Hasta La Motion!

ZEE5 has collaborated with Alliance Broadband, the biggest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Eastern India, to offer easy access to over 1.25 lakh hours of a wide variety of content across different genres in 12 languages to its customers on the platform. 

Alliance Broadband customers with Alliance Intertainment packages, will get access to the Indian OTT platform, bundled with internet service when subscribing to or renewing their service, without any additional payment. For the convenience of the Alliance Intertainment subscribers, auto registration and subscription to ZEE5 would happen from the back end, with the customer’s login ID and password along with SSO link being sent through SMS and email.

Commenting on the partnership, ZEE5 India Business Development and Commercial head Manpreet Bumrah said, “We welcome our new subscribers from Alliance Broadband and invite them to enjoy the wide range of entertaining content on ZEE5. ZEE5 is more than just an OTT platform – with over 100+ originals across genres, ZEE5 is India’s largest original content producer making it India’s digital entertainment destination of choice for over 11.4 million* daily active users. The subscribers will also be able to access ZEE5’s content across the entire spectrum of mobile devices from low-end feature phones to smartphones, as well as enjoy the life-like experience on smart TVs. The partnership with Alliance Broadband, the biggest ISP in Eastern India, will put us in the leadership position, and we look forward to providing an enriched, high-quality entertainment option to a new base of customers.”

The partnership is expected to be beneficial for both ZEE5 and Alliance Broadband with incremental subscriptions for ZEE5 and customer delight for Alliance Broadband. Since its launch, ZEE5 has crossed 100+ million gross downloads, rolling out 100+ originals so far in multi-genre content format, and is committed to launching several more in the coming months. In addition to a wide range of content such as movies, TV shows, music, health and lifestyle programmes as well as original productions providing more than 1.25 lakh hours of viewing across a range of languages (English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Punjabi), ZEE5 also comprises live streams of 90+ TV channels.

Alliance Broadband Services director Arunabha Banerjee said, “It comes as a great privilege to be able to have ZEE5 partnering with us in the truly unlimited broadband Intertainment packages. The contents of ZEE5 are very popular amongst the viewers and this partnership will be mutually beneficial to all, subscribers/viewers included.”

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Dota 2 esports tournament The International (TI) has always attracted a lot of viewers every year and thus the tournament always has the highest prize pool in any esports event.

Valve Software has decided to start treating The International like the Olympics, soliciting bids from ‘host cities’ for the annual Dota 2 championships. The announcement is accompanied by a detailed request for proposal (RFP) document. Responses are due by 31 March.

“First held in Cologne, Germany in August 2011, The International has become one of the world’s largest sporting events and set numerous records for the largest prize pool in all of esports with its community-driven purse ($34.3 million total prize pool in 2019). Global viewership, international draw, and attendance rival that of the NFL Superbowl, U.S. Open Golf Championship, and the Eurovision Song Contest,” Valve said in an official post.

The clear intention is to secure the best possible venue — and the best possible financial outcome — for Valve to host its premier esports event.

In order for a city to be eligible to host a TI, they must be able to provide the facilities that Valve needs to run the event. Among them could be fibre connection from a local internet service provider, room for between 15,000 and 18,000 people for 10 days, enough hotel rooms for 30,000 people, high priority safety and more.

To create more clarity surrounding the RFP, Valve will be taking questions in written form before 15 March. During this time, countries will be able to figure out what they’re lacking as a venue as well as gain some much-needed answers.

According to Valve, cities that end up hosting TI will benefit economically. Previous TI host city, Vancouver, saw a US$7.8 million revenue increase that year due to a bump in hotel bookings as well as heightened activity at tourist attractions, restaurants and more.

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Experiencing a five per cent increase in registrations again this year, Kidscreen Summit 2020 brought together 2,200-plus attendees earlier this month for four days of intense business networking and professional learning, with significant growth from Europe and North America.

A 9 per cent bump in delegates from Europe and North America—as well as increases from Russia (up 58 per cent), South Africa (up 45 per cent) and South America (up nine per cent)—contributed meaningfully to the event’s overall growth.

Kidscreen Summit 2021 will take place from 7 to 11 February at the Inter Continental Miami, and registration is set to open in early July.

The event’s unique positioning as a conference and a market lets its attendees customise their experience to suit their own goals and priorities. Offering an unparalleled conference program and networking opportunities, Kidscreen Summit is the perfect place to learn about the latest trends, issues and opportunities and connect with the industry’s top decision-makers.

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As the month of March is around the corner here are the games releases that will see the light of day in 2020:

Granblue Fantasy Versus: The game is a 2.5D fighting game developed by Arc System Works, based on the role-playing game Granblue Fantasy. The game is mainly a fighting game where the goal is to eliminate the opponent by using a combination of attacks to empty their character’s life bar enough times to win the match. Each character has special abilities called “Skybound Arts,” which correspond to skills that the character is able to use in the main Granblue Fantasy game. The game also contains a story mode. Unlike the main fighting game mode, the story mode will be more of a side-scrolling, beat them up, action role-playing game. The studio aims to launch the game on 3 March in North America.

Platform: PS4

Murder by numbers: It is an upcoming video game developed by Mediatonic and published by the Irregular Corporation. It is scheduled for release in March 2020 for Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows. The game is a hybrid of visual novels with nonogram-style logic puzzles to progress the story. The studio aims to launch the game on 5 March.

Platform: PC, Switch

Langrisser I and II: comprises of a series of two games Langrisser I and Langrisser II are strategy RPG games developed by Chara-ani Corporation and published by NIS America. In Langrisser I, a player has to follow the story of Ledin, a young prince whose home was invaded by the Dalsis Empire seeking to conquer the land. He’ll have to confront his rival Lance and the Kaiser to reclaim his homeland and the Sacred Sword Langrisser. However, both sides will be observed closely by the watchful eyes of the darkness. The fate of Langrisser, Baldea, and the entire continent of El Sallia will be determined by the choices you make. In Langrisser II Elwin is a wanderer who finds himself caught in between the Descendants of Light, the army of darkness, and the Rayguard Empire in a battle for the Sacred Sword Langrisser and the Cursed Sword Alhazard

Platforms: PS4, Switch and PC

My Hero: One’s Justice 2: Developed by BYKING and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment the game is the follow-up to the smash hit 3D arena fighter My Hero: One’s Justice, makes its heroic debut! Make full use of characters’ Quirks as you clash head-to-head in epic battles across huge arenas! The game probably launching on 13 March.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

Doom 64: is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Midway Games. It was released for Nintendo 64 in 1997 as a sequel to Doom II, and will be re-released for other platforms on 20 March 2020. Doom 64 plays similarly to earlier games in the Doom series; the player must advance through 32 levels battling demons, collecting weapons and keys, and activating switches in order to reach the level’s exit while surviving deadly ambushes and traps. Changes were made to the Doom engine for use in Doom 64, and gameplay elements were altered.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III: The game is a role-playing video game developed by Nihon Falcom. It is a part of the long-running The Legend of Heroes series, and a direct sequel to Trails of Cold Steel II. The game plays as a traditional JRPG with turn-based battles, similar to Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II. An emphasis on speeding up battles is being made as well, including making transitions into battle scenes more seamless, and being able to map out more battle commands to specific buttons rather than various menus, though the battles will still be primarily menu-based.

Platforms: PC

Half-Life: Alyx: It is an upcoming virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter developed and published by Valve. Taking place before the events of Half-Life 2, players control Alyx Vance as she and her father Eli fight the occupying alien Combine. It is the first game in the Half-Life series since Half-Life 2: Episode Two in 2007, and is scheduled for release on Windows on 23March, 2020.

Platforms: PC

Bleeding Edge: The game is is a multiplayer online combat video game being developed by British developer Ninja scheduled to launch on 24March 2020. There are 12 characters to choose from, most of which have melee attacks, with some of them having range attacks. All characters are one of three classes: Damage, support, or tank. There are three bars for different abilities which go down when the player uses an ability connected to it. Each ability has its own cooldown period as well.

Platforms: Xbox One, PC

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4: is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by Omega Force (Koei Tecmo) and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the fourth installment in Pirate Warriors video-game series, based on the One Piece franchise. It is a sequel to the 2015 game One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3. It is scheduled for release on 26 March 2020 in Japan and 27 March 2020 in North America and Europe. The game is expected to feature gameplay similar to its previous installments, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 introduces a new game mode called ‘Titan mode’, where it will be more strategic gameplay and some parts of it has an original story.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows : the game is an upcoming fighting video game developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the manga series One-Punch Man, it will be released on 28 March The game is a 3D arena fighting game in which players do battle using teams of three characters from the One-Punch Man universe. The game features a unique ‘Hero Arrival’ mechanic surrounding series main character, Saitama. As in the manga and anime, Saitama is invincible to everyone except himself, and is so powerful that he can defeat anyone except himself in one hit.
Platforms: PC, PS4, XBOX One

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Disney has upped Hulu chief marketing officer Kelly Campbell to the position of the president to run the streaming service.

Campbell, who’s a former Google veteran, will lead Hulu’s on demand and live streaming businesses as the company is going to further integrate into parent Disney’s direct-to-consumer group. 

Kelly Campbell

“This is a time of tremendous growth and transformation for Hulu, and I am incredibly energised by the opportunity ahead as we enter into this next chapter. The Hulu team is among the brightest, most technologically and creatively audacious in the industry, and I know we are going to do great things as part of the pioneering and equally bold team Kevin has built at DTCI,” said Campbell.

Her promotion announcement comes after Hulu CEO Randy Freer stepped down in January after a little more than two years in the post.  In her new role, Campbell will work with Disney’s film and TV studios on original programming for Hulu. She will report to Disney direct-to-consumer and international chairman Kevin Mayer. 

Commented Mayer in a statement, “Campbell is an immensely talented leader who has been a driving force in defining Hulu’s brand vision and strategy. She has built a tremendous multi-talented team and developed strategic campaigns that helped double Hulu’s subscriber base. Our senior leadership team is excited to welcome her on board and can’t wait to work together to further grow Hulu’s footprint in the US and beyond.” 

Prior to joining Hulu in 2017, Campbell looked after growth marketing for the search giant streamer’s cloud division. For the last three years, the marketing veteran supervised subscriber growth, brand, content and business-to-business marketing, research and viewer experience for the streamer and was key to its substantial growth. In early February, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Hulu has 30.7 million U.S. subscribers. 

Disney acquired full operational control of Hulu in spring 2019, though its focus was on the launch of Disney+ in November 2019. The oversight of Hulu was taken under Disney TV Studios chairman Dana Walden. Now, Hulu is being integrated more deeply within the Disney direct-to-consumer group, which also houses Disney Streaming Services and oversees the operations of ESPN+.

With its established subscriber base in the U.S., Hulu is key to Disney’s three-pronged streaming strategy. The streamer will serve as the main home for adult programming from Disney brands and will soon launch the FX on Hulu banner where it streaming library content and originals from the cable network. 

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