In order to boost gastronomy tourism in the country, Nepal’s hospitality industry recently launched a cookbook and videos of 30 Nepali food items prepared by expert chefs. This is the first ever effort by Nepal tourism to attract visitors by promoting Nepali dishes and globalising Nepali cuisine. The campaign is part of the NTB’s ongoing initiative to promote gastronomy tourism under the theme ‘Experience Nepal: Cuisine & Culture.’The event was jointly organised by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) under public-private-partnership (PPP) model, aims to boost the tourism by showcasing Nepal’s diverse food culture. “This is an exemplary event under the PPP model. We should tell the world that Nepal has varieties of food,” said Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO, NTB.The food items included Kwati, Sisne Jhol, Phando, Jwano ko Jhol, Pancha Kwa, Chukur Khanda, Karesabari, Chukauni, Timure Aalu, Fulaura, Sekuwa, Sandheko, Tareko, Usineko, Pakku, Chhoyla, Momo, and Chatanmari amongst others. The items were selected from 200 food categories collected from different Nepali communities.Rabindra Adhikari, Tourism Minister said that the government would continue to support this kind of campaign. “Gastronomy tourism is a new product. Although it’s late, we have at least started the campaign to globalise our dishes,” he added. According to HAN, the selected food items have been tested and certified by the government’s Department of Food Technology and Quality Control.
After a delicious lunch, Arcosanti crew-members taught a hands-on silt workshop. Each person was able to make his or her own ‘silt-carved’ artwork, have it poured in plaster and take with them. For more information on the availability of SPECIAL TOURS, call or e-mail the Arcosanti Public Relations office. [Photo: Siobhan Watts & Text: sa] March 25, 2004During a three-day conference, for employees of the Hotel business in Phoenix, a one-day ‘team-building’ workshop at the Arcosanti site was offered. A group of 34 participants started with an intensive tour of the site. [Photo: Siobhan Watts & Text: sa]During a three-day conference, for employees of the Hotel business in Phoenix, a one-day ‘team-building’ workshop at the Arcosanti site was offered. A group of 34 participants started with an intensive tour of the site. [Photo: Siobhan Watts & Text: sa] A rare highlight for this group was a question and answer session with Paolo Soleri, held in the Colly Soleri Amphitheater. [Photo: Siobhan Watts & Text: sa]
YouView’s number one priority is to achieve scale, according to Richard Halton, CEO of the UK connected TV platform.“It has to be a platform of scale, but our shareholders are in this for the long haul,” he told IBC attendees this morning. Halton said the lack of penetration so far for Google TV and Apple TV meant that YouView had “not missed the boat”. He pointed out that it was the first online TV platform to be chosen by Now TV from BSkyB and Channel 5’s Milkshake. Halton said that further content news would be announced over the remaining months of the year.YouView has had a “good start”, with positive reviews and a good and expanding range of content. Halton said that the next phase would be to begin marketing the service in earnest. The platform would develop, and the next functional release of the YouView software is ready to deploy, said Halton. He said apps for companion devices would be developed in tandem with the core platform.Having key brands in one place, and the integration of the linear and on-demand service was hard to do and gave YouView an advantage over other connected TV platforms and media streamers, said Halton.Halton said that YouView’s shareholders had a range of priorities and it was important to meet their individual needs. He said the platform, in addition to benefiting the free-to-air broadcasters, offered possibilities for a wide range of new revenue streams, including targeted advertising and new pay revenues.“For the ISPs, YouView is strategically their TV platform,” said Halton. TalkTalk had already announced its proposition, making YouView boxes available for free to top-tier customers.YouView will offer instant access to about £3 billion (€3.8 billion) worth of content every year through one simple interface thanks to its backwards-in-time capability, said Halton. “For 70% of Freeview homes in the UK, pause and rewind of live TV is new,” he said. Most users did not have Freeview Plus boxes. He said this functionality would feature significantly in YouView’s marketing campaigns.Halton said that YouView was now stocked in 800 stores in the UK and both Humax and Huawei had YouView boxes on display at IBC.
France-based technology company Netgem has said it will significantly increase its research and development efforts to extend its range of products in the access and multiscreen content distribution arena.In France, the company will increase its investments in in connected TV and related services, which it believes offers solid prospects for growth. The company has also set a target of doubling its international revenue between 2011 and 2014.Netgem has also announced a reorganisation of its senior management.Christophe Aulnette will now become president of Netgem International, continuing to guide the international development of the group, while Joseph Haddad will take over as CEO.Aulnette has been named as a director on Netgem’s board, succeeding Charles Berdugo, who has resigned for personal reasons.Netgem posted revenues of EUR22.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, down 9% on the same period last year. While domestic French revenues fell by 41% to EUR5.4 million, international revenues grew by 9% to EUR17.5 million.
Scripps Networks Interactive is due to launch US home lifestyle channel HGTV in Singapore via local operator StarHub.The channel is due to go live on StarHub in December and Scripps claims it will be the first dedicated home and lifestyle channel to launch regionally in Asia.HGTV will launch with shows such as Property Brothers, Kitchen Cousins and The High Low Project, covering topics like design and décor, home improvement and real estate.Scripps said it will also produce localised, original, short-form content exclusively for the launch of HGTV in Asia based on the popular series Extreme Homes.“The launch of HGTV across Asia Pacific signifies the first time HGTV has launched as a premiere 24/7 channel destination focused on home and lifestyle programming outside North America, including the Caribbean,” said Jim Samples, president of Scripps Networks International.“This is a testament to how successful Scripps Networks’ high quality lifestyle content has performed around the world, and we see great potential for this channel offering to drive value for audiences, affiliate and advertising partners alike.”HGTV joins the Scripps Networks family of lifestyle channels that are available in Asia, including the Asian Food Channel, Food Network and Travel Channel.
The global pay TV market is estimated to have passed 924.4 million subscribers in 2014, driven by market-leading growth in IPTV, according to ABI Research. The new stats claim that worldwide pay TV subscriber numbers grew by 5% in 2014, with 14% growth in IPTV and 7% growth in satellite TV.“The growth rates of cable and terrestrial TV platforms are expected to slow to around 3%,” said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director of core forecasting at ABI Research.Growth in the cable TV market is said to have been driven by the Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets, which were estimated to have added a combined 13 million subscribers last year. However, ABI claims there was a 1% decline in North American cable subscribers.“[In the] third quarter [of] 2014, major cable TV operators in North America lost over 400,000 TV customers, although cable companies are doing well in broadband,” said ABI.The research claims that bundled packages will help pay TV operators to reduce churn, while HD channels, advanced PVR services and premium content such as sport will contribute to increased ARPU. ABI predicts that 57% of total pay TV subscribers will be HD subscribers by 2019.However, the research also noted that video streaming services like Netflix and TiVo are attractive alternatives for pay TV customers.“Traditional pay TV operators are now trying to compete with these services by developing their own video streaming products or by integrating these services in their existing services. Online video service Netflix has agreed to deals with some of the pay TV operators in Europe to offer its streaming service to European broadband customers,” said ABI.