GECs

Regulation has become totally opaque: Uday Shankar

Published

6 years ago

July 23, 2020

KOLKATA: One of the major issues which have been daunting the media and entertainment industry, especially the broadcast sector, is the regulatory burden. Although senior officials from the government have argued that there is no such burden, many stakeholders have expressed concern against the same from time to time. Media maven, The Walt Disney Company APAC chairman and Star and Disney India president Uday Shankar said his biggest disappointment with regulation is that it has become totally opaque.

Participating in APOS 2020, Shankar, in a conversation with Media Partners Asia executive director and co-founder Vivek Couto stated that there is a lack of clarity on why the regulator is regulating something. Moreover, there is no consistency in the regulations. He also opined that the regulators need to have clarity and share that clarity publicly with both the media community and the public at large that what are they regulating, what’s the agenda and the vision. He reminded that regulation should not be for the sake of regulating something but to create a level playing field, promote growth and benefit consumers. He stated that sometimes it feels that in markets like India, regulation is only for creating hurdles in the growth of the business.

“Unless you have clarity on that and everybody understands exactly the boundary condition within which regulation will operate, it creates all kinds of confusions and setbacks to the industry. Media is such a sector that if the industry does not do well, the first victims are consumers. If you don’t have enough money to invest in content, at a business level, you can employ fewer people but create less value,” he added.

Shankar added that the industry also cannot completely disregard or operate in a vacuum. “It has to be aware of its social responsibilities and sensitivities in each market. I am a big believer in media and with freedom comes great responsibility as well,” he said.

Shankar also spoke on the streaming service Disney+ Hotstar which is off to a great start. “We decided to take advantage of the early days of this crisis. We launched Disney+ Hotstar right in the middle of the crisis, in the month of April, when the whole country was in lockdown. Advertising was interrupted, we could not make our critical marketing plan, the live sports we planned to leverage for Disney+ Hotstar was not available and yet we launched and we are the biggest streaming service in India by far,” he said.

For Disney+ Hotstar, the only benchmark is that the platform can compete with TV channels in terms of its reach, delivery and consumption. According to him, if streaming has to become mainstream eventually, it has to serve the local population at scale and has to be sustainable. That’s the only metric everybody has to follow. While its ambitions are to compete with TV, Shankar noted that Disney+ Hotstar has to relentlessly work on cutting-edge technology.

Shankar mentioned that while 150-160 million homes are connected to TV in India, smartphones and video-enabled devices can reach the number of 700-750 million in a few years. Hence the screen universe is much bigger than TV. According to him, streaming, if done right, has the potential to be bigger than TV purely in terms of the number of consumers and the amount of time they spend. However, he also stated that TV, too, has a fair road ahead but it needs to fix the business model going through a correction.

“We (Disney+ Hotstar) should be able to rapidly get to a number similar to frontline mass-market entertainment channels in the country through reach and access,” he concluded.

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GECs

Sun TV posts steady revenue, profit dips amid rising costs

Published

7 days ago

February 7, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CHENNAI: It appears there is still plenty of Sun to go around in the Indian broadcasting landscape, even if a few clouds have drifted across the financial horizon. Sun TV Network Limited, the Chennai-based behemoth that dominates airwaves across seven languages, has tuned into a steady frequency for the quarter ending 31 December 2025. While the numbers show a resilient revenue stream, the company’s latest broadcast reveals a few static-filled spots in its profit margins.

For the quarter in question, Sun TV’s total income climbed by approximately 3.31 per cent, reaching Rs 958.39 crores compared to Rs 927.66 crores in the same period last year. Revenue from operations also saw a healthy bump, rising 4.32 per cent to Rs 827.87 crores.

The real star of the show, however, was domestic subscription revenue, which surged by 8.86 per cent to Rs 472.99 crores. This growth highlights the enduring appetite for Sun’s diverse content, which spans everything from daily soaps in Tamil and Telugu to its burgeoning OTT platform, Sun NXT.

Despite the revenue growth, the picture quality of the profits was slightly blurred by rising costs. Eitda for the quarter stood at Rs 409.79 crores, a dip from the Rs 432.14 crores recorded in the corresponding 2024 quarter.

The profit after tax followed a similar downward trend, settling at Rs 316.44 crores against the previous year’s Rs 347.17 crores. Advertisers also seemed to have switched channels slightly, with advertisement revenues sliding to Rs 291.94 crores from Rs 332.17 crores.

Sun TV isn’t just playing on home turf; its sporting ambitions are becoming increasingly global. The network now owns three major cricket franchises: SunRisers Hyderabad in the IPL, SunRisers Eastern Cape in SA20, and SunRisers Leeds Limited in The Hundred (UK).

The foray into British cricket saw the company acquire a 100 per cent stake in Northern Superchargers Limited (now SunRisers Leeds) for approximately £100 million. While these franchises brought in Rs 14.61 crores this quarter, they also incurred corresponding costs of Rs 19.89 crores. Over the nine-month period, however, the cricket business is a major player, contributing Rs 487.64 crores in income.

The company’s bottom line took a minor hit from exceptional items, including a Rs 4.23 crore charge related to India’s new Labour Codes, which consolidated 29 existing labour laws. Additionally, the consolidated results reflect the amalgamation of Kal Radio Limited with Udaya FM, a move that became effective in May 2025 and required a restatement of previous figures.

To keep investors from reaching for the remote, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 50 per cent, that’s Rs 2.50 per equity share. This comes on top of earlier dividends of 100 per cent (Rs 5.00) and 75 per cent (Rs 3.75) declared in August and November 2025, respectively.

With a massive cash reserve and a dominant position in the South Indian market, Sun TV continues to shine, even if the current quarter required a bit of fine-tuning. For now, shareholders can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

GECs

SPNI hires Pradeep M with responsibility for standards and practices in the south

Published

1 week ago

February 3, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India has hired Pradeep M to handle standards and practices for its southern market, bolstering its compliance bench as content rules tighten across platforms.

Pradeep, who has nearly 13 years in the entertainment media industry, takes on responsibility for content standards in a region that is both linguistically diverse and regulatorily sensitive. His brief spans television, OTT, sports and digital platforms.

He specialises in content review and compliance across shows, commercials, on-air promotions and international feeds, ensuring alignment with broadcast, OTT and advertising codes. He has also handled brand approvals and sponsorship integrations for heavily regulated categories—including online gaming, cryptocurrency, NFTs and lottery brands—offering guidance shaped by fast-evolving rules.

Before Sony, Pradeep worked at Jiostar as assistant manager for content regulation from November 2024 to January 2026. Earlier, he spent nearly seven years at Viacom18 Media, rising from senior executive to assistant manager in content regulation between 2018 and 2024. There he served as a key compliance touchpoint for the network.

His career began on the creative side. Between 2013 and 2018, he worked as executive producer on feature films and television shows, gaining hands-on exposure to production. He also had a stint as a non-fiction show director at Star TV Network in 2017. That mix of creative and regulatory experience gives him a dual lens—how content is made and how it must be managed.

As regulators, platforms and advertisers all tighten the screws, broadcasters are investing more in gatekeepers who can keep creativity within the lines. Sony’s latest hire shows where the industry is heading: in the streaming age, compliance is content’s quiet co-star.

GECs

Colors Gujarati rolls out two new shows from 2nd February

Published

2 weeks ago

February 2, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Colors Gujarati has unveiled two new prime-time shows as part of its push to strengthen culturally rooted storytelling for regional audiences. The channel will premiere the devotional saga Gangasati–Paanbai at 7.30 pm, followed by the romantic family drama Manmelo at 9.30 pm from February 2.

Inspired by Gujarat’s spiritual and literary heritage, Gangasati–Paanbai: Shyam Dhun No Navo Adhyay draws from the timeless bhajans and poetry of saint-poetesses Gangasati and Paanbai, weaving devotion and human values into a contemporary narrative aimed at younger viewers.

In contrast, Manmelo explores love and responsibility across social divides, tracing the lives of three middle-class sisters whose relationships with three affluent brothers reshape their futures. The show delves into ambition, emotional conflict and the realities of married life, offering a layered family drama.

A Colors Gujarati spokesperson said the new launches reflect the channel’s commitment to authentic Gujarati entertainment that blends cultural values with modern storytelling.