ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • BBC Worldwide profits up 24 per cent to £111 million

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC, has published its Annual Review for 2006-07. Profits are up 24 per cent to £111.1 million. It recorded sales of £810.4 million including BBC Worldwide’s share of joint ventures (2005-06: £785.1m).

    The proportion of sales to outside the UK was up by five per cent year on year to 46 per cent. Investment in BBC-commissioned programmes was also up at £96.3 million from £89 million in 2005/06, with total programme investment at £103.6m.

    Highlights of the year include continued strong profits growth, healthy international sales of hit shows and formats around the world, the refreshing of the company’s wholly owned channel portfolio and laying the foundations for strong digital revenue growth.

    BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith says, “BBC Worldwide has achieved a three-fold increase in profits in the last three years. We have exceeded expectations in most of our businesses over the past 12 months, reflecting healthy returns from our new Channels business, strong TV catalogue sales and growing demand internationally for BBC formats. We are now investing to build our digital offering and strengthen our position in markets such as the US, China, India and Australia, creating one of the world’s premier content networks.”

    BBC Worldwide non-executive chairman Etienne de Villiers says, “BBC Worldwide has reached a watershed. It has proven capable of delivering against a demanding business plan with commercial efficiency; it now is poised to grow significantly with new product lines and in exciting markets.”

    BBC DG Mark Thompson says, “BBC Worldwide continues to deliver excellent returns for licence payers from the content they help fund us to make. Its success is increasingly critical to our ability to invest in original creative programming for audiences in the UK, and the company is playing major part in taking those programmes out to the rest of the world.”

    Global Channels recorded sales of £169 million and profit of £20.9 million. 28 channels are available in over 259 million homes around the world, broadcasting in 15 different languages. New BBC-branded channel portfolio was developed. These are BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle, CBeebies and BBC HD.

    BBC Entertainment replaced BBC Prime in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. It launched in India earlier this year together with the pre-school brand, CBeebies.

    Global Channels joined forces with the distribution and ad sales teams from BBC World allowing the teams to present a single face to market for all six BBC-branded channels. UKTV, the joint venture with Virgin Media, had a good year with its Sky carriage deal being renewed, commercial audiences growing by 18 per cent and an ad sales performance above the market average.

    BBC Worldwide recorded global TV sales of £216.4 million and profit of £40.2 million. BBC Worldwide TV sales and content and production revenue broadly accounted for 38 per cent of total UK TV exports last year (compared to 32 per cent the previous year).

    The year’s most successful new titles included Doctor Who, Robin Hood, Torchwood, Life on Mars, 9/11 – The Twin Towers and Planet Earth. The latter was viewed in 95 countries and territories and grossing in excess of £22m in global sales to date.

    Sales to Europe (ex-UK) were up by 23 per cent from £46.5 million to £57.1 million, aided by a country by country analysis of market tastes and tailored sales strategy.

    Sales to the Americas were up by 17.2 per cent but profits were impacted by a high proportion of co-production deals on which BBC Worldwide makes lower margins and the US dollar weakening against sterling.

    In the rest of the world profits were up 26.9 per cent although the strong pound had some impact on results. The BBC’s first ever co-production with China was secured – Wild China with CCTV. In Australia drama was a particularly powerful revenue driver.

    The key event of the year remains BBC Showcase. This, BBC Worldwide says, is the world’s largest trade event hosted by a single distributor. In February 2007, the event boasted 600 hours of new content and attracted over 550 buyers from all over the world. BBC Worldwide’s catalogue now includes 2000 hours of programming available for digital distribution and over 220 hours of High Definition content.

    BBC Worldwide’s FM radio joint venture with Mid Day Multimedia Ltd saw the re-launch of the radio station in Mumbai, plus new stations launching in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

    In the Content and Production division sales were £52.9 million. Profit was £9.5 million. Growth was driven by the success of Dancing with the Stars, a hit in over 41 countries. Existing formats continued to deliver, such as Weakest Link in France, Friends Like These and The Generation Game in South Africa, and It Takes Two and Honey We’re Killing the Kids in Australia and New Zealand.

    Just the Two of Us became the first BBC entertainment format to be licensed to a Chinese broadcaster (Hunan TV). In Australia, where it plays as It Takes Two, a second series launched in 2007. The format has also been licensed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Russia, Croatia and the Ukraine. A joint venture deal was announced with Australian independent producer, the Freehand Group. A worldwide network of local production offices was planned. BBC Worldwide is also developing loveearth.com, a natural history portal to support the launch of Earth the movie in autumn 2007/08.

    Magazines sales were £171.3 million and the profit was £20 million. The firm says that the magazines division performed well in a flat market, growing its circulation revenues and increasing its share of advertising revenues. One in four UK adults reads a BBC title every month. The year’s best-performing magazines were Top Gear, Good Food, Doctor Who Adventures and CBeebies Weekly in terms of circulation growth. Subscriptions across portfolio now up to 650,000. International licences up to 33 across 57 territories.

    Worldwide Media, a JV with the Times of India, secured licence to publish Hello! in India in May. Magazine websites bbcgoodfood.com and radiotimes.com were improved and relaunched. Countryfile magazine will be launched later this year.

    Losses in children magazines (previously a stand-alone business) continued and the business was moved into Home Entertainment where it can benefit from the combined management expertise in publishing and licensing. Sales from merchandising licences grew to almost £9 million (highest level for five years); Doctor Who was the fastest-growing licence in the UK children’s market in 2006.

    Digital media sales were £13.9 million. The division concluded a series of video on demand (VOD), web distribution and mobile deals around the world. New VoD customers included Netflix in the US and Telstra Big Pond in Australia. Investments went into key propositions bbc.com and the commercial media player. Digital Media is now responsible for the delivery of new websites or the re-launches of existing sites across all areas of BBC Worldwide.

    A global content agreement was announced with YouTube in March. Four million videos were viewed on the BBCW channel on YouTube in its first month of operation. New mobile clients included mobile operators TU Media in Asia, Vodafone’s New Zealand network and the 3 network in Ireland. BBC Motion Gallery, which is BBC Worldwide’s TV clip sales business, announced a clip distribution deal with China’s state broadcaster, CCTV.

  • NDTV inks distribution deal with BT for UK, US

    MUMBAI: British Telecom’s (BT) media and broadcast division has inked an agreement with news broadcaster NDTV to be its global network supplier. This will enable the distribution of NTDV to the pay TV platforms BSkyB and DirecTV in the UK and US respectively. This is part of NDTV’s global growth strategy. BT will carry the live NDTV news bulletins to multiple platforms on its state of art network specially rolled out for television and media companies.

    BT GM, client management Asia Pacific and EMEA Deepakjit Singh Chatrath said, “We are indeed excited about fuelling a certain part of NDTV’s global growth plans. This is indeed an excellent opportunity for BT to showcase its network especially in terms of resiliency, security and a round the clock global service. We are confident of building this relationship as a benchmark for today’s broadcast industry.”

    BT presently down links the signal at UK from the PAS 10 satellite, and then carries it over its Media – IP network to BskyB’s platform in UK. This also includes bringing the signal to the BT Tower and making it fit for the U.S. viewer and then transporting the signal to the DirecTV platform in Los Angeles for it to be broadcasted over the DirecTV’s US platform. BT also takes care of repurposing the formats and other services for the US market.

    BT already has implemented the carriage of signal to BskyB platform and to DirecTV is planned for launch by end of July.

    NDTV CTO Rahul Deshpande said, “For today’s broadcasters the big business goal is globalisation. We have chosen BT as it offers a suite of services such as world class security, end to end network monitoring and water-tight service agreements that have been built into BT’s IP network”.

    BT’s Media & Broadcast Media-IP network is the only IP network which can connect the customer to multiple platforms across many countries without getting out of the network.

  • UTV plans business news channel

    MUMBAI: UTV is planning to launch a business news channel, industry sources say. The company has already announced its broadcast initiatives which will kick off with its youth centric Hindi GEC Bindass.

    UTV is in talks with a couple of international broadcasters and financial investors for the business news channel venture, say sources.

    Many foreign broadcasters are eyeing India as an important destination in their expansion plan. Disney’s 24-hour news channel ABC News Now has expressed plans to enter India.

    UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala was not available for comment.

    UTV has already announced plans to launch a slew of eight to 10 channels, including in the niche and variety special genre. Bindass is a 50:50 joint venture with Malaysia-based Astro.

  • BBC’s Asian Network to cover Bollywood

    MUMBAI: BBC’s radio station Asian Network will launch on 16 June its flagship weekend Bollywood show, Love Bollywood.

    Passionate and irreverent in style, Saturday’s four-hour show will focus on the latest Bollywood releases and star interviews, and Sunday’s four-hour show will bring you the industry hits – classic and new – that shape the world’s biggest film industry.

    This new show will be completely interactive and listeners will take centre stage in its production.

    Sheetal Parmar who is the show’s producer says, “Love Bollywood is an in-depth look at Bollywood films, the stars and the industry, but for the first time, it’ll be predominantly about the audience and their experience of it.

    “Many British Asians have been brought up with Bollywood and it’s a part of their cultural make-up whether they like it or not! The audience will decide what we discuss and listen to through message boards, phone-ins and an exclusive ‘rant line’.

    “It’ll give back to them what they want and more – for example industry-related issues like new media moguls who are diversifying the cultural background of Bollywood, which means we’re seeing more gutsy and culturally challenging films. It’s ambitious and bold, and very exciting to be able to produce something like this.”

    Bollywood “it boys” Raj and Pablo will be presenting on Saturday, whilst Asian Network and Zee TV’s Murtz will present on Sunday with BBC Radio 1’s Rajini Vaidynathan.

    Raj and Pablo, who currently present Film Café, say: “We are over the moon to be presenting the BBC’s Love Bollywood. One of the most exciting and innovative things about our new show is that not only are we going to be interacting with the movie makers, stars, producers and directors but also the listeners. We’ll also be part of a new exciting and dynamic team and all four of us will get the opportunity to present with each other.”

    Vaidynathan says, “People might think it’s a bit odd me doing this with a background from News, but anyone who knows me will know I’m mad about Bollywood, just like most British Asians who’ve been brought up on a diet of Bollywood films. I’m really happy to be involved with something so different, and to be able to indulge in a guilty pleasure.”

  • Star adds Marathi news channel, eyes more

    MUMBAI: Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS), the joint venture between Star and ABP Group, has decided to roll out a slew of regional news channels ahead of an English news channel launch.

    The company is launching the Marathi-language news channel, Star Majha (My Star), on 22 June. MCCS already operates Star News and Star Ananda in Hindi and Bengali.

    “We are going to launch more news channels in the regional space as they are mass-based. We, however, haven’t yet firmed up our plans on the markets we are going to launch next,” says MCCS vice president Barun Das.

    Star Majha’s tag line is ‘Open your eyes, Look closely’. There will also be an official website for the channel, www.starmajha.com.

    The news channel will initially be free to air (FTA). With 17 bureaus spread all over Maharasthra, Star Majha will leverage the strengths of Star News for national content and the Fox and Sky network for international news.

    The youngest sibling in the bouquet will stay with the image of being a “people’s” channel. It will focus on issues and not just events with the core target audience in the age group between 22-35 years.

    The channel will have a “Maharashtra-centric” approach and highlight the “modern and new outlook of every Marathi.” It will cover a variety of shows on politics, sports, entertainment, culture, education, career, real estate, religion, yoga, astrology and lifestyle.

    Commenting on the requirement of another news channel in the already cluttered market, Das has this to offer. “Hindi news channel viewership has doubled over last year, which clearly indicates that there is huge appetite for news. It does not create fatigue unlike the general entertainment channels. The definition of news is also changing. Anything that is relevant and contemporary is news and even news shows on saas-bahu serials in the afternoon slot is almost like a prime time band.” 

    Says Star India CEO Uday Shankar, “Maharashtra is at the forefront of reshaping the Indian society and economy and Star Majha is a new age channel for the new age Maharashtrian. Given the pattern of growing demand the launch of a specialized Marathi news channel of this nature is a natural requirement for the region.”

    The Marathi news space is going to see a flood of launches including TV 18 Group which has signed a joint venture with Lokmat Group, and Hyderabad-based TV9. Early this year, Zee launched 24 Tas.

  • Clearances to TV proposals after review of FDI rules

    MUMBAI: Applications for starting around ten news television channels have been referred to the Finance ministry for veracity of their claims about foreign investment.

    While sources in both Information and Broadcasting and Finance ministries insisted that such reference to the sister ministry was made every time a proposal came for any venture with a foreign component, it was clarified by the Finance ministry that the rules pertaining to foreign direct investment were being reviewed and the proposals would be cleared after this was completed.
    But Finance ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com that an announcement about the changed and simplified rules was expected shortly.

    I&B ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com that this will not mean any further delay in clearing various applications pending with it for licences to start new television channels.

    Finance ministry sources said the relevant files had been referred to the Foreign Institutions Unit (FIU) which would refer them to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) after examination.

    The examination by the Finance ministry becomes important in view of the overall cap of 26 per cent on foreign direct investment. The specific purpose would also be to examine the ownership pattern of the channels as the government regulations say that the ownership of a channel uplinking from within the country has to be Indian irrespective of the FDI investment.

    Proposals of 71 private satellite channels from 52 different companies awaiting permission as on April 30 to uplink from within the country were at different stages of scrutiny, which included clearances from other ministries.

    The Uplinking Guidelines issued in November 2005 prescribe two categories of channels: news and current affairs, or non-news and current affairs.

    Meanwhile, a total of 222 private satellite television channels have been permitted to uplink from India as on April 30 apart from six channels uplinked from abroad which have been permitted to downlink in India. In addition to this, 54 foreign TV channels have been provisionally permitted to downlink in India.

    Ministry sources said only 25 of the proposals are in the non-news category – some relating to music – while the balance are in the news category.

    The highest number of proposals – seven – is from three companies linked to the NDTV group. There are four proposals each from ZEE Telefilms, BAG Films group, and the TV 18 group, and three each from Malar Network, Maa TV Network, and STV Enterprises. Two proposals have come from the INX group. The rest of the proposals are from companies wanting to beam single channels. 

    One proposal for two channels from Raj TV Network has been pending since May 2005. While 23 proposals were sent in during 2006, the rest were all made this year.

  • Govt. to consider separate content code for news broadcasters

    NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry today agreed to consider a suggestion that news channels should not be guided by the content code drawn up for broadcasters. The code is to be put up on the website of the ministry by 1 July.

    A meeting of officials of the ministry chaired by Secretary Asha Swarup today agreed to examine the need for a separate code for news channels.

    The News Broadcasters Association said that the system of Channel Auditor under the proposed content code may not work in the case of news channels where speed is of the essence.

    The officials examined the various suggestions received and shortlisted those which could be incorporated. The process of incorporating these will take a few days after which it will again be examined by the Secretary before being put on the website www.mib.nic.in.

    Though some of the broadcasters feel imposition of a code amounts to policing and infringement of their freedom, the ministry is said to be clear that the only way the proposed Broadcast Services Regulation Bill can be implemented is through the content code.

    After the final meeting of the Committee headed by Swarup on 1 June, it had been generally agreed that those members who wanted to give any further suggestions could do so by 15 June after which the final draft would be put up in the ministry website for people to send in their reactions.

    I&B ministry sources today told Indiantelevision.com that most of the suggestions received from representatives of women’s organizations and NGOs were being incorporated. After the code is put on the website, there will be some meetings with broadcasters who have expressed strong reservations, and also a seminar wherein eminent citizens and stakeholders would be asked to give their views.

    Broadcasters have objected to the procedure for redressal of complaints among other provisions. The code as drawn up stipulates a three-step procedure for self-regulation and redressal of complaints alleging violation of the programme or advertising codes.

    The first forum to hear the complaints would be a Content Auditor at the level of the programme/service providers. In case a complaint is not suitably redressed, then it will go to the next stage – respective Consumers’ Complaints Committees set up at the industry-segment level organizations.

    The third and final stage would be the Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India proposed in the comprehensive Broadcast Bill to be introduced in Parliament in the monsoon session.

    Broadcasters have also expressed reservations about the provision in the draft Code that ‘the Chief Editor of the channel, by whatever designation he is known in the broadcast service producer, shall be responsible for the final decision to accept or modify the guidance given by the Content Auditor/s, and to schedule and broadcast the programme.’ They feel that whatever is broadcast should be seen as a corporate matter and not that relating to the Editor alone.

    Some of the suggestions sought to be incorporated relate to making the nature of violations more specific, particularly with regard to portrayal of women, showing of violence and the role of children in the serials and other programmes including news bulletins.

    The meeting today was attended among others by P N Vasanti from the Centre for Media Studies who along with her colleague Prawin Kumar prepared the draft Code.

    The ministry is understood to have rejected the view that there is no need for a separate ‘U/A’ (Under the Supervision of an Adult) category and this should be merged in the category ‘U’ (Universal) as far as certification of films was concerned.

    The Code as drafted stipulates that films certified as ‘U’ or ‘S’ (Specialized) can be telecast at any time. Films certified as ‘U/A’ can be shown between 8 pm and 4 pm, while films for ‘A’ (adult) audiences should only be telecast between 11 pm to 4 am.

  • CNN-IBN joins hands with The Telegraph to present ‘Lal Salaam at 30’

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN has joined hands with The Telegraph to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Left Front rule in West Bengal through a number of special stories Lal Salaam at 30, an opinion poll and a panel discussion on the various facets and developments that have taken place under the Left Front rule since 1977.

    CNN-IBN and The Telegraph alliance will entail exercising the editorial and marketing synergies between the organisations. The publication will carry regular stories reflecting the mood of the people as revealed through the opinion poll and special debate conducted by CNN-IBN.

    As part of the celebration, the channel will air a one-hour special panel discussion and opinion poll results on the Left front governance on 21 June at 9:30 pm.

    The opinion poll and special debate being conducted as a part of the series are aimed at providing an analysis of the state’s Left Front administration. The panel discussion, held in Kolkata will reveal the findings of the opinion poll conducted by AC Nielsen on various aspects of the Left Front regime in West Bengal that has persisted, for the last three decades.

    The poll attempts to answer questions relating to the state government’s performance.

    Speaking on the tie-up CNN-IBN and IBN 7 director marketing and online projects Dilip Venkatraman said, “CNN-IBN in joining hands with The Telegraph and the Ananda Bazaar Patrika Group of publications has created a powerful alliance to bring viewers and readers a short, but riveting series analysing the Left Front government’s performance since the past 30 years. I am confident this partnership will prove beneficial to all parties and pave the way for other such endeavours in the future.”

    “This partnership has meant the merging of both editorial and marketing resources between the media brands, which has translated into in-depth coverage on the left front rule in the state on the occasion of their 30th anniversary. We are delighted to have worked with CNN-IBN on this initiative,” added The Telegraph president Amitabha Datta.

    “To complete 30 years of rule in a single state is by no means a small feat. Lal Salaam at 30 is our recognition of this milestone while simultaneously analysing the corollary of the same,” said CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

  • Plagiarism case: Bombay HC raps CNN-IBN

    NEW DELHI: In a landmark final order in the case between Urmi Juvekar Chiang Vs Global Broadcasting Network and others, the Bombay High Court yesterday ruled that CNN-IBN has breached the confidentiality of Chiang and violated her copyright.

    The court also reprimanded CNN-IBN editor Rajdeep Sardesai for stating in the court that he did not know that one of his team, Ramchandran Srinivasan, had been talking to Chiang about her proposed TV reality show.

    The court, in its ruling, stated: “The claim of the Defendants that they have conceived in-house programme “Summer Showdown” around March-April 2007 as a reality show comprising families in metros dealing with problems related to summer, even if accepted, does not take the matter any further.

    “For, the Defendants have eventually come out with the programme which departs from the theme of the title ‘Summer Showdown’ but is ascribable to the theme of the programme of the Plaintiff titled ‘Work in Progress’.”

    In fact, the court underscored a similar order of the Delhi High Court, which had said that if protection is not granted in such cases to the persons whose original work is violated thus, it would be “catastrophic for the television industry”.

    The channel had countered Chiang’s claim that its show (Summer Showdown) was based on Chiang’s original literary piece for a proposed reality show (Work in Progress), by stating that theirs was not a reality show, but the court said that this statement did not fit the facts.

    CNN-IBN had been advertising in its website, stating that Summer Showdown was indeed their new reality show, and this was given in evidence to the court by Chiang, whose plaint the court upheld on all counts.

  • GBN, Lokmat in JV to launch Marathi news channel

    MUMBAI:Global Broadcast News Limited (GBN), a TV18 group company, has entered into an equal joint venture with the Lokmat group to launch a 24-hour Marathi language news and current affairs channel.

    Indiantelevision.com was the first to report that GBN would foray into the regional news space and would partner with a media company to launch a Marathi news channel.
    The Lokmat Group are the owners of Lokmat which is a widely circulated newspaper in Maharashtra, and other publications including Lokmat Times and Lokmat Samachar.

    “The launch of the Marathi channel is a continuation of the growth momentum gained by GBN since its launch and is in line with the company’s strategy of becoming an integrated media platform both nationally and regionally,” says TV 18 group MD Raghav Bahl.

    Adds GBN joint MD Sameer Manchanda, “We see the regional language space powering the next phase of growth in the Indian television industry. Our partnership with Lokmat will be driven by these opportunities and also be in line with our quest to transform into a full play media house.

    Commenting on the joint venture, Lokmat group chairman Vijay Darda has this to offer. “The joint-venture will combine GBN’s world class standards with Lokmat’s reach and understanding of the Marathi mind. Lokmat already owns the Marathi space due to its intimate connectivity with the Marathi heartland over the last three decades and this relationship will further expand and strengthen this base.”

    Already in the Marathi news space is Zee’s 24 Taas while Star is planning a launch soon.