MUMBAI: Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution will employ Civolution?s media monitoring service, Teletrax, to monitor the broadcast of its video content in the international marketplace.

The media intelligence provided by Teletrax will allow Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution to accelerate rights windows for the overseas broadcast of its content, monitor on-air promotions of series, and develop new and more sophisticated business models for the global distribution of its video assets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution will utilise Teletrax?s broadcast verification services to monitor telecasts of its feature film and television series product throughout Europe, Australasia and the Middle East. As Fox?s international broadcast partners continue their trend to move closer to day-and-date broadcast with the US network schedules, comparison of performance ratings data with accurate and timely broadcast data has become increasingly important to the studio.

The timing for launching Teletrax?s services could not be better with Twentieth Century Fox?s global launch of Touch, the new series starring Kiefer Sutherland that premiered near day and date in over 100 countries with global advertiser Unilever attached.

Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution currently licenses over 35 prime-time network, cable and pay TV series around the world with 12 of these series airing near-day-and-date with the US.

The broadcast data provided by Civolution?s Teletrax service will not only fill a need to track where its feature films and television series are being broadcast but will also fill the cross-divisional need within the studio to know what, where and when a product is airing.

Fox international television distribution senior VP sales operations Scott Gregg said, "As the broadcast marketplace evolves into increasingly complex business models and consumer demand pushes broadcasters to make their programming available on-the-go, it is important to monitor broadcasts around the world and track, near-real-time, performance ratings as we partner with our clients to
meet the new demands in their marketplace".

Civolution chief commercial officer Andy Nobbs said, "Since Teletrax?s inception ten years ago, we?ve prided ourselves on providing the most comprehensive media monitoring reporting in the industry. Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution trusting us to provide the most accurate and valuable intelligence on the international use of its content is testament to the power of the service we have worked relentlessly to build. We feel privileged to help them navigate an otherwise unwieldy international media landscape, and help develop the standards for their global distribution strategy."

MUMBAI: The US Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether the FCC should still have a role in policing the country?s airwaves or whether its indecency regulations violate guarantees of free speech and due process.

With their free speech rights at issue, the major television networks are contesting the Federal Communications Commission‘s (FCC‘s) indecency policy that was upheld in a 1978 dispute over Carlin‘s Act. The networks‘ challenge involved more recent events.

The networks have argued successfully in lower courts that they exist side by side with cable channels that are beyond the FCC?s regulation. Therefore singling them out is not only nonsensical but unconstitutional.

Earlier Washington lawyer Carter G. Phillips, who represents Fox and other networks, told the court in a brief that stated, ?Today, broadcasting is neither uniquely pervasive nor uniquely accessible to children, yet broadcasters are still denied the same basic First Amendment freedoms as other media,?

Lawyers for Fox Television Stations have said that the Supreme Court should reverse its long-standing view that broadcast programming is subject to tougher rules than cable because of the scarcity of the airwaves and broadcast TV‘s pervasiveness in American life.

The networks are challenging sanctions for outbursts of those expletives and fleeting nudity before 10 pm when children are most likely to be watching. They say federal policy, which permits profanity in some situations, such as TV broadcast of the movie Saving Private Ryan, is unconstitutionally vague and violates free speech rights.

MUMBAI: Star World is bringing one of the biggest television shows of the year, Terranova, for Indian audiences.

The sci fi adventure series is premiering in India just 12 days after its US airing, starting 8 October.

The 20th Century Fox Television co-produced series will air every Saturday at 9 pm on Star World.

Positioned as the most expensive production on television, Terranova has been shot across exotic locations in Australia with over 250 sets built for the shoot. The show boasts of breath taking visuals, with the average episode budget of $4 million.

Terranova is jointly produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Chernin Entertainment, DreamWorks Television and Kapital Entertainment. Based on an original idea by British writer terry Marcel, Terranova has a long list of executive producers behind the project- Peter Chernin, Steven Spielberg, Ren Echevarria, Brannon Braga, Aaron Kaplan, Katherine Pope, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Jon Cassar, Craig Silverstein, Kelly Marcel and Alex Graves who is also the director of the series previews.

Star World has devised a two-month marketing plan for the big-ticket show centered on the objective of getting people to sample the visual delight that the show promises to be.

The promotion plan involves breaking the promo on air for the first time during the break of Avatar, the biggest movie of the decade for Star Movies. For off air marketing, it has tied up with Croma, the electronic store, to show the TerraNova promo in all outlets on all screens.

Multiplex partner Big Cinemas has allowed viewers to sample the movie like a trailer during the break of the movie in all theatres, across all screens. Online partner BookmyShow has carried banners on their homepage and for Landmark 3D standees and shelf stickers were created for Dinosaurs addicts to tune in to the show.

Star India general manager and Senior VP, English Channels Saurabh Yagnik said, "We at Star World are delighted to bring the biggest international launch of the year, Terranova on our channel! The scale and magnitude of the show is absolutely unique, placing it in a completely different league than any other show that has previously been seen in India. The biggest proposition for Terranova is that we are launching it only 12 days after its airing in the US. We are therefore sure to get a great response from our viewers who will be sampling the show for the first time on our channel. We are confident that the show will add more viewers to our bouquet and change the way English entertainment is viewed in the country."

Terranova is set in a future when the world is dying from overdevelopment and overcrowding. As a last resort, scientists find a way to go back to prehistoric Earth to try and undo the damage that has been caused. The show revolves around the Shannon family as they join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to Terranova, the first colony established in a breathtakingly beautiful land.

Terranova has a huge star cast with the main characters being Jim Shannon (Jason O Mara), the devoted father and ex-police officer guides his family through the new world. Jim?s wife Elizabeth Shannon (Shelly Con) is a trauma surgeon and is the latest recruit in Terranova?s medical team. Josh Shannon (Landon Liboiron), his 17-year-old son who isn?t happy leaving his life behind. Maddy Shannon (Naomi Scott) who hopes Terranova will give her a chance to reinvent herself while her five year old sister Zoe (Alana Mansour) endangers their place in the colony.