ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • 3 ‘Cs’ lord over politics on news channels

    MUMBAI: Talk to any Hindi news channel honcho today and s/he will invariably tell you that what drives viewership are the three ‘Cs’ – cricket, cinema and crime – not politics.

    Affirmation of that can be seen in a new study by the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies, which shows news channels have undergone a radical transformation, whereby the news has not only changed in its definition and content, but also in the manner in which it is presented. A rise in comedy and reality shows; the emergence and establishment of trivia in news; and most significantly, the end of political news dominance; this is the face of the news channels today, the study says.

    Click to see graph in full scale
    The research indicates that TV news today is no longer political, but has become more augmented, with sports, entertainment, and crime stories being an integral part of the news in bulletins. It is not surprising then that a decrease in the number of political stories has coincided with a rise in the number of sports, entertainment, crime and human interest stories.

    According to CMS Media Lab, the time spent on political news in the year 2007 has come down by more than 50 per cent, as compared to 2005 (from 23.1 per cent in 2005 to 10.09 per cent in 2007), and the sports, entertainment, crime and human interest news have more than doubled (from 27.9 per cent in 2005 to 53.1 per cent in 2007). At the same time, agriculture, education, health and environment news have not seen any net change; their coverage has been as insignificant in 2007as earlier (see graph).

    The rise of trivia in news is what has made channels like India TV and Star News market leaders today, the report argues. Their success with stories of ghost hunting, celebrity tracking, has prompted other channels to follow suite, CMS Media Lab avers. Star News also introduced another successful experiment of integrating Bollywood and cricket in the prime time slot, a move that helped end Aaj Tak’s reign at the top.

    The study also finds that locations from where news is presented have also undergone change. Instead of the field, studio discussions (graphics, dramatization, features) and live footage have become integral to news today.

    2007 has been a year of experimentation for the news channels; with respect to content (incorporating reality shows, comic programmes etc), style, presentation and some channels even experimenting with new names (like Janmat becoming Live India) and a new fleet of presenters.

    With the national news channel space already heavily competitive and cluttered, 2007 saw the entry of new city/region specific news channels in the market. For the coming year, the battleground will be the regional space, the report predicts. 

  • Indian Soldier NDTV Indian of the Year, Pachauri Global Indian 2007

    NEW DELHI: The NDTV Indian of the Year 2007, cutting across all categories, went to the Indian Soldier, with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh handing over the trophy to the Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor, looked on by one of the oldest surviving Param Vir Chakra awardee and also the widow of an Indian soldier.

    A visibly moved Singh said that the Indian soldier embodies all the core values that are enshrined in the constitution of the country.

    Singh, who himself got the special award for the politician category, which was given away by NDTV chief Dr Prannoy Roy, said he was an accidental politician who did not often sleep well because the responsibility of doing anything that would affect the lives of a billion-plus Indians was indeed a heavy one.

    R K Pachauri, who heads the global panel on climate change, won the Global Indian of the Year, beating the likes of Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and K P Singh of DLF.

    The Indian of the Year for music went to, predictably, A R Rehman, who was unable to attend the ceremony but sent a pre-recorded acceptance speech, while Shahrukh Khan won the a special award and his Tamil counterpart Rajnikanth won the Best Entertainer of the Year.

    The best business person of the year was given away to Mukesh Ambani by Finance Minister P Chidambaram who, asked what he was doing by way of the coming budget, quipped, “Do away with all taxes,” and after a short pause, added, “appropriate all incomes!”

    Ambani, on his acceptance, said that the PM must be congratulated for his endeavour of taking to economy to benefit the rural community with his outlook of “inclusive growth.”

    Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was honoured with the Indian Leader of the Year award who most inspired the country in 2007. Kalam, asked by Barkha Dutt what he would do if he were to revisit the presidency, said, “I would electrify the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President’s House) with solar power.”

    Incidentally, the Indian Soldier also won the Best Unsung Hero of the Year.

  • BBC World, Ministry of Tourism to host Spirit of Golf 2008

    MUMBAI: BBC World, the BBC’s international 24-hour news and information channel, in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, is all set to host the “Spirit of Golf 2008” tournament on 19 January in New Delhi.

    Participants will include corporate and political leaders competing for prizes and the honour of winning the tournament.

    BBC Worldwide advertising sales director Jonathan Howlett says, “BBC World is to host the event for the third consecutive year. Surveys show us that BBC World viewers are even more interested in golf than viewers to sports channels.”

    Ministry of Tourism joint secretary Leena Nandan said, “Golf infrastructure and facilities in India are among the finest in the world, and we hope that initiatives like this will help us make golf tourism an attractive option for people across the globe.”

    Sri Lankan Airlines, ITC Welcome Group, Samsung Mobile, Visit Britain, The Mayfair, Celtic Manor Ryder Cup and ACP Rail will sponsor the event while Tiger Sports Marketing will manage the event.

  • Star News forays into merchandising; launches books

    MUMBAI: Star News is foraying into merchandising. As part of its merchandising and brand extension, Star News, in association with Star India Licensing and Merchandising division, has launched three books that predict the future of 2008.

    This partnership between Star India Licensing and Merchandising and Star News will develop a line of publishing products based on the popular shows, under its Star Publishing initiative.

    MCCS VP marketing Yogesh Manwani said, “This is our first venture in the merchandising business. We will be soon rolling out some more products to extend our brand.”

    “This is yet another first-of-its-kind initiative in Hindi news television by MCCS along with the licensing and merchandising expertise of Star India. And there are more such initiatives in the pipeline,” he added.

    The three books launched by Star News include Tarot 2008, Astrology 2008 and Numerology 2008. The books are based on the show Teen Deviyaan that forecasts fortunes using three different clairvoyant methods.

    Tarot 2008 is written by Munisha Khatwani; Astrology 2008 by Meera Mahajan, and Numerology 2008 by Shelly Gupta. The books are being distributed by Prakash Books India Private Limited.

    The book contains predictions for 2008 based on the individual predictive method. Viewers can refer to the book for queries or questions and get an opinion on their stars.

    Star Licensing and Merchandising is the newly formed division of Star India Pvt. Ltd. and is involved in the business of development of Star intellectual property with partners across categories. Besides books on Star News shows, Star Publishing is also creating several titles on shows across the network including novels, comics, cookery, travel, style guides, children’s books and others. Yet another brand launched by the division is Star Parivaar, a brand that targets women offering a range of apparel, accessories, home and lifestyle products.

  • NDTV to telecast DD-supported documentaries

    NEW DELHI: Many channels owe their origins or at least their talent to Doordarshan. Prannoy Roy began his television innings in a weekly programme on Doordarshan. Now, NDTV headed by him is to become the first privately-owned channel to screen films made by the Prasar Bharati-supported Public Service Broadcasting Trust.

    The Trust (SSBT) and New Delhi Television (NDTV) have entered into a significant partnership for the promotion of documentary and reality films. PSBT’s films are already being telecast on Doordarshan every week and at numerous national and international fora. They will now be telecast each month on NDTV’s flagship channel NDTV 24×7 as part of the NDTV series ‘Documentary 24×7’, every Thursday at 21:30 hrs and repeated on Sundays at 0130 hrs. 

    According to a PSBT spokesperson, the partnership provides an ideal platform for the exploration of myriad issues that these documentaries deal with and for enhancing the viewership of powerful and insightful content. The effort will go a long way in creating and encouraging a public culture of documentary appreciation and engagement. 

    Renowned filmmaker and PSBT Chairperson Adoor Gopalakrishnan said: “We welcome exposure for the excellent films produced by PSBT on a private commercial channel. With the terrible decline in the standards of commercial television, this is a very praiseworthy effort by NDTV. Our films are produced by independent filmmakers, most of them young, partially funded by Doordarshan. The future for public broadcasting lies in efforts such as these that demonstrate the potential of public-private partnerships”.

    Two PSBT films have been telecast on NDTV over the last month: Spot the Difference by Vivek Mohan, which documents the everyday lived similarities of a Chinese and Tibetan family despite underlying political differences, and Sharira by Ein Lall which explores the life of Chandralekha, an extraordinary and celebrated dancer and the interconnections between body, movement, sexuality, sensuality and spirituality.

    PSBT is a non-profit trust that represents the confluence of energies to foster a shared public culture of broadcasting that is exciting and cutting edge. PSBT’s pioneering work revolves around the creation of independent films that are socially responsive and representative of democratic values. It seeks to situate a new vocabulary and activism at the very heart of broadcasting in India and this endeavour will open up new spaces for engagement with the form and content of documentary films in the mainstream public media.

  • NDTV to announce Indian of the Year awards

    MUMBAI: NDTV will announce the winners of “Indian of the Year” on 17 January at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi. The awards are conferred to people who have helped in building “Brand India” while excelling in their fields of expertise.


    Leading personalities and opinion-makers including PM Dr Manmohan Singh, LK Advani, P Chidambaram, PR Dasmunshi, Kamal Nath, Mani Shankar Aiyer, KG Balakrishnan, Praful Patel, Sheila Dixit and Murli Deora, among many others, are expected to grace the event.



    This year, the awards have been divided into seven categories. The nominations are:



    • Leader – APJ Abdul Kalam; Prakash Karat; Manmohan Singh; L K Advani and Mayawati


    • Sports – Vishwanathan Anand; M S Dhoni; Biachung Bhutia and Sania Mirza


    • Cinema – Shahrukh Khan; Rajnikanth; Shilpa Shetty; the Chak De girls and Himesh Reshammiya


    • Global Indian – Indira Nooyi; Arun Sarin; R K Pachauri and Mira Nair


    • Business – Tulsi Tanti; Kumaramangalam Birla; K P Singh; Azim Premji and Mukesh Ambani


    • Music – Vishal and Shekhar; Sukhwinder Singh; Pritam and Metro band; Sunidhi Chauhan and A R Rehman


    • Unsung Heroes – Irom Sharmila; Auto Raja and Indian Soldiers


    The winners of the ‘Indian of the Year‘ are chosen through a multi-layered process. The NDTV editorial board starts the process by shortlisting nominees in each category before making them public. Once the nominations are made public, votes are invited through SMS polls, online votes, opinion polls and TV shows. The results are assessed by Ernst & Young, the auditors and validators for the awards. Finally, the jury selects its favourites.


    The awards jury comprises eminent personalities including Mark Tully, Kiran Karnik, Shobha De, Shyam Benegal, Shekhar Gupta, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Ramachandra Guha, Justice JS Verma, Justice Leila Seth, and former ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan.


    NDTV Chairman Prannoy Roy said, “The NDTV Indian of the Year award has recognised excellence and contribution by Indians in various facets of our society that has strengthened the foundation of our nation. We have received a massively encouraging response so far, and we hope the final awards will celebrate accomplishments across fields.”

  • BBC World Service invites audience to help create interactive drama

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service’s weekday magazine programme Outlook is doing an interactive drama collaboration that asks listeners to help create a play – Kim’s Game – to be broadcast in the World Drama slot on 16 February.

    The idea is that Outlook listeners will steer the writer Jonathan Myerson in his scripting of the full 60-minute play.

    In Kim’s Game, a young woman walks into a London police station with no idea of who she is or how she got there.

    She goes on Outlook to explain her predicament on air and to ask if anyone out there knows her. Her plea appears online as a blog, with pictures of the objects that she has with her – which include a key and two photos.

    She calls herself Kim – after the game in which listeners have to look at objects on a tray and then remember them when they are removed. Meanwhile, she tries to regain her memory. What does the key open? Who is the young man in the photo, which seems to have been torn in half?

    Listeners are invited to post comments identifying the pictures or the key, suggesting who the young woman might be and what might have happened to her. Each day, she will learn more about herself from the listeners.

    When other clues turn up, Outlook’s listeners are invited to contribute. Perhaps there is a song she can’t get out of her head? What does it mean? Perhaps the door which can be opened by the key is found – what lies behind it?

    Finally, the young woman discovers something that raises big questions about how she came to be where she is.

  • Vir Sanghvi exiting INX News

    MUMBAI: The rumours have been floating for a while of rumblings within Indrani and Peter Mukerjea’s news broadcast arm INX News Pvt Ltd. It can now be confirmed that Vir Sanghvi, CEO of INX News and editorial head of the group’s upcoming news channel News X, is on his way out of the company.

    As for who might be replacing Sanghvi, while no confirmation was available from the company at the time of filing this report, the buzz is that the head of a leading Hindi news channel might be taking charge in due course.

    Details are awaited…

  • News broadcasters look to finalise content code before month-end

    NEW DELHI: With growing pressure following the infamous Uma Khurana sting operation, broadcasters are working towards finalising their Content Code before the end of this month, and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has convened a meeting early next week to discuss the issue.

    The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has already indicated to the information and broadcasting ministry that it will finalise its Code by the end of January. 

    The ministry is itself under a direction from the Delhi High Court to give its views on the status of an attempt to bring in a regulation. In a decision given last month, the High Court, while responding to a set of PILs, had asked the ministry to come with its response within ten weeks.

    Accordingly, the ministry has called a meeting of stakeholders in the second half of this month to take their inputs, an official said.

    According to an IBF official, a preliminary draft is ready but will be subjected to threadbare discussion at the Mumbai meeting following which a final version may be drafted to be submitted to the ministry.

    NBA claims it has already formulated its own code and a grievance redressal mechanism and handed over the draft to senior advocate and former solicitor general of India Harish Salve, who is helping the association in the preparation of the code. ”Since, we deal with the news and current affairs, our issues are very different. The IBF is drafting a code relating to entertainment programmes which would require different parameters,” an NBA official said.

    The Editors Guild is also working on a model code and a self-regulation mechanism.

    The government had prepared a Content Code with the help of various stakeholders and even placed it on the Ministry’s website mib.nic.in for comments and fixed a final date of 5 August, 2007 for this purpose, but met with stiff resistance. 

    The fake sting operation resulted in the Courts intervening and the ministry stepping up pressure for some regulation in the broadcasting sector, even as the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill remains in cold storage.

  • Al Jazeera English in pact with Hong Kong Cable

    MUMBAI: News channel Al Jazeera English has announced a new deal with one of Asia’s leading cable operators, Hong Kong Cable for the channel to broadcast in Hong Kong. Al Jazeera will debut on Hong Kong Cable on 16 January 2008, and will be carried as Channel 34 on the platform.

    The channel claims to reach over 100 million households worldwide. Al Jazeera English says that it is dedicated to building its presence across Asia to give viewers access to its content. The channel’s editorial mission to transform global news is supported in Asia by its Kuala Lumpur Broadcast Centre, dozens of Asian bureaus and correspondents that include household names such as news anchors Veronica Pedrosa and Teymoor Nabili.

    Hong Kong Cable executive director Benjamin Tong says, ” News has always been our flagship programme and the addition of Al Jazeera will further enhance the width and depth of our news service with the channel’s unique content and perspective. I have little doubt that the channel will be welcomed by our viewers.” Al Jazeera English also has a dedicated page on YouTube.

    Al Jazeera Network’s director of global distribution Phil Lawrie said, “We are excited about reaching a sizeable new audience in this important market and working with an established and industry-leading partner. This agreement underlines the importance of the Asian region to our next phase of growth, and we are looking forward to a long and highly successful relationship with Hong Kong Cable.”