Nitesh Kripalani says farewell to SonyLIV

MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (Sony Entertainment Network) executive VP new media, business development and digital/syndication Nitesh Kripalani has apparently decided to call it a day at the network. He has reportedly put in his papers last week.

Industry sources confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com. However Kripalani refused to confirm or deny that he had resigned.
 
The 33 year old  was ranked amongst the top 40 under 40 executives in India by Business Today magazine as recently as March this year and he was extremely gung-ho about SonyLiv, which the magazine says contributed 5 per cent to MSM's topline.  And he was hopeful of taking that up to 15 per cent in the next three years.
 
His departure hence was sudden, and surprised many in the industry.
 
Kripalani joined MSM in 2009 and was directly recruited by the then CEO and now chairman Man Jit Singh. He spearheaded the broadcast network's programming syndication initiatives,contributed to some M&A initiatives, and investment decisions. But his biggest success was with SonyLiv digital platform which serves as a central digital point for all the network's content. Kripalani chose the advertising revenue generation route for SonyLiv which made the going that much more challenging.
 

400 private websites restrained from beaming FIFA

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court issued an injunction order restraining around 400 private websites from beaming the World Cup Football FIFA matches.
 
The vacation bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao gave a directive to the Department of Information Technology and Telecom to ensure implementation of the order of the court. He directed that his directive would be forwarded to the concerned ministry.
 
 The judge, who listed the matter to come up in the last week of July, gave the directive after hearing Saikrishna Rajagopal who was arguing on behalf of Multi Screen Media Entertainment (Sony) which holds the exclusive rights for beaming the matches in India.
 
 The sports arm of MSM, Sony Six, is the official broadcaster of the football extravaganza, while its digital platform LIVSports.in has the exclusive rights to live stream the event.
 
The network had moved the court after it found out that several unauthorized websites were streaming the World Cup matches.

Amitabh Bachchan's debut TV series 'Yudh' to go on air in July

Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is set to debut on a fiction TV show with "Yudh", seemed excited yet nervous about watching a "trial" of the show here Saturday.

"The hour arriveth...the labor and effort, of days to be seen today. The episodes of 'YUDH'! Scream your exuberance!!! No the 'YUDH' serial is not starting today, we the team are seeing the trial for the first time today. It shall air in July," he posted on his Twitter page.

The actor plays the role of Yudhishtir in the show, which will air on Sony Entertainment Television. Its promo has already garnered a fairly positive response, and all eyes are set on whether Big B's new venture on the telly will bring the same revolution that "Kaun Banega Crorepati" brought back in 2000.

A file photo of Amitabh Bachchan