MxMIndia

Tag: Media Mullings

  • The economics of the broadcast business would not hold up for very long anywhere if there was 'unlimited inventory' in any market and this is one of the reasons the economics of the broadcasting industry in India is so weak

    Peter Mukerjea’s Media Mullings: Less is More!

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So, is it a surprise that broadcasters are unhappy with the TRAI for enforcing the 10+2 per hour of commercial time on TV channels?

     

    Short-term pain for long-term gain in simple terms is what it will be. But no one wants short-term pain.

     

    Many of my friends in the broadcast industry are up in arms about this ruling, but when we talk about this, to be fair, they do conclude that it is actually the right thing to do for their business. After all, it will see the advertising rates go up, which will benefit their individual revenue lines and their shareholders in turn. Once the 10+2 regulation sets in and becomes standard operating principle, investors both national and international will re-look at the Indian broadcast industry as an investment opportunity. They will see that the supply-demand ratio is finite and not infinite as it is today. Infinite makes no ‘big picture’ sense.

     

    Advertisers, brand managers, small, medium and large will not like the sound of this 10+2 directive either, as it will mean that they will need to increase their TV budgets if they want to continue to get the same ‘secondage’ as they’re getting today. There just won’t be enough ‘secondage’ to go round and advertisers could get into a bidding war for the best TV properties. But the flip side to that is that they will get a secure share of voice. Surely advertisers see more value in their brands being 1/20 than being 1/30. And, if they tell you they don’t care about that, then that’s the biggest load of rubbish you will hear and you can’t let them get away with that.

     

    And all credit to the TRAI who have now really begun to act like the regulator it should be ie to look at the big picture – digitization, commercial time, quality of service and so on – but not get drawn into the itsy bitsy litigation attempts of the various stakeholders in the business.

     

    There cannot be a single broadcast market anywhere in the grown-up world, where there is ‘unlimited inventory’ of commercial time available to broadcasters. The economics of the broadcast business would not hold up for very long anywhere if there was ‘unlimited inventory’ in any market and surely this is one of the reasons the economics of the broadcasting industry in India is so weak and will not improve so long as it continues with broadcasters taking more ads into their programmes/movies at the expense of the quality of service to the viewers.

     

    And why should sports be an exception to the rule? The ad usage will need to be modified to cater to the differing nature of each sport, as tennis differs from cricket and from football or F1, but the 10+2 rule should stay the same.

     

    All promo tags, bumpers, drop-downs, split screens are all possible so long as they stay within the 10+2 guideline. It’s not that difficult. Of course broadcasters will resist. Someone once said – “Resistance after all, is the best form of seduction.”

     

    In the final analysis of broadcasters’ economic sustainability, growth and profitability, the adage “less is more” will ring true and makes sense for all broadcasters but the faint-hearted or the economically very weak as they will simply not survive, in a survival-of-the-fittest environment.

     

    They will simply have to get better at what they do and compete, or fall over and get out of the business.

     

  • The Newsnight programme screwup has provided the perfect veil for an attack on the BBC and what we are witnessing is a coordinated assault on its reputation and output

    Peter Mukerjea: Never let a crisis go to waste…

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    The UK media the last week has been dominated by the events at the BBC. Yes – the BBC. First, with allegations, made by over 450 people, who have now come forward after three or four decades, on a TV celeb – the late Jimmy Saville, a one-time Radio Jockey and TV show presenter at the BBC. They have accused him of sexually abusing them as children when they had come across him during their visits to the BBC.

     

    Several other TV celebrities have been arrested and bailed in this connection and a public enquiry has been commissioned by the Government. The enquiry is headed by a respected news man called Nick Pollard – former Head of Sky News who was also later appointed by me as a consultant / advisor to NewsX in its early days, for over a year. Nick’s report and findings are now awaited.

     

    Meanwhile, last week, the very recently (barely two months ago) appointed Director-General of the BBC resigned as a result of a poorly and inaccurately produced daily News programme, Newsnight, where there were accusations saying that a Lord McAlpine had, many years ago, sexually abused children who were under the care of the state at the time. The news programme producers had not bothered to check their facts and simply went ahead and named him, and of course he denied it. As a consequence of this level of inaccuracy and irresponsibility, the Director General resigned and a few others have been suspended pending further internal enquiries.

     

    Now, we’re talking of the BBC. One of the most respected, most watched news organizations in the world and they got it wrong and did not have enough measures in place to ensure that the story they ran with was checked for accuracy. And the man at the top took immediate responsibility and stepped down. That certainly wasn’t the case for the head of another news organisation where phone-hacking was conducted on an industrial scale.

     

    Barack Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel once said, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste.” These words have been heeded by all those people who are detractors of the BBC and find its existence to be completely against their free-market, anti-regulation ideals. They are certainly not allowing this situation at the BBC to go to waste. So they exaggerate the sins at the BBC and simultaneously minimize the crimes of their friends at another news organization currently under investigation, even though the police have now identified more than 4,000 people as possible victims of phone hacking, including the families of dead soldiers, relatives of people killed in terror attacks and a murdered schoolgirl.

     

    The media seem to be getting polarized – those for the BBC and those against.

     

    The Newsnight programme screwup has provided the perfect veil for an attack on the BBC and what we are witnessing is a coordinated assault on its reputation and output. The BBC is by far the biggest and best broadcaster in the world and to try and delegitimize or dismantle the BBC based on two screwups by the same news programme is grossly unfair given that over the years there have been a series of award-winning programmes watched by millions around the world – and consistently, year after year. Figures released by the BBC confirm that over 96 percent of the people in the UK consume BBC programmes each week.

     

    An Ofcom (the office of the communications regulator in the UK) survey in Nov 2011 stated that 59 percent of the people said the Beeb was the news source they most trusted. The next was ITV News at 7 percent! “No newspaper reached 2 percent,” the reporters added.

     

    I believe that the BBC, despite its many faults, should be protected from its right-wing enemies so as to preserve high-quality, non-partisan public service broadcasting. Earlier in the week gone by the Director-General was publicly taken to task by no other than one of his own employees in a one-on-one radio interview. Which other news media company would entertain that? Not many, I would think. The BBC have accepted their mistake, lost their DG and paid an out-of-court settlement of 185,000 Pounds (almost Rs 1.5 crore) to the falsely accused Lord. All of this goes some way to preserve its reputation and dedication to honest, fair, unbiased, incisive reporting. Maybe this crisis will enable the BBC to emerge, as a better, bolder and more robust news organization that what there is presently.

     

    I also wonder how many news organizations in India would take this approach – pay a fine, take the rap and follow up diligently with an internal enquiry if they report on a story where the reported facts are wrong and have been aired unchecked. Not many, I don’t think – at least not in a hurry. But let’s live in hope that maybe, just maybe, one day in India we will get DD to a similar state of play and be seen by the world as having a world-class broadcaster which reaches out to the free people of the largest democracy in the world.

     

    Either way, it’s a good reality check and a lesson in not letting a crisis go to waste.

     

    Peter Mukerjea, celebrated media professional and former CEO of Star India, mulls frequently for MxMIndia.com

     

  • This was war at its best. Both sides aimed at each other and fired without fear of retribution or of spilling blood. It was truly a great spectacle to watch, says Peter Mukerjea of the US Presidential debate

    The media event of the week for me. What was yours?

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    When you have probably the most powerful man in the world, along with someone who is looking to topple him from that perch and take his place – you can safely say that you almost have probably the two most seriously powerful men in the world, together in an arena. They are then slugging it out for almost two hours nonstop and are no doubt being watched by a global audience of billions, in goodness knows how many languages; it turns into a most enthralling media opportunity.

     

    For both these two alpha males it was an opportunity to present themselves to their supporters, their opponents supporters and those voters who are fence-sitting and undecided. But also, to the people of the world at large, to other political leaders, students of politics and so on and so forth.

     

    The issues they talked about, their presentation styles, techniques, body language, facial expressions, timekeeping, dress sense, quality of their content were all being minutely analyzed by this vast audience in offices, bedrooms and living rooms around the world – depending on the time zone in which they were watching. It was just great TV viewing. I’m sure this is exactly what was in his mind when one media mogul once said: “Give me a war and I’ll give you the pictures.”

     

    I guess it’s a little easier, not much though, if you’re the challenger and not yet in office but are looking to knock down the incumbent and can therefore be a little more relaxed than if you’re in the hot seat as the President and having to defend your actions of the past four or so years and where the result of some of those actions are still not yet visible.

     

    This was war at its best. Both sides aimed at each other and fired without fear of retribution or of spilling blood. It was truly a great spectacle to watch. I have to say that even though I’m an Obama supporter and a follower of the Democrats’ philosophy, I thought Romney came off marginally better in the debate overall. He was a better speaker and I was a little disappointed by Obama’s slightly lacklustre performance overall. They were both wonderful to watch but neither was as slick or well groomed or more articulate than Bill Clinton – who takes the cake, surely, for public speaking. Clinton is a charmer all round.

     

    They were both terrific though and each had their own moments of glory and moments when they were a little pensive.

     

    But, they attacked, they argued, they growled but with a smile and they defended. They took potshots at each other and did not relent one bit. They were both as slick as it gets on TV, without it being a drama or a soap opera or a late night chat show or a reality show. Well, it was a kind of reality show, with a prize at the end of it and what a prize that is – to be the next President of the United States.

     

    The host of the debate deserves a mention too. She was equally good and remarkable how she managed to keep these two – equivalent of male tigers ie candidates, to their specified times and subjects throughout the duration. It was a boxing match in many ways but without the physical bashing or ringing of a bell signifying the end of every round and a getting final winner at the end of the match.

     

    I was wondering if we will ever be able to see such a debate in India on TV between our esteemed political party leaders and when that might be. And equally important – who would be a capable host for such a debate?

     

    Never mind that. I guess we will when we’re nice and ready to do so.

     

    In the meantime let us sit back and enjoy good TV viewing from the other side of the world and I for one look forward to the next such debate in a couple of days’ time.

     

  • In other words, they applied a terrific amount of strategic thinking into each and every sport and took a very business performance management approach to everything

    Peter Mukerjea: 2012 Olympic Games – The philosophy of marginal gains!

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So now that the 2012 Olympic Games are over, I felt a sense of withdrawal for a day or so. I had got so used to watching hours of fabulous TV coverage across 24 channels – some in HD, of virtually all the events from different venues across the City ofLondonand further afield – sailing and rowing. I wasn’t one bit disappointed though, at not having been to the Games to see anything LIVE, only because the TV broadcast was of such a high standard, that making the effort to steer through the traffic to get there, shuffle with seating, break for snacks or lunch or tea or a pee break, that watching several events at the same time on TV was simply unbeatable, as an option.

     

    But, I did start wondering what it is that the recent 2012 Olympics did for me, in context to India Inc. and what I learnt from the Games themselves. The Games were terrific, as an event of course, the opening ceremony, the athletes, the management, et al, but how did Team GB do so well and so much better than the Beijing Games, just 4 years ago. What was their secret and how did they go about it? I asked a few people who are in the know of these things and the answers I got were astounding, although not surprising. There was also some timely in-depth research done by the IES (Institute for Employment Studies ) which will give us some insight on this.

     

    What stuck out for me was the “The concept of marginal gains”. This simple philosophy has made a big difference to the end result – the medal tally and put Team GB in 3rd place. This was a real surprise for me but not so when I probed a little to find out more.  Each sport had a performance director who had set a very clear goal for the team and at every stage of activity, the same question was asked – over and over again  – “is this going to make us better?”

     

    Be it rowing, sailing, running, jumping, shooting, boxing, whatever. They set a goal and then went about deconstructing the goals to see what needed to be done and how could something new make a slight marginal difference to the performance – a marginal gain each time. Not to make gains in leaps and bounds, but to do this on a step by step basis. And then to collectively achieve a better result each time.

     

    They would do multi-planner activity and had a meritocratic approach to everything – training, teamwork, funding, performance management, but they were also open to criticism. They were self critical at all times, got rid of flabbier organisations as compared to the earlier Games and better understood the concept of loss aversion. In other words, they applied a terrific amount of strategic thinking into each and every sport and took a very business performance management approach to everything. The support and funding that each sport got from Government was also based largely, if not entirely, on results achieved.

     

    None of this is earth shattering in itself perhaps, but the revelation gets more interesting when we see the ‘how’ and ‘why’.

     

    Based on interviews and focus groups with 154 team members, the research goes on to flag coaching and mentoring as key ingredients for a happy and successful team. It shows the team managers are not afraid of change and help create an atmosphere for innovation rather than wallowing in a blame culture. It also outlines 6 areas to avoid for anyone aspiring to engage their team.

     

    1. Never hope it will go away.

    2. Never have a bad day.

    3. Don’t be part of the problem.

    4. Don’t encourage discord and don’t play games to keep people on their toes or enhance competitiveness.

    5. Don’t manage performance before people

    6. Don’t hide, even if you are naturally shy and retiring.

     

    Great team spirit doesn’t happen by chance. The best leaders ensure their behaviour sets the standards for their staff.  The man behindBritain’s cycling success, Dave Brailsford, insists that it’s the little things that make a difference. Hence the likes of Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton taking their own pillows to meets, so they sleep better and making sure they clean gaps between their fingers to reduce probability of illness.

     

    Marginally obsessive perhaps, but dedication to success is infectious, particularly when it so clearly gets results. It’s certainly something for all managers to chew on in this post Olympic period.

     

    (But apart from this , what was also most endearing to me , was the lack of commercial breaks during any of the TV broadcasts. By the way, how’s the IBF getting on with limiting the volume of minutes per hour, for commercial breaks? )

     

  • Let's not forget that it's the profits of today's so called BadCo that were used to acquire, build and grow the television businesses in the first place, which are now seen as today's GoodCo

    Peter Mukerjea: GoodCo, BadCo & NewCo

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So it has finally happened. The break up of a mega corp. And it’s happening before our very eyes, and like global warming, it’s a sign of the times. In years to come, students at media schools in India and elsewhere in the world will be reading how the media landscape evolved and how new media slowly, but surely, took it’s place in society. The demise of print and eventually, television, along with the numerous obituaries on the subject will all be in the history books eventually. How media moguls like Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch were literally pushed off their lofty perches and new names and faces like Mark and Sergei took their places will all be a chapter or two in reference books. The erosion of the powerful dominance of print media brands will be replaced by brand names like Google, Facebook, Instagram. This period in social history will be seen by students of media studies as part of a process of evolution and not much more.

     

    But for those of us who are seeing this unfold, it’s indeed an interesting and captivating phase.

     

    Speaking to friends and ex-colleagues in New York, LA and in London recently, it seems many of them are seeing this as the transitioning of one company which comprises of both GoodCo and BadCo to several NewCos. Many of them are also now wondering how many more NewCos will emerge from this, and how soon, but more importantly for them, who will run them. The share price of the company stock has always been a subject of conversation amongst those fortunate enough to get share options, and the fact that it has been static or of negative value for long periods of time has been a source of annoyance. But the fact that this announcement has caused a flutter of activity and raised the share price is seen by many to be a good thing for them personally, so they can now actually make some use of the stock options and realise some value. Most also believe that this value will increase more dramatically when the family gives up control but that could be like waiting for Godot.

     

    Let’s not forget that it’s the profits of today’s so called BadCo that  were used to acquire, build and grow the television businesses in the first place, which are now seen as today’s GoodCo. Like God made little green apples, surely there will come a day, very soon, given that the seed of thought has been planted, when these very television businesses at GoodCo will also be spun off into individual entities, driven by the same principles that are the cause for the split today – providing better shareholder value and value creation. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

     

    The company which is the largest revenue driver within GoodCo could well find a viable financial spreadsheet reason and which showcases a scenario where better shareholder value could be created if certain parts of their GoodCo were then hacked off and cut away into separate entities as they were losing money or were no longer beneficial to their shareholders.

     

    I do think that the possibility that billions of dollars of further investments into the UK and Europe being stopped and being diverted to the US is more of a veiled threat than reality, but the possibility that the Euro Zone and their currency itself may not survive for too long, will have financial planners everywhere crunching their numbers and hedging their bets in all sorts of different currencies, anyway. So for Rupert Murdoch to say this so plainly in a recent CNBC interview is not altogether surprising but is reminiscent of childhood cricket games, where if one could not get to bat then, they would pick stumps, bat and ball and go home so no one else could play either. Maybe some of those billions will head to India or Afghanistan or Pakistan, where there’s plenty of low hanging media fruit and bargains to be had for those with pockets of cash.

     

    In India though, the trend compared to the UK seems to be the reverse and where each of the various media segments – print, television, cable, radio, outdoor and new media are all growing – albeit in an unregulated and pressure cooker kind of environment. This has to be great news for those working in the industry, and the business case for setting up several GoodCo, BadCo and NewCos would be different but the ethos and principles would of course be the same.

     

    Maybe it’s time for the head of an Indian conglomerate to sail across to meet the boss of the media company that is now busy setting up GoodCo, BadCo, NewCo and  ‘make him an offer that he can’t refuse’ as they say in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Not that this is in any way connected to the words used by British MPs in the select committee set up to investigate the hacking scandal in the UK – when asking James Murdoch if he ever felt that he was running a mafia company or words to that effect? James Murdoch was, of course, most offended by that question and as expected, he refuted it completely.

     

    Nevertheless, maybe it’s time for an Indian company to do what Rupert did some decades ago when he moved out of Australia and bought papers in the UK, thus  creating a global media company. For an Indian company now to own a few internationally acclaimed newspaper titles around the world, then cut losses by injecting Indian cost control systems and management into them would create real shareholder value – rather like the brilliant way in which Tatas have done with the Tata Motors acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover which was a real BadCo and is now a true GoodCo.

     

    Maybe this is where the NewCo will come in.

     

  • It's not the job of the TRAI to keep broadcasters happy at all times. Occasionally it should be looked at from the consumer point of view, which is clearly the case here

    Peter Mukerjea: Thank you, TRAI (Now, please enforce it!)

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    News today that TRAI have finally put a cap on advertising time per hour for TV channels is a most welcome move in my opinion. I’m sure all broadcasters, other than the savvy ones, will see this as a backward and a retrograde step because it means that they will start to feel the pressure initially, but I can assure them that this is not so, and the effect will be exactly the opposite on their adverting sales revenue line of their P&L sheets.

     

    First, it’s a simple case of supply and demand economics. Shrink supply and prices should go up. We see that with every product category, be it food, petrol, deisel, cooking gas, etc etc and TV airtime is no different. This will clearly help broadcasters shore up their revenue lines once they’ve managed to get media buyers and clients to understand this logic. That’s not going to be easy, but whoever said that selling TV airtime was a piece of cake.

     

    Ad sales executives in the numerous stations will now, finally, have to earn their keep, rather than simply earning good money and even better bonuses, simply by pushing in more ads into the breaks of movies, sports coverage and news channels. Programmers will need to work harder to get better deals from content suppliers and movie producers alike, instead of paying grossly inflated prices for movie titles and then having to recover the cost by stuffing the movies with ads, such that the viewer experience is diluted to the point of nonchalance. Of course, broadcasters will be up in arms with this directive from the TRAI and will kick and scream and throw their toys out of the crib like all babies do when they don’t get what they want. It’s not the job of the TRAI to keep broadcasters happy at all times. Occasionally it should be looked at from the consumer point of view, which is clearly the case here. So, thank you TRAI.

     

    Second, consumer groups that have had to put up with the barrage of advertising breaks in their TV viewing experience, for years on end, should be feeling relieved that finally the regulator has paid some heed to their woes of getting blasted with increased decibel levels in ad breaks, getting masses of drop downs  during live sports coverage and getting news channel tickers carrying branding of all kinds within it, masquerading as news headlines. Enough is enough and this was all done under the banner of self regulation!  In fact, the shoe should be on the other foot now and TRAI should consider setting up a consumer group forum who should be tasked with monitoring the violations to the new standards, as laid out by the TRAI and report these to the TRAI for further action and enforcement. So, thank you TRAI for improving the viewing experience of millions of long suffering TV viewers across the country.

     

    Sure, there will be several broadcasters who will now be unable to keep carrying more and more ads to secure their bottom line, who will suffer and will be pained by this statute and may well go to the wall and eventually go out of business, but sadly that is the reality of life. Those channels owned by big groups will not suffer at all as they will be able to withstand the initial blips and will come through this just fine. They will then also be at the forefront of the list of beneficiaries in a few months from now, but the smaller ones who do not have the deep pockets to sustain this correction must recognise that this party was not going to last forever.

     

    They should have read the rule book before they started. If they didn’t then it’s entirely their fault , for the ad time cap has been around for a long time and would have known full well that this free for all amount of air time inventory status quo was going to come to an end one day. That day has come. Far too many broadcasters have started up recently on the basis of a never ending supply of airtime being the way to earning revenues. They then produce below average content which then gets below average ratings and that advertisers pay virtually nothing for. This brings the whole industry down by several notches and attracts below average talent who do the same thing day after day thus creating a downward spiral. Thank you TRAI for improving standards in the industry.

     

    There is, in case you hadn’t spotted it yet, however a bright future for the industry. The fact is that with an improving revenue line for broadcasters, there will be a growth in corporate valuations over time which will enable them to deliver better shareholder value and see more investments coming towards the category. For sometime now broadcast media companies have been struggling to get their valuations up and have seen so much of their values eroded. This directive from the TRAI will go a long way in correcting that and so for that I thank TRAI once again. So instead of being a bunch of sour pussies, broadcasters should stop whining and get on with the task of putting their businesses back on track and tasking the ad sales teams to get cracking and reforecast their revenues budgets upwards for the rest of this year (or else they should get no bonuses this year , on the basis that they have less air time time to sell).

     

    Excellent times ahead – thanks to TRAI.

     

  • Peter Mukerjea: A Real Live Whodunnit?

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So the tentpole industry event of last week – Goafest , is over for another year. Advertising , marketing and media industry executives will be back at their desks catching up with the backlog of work and the start of a new week. Some will still be nursing hangovers and some will be recovering from other forms of stimulation, no doubt. Judging by the numerous photos in the various picture galleries, I’m sure many new relationships will have been forged – digitally or otherwise.

     

    Meanwhile the biggest global media business event, so far in 2012 and by all probability, in all of 2012, is about to begin this week in a court room in London. Apart from the employees of News Corporation around the world, all newspapers and media organisations here in the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and other parts of the world will be looking forward to the chart and TRP-topping opportunity of seeing several media owners take the stand this week at the Royal Courts of Justice. Not just any owners but the Barclay brothers , who own The Daily Telegraph newspaper , the junior Lebedev who owns the Evening Standard newspaper, but above all James Murdoch and his father Keith Rupert Murdoch who will be taking the stands – separately on different days this week. All of these will make for very enjoyable viewing for a lot of us, particularly those who have worked at close quarters with these people. A family affair once again.

     

    Hours of television and on line viewing (itn.co.uk on Tue, April 24 / Wed, April 25 / Thu, April 26 ) will take place this week without doubt and journalists all around the world – both pro-Murdoch and anti-Murdoch will be glued to a screen of some sort and will analyse and dissect each and every word for the benefit of their readers/ viewers.

     

    No matter what the result of the findings, public perception of all of this is going to be very interesting and insightful. I’ve asked friends who have never had anything to do with either of the Murdoch’s other than as readers of the newspapers or viewers of TV stations owned by them and their take on it is very simple. It seems they both come across as walking on extremely thin ice and that they should take responsibility for the actions of their executive and their staff, appears to be the most favoured impression so far.

     

    The issues at hand are email hacking and phone hacking which seem to have been committed by journalists, numerous times over, sometimes ‘ in the public interest ‘ and sometimes in the interest of gaining an advantage over competitors. There’s the relationship between politicians and the media and and also the relationship between the police and the media. All of these issues are not uncommon in our own ‘ desi’ world today. Many of us reading this will have had to juxtapose our personal beliefs and interests versus those of the organisation that we work/ed for at some time in our lives. This, should then concern those in media and it’s surely a question that we should be asking ourselves, as to whether we believe this conduct is acceptable or not.

     

    Editorial priority is a critical ingredient as is the question of proportionality and both of these should be written into the charter document of all news channel and newspapers if it isn’t so already. Who takes on the enforcement of this responsibility ? Should we believe and trust the CEOs, Editors and owners of these organisations who advocate self-regulation as the best way forward, given that they are all reasonable, just and responsible citizens. Perhaps ‘fit and proper’ too. Or, should this be the task of a Media Commission?

     

    Do we genuinely believe that media owners should be treated differently to their executives, who run the organisation/s and who are hired hands at the end of the day? Where does the buck exactly stop? Where do investors fit in ? They want profits but very often are not keen on getting their hands dirty with integrity issues. Perhaps Rajat Gupta, who is due to go on trial for alleged insider trading and passing on tips to a friend, will have a point of view here as he’s been an investor in media companies himself and is also going on trial in a month or so.

     

    Is there a conflict of interest if the owner is also the senior-most executive in the organisation or should that be ignored and seen as a mere coincidence? Or should they all be looked at in a similar way and therefore expect to have the same respect for the concept of law and order and governance?

     

    Either way, the next few days will make very interesting viewing and I would advocate that that all news channels, media companies, law firms that have or would like to have media clients, law schools, the regulator etc make this essential viewing for all their staff who are engaged in similar matters so that they can all have a more evolved sense of how to deal with these often complex issues of media ownership, media management, media ethics and governance.

     

    We may not be willing to impose this on ourselves but i would argue that if we are to be seen as a responsible industry, then we must make a note of the developments on this side of the pond. Then make the most of this opportunity and watch the grilling that’s going to take place, of some of the most powerful media people on the planet. There is no doubt however that the barristers who will be doing the grilling over the next few days will do so – ‘very carefully’ and will bear in mind Rupert Murdoch’s comment in July 1995, when the newly elected British PM Tony Blair came to Hayman Island to visit him and Rupert said ” I suspect we will be like two porcupines making love – very carefully”.

     

    Peter Mukerjea, celebrated media professional and former CEO of Star India, mulls frequently for MxMIndia.com

     

  • Sitting on the fence and watching these media moguls do a self-destructing act is motivating for those who don't take life too seriously and recognize that being born with a silver spoon is as much a curse as a blessing.

    Peter Mukerjea: Murdochgate update

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    As I write this, it’s Sunday 1st April. It’s April Fool’s day and I thought it was an appropriate day to remind myself that one should not take life in media too seriously at all even though each one of us secretly believes that we matter. If that is so, you live in a fool’s paradise as that’s simply not true. It’s almost a case of ‘Mirror Mirror on the wall – who’s the…. of them all? ‘And that doesn’t just apply to Snow White.

     

    Do you believe that James looks himself in the mirror when he wakes up and asks himself that question?

     

    I doubt that somehow. For if he did he would know that he is now toast. Certainly toast when it comes to running his dad’s empire, towards which he was sailing comfortably just over a year ago.

     

    It’s been a while now, almost a year actually, since I suggested that James should step down. I guess he hasn’t yet done so from all his positions but almost 50 percent of them. But it’s not over yet. And it took him longer than I thought it would, but he did. At least from numerous boards in the UK that enjoyed his presence and executive prowess. The decision with regard to the ‘fit and proper’ test is yet to be taken by the regulator in the UK and in due course we’ll find out what their verdict is. The news which broke last week about the hacking of pay-TV codes will not bode well in their decision-making process even though James probably had nothing to do with it even though he was on the board of the company that claims that the allegations are ‘baseless accusations’. Oddly enough, the very same words used by the company last year when the phone hacking story broke. Since then much water has flowed under the bridge (of sighs) and as we now know, those accusations were never really baseless.

     

    From what I hear, shareholders in the company are gathering ammunition and momentum to get James off the other boards too but Rupert seems to be paying them huge dividends to keep them from pushing him to pull the plug on James. How long will that continue? Another six months or a year perhaps? But James cannot be in the consideration set for the top job at the corporation. And I think that’s the right decision anyway. He’s simply not there yet. And Chase – he is by far a more charismatic, knowledgeable and seasoned executive and what he knows on the tip of his little finger is more than the man in the sharp suit with a strange accent and super polite manners that make you feel a touch weird. So why is he still there? Perhaps, because, where else will he go?

     

    In India, where the presence of the Murdochs used to be regarded with the aplomb normally granted to that of a state visit, they now keep their head down and have their executives come to them rather than the ‘let’s visit the troops’ approach because reputations have eroded and some of the earlier public interest litigations may rear their heads once again.

     

    The fact that there’s trouble in the UK across several fronts is now a well logged fact and getting James to the US may do some damage control but can’t stop the avalanche completely. There’s potential trouble in the US, with the possibility of there being an investigation into the companies’ overseas corrupt practices. There’s a possibility of an investigation in Australia. In China there was trouble a few years ago and the company contracted quite heavily when the companies’ offices were raided and executives were shipped out. So far they’ve been safe in India. So, an earlier suggestion of mine in this column that James should consider setting up base in India now must make more sense to him although his presence in India would be regarded as a predatory move, of course, which will raise the shackles of all competitors. But that’s not a bad thing for the corporation and indeed for the man himself to use this an opportunity to reinvent himself.

     

    What finally happens will be known to all of us as time goes by but the there is a lighter side to all this. There’s the case of the horse that Cameron borrowed from Rebekkah (seeing as they have a home next to each other in the British countryside) and her hubby’s (who is Cameron’s school chum) laptop, that was found (and is still in the custody by the British police), in a bin in their garage that was ‘accidentally’ put there ! And then there’s the story of the German lingerie company that ran a series of ads in a campaign (last July) where they used James and his dad to full effect. They’re called Blush and if you were to Google – how to make Rupert Blush – you can see the ads for yourself.

     

    Wonder how far we are from a similar ad campaign like this in India. Piyush, Prasoon, Balki et al, are you listening?

     

    Sitting on the fence and watching these media moguls do a self-destructing act is motivating for those who don’t take life too seriously and recognize that being born with a silver spoon is as much a curse as a blessing. This entire episode to me is reminiscent of the late Robert Maxwell who was the owner of the Mirror Group of newspapers in the UK and who had a rather sad end. There were plenty of stories about Robert Maxwell but the one where he met two of his bankers on the rooftop of his building on Fleet Street and plied them with oodles of champagne is particularly noteworthy. After several glasses of champagne one of the bankers asked if he could go down to the loo for a pee but Robert Maxwell said that the best way was to pee from the edge of the building down on the street. Both Robert Maxwell and the banker then stood at the edge of the building and peed. When the banker asked “Will no one notice down there?” he was told by Maxwell “No – no one notices anything.”

     

    I’m sure there are a few more revelations yet to come and we’ve not seen or heard the end of this saga, but maybe by next year’s Fool’s day we’ll have had enough and will be truly sick of the goings-on, unless the new ones are so juicy and closer to home that they make us all sit up and ask for more. By the way – there’s a movie doing the rounds presently called The Hunger Games and it’s all about reality television and the extent to which broadcast companies will go to get ratings, and how it can be manipulated. If you haven’t seen it – you should. Particularly if you’re in the business of buying ratings or selling them. Never mind the content, it’s all about the ratings. More on that next week.

     

  • In Media Mullings, Peter Mukerjea envisages a scenario that will enable the media industry in India to reshape and reinvent and become truly 'world class'.

    Peter Mukerjea: Dream On… after all we’re in March 2012!

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So, if I were the next Minister of Information & Broadcasting for the Government (which is about as likely to happen as a month of Sundays) here are the 7 things I would want to do in my first 7 days of taking on the job. Sorry Ambikaji, this, of course, is not to say that you’re not doing a fine job, which you are – but like my school report card said term after term, ‘Could do better’.

     

    1. I’d start with issuing a mandate to privatize Doordarshan asap and thus enable the public to buy shares in the new entity and operate it like a proper commercial organisation and remove all Government control over it. I’d call a Nandan Nilekani, Deepak Parekh kind of person and get him to take on the project of getting this done in no more than a year. He could in turn invite the world’s best financial gurus and merchant bankers to have them pitch for the job. Then to appoint a proper CEO and a management team to develop a growth plan for the business which would include online, social media, cable distribution and task them with getting on with that in the following 12 months. They would report to a Board and be accountable to them and the shareholders.

     

    Benefit: The taxpayer would not need to fund DD any longer and its independence would be ensured. Profitability would emerge which would enable DD to become the largest media company in India and compete with the likes of STAR , ZEE or any of the international companies like the BBC or CBS or SKY or FOX. It would then attract the world’s best talent and be seen as a jewel in the crown for India. The company would bring about an amalgamation of all media activities under one roof and take its place in the list of leading companies of the world. If the Oberois can do that with their hotels, there’s no reason why that cannot happen with DD.

     

    2. I’d create an OFCOM (the regulator in the UK) like organization who would be responsible to the Minister for all the regulatory issues and they would have the power to prosecute and de list broadcasters if they didn’t follow the letter (and spirit) of the law. This would be run by socially responsible individuals with distinction and standing in the community.

     

    Benefit: This would in turn, enable the various media organizations in the country to be mindful of their social and legal responsibilities and not abuse the same. OFCOM would also be required to ensure that the people that run these various media companies are categorized as ‘fit and proper persons’ to do so. Managing media will then not be the direct responsibility of the Minister who could then take an unbiased view on issues if they were ever escalated to the Minister.

     

    3. I’d call TAM and get them to install an overnight rating measurement system and give them one year to do that. No more. Meanwhile, to expand the current system to include rural markets across India and to do this in 6 months. If they were not able to commit to getting this done I would invite other Research and Technology companies from India and the world over to replace TAM.

     

    Benefit: We would move industry to the 21st century and be similar to other developed markets where overnight ratings are the norm. This will help broadcasters , content producers and advertisers alike and will also be a reflection of the consumer. The expansion of the measurement universe would benefit the country as whole and content providers and advertisers would then pay more attention to the needs of the rural consumer and this will help the current imbalance between the urban and rural.

     

    4. All news channels in the country, both Indian and foreign would be required to present their credentials via a barometer of measurement which is based on quality, integrity and depth of journalism rather than GRP’s (ratings) alone. This would apply to all forms of news – be it entertainment, sports, business, current affairs, social etc.

     

    Benefit: The consumer would benefit by being presented with news reporting which is responsible and credible but not driven solely by sensational and scandal. Maybe there will be a news channel from India that will emerge to compete with the BBC or CNN in international markets. Here again, if Infosys can be world class, there’s no reason why a news channel from India cannot be world class.

     

    5. I would remove all financial barriers immediately to foreign participation in all media and would therefore allow 100 percent FDI in media and media related technology businesses. However, those owning and running these media and technology companies must be Indian nationals as is the law in the US.

     

    Benefit: This will attract the world’s largest companies to participate in the growth of Indian media and speed up digitization and internet connectivity in the process. This would provide a base for on line connectivity for all, across the length and breadth of the country from the smallest of villages to the largest of cities which would in turn accelerate communication and exchange of information for all Indians everywhere.

     

    6. I would remove all price control mechanisms instantly for the pricing of cable TV & internet connectivity provided by cable operators, MSO’s, DTH and other service providers as this would urge them to provide their services at prices that are market driven and competitive. None of these services are ‘essential commodities’ and therefore should not come under the purview of price control. However, each such service provider would be required to provide channels from each available genre, in proportion to the viewership they attract e.g. GEC channels – say 25 percent, News say 5 percent, Sport – say 10 percent, Natural History – say 5 percent, Music – say 5 percent, languages – 50 percent and so on.

     

    Benefit: The consumer would benefit the most as services would be provided at commercially viable rates and the quality of service would undoubtedly be enhanced as the various service providers would compete to retain and grow their consumer base for their custom, by improving service levels and quality. The Government should have no role in pricing media and entertainment services.

     

    7. All private FM radio stations would be free to broadcast news and current affairs, weather, traffic info, business news, for as long as they feel is commercially viable. Private FM radio stations would also be free to broadcast any genres that they choose to and the license fee for each genre would be adjusted (by OFCOM) according to the value of the genre – ie talk radio, sport phone in, 24-hour news & current affairs, Bollywood music, Indian classical music, education, health, western pop music, western classical etc etc.

     

    Benefit: Consumers across the country would then receive news on their FM radio stations and be informed rather than exist in the dark as they are currently. If we believe that the right to information is a democratic right for all , then we must live upto that ideal and enable private FM radio stations to provide a news service to their listeners 24 x 7.

     

    I doubt that any of these will see the light of day in the near future but I do hope that decision-makers in India will move quickly to turn all of these into reality as they will help the media industry in India to reshape and reinvent and become truly ‘world class’. Or else we can dream on!

     

  • In Media Mullings, Peter Mukerjea on why James Murdoch must move to India

    Peter Mukerjea: Rupert & Son

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So, it’s finally happened that James, or JRM as he is known within the company, has stepped down. I’d said that he should (see Firstpost.com article) and for whatever it’s worth, I’m glad that he has.

     

    Enough has been written and no doubt more will be written about the rights and wrongs of the people involved in the entire phone hacking case and we will never know who will finally go to jail for the crimes that are alleged to have been committed.

     

    But that would be looking back and surely it’s much more fun looking forward and trying to gauge what’s about to happen next. If Rupert is true to his word, JRM will now be spending more time on international operations and on the TV business at large . Now that leads me to suggest that he should for Newscorp’s sake spend at least 75% of his time in India looking at new business opportunities that exist in the country. STAR experienced it’s highest ever growth in it’s business under JRM’s watch when he was the CEO in Asia. That’s not a coincidence, I can assure you. Conversely, STAR experienced it’s lowest growth when JRM left the Asia region and handed it over to pixies in Hong Kong who had no clue about India. For example, the lady who was given the baton by JRM had never visited India ever in her life. Strange decision, it has to be said.

     

    JRM, on the other hand, was a respected executive and was seen as a path-breaking scion of his father. And the fact that not everyone loved him was simply par for the course and to be expected. He was effective in reshaping STAR’s fortunes and turning a loss making company into a profitable one.

     

    Incidentally I continue to believe that none of the new channels that popped up in 2007/8 would have happened if Rupert had not taken his eye off Asia but he moved JRM to London to run SKY and with that opened up the gates for newcomers. Some channels failed to make the grade – 9X & Imagine for example, and others did well – Colors & 9XM for instance, but none of these should ever have been allowed to get started given the complete dominance that STAR had on the market. And all the people that went to run these channels, including myself , were almost all from STAR.

     

    Since then STAR has held up well, although after a wobbly start. Credit for which should be given wholly to JRM for giving autonomy to the current leadership in managing their business and most importantly cutting them loose from the Hong Kong intermediary, which was rightly cut to size.

     

    JRM’s big opportunity is now to push ahead with developing a range of new TV and other media products for the India market and enable it to grow speedily to create a very clear leadership position with plenty of blue sky space between the No1 and the rest. And only he can make that happen by physically being there and making the big decisions which would otherwise be lost in power point presentations between numerous layers of management.

     

    This would in turn spur ZEE and Sony and MTV and the rest to do the same and compete with each other and with the pace that STAR would have set for them. This will then collectively turbo-charge and accelerate the industry as a whole and taking full advantage of the economic growth that the country is experiencing. The next 10 years for the media business in India will be huge and despite the slowdown in the global economy the pace of growth will be better than almost anywhere else in the world.

     

    JRM once said “let’s make the best use of a crisis” or words to that effect and I think this is a crisis that has presented itself for just that opportunity. He has moved to New York from London but may be he should have a home in Mumbai too and really shake up the market. There’s tons to do with a very exciting future for a 40-year-old – like JRM, which regular or even above average executives will simply not be able to take full advantage of. They can at best take limited risk, if at all – but JRM can and he should.

     

    Will he or won’t he? Or will he slip in and out of the country quietly, once very few months and leave the big opportunity to the pixies once again? If he ends up doing that he will have missed a great opportunity to grow the business and also to get himself back up and be recognised as being one of the best TV executives in the world. After all, he is the son of Rupert.

     

    Although it started as a fortnightly column, Peter Mukerjea’s Media Mullings will now appear regularly on MxMIndia, but with no definite frequency.

     

  • In Column #1: The absence of Indian papers at a Heathrow lounge & what irks him about NDTV in UK

    Peter Mukerjea. Why no Indian papers in the lounge?

     

    ‘Read your comment to Anil Thakraney’s blog’, a friend smsed me a few weeks ago. I said I hadn’t, only to discover that the ‘PM’ on the messageboard was none other than Peter Mukerjea. One of the brightest stars in the media, Peter may have had a setback with 9X and INX Media, but there is no denying that the former Star India CEO has been one of the finest minds and much admired captains of Indian broadcasting. He may be in distant England, but he’s still clued in to what’s happening back home.

    I wrote to ‘PM’, thanking him for dropping by and invited him to write for us. He agreed… so here we are.

    MxMIndia is proud to present Media Mullings, a new fortnightly column by Peter Mukerjea.

    As you’ll figure as you read along, he’s also a brilliant writer.

    – Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Media Mullings: No desi papers in this lounge!

     

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    I’m sitting in the Emirates lounge at Heathrow airport about to board a flight to Dubai en route to Mumbai. The flight’s delayed a wee bit as a passenger has suddenly changed his/ her mind about making the journey and so the bags need to be offloaded!

     

    This delay isn’t unusual in itself but but I’m now weighing up my options of how I would spend the next 30-40 minutes having already arrived early and had a glass of wine with a snack, checked my emails etc.

     

    Thankfully there are no TVs in the lounge and I suddenly realise that this is such a pleasant change from the airport lounges in India. So, TV is not an option. I could be on my mobile talking to friends and family but I’ve done that too. As it’s nearing the end of the day, I’ve read my favourite newspaper but then i catch the sight of the newspaper rack and wander across to see what other papers there are and which one I might fancy.

     

    The array of newspapers is fascinating as one would expect in a high quality airport lounge – starting with The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune amongst others from France – Le Monde, der Speigel from Germany, Italy and even Hong Kong. Of course, being the Emirates Lounge you would expect to see papers from the Middle East in Arabic and also in English such as Gulf News and Khaleej Times.

     

    As I’m en route to India, I’m quite eager to read an Indian paper, even if it’s may be a day old, but given that the news changes so little on a day-to-day basis , I knew I wouldn’t miss much if I got hold of yesterday’s paper either. But, no such luck. There wasn’t a single Indian paper in sight – not today’s and not even yesterday’s!

     

    I thought there must be a run on the Indian papers and that they must have all gone. So, I asked the lovely lady at the desk but she claimed ignorance and said that she didn’t think that they carried any Indian newspapers. She politely pointed me to the business centre and suggested that I check on the net.

     

    Now that surprises me. We’re the world’s largest democracy and we have some fairly decent, vaguely readable newspapers being published but they weren’t part of the offering in an English lounge of the Emirates airline. How astounding I thought.

     

    But I figured that the newspaper executives in India or their distribution agents couldn’t care less about ensuring the presence of Indian newspapers in such a place. After all, it couldn’t be too much of an effort to get these to all the lounges in at least the primary destinations around the world. After all, Spanish, Mandarin , English and Hindi are being touted as being ‘the’ four most widely spoken languages in the world today and yet we don’t have at least a presence of our national language papers in this lounge.

     

    Or that they are so far ahead of the game that they believe that it isn’t worth putting newspapers in lounges and those who are interested will find what they need to know on the internet. How true and how clever and so ahead of the curve.

     

    But the airline ought to reflect their clients’ needs and consider keeping Indian papers for so many of us who travel on their airline.

     

    And on the subject of Indian TV channels, particularly the news channels, I was pleasantly surprised recently to find that NDTV 24×7 had suddenly appeared on my TV screen at home in England, even though I don’t recall subscribing to it. I’m not complaining. And it’s not like Virgin or Sky give anything for free. When I found out that this news channel was available within my existing service, I was delighted and rushed to watch with much enthusiasm rather like a dog rushing to fetch a ball that he’s just been thrown.

     

    The excitement, equally rapidly, changed to annoyance when I actually started watching the channel. And I used to love watching NDTV once upon a time. And then after watching for a while I figured what was wrong with it. There were far too many commercial breaks. But what was even more annoying was that there were no commercials.

     

    In India we sometimes forgive the news channels for the poor quality of the news, thanks to the fact that the commercials occasionally make you chuckle or they provide some light entertainment and relief from the often horrid news that sits in between the commercial breaks. But then the penny dropped – it must be OFCOM – the name of the body that governs broadcasters and has been set up to make sure that they are staying within rules of decency and broadcast regulation in the UK.

     

    Thankfully they also govern – on commercial time usage, and heavily penalise any broadcaster who overruns the permissible secondage as stipulated by OFCOM. In India no one bothers and it’s a free-for-all, despite there being regulation to that effect.

     

    Consequently the broadcasters in India stuff the commercial breaks with as many seconds of commercial time as they can sell, put logo after logo on the tickers and call it branding or ‘added value’.

     

    And given that the same news channel feed is delivered to the UK, they are governed by OFCOM which means that these commercial breaks with super excessive secondage will not be allowed to go on air.

     

    NDTV, it seems, is having to fill the gaps in their commercial time on the UK service with stacks of inhouse and channel promos. The promos are never as sexy or funny as the TV commercials and filling the channel with boring promos makes the channel’s news service look seriously out of sync with any other home-grown news channel available in the UK. They really ought to do something about this and tighten up the volume of commercial time being stuffed into the breaks in India. Sadly though, this applies to almost all the channels in the country who find it hard to raise the prices of their commercial time and in order to increase revenue, they simply expand the duration of the commercial breaks knowing that no one’s watching. But then, when the channel is transported overseas , it becomes a messy channel indeed and no wonder it does not get too much local advertising in the UK , for the UK , from the UK. Surely there’s a smarter way to do this.

     

    At least they cannot say ‘I wasn’t aware of it ‘. No prizes for guessing who said this when and in what context.