SAB - India’s leading comedy family entertainment channel was awarded The Brand Leadership Award in Media and Entertainment category at The World Brand Congress 2009, held in Mumbai on 4th Nov. Other nominees for the same category where Zee TV, Star Plus and Fox.

Shows on SAB talk about the positives of joint families and its campaign "Asli Mazaa SAB ka Saath Aata Hai" also underlines the fact that the best family moments are spent while watching SAB. "Asli Mazaa SAB ka Saath Aata Hai" is one of its kind campaign where the brand name, brand promise, product promise and the channel strategy are woven into one simple consumer insight ‘Asli Mazaa SAB ke saath aata hai’.

SAB connects with its family audience through multiple family touch points like Big bazaars, Cafeteria, Malls, Multiplexs etc.

SAB’s differentiated programming ensures fresh clean, healthy and light hearted entertainment that the entire family can sit together and enjoy. This has given the audiences a break from the negativity of shows of other channels. As a result the channel has achieved 200% GRP growth within a year and doubled its revenue.

The World Brand Congress is the single largest rendezvous of best brains behind some of the worlds most successful and sought after brands. The World Brand Congress is represented by 60 countries from across different parts of the world.

Riding on the wave of the action-packed India – Australia One Day Series, NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. continues to entertain the cricket fans across the country. Ace Indian cricketer, Harbhajan Singh will be on NEO Cricket’s Dial C for Cricket on Thursday, 12th November 2009 at 9:30 pm, giving his fans a chance to call and speak with him.

Dial C for Cricket is a daily live interactive call-in show about cricket. It gives an opportunity to cricket lovers across the country to air their views and a chance to interact with their favorite cricketers. The show is aired daily at 9:30 pm live on the channel.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Abhishek Verma, Head – Marketing & Communications, NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd., said, "The Dial C show on NEO Cricket will provide a great platform for the cricketing fans to interact with our brand ambassador - Harbhajan Singh. With this initiative, we plan to bring the Indian cricket fan much closer to their favorite stars."

The thrilling cricketing action between India and Australia has generated unprecedented interest among Indian cricket fans leading to record ratings, giving advertisers maximum returns on investment. The next cricketing action on NEO Cricket is the India- Sri Lanka Series starting 16th November.

After ‘building’ a path closer to the dream, 9 teams wake up to yet another day of intensity and drama in the Big Switch House. Recovering from the first elimination, they now realize that the road to the top is not always easy and their journey has only just begun. Watch as 10 rich and 10 poor contestants spend 14 weeks with each other, getting a taste of the ‘other’ side of life on the 4th episode of Bindass Big Switch this Saturday, 14th November, 7:00 p.m. only on UTV Bindass.

Day 4 on Sunsilk Big Switch does not start with the elaborate breakfast in bed. However, the contestants have to make breakfast for the team on a budget of Rs.5. Pooja, Umesh, Bindi and Sabah are the chosen chefs. On the menu is Halwa, and the ingredients have to be collected by Hook or by Crook. The 4 of them soon realize that Rs5 isn’t worth much, and they will have to rough it out if they want to be able to feed the team. From making rotis to teaching, they go through it all, before Sabah finally announces ‘Breakfast is ready.’

The 4th Episode also sees the formation of the ‘Secret Agents’ – whose agenda ranges from playing pranks to getting contestants to [censored] about each other. Who are these agents and will they succeed in their endeavors? We will need to wait and watch. For the evening task, the teams are asked to go out on the road and polish the shoes for complete strangers. This was a money task, and as soon as the briefing was over, the teams ran out onto the street. While Mohita sat down on the road in her dress, Adam and Kunwar got down and began polishing the shoes themselves. Siddhartha even went to the extent of stopping richshawallas and polishing their chappals. Engrossed in the task, Sunny was in for a complete surprise when his girlfriend, Bruna Abdullha turned up at the venue and saw him begging people to let him polish their shoes. Don’t miss all the action this week on Big Switch and see which team makes it to the top and which one gets into the elimination zone.

Catch the fourth episode of the newest, cutting-edge reality show –Bindass Big Switch, this Saturday, 14th November, 7:00 p.m. only on UTV Bindass.

As the nation mourned the loss of India by mere 3 runs, some of the big boys of the Indian team were seen partying with a gaggle of girls. The losers’ party saw Indian Captain M S Dhoni enjoying the evening with his fellow players including Ravindra Jadeja, Ashish Nehra, Virender Sehwag and Praveen Kumar. Perhaps the gang chose to ‘celebrate’ the defeat and move on.

Sachin Tendulkar, meanwhile, was the only Indian cricketer to have given the party a miss. After all, he had scored a memorable 175 earlier that evening.

The question, however, arises: Are the Indian players out of line in behaving like this after a harrowing day's play? Or they just wanted to relax this way? Looking at the pictures, it is difficult to play judge on this one…

NewsX got access to exclusive picture to the losers’ party from a hotel in Hyderabad where Indian players were seen partying after the Indian team lost to Australia. Stay tuned to NewsX for more updates.

Chennai, Oct 27 (IANS) Sun TV Network will come out with a game show on its four southern flagship entertainment channels after the weekend movie or serial, the company said here Tuesday.

The one-hour programme, patterned on the international game show "Deal or No Deal" that has been telecast in 73 countries, will run for 26 weeks between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays on Sun TV (Tamil), Surya (Malayalam), Gemini (Telugu) and Udaya (Kannada).

Each participant has a chance to win a maximum of Rs.50 lakh, while a viewer can earn Rs.100,000 per episode by winning a contest.

"The game show will be hosted by actors. Rishi will host in Sun TV while it will be Sai Kiran in Gemini and Udaya. Malayalam actor Mukesh will be the host in Surya," Sun TV vice-president L.V. Navaneenth told IANS.

While the broadcaster will pay a fixed fee and royalty to format owner Endemol, a Netherlands-headquartered entertainment company, it will earn revenue from advertisements and title sponsors.

"The programming cost will be borne by Sun TV Network," Navaneenth added.

Earlier, addressing the media here, Sun's chief operating officer Ajay Vidyasagar said: "We believe the time is right to launch large non-fiction shows on top of our already very strong fiction-based programming content."

According to Endemol India managing director Deepak Dhar, the original "Deal or No Deal" show has given away over Rs.500 crore in cumulative prize money, making it one of the most successful game shows in television history.

The game involves 26 suitcases, each of which contains an unknown amount between Rs.1 and Rs.50 lakh.

To begin with, a contestant chooses any one of the 26 suitcases, not knowing how much money is inside.

The contestant's objective is to walk away from the game with the maximum possible amount of money through a process of opening the other 25 boxes and deciding to deal or not to deal with a mysterious banker who offers to buy the suitcase offering varying amounts of money at different stages of the game.

At the closing ceremony of the 11th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival, Road To Sangam got P7 Audience choice Award, presented by Mr. Jyoti Narain to Amit Rai writer and director of the movie. The movie got a prize worth Rs. 10, 00, 000. “P7 Audience Choice Awards” was introduced for the first time this year; to give the audience a taste of their choice, audience got to vote for their favourite movie. After more than two lakhs voting across three festival venues- Fun Cinema (Andheri), Metro Big Cinema (Church gate), Big Cinema (Ghatkopar) and online voting by viewers. The audiences were given a chance to put forth their preferences.

Speaking about the award Mr. Jyoti Narain, Director, P7 News Channel, said, "We are glad that people have responded so well to the audience choice award. It’s a pleasure to be associated with Mumbai film festival. We have always participated in events that support our vision of ‘Good News’. It is always good to get connected with the masses as our channel programming also revolves around the viewers". We will be also presenting the audience choice award in the coming years as it is always good to align with viewers psychic."

Speaking on the occasion Amit Rai, Director of Road to Sangam, said "I am really happy that P7 News Channel has come up with this kind of award, as it helps us to showcase our work and really boosts our confidence to keep making good cinema that viewers appreciate."

Road to Sangam movie is about a God fearing, devout Muslim mechanic named Hashmat Ullah (Paresh Rawal) who has been entrusted the job of repairing an old V8 ford engine, not knowing the historic significance that it once carried the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi which were immersed in the holy river 'Sangam'. He is caught in a complex situation after a powerful bomb explosion rocks his town leading to the arrest of innocent Muslim youths of his locality. A strike to work is called by the prominent Leaders played by Om Puri and Pavan Mallhotra, of his community to protest against the unjust treatment meted out to those arrested youths by the police. Will he support the protest and abandon the repair of the engine or go against the wishes of his community. Thus begins his journey. A journey of Gandhian values and principles. A journey of patriotism. A journey called 'Road To Sangam'.

The award function was graced by galaxy of stars Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan, Yash Chopra, Prasoon Joshi, Shabana Azmi, Abbas-Mastan, Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover, Kunal Khemu, Rituparna Sen Gupta, Archana puran Singh & Parmit Sethi, and many more that captivate the audiences. The director Kunal Kohli and actress Shefali Shah were the anchor of evening.

The jury and audience award were selected:

Lifetime Acheivement Award – Amitabh Bachchan
P7 Audience Choice Award: Road To Sangam
Young Critics Award: Whisper With The Wind
Best Actress: Paprika Steen for Applaus
Best Actor: Edward Hogg for White Lightnin'
Best Director: Adrien Biniez for Gigannte
Best Film: White Lightnin'
Jury Grand Prize: La Pivellina (The Little One)
Best Flim- White Lightnin
Best Director- Andria'n Biniez

In 7 days 200 films from 56 countries were screened. The 11th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) gets underway Mumbai the best of cinema from round the world. Organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) MFF has the distinction of being the only international film festival in India to be organized by an independent body of practicing film professional.

Zee Aflam, the Bollywood channel packaged in Arabic for the Arab Female community, recently won the Gold Award for Marketing in "Media / Content / Internet Provider" category. This achievement in the category was further enhanced by the fact that the judging panel had elected worthy winners from the 68 campaigns shortlisted from the 200 plus original entries.

Elie Kanaan, Business Head – Zee Aflam said, ‘We take immense pride in winning this Gold award for marketing excellence in the Media / Content / Content Provider category especially as the other strong nominees in the category were The Economist and Al Noor Islamic Bank.’

Mr. Kanaan added further, "We are humbled at this recognition and will give our marketing team further impetus to achieve greater allocades. We will continue to deliver entertaining content every time you switch on your TV set."

The GEMAS Effie Mena Awards 2009 made their debut at a glittering gala presentation ceremony in Dubai on 5th November marking a major milestone in the history of the region’s marketing sector. Effie Award celebrates marketing effectiveness world over. The GEMAS Effie MENA awards invited marketers operating across the Middle East and North Africa region. It awarded across its various categories Bronze, Silver & Gold Awards.

The red carpet event attracted more then 500 marketing professionals from across the region who gathered to celebrate and applaud the most effective communications campaigns launched during the past 18 months.

Catch an exclusive show with IBN7 as the Indian icon Amitabh Bachaan completes 40 beautiful years in the film industry. The show brings special inputs from all the majors of the industry – the directors/actors he worked with, his friends/colleagues/family and fans.

Tune into '40 Saal Baad' Saturday, November 7th @ 5:00 pm only on IBN7.

After innumerable weeks of taking digs at politicians, stripping the stars off the film stars and looking at the lighter side of the otherwise serious business of news CNN-IBN’s award winning show ‘The Week that Wasn’t’ now celebrates its 150th episode. This weekend special has Cyrus Broacha bringing in his brand of humor on all the major stories of the week that wasn’t. The 150th episode will showcase the best of this award winning show and also bring a rare peek on the madness that goes behind the making of this show. This special goes on air this Sunday, November 07, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. and 9:30 pm.

‘The Week that Wasn’t’ was conceptualized as a satirical news show with entertainment beyond limits, humour beyond imagination and style beyond contrast to look at the lighter side of the news on a serious note. A half hour spoof has the anchor Cyrus Broacha commenting on the key news stories, employing actual news footage, taped field pieces, and on- the-spot coverage of important news events. The show reports on the follies and foibles of the real world with a satirical edge. Lampooning everything from politics to cinema the show serves up the headlines of the week with a definite Cyrus Broacha twist. The show has been nominated across a variety of news television awards in India and also won various awards for the best comedy show and the best anchor award. In the recent past the show has won Best Anchor in a News Show – Cyrus Broacha – ITA awards 2007, Best Comedy Show –ITA awards 2008 also consecutively for the second time the Best Anchor in a Comedy show at the ITA awards 2008.

Speaking on the show Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor- in-Chief, IBN18 Network, said, "The show is a weekend delight and brings in a lighter perspective to the serious business of news. Congratulations to ‘The Week that Wasn’t’ team for successfully completing 150 episodes and with the continued support of it’s loyal and ever growing fan base, I am sure the show is well on it’s way to celebrating more landmarks."

Singer, Composer, Music Producer Shankar Mahadevan as well as former Miss Sri Lanka and now Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez will be seen in the seventh episode of ‘Idea Rocks India – 4’ on leading GEC, Colors on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 8:00 pm.

This week’s episode is truly magical with the presence of iconic singer Shankar Mahadevan who will belt out a few popular musical numbers that will enthrall the contestants and touch an emotional chord with the audience.

The beautiful Jacqueline Fernandez will also be present on the sets of the show to promote her upcoming film ‘Aladin’, and will cast her spell on the participants with her smile and encouraging words. To the surprise of all the bands Amitabh Bachchan will appear to extend his warm wishes to the IDEA Rocks India contestants much to their delight.

The 4th edition of the hugely popular Annual Musical extravaganza – ‘Idea Rocks India’ –presented by IDEA Cellular, is in a completely new avatar this year. Shaan and Vasundhara Das are the judges in the show, who will be accompanied by celebrity guests in the seventh episode of the show. The judges will assess the performance of the bands competing for the title of ‘Baap of All Bands’.

To see more of these stars, and to find out how each band performed on the show, watch ‘Idea Rocks India 4’ on Colors on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 8:00 pm.

Watch this space for more information on upcoming celebrity guests and to know what’s going on, on the sets of ‘Idea Rocks India 4’.