ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • TV Today Q4 net dips 40% to Rs 81.2 million

    MUMBAI: TV Today Network has posted a standalone net profit of Rs 81.22 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2009, down 39.92 per cent from Rs 135.1 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.


    During the period, the company’s revenue came down by 15.78 per cent to Rs 536.92 million, as against Rs 637.53 million in the year ago period.


    TV Today Network’s expense has increased in the quarter to stand at Rs 531.80 million (from Rs 493.7 million).


    Advertisement, marketing and distribution cost has increased from Rs 137.92 million to Rs 168.55 million.


    For the entire year ended 31 March 2009, TV Today Network’s net profit has slumped 23 per cent to Rs 335.59 million, from Rs 435.5 million in the year ago period.


    However, the topline has grown marginally to Rs 2.5 billion as against Rs 2.31 billion last year.

  • Leji Koshy leaves Big Cinemas to join Sadhna News as sales head

    MUMBAI: Big Cinemas national sales head Leji Koshy has left the organisation. He will be joining Sadhna News as its national sales head from 25 June.


    Confirming the news, Koshy said that he had left Big Cinemas some time ago. “In a sense I was not happy because I had nothing much on my shoulders,” he added.


    Koshy is joining Sadhna News at a time when it is planning to expand in the regional news genre particularly in the Hindi belt.


    Said Sadhna Media Executive Director Prabhat Dabral, “Yes, Koshy will be joining us soon. He will be operating as the national sales head of all news channels of Sadhna media that include the ones in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkand.”


    Sadhna News will soon be telecast in UP and Uttarakhand.


    Koshy had earlier worked for The Times of India, India Today, Sahara TV and Sab.


    “It’s great getting back to television,” Koshy exclaims.

  • FIFA World Cup Mania on CNN-IBN, IBN7 & IBN Lokmat

    FIFA World Cup Mania on CNN-IBN, IBN7 & IBN Lokmat

    NEW DELHI: CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN Lokmat have lined up an exciting programming line-up to capture the latest happenings and the action from the football field during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

    The special programming A Beautiful Game on CNN-IBN and Goal on IBN7 will provide a 360 degree perspective of the tournament. A panel of experts will add their analytical perspective to the game through special preview and review shows of each match played and an indepth examination of the players’ performance in the tournament. The experts include renowned former Moroccan football player and India’s No.1 football coach, Karim Bencherifa and the country’s top football analyst and commentator Novy Kapadia. They will provide the viewers with all the vital highlights and analysis of the matches and cover all aspects of FIFA World Cup 2010.

    On IBN Lokmat, the special programming Kick Football Chi with Sunandan Lele, Consultant Editor, IBN Lokmat will consist of daily bulletins focusing on match reviews and previews. While the morning bulletins will focus on reviewing the matches which have been played, the evening bulletin will examine the various teams’ preparations for the matches ahead.

    During the tournament, CNN-IBN and IBN7 will take a comprehensive look at the entire tournament with match reviews and previews, profiles, in-depth analysis and panel discussions. While on IBN7, Senior Anchor Darain Shahidi will be seen in conversation with Novy Kapadia who will provide viewers with rare insights into the game; on CNN-IBN, host Sanjeeb Mukherjea along with Novy Kapadia, Karim Bencherifa and some of the celebrity football fans will discuss the teams’ performances and strategies for the important matches. The special programming on the channels will go on-air as per the following schedule

    On CNN-IBN, there will be a special one hour show focusing on who could win the FIFA World Cup at 7:00PM (with repeat telecast at 10:00 pm) on 10 June. The programming will also include a one and half hour special on 11 June at 6.00 pm. This interactive programme will lead up to the kick off of the FIFA World Cup 2010 at 7:30 PM IST and will bring live feeds from CNN-IBN correspondents across the country as they interact with soccer fans in the build up to the inauguration of the tournament. Additionally the programme will also feature reactions from football fans across the globe as they prepare to launch themselves into FIFA Fever. The daily programming will be telecast at 7.30 am, 7.30 pm and 10.30 pm till the tournament ends.

    On IBN7, daily programming will be telecast at 8 am and 6.30 pm throughout the tournament and on IBN Lokmat, the programming will go on air at 7.30 am (with a repeat at 11.30 am) and 6.30 pm during the length of the tournament.

  • CNBC-TV18 launches new series with Nandan Nilekani

    CNBC-TV18 launches new series with Nandan Nilekani

    MUMBAI: CNBC TV18 is launching a special weekly series Imagining India & Nandan Nilekani from 13 June. The show will air every Saturday at 10 pm and on Sundays at 7 pm.

    The show marks Nilekani, following on his bestselling book ‘Imagining India,’ as guest anchor with CNBC TV18 executive editor Shereen Bhan.

    The pair will be joined by guests from a gamut of fields including business leaders, venture capitalists, economists, writers, sociologists and thought leaders to discuss issues ranging from Indian infrastructure to globalisation and India, the Indian demographic dividend to primary education and more.

    Some of the guests are Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej, author Sanjeev Sanyal, Feedback Ventures chairman Vinayak Chaterjee, HT Media chairperson Shobhana Bhartia, scriptwriter Jaideep Sahni (Chak De India and Khosla Ka Ghosla), Future Group chief economist and strategist Roopa Purshottam and sociologist and author Dipankar Gupta.

    CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz VP marketing Neel Chowdhury said, “Nilekani is clearly a visionary leader, as was evident from the success of his book. We’re happy that India’s sharpest minds chose CNBC TV18 as a platform to debate the most powerful ideas that can change the course of the nation. We hope that this series will be an important reference point for policy makers and all stakeholders in the journey to collectively realise India’s dream of a successful and stable future.”

  • IBN7 to launch daily news analysis show ‘Agenda’

    IBN7 to launch daily news analysis show ‘Agenda’

    MUMBAI: Hindi news channel IBN7 is set to launch a new analysis-based daily show Agenda every Monday to Friday at 8.30 pm, starting 8 June.

    Hosted by IBN7 managing editor Ashutosh, the show will pick one issue from everyday news, which has the potential to impact the entire nation and change the society. It will highlight and discuss that biggest news issue of the day and will look at the agenda that matters most to people through debates and discussions involving a panel of experts.

    The experts will discuss the topic and bring in their own perspective and value judgment. The show will look at each topic from a historical perspective, analysing its underlying factors and will debate its present day relevance and trajectory.

    Ashutosh said, “Agenda will look at one key issue that affects a common man and its impact on their lives. The show is an attempt to give viewers a real sense of the issues prevailing in the society. We are confident that the show’s hard-hitting style, comprehensive information and innovative packaging will be appreciated by the audience.”

  • NewsX launches ‘At Stumps’ with Farokh Engineer for T20 World Cup

    NewsX launches ‘At Stumps’ with Farokh Engineer for T20 World Cup

    MUMBAI: NewsX, the Indi Media owned HDTV-ready English news channel, has launched At Stumps, a cricket based show that will focus on airing news, views and analysis of the ICC World T20.

    The show will present former India cricketer and expert Farokh Engineer, live from England.

    NewsX marketing director Gautam Mukerjea said, “At NewsX, we bring to our viewers one of the most comprehensive coverage from the world of sports. With At Stumps, we will be taking this to another level. As the appeal for T20 cricket pans across segments, genres and demographics, At Stumps will have special interactive programming segments for the viewers which will give them an opportunity to be on live television.

    “We are also delighted to have Engineer as an expert with us from England as his experience, knowledge and expertise of the game will be a value addition for our viewers,” he added.

    The show will provide a first hand report of the tournament and will be a chat-driven show with studio guests.

    Furthermore, it will also have special features like a SMS contest wherein the viewers will be asked to send a question to the studio experts and the best question will give the viewers an opportunity to be on TV. Another new feature, ‘the strategist’, the cerebral component of the show, will analyse one particular ploy in the day’s play that was successful. This could be a change in the batting order by the captain or a field change or rotating his players.

    The show will also have informative segments like maximum sixes and boundaries, graphical scoreboard, man of the match and player of the day among others.

  • BBC sees audience boost for its news

    BBC sees audience boost for its news

    MUMBAI: The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced that its Global News division attracts a record weekly global audience of 238 million people to its international news services including BBC World Service and the BBC World News television channel.

    Last year BBC’s audience totalled 233 million. BBC World Service attracted a record weekly audience of 188 million. This figure was boosted by its new BBC Arabic television channel but masked an overall decline in radio listening which was down five million to 177 million in 2008/9. However, despite this loss, BBC World Service remains the world’s most popular international radio broadcaster.

    The largest overseas audiences for BBC news across all platforms come from Nigeria (26 million), the USA (24.1 million) and India (22.2 million). The biggest increases in the BBC’s global audience estimate came from Arab-speaking countries like Saudi Arabia (+1.9 million), Egypt (+1.3 million), and Syria (+1 million), and newly-surveyed markets like Niger (+2.4 million), Liberia (+1.1 million) and Guinea (+1.4 million). However, radio audiences in Iran dropped by 1.6 million due to a decline in shortwave listening there and the cutting of medium wave transmissions.

    Major development and enhancement of the BBC’s international facing news sites and mobile phone offer was rewarded with a record 16 million unique online users, a 27 per cent increase on last year.

    BBC Global News director Richard Sambrook said, “In a year when international radio listening to the BBC actually went down marginally, record overall global audiences demonstrate the success of our multimedia strategy and investments.

    “People come to the BBC’s international news services for journalism and ask difficult questions, yet they respect different points of view and actively encourages debate. Increasingly, audiences want access at a time and place that suits them.”

  • TV18 stalls plans of Gujarati and south language biz news channels

    TV18 stalls plans of Gujarati and south language biz news channels

    MUMBAI: TV18 has stalled its plans to launch three regional business news channels and will wait till the economic downturn reverses before it revives its growth plans in this space, a source tells Indiantelevision.com.

    TV18 is looking at launching a Gujarati and a south-language business news channel. The plan is also on to launch another regional business news channel, the language of which is kept under wraps.

    “We will launch these channels only when the market improves,” says the source.

    CNBC TV18 South will be a single channel that will beam out business news in all the four southern languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

    TV18 believes that there is potential to grow its business by making strategic investments, both through organic and inorganic routes, in regional and local language news channels.

    TV18 is planning to raise Rs 5.1 billion through rights issue, out of which Rs 3 billion will be utilised towards repaying debt and Rs 300 million on the Forbes project. The company will also invest Rs 450 million for subscribing to the rights issue of Infomedia.

  • TV18 earmarks Rs 3 bn for debt repayment and Rs 300 mn in Forbes project

    TV18 earmarks Rs 3 bn for debt repayment and Rs 300 mn in Forbes project

    MUMBAI: Television 18 India Ltd (TV18) will be utilising Rs 3 billion out of the proposed Rs 5.1 billion rights issue for repayment of debt, while Rs 300 million will be towards commercialising the ventures with Forbes Media.
    TV18, which houses the business news channels CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz and financial and news terminal Newswire18, will also use Rs 450 million from the net proceeds to subscribe to the proposed rights issue of Infomedia. Having filed with Sebi, Infomedia aims to raise Rs 1 billion from the rights issue. TV18 has directly acquired a 3.63 per cent equity in Infomedia and its subsidiary I-Ven holds 62.05 stake of the paid-up equity capital of Infomedia. TV18 proposes to consolidate its interest and hold a direct stake of 43.38 per cent in Infomedia.

    The company plans to put in Rs 350 million towards acquisitions and other strategic initiatives in the media and allied sector. TV18‘s growth plan involves expanding its product and service offerings, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.

    A further Rs 750 million will be used towards general corporate purposes to drive its business growth. Since Rs 250 million has been earmarked towards the issue expenses, TV18 will be left with net proceeds of Rs 4.85 billion from its rights issue.

    For the English business magazine project, group company digital18 Media Private Ltd has entered into a license agreement with Forbes Media LLC (dated 24 October 2008). Additionally, the company is seeking to enter into a separate 50:50 joint venture agreement with Forbes to operate an India specific business website using the Forbes brand name and content. The investments may include subscribing to share capital in entities operating the Forbes related business ventures, including digital18, capital expenditures, if any, and payment of royalties to Forbes.

    TV18 will not use proceeds from the rights issue for meeting its working capital requirements.

  • NDTV 24X7 to air special documentaries on environment

    NDTV 24X7 to air special documentaries on environment

    MUMBAI: NDTV 24X7 has lined up three environment based documentaries to air in the wake of World Environment Day on 5 June.

    Under its Documentary 24X7, the English news channel claims to take viewers through the stretches across the south of our planet, assist them to witness the most unique animals and help to observe the plight of the endangered sharks.

    On 31 May at 1 pm, the channel will air Shores of Silence, a film by Mike Pandey. It documents the Indian coast that house the largest concentration of whale sharks in the world. An alarmingly high number (independent studies put it at 600) is slaughtered every year. The film brings to light the massacre of the fish. The Green Oscar-winning film galvanised global attention to the largest and the gentlest fish in the ocean – the whale sharks.

    At 1.25 pm, the channel will air Timeless Traveller-The Horseshoe Crab, a film by Gautam Pandey. It shows the endangered species Horseshoe Crab, which is one of the most unique animals. It emerged from the oceans 562 million years ago and has survived unchanged. If the situation is not carefully managed, the risk of adversely affecting the horseshoe crab population becomes a certainty.

    On 7 June at 1 pm, NDTV 24X7 will air Antartica: The White desert by Damon Foster. It takes viewers through white wilderness stretched across the south of our planet; a giant natural laboratory that has long occupied the human psyche. Antarctica is a continent of remote natural wonder. For brief moments each year, this hauntingly beautiful landscape opens up, beckoning scientists and explorers from around the world to investigate its frozen secrets.

    The films take viewers on a visual adventure into this mysterious continent, introducing them to a team of scientists, researchers and explorers who have braved the inhospitable continent in the quest to learn its secrets.