ITV

Category: GECs

  • Zee Nung relaunched as FTA channel in Thailand

    BALI (Indonesia): It was in 2014 that Zee TV announced the launch of its Thai channel Zee Nung on the CTH pay-TV platform as part of its movie pack. But then came September 2016 and the pay TV operator shuttered its operations following the huge losses it ran up.

    Last month, Zee TV launched its Thai service as a free-to-air (FTA) channel. Speaking at APOS in Bali last week, Zee TV international broadcast business CEO Amit Goenka announced that the group had relaunched the Zee Nung as a free to air (FTA) channel as the group sees a larger opportunity in reaching a wider audience.

    “The FTA Zee Nung is already available in 12 million homes in Thailand,” he revealed.

    Goenka pointed out that Zee Nung has been transformed from being a movie-led channel to a hybrid one showing both , movies and TV series, dubbed in Thai.

    “This year, we will start doing local productions based on our non-fiction formats like dance reality,” he said.

    The network had earlier announced the licensing of its dance show “Dance India Dance” format to the local channel JKN Media. “It’s strategy we follow. We first syndicate and license our content, and then we get into our own branding and branded products in those markets,” stated Goenka.

    Zee Nung in its new avatar is being beamed off a Thaicom 6 (located at 78.5 degrees east) C-band transponder as a FTA service.

    Also Read :

    ZEEL takes Bollywood movie channel to Latam

    Zee TV enters Poland, strengthens position in Central Europe

    Zee buys Rajini 2.0’s three-language satellite rights for Rs 110 cr

  • Live audience engagement: Colors premieres ‘India Banega Manch’ on Sunday

    MUMBAI: No judges. No votes. The street is the stage and all you need to do is win the crowd. After tasting success with Rising Star, Colors is ready to take live audience engagement to newer heights with Opp Camera phone presents India Banega Manch – the Indian version of the successful Israeli format, Win the Crowd.

    Moving away from the confines of a studio and celebrity judges, India Banega Manch, hosted by Krushna Abhishek and Mona Singh, will empower live on-ground audience to select ‘hunarbaazs’ (skilled talent) who possess the capability to stun the crowd within five minutes of their performance.

    Shot at iconic locations like Red Fort and Delhi Haat in New Delhi, Juhu Beach and Kala Ghoda in Mumbai, and New Market and Princep Ghat in Kolkata to name a few, India Banega Manch will make the streets every hunarbaaz’s playground. Their score, calculated basis the number of people whose attention they’re able to grab through their performance, will earn every location’s top performer a spot on the Jeet Ki Seat. India Banega Manch, produced by BBC Worldwide Entertainment, will bring power-packed talent and performances to television screens starting 7 May 2017, every Saturday and Sunday at 9:00 PM on Colors.

    Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, “Following the success of Rising Star, we are taking our belief in the audiences’ ability to choose extraordinary talent to the next level with India Banega Manch. We are proud to bring to our viewers another pathbreaking show which has been shot live on the streets, sans any stage, judges or votes. Keshet International is the format owner of this concept which we thought was apt for a market like India which has exceptional talent hidden in every nook and cranny.”

    Adding further, he said “Oppo Camera phone is on board as the Presenting Sponsor. Our continued association highlights the branding synergies that we are able to draw jointly leveraging our respective business objectives and goals.”

    Elaborating on the format, Manisha Sharma, Programming Head – Colors said, “India Banega Manch is a show that viewers have never experienced before. The sets for the show are the arenas of iconic and historical locations like Red Fort, India Gate and Connaught Place in Delhi, New Market and Princep Ghat in Kolkata. The talent has to ensure that they attract the busy people around them with their performances, and force them to stand and watch despite the summer heat; audiences have stepped out in large numbers. Given the scales that viewers are used to, it was very challenging yet exciting for our teams to shoot with hidden cameras. Talent was also a little taken aback to perform in these locations. Even our anchors, Krushna Abhishek and Mona Singh, will be in an avatar unlike ever before. We’re certain that it’s this uniqueness which will make India Banega Manch a truly first-of-its-kind proposition.”

    Commenting on the scale of India Banega Manch, Myleeta Aga, SVP & GM South East Asia and South Asia at BBC Worldwide said, “We are glad to be working once again with the team at Colors to bring this uniquely democratic series to Indian audiences. Contestants will get to showcase their talent and be judged by the crowd they attract. We hope to continue to bring many more novel concepts and formats that truly represent India to our audiences.”

    Abhishek said, “The format of the show defies traditions while welcoming a new wave of talent which connects with the masses and wins their hearts.” Adding further, host Mona Singh said, “While I have hosted TV shows in the past, nothing comes close to the thrill and excitement connected to India Banega Manch. There is a different kind of energy that percolates the environment when the talent is performing live in front of audiences. We’ve shot in multiple locations so far, and the response from the viewers has been spectacular.”

    Oppo presents India Banega Manch will see a robust high decibel 360-degree marketing campaign, PAN India, that will effectively leverage all mediums like outdoor, on-air, radio and digital to garner top-of-mind recall amongst viewers. On the digital front, the channel has designed a holistic campaign striving to drive conversations across several social media platform. Activities lined up during the launch phase include a blogger outreach program, and a video contest named ‘Talent Ka Manch’ urging the live audience to share videos of the talent that they have witnessed.

    With hunar taking precedence over the stage, celebrity judges, glitz and glamour, India Banega Manch will uncover the rarest jewels whose talent will make India proud.

  • ‘Mahabharat,’ ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’ &’Naagin’ successful in China, audience longing for more

    MUMBAI: Life is stranger than fiction. Dreams sometimes are more real than reality. Political tiffs between India and China notwithstanding, it’s business as usual and more for the media and entertainment industry. The Indian mythological television dramas like ‘Mahabharat’, ‘Nagin’ and ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’ are turning out to be highly successful with the Chinese audience.

    The Chinese audience is however no stranger to imported content in terms of dramas, especially from countries including the US, South Korea, Japan and the UK. Indian stories are new to them, but they are gaining popularity.

    Yang Buhui, who works in the gaming industry, said that Indian mythology was fascinating. Its philosophy and worldview, which were exotic and had been a wonderful new world to him, PTI quoted the state-run Global Times as reporting. Yang has also been running a volunteer group that provides Chinese subtitles for Indian tele-series.

    She started the group because of her most favourite Indian TV series ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’ (DKDM), which premiered in 2011 and ran a total of 820 episodes. It narrates the stories of Lord Shiva, who is also known as Mahadev.

    Yang said she loved the drama because it’s a key to the world of Indian mythology. Besides, the actors were not only gorgeous, but their acting skills were good.

    Qing Qing, who works in education industry, said she loved the actors so much that she would watch the “raw” episodes – that is, in Hindi language, and not translated or subbed in Chinese yet.

    There was not much translation work done earlier for Indian dramas, and Qing said she had to wait for a long time for the Chinese subtitles. Qing has also enjoyed several Japanese and South Korean dramas in the past, as well as comics and anime, but now she mostly enjoyed Indian dramas the.

    Everybody knew that both India and China are among the greatest ancient civilizations. However, compared to what they know about the countries from the West or other Asian countries such as Japan, what many Chinese know about India is still limited to the simple introductions in textbooks, Qing said and hoped that there would be a huge import of Indian films and dramas in the future.

  • Goodwill impairment at Pictures segment impairs Sony’s income

    BENGALURU: Sony Corporation (Sony) reported a 1.9 percent or ¥5.5 billion decline in consolidated operating income for the fiscal ended 31 March 2017 (FY-17, current year) as compared to FY-16. The company says that this was mainly due to the US$962 million (¥112.1 billion yen) impairment charge of goodwill recorded in the Pictures segment, substantially offset by an improvement in the operating results of the Mobile Communications (MC) segment and an increase in the operating income of the Game & Network Services (G&NS) segment.

    Due to the revision, Sony says that it was determined that the entire amount of goodwill, in the Production & Distribution reporting unit of the Pictures segment, which includes the Motion Pictures business, was impaired and an operating loss was recorded in the Pictures segment, says the company.

    Sony’s Pictures segment is comprised of the Motion Pictures, Television Productions, and Media Networks categories.

    Sales for the Pictures segment decreased 3.7 percent in FY-17 (a 5 percent increase on a U.S. dollar basis) to ¥903.1 billion, primarily due to the impact of the appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar. The increase in sales on a US dollar basis was primarily due to higher sales for Television Productions and Media Networks. Sales for Television Productions increased primarily due to higher subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) licensing revenues. The increase in sales for Media Networks was due to higher advertising and subscription revenues mainly in India, Latin America and the US says the company.

    The Pictures segment’s reported operating loss of ¥80.5 billion, compared to operating income of ¥38.5 billion in the previous fiscal year. This significant deterioration in operating results was primarily due to the above-mentioned 962 million U.S. dollars (¥112.1 billion) impairment charge of goodwill. The operating results for the Pictures segment were also negatively impacted by higher programming and marketing expenses for Media Networks as well as higher theatrical marketing expenses for Motion Pictures.

    Sony’s consolidated sales and operating revenue decreased by 6.2 percent to ¥7,603.3 billion compared to the previous fiscal year’s ¥8,105.7 billion. This decrease was mainly due to the impact of foreign exchange rates says the company.

    Net income attributable to Sony Corporation’s stockholders, which deducts net income attributable to non-controlling interests, decreased ¥74.5 billion to ¥73.3 billion yen in FY-17 from ¥ 147.8 billion in the previous year.

  • Zee Learn PAT more than doubles for FY-17

    BENGALURU: The Essel Group’s core education company Zee Learn Limited (ZLL) reported 2.43 times consolidated profit after tax (PAT) in the year ended 31 March 2017 (FY-17, current year) as compared to the previous year. The company reported consolidated PAT of Rs 36.65 crore (20.5 percent of Total Income from Operations or TIO) in FY-17 as compared to consolidated  PAT of Rs 15.08 crore (10 percent of TIO) in FY-16. ZLL’s consolidated TIO in the current year was Rs 178.91 crore, it was Rs 151.57 crore in FY-16.

    The company’s consolidated simple EBIDTA (excluding other income) in FY-17 grew 44.1 percent to Rs 62.33 crore (34.8 percent EBIDTA margin) from Rs 43.27 crore (28.5 percent EBIDTA margin) in the previous year.

    Board declares dividend

    The ZLL board has recommended a dividend of 5 percent (Re 0.05 per equity share of Re 1 each) for FY-17 for all its equity shareholders subject to approval of its shareholders.

    Segments

    ZLL has two segments – Education; and Construction and Leasing. Education segment reported 15.7 percent growth in operating revenue in FY-17 to Rs 161.17 crore from Rs 139.25 crore in the previous year. The segment reported 69.5 percent growth in operating profit at Rs 48.99 crore in FY-17 as compared to Rs 28.91 crore in FY-16.

    Construction and Leasing segment reported operating 43.8 percent higher revenue of Rs 17.71 crore in FY-17 from Rs 12.32 crore in the previous year. The segment’s operating profit in FY-17 declined 14 percent to Rs 4.36 crore from Rs 5.07 crore in FY-16.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by ZLL for FY-17

    Consolidated Total Expenses in FY-17 increased 6.7 percent to Rs 126.38 crore (70.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 118.49 crore (78.2 percent of TIO) in the previous year. Consolidated Purchase of Education Goods and Television Content increased 3.5 percent in FY-17 to Rs 34.82 crore (19.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 33.65 crore (22.2 percent of TIO).

    Consolidated Employee Benefits Expense in FY-17 declined 0.5 percent to Rs 24.97 crore (14 percent of TIO) from Rs 25.09 crore (16.6 percent of TIO) in FY-16. The company’s Consolidated Selling and marketing expense in the current year was 6.1 percent lower in FY-17 at Rs 19.66 crore (11 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 20.95 crore (13.8 percent of TIO) in the previous year.

    Consolidated Other expense in FY-17 was 57 percent more at Rs 36.58 crore (20.4 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 23.30 crore (15.4 percent of TIO) in FY-16. Consolidated Finance Costs in FY-17 reduced 5 percent to Rs 18.98 crore (10.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 19.98 crore (13.2 percent of TIO) in the previous year.

    Company speak

    ZLL CEO Debashankar Mukhopadhyay said, “Company witnessed consistent growth across all business segments, which strongly underlines the fact that our franchisee and parent’s confidence towards company brands is growing every year. ZLL has invested considerable resources in developing learning insights, student learning materials and e-content for pre-schools and K-12 schools. We closed FY-17 on a new high, with a positive drive and are confident of sustaining this growth. The high demand for the all-new Kidzee 2.0 was overwhelming, as it surpassed all our expectations. With new product introductions coupled with our existing offerings, we are confident that our growth momentum will continue. Qualitative improvements in our network coupled with strong focus on franchisee relationship and availability of varied tailor made children / student specific programs will be pivotal in aiding our planned growth for the future.

    ZLL CFO Umesh Pradhan said, “With rising scale and rationalizing of vendors, the company has prudently managed cost of goods while simultaneously improving quality. We perceive these initiatives as potent operating and profitability margin boosters. The consistency of our performance is the result of managing our business dynamically and executing our strategy with even greater rigour and discipline. Our sustained focus on investing behind brands, sharpening our execution capabilities and driving market development has enabled us to keep winning with consumers in a rapidly changing market.”

    Notes: (1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) The numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.

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    Q2-2016: Zee Learn YoY revenue up 34.9% at Rs 30.70 crore

  • 21st Century Fox outlook on Star bullish despite $30m DeMon hit

    MUMBAI: Though India’s currency demonetisation late last year with ripple effects of currency shortage spilling over in 2017 hit businesses all round, including the likes of Star, its parent 21 Century Fox has pinned high hopes on the OTT platform Hotstar and the overall ability of Star to overcome short-term hiccups because of market dominance.

    Terming the demonisation move of PM Modi-led government in New Delhi a “crazy speed bump” that hit businesses all round, 21st Century Fox  CFO John Nallen, in a conversation with investment analysts at a conference last month, admitted that Star too got “affected” from last quarter 2016 to first quarter 2017 calendar year. He revealed at that time that Star India took a hit of almost $30 million, and the company expects that things would start looking up mid-March 2017 onwards.

    According to Nallen, India would prove to be a major revenue earner for Star and Hotstar in the long term.

    Pointing out that, in the last two years, 20 million TV households were added to the eco-system, which brought the total number of TV households to 180 million (a recent BARC broadcast survey put the total number of Indian TV HHs at 183 million with rural leading the growth), Nallen said, “We are in the middle of a five-year cycle where pay TV households doubled and advertising nearly doubled during that period of time…so when advertising lifts, we get a little more of what the advertising lift and it is because of the company’s (Star) market share and dominance in the market.”

    Nallen was also confident that Star, with its bouquet of regional and sports channels delivered via cable and satellite and complimented by OTT platform Hotstar, will continue to be the jewel in the News Corp crown (a description of Star by 21st Century Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch).

    “The plans of Star TV are still intact. I am assuming that there is no geo-political issue(s) and no economic disruptions…that no one wakes up with some other rule in India that will disrupt the business,” the seasoned CFO observed, adding that Star an important clog in Murdoch’s media empire as it was one of the “biggest growth driver(s)” and the objectives and targets with which the business was set up and operationalised in India were achievable.

    Also Read :

    Star Plus & Sony Pal retain respective leadership, Naagin 2 maintains lead

    How Hindi GEC channels fared in first quarter of 2017

    Star India shows now travel to West Asia, tripling ratings

  • Balaji seeks shareholder nod for consolidation of prod biz

    BENGALURU: In September last year, the Balaji Telefilms Limited (BTL) board had approved the demerger of the film production business of Balaji Motion Pictures Limited (BMPL) and merger of Bolt Media Limited (Bolt) with the company. Both the companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of BTL.

    With these moves, the company seeks to combine similar business interests, improve capital allocation, enhance operational efficiencies, optimise cash flows, consolidate business operations and streamline the group structure.

    BMPL is engaged in the business of production and distribution of motion pictures and films while Bolt is in the business of production of non-fiction, fiction, factual television shows, event management, etc. After the demerger, BMPL will focus on film distribution business, while Bolt is in the same line of business as BTL and its amalgamation with BTL will help in focussed and effective utilisation of production activities.

    The company has called for a court convened meeting of equity shareholders of the companies on 24 May 2017 at The Club, 197, D N Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai. Voting by equity shareholders can be done physically at the court convened meeting at the venue, or by postal ballot or by e-voting.

    Shareholders who have opted for the latter two methods of voting can attend the court convened meeting, but they shall not be allowed to vote at the court convened meeting.

    Also Read :

    Balaji Telefilms to restructure its motion picture business

  • IPL 10 ramps up Sony channels ratings to numero uno position

    BENGALURU: IPL 10 commenced on 5 April 2017. Just three days of the tenth season of the Indian Premier League cricket had catapulted Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited (SPN) Hindi Movies channel Sony max to numero uno postion in the Hindi Movies genre for week 14 of 2017 (Broadcast Audience Research Council of India – BARC ratings for week 14 -Saturday, April 2017 to Friday, 7 April 2017). Further, the cricket extravaganza pushed the channel to second place in terms of ratings across genres in that week. Among the other SPN channels that benefitted was Sony Six in week 14.

    BARC week 15 (Saturday, 8 April 2017 to Friday, 14 April 2017) has been even better for SPN channels. Sony Max was the most watched channel across genres during the week with weekly impressions of 14,29,479 (000s) sums, followed by the Sun Network’s Tamil GEC flagship channel Sun TV with weekly impressions 12,47,460 (000s) sums (BARC Data for Top 10 Channels *Across Genre : All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals).  Star Plus (Hindi GEC), Gemini TV (Telugu GEC), Colors (Hindi GEC), Sony Pal (Hindi GEC) were at third, fourth fifth and sixth spots respectively across genres. The last four places across genres were occupied by Zee TV (Hindi GEC), Rishtey (Hindi GEC), ETV Telugu (Telugu GEC) and Zee Telugu (Telugu GEC) in that order.

    During the preceding weeks of 2017, it was Sun TV which had held pole position with weekly impressions of 12,06,478 (000s) sums in week 14, followed far behind by Sony Max with weekly impressions of 8,53,494 (000s) sums at second place.

    In week 15, Sony Max topped the ratings in Hindi Movies HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, Hindi Movies Rural HSM NCCS All : 2+ Individuals and Hindi Movies Urban HSM NCCS All : 2+ Individuals markets, with IPL matches being the top 5 most watched programmes in these markets.

    In the Hindi Movies market, Sony Max had phenomenal weekly impressions of 13,34,063 (000s) sums, followed far behind by its peer channel Sony Wah which had weekly impressions of 4,27,231 (000s) sums. The Mumbai Indians-Kolkata Knight Riders match was the most watched programme in the genre with impressions of 19,303 (000s) followed by the Mumbai Indians- Sunrisers Hyderabad (The Sun Network owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad team) match with impressions of 18,969 (000s). All the other five most watched programmes in the Hindi Movies market were IPL matches on Sony Max

    Sony Max’s ratings in the Hindi Movies-Rural market – weekly impressions of 6,16,227 (000s) sums. In this market, the Mumbai Indians- Sunrisers Hyderabad was the most watched programme with impressions of 8,828 (000s), while the Mumbai Indians-Kolkata Knight Riders match was the second most watched programme with impressions of 8,231 (000s). All the other five most watched programmes in the Hindi Movies-Rural market were IPL matches on Sony Max.

    Sony Max’s had weekly impressions of 7,17,835 (000s) sums in the Hindi Movies-Urban market. All the top five most watched programmes in this market were IPL matches on Sony Max. Like in the case of the Hindi  Movies market, the Mumbai Indians-Kolkata Knight Riders match was the most watched programme in this market with impressions of 11,071 (000s) followed by the Mumbai Indians- Sunrisers Hyderabad match with impressions of 10,140 (000s).

    In the sports genre, Sony Six was the most watched Sports channel in week 15 with weekly impressions of 4,58,932 (000s) sums followed by an SPN peer channel – Sony ESPN which had weekly impressions of 1,14,119 (000s) sums. The top five programs in the Sports genre were IPL matches on Sony Six– with the Mumbai Indian’s Sunrisers Hyderabad  fixture with Impressions of 7,392 (000s) being the most watched sports programme in week 15.

    Also Read :

    IPL 10 catapults Sony Max to second place across genres

    SPN India-SITI Networks dispute: TDSAT directs SITI to sign SPN RIO agreement (updated)

    IPL Impression: Sony Six & ESPN double, Ten1 & 2 halve

    IPL 2017: The Piracy Conundrum

  • Is Sony Pictures getting a raw deal as studios war over Bond rights?

    MUMBAI: Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, and 20th Century Fox are among the Hollywood studio majors fighting for the rights to distribute ‘Bond 25’. Universal Pictures, Times and Annapurna are also warring for the rights to distribute the forthcoming James Bond movie.

    The rights to all 007 films are owned by EON and MGM, but they only produce the movies and need a distributor to handle the marketing, PTI reported. Sony Pictures was chosen for the job starting with ‘Casino Royale’ in 2006 and continued until 2015 with ‘Spectre’.

    Sony, under its previous agreement, paid 50 per cent of the production costs for ‘Spectre’ — which was around USD 250 million — but only received 25 per cent of certain profits, once costs were recouped, according to a report.

    Sony also shelled out tens of millions of dollars for the sake of marketing and gave MGM a share of the profit from non-Bond films Sony had in its pipeline, including ’22 Jump Street’.

    Now, MGM and EON are allegedly offering a one-film contract only. MGM, which is owned by private equity firms, including Anchorage Capital Partners, probably wants to keep its options open as it considers a public offer or sale, the report added.

  • Zee TV enters Poland, strengthens position in Central Europe

    MUMBAI: With an aim to grow operations by expanding into new markets, leading Indian content company, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) today announced its foray into Poland.

    The company has appointed Pawel Kolasa as the country manager – Poland, and he will report to Zee Network Europe CEO Neeraj Dhingra. The channel will also shortly launch a specially customised version of Zee.One, its dedicated Bollywood film and entertainment channel for the Polish audience.

    ZEEL CEO – international broadcast business Amit Goenka said, “In the past few years, we have focused our efforts on expanding and strengthening our position internationally. With a wide range of television channels, on-line platforms and film productions, we now reach more than one billion viewers across five continents. After the successful launch of Zee.One in Germany last year, we want to further strengthen our presence in Central Europe and Poland is the market with the highest potential in this region.”

    ZEE Network Europe CEO Neeraj Dhingra said, “We are the first Indian media and entertainment conglomerate to enter Poland. We are confident that our entry into this market will play a key role in the development of our business in this part of Europe, giving a new dimension to our company’s expansion keeping in line with our motto of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World is My Family’.”

    “With over 22 years of experience in the television industry, we are confident that Paweł Kolasa would add significant value to our organization through his extensive experience in developing strategic partnerships with key operators of digital platforms and cable networks as well as in B2B marketing. For the past seven years he has managed, created and implemented a distribution strategy for NBCUniversal, achieving success in a highly competitive market. We are pleased to welcome Pawel to the ZEE family and we wish him many successes,” Neeraj further added.

    Kolasa said, “I am extremely excited to be a part of ZEE and lead the organization’s growth in this region. We plan to bring the best of Bollywood to viewers in Poland. Going forward, we will also be looking at creating local Polish productions.”

    Zee.One, a film and entertainment channel, promises to bring top-quality Bollywood content, specially customized for Polish audiences. The channel will feature high-budget movies and series: action films, thrillers, comedies and musicals. The programming line-up will also include lifestyle programs inspired by the rich Indian culture, dedicated to popular topics such as culinary, travel or yoga.

    The channel’s schedule, adapted to the local market, will be created by the Polish team. The channel will launch in Poland later this year.