MUMBAI: Europe?s leading sports marketing group, Sportfive International, will continue to serve as the International Basketball Association?s (Fiba) exclusive media rights partner for four more years till 2015.

The deal will see the agency continue to market Fiba?s major rights in Asia, excluding Japan and the pan-Arab region. Fiba had first partnered with Sportfive in 2007.

The period will include the 2013 Fiba Asia Championship in the Philippines, the 2013 Fiba Asia Women?s Championship in Thailand, the 2014 Fiba Basketball World Cup in Spain, the 2014 Fiba Women?s World Championship in Turkey, and in 2015 the Fiba Asia Championships for men and women with the host countries to be announced soon.
 
?We are very pleased to continue our partnership with Fiba. It has been a successful and enjoyable collaboration so far and we are continuing our work to further strengthen this relationship. We hope that this renewal will become just one of many projects as we move forward this year and develop new basketball opportunities," said Sportfive International chief executive Shaila-Ann Rao.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday called for views from stakeholders on various restrictions put forth on ownership of media, including on powers to the government to prevent any entity from entering the media sector in public interest.

In its second consultation paper on media ownership, Trai has also asked stakeholders to give their views if there are any entities which need to be precluded from owning media enterprises, in addition to political parties, religious bodies, government or government-aided bodies which have already been recommended by the regulator to be disqualified from entry into the broadcasting and distribution sectors.

The discussion paper has listed out 32 issues on which it wants stakeholders to give their views, including on ownership rules for vertical integration between broadcasting and distribution entities.

The paper has also sought views on what should be the rules/restrictions in case of mergers and acquisitions in the media sector, and media ownership rules within and across media segments.

The paper has been placed on the TRAI website and written comments invited from stakeholders by 8 March and counter-comments if any by 15 March.

It has also sought views on what methodology to be adopted to measure ownership or control of an entity over a media outlet, identification of genres to be considered while framing media ownership rules, and prescribing norms for mandatory disclosures by media entities.

Trai also wants discussion on issues relating to identification of media segments wherein media ownership rules are to be prescribed, and identification of relevant markets for evaluating various parameters to be used for devising ownership rules and the methodology for measuring these parameters.

The paper had been issued at the request of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry made last year following a report of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.

Trai said it was felt that reasonable restrictions may need to be put in place on ownership in the media sector, to ensure media pluralism and to counter the ills of monopolies. It pointed out that such restrictions do exist in many international markets.

However, media ownership rules, Trai said, should be so designed to strike a balance between ensuring a degree of plurality of media sources and content, and a level playing field for companies operating in the media sector, and providing freedom to companies to expand, innovate and invest.

Trai had prepared a similar paper in 2008, but the Ministry felt that the situation had undergone a sea-change since then.

MUMBAI: The Indian Merchants? Chamber is organising the second edition of its Sports, Media and Entertainment conference ?IMC Fusion? on 16 February at Grand Hyatt in Santa Cruz, Mumbai.

The conference is being organised under the auspices of IMC?s Entertainment Committee chaired by Karan Johar. Kabir Bedi will be the Host of Fusion 2013.

This year ?IMC Fusion? will feature discussions on the following subjects: 21st Century Entertainment: Talent Creation & Challenges of Nurturing & Mentoring, Hyper Channelization and The New Entertainment Landscape: Apps, Social Media, You Tube, Gaming and Commerce, The Brewing Content Battle: Who is Transforming Content and Consumer Experience for the Better?, Women in Cinema & Entertainment: New Realities & Challenges, Reality Shows on TV: Beyond Entertainment & Voyeurism, and Script is the Star: Can it also deliver Rs 100 Cr at the Box-office?.

The nine-part series is a part of Discovery?s block ?Ultimate Discovery? and starts tonight 11 February at 9 pm. Episodes begin with impromptu tricks captured by hidden cameras and culminate in full-scale, elaborate stunts in a melding of magic and science. The result is a blending of theatrical exhibition and empirical principles, bolstered by the before and after reactions of the audience.

The show looks to elevate the purely entertaining aspect of magic to new heights by proposing seemingly impossible endeavours, executing them flawlessly, and ultimately disclosing the scientific reality as the featured magicians, Canadian female, Billy Kidd, American Wayne Houchin, Briton Ben Hanlin and Australian James Galea explore the physics, chemistry, biology and a little pure Einstein that make illusions possible. The magicians are filmed in New York, London, and Warsaw with the help of both hidden and open cameras for the largest possible impact.

Commenting on Fusion 2013, IMC President Niranjan Hiranandani said, "This year the conference gets bigger in scope and scale. There will be dedicated B2B exhibition space that will provide a platform for product and service providers from the connected industry to interact with the right target group in a productive environment."

Key issues identified during the Fusion 2013 conference together with suggestions and outcomes from different sessions will be collated for taking up at appropriate levels.