MUMBAI: MTV, the youth channel, is gearing up to launch the ninth season of its flagship property ? Roadies. In the ninth season, the show will go to the United States of America.

This time, the show is rechristened as MTV Hero Roadies, following the joint venture split between Hero and Honda.

Apart from Hero, Roadies is powered by Idea and the associate sponsors are Mountain dew, Lava mobiles, Spraymint, Ceat, Steelbird and Denver. Cafe partner is CCD, Radio Partners are Radio Mirchi in Pune, Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad and Big FM in Chandigarh, and Multiplex Partners are Inox in Pune and Kolkata and PVR Cinemas in Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy said, "This time Roadies is going to the land of the cowboys, The United States of America! It is going to be bigger and deadlier. MTV Roadies created an instant craze in its first season itself (2003) and today boasts of the largest cult following for a television show. Our theme this Season is ?Everything or Nothing?, which simply means you either win or lose and there are no two ways about it."

The five city auditions are starting on 16 September and will be held in Pune, Kolkata, Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

Roadies producer Raghu Ram said, "This season is aimed at youngsters who get an adrenaline rush out of a high risk, high gain or high loss life. There are no in-betweens. In true Roadies style, we will go on a journey of exploration from India to the USA and back, but we aim to kick the excitement up a few notches."

Hero MotoCorp Sr VP (Marketing & Sales) Anil Dua said, "MTV Hero Roadies-9 is getting set to vroom at a time when our campaign ?Hum Mein Hai Hero? is being hummed by people across the country. I am sure the catchy tune and the inspirational song will help motivate the contestants of the new season of this cult programme as they battle it out on our bikes in some of the toughest terrains in the United States. We wish all the contestants of the MTV Hero Roadies-9 all the very best. Ride safe and have fun."

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom has reported double-digit gains for the quarter ended 30 June 2011.

Consolidated revenues in the quarter grew by 15 per cent to $3.77 billion, primarily driven by growth in affiliate, dvertising and television license revenues.
 
Adjusted operating income increased by 22 per cent to $995 million, fueled by Media Networks profit growth. Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom were up 35 per cent to $583 million with adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.99, which represents a 39 per cent increase over the prior year‘s results of $0.71 per share.

Viacom president, CEO Philippe Dauman said, "The breadth of hit programming found across Viacom‘s media network portfolio continues to expand with top-rated shows and tentpole events on MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and TV Land, as well as many of our international networks, all of which contributed to strong advertising growth and a
robust advertising upfront performance. We are strengthening our global entertainment brands and expanding our reach through new international and digital distribution and bringing our audiences the content they want on new platforms."

Paramount Pictures is the first studio ever to deliver a record six consecutive $100 million-plus domestic box office movies and it was the first studio to cross the $1 billion domestic box office threshold for the fifth year in a row.

Film revenues grew by 13 per cent to $1.41 billion due principally to higher television license fees and home entertainment revenues. The company‘s worldwide television license revenues were up by 36 per cent in the quarter to $416 million, driven by the number and mix of available titles.

Home entertainment revenues increased 33 per cent to $331
million, reflecting one additional release as compared with the prior year‘s quarter as well as the strength of the current year releases. Ancillary revenues also grew, up 57 per cent to $72 million.

These gains were partially offset by lower theatrical revenues, which were down nine per cent to $588 million, principally reflecting the timing of film releases.

"The prior year period benefited from strong carryover revenues from DreamWorks Animation‘s ‘How to Train Your
Dragon‘ whereas ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon‘ was released in the final week of the fiscal 2011 third quarter, which will result in the majority of the film‘s theatrical revenues occurring in the fiscal fourth quarter," the company said.