film Cafe') believes this is a hot topic to discuss for a full hour on its Sunday edition. Worse still, on its Saturday edition, the presenters were devoting precious airtime to vapid brain-dead issues such as "Kissing In Bollywood", linking kissing to potential progression of the Indian film industry (for Chrissake!). What followed was a string of Joe Blogs calling the hotline to express random amateurish viewpoints (all in the guise of interactivity), nothing you haven't heard before or don't know about. [If this lot is keen to get this in-depth, why not get artistes and filmmakers who are notorious/famous for kissing to talk (if at all) and debate with credible culture crusaders? But heyho, that's hard work!] The precise problem with 'Love Bollywood' is that it fully and heartlessly takes out the entertainment and fun quotient from Bollywood to give it a falsely and superficially serious edge, that is far from welcome on weekend mornings. The razzle dazzle, glamour, gossip and excitement associated with the industry have gone for a toss only to be replaced by topics, points and facts that reflect a serious non-understanding of the Indian film industry and what it stands for. There is nothing time-specific about this programme either - you can play it anytime of the day and it will fit in! So why have it replace 'Breakfast'? Alright, so on the odd occasion we are lucky to have an intelligent commercial product or an aesthetic one from parallel cinema ('Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi', 'Sardari Begum', 'Omkara', 'The Legend Of Bhagat Singh', to name a few) but let's get real- on the whole, Bollywood cinema is predominantly commercial cinema, known the world over for its escapism and grandeur - why completely intellectualise it with casual verbal diarrohea that's far from stimulating or thought-provoking? More amusingly, why do that, when the presenters (two self-proclaimed 'it' boys, a fun-filled madcap and a shreeky political correspondent - none of whom match the intended character of the revised programme) quite evidently suffer from a pronounced lack of domain knowledge and expertise? (leave aside the floundering oratory and miserable pronounciations!) More pertinently, what is all this debate eventually leading to? Does 'Love Bollywood' have serious recommendations or solutions to curb piracy or was it a debate for the sake of a debate to kill an hour? The stunning Lara Dutta sat pretty in BBC's Mumbai studio on Saturday answering bog-standard PR questions about her new release....'Love Bollywood' obviously believes she's big enough to have back, considering she featured on 'Film Cafe' only last week! An over-saturated Amitabh Bachchan was used as a 15-minute filler, talking about the usual "honour" and "privilege" that it was to be felicitated by BAFTA and the IIFA Awards (for which he is the brand ambassador) being "the best". What else were the producers and presenters expecting him to say? Let's tread the originality path now.....The Maestro feature (featuring Asha Bhonsle on Sunday) is an obvious rehash of 'Musical Genius', that was previously on Sunday Soundtrack. The Lurve Bollywood feature (where a listener talks about a song to do with his/her love life or something like that!) is reminiscent of 'Undercover Lover' on Sonia Deol's show. The concept of interactivity and phoning in is a lame attempt to ape 'Phone-In by Nihal'? (At least, he does a good job of it!) So much for an all-new 'Love Bollywood'! Finally, according to the maiden episode of this programme, the Chopras' 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' was a defining moment in Bollywood. What does 'defining moment' mean? And whose opinion is that? The presenters'? The producers'? Or was their result drawn out of an online customer survey or a research scanning the annals of Bollywood history? Does it take a runaway hit at the box-office (like 'DDLJ') to define or redefine Bollywood? We don't think so! If 'DDLJ' redefined Bollywood, in recent years, what about RAAZ (which made the horror genre fashionable in Bollywood all over again), 'Jism' and 'Murder' (which brought in a wave of sensuousness), 'Dil Chahta Hai' (which introduced new-age youth culture), 'Don' (which popularised remakes), 'Krrish' (which gave Bollywood its first superhero), 'Lagaan' (which brought in sport), 'Rang De Basanti', 'Black Friday' and 'Parzania' (which brought in political awareness and consciousness) and 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', 'Honeymoon Travels...' and 'Bheja Fry' (which introduced unconventional budget cinema to the box-office)? Sorry guys, these films redefined Bollywood! (Heard of them?) I can't, for the life of me, understand why anyone with two grey cells would want to surface at 8am on weekends to endure four boring hours of pseudo-analytical gibberish interspersed with the odd song! Lazing around in your duvet, cooking some tidy breakfast, gardening....or perhaps.....tuning into the telly might be saner alternatives! What do you think of BBC Asian Network's new weekend programming, email us at raj@media247.co.uk. (more)

A. Network's Love Bollywood's 'lovebirds' finalised?
From Biz Asia. Posted June 1 2007, 9.03am
Last week we exclusively revealed the axing of the successful 'Film Cafe' and 'Sunday Soundtrack' shows to make way for two four-hour long weekend Bollywood shows, cheesily christened 'Love Bollywood'. The new shows are kicking off on the 16th and 17th of June and will be broadcast from the London studio between 8am and noon when most of the listener base is presumably enjoying their weekend snooze. It appears that the presenters of 'Film Cafe' and 'Sunday Soundtrack' - Raj & Pablo (despite a round of bad press for the Asian Network) and Murtz have been asked to anchor 'Love Bollywood' on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Watch out for the first reviews of Love Bollywood on Bizasia.co.uk and also for the update on the RAJAR figures post the changes. Related links: EXCLUSIVE: Film show changes at Asian Network EXCLUSIVE: BBC Asian Network goes 'filmy' Dates for new Asian Network changes BBC Asian Network to increase music output (more)

EXCLUSIVE: Film show changes at Asian Network
From Biz Asia. Posted May 25 2007, 10.16am
As revealed exclusively first here on BizAsia.co.uk, the BBC Asian Network will be launching two four-hour Bollywood shows at the weekend from Saturday 16 th June. The second show will be on Sunday 17th June. Currently, the BBC Asian Network airs two Bollywood programmes - 'Film Cafe' on Saturday mornings and 'Sunday Soundtrack' on Sunday mornings. Strangely, both these top-performing shows done out of Birmingham are being discontinued from the weekend of 9 th June to make way for a new film brand for the station the following week out of London! Cheesily enough, the new film shows have been christened, 'Love Bollywood'. The programmes will air on Saturday and Sunday between 08:00 and midday. The station is yet to disclose presenter names for its new show. Raj and Pablo have were presenting 'Film Cafe' earlier but following complaints on quality and bad press, it remains to be seen whether the duo will be fronting the new show. Or will there be a variety of presenters to break the monotony of the having to listen to the same voice for eight hours on weekend mornings! Don't forget to log in for our review of the new programme! Related link: EXCLUSIVE: BBC Asian Network goes 'filmy' Dates for new Asian Network changes BBC Asian Network to increase music output (more)

"Radio Row" Broadcasting From Super Bowl XXIV
From radio.about.com. Posted February 3 2007, 9.39am
According to an article at heraldtribune.com, no less than 86 radio stations and radio networks have set up shop at the Miami Beach Convention Center to broadcast festivities leading up... (more)

A new continent and a new language for LUXE.TV
From Media Network Weblog. Posted January 16 2007, 2.50pm
LUXE.TV, the free-to-air channel focused on luxury lifestyle that broadcasts in Standard Digital and High Definition, has chosen Eutelsat’s W5 satellite to extend its reach to South East Asia. Starting broadcasting mid-January, the channel’s High Definition version will be available throughout the region, in both English and French. LUXE.TV began its English-language soundtrack in December [...] (more)