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Category: Specials

  • Govt. not taking film industry problems seriously: Chopra


    MUMBAI: The film industry and its problems were unfortunately not being taken seriously by the Central Government, particularly at this present juncture when it is passing through a crisis, FICCI Entertainment Committee Chairman Yash Chopra said here.


    Addressing the inaugural session of FICCI Frames 2011, Chopra said however that the emergence of new talent of writers, directors, actors or technicians augured well for the industry. “Our future is in safe hands. They have passion, confidence, style and technique.”


    FICCI President Harsh Mariwala said films give the young generation a voice. He offered the example of ‘No one Killed Jessica’. The level of technology being used in films has improved vastly, as films like ‘Robot’ had shown. 


    The FICCI KPMG report notes that box office collections were poor due to lack of quality content. Movies with original storylines and content which kept in mind an audience that was constantly evolving gained wider acknowledgment even if they were small or medium budget films. This year proved that there was a market for films without stars.


    The report further added: ‘You could also bank on new talent for success. The home video market saw a big decline in revenues. Revenues for a film from cable and satellite area grew by 33 per cent. On a more positive note 2010 was a year when film companies explored previously untapped markets. A good example was the strategy Fox Star adopted for My Name Is Khan. It is expected to open in markets like Korea. The key challenges for the film industry include escalating rental costs, coming to a healthy revenue sharing arrangement, and competition from cricket. This has created an eight-week black window for multiplexes.’


    Single screens will also face a tough time, says KPMG. On a more positive note, the growth drivers include urbanization and a growing middle class. A better viewing experience will also help, the report says.


    Mariwala added that FICCI was engaging in a dialogue with the government for things like a Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the entertainment industry without having a separate tax at a local level. They are also pushing for a favourable tax on DTH which is high at 30 to 40 per cent. As far as the print medium is concerned, he said that unlike other countries, the print medium here grew last year by 10 per cent. “Regulation has helped foreign investment in print.”


    Chopra noted FICCI FRAMES had grown over the past 12 years from an idea to a movement. “It is a platform where like-minded people share views, problems.”
     

  • Media’s lost opportunity is $105 bn: Murdoch







    MUMBAI: The success of Star in India has not tamed James Murdoch’s anger nine years since he last addressed Ficci-Frames in 2002. The wrath against cable TV operators for not giving broadcasters their fair share of revenue still resides but the tone is subdued.


    “India’s creative force is still a sleeping tiger waiting to be awakened. That is why the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry is at $15 billion instead of $120 billion,” said Murdoch who is News Corp chairman Asia and Europe.


    Speaking at the 12th edition of Ficci-Frames here today, the junior Murdoch said digitisation of infrastructure is key to unlocking the potential of the creative sector. While India has 250 million homes out of which 120 million have some form of multichannel television, only 30 million are digital.


    ” With the cautious liberalisation of DTH broadcasting, the cork on the bottle was removed. Thirty million Indian families have responded. So today India boasts not one, or two, but a whole sector of 21st century digital TV companies. We all would do well to note that when it comes to first movers and innovators in this sector, none come from the cable fraternity. They all come from this new class. Grappling with the challenge of incumbency, the cable sector has too often failed to take into account the only constituency that matters: the customer.” 


    India’s moment of greatest opportunity has arrived, believes the man who would love skiing the Himalayas.


    “ When I spoke at Frames a decade ago, the government of the day was busily readying plans for the imposition of Conditional Access Systems. I argued then that it was hard to see how a top-down approach would achieve the desired effect. Today the market is showing the better way. We should embrace that – and step on the gas. The best way is to accelerate the liberalisation of digital broadcasting. This would allow greater investment as well as greater latitude for innovation … including vertical integration of content companies and satellite distributors,” said Murdoch.


    He accused vested interests of resisting digiisation. “If it stays analogue, then those companies can keep their customers as captives. Indians are the poorer for this. They are denied access to content of their choice. The digital homes present on the other hand demand better services. That means companies have to act and you are seeing shopping channels coming in, high definition, content in local languages. You are also seeing the advent of 3D. In a digital environent the boundaries between verticals slides, be it print, television, movies. This offers the incentive to content creator to develop and sell products.”


    The truth is that the industry today is moving faster than the politics. “Unfortunately, the analogue infrastructure is proving a drag. When competition is stifled by infrastructure, the scarcity of bandwidth drives the operator to price channel placement instead of investing in greater capacity. This makes things more expensive for the channel operator who has to recoup that higher cost out of advertising, spread ever so thinly across a fragmenting audience.”


    He reminisced about Star in 1999 and 2000, when they made a choice to triple down here, in a marketplace they were sure had the potential to change all of their lives. “Not that it’s been an easy ride. We have had fierce competitors in the past and we have them today, and I anticipate even more in the future. I hope we have met them in the marketplace fairly – and a little fiercely too. To our rivals as well as our partners, I have only admiration for your work. And I believe that we are together at a time and place in history that offers us the chance to raise up something that the Indian people have not yet seen: a media sector that will be the envy of the world – and all the benefits that flow from that.


    Murdoch said the status quo is also restricting innovation in the news sector. “This is unfortunate as Indians are an engaged audience. There are investment restrictions in the news space. So the Indian voice in global affairs is diminished.”


    As digitisation needs funding, Murdoch pushed for a relaxation in investment and ownership regulations. Digitisation, he believed, would unleash a content revolution in India.


    The second area Murdoch stressed on is the need to bring Indian creators, storytellers, and journalists to the world’s conversations. This can only be done by ensuring that India’s creative market is competitive at home.


    “My father says that no country has a monopoly on creative content. “Allow the new generation of Indians to reap the rewards of their success and enterprise. Encourage them as they build a creative sector that reflects the passions and energies and beauty of this incredible nation. If we do, we will find not only that India will have changed, but India will be changing the world,” said Murdoch.


    Indian entrepreneurs, riding on a KPMG report that forecast the media and entertainment industry to almost double its revenues to Rs 1275 billion by 2015, should feel encouraged as Murdoch described global media firms to have grown “grey and tired” while their Indian counterparts were “young and eager”.

  • Telugu television rewrites script in 2010 – Sun TV Network SVP, business head- Telugu cluster Sanjay Reddy

    Telugu television rewrites script in 2010 – Sun TV Network SVP, business head- Telugu cluster Sanjay Reddy

    It could be over two decades now that cable TV brought changes to our living room. Looking back in the year 2010 in Andhra Pradesh Television, the changes have been more real and how. One can clearly attribute the C&S penetration to have fuelled a number of changes in the overall consumption pattern of television. The C&S market saw a steady growth in the past one year. Out of the total of 19.9 million households, C&S households stood at 11.3 million and with a 95 per cent penetration.  

      TV viewing Individuals(Millions) CS individuals (Millions)
      2009 2010 2009 2010
    Hyderabad 6.6 6.9 6.4 6.7
    Rest of AP 9.3 9.9 8.9 9.5

    Echoing the pan India trend, the DTH market in Andhra Pradesh has also seen a slow penetration. But as per the trends, the growth in the past year has been encouraging.

      2009 (Mn) 2010(Mn)
    Hyderabad 0.3 0.5
    Rest of AP 0.2 0.5

    Until 2008, there were only a few Telugu news channels in the state such as TV9, ETV2, NTV and TV5, alongside the entertainment ones, like Doordarshan’s Saptagiri, ETV, Gemini TV, Teja TV, Maa TV and Zee Telugu. In 2009, the simultaneous holding of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections marked a surge in news channels as film star Chiranjeevi announced his entry into active politics. These included Sakshi TV, HMTV, HYTV, Maha TV, Studio-N, Zee 24 Gantalu and ABN Andhra Jyothy.

    With the launch of Raj TV, the state now has 15 news channels compared with nine general entertainment channels. This year also saw the opening of two other news channels – Janta TV & Channel 4. It’s intriguing to see this rush to start news channels in an already cluttered space. It can be seen that there was neither clear economics nor appealing newsworthiness in the launch.

    The GEC space also saw a shakeout with Asianet Sitara near close down after the initial euphoria. MAA TV’s ambitious launch of news channel also was ephemeral. The start of 2010 also was abuzz with recession and in the guise channels slashed salaries of middle and top executives, while revenue showing northward trend had it’s effect on the talent movement.

    Matter-of-Fiction

    The best kept secret in television is out. The year 2010 saw many a script rewritten in Telugu television – be it fiction, reality, or movies. The race for number one slot in GEC heated up. Gemini TV remained the undisputed leader followed by ETV, and then MAA TV and ZEE TV taking the place in rounds over the past 52 weeks. What’s to be taken note here is Gemini Movies, the only 24 hour Telugu movie channel, cemented its position as a clear number 2 in the channel rating list.

    Telugu audience has seen a transformation in terms of when faced with a choice between convention and crudity on television, but for a change in the year 2010 the audiences opted for family fun. It‘s not only because 90 per cent of AP’s TV households have one TV and TV-watching is still a collective experience. When faced with the option of watching a story and watching an done to death dance/item number, the audience choice was clear: they would rather be engaged than amused. So it comes as no surprise that fiction ruled the roost with serials like Mogilirekulu of Gemini consistently delivering numbers, proving to be APs no 1 fiction at 8:30 p.m.

    Aata of Zee TV showed crudity, and this came under scanner with women activists crying hoarse because of the content and young dancing with almost little or no drape and suggestive moves, thus showing what the audience prefer. And the second half started to witness a decline in the viewership in the same genre.

      Serials Reality/ Non
      Oct-Dec(09) Oct-Dec(10) Oct-Dec(09) Oct-Dec(10)
    Gemini TV 295 380 70 58
    Maa Telugu 52 25 120 80
    Zee Telugu 45 100 150 54
    Eenadu TV 140 175 85 70

    From a audience perspective, AP market became a copycat market as the non-fiction/reality show of the north were audaciously duplicated with shows like Genius on MAA TV being a pale copy of multitude of reality shows from UTV & MTV, Adrustham on MAA was a near copy of Deal No Deal, a format owned by Endemol which was later pulled off air after being served a notice from Copyright holder Endemol.
    The second half also saw a resurgence of a new format in the name of family show & game show. ETV launched “Genes” and Zee TV “Bathuku Jatka Bandi” with Sumalatha. The chat show format got a much needed impetus with Jayaprada joining the bandwagon with “Jayapradam” on MAA TV.

    Fiction gained the foothold through the year with socially relevant topic and better technical value in production. “Sundarakanda” on Gemini TV is a case in point where daughter married to NRI and the subsequent fallout in the marriage came to the fore; hence a case where media is called upon increasingly to educate, not merely excite.

    From a content perspective also, it was the younger clique on television while keeping in sync with the social moorings

    Year 2010 also saw Tollywood stars going beyond shaking their legs on TV reality shows to promote their films. To create a win-win situation for both channels and production houses, there is an exploration of synergies between movies and popular soaps/shows. Some of the prominent faces on television in the year 2010 were Nagababu in “Aparanji”, Vani Vishwnath in “Samudram” on Gemini TV, Jagapathy Babu in “Raju Rani Jagapahty” on ETV, Jayapradha in “Jayapradham” on MAA TV, Saikumar on WOW on ETV. This for sure is bridging the gap between television and Tollywood.

    Marketing & Advertising

    The relationship between sales growth, ad spend-sales ratio and market share is complex. Having said that, television is still the lord of the world and a powerful medium. In Andhra Pradesh, TV and print spends in the year 2010 have been huge.

    Year 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011
    Revenue in Crores in TV 340 460 528 601 725

    Before I sum up let us take a look at how TV network shares moved in the last one year.

    Network wise GRP Trends, CS 4+ All SEC

      2009(Oct-Dec) 2010(Oct-Dec) Change in %
    Sun Network 1144 1388 21.3
    Etv Network 456 420 -7.90
    Maa Network 447 384 -14.1
    Zee Network 410 380 -7.32

    Network wise Absolute Channel share %, CS 4+ All SEC

      2009(Oct-Dec) 2010(Oct-Dec) 2010(Jan-Dec)
    Sun Network 27.2 32.1 18
    Etv Network 10.6 9.7 -8.50
    Maa Network 10.9 8.9 -18.35
    Zee Network 9.8 8.8 -10.20
  • Whither, or Wither, Cable TV industry? Star India President (South India) Jagdish Kumar

    Whither, or Wither, Cable TV industry? Star India President (South India) Jagdish Kumar

    Circa 1994: Star Movies decides to convert from a free-to-air service to become the first pay TV channel in India. Negotiations between the pay channel and cable operators went thus:

    Pay channel executive (prosperous looking and suited executive): “You have to pay to receive Star Movies”.

    Operator (not very prosperous looking and ordinarily dressed): “Only some of my customers watch Star Movies and my customers pay only Rs 150 per month. After meeting my operating expenses, how much can I pay?”
     
    Pay channel executive: “I have a budget to achieve. I don‘t have a lot of time to negotiate. I have a flight to catch to get to headquarters. My target for this town is Rs 10000 and I have decided your share is Rs 1000. I will send you our standard agreement shortly. That‘s it- no further negotiations”.

    Circa 2010: There are 154 pay channels registered with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the negotiations between channels and cable operators go thus:

    Pay channel executive (casually dressed): “You have to increase your payment by 20 per cent to receive our bouquet of channels”.

    Operator (very prosperous looking and attired in designer brands): “Only some of my customers watch your bouquet and my customers pay only Rs 150 per month. After meeting my operating expenses, how much can I pay?”

    Pay channel executive: “Please understand, I have a budget to achieve to get my bonus. My growth target for this town is 20 per cent. However as an exception, only for you, I can work with a special growth rate of 5 per cent. Please agree to settle for Rs 1500. I will separately organise a foreign tour for you.”

    Operator: “Thank you. But I would also like to inform you that there is a huge demand for bandwidth and you have to pay Rs 750 as carriage fees”.

    Fortunes of the players have reversed since the beginning of pay TV services in India 16 years ago. While many channels are limping financially, operators have achieved prosperity beyond their imagination. Should we grudge the good life that operators are enjoying? Definitely not! During the last two decades India has witnessed incredible growth in C&S TV connectivity to the current level of about 95 million homes mainly driven by the entrepreneurism of the operators.

    There are two elements which have remained constant between 1994 and 2010:

    • The retail price of pay TV services have stagnated at around Rs 150 per month ( India has the cheapest pay TV service in the world) and
    • Incrementalism and myopic pay TV revenue targets set by channels.

    There seems to be near unanimity of opinion that the current abysmal state of the cable TV business in India is the result of under-declaration of subscribers by operators. While there is truth in that conclusion; it is not the whole truth. There is one truth which gets lost in the din of consultation papers, conferences, workshops and digital summits – The tyranny of incrementalism and the short-term nature of pay TV revenue targets of channels.

    The community of pay TV executives in India straddles two different worlds- Cable TV networks and corporate meeting rooms. The former world has a law of its own driven by native intelligence and the latter is a world of power- point presentations driven by business school intelligence. These two worlds have a love-hate relationship and a pay channel executive has to acquire skills to navigate between both these worlds. Both these worlds meet periodically either during contract renewal negotiations or during incentive jaunts in the sand dunes of Dubai/ blue waters of Bali/alleys of Amsterdam. They sometimes also have acrimonious meetings in the dreary environs of Sastry Bhavan or Sanchar Bhavan in Delhi.

    From the beginning, due to the lack of addressability, agreements between channels and operators for pay TV services are settled by the hustling power of the negotiators. Annual contract renewal discussions are sting operations full of obfuscations, sophistry, innuendos, threats, rumours and sometimes emotional outbursts which would put some of our TV programmes to shame! Only oblique references are made to the core matter of the negotiation, viz., connectivity numbers and price. Actual subscriber numbers and price is normally a by-product of the main negotiation primarily to satisfy computerised billing software programmes of the channels and regulatory filings.

    Over a period of the last two decades, pay TV executives were relentlessly handed down incremental targets set on an annual basis by the Board rooms of the channels. Based on these incremental targets, pay channel executives begin their contract signing campaign with operators with all the possible wit and wisdom at their command. Sometimes these contractual negotiations become weapons in the pay channel executive‘s hands to demarcate network operating areas between competing operators. In case of disagreements during the negotiations, a competing “rebel” operator is encouraged by the pay channel executive to encroach into the incumbent operator‘s area. This practice has led to chaotic conditions in the last mile with each area being serviced by more than one operator and all players perfecting the art of brinkmanship.

    Introduction of the MSOs into the distribution chain during the last decade was meant to professionalise and consolidate the last mile. However, territory wars amongst MSOs and a period of easy capital availability for new entrants has resulted in the opposite. The industry has fragmented irreversibly.

    We are confronted with dismal scenarios when we crystal gaze into the future of the analog cable TV industry in India. However, I believe all is not lost. Ironic though it may seem, the threat of DTH has thrown open a door of opportunity to the cable TV industry – Digitalisation. An additional shot in the arm for the cable TV industry is the latest initiative by I&B Ministry and Trai to mandate full digitalisation in India by 2015 with intermediate time bound milestones.

    The ambitious digitalisation objectives as stated by the I&B Ministry requires massive deployment of financial and technical resources. Let‘s hope all stakeholders of the cable TV industry step up to the challenge.

    Here is my wish list for 2011 for the cable TV industry:

    ” All MSOs to arrive at an amicable settlement by demarcating territories of operations and cease encouragement of migration of last mile operators between MSOs. ” MSOs/LCOs to gear up financially and technically to meet the challenges of the ambitious digitalisation targets proposed by the I&B Ministry.

    • Pay channels to temper their incremental short term revenue targets during the investment phase of digitalisation to reap the benefits of addressability later.
    • MSOs to reduce their dependence on carriage fees as the main source of revenue and generate subscription revenues from the last mile as their primary revenue source.
    • Government to give “Infra-structure” status to the cable TV industry to enable institutional financing and provide fiscal incentives /concessions to facilitate digitalisation.
    • Government to withdraw from pricing controls over the cable TV market and allow market forces to drive consumer choice and price.
    • Broadcasters to catalyze digitisation by providing channels/programmes which can be accessed only through an addressable digital box.

    We are at a critical juncture where the cable TV industry should take a pro-active role in the implementation of the proposals initiated by the Government to digitalise. The only option for survival is to go Digital, anything else will spell Doom!

  • DTH bringing the second wireless revolution in India – Bharti Airtel Director and CEO digital TV services Ajai Puri

    DTH bringing the second wireless revolution in India – Bharti Airtel Director and CEO digital TV services Ajai Puri

    Launched in 2003, DTH revitalised India’s journey to media digitisation. Being wireless in nature, DTH has truly brought the power of affordable home entertainment to rural households.

    2010 has proved to be a remarkable year for the DTH industry in India. It was an action packed year that saw the market expanding to six private players, acting as the catalyst in speeding up India’s journey to digitalisation.

    The year saw many innovative interventions in the area of both hardware and interactive services by players, with festive occasions and sporting events being the major inflection points for the industry. The industry added 10 million customers in FY 2009-10 taking its tally to over 20 million, thereby adding as many as it did in its first five years, exemplifying the fact that the Indian consumer ‘wants’ to be at par with globally evolving entertainment standards. The industry is expected to add another 13-14 million customers in 2010-11.

    In moving away from the industry norm of treating DTH as a mere replacement to cable, newer entrants like Airtel see a huge potential market of 100 million households that have no access to cable or terrestrial TV. This has helped expand the category and enabled affordable home entertainment on wireless to reach markets hitherto beyond reach of incumbent distribution platforms. 
     
    In growing at the phenomenal pace that it has, DTH has made India the largest buyer of set-top boxes and it’s set to soon become the largest DTH market in the world. Though the increased demand of STBs has brought down the hardware cost that forms a major chunk of operators cost, the industry is still beset with many structural challenges.

    The absence of a level- playing field on content cost versus analogue cable, due rampant non-transparency / under-declaration by cable industry for years and the high incidence of taxes, make it a steep climb to profitability for DTH operators. Tax incidence of over 35 per cent is amongst the highest for any industry which plays such a critical role in fulfilling the Government agenda of reaching ‘infotainment‘ to the remotest parts of India. In particular, entertainment tax levied by states has no logical reasoning and custom duty imposed on STBs needs to be withdrawn. Also the license fee of 10 per cent is only levied on the DTH platform, amongst all other forms of distribution – an anomaly that needs to be corrected soon.

    At present wholesale tariffs from broadcasters, cost of all channels put together, comes to nearly Rs 14 billion for cable operators and 50 per cent of that is levied on DTH operators, while the Indian customer is willing to pay at best between Rs 150-250. It seems that the incumbent cable industry has taken recourse to under-declaration to correct this anomaly of high content cost. DTH though being a completely transparent addressable system has no such recourse.

    DTH today is less then 20 per cent of the total C&S households in India, but contributes over 50 per cent of broadcasters subscription revenue, thereby ending up subsidising the incumbent analogue cable industry.

    We believe that DTH has the potential to repeat the success story of telecom, where all the stakeholders – consumers, broadcasters, operators and government – will gain immensely. As DTH is already enabling many in rural India buy their first TV, every single household of the current 240 million homes across India deserves to have a TV. Just like mobile, DTH has shown that wireless is the way to go if world class home entertainment is to go mass in India.

    Apart from the width of availability of linear, regional content, DTH for many has become the means to catch up with latest movie releases that otherwise would probably have taken months or some quarters to be released beyond the top few towns. This will go a long way in helping fight piracy and protect the interests of the rightful producers of content.

    Advertising too has become a very rewarding, effective option on DTH. It furnishes better return on investment for advertisers by paving the way for authentic measurement of viewership compared to myriad forms of media. Also, it renders a new vehicle for localised advertising, tapping the targeted audience in an effective way.

    Being the largest integrated telco that has a presence across all screens– Mobile, PC and TV – Airtel finds itself uniquely positioned to participate in the next wave of growth for DTH-broadband hybrid models. The advent of new wireless access technologies like 3G & BWA will make it possible for customers to experience the true power of two-way interactivity even on DTH. With movies on pay-per-view (PPV) platforms already gaining growing acceptance and innovative solutions by Airtel such as its mobile recording & mobile self care feature that make convergence of screens a reality, superior viewing experience through better picture quality and Dolby digital sound output will redefine customer’s expectation out of the idiot box in a big way.

    With customers clearly opting for the newer, more advanced platforms like MPEG4 DVBS 2, HD, the industry is looking forward to start the New Year in a positive note. The need to be entertained coupled with diversity of broadcast channels, gaming & interactive services will be big growth drivers for DTH in 2011.

    Clearly, technological superiority and quality of customer service have emerged as the new differentiators for the industry and the DTH platform is leading the way in helping India digitalise faster.
     

  • Government’s humps and bumps in 2010

    Government’s humps and bumps in 2010

    The year 2010 ended on a more positive note – at least as far as the private television channels were concerned.

    The commencement of the year 2011 also marked a new start from the television audience evaluation point of view with the Government accepting a report on TRP which itself gave the much-awaited approval to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) launched by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation.
     
    And for radio – which had drawn a blank in 2009 – the start of 2011 came with the Government approving the e-auction for the long awaited Phase III of private FM Radio.

    The year 2009 had ended on a somewhat damp note with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry refusing to accept any more applications for the burgeoning television industry in the country and asking the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to study the issue with regard to availability of spectrum and related issues.

    But soon after the year began, I&B Minister Ambika Soni decided to accept new applications and not wait for the Trai report, which came later and decided against any cap on the number of channels in the country – which are already over 500.

    In its report in July 2010, Trai said there should not be any cap on total number of satellite based TV channels meant for downlinking and uplinking from India, but the eligibility criteria for registration of a TV channel should be revised to include experience in media sector.

    It also said the period of permission for uplinking/downlinking permission should be made uniform for 10 years. The permission fee should be revised and charged annually.

    The networth requirements should be revised for news and non-news TV channels and teleports and India should be developed as a teleport hub, it further said.

    The Ministry had requested Trai on 8 October 2009 to furnish its recommendations on review of policy on uplinking and downlinking of TV channels in India in view of the growing number of channels and in view of the fact that the Ministry had given permission to around 550 TV channels and a number of applications were pending consideration.

    The Authority recommended that the applications seeking permission for uplinking/downlinking of TV channels should be processed quickly and the decision on the application should be finalised within three months from the date of submission of fully compliant and eligible application. For this purpose, the I&B Ministry should explore the feasibility of setting up a single-window clearance mechanism. The Authority also gave recommendations relating to the fee structure.

    A total of around 260 applications for new television channels were still pending with the Ministry by the end of 2010.

    The Ministry introduced a ‘Satellite TV Channels Application Tracking System’ (STATS) to bring complete transparency in the entire system of approvals for new channels. This first-ever initiative allows applicants to get updates on the status of their applications online. Software developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) will enable companies to log on to an especially designed programme to know the status of their applications.

    Meanwhile, the first major step towards nation-wide audience research was taken with the Indian Broadcasting Foundation getting the BARC registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956, and a high-level TRP Committee in its report approving this body.

    The BARC was set up as a joint venture between the IBF and the Indian Society of Advertisers on a 60:40 ratio and initial investment of Rs 300 million.
    Subsequently, every channel which wants to receive the ratings would have to subscribe to the BARC, the format of which would be decided by an eight-member Technical Committee headed by the ISA and having an equal representation from both the IBF and the ISA.

    BARC will not conduct audience measurement directly and instead will commission independent specialist research vendors.

    Almost two years after the news television channels came up with their own code, the general entertainment channels through the IBF also agreed on a “Self Regulatory Guidelines and Complaints Redressal Mechanism” for all non-news channels.

    With the introduction of these norms, and its adherence by all members of the IBF, the vast majority of all channels licensed by the Government will comply. This will include general entertainment, children and special interest channels.

    The redressal mechanism will be a three tier process: to first complain at the Broadcaster/Channel level; a seven-member Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (“BCCC”) at the industry (IBF) level; and finally a Content Appellate Board (“CAB”) of three distinguished members chaired by a jurist including a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Courts.

    However, it waits to be seen whether the Government will accept this process in full, as indications say the Ministry wants a Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India manned by civil society representatives and experts in various fields, and headed by a retired judge.

    The IBF recommended that the Self-regulatory Content Guidelines be notified immediately for all Non-News channels under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995, replacing the present Programme Code which had been drawn up for Prasar Bharati and then extended to other channels.

    Soni reiterated in September 2010 that the government was committed to self-regulation of broadcasting content, but there was need to find a mechanism to make this functional. She said a task force headed by I&B Secretary Raghu Menon was finalising a report in this connection and action would be taken thereon once the recommendations are available. It had held discussions with all stakeholders before working to finalise its report.

    Towards the end of the year, however, the urgency for bringing a Content Code into effect was highlighted when the government clamped down on two controversial reality shows, Bigg Boss and Rakhi Ka Insaaf, pushing them from peak primetime viewing hours to an ‘adult‘ time zone that could have an adverse impact on their ratings and revenues. The former on Colors managed to go to Court and get an injunction, while the latter followed the directive.

    Pulled up for their raunchy content, the government allowed these shows to run only between 11 pm and 5 am. Big Boss 4 was then airing daily at 9 pm on Colors and Rakhi Ka Insaaf at 10 pm (Friday-Saturday) on Imagine TV, time slots that are popular among TV viewers and advertisers.

    A ban was also put on repeat on any other time band for these two shows, and even news channels were barred from carrying content from these shows before 11 pm.

    The government also banned SS Music, a multi-lingual music channel, for seven days for allegedly showing nudity, following a recommendation by the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) comprising representatives of the ministries of Information and Broadcasting, and various child rights and women’s rights organisations.

    Twenty-four out of the total 118 warnings and show cause notices issued to various private television channels for programmes or advertisemets related to indecent representation of or denigrating women.

    According to official figures, the matter is pending in only three of the 24 cases, in which the final order is being issued shortly in two cases (TV 5 and Jai Hind TV) and the reply is being examined in the third (SS Music). These three are among the five cases of 2010, the other two being those of UTV Bindass and MTV.

    There were eight notices each in 2007 and 2008, and three in 2009 relating to depiction of women. While the matter was closed after receiving replies in some of the cases, the concerned advertisement/programme was modified in others, and warnings issued in some others.

    Interestingly, the news channels got a major relief from the Delhi High Court during 2010 which said sting operations are not unethical and ‘citizens can act as agent provocateurs to bring out and expose and uproot corruption’.

    “I consider that it is built-in fundamental duties that every citizen must strive for a corruption-free society and must expose the corruption whenever it comes to his or her knowledge and try to remove corruption at all levels more so at higher levels of management of the State,” it added.

    However earlier in the year, the Central Bureau of Investigation had told the Supreme Court that journalists can be prosecuted on corruption charges for conducting sting operations to expose corruption in public life. A party to a sting operation, allegedly undertaken to expose corruption by public servants, can be liable for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, if he/she does not inform the law enforcing agency before or immediately after the sting, it said.
     

  • Politicisation of TV news content in South India – TV9 Karnataka and NEWS9 director Mahendra Mishra

    Politicisation of TV news content in South India – TV9 Karnataka and NEWS9 director Mahendra Mishra

    Though all the channels of these netas have a designated professional ‘editor‘, it is anybody‘s guess as to who calls the shots in selecting and playing the news items. There really are too many such characters to talk about! And they are mushrooming like Congress grass everywhere.

    If the news media is the fourth pillar of democracy, then there is no doubting the fact that in the four southern states, if not nationally across most of the regional television space, this pillar has gone into the hands of politicians or their proxies.

    There are two issues here; One, how are these channels going to sustain themselves financially as they generally have very low viewership and hence command extremely low advertising rates? 
     
    Secondly, even if they manage to last long, are they not going to cause a serious dent to the credibility of all news channels? Doesn‘t this dent the sanctity of news business? Doesn‘t it lead to serious credibility crisis among common viewers? Maybe 2011 will provide some answers.

    When we look at South India‘s television news business in 2010, the most important word that creeps in our minds is ‘politicisation of content and cable‘.

    Cable and content are inseparable in the TV news business. And this is something that netas in South India understand better than the most astute of businessmen today. Politicos‘ control content and cable both. Some of them own the news channels as well as the cable networks.

    While ‘paid news‘ and ‘TRPised news content‘ on TV news channels continue to be the major areas of debate for the entire news industry in general, 2010 in South India will be remembered as a year when netas tightened their grips on news content and cable networks.

    Andhra Pradesh

    Take a look at the numbers – there are currently 14 TV news channels in Andhra Pradesh. Except for two or three channels, all the rest are directly or indirectly controlled by politicians or their proxies. It‘s an open secret that most of them have officially become the tools of political agendas. One wonders why should they be called news channels at all?

    For example, when the TDP supremo went on a ‘fast‘ (hunger strike) demanding better compensation for Andhra farmers, four news channels supported by TDP or its party cadre- ABN Andhra Jyothi, ETV2, Studio N and Maha TV beamed every bit of ‘the action‘ live till the end, while at the same time, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-supported channels like Sakshi TV, NTV and TV5 made sure there was simply no coverage of the TDP Supremo‘s fast. And when Jagan Mohan Reddy went on fast on the same issue in Vijaywada, all the TDP-backed channels conveniently ignored him while Sakshi, NTV and TV5 telecast every moment ‘live‘.

    2010 saw the launch of another news channel, Raj TV in Andhra Pradesh by TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao. The channel has a very simple agenda: propagate the cause of a separate Telangana state and criticise all those who are opposed to it. The channel makes sure there are enough OBs in Rao‘s rallies, but when someone else holds a political rally in Telanaga, Raj TV coverage of the event is conspicuous by its absence.

    These issues raise serious concerns as to how ‘objectivity and fairness,‘ which are so critical to credible news, are becoming the biggest casualties of the politician-sponsored news media.

    Karnataka

    Karnataka is all set to take the ‘Andhra‘ route this year. Welcome to the land of the Reddys, the Kumaraswamys and the Jarkiholis…!

    The year-long political tamasha now finds a 3-D reflection in the news business this year as the Reddy brothers‘ gear up to launch their news channel ‘Janasri‘. Their jaunt in news television will be followed by JD (S)‘ state president H D Kumaraswamy‘s much awaited news channel.
    The Reddys and the Kumaraswamys have another important muscle to flex; while Bellary‘s complete cable business is in the hands of the Reddys, Hassan‘s cable networks are held by the Kumaraswamys‘. This naturally gives the Reddys‘ and the Kumaraswamys‘ the advantage of influencing news content on different channels. Their message is clear: You can‘t show what we don‘t like, at least not in Bellary and Hassan!

    Karnataka already has Congress leader Sathish Jarkiholi‘s ‘Samaya‘ in the state. Looks like these netas‘ own news channels to guarantee them a better audience than the sprawling Vidhan Soudha does!

    TV9 Kannada continued to be South India‘s No1 news channel followed by TV9 Telugu in 2010 in terms of total viewership (Source: TAM). The fact that TV9 Kannada‘s viewership has grown by 15-20 per cent after channels like Samaya launched shows that politician-backed channels have contributed to our growth positively.

    Karnataka remained the highest English news consuming market in the country, ahead of Kerala this year, largely because of NEWS9.The channel extended its services to the rest of Karnataka markets where it became an instant leader. NEWS9 has remained a leader in the Bangalore market where its viewership is more than the combined viewership of NDTV, Times Now, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today and NewsX. We are planning to expand NEWS9 operations in other southern markets gradually.

    Tamil Nadu

    The Tamil Nadu market remains largely untouched by new news channels largely due to the complete control over cable networks by politicians (the Marans). Though the state‘s vibrant retail advertising offers a great opportunity for the independent media organisations, the Marans‘ cable monopoly continues to be a big deterrent. This is the state where politicisation of content and cable has already happened. One can expect no major changes in the year 2011, except for a few fireworks on Jaya and Sun News as in the state assembly!

    Kerala

    The real action in the news television space is going to take place in Kerala this year as the state gears up for the assembly elections in May 2011.

    Kerala is going to witness a flood of new news channels before these elections. While the Indian Union Muslim League plans to launch its own news channel, K. Muraleedharan, former Member of Parliament and son of senior Congress leader K. Karunakaran, also plans to come up with his own news channel.
     
    Mathrubhumi, Kerala Kaumudi, Madhyamam and Mangalam are also expected to venture into 24-hour TV news business this year. There are at least half a dozen news channels already on air in the state, mostly backed by political parties either directly or indirectly.
    The message seems to be quite clear: if you want to grow in politics, own a news channel and be the editor-in-chief!
     

  • Prasar Bharati: A year of controversies

    Prasar Bharati: A year of controversies

    The successful and neat coverage of the Commonwealth Games on the one hand and the messy affair of the B S Lalli ouster dominated a major part of the activities of Prasar Bharati during 2010, the only other tremor being the lightning mass casual leave towards the end of the year.

    Lalli‘s woes

    Following a reference to her by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil finally gave her consent early in December to an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into financial irregularities by Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Baljit Singh Lalli.

    The Central Vigilance Commission had in mid-November established four of the seven charges by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) against Lalli. The charges were related to contracts for management of advertisement revenue arising from the telecast of cricket matches on Doordarshan during 2007; the non-telecast by Doordarshan of T-20 cricket World Cup matches held in South Africa in September 2007; engagement of legal entities to represent Prasar Bharati; purchase of radio broadcasting rights for 13 cricket series held during 2007-09; and hiring of transport and accommodation for the conduct of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008.
     
    Though this initially led to Lalli’s wings being clipped with a three-member committee with the Members (Personnel) and (Finance) along with the CEO being asked to run the pubcaster, it was ultimately decided to suspend Lalli and Information and Broadcasting Ministry additional secretary Rajiv Takru was appointed the officiating CEO of Prasar Bharati, pending inquiry by a Supreme Court judge.

    As Takru who is an Indian Administrative Service officer of 1979 batch is a senior Ministry official, this raised the issue about whether this implied a complete takeover of the autonomous pubcaster by the Ministry.

    The Board also formed five committees dealing with the subjects of finance, personnel, production and content, project monitoring and implementation and strategy and vision with a view to streamline the functioning of the national broadcaster.

    CWG and its aftermath

    Though the coverage of the Commonwealth Games in October went off without any hitch despite fears, Prasar Bharati‘s total revenue from the Commonwealth Games stood at Rs 581 million, falling far short of the expected target of Rs one billion.

    Of this, Doordarshan posted revenue of Rs 559.9 million, contributing to a major slice of Prasar Bharati‘s income during this period.

    Doordarshan had earned only Rs 36.98 million from the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, Rs 1.3 million from the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008, and Rs 360,000 from the World Military Games in 2007 in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

    The pubcaster is attempting to get exclusive telecast rights in the country of the Olympic Games 2012 in London.

    The Commonwealth Games were covered by Prasar Bharati in agreement with UK-based Satellite Information Services (SIS) Live. The British broadcasting group had been shortlisted out of the two consortiums which had filed their bids when the last date closed for this purpose.

    Disgruntled Staff

    Prasar Bharati was jolted out of its complacency when a majority of the staff of Doordarshan and All India Radio went on a lightning mass casual leave under the aegis of the National Federation of Akashwani and Doordarshan employees on 23 and 24 November, affecting transmission for around 48 hours.

    NFADE, an umbrella organisation of 21 service associations, was protesting against the ‘mess created in Prasar Bharati over the last two years’ and seeking a repeal of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 on the ground that it has no relevance in today’s context.

    While radio was badly affected and beamed repeat programmes, Doordarshan kendras managed by taking the feed from Delhi.

    The NFADE had threatened a second round of 72-hour mass casual leave from 13 to 16 December, but this was prevented almost at the last minute after hectic negotiations, and the pubcaster setting up a committee headed by V Shivakumar, Member (Personnel) in the Prasar Board, which will have representatives of the Federation to examine the various grievances raised by them.

    The Ministry assured NFADE that it was prepared to examine various clauses of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation India) Act 1990.
     
    The Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati is already dealing with the issue, although Minister Ambika Soni said that repealing the Act as demanded by the NFADE would be counter-productive and the United Progressive Alliance would be accused of trying to control the media.

    Government to continue support to Prasar Bharati

    The Group of Ministers (GoM) attached to Prasar Bharati, reconstituted early in 2010 with Home Minister P Chidambaram at its head, recommended in mid-December that the level of government support should be maintained for the public service broadcaster for the next five years from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

    This support will be reviewed after this period is over. However, the GoM has also said 50 per cent of the annual operating expenses of the Prasar Bharati should be borne by the pubcaster from its internal extra budgetary resources while the remaining 50 per cent will come from government grants.
    The GoM also recommended that the accumulated arrears of space segment and spectrum charges of the pubcaster up to 31 March 2010 should be waived, and future charges would be included in the total operational expenses.

    The GoM is also clear that plan capital funding by government to the pubcaster may be in the form of grant-in-aid and not in the form of loan. The loan-in-perpetuity and capital loan should be converted into grants, and the interest on loan-in-perpetuity, capital loan and penal interest should be waived.

    The ban on recruitments should be relaxed and the GoM set up a four-member Committee of Joint Secretaries to look into various demands of employee organisations. This is in addition to the Committee under Prasar Bharati Board Member (Personnel) V Shivakumar after the mass casual leave by employees.

    In addition, a scheme of Rs 6.2 billion has been approved for Doordarshan and Rs 9.08 billion for All India Radio for the purpose of digitisation under the Eleventh Plan and is already under implementation.

    Clearly, this was done because the pubcaster is under financial stress. Prasar Bharati has posted revenue of Rs 4.66 billion for the six-month period ended September, while expenditure stands at Rs 12.05 billion.

    Prasar Bharati had posted revenue of Rs 11.76 billion for the fiscal ended March 2010 while expenditure stood at Rs 29.49 billion.

    Staff shortage

    Despite long agitation by various sections of staff in Prasar Bharati and even strong strictures by Parliamentary Committees, All India Radio and Doodarshan continue to suffer from massive shortage or sanction of trained manpower.

    A total of 46 low power transmitters are presently relaying partial transmission (including ten each in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa) and activities at 22 Doordarshan studio centres are limited.

    Similarly, a total of 24 stations of All India Radio in different parts of the country are only working as relay kendras, while another five – Dharmanagar and Longtherai in Tripura, Dungarpur in Rajasthan, Rairangpur in Orissa, and Suryapet in Andhra Pradesh – are technically ready but not commissioned because of shortage or sanctioning of trained operational and maintenance staff.

    Doordarshan at present has 66 studio centres and 1415 transmitters. In the case of AIR, stations are functioning at a total of 238 places. AIR has a total of 380 transmitters (177 FM, 149 MW, and 54 Short Wave).

    Some of the AIR transmitters are working sub-optimally as they have outlived their useful life of more than 20 years. Problems have also been faced in AIR because of shortage of staff. The old transmitters are being replaced in phased manner with state-of-the-art Digital Technology Transmitters. Replacement or upgradation of 34 FM Transmitters, 40 Medium Wave Transmitters, and five Short Wave transmitters have been taken up in the Eleventh Plan, and the quality is expected to improve after this work is completed.

    Early in 2010, Prasar Bharati had been reprimanded by the Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women for its lethargy in not finalising recruitment rules and failing to make recruitment in the Indian Broadcasting (Programme) Service started in 1990 to train a separate cadre of employees for All India Radio and Doordarshan. Towards the end of the year following an agitation by employees, a task force was set up to go into manpower and recruitment problems.

    While the Committee welcomed the decision that all Central Government employees recruited for Akashvani or Doordarshan until 5 October 2007 are to be deemed as on deputation with effect from April 2000 until their retirement, it regretted that its recommendation in 2009 for finalisation of recruitment rules to implement this within three months had not been complied with.
     
    The Prasar Bharati Amendment Bill 2010 giving effect to the recommendation of the GoM for treating all government officers and employees recruited by All India Radio or Doordarshan as on 5 October 2007 to be on ‘deemed deputation‘ with effect from April 2000 till the time of their retirement was introduced in Parliament towards the end of the year.

    It had observed in 2009 that there was a shortage of 44.8 per cent of the sanctioned strength in group ‘A‘ and about 40 per cent in Group ‘B‘ in Doordarshan, and 58.8 per cent of the posts in Group ‘A‘ were vacant in All India Radio. As many as 4629 posts in Doordarshan and 6433 posts in All India Radio remain unfilled.
    It noticed that recruitment to the post of programme executives was last made 18 years earlier in 1991. The case is no different in various other categories of AIR and Doordarshan.

    However, Soni said towards the end of the year that the government was considering a roadmap for taking new initiatives in the Prasar Bharati set up. The initiatives would aim to firm up the mandate given to Prasar Bharati as a public broadcaster, Soni added.

    Though the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act was passed in June 1990, it was notified as a statutory corporation only from November 1997. Section 11 of the Act had given employees the option to decide whether they wanted to join the Corporation or go back to the government, but no action was taken as the rules for various categories of employees have not been drawn up in the past 12 years.

    After a long gap of almost 20 years, the Ministry sent a proposal to the Union Public Service Commission for reviewing of the Departmental Promotion Committee for the year 1990 to 1993 for promotion of programme executives and other feeder grades of the Indian Broadcasting (Programme) Service.

    The much-delayed action was taken on the directions of the Principal Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in New Delhi for promotions to Junior Time Scale of the IB(P)S.

    DD Modernisation

    Early in 2010, the Union Cabinet gave the green signal on the proposal for digitisation of transmitters and studios in the Doordarshan network during the 11th Plan, and Prasar Bharati got a plan allocation of Rs 6.2 billion to begin work on 40 digital terrestrial transmitters and other equipment.

    The approval by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure covered the networking of DTT through satellite, augmentation of Digital Media centers (DMCs) by providing the following: equipment and facilities for maintaining the digital infrastructure; five sets of digital measurement equipment at zonal offices; 60 UPS at High Power Transmitters to ensure uninterrupted power supply, R&D and Training; digitalisation of 31 partially digitalised and 8 analogue studio centers; digitalisation of archiving facilities; and digitalisation of news automation system and e-governance and IT scheme.

    Earlier, Doordarshan had set aside an amount of Rs 12.09 billion of a total approved outlay of Rs 13.69 billion just for digitisation in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012).

    The Ministry had prepared a proposal for Rs 6 billion to Doordarshan for completing digitisation. The Government is confident of meeting its deadline of complete digitisation of the electronic media by 2017.

    The DD Urdu channel, which had failed to take-off despite being included for mandatory carriage by all cable operators, is set for a revamp and re-launch. The channel, which was launched on 15 August 2006, had initially begun beaming with sponsored programmes or those taken from other channels of Doordarshan. It has begun commissioning of new programmes.

    Additionally, the channel had allotted a daily slot to the Maulana Azad National Urdu University for the telecast of informative and educational programmes produced by its Media Research Institute after a five-year MoU that continues till 2012.

    The channel is telecast on INSAT 4A satellite and has also been brought on the Digital Video Broadcast – Hand-held (DVB-H) mode.

    DD Urdu presently telecasts a fresh band from 5 pm to 11 pm and the shows are then repeated on the channel.

    The channel has been riddled by a number of controversies. Initially, it had been found that blank tapes had been submitted by producers who had failed to complete the shooting of their 13-episode series when the channel was first launched. Later, there were complaints of lack of trained staff.

    AIR Modernisation

    While the Planning Commission in a report had said that a sum of Rs 59 billion would be required over the next ten years for digitisation of All India Radio, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a proposal for Rs eight billion for expediting digitisation in AIR.

    Doordarshan and AIR, which beam terrestrially to reach all over the country, have both stepped up the process of digitisation, which will free up spectrum currently used for analogue transmission, allowing more channels to come in.

    All India Radio has 374 transmitters as compared to 299, when Prasar Bharati was formed. But 200 new AIR transmitters have been approved in spillover schemes under the 11th Five Year Plan.

    The Planning Commission, in its report on Going Digital presented in October 2006, decided to go in for 100 per cent digitisation of FM radio and five short wave radio stations. Thus, Prasar Bharati would require Rs 94.31 billion over a period of ten years.

    As far as AIR is concerned, an outlay of Rs 36.8 billion is meant for the infrastructure required for digitisation, which includes Rs 5.35 billion for external services (short wave transmission).

    The Commission said the revenue generation capacity is expected to increase and it is expected that just over Rs 169 billion would be earned by Prasar Bharati during this period.

    At present, AIR employs transmission in MW, SW and FM band in analogue mode only. Only one Low Power DAB transmitter at Delhi has been set up for experimental purposes.

    Keeping in view the worldwide trends of transition in digital mode, AIR plans to introduce Digital Radio Mondale (DRM) transmission below 30 MHz – MF and HF band – by upgrading its existing DRM compatible transmitters. All new transmitters including the replacement of old transmitters would be done by DRM compatible transmitters. For transmission, above 30 MHz introduction of DRM + and DAB are being examined.

    However, all digital transmission as and when introduced, will be in simulcast mode for about 10 years. This would be necessary as receivers in the beginning may prove costly. Once the receivers become affordable by the masses, the simulcast mode would be phased out.

    With a view to provide digital quality direct sound broadcast to the listeners, it is proposed to expand the existing DTH services during the 11th Plan.

    AIR has plans to introduce its audio multimedia contents both in satellite and terrestrial mode to the mobile hand held devices in DMB/ DVB-H/ other standards.

    It is proposed to use the Internet platform to serve listeners having internet connectivity. This will support non-linear listening. Though no additional spectrum is required for DRM transmissions in MW and SW band, additional spectrum would be required for DRM transmitters in FM and VHF band as well as ‘L’ Band.

    During the migration from Analogue to Digital Radio, new frequency assignments are to be identified to facilitate smooth migration and for some time, both the existing analogue transmissions as well as new digital transmissions would continue. Hence, there will be spectrum constraint during this transition phase. Also, the spectrum for digital migration may need to be identified for both Prasar Bharti as well as private FM broadcasters.

     
    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had suggested a three-stage process of digitisation: Tier One cities by 2013, Tier Two cities by 2014 and Tier Three cities by 2016. But this needed indepth study and consultation with the stakeholders including cable operators, multi-system operators, and broadcasters, the regulator said.

    Meanwhile, All India Radio is all set for an exponential growth. Presently broadcasting FM channels from 172 stations, AIR has commissioned another 320 FM radio stations. As many as 246 of these will be transmitters beaming programmes from other centres.

     
    Of the AIR FM stations under implementation in various parts of the country,
    Uttarakhand is to get the largest number with seven. Following this will be Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Maharashtra who are to get six channels each. Arunachal Pradesh and Orissa will have five each and the other states will get two to four channels each.
    A sum of Rs 1.44 billion has been allocated in the Eleventh Plan for expansion and revamping of the FM transmitter network while a sum of Rs 3.85 billion has been approved for expansion and revamping of the Medium Wave channels of All India Radio.

    In addition, there is a non-plan allocation of Rs 900 million from Internal Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR) for programme activities, and Rs 100 million for development of programmes under the Software Plan Scheme.

    A scheme of Rs One billion has been approved by the Government for strengthening the transmission of broadcasting signals in Jammu and Kashmir to counter hostile propaganda from across the border.

    AIR also received a boost with the Government deciding to permit relay of All India Radio news (unaltered) by private FM radio channels on such terms and conditions as worked out with Prasar Bharati. The government, thus, rejected the view of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that news should be allowed to be accessed from AIR, Doordarshan, Press Trust of India, United News of India, and any other authorised news agency or television news channel.

    Controversies

    The year was not without its share of controversies as far as Prasar Bharati was concerned. Doordarshan issued disconnection notices to seven channels to make place for the high definition channels that were launched to coincide with the Commonwealth Games on DD Direct Plus which is the only free to air direct-to-home platform.

    But Doordarshan was forced by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) to let channels of the Zee group, Enter 10 Television and Seven Star Satellite remain on DD Direct Plus.

    The country‘s only free-to-air DTH platform has a capacity of 59 channels while it beams 57 TV channels, apart from 21 channels of All India Radio. The TV channels include 21 Doordarshan channels.

    The augmentation of the capacity of the country’s only free direct-to-home platform DD Direct Plus to 97 channels will cost Rs 554.3 million. The augmentation in the first phase will be completed on 31 March 2011. The plan is to increase DD Direct Plus‘ capacity to 200 by the end of the financial year 2011-12.

    In yet another controversy, CEO Lalli denied any move to change the frequency of the popular All India Radio FM Gold from 106.4 to 100.1 MHz. Lalli blocked any move to change the frequency, when it was brought to his notice on 31 October.

    Asked why FM Gold was on the same frequency which was used by Radio Dhamaal in 10 other cities, Lalli said this was the work of the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of the Department of Telecommunication. However, he said he had already made a noting in this regard for the reference of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. FM Dilli on 100.1 MHz had been launched especially to carry commentaries of the Commonwealth Games, and the channel has been shut down.

    Indo-Bangla Treaty

    India and Bangladesh agreed in 2010 to exchange programmes through their respective radio and TV organisations and provide facilities for visiting radio and TV persons in each other’s country associated with the development of broadcasting.
     
    The two countries will also exchange two journalists each including those engaged in dissemination of Government information. This followed the signing of a Cultural Exchange Programme for 2010-2012 to promote cooperation in the fields of art and culture, youth affairs and sports, and mass media.

  • The tough task of building a non-tabloid news channel in India -NewsX Co-promoter & Editor-in-Chief Jehangir Pocha

    The tough task of building a non-tabloid news channel in India -NewsX Co-promoter & Editor-in-Chief Jehangir Pocha

    Nothing worth doing is easy, and building a genuine, non-tabloid news channel in India is certainly worth doing. But it‘s clearly very difficult.

    It‘s widely put out that the problem is the viewer. It‘s posited that he (and it‘s almost always considered to be a “he”) is of only average intelligence, attracted by gaudy sets, sensational presenters, cluttered screens, and animation that is more animated than a Korean video game.

    Yet, at NewsX, we have seen our viewership and appreciation for our non-tabloid content swell significantly. Shows like Art Talk, the only one of its type that no one would have thought of as a TRP driver, are sometimes the most watched shows of the week! Our reporting from Kashmir, Naxal areas, and bomb blast sites often get more viewers than other channels‘ Bollywood shows. In fact, on weekends, when other channels load up on entertainment, lifestyle and sports, our news bulletins and shows score so well we‘re almost always one of the most-watched news channels.
     
    The fact is that viewers (men and women) are desperate for real, non-sensational, non-tabloid news channels, and a very sizable segment of them are rapidly evolving in their taste, knowledge and interests. One can see this in Bollywood, where these new viewers drive the success of films, such as Peepli Live.

    But it is the broadcast industry itself, with its many distortions, that puts barriers in the way of reaching these viewers and consolidating them.

    This is especially problematic for new entrants.

    The biggest problem is distribution. The cost of distributing a new channel is prohibitive, and the monopolistic nature of distribution means new channels have limited leverage. There is also no incentive for distributors to want to encourage and develop new channels, as their limited carriage bandwidth is already overloaded.

    In fact, too many distributors do the opposite – work with established channels to hinder new ones. Sad. And bad for democracy. A more enlightened approach, that could benefit everyone, would be to introduce digitisation, and end the artificial scarcity in distribution by creating limitless bandwidth. This would grow the entire industry, from the number of broadcasters, to the revenue of distributors, and the quantum of advertising. Yet, the government and industry leaders are failing at this.

    The faults of the Tam system are also well established, but again, the inaction on fixes is worrying. There is always a vested interest in the status quo, but isn‘t there now more advertiser, agency, public and broadcaster interest in revamping and refining Tam? As it is, the final ratings for English news channels is determined every week by just 5 to 7 individuals! They‘re among the most powerful people in the country, except they don‘t know it.

    Tam is like a microscope – when inefficient, it can vaguely show only huge items, or bundles of viewers. This was acceptable when there were only a handful of channels with huge viewership. But the TV industry is now much more fragmented. So there is a need for Tam to become efficient and more clearly show smaller bundles of viewers. Company marketing heads and CEOs I have spoken to all know this. They all have this gnawing feeling that they‘re not necessarily spending their advertising budgets well and not getting the best bang for their buck.

    That‘s one reason India is one of the only countries in the world where print is still heavily favoured by advertisers. There‘s just a greater comfort factor with print, and its substantially better metrics and measurements. So, if anyone wants to grow TV advertising, they should know reforming Tam is the key.
     

  • Music channels face uncertainty

    Music channels face uncertainty

    Year 2010 saw major changes in the music and youth TV channel genre. Firstly, the space got further cluttered with the launch of a new player – Mastiii. Secondly, at least three channels – MTV, UTV Bindass and 9XM – were fighting week-on-week to know who is first among the equals. And thirdly, the focus of the channels shifted – some went for pure music and others for pure youth.

    The 13-odd channels in the genre (as per Tam) are locked in a rat race. From January –December 2010, in the C&S 15+ age group of Hindi speaking Market (HSM), MTV and 9XM were leading the pack with a 14 per cent average market share. UTV Bindass was, however, in hot pursuit with 13.9 per cent.

    To add on to the fierce competition, Sri Adhikari Brothers’ Mastiii, which launched in July, quickly climbed and captured a good 12.6 per cent average share.

    Meanwhile, Channel [V], Zoom (Bollywood and lifestyle channel), B4U Music, ETC and E24 (Bollywood news channel), which Tam puts in the same genre, followed with 9.1 per cent, 8.8 per cent, 7.7 per cent, 6.5 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively of the overall pie.

    The also rans include Zing, Imagine Showbiz and Vh1.

    The question remains: How the music and youth channels will survive with such competition? Industry pundits peg the whole pie between Rs 2.5–3 billion yearly and believe the market is small while the players are too many. Some say that the music space has undergone tremendous transformation and today they all have the more or less same generic content – be it music or reality shows.

    But how true is it? Answers Channel [V] EVP and GM Prem Kamath, “TV is not the primary medium for music anymore as it is available everywhere. More importantly, the greatest monetisation in television comes from differentiation. The biggest limitation of the music television model has been that there is no scope whatsoever in differentiating the content of one channel from another. Every channel has access to the same pool of music and, hence, very little differentiates one channel from another.”

    And to counter this situation, Channel [V] has cut down its reliance on music drastically. The channel airs music only between 7-10 am band, which is a prime slot for music channels.

    However, at the same time, pure play music channels – 9XM and Mastiii – are doing great so far as ratings go. What is their success mantra?

    9XM programming head Amar Tidke says, “It’s all about how you package your content. Yes, you have to break through the clutter and for that we have animated characters.”

    Tidke believes that other “youth channels” have diluted the music proposition. And on the point that music is skewed towards Bollywood only, Tidke strongly replies that it is wholesome music. “Bollywood music contains all the forms of music including romantic, sad, sufi, bhajans, etc. So it is wrong to say that we are neglecting other forms of music,” he says.

    And while Channel [V] and Bindass are youth channels, through and through, MTV, the long standing undisputed leader of the genre, changed its positioning twice in the year.

    While MTV continued cutting down its music content to 20 per cent, in the later part of the year it backtracked and increased it to 50 per cent. Some rival channels executives believe the step taken by MTV is rather unfortunate. “The channel has lost its positioning. It had a head start with cult shows like Roadies. But they have spent a lot and the latest seasons of the shows did not perform well. The high cost may have been a reason behind going back,” one senior executive on condition of anonymity said.

    However, MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy said that the channel has adopted a new “Raw” identity. “MTV as a brand is much bigger than a TV channel,” Swamy said. “We felt that a good combination of music and reality is necessary, so we have increased the music content.”

    However, experts believe that pure music channels 9XM and Mastiii are forcing the older music channels to relook on their music content. “MTV and Channel [V] had taken steps to reduce their music content as they repositioned themselves as youth brand channels. MTV could now be trying to play a fine balance between their reality and music content,” says a media tracker.

    Meanwhile, on the reality content front, MTV’s reign is shaking as UTV Bindass has succeeded with bold homegrown reality shows like Emotional Attyachaar and Dadagiri. And Channel [V] also is upping the ante with new reality shows.

    Also, as per ad sales executives, a pure play music channel can have a revenue upside of Rs 600-650 million, if it leads the genre and buying music is not expensive. And that precisely is the opportunity Sri Adhikari Brothers’ saw while launching Mastiii.

    As might be the case with MTV, the reality content doesn’t come cheap. It increases your cost significantly, while results are not always that great. So is it not safe to play pure music? Kamath disagrees. “Music is very easy form of content to put on a channel, but then there is a limit to grow. Moreover, many pure play music channels are getting good ratings from retro songs, which are not sampled by youth,” he says. Channel [V] claims of targeting youth in the 15-34 year segment.

    Meanwhile, the year 2010 saw a slight increase in the whole genre, presumably because of the launch of a new channel and the combined effort of other channels to market their shows.

    However, 2011 will be a tougher year for the players. There is one more new player in Sony Entertainment waiting for licence to launch its music channel – Sony Mix. Imagine Showbiz has also changed ownership and is now in the hands of Anil Ambani. So wait for more uncertainty in the genre.