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Recapping 2012

Published

13 years ago

January 12, 2013

The year 2012 was an action-packed one for the television broadcasting industry. India began its historic journey with digitisation and the first phase kicked off in November. NDTV filed a landmark case in New York against TAM Media Research and its holding companies Nielsen, Kantar Media and Cavendish Square Holding BV. Broadcasters united to put pressure for creation of a new Broadcasters Audience Research Council (Barc).

The year also witnessed a slew of deals and marked the entry of two big industrial houses into television broadcasting — Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) by helping Raghav Bahl‘s Network18 group to snap up ETV and the Aditya Birla Group by acquiring a 27.5 per cent stake in Aroon Purie‘s Living Media, which runs TV Today Network.

Sahara made an entry into cable TV distribution and acquired Digicable. Network18 Group formed a distribution company, IndiaCast, which will also house the syndication business and exploit content across all media platforms.

It was the year in which Zee Network completed 20 years, after having pioneered private television broadcasting in India. The year saw a Hindi general entertainment channel Imagine, which was acquired by Turner from NDTV, being zapped, when it slipped below the second-rung Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs).

The sports genre saw the exit of The Walt Disney Company with News Corp acquiring its 50 per cent interest in their joint venture ESPN Star Sports for $335 million. Sony, which has the rights for the Indian Premier League, launched its first sports television channel. After having agreed to buy Walt Disney‘s interest in ESPN Star Sports, Star India pipped Multi Screen Media (MSM) to bag BCCI media rights till 2008 for a whopping Rs 38.51 billion.

There was a lot of action during the year in the kids TV genre. Though BBC‘s advertisement free Cbeebies channel exited India citing prohibitive carriage fees, a few kids‘ channels got added to the bouquet. Discovery Kids, Disney Junior, ZeeQ and Nick Jr were launched during the year, which coincided with the beginning of the compulsory shift to digital delivery of television channels in the country.

Channel launches:

Star launches its second Hindi movie channel Movies OK under ‘Ok‘ brand
Star launches Bengali movie channel Star Jalsha Movies
Star-owned Asianet Communications launches Asianet Movies, the first satellite movie channel in Malayalam
Zeel launches Bengali movie channel Zee Bangla Cinema
After a football and cricket dedicated channel, Zeel launches its third specialised offering Ten Golf
Zeel enters kids genre with ZeeQ, an edutainment channel targeted at 4-14 kids
Viacom18 launches its third kids channel with preschool channel Nick Jr
Disney launches a full-fledged pre-school offering with Disney Junior
Discovery enters kids segment in India with Discovery Kids
MSM‘s much awaited sports channel Sony Six makes a debut during IPL
HBO partners Eros to announce launch of two ad free channels HBO Defined and HBO Hits
Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and European entertainment network RTL Group joint-venture launch their first channel Big RTL Thrill
Big CBS, the joint venture between RBNL and CBS Corp, forays into regional TV space with the launch of its fourth channel, Spark Punjabi
Leading Gujarati dailies Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar enter television market with the launch of their news channels, GS TV News and Sandesh TV
9X Media launches its international music channel 9XO
Softline Creations enters TV broadcasting with Cinema TV
Delhi-based production house AAP Media launches Bhojpuri entertainment channel Anjan TV

Deals:

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) marks his entry into media and entertainment space by investing in Network18
Media & Investments and TV18 Broadcast through an Independent Media Trust
News Corp and The Walt Disney Company end their Asian sports JV ESPN Star Sports with the former taking complete ownership of the sports broadcasting company for $335 million
Aditya Birla Group acquires 27.5 per cent stake in Aroon Purie-controlled Living Media, which runs TV Today Network
Sahara acquires 90 per cent stake in Digicable for $52 million
Sony Pictures Television, the parent company of Multi Screen Media (MSM), makes its regional foray as it agrees to acquire 30 per cent stake in Maa Network
Ajay Bijli-promoted PVR buys out promoter stake in Cinemax for Rs 3.95 billion to become biggest multiplex operator in the country
Karthikeya Sharma-promoted ITV Media snaps up News X from Indi Media, a joint venture between NaiDunia promoter and CEO
Vinay Chhajlani and former Business World editor Jehangir S Pocha
After a decade long rocky relationship, the Indian shareholders of MSM exit the television company with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) acquiring 32 per cent stake in MSM for $271 million
The Walt Disney Company buys out Ronnie Srewvala‘s stake in UTV Group for Rs 8.05 billion
CA Media picks up 49 per cent stake in Endemol India
Cisco becomes largest video and content security solutions provider in India with its $5 billion global acquisition of NDS

Exits:

News Corp exits cable business in India as it divests 17.3 per cent stake in Hathway Cable for Rs 3.58 bn
Walt Disney‘s ESPN exits sports broadcasting in Asia following stake sale in ESS
News Corp exits news business in India and is in process of selling its 26 per cent stake in Media Content and Communications
Services (MCCS), the company that runs Star News (ABP News), Star Majha (ABP Majha) and Star Jalsha (ABP Majha), to JV partner ABP Group
Turner ends its expensive date with Hindi GEC space, shutters Imagine TV citing unviability
ABP Group exits Bengali GEC space by shutting Sananda TV more than a year after its launch
NDTV ends ad sales partnership with News Corp‘s Star India; to handle ad sales on its own

Government

Information and Broadcasting ministry extends the digitisation deadline for the first phase of digitisation in four metros to 31 October
Ahead of digitisation, government raises foreign direct investment (FDI) ceiling to 74 per cent from 49 per cent in DTH and MSO biz; FDI limit in teleports and hubs set up for uplinking of television channels also raised to 74 per cent
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari takes charge as the new Information and Broadcasting minister replacing Ambika Soni
Arasu fails to get DAS licence for Chennai despite repeated pleas to the government
MIB kicks-off the second phase of digitisation covering 38 cities and towns across 14 states
Rahul Khullar appointed as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for a three-year term
Former Supreme Court judge Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed as the new chairperson of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat)

Some other milestones:

Star India bids a whopping Rs 38.51 billion to bag the BCCI media rights till 2018
Sun TV bags Hyderabad franchise for Rs 4.25 billion, bidding higher than PVP Ventures‘ Rs 3.45 billion
BCCI terminates Deccan Chargers franchise agreement followed by a protracted legal battle which ends with Supreme Court finally upholding Chargers termination
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) form audience research joint body Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc)
New Delhi Television (NDTV) files a lawsuit against TAM and its holding companies in New York Supreme Court for manipulation of viewership data
Channel [V] stops airing Bollywood music from 1 July becomes a Youth GEC
TV18 and Viacom18 form distribution joint venture IndiaCast to distribute all channels and content of the two companies in India and abroad
Congress MP Naveen Jindal files FIR against Zee News for allegedly demanding Rs 1 billion in extortion to go slow on its coverage of Coal scam which leads to the arrest of Zee News and Zee Business editors Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia
Aamir Khan makes his TV debut with Satyamev Jayate, which creates massive buzz in the social media
After yearlong negotiations, Sun TV strikes a distribution deal with Tamil Nadu government-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation
Pepsi replaces DLF as the title sponsor of IPL, forks out Rs 3.95 billion to take the rights
Youth focussed channel Big CBS Spark transitions into a music channel
UTV bindass undergoes makeover, sheds UTV in its name and takes the positioning ‘Rest Less‘
MSM CEO Man Jit Singh is elected IBF president
History TV18 launches Urdu feed
Discovery Science goes regional with Hindi fee

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iWorld

Netflix celebrates a decade in India with Shah Rukh Khan-narrated tribute film

Published

6 days ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix is celebrating ten years in India with a slick anniversary film voiced by Shah Rukh Khan, a nostalgic sprint through a decade that rewired how the country watches stories. The campaign doubles as both tribute and reminder: streaming did not just enter Indian homes, it quietly rearranged them.

Roll back to 2016 and television still dictated schedules. Viewers waited weeks, sometimes months, for favourite films to appear on prime time. Family-friendly filters narrowed options further, and piracy often filled the gaps. Then Netflix arrived, softly but decisively, carrying a catalogue of international titles rarely seen in Indian theatres and placing them a click away. Old blockbusters and new releases suddenly coexisted on the same digital shelf.

The platform’s real inflection point came in 2018 with Sacred Games, a breakout series that refused to dilute India’s grit for global comfort. Audiences embraced its unvarnished tone, signalling readiness for stories that did not need box-office validation or censorship compromises. What followed was a steady procession of relatable narratives. Competitive-exam anxiety fuelled Kota Factory. College relationships unfolded in Mismatched. Everyday pressures, not grand spectacle, proved bankable.

Language barriers thinned as foreign series arrived with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbing, expanding viewership beyond urban English-speaking pockets. Marketing mirrored the shift. For global releases such as Squid Game, Netflix leaned on regional creators and influencers to localise buzz and make international content feel native.

The library widened beyond fiction. Documentaries stepped out of festival circuits into living rooms. Stand-up comedians found scale. Established filmmakers, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Heeramandi, embraced the platform’s long-form canvas. Subscriber numbers swelled to 12.37 million in India, according to Demandsage, and behaviour followed suit. Late-night binges became routine. Friday release rituals loosened. Watch parties turned solitary screens into social events.

Economics demanded adjustment. Early subscription pricing carried a premium aura that deterred many households. Over time, Netflix recalibrated plans to align with Indian spending sensibilities, conceding that accessibility is as critical as content. To extend momentum around marquee titles, the platform also experimented with split-season releases, stretching anticipation and watch time.

The anniversary film, narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, captures the linguistic shift that mirrors the cultural one: from “Netflix pe kya dekha?” to “Netflix pe kya dekhein?” The question moved from recounting the past to planning the next binge. In ten years, Netflix morphed from foreign entrant to familiar fixture, exporting Indian stories abroad while importing global ones home. The remote no longer waits; it chooses, clicks and moves on. In the streaming age, patience is out, playlists are in, and the next episode is always one tap away.

Brands

Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

Published

6 days ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

MAM

Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

Published

6 days ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.

Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.

Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.