MxMIndia

Author: mxmadmin

  • Xavi Bech De Careda from Barcelona joins DDB Mudra Delhi as the new planner

    DDB Mudra gets Xavi Bech De Careda as VP Planning

    By Amit Bapna

     

    DDB Mudra Delhi has a new planner and this one is straight from Barcelona who has joined the agency as Vice President, Planning. Xavi Bech De Careda has worked with BBH and McCann Healthcare in London as also BBDO Tiempo, Rapp Collins and DDB Barcelona as a Brand & Communication Strategist.

     

    He has worked on varied brands like Audi, Bayer, Fujitsu Italy, Marcilla Coffe, Natura Bisse, Panasonic and Volkswagen and others. In this role, he would be reporting to Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra Group, Delhi and Aditya Kanthy, Senior VP, Panning, DDB Mudra, Delhi & Mumbai.

     

    Commenting on this new appointment, Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & Managing Director, DDB Mudra Group, said: “Delhi is the growth market for the DDBMudra Group. We have a large presence already. Xavi, with his rich and diverse experience will add to the talent base that we have in the DDB Mudra Group in Delhi.”

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • The needs and aspirations of your target audience should define the brand you eventually plan to sell, says Dilip Cherian

    The Anchor: Dilip Cherian on 5 things to keep in mind while building a brand

    By Dilip Cherian

     

    1. Is it unique?

    It helps when your product or service stands out from the clutter. It also makes it distinguishable.

     

    2. How do I want people to remember me by?

    Can I summarise it in no more than three words? Is your brand distinguishable and easy to understand, and easy to connect to? This requires paring it down to its bare essence. What remains is what your brand really is.

     

    3. Who is at the core of my target audience?

    This helps narrowing down on how you want to build the brand. The needs and aspirations of your target audience should define the brand you eventually plan to sell.

     

    4. What do my competitors battle for?

    Identifying the core competence of your competitors helps define the space you wish your brand to occupy.

     

    5. Am I easy to pronounce, remember or Google?

    In today’s digital world, among other factors, brand success also depends on your brand’s ability to seep into the societal subconscious.

     

    Dilip Cherian is Consulting Partner at Perfect Relations

     

  • What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for the 73 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 161 million

    73 matches on IPL5 get an average TVR of 3.36

    By A Correspondent

     

    Despite delivering the lowest television ratings in the history of the tournament, the weekly data released by TAM sports has shown some consistency in its overall IPL 5 viewership. According to the latest numbers released by TAM Sports for the first 73 matches (CS 4+ All India), IPL 5 recorded a TVR of 3.36 per cent, which is slightly lower than the first 73 matches of season four which received a TVR of 3.51 per cent.

     

    These ratings do not include the final match played between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on May 27. A total of 76 matches were played in season five, the highest so far in the entire tournament, and out of the 76 matches played, two matches were abandoned due to rain.

     

    The inaugural IPL season (IPL1) however continues to remain the most watched tournament till date with a TVR of 4.81 per cent for the 58 matches whereas IPL3, which celebrated the home coming season, witnessed the second highest viewership for the first 60 matches with a TVR of 4.65 per cent; IPL season two which was played in South Africa received a TVR of 4.17 per cent for the first 57 matches.

     

    What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for the 73 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 161 million. This is nearly the same for IPL 4 where the reach was 162 million and far better than IPL 3, 2, and 1 where the reach measured was 143 million, 122 million and 102 million respectively.

     

    It may be recalled that for the first 59 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.33 per cent and during the first 48 matches, IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.40 per cent whereas for the first 36 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.41 per cent, for the first 27 matches, it delivered a TVR of 3.53 per cent and the first 16 matches, a TVR of 3.65 per cent.

     

    Mr Janardhan Pandey, Associate Vice-President, DDB Mudra Max said that he was not disappointed with the ratings as season five was expected to deliver lower ratings than last year, although he did expect the ratings to be closer to season four. On the factors that might have affected the viewership, Mr Pandey said: “I feel that on the face of very high expectations, too much confusion before the start of this season along with poor Indian team’s performance in last one year and overdose of cricket did impact the IPL season five viewership. I am also of the view that certain IPL teams are weak with few relevant star players as compared to many other teams, so the matches involving them delivered low ratings, thus impacting the overall score.”

     

    “I believe that the game is extremely popular and audiences are still around. Only the crowd needs to swell further. The weaker teams must get boost up with inclusion of adequate star players” he added.

     

    Source : TAM Sports, TG : CS 4+ yrs, Market : All India, Channel : MAX, No. of Matches analysed : As mentioned in the table

    * In IPL 1 one match (47th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 2 two matches (7th & 13th)were abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 4 one match (20th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 5 two matches (32th & 34th) were abandoned due to rain

     

  • Is it a win more for KKR or SRK? Will the IPL5 victory see endorsement deals coming in for the Kolkata Knight Riders stars?

    Will marketers now woo KKR?

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    They have pocketed the trophy, and as celebrations continue, one wonders if Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) win will help them in upping their brand value. There is a direct relation with success in any sport and for a sportsperson, and how suddenly the sportsperson becomes the flavour of the season.

     

    Mind you, it’s just season, meaning a good series and one might bag few endorsements here and there, but offers from bigger brands don’t come pouring in unless you are the one on whom marketers can bet their monies for long-term. And in KKR’s win, the case gets even more complex as the players are completely overshadowed by the owner who is a super star, Shahrukh Khan. Though one might frown at his shenanigans, the truth is that people still like to know what SRK did when KKR won and not what Gautam Gambhir, Manoj Tiwary, Manvinder Bisla or Yusuf Pathan did as they lifted the trophy. Not to forget that co-owner Juhi Chawla too brings in a bit of star element to the show.

     

    Harish Bijoor

    Harish Bijoor, Brand expert & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc felt that from the lot, the one darling face that will emerge for endorsements will not be of any cricketer from KKR, not the team KKR, but the owner, Shahrukh Khan. He said: “I think this win and the subsequent hype and hoopla will benefit Shahrukh on the endorsement circuit for sure. It is a great boost at a much needed time for him. In many ways, in a completely diametrically opposite manner, what Satyamev Jayate is doing for Aamir Khan, IPL does for Shahrukh. Odious, but true!”

     

    Bijoor also pointed out that both SRK and Juhi Chawla will gain in terms of brand value, however the gain will be more for SRK than Juhi.

     

    However, Indranil Das Blah, Chief Operating Officer, Kwan Entertainment & Marketing Solutions has a different take on SRK and Juhi’s rise in brand value. His opinion is that it’s highly unlikely that both the owners would gain in terms of brand endorsements as he points that the triumph was on the pitch, and if anyone will see a rise in brand value, it will be the players, and not the team owners. Jagdeep Kapoor, MD, Samsika Marketing Consultants too agreed: “I don’t think the owners will gain as they are known for performances on screen and off-field. People who will benefit are those who have performed on field and off-screen.”

     

    Indranil Das Blah

    So who is the KKR player who will gain most after the win? Manish Porwal, Managing Director, Alchemist Talent Solutions rightly pointed that the KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir will be the winner here: “Gambhir has shown that he is consistent, delivers and is a leader. Having played on the national level, he already is a known name and with some murmur on him being seen as potential TeamI ndia captain, his brand value will definitely rise. Brands that have used Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni in the past and want a younger icon, Gambhir fits the bill perfectly.”

     

    Mr Porwal also pointed that Gambhir does not have a flamboyant personality and has been fairly neutral in his approach which might be an added advantage for brands wanting to hook him.

     

    A similar view is voiced by Mr Blah: “The one player who will probably get quite a few new offers from marketers would be the KKR captain, Gautam Gambhir. Not only was he amongst the most successful batsman of the IPL and led from the front, but he also stood out as a captain. He is now being talked about as a future Indian captain and that is bound to have a positive impact on his brand value.”

     

    So while Gambhir emerges as a winner here, especially because of his personality traits like stability and performance, he could be a good catch for young MNCs or for financial and banking clients.

     

    However, brands will definitely fall for for KKR team members like Bisla who shone in the IPL. As far as other players are concerned, they may get a couple of regional or local endorsements but nothing on a national scale unless they are actively and constantly playing for the Indian team. “You need to be playing international cricket and be constantly in the media eye for a brand to want you as a brand ambassador; just performing in the IPL for two months out of 12 won’t result in endorsements. Examples from past IPLs include players like Swapnil Asnodakar and Paul Valthaty who performed brilliantly in the IPL but couldn’t sustain their forms and hence, didn’t get any endorsements,” added Mr Blah.

     

    But Mr Kapoor of Samsika has found another ace for marketers. He picks Sunil Narine and thinks that he would benefit from the win and from his excellent bowling performance and get endorsement offers as a thinking, clever, successful sportsman.

     

    While Mr Bijoor is not too optimistic about KKR future with marketers, he says that the problem with sports fervour and fever is that it is short-lived. Sporting success such as the one achieved by KKR diminishes very fast. With the next cricket tournament round the corner, everything will be forgotten rather swiftly, therefore the potential to leverage is really a mirage.Indiahas a surfeit of cricket as of now.

     

    Rahul Jauhari

    Some see rise in brand value for SRK or Juhi Chawla, others have pointed that Gambhir will gain the most, however, Rahul Jauhari, National Creative Director, Everest Brand Solutions has a slightly different take: “I have largely a pessimistic view on the rise in brand value for KKR team and its owners and its future with marketers. IPL is not the same as the World Cup, so the passions are divided and not national in its strength. Bisla should benefit post IPL, but I think it’s too early to say he can be the next darling for brand endorsements. The fan following post IPL is largely limited and regional. He could be rocking in Kolkata, but not in Chennai.”

     

    “Somewhere I feel the KKR win has been sadly overshadowed. It’s been played out as SRK win, not a KKR win, be it in terms of media bytes, attention or simply footage consumed. SRK’s brand value is already high. The IPL isn’t going to push it up. In a rather pessimistic view, I’d say the IPL has dented his image. I didn’t like the SRK I saw during this IPL. And a lot of people think the same way,” concluded Jauhari.

     

    However Mr Blah of Kwan feels that KKR has managed to establish itself as a successful brand.  He said: “Nothing succeeds like success. The team previously had all the trappings of a successful brand (star players, influential and high profile owners, a tremendous and diverse fan base and a plethora of sponsors). The main ingredient they were missing was success. Now they have that and it will have a direct and positive impact on how the team is perceived. As defending champions, they should be able to command a premium when they are out scouting for sponsors for IPL 6.”

     

    Mr Kapoor concluded: “KKR is a successful brand and would attract more advertisers. They can be a bigger brand if they show great performances on the field, rather than off the field.”

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

     

  • Anand would make for an ideal brand ambassador for certain types of products… brands that promise mental strength and stamina, and brands that target sophisticated audiences

    Anil Thakraney: Er, any chance of endorsement deals for Anand?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    The man has won the world chess championship title for the fifth time. And in my opinion, he’s now entitled to nothing less than the Bharat Ratna. (Sachin deserved what he got… a hot seat in the Parliament.) Also, Vishwanathan Anand is not just a regular world beater, he also happens to be a very nice, decent human being, who lives his life with great integrity and endearing simplicity. Doesn’t that sound like a good enough qualification for advertisers to be queuing up outside his Chennai house, armed with lucrative contracts?

     

    Now, I admit it is possible that Anand has done the odd brand deal in a very long and a very illustrious career. But usually he gets ignored, when even second rung cricketers like Kohli, the Pathan brothers and Rohit Sharma have been bagging loaded deals. Marketers would justify this by claiming that cricket is a passion inIndiaand chess is not. And that cricket is a spectator sport and chess is not. And I have no arguments with that per se.

     

    However, it is equally true that Anand would make for an ideal brand ambassador for certain types of products… brands that promise mental strength and stamina, and brands that target sophisticated audiences, the so-called ‘creamy layer’. And there are plenty of these in the market. Health drinks and foods. High-end watches. Luxury cars. Premium suiting. I could go on. And yet, these brands opt for either movie stars or cricketers, that too at a price far higher than what Anand might possibly charge.

     

    It gets more curious when you consider that casting Anand would help these brands smash the clutter. If Dhoni stands for 25 brands, he stands for nothing in my mind. I’d rather have Anand endorsing one, because he gives me the differentiation. Simple advertising logic.

     

    Here’s why I think Anand gets ignored, despite strong marketing rationale working in his favour: Our brand managers tend to be risk averse, and they usually try to play safe. Okay, let me put it impolitely: They want to cover their backsides by opting for the tried and tested Dhonis and SRKs of the world. So if things go wrong, the boss won’t blame the manager. These safe suits consider Anand to be a high risk proposition. Therefore in reality, the problem doesn’t lie with chess or with Anand, it lies in the heads of our brand managers.

     

    And I am hoping to see this change. At least this time. Fifth time world championship is simply superlative stuff.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: Very interesting. Ten ads that got theUKreally angry. Controversial ads that invited the most number of complaints. Methinks time has come to list down the top ten ads that got Indians really pissed off.

     

    Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151927/Ten-ads-mad-Nude-Sophie-Dahl-Pope-hard-hat–brought-complaints-50-years.html?ICO=most_read_module

     

  • Taproot yet again proves how creativity can yank something regular and create a non-clichéd campaign

    Taproot’s ‘sexy’ humour for Fox Movies

    By A Correspondent

     

    The new campaign being aired for Fox Movies Premium, an Asian movie channel owned by Fox International Channel, subsidiary of News Corporation has created a lot of buzz. The campaign was created for the Thai market, and the film was shot inBangkokwith some lead actors from their TV industry.

     

    Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder TaprootIndiasaid: “The brief was very simple to communicate that Fox Channel now offers subtitle free movies, so the product promise is generic but the challenge was how to say it in a way that Fox Channel is on the top of the audiences’ mind. We thought whatever we say had to be entertaining in the first place, which is why one watches the movies, hence a humorous approach. And since it’s targeted for the Thai audience, the second challenge was a very distinctive humor as they are known for their mad humors. We decided to highlight the problem. The whole idea of the campaign or creative device is based on the behavior of the person who watches movies with subtitles.”

     

    Razneesh Ghai, film director, Asylum Films said: “The rampant usage of subtitles has taken away the cinematic experience of watching films. It has now become a habit to read the subtitles, taking your eyes off the action. We took this simple problem and highlighted it in a funny manner. The humour in the film is very subtle and not in your face. Also, there had to be a simple thread of communication to convey it to a global audience (since subtitles are everywhere!).”

    Manan Mehta, Managing Partner TaprootIndiasaid: “English language channels had struck a chord with the audience in non-English speaking markets due to subtitling. Of course, the next sphere of offering was the regional feed. This allowed the English channels to be relevant and come closer to their audience. Thus, this campaign was conceptualized with the brief of making the audience aware that Fox Channel is available inSouth East Asiain regional language.

     

    From January 1, Star Movies was rebranded Fox Movies Premium and was available inHong Kongand selected Southeast Asian countries. InIndia,China,Vietnam,Middle East,Taiwanand thePhilippines, the Star Movies brand will continue to be the same.

     

    TaprootIndiahas been handling Fox International Channel for theSouth East Asiamarket for last few years.

     

    CREDITS:
    Agency                                                            TaprootIndia

    Creative Director                                            Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias
    Writer                                                              Santosh Padhi

    Account Servicing                                           Manan Mehta

    Director                                                           Razneesh Ghai ( Razy )

    Producer                                                          Anju Vaswani

    Associate Producer                                         Bhavna Singh

    Editor                                                              Jay Chandran

    Sound Design                                                  Joseph George

     

    THAI CREW

    Line ProducerThailand( Picnic Features)     Kornpanote Semros

    Director of Photography                                  Sinthop Sophon

    Art Director                                                    Achira Nokthet

     

  • In comparison with 72 million page views in 2011, 113 million page views were generated during this year

    IPL 5 online traffic rises by 55%

    By A Correspondent

     

    Season 2012 of IPL concluded on May 27 with the Kolkata Knight Riders beating Chennai Super Kings to clinch the title for the first time in IPL history. The matches were streamed online by IPL official partner, Times Internet Limited (TIL) in partnership with YouTube. During this season, there was a 55 per cent increase in online viewership. In comparison with 72 million page views in 2011, 113 million page views were generated during this year’s action packed season.

     

    Showing a strong growth of over 87 per cent from the previous year, the page views for Indiastood at 80 million as compared to 43 million last year. The final match of the tournament generated 7.5 million page views, making it the highest single day viewership during the entire season.

    This year the IPL website offered a slew of features including interactive scorecards, high-definition streaming of IPL matches, DVR features (to rewind during a match), video-on-demand facility, and a ‘Battleground’ section.

     

    Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet Limited, added, “Premium video content is a key focus area for us at Indiatimes and IPL is the key property as part of this vision. We promised IPL 2012 viewers a highly interactive and engaging cricket viewing experience. The record breaking online viewership numbers and advertiser traction across the season validate our delivery of this promise”.

     

    Gautam Anand, Director Content Partnership, Google APAC, said: “It’s heartening to see the continuous growth in the viewership of this exciting tournament online from across the globe. This season was extra special with lots of close matches and last ball finishes and we are really glad that we were able to bring all the action live to our audience on YouTube for the third consecutive year.”

     

  • He will be responsible for Network Development for India TV and upcoming group channels in domestic and international markets

    Rajmohan Nair joins IndiaTV as Prez-Network Devpt

    By A Correspondent

     

    India TV announced the appointment of Rajmohan Nair as President, Network Development. Prior to this he was VP-Distribution with TV Today. He has been fourth key appointee joining India TV from TV Today in less than three months.

     

    He will be responsible for Network Development for India TV and upcoming group channels in domestic and international markets. Mr Nair will be reporting to MD & CEO, Ritu Dhawan.

     

    Mr Nair has a career spanning around two decades, out of which 15 years have been in broadcast distribution space. As a member of the core strategy team of TVTN, he has been instrumental in encryption of the three TVTN channels & its launch in One Alliance Bouquet as a pay service.

     

    Welcoming Mr Nair on Board India TV MD & CEO, Ritu Dhawan said: “Digitalization is round the corner which will have an impact on the TV landscape in a big way. With Rajmohan coming on board at this juncture, we really feel optimistic that this will further boost the aggressive growth track we are set to follow”

     

    On his appointment, Mr Nair said, “It is a great opportunity for me to contribute towards further consolidating & cementing India TV’s leadership position in the news genre. What’s also exciting is the changing dynamics in the distribution space that shall also provide with a huge potential to develop pay business revenues for the channel.”

     

  • Kolkata Knight Riders dethroned Chennai Super Kings led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni

    IPL’s new champions- Kolkata Knight Riders

    By Sudarshan S

     

    April 18, 2008 to May 27, 2012 is a long wait, but as the owner and the mercurial Shahrukh Khan said: “This is something youngsters should believe in – resilience, patience, perseverance.  If you believe, you can win.”  Manoj Tiwary swings a delivery of Dwayne Bravo to the boundary on the 19.4 over, and the fireworks lit up the sky to usher in a new champion. Kolkata Knight Riders dethroned Chennai Super Kings led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a record of having qualified for semi-final of all the editions, and the fourth final.

     

    The match was not over, at 19.4th over, as the next KKR player walked in without helmets, pads, and no guards and took off from where Brendon Mcullum had left off on April 18, 2008 – the first game of IPL versus Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he scored 155, while KKR, then favourites even before the tournament started, posted 258 – the highest total in all IPLs.  Shahrukh Khan, the next player, walked in and seized the moment like a true showman.

     

    Every opportunity provided by the media was like a free hit that Shahrukh Khan lapped up, and displayed his candor by playing to the gallery. He wore his mask of modesty in the celebrations, and was humble enough in first congratulating his team, captain, coach and support staff, and in the same breath, he also thanked the hosts, their captain, crowds for the wonderful hospitality.  He hugged each and every player to now openly display his glee over the patient wait of the prophetic words on April 18, 2008 that had come true after ‘Four years One month and Nine Days’.  Jiving to ‘Will You be My Chhammak Chhallo’ along with the close knit family of cheer girls, and asking Navjot Singh Sidhu to comment something about the performance.

     

    This was KKR’s 75th game in IPL – a major milestone for a movie if it ran that many weeks, but Shahrukh would have spent 40 weeks over five years with the team by just his presence to achieve a brand valuation of about 50 odd million dollars (say about Rs250 crores), behind Chennai Super Kings ($75 million) and Mumbai Indians ($60 odd million).

     

    Just trying to imagine the glamour quotient of other teams, be it Shilpa Shetty for Rajasthan Royals, Preity Zinta, for Kings XI Punjab, Deepika Padukone for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Akshay Kumar for Delhi Dare Devils.

    KKR was the only team to have a dream combination with John Buchanan as the coach, Sourav Ganguly as the captain, and a cheer BOY in Shahrukh Khan.  What changed were the coach and the captain, and this was akin to a brain and heart transplant, but the soul remained intact, and resurrected the team.  Fourth in the fourth edition, sixth in the first and third edition, eighth in the second edition – that also witnessed the Fake IPL player controversy.

     

    Now who remembers all that – for this was all a PR stunt – not Public Relations, but Performance and Response.  “This is something youngsters should believe in – resilience, patience, perseverance.  If you believe, you can win.”  You did.  Congratulations, Kolkata Knight Riders, Congrats Shahrukh — the Showman!

     

    Sudarshan S teaches public relations at various business and media schools. He also head the Mumbai-based Prognosys Marcom Services

  • In Freaking News, which appears every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    Bandh a ‘partial success’, no effect on petrol prices

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Tracking Thursday’s Bharat Bandh protesting against the petrol price hike on TV led to a bit of confusion – was it a success or not. As it turned out, the Opposition-led bandh was what is known as a “partial success” so if you’re a half-glass pessimist, that’s the same as a “partial failure”. For Mumbai, TV showed us a bus in Mulund being attacked by a man in a BJP T-shirt – who either did not have the good sense or was just to brazen to hide his face from the camera. But social networking sites seemed to suggest that people did go to work. The morning papers said 60 per cent turn out in private offices and slightly more in government offices (really!). The commercial loss, said The Times of India, was Rs1,000 crore while Mid-Day pegged it at a more conservative Rs300 crore. Of course maybe with current rupee-dollar rate, both figures mean the same thing?

     

    There is also the other question about the loss caused by damage to property by “bandh” enforcers which as every newspaper painstakingly informed us, we the people would have to pay for.

     

    Across the country, the bandh fared better in some parts than others and apparently had no effect in Kerala at all.

     

    Petrol prices, by the way, had not come down by Friday morning at least.

     

    * * *

     

    As the TV news day progressed however, the bandh was sidelined first by BJP veteran LK Advani who announced in his blog that the BJP had made too many bad decisions recently and used the party’s favourite word “introspection”. This kind of took the wind out of the BJP’s sails as the main “bandh” caller. Immediate speculation began about a rift in the party – something political commentators have long known about. http://blog.lkadvani.in/blog-in-english/bjp-a-hub-of-hope

     

    Arnab Goswami interviewed Ram Jethamalani who had said similar things in a letter to Nitin Gadkari and Jethamalani was a hoot as always, even as he lost his ear pieces for a while and Goswami watched precious air time and money dribbling away.

     

    Jethamalani told Goswami he was a clever man who was trying to get Jethmalani round to Goswami’s opinion. Goswami said he had no opinion.

     

    No comment from me either.

     

    * * *

     

    The other big bandh spoiler was the Indian economy and the fall in GDP growth to 5.3 per cent, the lowest in nine years. Our TV newswallahs who usually shy away from the economy – possibly because they know so little about it – were forced to sit up and take notice and so gave us some uninformed guff, interspersed with a lot of dramatic music and stuff.

     

    Since the economic recession in the West in 2008, international TV newswallahs have become experts at this economy stuff and our TV people could learn from them how to use jargon effectively and impressively. Or, they could hire some journalists with a background in business and the economy. This would be particularly useful for the Sensex channels.

     

    Amartya Sen on NDTV sort of turned the argument on its head by saying that this obsession with GDP was misplaced. He started talking about inclusive growth and stuff which usually makes business people and economists turn faint from boredom as they cannot understand what that means.

     

    * * *

     

    At prime time, Headlines Today was still worried about cricket and Rahul Kanwal was in “hot pursuit” of Gautam Gambhir. Arnab Goswami asked why we need such bandhs at all and then proceeded to have a quarrel with Ravi Shankar Prasad about the NDA’s petrol policies.

     

    Mohandas Pai formerly of Infosys came up with a novel solution to bandhs – he said all bandh-callers should sit around statues of Mahatma Gandhi and hold hunger strikes. BJP people looked bewildered having never heard of this man nor seen statues of him anywhere in India.

     

    * * *

     

    Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi in Thursday’s Indian Express said, “Serious thought needs to be given to the ‘paid news’ that is threatening to erode the value and pride of the press and is starting to shake the foundations of democracy. A voluntary code would be the effective answer”.

     

    He was speaking at the annual convocation of the Express Institute of Media Studies.

     

  • The9X Music Network Live app is targeted at the ever-growing segment of connected users who consume content on-the-move

    9X Music Network now on iPad

    By A Correspondent

     

    9X Music Television Network’s four channels - 9XM (Bollywood music channel),  9X Jalwa (Bollywood Hits music channel), 9X Tashan (Punjabi Super Hits) and 9X Jhakaas (Marathi music channel) are now available on iPad through 9X Music Network Live Application.

     

    Commenting on the app, Vibha Gosher VP-Digital 9X Media Group, said: “We are living in a world of convergence where music, movies, gaming, social networking and other forms of entertainment all come together on your personal devices. Tablets have changed the way entertainment is consumed globally. With iPad sales skyrocketing and their ever-increasing popularity, it’s probably one of the best platforms to extend the 9X experience of unadulterated music. The 9X Music Network Live app is targeted at the ever-growing segment of connected users who consume content on-the-move.”

     

  • The Government of India's New Telecom Policy 2012 says the the mobile phone will be repositioned as an instrument of empowerment

    Govt announces New Telecom Policy: 2mbps broadband and 100% teledensity by 2020

    From the MxM  Infodesk

     

    In a move that could have a far-reaching and direct impact on the Indian media and entertainment sector, the Union Cabinet approved the National Telecom Policy -2012 (NTP – 2012) yesterday. The salient features of the National Telecom Policy-2012 are as follows:

     

    The policy envisions providing secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development. The main thrust of the Policy is on the multiplier effect and transformational impact of such services on the overall economy. The thrust areas of NTP – 2012 are;

     

    • Increase rural teledensity from the current level of around 39 to 70 by the year 2017 and 100 by the year 2020
    • Repositioning of Mobile phone- as an instrument of empowerment
    • Broadband – ‘Broadband For All’ at a minimum download speed of 2 Mbps
    • Domestic Manufacturing- Making India a global hub
    • Convergence of Network, Services and Devices
    • Liberalisation of Spectrum- any Service in any Technology
    • Simplification of Licensing regime- Unified Licensing, delinking of Spectrum from License, Online real time submission and processing
    • Consumer Focus – Achieve One Nation – Full Mobile Number Portability and work towards One Nation – Free Roaming
    • Resale of Services
    • Voice over Internet Protocol
    • Cloud Computing, Next Generation Network including IPV6

     

    The policy seeks to provide a predictable and stable policy regime for a period of about 10 years. The policy will be operationalised by bringing out detailed guidelines, as may be considered appropriate, from time to time. The implementation will enable smooth implementation of the policies for providing an efficient telecommunication infrastructure taking into account the primary objective of maximizing public good by empowering the people of India. The policy will further enable taking suitable facilitatory measures to encourage existing service providers to rapidly migrate to the new regime in a uniformly liberalised environment with a level playing field.

     

    The Cabinet also approved the introduction of Unified Licence and authorised the Department of Telecommunications to finalise the new Unified Licensing regime with the approval of Minister of Communications & IT.