MxMIndia

Tag: BBC worldwide

  • Radio One Ltd has declared its audited financial results for the year ended March 31

    Radio One operating profit grows exponentially

    By A Correspondent

     

    Radio One Ltd, now renamed Next Radio Ltd, the joint venture between Next MediaWorks Ltd and BBC Worldwide, has declared its audited financial results for the year ended March 31, 2013 at the annual board meeting held recently.

     

    Revenue grew 16 percent to Rs 50.41 crore for the year ended March 31 as compared to Rs 43.48 crore in the corresponding period last year.

     

    EBIDTA profit grew exponentially to Rs 18.41 crore in the year ended March 31, as compared to Rs 0.25 crore in the corresponding period last year. The EBIDTA margin for the year ended March 31 was at 36.5 percent which is in line with the best in the media industry.

     

    Profit before tax (before exceptional items) improved to a positive of Rs 0.58 crore in the year ended March 31 as compared to a loss of Rs 17.78 crore in the corresponding period last year.

     

    The operations were sufficiently cash positive for the first time.

     

    Radio One MD & CEO Vineet Singh Hukmani said ‘We have transformed our business with strategic restructuring. Our focus on profiled educated audiences helped us move 100% advertising revenue to our ‘on air’ product. Led by our international formats in Mumbai and Delhi, we are delivering high quality differentiated products in each of our 7 cities at the lowest cost. Added to this we have initiated up to a 30% increase in advertising rates successfully.’

     

    Radio One, which runs 94.3FM, is keen to participate in Phase 3 bidding and is looking to expand to high value metro markets. “We are hopeful that the MIB will soon allow existing players with 10 year licenses to extend to 15 year licenses before phase 3 bidding. This will result in confident bidding by existing players,” added Mr Hukmani.

     

     

  • On Thursday, BBC Worldwide confirmed the closure of BBC Entertainment and CBeebies thanks to the digitization delays and the business being unviable thanks to high carriage fees

    Bad news for Bachcha party: CBeebies to shut by Nov-end. So will BBC Entertainment

    By A Correspondent

     

    Parents of tiny tots whose kids won’t eat a morsel without Teletubbies for company may now have some trouble on hand.

     

    By end-November, CBeebies will go off air as will BBC Entertainment. Hey, didn’t we all hear just earlier this week that the channel was to air a special Top Gear show on 50 years of James Bond cars? Yes, we did. But that’s the way it is.

     

    On Thursday, BBC Worldwide confirmed the closure of two of its branded entertainment channels in India. BBC Entertainment and CBeebies are to be withdrawn and will no longer be available beyond the end of November 2012.  BBC World News, however, will remain available in India and continue to grow its distribution in the market.

     

    Said Mark Whitehead, Senior Vice President and General Manager, BBC Worldwide Channels Asia: “The decision to withdraw BBC Entertainment and CBeebies has not been an easy one.  India is a dynamic and fast growing media market but remains uniquely challenging for pay TV channels.  Specifically, delays in digitization and the need for channel operators to pay cable platforms for carriage makes the economics of running channels very challenging at this time.”

     

    Hey, Mr Whitehead Sir, digitization took off in right earnest in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata yesterday. 100% of Delhi is digitized, in Mumbai it is 118% whereas in Kolkata it is 85% and in Chennai it stands at 63%… and all of this information is not MxMIndia, Saar, but from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. So now why this Kolaveri?

     

    Despite this, a statement says, BBC Worldwide remains committed to India, where BBC World News – the BBC’s international news and current affairs television channel – will be available across the market, along with the bbc.com and bbchindi.com websites, BBC Hindi radio and Global India, a new primetime programme produced by BBC Hindi TV which will launch on five ETV channels later this week. Interestingly, the communiqués announcing Global India reached us a few hours before the BBC Entertainment and CBeebies closure was announced.

     

    In addition, BBC Worldwide operates a TV production business, a content syndication business and Lonely Planet in India. The company is also evaluating the potential for a number of digital initiatives which have been successfully developed in other markets. BBC programmes will also continue to be available on other channels in India, both terrestrial and cable, as well as digitally on a YouTube channel.

     

     

  • Anil Machado, National Programming Head, Radio One shares his view on the reasons for going retro in Kolkata, how the station is different in other markets and the response received

    Radio One is a station with a difference: Anil Machado

    Beginning March 28, Radio One Kolkata made a transition from a station that played a mix of Hindi and Bengali songs to a full-fledged Hindi retro station. The Kolkata station is now a 100 per cent Hindi retro station, playing the biggest hits from the sixties through the nineties. By going completely retro, the FM station aims to create some differentiation in the Kolkata market which has nearly nine FM stations. The decision to go retro was taken after extensive research was conducted, which found that no FM station in Kolkata dwelled into the retro music space and that there is huge potential for a 100 per cent retro music station in the market. In conversation with MxMIndia’s Robin Thomas, Mr Anil Machado, National Programming Head, Radio One shared his view on the reasons for going retro in Kolkata, how the station is different in other markets and the response received. Radio One, a joint venture between Next Mediaworks Ltd and BBC Worldwide is operational in seven metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.

     

    Please throw some light on the decision to go retro in Kolkata?

    Radio One is a differentiated station in every market we are currently present in and there is no market better than Kolkata to go 100 per cent retro.  The biggest retro singers are from this market… Kolkata is a market that swears on retro music, that’s grown up to retro music. Our motive is being different in every market and we noticed huge space in retro music that no one was catering to and if they did, then they were catering in time slots. We did our research and found that people of Kolkata are crazy over retro music and that the market is huge. In fact, no other player has dwelled into this space and hence we took the step and went 100 per cent retro in Kolkata.

     

    What genre of retro music will the Kolkata station play?

    We would be playing the biggest hits from 60s and 70s all the way through the 90s. You can listen to over forty years of the best music ever churned out in the country. The best of retro music will be played on Radio One Kolkata station. Tune in any part of the day and you will listen to songs you have grown up listening to, and therefore you will end up enjoying the station.

     

    And before going retro, Radio One Kolkata played….?

    Before going retro we were playing mainly a mix of Hindi and Bengali wherein Bengali music occupied nearly 25 per cent of the music mix.

     

    You have tried to create a differentiated station across markets…?

    We have differentiated content in all our markets. In Mumbai andDelhi, we are the only radio station playing international music. In Kolkata we are a 100 per cent Hindi retro station. In Chennai we are the only 100 per cent request station. In Pune we are a hardcore Bollywood music station whereas others play a mix of Hindi and Marathi. InBangaloretoo we are truly a Bollywood music station whereas others play Kannada music and in Ahmedabad we stand to a maximum music, maximum choice wherein we air only two shows and the rest is back to back music. The others in Ahmedabad market, on the other hand, air approximate six to seven shows whereas we air only two shows.

     

    What’s the kind of response the Kolkata station is generating, particularly from the advertisers?

    The response, from both listeners and advertisers, has been overwhelming. Advertisers mainly look at audience profiling and the differentiating factors of the station, and Radio One provides that differentiating factor and the audience profile. Kolkata has nine radio stations and advertisers realize that Radio One is the only FM station that plays 100 per cent retro music, our TG continues to remain the same i.e. 30 years plus listeners. What we have noticed in the Kolkata market is that they breed music from the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and the people of Kolkata know their music, the singers and lyricist and so on.

     

    Radio One Kolkata went retro towards the last week of March, 2012, yet you didn’t make much noise about it…?

    We went retro from the March 28, 2012. I believe that the moment your product is differentiated, it works on the principle of network marketing but, if you are similar to other stations in the same market that is when you would invest heavily in marketing. Therefore, the moment you are a differentiated product, you would automatically stand out from the herd.

     

  • What could also be considered is the fact that a 24×7 English FM station could bring untapped listeners, particularly those that were averse to listening to FM radio

    Listeners upbeat as Radio One switches to English

    By Robin Thomas

     

    By February 2012, listeners in Mumbai and Delhiwill be able to tune into a 24×7 English FM station. While the industry is already abuzz with news of Radio One turning back to being an English FM station, now there is an excitement among the listeners too, because of the differentiation the station can offer.

     

    “One of the reasons I don’t listen to radio is because the RJs talk a lot, I want to listen to music that I like, uninterrupted. If Radio One is switching over to English music, I expect it to switch back to Hindi, just as it happened with MTV and other FM stations. So I have no faith in another FM station turning English but, as long as they stick to English and if the RJs are good, I would listen to Radio One,” said Rupa Gulab, writer.

     

    What could also be considered is the fact that a 24×7 English FM station could bring untapped listeners, particularly those that were averse to listening to FM radio.

     

    Uday Benegal, musician and lead singer of Indus Creed, felt differently: “This is very exciting news, finally, a radio station I can listen to. I currently don’t listen to radio because there is too much of Bollywood music, but now I will look forward to Radio One as it will be English music 24×7. I am sure a lot of people who listen to our kind of music will also tune into Radio One.”

     

    Radio One is not the first FM station to play English songs. When Fever FM was launched in Mumbai, it played Hindi and English songs. It was only later that it switched to being a full time Hindi FM station. Go FM, which initially played only English songs, later turned Radio One to play Hindi songs. The scenario is no different among music channels either; MTV, for instance, played only English songs, now it’s a completely different channel. Besides VH1, there are no dedicated English music channels in India.

     

    While Radio One may bring a much needed differentiation in FM radio, what remains to be seen is whether the FM station can stay a full time English FM station or will it shift back to its old formula of Bollywood or be a mix of Hindi and English music.

     

    Former RJ and actor Tarana Raja feels that there is a chance that the new formula may work for Radio One. “There is an English FM station in Bangaloreand one inDelhiand both have worked well. So there is a genre for English music. I personally love listening to English music and as a listener I would like to have a choice. I hope Radio One does well and inspire other FM stations to try something different too,” she said.

     

    There are nine FM stations in Mumbai and 10 inDelhi, including two government-owned FM stations – AIR FM2 Gold and AIR FM1 Rainbow. There are no dedicated English FM stations in Mumbai, besides AIR FM1 Rainbow which is not a 24×7 English FM station. All the other FM stations play Bollywood songs. Delhi, on the other hand, does have Hit FM, an English FM station. The other FM stations in English are Radio Indigo in Bangalore and Chennai Live in Chennai.

     

    Vinod Advani, RJ AIR FM1 Rainbow feels that there is always room for another FM station in English, but a lot depends on the kind of programmes and the music played, and whether or not the RJs will be allowed to have their own identity. “Radio One will, perhaps, have technological advantage over us but, as far as I am concerned, my show has a strong listener base for English music. I don’t know whether there is a market for a second English FM station, but a lot will also depend on how knowledgeable the RJs are,” he said.

     

    Radio one, a joint venture between Next Mediaworks Ltd and BBC Worldwide, is operational in seven metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.