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Tag: Dr. Subhash Chandra

  • Zee decided to come up with an alternative which will just give news, without any views

    Zee Hindustan goes anchor-less

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee Media Corporation announced last week that its Hindi news channel, Zee Hindustan, would function without any anchor.

     

    “The anchors who appear on news channels often appear to give colour to a particular story. The viewers who really want to follow, or just know about the news are left with no choice but to watch that anchor. We at Zee sensed this urgency and decided to come up with an alternative which will just give news, without any views. And this is how Zee Hindustan was born,” said Zee group chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subhash Chandra.

     

    Added Ashok Venkatramani, MD, ZMCL: “The country is heading towards the biggest election battle. In a forced opinionated environment, Zee Hindustan will definitely break the clutter and create a niche for itself amongst viewers. The news in purest form and variety of content will put the channel apart from others”.

     

    Said Purushottam Vaishnav, Editor-in-Chief of the channel: “It has been a strenuous two-month journey for all of us and my team did a commendable job in launching this channel in such a brief time. Zee Hindustan will give you news, without any views.”

     

     

  • With a target of 3 billion viewers in 5 years, Zee unveils a new corporate identity and its intent to be a dominant global force

    Zee’s new credo: Extraordinary Together

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s all over the frontpages of the mainline dailies.

     

    The Zee group has embarked on an all-new corporate identity, and as a first, it has thanked its peers – Sony Pictures Networks, Sun TV Network, Viacom 18 and Star India – for their support to help achieve their dream. “In the last 25 years, we have broken new grounds, scaled new heights and explored new horizons in media and entertainment. This would not have been possible without the support of our peers, with whom we share a common dream of entertaining the nation. We acknowledge with gratitude their contribution in realising this dream. Here’s to all of us. And to our extraordinary future. Because together, we can make extraordinary happen

     

    The Zee group – the entertainment, digital, news, music, live entertainment, movies – all of them together – now have a new common corporate credo: Extraordinary Together. While it embodies the earlier credo of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’, Sanskrit for ‘The world is one family’, the new corporate philosophy has a firm eye on the achievement of a three billion consumer base. This growth from a 1.3bn audience currently over the next five years would mean that Zee will aggressively spread its tentacles across the globe.

     

    In India too, there are plans to grow the franchise. In broadcast for instance, there will be variants of vanilla GECs, and the spread will be across Southern languages… for instance in Malayalam.

     

    The Zee group had invited the media for a press meet with many of its senior professionals in attendance. Also present were three representatives from films and theatre.

     

    Speaking on Zee’s new corporate brand ideology, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEEL said: “Our Chairman, Dr. Subhash Chandra’s vision and pioneering efforts caused a revolution in the country 25 years ago. Over time, Zee has evolved from a television broadcaster into a media and entertainment conglomerate with businesses spanning across the spectrum, from broadcasting to music, movies, digital, live entertainment and theatre, providing an extraordinary range of entertainment to audiences around the world. Our new brand ideology – ‘Extraordinary Together’ is rooted in the philosophy that from collaboration comes strength to deliver the extraordinary. In a global company like ours with interests across diverse verticals and businesses, we believe that our ability to win lies in us being able to effectively come together and harness this strength to be extraordinary in the market.”

     

    Throwing light on the company’s growth plans, Amit Goenka, CEO – International Broadcast Business, ZEEL said, “With the vision of becoming the world’s leading global content company from the emerging markets, content is our core focus area and our primary objective is to create extraordinary content for all types of audience across different screens and platforms. Digital is a key focus area and we are soon to launch our revolutionary digital platform, Z5 in the next few weeks.”  There was much discussion on Zee’s digital foray and Amit Goenka also informed mediapersons that an all-new digital platform named Zee5 will be unveiled soon.

     

    The new identity has been designed by London-based designer Martin Lambie-Nairn, Creative Director, ML-N. Lambie-Nairn had also designed the Zee group brand identity that’s visible on the channels and all their communication.

     

    Said Lambie-Nairn: “Twenty-five years is celebrating what you’ve achieved and far more importantly, understanding where you are going, rethinking the brand purpose and considering how to address your audiences in the future. Before conceptualising the new brand identity, our first step was to understand this rich legacy of Zee, unravel where the viewer aspirations and expectations are headed, and then arrive at the brand purpose and ideology that is future-ready. This helped us create a truly global brand architecture that would be easy to operate across genres, businesses and countries and more importantly, introduce magic into it. With this vastly diverse bouquet of brands and businesses that Zee owns, it was necessary to have a golden thread that runs through all the businesses – an elegant and monolithic design language that links the organisation together and inspires to create the extraordinary.”

     

     

  • DishTV warns against possible monopoly in cricket telecast if Star India wins IPL rights

    Zee and Star warring again?

    By A Correspondent

     

    Journalist and broadcasting industry professional Anjan Mitra captured it right. “Sense of deja vu for old timers & those hacks like me who covered media as a beat in mid90s to mid 2000:Zee vs Star,” he posted on his Facebook timeline.

     

    On Wednesday evening, when media offices received a mail from the Dish TV PR agency along with a letter from company bossman Jawahar Goel, it did remind many a journalist of the mid-1990s/2000s when the two networks were warring fiercely.

     

    A journalist who covered the beat then recalled how he had received anonymous dockets twice over against Star India founder and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Another journalist recalls how what was rivalry fought more to ward off Murdoch from the Indian broadcast scene reached a new high when Star India beat Zee with the launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000.

     

    It took Zee some years including re-engineering of its operations to bring back its old, glory days.

     

    However, there has been much public display of camaraderie between the two network in the recent past. It even led to the formation of a distribution arm called ‘Mediapro’ which was later disbanded.

     

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar and Zee MD have also known to be friends, and have collaborated on many industry initiatives. In fact it’s their collective leadership that has led to many of the recent successes of the broadcast industry, including warding off any government intervention and the successful launch of the audience measurement system under the joint industry body BARC India.

     

    We don’t know whether this salvo has the backing of Zee group chairman and now Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subhash Chandra. Goel, Chandra’s brother, is also known to be independent, but observers say the current move couldn’t have been made without the blessings of Chairman Chandra.

     

    But more than the speculation whether the two networks are at war, the issues that the Jawahar Goel letter raises could majorly impact the process of awarding the rights for telecast of IPL.

     

    And even if Star eventually does win the rights for the cricketing league, the process for charging consumers (via cable distributors and DTH operators) could be be totally governed by pricing policies issued by telecom regulator TRAI which may well make the entire proposition unattractive.

     

    DishTV letter against possible monopoly in cricket telecast if Star India wins IPL rights is sure to be taken very seriously by all recipients especially the politicians who can’t afford to displease consumers.

     

    Please click here for the Jawahar Goel letter

     

  • The Essel group chairman announced a contribution of Rs 5000 crore from his family wealth to DSC Foundation

    Prez, PM celebrate Essel Group’s 90 years with Subhash Chandra & family

    By A Correspondent

     

    Essel Group, the leading entertainment-led business group, is celebrating 90 years of existence and to celebrate the occasion, Chairman Dr Subhash Chandra announced the launch of the DSC Foundation by contributing Rs 5000 crore from his family wealth, the ‘Sarthi’ initiative and its English global news network, WION – World Is One News, in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday. The Group also honoured the winners of the first edition of the Zee Media Family Business Legacy Awards – Dabur India Ltd., Wagh Bakri Tea Group and Wockhardt Ltd.

     

    Said Dr Chandra: “This journey of 90 years has been filled with remarkable successes as well as challenges and obstacles. It has been a journey of creating history, venturing into unknown territories, only to emerge as leaders, capitalising on our pioneering vision and sheer entrepreneurial spirit. As we look to the future, I am confident that we will carry forward the legacy of the Group with complete passion, dedication and above all, the spirit of #YoungAt90! On this occasion, we are launching our new initiatives – Sarthi, DSC Foundation and WION, that will empower the lives of the people. Sarthi will provide a platform to help people with their problems by connecting them to the right persons and then taking it to the logical conclusion. With WION, we want to provide a medium which will give people news from around the world and how it affects India. This initiative is not for profit, but a medium for society and the nation to benefit. Through the DSC Foundation, we will be building capacity in the society to take on problems and tackle them. We are pledging Rs. 5000 crore out of our profits towards this Foundation.”

     

    Meanwhile, the Essel Group also announced the winners of the first-edition of Zee Media Family Business Legacy Awards which aim to honour and recognise India’s oldest family-run businesses which have expanded their empires over successive generations. To select the winners, entries from business groups which spanned a tleast four generations and had a turnover of over Rs 1000 crore, were invited and then verified by Ernst & Young, the internal process partner, using rigorous criteria to arrive at the final winners.

     

    The winners of the first-edition of the Zee Media Family Business Legacy Awards are Dabur India Ltd., Wagh Bakri Tea Group and Wockhardt Ltd.

     

  • Dr Subhash Chandra, MP, Rajya Sabha and Chairman – Essel Group launched the Marathi Edition of his best-selling autobiography 'The Z Factor – My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time'

    Marathi edition of Subhash Chandra’s ‘The Z Factor’ launched

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading political leaders from Maharashtra came together at the launch of the Marathi edition of ‘The Z Factor – My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time’. the autobiography of Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and Chairman – Essel Group, Dr Subhash Chandra. These included NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and former CM Prithviraj Chavan. Popular Marathi film and television folk were also in attendance.

     

    Paying a tribute to the city of Mumbai and Marathi culture, Chandra said: “While Haryana is my ‘janmabhoomi’ (homeland), Mumbai is my ‘karmabhoomi’ (land of work). After living and working in Mumbai for the last 35 years, I feel that I have been accepted as a Maharashtrian. Mumbai is the land of dreams, where like me, millions of people strive to make their dreams come true. At Essel Group, it has always been our endeavour to preserve and promote the true essence of Marathi culture through our various ventures such as Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies, Zee Yuva, Zee 24 Taas and our Marathi films like ‘Natarang’, ‘Fandry, ‘Killa’,‘Lay Bhari’, ‘Natsamrat’ and ‘Sairat’. I am extremely grateful and humbled by all the encouragement and support that this wonderful city has bestowed on me.”

     

  • The award was presented by Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday, December 17

    Punit Goenka awarded ‘Best CEO’ by Business Today

     

     

    Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) received the coveted Business Today ‘Best CEO Award’ in the Media and Entertainment category for 2016. The award was presented by Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday, December 17.

     

    Acknowledging the award,  Goenka said, “My immense gratitude goes out to the eminent jury and to Prosenjit Datta and his team at Business Today for bestowing me with the prestigious BT Best CEO Award in the Media & Entertainment category. My heartiest congratulations to all the other deserving winners whose passion, focus and drive have steered their respective companies to success.”

     

    “I accept this award with pride on behalf of our visionary Chairman, Dr. Subhash Chandra, and my team at ZEE whose dedication, hard work and support have enabled the organisation to reach newer and greater heights. We have consistently grown ahead of market, expanded our network viewership share and experienced growth of our product bouquet, both in India and internationally. As we approach our Silver Jubilee, I am confident that driven by innovation and creativity, we will move one step closer towards achieving our ambition of becoming the world’s leading media company from the emerging markets,” Goenka  added.

     

    The methodology of Business Today’s Best CEO Awards focused on the operational performance of companies and their shareholders returns which was conducted by BT’s Knowledge support partner for the process PwC India.

     

    Other recipients of the BT Best CEO Awards 2016 include Sunil Bharti Mittal, C P Gurnani (Tech Mahindra) and Sunil Duggal (Dabur India).

     

     

  • The new appointments will come into effect from April 7, 2016. All editorial functions will henceforth report into Rohit Gandhi

    ZMCL announces new leadership team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) announced that Rohit Gandhi who is heading ZMCL’s English News Channel – WION as Editor-in-chief, will additionally take over the role of Editor-in-Chief of DNA, its English mainline daily. Additionally, Shreyasi Goenka, who has been mentoring the content at DNA for a while, will now take the responsibility of Content Advisor and will guide all functions of DNA. Uday Nirgudkar who has been heading DNA along with Zee 24 Taas, will now continue to lead Zee 24 Taas as its Business Head.

     

    Commenting on the new leadership, Dr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group & Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) said, “One of our Vision 2020 goals is to become a leading global media conglomerate which is hugely dependent on our ability to create an organization that has the capacity to achieve its desired aspirations. We believe that the convergence of our media businesses i.e. television news and print platforms is an opportunity that will help us to achieve this organizational aspiration. With Zee Media’s ambition to get into English News broadcasting, both the brands put together give the organization an opportunity to serve our audiences better.”

     

    Shreyasi Goenka, Content Advisor, DNA said: “Since its launch in 2005, DNA has become the preferred choice for India’s young and dynamic readers. We have been continuously innovating with offerings like ‘I Am IN – dna of India’, a technology enabled initiative, that promises to enlighten, engage and empower citizens of India in getting involved in the cause for better governance. We are confident that this new seamless organizational structure will bring in fresh insights and views, thus helping us to leverage resources more effectively and in maximizing our market potential.”

     

    Speaking on his new appointment, Rohit Gandhi, Editor-in-Chief, DNA and WION said, “We are moving to expand our coverage and the editions of DNA. It is a great opportunity for us to bring more textured content from all parts of India to give our readers a far deeper understanding of India and the world. I look forward to working with Shreyasi in building an insightful newspaper.”

     

    The new appointments will come into effect from April 7, 2016. All editorial functions will henceforth report into Rohit Gandhi.

     

  • The channel will report global news and issues from a South Asian perspective. WION is scheduled for a Summer 2016 take-off

    Zee’s Eng news channel to be called WION. To launch mid-2016, digital-/mobile-first, TV channel later

    By A Corresondent

     

    Okay, the name is not the regular news channel-y name that one expects. But, then in October 1992, one asked similar questions of a channel called Zee TV. And there was the other network which had a weird name. Something that went twinkle, twinkle… Ah, yes, Star. So, for those who are wondering ‘yeh WION-waayan kya hai’, chill. The name will grow on us. It’s what the folks at Zee Media have christened the proposed global English news channel. The channel will report global news and issues from a South Asian perspective. It’s hence called World Is One News or WION, in short. Interestingly, it will be a mobile/digital-first platform and will be an international television channel later. WION is scheduled for a Summer 2016 take-off.

     

    Subhash Chandra

    Commenting on the new channel, Dr Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel and Zee group said: “Zee Media’s new Global English News Channel – WION, will look to offer a seamless experience to empower, educate and energise our discerning viewers. Inspired by the group’s motto, “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam-The World is My Family”, WION aptly stands for ‘World is One News’ and will give a global view of the world with a South Asian lens.”

     

    Rohit Gandhi

    Sharing more details on the news network, Rohit Gandhi, Editor-in-Chief – English News Broadcast and Related Content said: “With WION, we will meet the aspirations of two billion South Asians by delivering a global news network reflecting a South Asian world perspective. It’s high time for South Asian reporting from frontlines, warzones and prominent global capitals,” adding: “While a TV channel is the face of this mobile-first start-up, our newsgathering, reporting, production and publishing processes are an ambitious leap into a multiscreen future. We aim to disrupt conventional ways of thinking about news and set a new template for storytelling across platforms.”

    As mentioned earlier, WION is a mobile/digital first platform and later will be an international television channel. The network will use technology to bring in user-generated content and the  news gathering teams will be equipped with mobile technology for an ‘anytime-anywhere’ live approach. WION will have bureaus across the globe. Using a mix of young and seasoned journalists with diverse nationalities, notes a communiqué.

     

  • 17 categories, 500 entries, 76 nominees, 16 winners, star-studded jury… need we say more?

    IndIAA brings all stakeholders together to collect awards

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The first edition of IndIAA Awards happened on Tuesday, October 13 evening with leading advertising, media and marketing professionals in attendance. Of the 500 entries received for 17 categories, the final shortlist had 76 nominees with 16 winners.  The IndIAA Awards were received by the Advertisers along with all the co-creators of the campaign, across Creative and Media Agencies and also included other agency partners from Digital, Events, PR, Activation etc.

     

    Also present were Jury Chairman Harish Manwani, COO Unilever and Non-Executive Chairman, Hindustan Unilever and Jury members – Bhaskar Bhat (Titan), Sangeeta Pendurkar (Kellogg’s India), B. Sriram (State Bank of India), and Sanjeeb Chaudhuri (Standard Chartered Bank).

     

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter “We attempted IndIAA awards as an experiment; we wanted to create a different way of awarding creativity. At the IAA Conversations preceding the awards, Dr. Subhash Chandra and Shankkar Aiyar, as expected, brought fresh perspective and deep insights around News Neutrality through the engaging session.”

     

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards Committee said, “The IndIAA Award format ensured that ‘ads for awards only’ didn’t come through and this itself was the differentiator.”

     

    Earlier in the day, Dr Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group and Zee spoke to Shankkar Aiyar, author and journalist, on News Neutrality. The conversation ranged from the basic concept of neutrality; the solution to compulsion of revenue versus competition; regulation of news gathering and vagueness of media ownership in India. Dr. Chandra also mentioned a new technological engine being put into place in Zee, which will track stories right from filing, so that there is control over biases.

     

    Dr Bhaskar Das, Chairman, IAA Conversations said, “Going against the grain, if need be, to deep dive into the most relevant industry topics has been the objective of IAA Conversations. The topic on News Neutrality follows the same trend.”

     

    Winners of the first IndIAA Awards:

     

     

  • Living Entertainment brings to you an international food experience from 11th September 2015

    Living Foodz set for Sept 11 launch

    By A Correspondent

     

    Living Entertainment has announced the launch of an international food and lifestyle channel ‘Living Foodz’. This foodtainment channel specializes in exploring the evolving social status of food; moving out of the confines of the conventional kitchen into a world of entertainment and adventure with food. Having food at its core, Living Foodz will explore different perspectives towards food and the way it touches people – from lifestyle, travel, wellness to food infotainment and reality.

     

    The channel will be available across all DTH providers like Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon and all other leading cable networks in dual feed Hindi and English from 11th September 2015.

     

    Living Entertainment in India will be an extension of the Living network belonging to Essel Group which already exists in the international markets. Living aims at bringing alive all things factual with an element of entertainment in order to appeal to the global audiences. Living in India will truthfully echo the ‘Living’ philosophy and encompass everything that will help one to discover, awaken and transform oneself.

     

    In sync with the corporate brand positioning of ZEEL – “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam -The World is My Family”, Living Foodz will resonate the philosophy perfectly with the energetic programming mix. For the Indian market, Living Foodz will be the international food & lifestyle channel that will have a universal feel; which will appeal to the new age Indian. This foodtainment channel is targeted at both men and women across all age groups in urban digital households. The core audience set would comprise of well-travelled & connected people with high interest level of food.

     

    Within a year, Living Foodz will be available across countries worldwide producing global food content for global audiences. The audience will be taken on an exhilarating food expedition alongside eminent celebrity chefs and food personalities like Ranveer Brar, Gautam Mehrishi, Rocky & Mayur, Vicky Ratnani, Kunal Kapur, Rakhee Vaswani through their different shows. With a substantial increase of audience interest in various niche sectors, Living Foodz, has the right formula that is sure to enthrall one and all.

     

    Speaking on the new initiative, Dr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, ZEEL and Essel Group said, “We are very proud to present Living networks in India. This is yet another endeavor from our group to bring the world closer through entertainment. Living is all about global mindsets and experiences. This is also in line with our group philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World is My Family”. Our group has always believed in creating not just great content but building genres and brands that are milestones.”

     

    Also present for the launch, Punit Goenka, Managing Director & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited said, “With Living, we intend to make global content for global audiences. This will be for the first time ever that original content from India will be available to audiences across the globe. We are very proud to present this new form of entertainment to our audiences”

     

    Commenting on the occasion Piyush Sharma, CEO Zee Living- India APAC says, “Living is our endeavor to showcase audiences with great lifestyle content. Growth of digitization is leading to fragmentation of audiences, thereby creating an opportunity for differentiated and genre specific content. Moreover, increasing digital households are giving rise to increased audience expectations and demand for more diverse viewing opportunities. Under this scenario we are providing Living Foodz to people who love exploring and knowing more about food.”

     

  • The channel to be available in Sub-Saharan Africa from February 03, 2015

    Zee World launches in South Africa

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) announced the launch of a new television channel, Zee World, at a glittering event in Johannesburg. The channel aims to offer its viewers an extra-ordinary world of entertainment, and will be the first-of-its-kind to showcase television series, Bollywood movies, reality shows and more action packed content. Zee World is a GEC and is the first offering from ZEEL for mainstream viewers in Africa.

     

    Subhash Chandra

    “The corporate positioning of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ meaning ‘The world is my family’ is the driving force that enables us to bring authentic and entertaining content to global audiences, with a vision to reach a billion viewers by 2020,” said Essel Group & ZEEL Chairman, Dr. Subhash Chandra.

     

    Zee World is a customized channel experience for mainstream audiences in Africa and will be available from February 03, 2015 on DSTV channel 166. All content that will be aired has undergone extensive research and customization including editing and dubbing with most of the channel’s content dubbed in South Africa using local talent.

     

  • Interacts with over 200 young entrepreneurs and management students at Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai

    DSC dedicates show to young entrepreneurs

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dr Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group and Zee dedicated a special episode of the Dr Subhash Chandra (DSC) Show to young entrepreneurs of India. Dr Chandra addressed over 200 budding and established entrepreneurs as well as Management students from Mumbai’s Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research on Saturday, January 3.

    Dedicating the episode to the topic of entrepreneurship, Dr Chandra engaged in a lively and interactive session with the entrepreneurs. By sharing key insights and examples from his own entrepreneurial journey, Dr Chandra discussed several important facets of entrepreneurship including the traits required to become a successful entrepreneur, how to develop entrepreneurs in an organisation, risk assessment and analysis.

    Commenting on the special qualities that make an entrepreneur, Dr Subhash Chandra said, “Experience can be acquired, knowledge can be transferred but talent cannot be acquired nor transferred. Either you have it or you don’t have it.” He furthermore inspired the audience to pursue their dreams by encouraging them to “break all the rules, to follow new practices and to have self-confidence.”

    Besides entrepreneurship, Dr Chandra also touched upon various significant issues that affect an organisation like attrition, how to retain and motivate employees and corruption. While discussing these pertinent concerns, he also emphasized on “Better India” a dream seen by most Indians.

    The Dr Subhash Chandra (DSC) Show is aired every Saturday at 10 pm on Zee News and 7pm on Zee Business and on Sundays at 11 am on both Zee News & Zee Business.  This show is also aired on other channels of Zee Media.