MxMIndia

Category: TV

  • The campaign for the movie which will air on July 27 entails the use of various tools like Television, Print, Outdoor, Digital, DTH and Cinema

    Max goes 360-degree for Aashiqui 2

    By A Correspondent

     

    It appears to be the time when movie channels are going big on promoting the films they are airing.

     

    Max from the MSM/Sony stable has deployed a 360-degree marketing campaign for Aashiqui 2 that’s set to be aired on July 28. The campaign entails the use of various tools like Television, Print, Outdoor, Digital, DTH and Cinema.

     

    Said Vaishali Sharma, Marketing Head, Max on the campaign: “We have strategically and creatively used different media effectively to create experiential and interactive opportunities for our audiences. Building on the theme of romance and the music of the film that has captured hearts of millions, we have recreated the magic of Aashiqui 2 across outdoor, digital and on air. We have got the stars of Aashiqui 2 to enhance this experience further, inviting and enticing audiences to be part of the experience on Sony Max.”

     

    On the social media platform, the Sony Max Facebook page has a daily love tip for all its followers where fans get advise on their love life. It has created a special ‘Aashiqui 2 Lovemeter’ which calculates the love quotient between you and your partner. A contest called ‘Aashiqui 2 Moments Contest’ where Facebook fans can upload their best romantic pictures. Shortlisted pictures will be showcased in the end credits of the premiere.

     

    On July 26, Aashiqui 2 roadblock videos is set to greet all Youtube viewers. A contest will also happen where audiences would be asked questions related to the movie. Lucky winners will meet Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor.

     

    With outdoor, a movie poster will be installed on a rotator at various major drive-heavy roads of Mumbai. A hoarding outside National College in Bandra will be covered with real roses which has to plucked by spectators revealing the Aashiqui 2 poster.

     

    Then there’s the musical bus stand which will play live music from the movie for the benefit of commuters.

     

  • In the run-up to the launch next month, Epic channels has signed on iContract, MSLGROUP, Jack in the Box and Madison Media for its launch and overall marketing strategy

    Epic gears up for August launch, appoints iContract, Madison, MSLGroup & Jack in the Box

    By A Correspondent

     

    Epic, the proposed Hindi entertainment channel that will offer content centered on Indian history, mythology and folklore, is gearing up for launch next month subject to regulatory approvals. And in order to do that, it has collaborated with specialized creative and communication agencies to initiate a comprehensive launch campaign.

     

    IContract, a part of Contract Advertising and the WPP Group, has been appointed to manage the creative and brand building duties for the channel; while Madison Media has been assigned the media buying and planning mandate.

     

    MSLGroup will be been handling the channel’s public relations, while Jack in the Box Worldwide, the content-for-brands arm of Bang Bang Films, has been selected to manage all digital communication for Epic.

     

    The decision comes after a month-long process of agency pitches for each of the mandates. Commenting on these partnerships, Business Head Aparna Pandey  said “Epic is a differentiated channel that will present meaningful entertainment against an innovative backdrop. Therefore, we were searching for partners who would exemplify fresh and enlightening approach in ideas and thought process. There was so much of creativity in all the agencies we met; however our selected partners had something different to offer, which appealed to all of us at EPIC. We are confident that our brand will be portrayed exactly like we perceive it, with the help and support of our partner agencies”

     

    Rana Barua

    On the assignment, Rana Barua, COO, Contract India said: “I am excited that the management of Epic Television Networks has entrusted iContract with their trust and faith in launching the channel in the country. iContract is one of our key offerings which merges the world of Digital, Experiential and Mainline with powerful and effective media neutral ideas and am confident that the launch will be successful”.

     

    Said Vanita Keswani, COO, Madison Media Sigma: “We are delighted to be helping India’s first digital channel with their launch strategy in the dynamic digitizing cable TV scenario and we are looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship”.

     

    Vanita Keswani

    Speaking on the win, Prashanth Challapalli, Business Head, Jack in the Box said, ” India has a rich history and the possibilities of telling these stories in the digital medium is really exciting. Our mandate is to create awareness and more importantly relevance for the brand in the online space”.

     

  • IBF, AAAI, ISA and TAM reach consensus on TV audience measurement

    IBF, AAAI, ISA and TAM reach a consensus. Finally!

     

    By A Correspondent

    Representatives of advertisers, media agencies, broadcasters and TAM have finally been able to iron out their differences and agreed to agree on an agreement.

    The media and public will now get to know television viewership in thousands, colloquially referred to as TVT. TVT captures and reflects growth in TV audiences in the country in terms of absolute numbers. TVT will be the sole currency in the public domain.

    In addition four-week TVT rolling average will be provided every week. The rolling average is statistically more stable data on viewership, especially for smaller audiences in niche channels, regional languages, English language programs and news.

    For internal evaluation including planning and buying, %TVR weekly will be available to advertisers and advertising agencies.

    The three constituents have also agreed that TAM will make all future audience measurement changes based on inputs from the joint-industry BARC Technical Committee.

    Commenting on the changes IBF President Man Jit Singh said: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement. We believe it is important for the industry, and from the perspective of our social responsibility, we must reflect both the growing television audience and the data in a more stable and useful manner. We want to thank AAAI and ISA in collaborating and working out a solution acceptable to all constituents”.

    “As three concerned constituents, who believe in working together, we have decided to refer all future currency related changes to the BARC technical committee. I’m glad that now we will have an effective guide and monitor for ratings in the country,” said Hemant Bakshi, Chairman of Media Committee and Managing Committee of the Indian Society of Advertiser.

    “Getting weekly TVR% is important for media planners and buyers to effectively plan and buy TV and do mid- plan course corrections and post analysis. We are glad that we have been able to agree that the agencies and advertisers will have access to this data as in the past. From tomorrow, we look forward to being able to focus back on our clients businesses and effective planning and buying for their brands,” said Arvind Sharma, President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India.

    A TAM spokesperson has also issued a statement saying: “TAM is happy to receive a common brief from the three Industry Stakeholders (IBF, ISA and AAAI) and will work very closely with them to ensure its smooth roll out.”

  • Now you won't see GRPs and TRPs in the media, but TVTs

    Goodbye, GRP. Welcome, TVT!?

    By A Correspondent


    So, reps of advertisers, media agencies, broadcasters plus TAM have finally been able to smoke the peace pipe and agreed to the way forward for the TV audience measurement ratings process currently being administered by TAM.

     

    This is good news for all of us in the media, because we can finally move on and concentrate on other more meaningful things in life.

     

    However, it’s critical to interpret the press release that has been issued jointly by the ISA, AAAI, IBF and TAM sent to us by the AAAI secretariat.

     

    What it basically says it is that it’s going to be business as usual for broadcasters and agencies and advertisers, but for the media and public at large, the data that will come is not in the form of TVRs, TRPs or GRPs or channels shares, but in a new currency called TVT. Short for television viewership in thousands.

     

    It may be good for one to point out to the powers that be is that the media doesn’t and didn’t manufacture these rating numbers out of thin air. These numbers are given to it (in recent times not by TAM) by broadcasters themselves. Or they are used by broadcasters in their publicity material – in print or electronic media ads or as mailers on various trade portals including MxMIndia.

     

    We understand that the broadcasters have agreed to not use GRPs for a certain week/period in their information to the media. So at one level we don’t think it’s going to be difficult to figure a week’s numbers given the four-week average numbers, but it’ll be interesting to see how much of this information broadcasters keep to themselves.

     

    Also, it will be good to see how ratings of individual programmes or shows are communicated to the trade.

     

    These are interesting times. Perhaps the next time BARC/ ISA/ AAAI/ IBF/ TAM have a meeting on dissemination of ratings numbers, a few reps of the media should also be invited. And, no, it needn’t be anyone from MxMIndia.

     

    Meanwhile, MxMIndia has just decided to send the journalist working on the Measurement TAMasha for a well-deserved weekend break.

     

  • One does tend to tilt towards broadcasters here – and wish that any decision pertaining to FCT is implemented only after the complete post DAS roll out, writes Ritu Midha

    Ritu Midha: Of FCT, CPT and data frequency….

    By Ritu Midha

     

    July is an important month in television advertising. The first TV ad – aired on the WNBT channel in the US in 1941 – was for Bulova, a watchmaker.  The 10-second spot, showing the picture of a clock with a US Map, had a voiceover ‘America runs on Bulova time’.

     

    That was 73 years back, and the face of television and advertising on it has  seen a complete makeover since. It would be interesting to take note of the changes… some other time though. At the moment, any thought on television advertising immediately brings to mind FCT and measurement, issues the industry is grappling with.

     

    FCT first: ad time per hour to be precise! While in the US, it is (or was till 2011 – as per the information I could dig out on the web) 15 to 18 minutes per hour, in Europe it is 12 minutes. Australia too averages out to 12 minutes per hour – but interestingly, there it is not about ad minutes per hour, but ad minutes per 24 hours – these can be split as per the requirements.

     

    In India, the decision is to bring the FCT down to 12 minutes and it is already work in progress with gradual reduction of ad minutes per hour. It, obviously, is a cause of concern for broadcasters. It is anticipated that some of the revenues channels would be made up by the subscription fee. However, for that DAS has to be on schedule, and roll out be completed by December 2014. One does tend to tilt towards broadcasters here – and wish that any decision pertaining to FCT is implemented only after the complete post DAS roll out.

     

    And then too, why not try out the Australia model, with an upper cap on ad minutes in the prime time? And perhaps, gradually settle at something that works for India, and not necessarily what Britain does!

     

    As for marketers, they must look at in-programme placements more aggressively – to reach not only a more involved audience, but also not to feel the pinch of changed demand-supply equation commercially, and otherwise.

     

    The second issue bogging television advertising at the moment is measurement – data frequency on one side (weekly/ monthly/ rolling weekly/ fortnightly) and CPRP vs CPT on the other. Battlelines are drawn with buyers and sellers on either side of fence!

     

    An argument here is that daily ratings are the way forward, and we should not regress to monthly ones. Just curious, are media plans and buys based on a week’s ratings? Or for that matter, predictions?  The discussion, however, is said to be headed towards a compromise formula – fortnightly, and rolling weekly being the two models flaunted as the best options by many.

     

    By the way, if marketers are so keen to continue with weekly ratings for perfect planning and buying, why are they hesitant to adopt the CPT model? Wouldn’t cost per thousand help in getting the exact numbers?And is it not what the world is headed towards?

     

    A totally disjointed thought here, would the reader experience not be enhanced in print too if the number of ad column centimetres in a publication is pre-defined by a Government body – and the publications are disallowed from putting more than a fixed number of ads on every page – including their ‘prime’ pages?

     

    And, at the moment, is print hoping some spillover from television if its current troubles continue for an extended period of time – many an advertiser would have after all put aside a chunk of their budgets for festive season and elections precursors.

     

    Ritu Midha is a senior journalist and web strategist based in Mumbai. She is also Consulting Editor and Editor – Special Projects, MxMIndia.

     

    This column by Ritu Midha was written before the consensus formula between the ISA, IBF and AAAI with TAM was worked out

     

  • IBF, AAAI, ISA and TAM reach consensus on TV audience measurement

    IBF, AAAI, ISA and TAM reach a consensus. Finally

    By A Correspondent


    Representatives of advertisers, media agencies, broadcasters and TAM have finally been able to iron out their differences and agreed to agree on an agreement.
    The media and public will now get to know television viewership in thousands, colloquially referred to as TVT. TVT captures and reflects growth in TV audiences in the country in terms of absolute numbers. TVT will be the sole currency in the public domain.

    In addition four-week TVT rolling average will be provided every week. The rolling average is statistically more stable data on viewership, especially for smaller audiences in niche channels, regional languages, English language programs and news.

    For internal evaluation including planning and buying, %TVR weekly will be available to advertisers and advertising agencies.

    The three constituents have also agreed that TAM will make all future audience measurement changes based on inputs from the joint-industry BARC Technical Committee.

    Commenting on the changes IBF President Man Jit Singh said: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement. We believe it is important for the industry, and from the perspective of our social responsibility, we must reflect both the growing television audience and the data in a more stable and useful manner. We want to thank AAAI and ISA in collaborating and working out a solution acceptable to all constituents”.

    “As three concerned constituents, who believe in working together, we have decided to refer all future currency related changes to the BARC technical committee. I’m glad that now we will have an effective guide and monitor for ratings in the country,” said Hemant Bakshi, Chairman of Media Committee and Managing Committee of the Indian Society of Advertiser.

    “Getting weekly TVR% is important for media planners and buyers to effectively plan and buy TV  and do mid- plan course corrections and post analysis. We are glad that we have been able to agree that the agencies and advertisers will have access to this data as in the past. From tomorrow, we look forward to being able to focus back on our clients businesses and effective planning and buying for their brands,” said Arvind Sharma, President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India.

    A TAM spokesperson has also issued a statement saying: “TAM is happy to receive a common brief from the three Industry Stakeholders (IBF, ISA and AAAI) and will work very closely with them to ensure its smooth roll out.”

  • New 'Cloudport' service from Bengaluru-based tech & broadcast frim chosen to support channel's beaming in India

    Horse & Country TV gallops ahead with Amagi

    By A Correspondent

     

    As part of its accelerating international expansion, Horse & Country TV, the specialist equestrian sports and lifestyle network, has announced its partnership with Amagi Media Labs to deliver its signal to cable, satellite and IPTV operators.

     

    Amagi offers a cloud-based broadcast distribution and playout infrastructure for television networks. The Bengaluru-based company runs what it claims as India’s largest local advertising network playing more than 1 million local ad seconds every month on more than 10 TV networks ranging from sports and news to entertainment and lifestyle. The company also has international deployments of its broadcast infrastructure in Singapore and Africa.

     

    Horse & Country will leverage Amagi’s Cloudport infrastructure platform to deliver localized channel feeds to current and future markets where the channel is distributed.

     

    H&C TV CEO and Chairman, Heather Killen said: “Future-proofing our channel for multi-platform international distribution has been a key strategic goal for H&C as we expand our presence in new markets.  We are confident that we have found in Amagi a partner that will support our development in an extremely flexible and targeted way.”

     

    Baskar Subramanian, Co-Founder Strategy, Investments and R&D with Amagi, said of the partnership, “We believe that cloud-based models are the future of broadcast. Cloudport holistically addresses all the needs of broadcasters for channel playout and is set to become the standard for multi-platform channel delivery, replacing expensive satellite and fibre-based content delivery.  We are delighted to announce Horse & Country TV as Amagi’s first Europe-based, international channel and look forward to a long and successful partnership as they continue their international roll-out.”

     

     

  • To drive national reportage for CNBC-TV18 and lead leading special news programming initiatives

    CNBC-TV elevates Sidharth Zarabi to National News Editor

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s the season for elevations at leading business channel CNBC-TV18. After a slew of moves over the last fortnight, the channel has announced further strengthening of its top deck with a new role assigned to senior editor Sidharth Zarabi. He will now be National News Editor. In this new capacity, Mr Zarabi’s mandate will be to drive reporting teams nationally apart from leading special news programming initiatives on the channel. He earlier was the Economic Policy Editor and the Delhi bureau chief for CNBC-TV18.

     

    Speaking on this development, Anil Uniyal, CEO, CNBC-TV18 & CNBC Awaaz, said: “Sidharth has played a critical role in CNBC-TV18’s leadership so far and going forward his expertise will be invaluable in terms of how CNBC-TV18 contributes as well as benefits from our integrated business newsroom”

     

    Commenting on the move, Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 said “Siddharth is a versatile and prolific journalist with over 16 years of experience. He has brought energy and dynamism to the news room. In his new role as National News Editor, he will work closely with me to drive CNBC-TV18’s team of reporters. He will also front special news based shows for the channel

     

    Speaking on his elevation, Sidharth Zarabi added “It’s been a momentous journey so far and my experience with CNBC-TV18 has been intense and enriching over the years. I hope to bring it to bear as we thrust ahead and further strengthen its leadership”

     

  • The tie-up will ensure patrons can access blockbusters of every decade across Tamil, Marathi and Hindi

    BigFlix allies with Shemaroo for all-time hits

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Entertainment Digital’s movie-on-demand service, BigFlix, has formed a licensing agreement with leading content house Shemaroo Entertainment allowing its users to stream a wide range of blockbusters movies – ranging from black and white films to some of the most recent releases.

     

    The catalogue offers an assortment of timeless classics to latest hits with a perfect blend of genres in multiple languages – Hindi, Marathi and Tamil. Few of the finest Hindi classics like the iconic film Mughal-E-Azam, Raj Kapoor’s Anari, Mithun’s Disco Dancer, Rajesh Khanna’s Roti to some of the contemporary films like Amitabh Bachchan’s Black, Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh, Vidya Balan’s Ishqiya & The Dirty Picture and so on form the part of the list.

     

    Commenting on the association with Shemaroo, Shreyash Sigtia, Business Head, BigFlix, said: “There is a definite demand for classic films amongst movie enthusiasts and Shemaroo Entertainment is credited to have given Indian audiences some iconic and successful titles in Bollywood for decades now.”

     

    Jai Maroo, Director, Shemaroo Entertainment said: “Our vision is to be present on all devices, any time and on any connection. Being a prominent online platform in digital space, BigFlix will help us cater to wider range of audience across geographies.”

     

  • A settlement may have been reached, but not much has changed save a new terminology being introduced

    Back to Square One?!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The month-plus-old face-off between advertisers and media agencies on one side and broadcasters on the other ended yesterday with a settlement.

     

    While what’s dished out is a multi-tiered subscription structure, the bottomline is: nothing has really changed. “It’s bunkum,” a news broadcaster told us. While we will toe the line of our association, in reality, we have achieved nothing. In fact earlier we could at least have some fun with claims on ratings, now we’ll be required to behave,” he chuckled.

     

     

    What the stakeholders said:

    IBF President Man Jit Singh: We are delighted to have reached this agreement. We believe it is important for the industry, and from the perspective of our social responsibility, we must reflect both the growing television audience and the data in a more stable and useful manner. We want to thank AAAI and ISA in collaborating and working out a solution acceptable to all constituents.

     

    Hemant Bakshi, Chairman of Media Committee and Managing Committee of the Indian Society of Advertiser: As three concerned constituents, who believe in working together, we have decided to refer all future currency related changes to the BARC technical committee. I’m glad that now we will have an effective guide and monitor for ratings in the country

     

    Arvind Sharma, President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India: Getting weekly TVR% is important for media planners and buyers to effectively plan and buy TV  and do mid- plan course corrections and post analysis. We are glad that we have been able to agree that the agencies and advertisers will have access to this data as in the past. From tomorrow, we look forward to being able to focus back on our clients businesses and effective planning and buying for their brands

     

    A senior media agency professional though said that nothing had changed even with claims. Only the currency has changed from TVRs to TVTs. So the number you will see will be different and larger, but the claims and counter-claims can continue. And there’s nothing wrong with it. As long as the war between a Coke and Pepsi or a Colgate versus Pepsodent or Oral-B stays healthy, there’s no problem.

     

    What’s important in the statement issued is that the media and public in general will only be served information in the form of TVTs or television viewership in thousands. Broadcasters, advertisers and media agencies can get all the possible information as earlier in the Media Xpress Gold option.

     

    A senior industryperson told MxMIndia that just because a certain broadcaster takes a basic model doesn’t mean that an advertiser or its media agency does not have the detailed data.

     

    Research agency TAM meanwhile, has issued a statement saying it is happy to receive a common brief from the three industry stakeholders – IBF, ISA and AAAI – and will work very closely with them. Although the TAM spokesperson refused to be drawn into a discussion, but from the discussions that we had various stakeholders around the time when NDTV had filed a law suit, there have been virtually no clearly technical or advisory committees for the last decade.

     

    A cross-section of industryfolks MxMIndia spoke with believe that this round has been won by the advertiser. But, expect the broadcasters to flex their muscles a little more when their revenues from digitization increases. One also needs to factor how the government-controlled Doordarshan (and Prasar Bharti) react to the entire situation.

     

    Things are only going to get more complex as the battleground for the general elections gets hotter and BARC processes start taking shape.

     

     

    The Specifics of the Solution:

     

    TAM data, henceforth, will be available, through 3 different software pipelines: 

    a. One official industry Software called Media Xpress Platinum

    b. Along with Two customized/optional Softwares called Media Xpress Gold and Media Xpress Silver.

     

    All the 3 software deployments will be as follows: 

    Media Xpress Platinum – Official Industry level Software 

    This software will have all the TV channels expressed as an average of 4 weeks data. This data will be released on a Weekly basis with the rolled up average of the present week data along with the last 3 weeks data. The ratings will be expressed only as TVT 000s (TVRs in Thousands). This Software will be released to all subscribers who could like to download it. All analysis will be possible only on a Day-Part level. No individual/specific Program level data will be available for reporting in this software.  This Software created freshly will be made available by August end/Sept first week.

     

    Media Xpress Gold - Customized/Optional Software : 1 

    This software will have all the TV channels reported on a Weekly basis. This data will have ratings data expressed in TVT 000s as well as TVR%. The data for the Software will be released on a weekly basis. This software will have all the analysis possible at a Day-Part as well as individual Program level, including minute to minute Program and Ad data. This will have the facility to import the Ad Spots for Media Agencies/Advertisers to evaluate the Ad plans executed. It will be released on a customized basis for those subscribers like Agencies/Advertisers (and also Broadcasters who have not opted out of the reporting of TVR% data presently). It will work exactly like the earlier Media Xpress with all functionalities available for the Planner/Buyer. The Software will be ready for deployment on 8th August 2013. However, this software should be used by the Client Organization for internal analysis purpose only and not in media/public domain. This software will be made available to the user post signing of an NDA as agreed upon with ISA-IBF-AAAI jointly.

     

    Media Xpress Silver - Customized/Optional Software : 2 

    This software will have all the TV channels reported on a Weekly basis. This data will have ratings data expressed only in TVT 000s. The data for the Software will be released on a weekly basis. This software will have all the analysis possible at a Day-Part as well as individual Program level, including ability to drill down to individual Program’s minute data on a specific day. This will have the facility to import the Program Promos for Broadcasters to evaluate the Program Promo plans and also the Ad Logs. It will be released on a customized basis for those subscribers (primarily Broadcasters) who have opted out of the reporting of TVR% data. The Software will be ready for deployment on August 8, 2013. This software will be made available to the user post signing of an NDA as agreed upon with ISA-IBF-AAAI jointly.

     

    All subscribers will be given the Media Xpress Platinum Software. To subscribe to Media Xpress Gold and Silver additionally, the subscribers will have to take the following steps:

    (a) The subscriber will have to sign a NDA with TAM stating that the usage of Media Xpress Gold (with TVR%) customized Software is strictly for internal analysis purpose andnot for any public usage of the data.

     

    (b) Incase of non-signing of the NDA, TAM will not be in a position to deliver Media Xpress Gold (with TVR%) customized Software. TAM will be notifying the same to the concerned association (IBF/AAAI/ISA) to help facilitate a resolution.

     

    (c) For subscribers who sign the NDA and violate the usage norm (displaying TVR% data in Public), TAM will be forced to stop the Media Xpress Gold (with TVR%) customized Software subscription and will report it to the concerned association (IBF/AAAI/ISA) to help facilitate a resolution

     

    Timelines & Next Steps –

    1. With immediate effect, TAM will provide the original MediaXpress software (reporting TVR%/GRP%, etc.) for use till August 8, 2013.
    2. By the 8th August, if the client wishes to use anyone of the two optional versions (Gold/Silver), TAM would require an NDA signed from the client’s end covering the terms of use as briefly stated above.
    3. By end-August/first-week September, MediaXpress will be replaced by MediaXpress Platinum.

     

     

     

  • Having figured what's in the best interests of the company, it's best to get out of non-core businesses

    1 Minute View: Shed excess baggage and prosper!

    The moral of the story from the Television 18 and Network 18 first quarter results just out is simple: get out of non-core activities, clean up your act, get business to improve and prosper.

     

    If there’s an Indian media company that grew and spread too fast through the 2000s, it’s been Network18. When the investments were being made, we all thought they were super and the way to go for a company that desires to be a mega-empire. So in a sense, it’s not just the Network18 management that got it wrong, even if we there at that position, we would’ve possibly chosen that route.

     

    But having figured what’s in the best interests of the company, it’s best to shed the excess baggage. Make some money from it possible, and get your account books looking good. And, if in this time ad volumes shore up and revenues from subscription leapfrog, the books sparkle even more.

     

    This is what NDTV did some years back when they sold the NDTV Imagine slew of channels and also shed some staff.

     

    In all of this, care needs to be taken on how the excess baggage is shed, especially when it concerns employees who could be adversely impacted for no fault of theirs.

     

    Meanwhile, for the folks at Television 18 and Network 18, it’s time to bring out the bubbly.

     

  • The TRAI consultation paper on FDI in broadcast recommends the increase of FDI in news channels and FM radio from 26 to 49%

    1 Minute View: Why 49% FDI? Why not 100%???

    It’s an election year and one can’t be sure whether the government will be open to see reason, but there’s got to be some bizarre logic for the powers that be to okay 100 percent foreign direct investment in telecom and not in news broadcasting and FM radio.

     

    As bizarre as allowing 100 percent in non-news television, but not on FM radio. And as bizarre as allowing news channels to proliferate and permit cable TV to exist in all parts of the country, but not letting independent news air on FM radio.

     

    There are of course arguments on how the likes of Rupert Murdoch have lowered the standards of news in the UK. But what about some of our news channels and publications?

     

    There is also a sentiment that foreign-owned means anti-India and anti-employees, but that’s a fallacy. We’ve seen very recently how even Indian media-owners do not follow basic courtesies while shutting down unprofitable editions.

     

    So, why this charade of not allowing 100% FDI in both news TV and FM? And not just news TV but even print newspapers and magazines?

     

    Guess there are enough lobbies at work which prevent the government from allowing FDI in news, and in an election year, the MIB and the ruling alliance wouldn’t want to upset the traditional media owners.  Sigh.