ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • Action against TV channels for insulting Mahatama Gandhi

    Action against TV channels for insulting Mahatama Gandhi

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: Two Indian news channels IBN-7 and Sahara showing a controversial clip showing Mahatma Gandhi wielding an AK 47 and then doing a modern dance jig aired by a foreign website have earned the ire of the Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.

    The Minister has taken serious exception to the two channels trying to copy the website youtube.com to denigrate Mahatma Gandhi, ‘tantamounting to an assault to the dignity of the Father of the Nation’ according to a press release.

    The Minister has directed the Ministry to give due cognizance to the matter and take necessary action as per law. The Minister wanted the channels to express profound apology to the nation by both the channels in their telecast during prime time today.

    CHANNELS EXPRESS REGRET

    Just hours after the minister’s warning, both the channels went into damage control. “…our intention is not to denigrate the honour of our father of the nation, but to ensure action on the vulgar and cheap act which is available for public view on the website for quite some time,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted a spokesman for Sahara as saying.

    Emphasising that the channel had “immense respect and affection” towards Gandhi, the channel said, “Even then if this news has hurt some of our brethren and countrymen, we from the core of our heart regret it.”

    Taking a similar tack, IBN 7 managing Editor Ashutosh said, “We are equally hurt and disturbed and share the outrage of fellow countrymen. We are clarifying our outrage over the incident to the viewers.”

  • Tourism Australia ties up with BBC for “Peschardt’s People”

    Tourism Australia ties up with BBC for “Peschardt’s People”

    NEW DELHI:Tourism Australia has signed an agreement with BBC World to sponsor the popular series Peschardt’s People, which profiles famous and infamous people in the Asia-Pacific region.

    The deal, announced by the BBC’s 24-hour news and information channel yesterday, covers the channel’s South Asia/Middle East feed and reaches nearly 25 million viewers. It is the first regional sponsorship for the series and provides Tourism Australia with a strong presence in India – considered to be one of its most important tourism markets, a press statement issue by the broadcaster said today.

    Presented by the BBC’s Michael Peschardt, the series provides viewers with a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the lives of some of the most famous and infamous people in the Asia-Pacific region.

    The series is also a perfect fit for Tourism Australia as it has a strong Australian flavour. Michael Peschardt, is a well-respected BBC journalist based in Australia and the series also features several famous Australians. The line up of guests include; former ‘Australian of the Year’ and world-leading plastic surgeon Atticus Fleming; Narayana Murthy – one of India’s most respected business leaders; New Zealand actor, Sam Neill and cricketing legend Rod March.

    Michael spends an average of three days with each of his guests, interviewing them about the people, places, and issues that really matter to them, in a relaxed and informal style, encouraging them to open up and talk sincerely and passionately about their lives.

    BBC World’s VP of sales for Asia and Australasia, Sunita Rajan, says: “We are delighted to have Tourism Australia showcase their destination message on BBC World. BBC World is the leading international news channel in India, and the country is now one of the world’s largest democracies and its influential and affluent individuals are travelling more than ever.”She said also that the fact that BBC World was voted as the leading television channel for travellers two years in a row also makes this the perfect environment for Tourism Australia to launch its campaign in.

  • CNN IBN discusses India’s icons

    MUMBAI: As the first among the many events marking the occasion of selecting the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year, a panel discussion, ‘Search for India’s icons’, was organised at the Taj Lands End in Mumbai on January 17, 2006. This riveting round-table meet was moderated by Rajdeep Sardesai and involved active participation by a panel comprising of Uday Kotak, Milind Deora, Shobha De, Prasoon Joshi, Flavia Agnes and Michael Ferreira, each an outstanding Indian and an expert in a different discipline. The focus of the panel discussion was on the qualities necessary in an individual to qualify him/her as a proud symbol of India and how their accomplishments might resonate not only within national borders, but internationally as well.

    Elaborating on the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Awards CNN-IBN and IBN 7 Editor-in-Chief, Rajdeep Sardesai said, ‘CNN-IBN is very proud of instituting such a title and is making all efforts to make sure only the most deserving candidates are short listed. This interactive panel discussion has been one such initiative. I would like to thank the eminent panellists, the guests and the media for making this evening a success and bringing us one step closer to selecting the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year.’

    ‘The panel discussion has proved to be a great platform to showcase the proud sponsors of the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year award. Such an event has provided them with ample visibility and will definitely prove beneficial to anyone who chooses to advertise with us. We look forward to welcoming advertisers to other such events in the future.’ CNN-IBN and IBN 7 National Sales Head Sanjay Dua

    The event, which will also be held in Bangalore, is aimed to enrich the experience of selecting that one superlative candidate as the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year. The evening began with a brief presentation by Rajdeep Sardesai on the inspiration behind such a prestigious awards title and the four-tiered selection process involved.

  • Vijay TV brings ‘KBC’ in Tamil

    Vijay TV brings ‘KBC’ in Tamil

    MUMBAI: Now you can catch King Khan mouthing the words ‘Vanakkam; neengal parthukondu irupadhu Kaun Banega Crorepathi’. Star Plus’ Kaun Banega Crorepati will be dubbed in Tamil and telecast on Vijay TV for its Tamil viewers starting 23rd January.

    Auditions for the dubbing artistes on the show are on in full swing. The search for SRK’s Tamil dubbing artiste is also to be finalised, a company release sates.

    Says Vijay TV general manager Ravinath Menon, “The question promos are on high rotation on Vijay TV giving Tamil viewers equal opportunity to be part of the show. We hope, in this season, we will see more Tamil viewers get into the hot seat with Shah Rukh and play for the highest prize money. We are also planning different interactive plug-ins around the Tamil version to make it more interesting to Vijay viewers.”

    The show starts 23 January and will be telecast from Tuesday to Friday at 7pm, a time band that was popularized by the channel’s successful show Swamy Iyappan. Advertising clients lining up include Airtel, Hyundai, Motorola, KRBL, HDFC Standard Life, Univercell and Cadbury.

    The release quotes Univercell Telecommunications managing director Satish Babu as saying, “KBC and SRK are two big brands with immense popularity; more so as Shahrukh Khan takes on the role of the Big B, the expectations and interest levels are that much higher; especially among the youth. Vijay TV with its differentiated and innovative programming is the right platform for Univercell to be a part of.”

    KBC will be supported by an extensive on ground campaign spread across various media; with hoardings in Chennai and a road show in three cities; Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. Specially designed KBC merchandise will be distributed to its active audience during the road activity.

  • Radio Mirchi to launch Ghosle Ki Khoj on 13 January

    Radio Mirchi to launch Ghosle Ki Khoj on 13 January

    MUMBAI: To help Delhiites zero in on a perfect dream home, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM is launching a new show Ghosle Ki Khoj beginning 13 January.

    The new show Ghosle Ki Khoj will be aired every Friday and Saturday on Bumper to Bumper between 5 pm to 6:30 pm. During this time, the Radio Mirchi RJ’s Pooja or Nitin will visit a different property site / flat each day with a property expert. The show would be hosted by RJ Naved Khan.

    Commenting about the launch, Radio Mirchi station head Kanwarbir Singh said, “Property is a booming sector in Delhi today and a show like this would give us a listener connect since there are many people who would be interested in knowing about properties.”

    Talking about the promotional tie-ups, Singh added, “There would be a few segments which would be sponsered. The sponser could either be a Bank which deals in home loans or someone related to the business.”

    According to other sources, the sponsors could be anyone like a Cement company or even a furniture brand but there won’t be any sponsors from the real estate industry. Gaur Sons and Orange County are the two main clients, amongst others.

    The first episode airing on 13 January would cover Gaur Homes Elegante at Govindpuram, Ghaziabad. Following episodes would be around Noida and Indirapuram and then further afield to destinations like Gurgaon.

    Talking about whether there would be an interactive session for listeners Singh added, “At present there is no such session, we are waiting for the audience response first and if it all works out well, then we keep all options open.”

    Sometime in February there would be a special on Weekend Destination, which would cover places away from the city, in route to Haridwar, Jaipur, Meerut and more, Singh said.

    The RJ will share their experiences with the listeners while exploring the places. He will address important questions like the time taken for them to reach the destination, how far the place is from important market places, availability of proper infrastructure, public utilities and other basic amenities like availability of water, electricity, parking, etc.

    The RJ will also provide insights about the neighbourhood. He would speak to the residents or would be residents in the area and to the estate owners or builders about the rates and other applicable charges. The entire interaction will help the listener get an insight of the place he / she wants to invest in or buy.

  • CNN International head Chris Cramer announces retirement

    CNN International head Chris Cramer announces retirement

    MUMBAI: Chris Cramer, who has headed CNN International’s operations for the last 11 years, is retiring effective 31 March.

    “I shall be saying farewell over the next few months in Atlanta, London and Hong Kong and hope we can raise a glass somewhere along the way,” the CNNI managing director said Wednesday in an e-mail to staffers across the globe.

    “In April I will have been at the helm of CNN International for 11 years — and I believe it’s time to retire from the company and look for the next challenge.

    “2006 was a record year for the international services, record distribution for CNNI and CNN en Espanol, and record revenues for all of our overseas businesses, including CNNI.com. Each unit is now profitable. It was also a fabulous year for our global journalism with accolades and awards for staff and services alike. Thankfully we also managed to keep our folks safe wherever they were working and led the industry in safety and training for all those who work in the field.”

    Cramer joined CNN in 1996 from BBC, where he had worked for 25 years, five of them as head of newsgathering.

    CNN is still to name Cramer’s successor.

  • 50 mn TV shows, two billion songs sold on iTunes

    50 mn TV shows, two billion songs sold on iTunes

    MUMBAI: Computer major Apple has announced that more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from its online iTunes Store

     
    Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs says, “iTunes has crossed another major milestone by selling over two billion songs—with over a billion of them sold in the last year alone—making it by far the world’s most popular music store. By selling 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies to date, iTunes is already the largest online video store in the world as well.”

     
    The iTunes Store now features over four million songs, 250 feature films, 350 television shows and over 100,000 podcasts. iTunes has just added more than 100 movies from Paramount Pictures priced at $9.99. They include School of Rock, The Italian Job, Mean Girls and Zoolander.

  • Weekend Programming: Under the Scanner

    Weekends are for going out. That was the belief until English news channels decided to go all out and woo the viewer with feature shows of every colour and hue. Formats and strategies were discussed, anchors were roped in and the packaging spruced up.

    Tune in to your favourite news channel this weekend though and you might just notice a few changes.

    Indiantelevision.com decided to take an industry stock of weekend programming on English news channels and see whether it‘s on the wane.

    Shows going off air
    (Courtesy:www.timesnow.tv)

    Times Now, jumped into the English news fray with a clear cut strategy to target urban viewers with their weekend programming. Urban specific news and weekend programming were touted as their ‘differentiators’. Celebrity interviews, talk shows, a traveling cookery show all packed with big names from theatre and television like Lillette Dubey and Kunal Vijaykar,Times Now weekend programming promised its viewers a variety fare.

    Completing a year this January, many of the channel’s weekend shows like Life’s Like That, By invitation Only, Line of Duty have gone off the channel radar although the channel insists that its only taking a break.

    Times Now vice president and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami says, “Every feature show has a shelf life. Many of the shows like Line of Duty are canned and therefore it’s necessary to take a break. All our shows are a value addition on the channel and continue to be so.”

    (Courtesy:www.timesnow.tv)

    When asked if news channels in general are looking at a pullback in weekend programming in favour of more news bulletins, Goswami opines that “the channel has a good mix of both and while some shows may have gone off air, two new shows- High Life and Take a Break have been introduced.”

    What’s replaced them is a slew of one-off shows, either as half hour features or festive specials. In fact, this has been a trend across many other news channels as well. The cost of production for a feature show may be one of the reasons why many of them now opt for shorter series.

    Also, most news networks now have dedicated channels for English and Hindi general news and business news. This means that weekend programming across these channels have their own specific audiences. You are more likely to catch business features on the business channel. That would allow more space for news and news based programming on the general news channels. Both NDTV and TV18 network with focused channels for general news and business are likely examples.

    Jai Jawan features on NDTV 24/7 and NDTV India
    (Courtesy:www.ndtv.com)

    NDTV managing editor Barkha Dutt explains that while weekend programming remains a very strong genre and there isn’t a decline unless “a big breaking news or event takes over. I don’t think any full length feature shows are being replaced, but perhaps because of a deeply competitive market there is now more of a need to constantly re-invent.”

    CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz marketing head Ajay Chacko believes that there has been a sea change in audience viewership during weekends and the various channels under the TV18 network have adopted different formats according to viewer preferences.

    Short series make edotorial sense (Courtesy:www.moneycontrol.com)

    He says, “There are two different formats we follow for our English business news channel, CNBC TV18 and Hindi news channel Awaaz. On CNBC TV18, we chose to follow weekend programming that has more audience connect. So for a business news viewing audience we have shows that are more industry specific. While Awaaz as a consumer channel has a wider weekend viewership and therefore you’ll find more variety in shows on the channel. The general English news channel, on the other hand now looks at entertainment based programming.”

    (Courtesy:www.ibnlive.com)

    This would perhaps explain why CNN IBN is the only English news channel which seems to have bucked this trend, given that on weekends it has as many as 11 shows and many of these continue to be repeated through the week. What may work in its favour though is that many of these shows are news based shows with a focus on current events like The Devil’s Advocate or The Verdict.

    As CNN IBN editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai puts it, “News is still our prime focus and weekend programming is only a cherry on the cake. I don’t know if we do any more or less weekend programming than other channels since hour on the hour news bulletins run right through the weekend. That’s what our viewers want to see but weekend programming has gradually picked up.”

    Do Feature Shows Boost Brand Recall

    As for brand loyalty towards the channel via shows he is very clear that “news you can use is CNN IBN’s mainstay. That’s what the viewers want and that’s what we give”.

    While news may also be the focus for NDTV, the channel does try to retain brand recall through shows like Jai Jawan. “The understanding is that,weekends are when viewers actually do appointment viewing – and so it‘s a chance to create loyalty for shows – very difficult to do in the week, when people just seem to want to catch the news, and will channel surf much more,” says Dutt.

    (Courtesy:www.moneycontrol.com)

    Chacko, however, has a different take on feature shows promoting brand loyalty and insists that “viewership is increasingly fragmented and the old notion that long running feature shows help brand channels no longer holds”. He cites the example of Business Legends, a short documentary series on living legends in Indian business. “Shorter series help to keep a tighter editorial leash on the content instead of subjecting the viewer to endless drab feature programmes.There is definitely a huge churn in the different genres of weekend programming.”

    That may well explain why that popular show you watched last weekend has been replaced either by news or a new face. As most viewers and channel heads would agree, there is a strong demand for weekend programming. Whether it is changed formats like one-off shows, specials or promotional events that will feed this demand or even more news and analysis – we might just have to wait and watch.

  • BBC Entertainment enters Malaysia on DTH platform Astro

    BBC Entertainment enters Malaysia on DTH platform Astro

    MUMBAI: BBC Global Channels Asia has announced that Astro, Malaysia’s direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV platform will add BBC Entertainment to its pay-TV line-up.

    Astro will now be home to BBC Entertainment’s line up of drama, comedy and entertainment programming from the UK. These will include Doctor Who, Footballers’ Wives, Waking the Dead and comedies including Extras, Suburban Shootout and My Family.

    The channel will replace BBC Prime that was aired on several Asian platforms, BBC Entertainment was launched last October in Hong Kong (via NOW), Thailand (UBC), Korea (Skylife) and Singapore (StarHub).
     

  • Global Broadcast News sets Rs 230-250 price band for public issue

    Global Broadcast News sets Rs 230-250 price band for public issue

    MUMBAI: Global Broadcast News Ltd, owners and operators of English news channel CNN-IBN, has set a price band of Rs 230 to Rs 250 for its Rs 1.05 billion initial public offering (IPO).

    The issue will open on 15 January and close on 18 January. The proceeds of the IPO will be used to meet the company’s growth plans and to complete the acquisition of Hindi channel IBN-7.

    “This is the second company we are taking to the markets. All future channel launches, which will be in the general news space will be through this company,” TV18 managing director Raghav Bahl said at an analysts meet in Mumbai today. TV18, which holds the business channels CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, was listed late last month after being restructured to meet regulatory guidelines.

    GBN will also hold 15 per cent in Web18, the company that holds all the internet properties of TV18.

    After the listing, foreign institutional investors will have a limit of investing upto 18 per cent. “GBN will have a foreign holding of eight per cent through Network18. This will mean that FIIs can hold 18 per cent in GBN,” Bahl clarified. Regulation permits news channels uplinking from India to have a maximum foreign holding of 26 per cent.

    The IPO is lead managed by ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd. The co-book running lead managers to the issue are JM Morgan Stanley and IL&FS Investment.