ITV

Tag: . 9X

  • From Zee to the Sun, Pankaj Rathod joins as broadcast operations & eng head

    From Zee to the Sun, Pankaj Rathod joins as broadcast operations & eng head

    MUMBAI: He’s decided to take a trip to the Sun – the Sun TV  Network that is. Pankaj Rathod has hopped on to  Sun TV as the head broadcast operations & engineering (Sun Neo | Sun Marathi | Sun Bangla). He joins Sun after nearly 13 years with Zee Entertainment Enterprises where he ended up as director- content operations, metadata syncing & publishing (Zee5) and music monitoring.

    Prior to Zee, he  was employed in three organisations for a year and some months each. First was with FoodFoodTV where he was head: scheduling/ sales ops/ traffic / presentation. Then he was head: operations & inventory planning at Mediasys Solutions. Third, he was manager sales operations at 9X  and 9XM.

    Before this he ventured into Siemens Information Systems where he offered broadcast TV solutions to television channels for a couple of years. A long five year run at  Sony Entertainment Television  resulted in him being promoted to sales coordinator, group executive – revenue management. He worked there for five years. 

    The BA in Economics’ first job  in media was with Mid-Day Publications where he ended up as senior media executive in the advertising department after four years.

    Expressing his happiness at joining Sun TV Pankaj said: “I have got the opportunity to build my expertise in broadcast operations (presentation, traffic & sales ops), inventory planning & management and evaluating & implementing – broadcast management system (BMS). My exposure in the print, broadcast and digital media has made me appreciate the nuances of the industry as a whole.” 

  • Brook Bond’s Taj Mahal chai’s graceful tribute to Zakir Hussain

    Brook Bond’s Taj Mahal chai’s graceful tribute to Zakir Hussain

    MUMBAI: Brand marketers and ad agency creatives as well as music maestros and music fans stand up and applaud for this one. And the folks at Hindustan Unilever’s Brook Bond – as well as the agency and copy writer who has written this specific ad  –  you can take a bow.

    Today morning’s Times of India’s Bengaluru edition of the  newspaper’s front page pays a tribute to the great Zakir Hussain who passed away on 15 December. The ad has no visuals, just a ombre blue Prussian blue background.

    It’s the word that touch your heart and stir your emotions just like Zakirbhai did in the commercials for Taj Mahal chai and his “Wah Taj boliye” parting shot in the commercials.

    The copy goes: “Ask a billion Indians what comes to mind when they hear Taj Mahal Tea. It’s not The Taj Mahal. It’s you Ustad.”

    In tiny font size,  the brand then expresses its gratitude to the globally famous tabla genius: “Thank you for all the years of a beautiful partnership.”

    And it signs off with a tiny logo of the Taj Mala brand.

    All we at indiantelevision.com can say  is “Wah Taj! Very gracefully done.”
     

  • Zomato hires live events pro Kunal Khambhati from Bookmyshow

    Zomato hires live events pro Kunal Khambhati from Bookmyshow

    MUMBAI: That the food delivery and tech megacorp Zomato has big ambitions in the live space became apparent when it acquired PayTM’s Insider ticketing business for Rs 20,480 million. It That move  gave it instant access to a platform as well as data around a few million customers who were using it which would make it easier for it provide them further services, including live events and going out experiences.

    Now the company has hired Kunal Khambhati, the former head of live events and intellectual property at BookMyShow. The recruitment has happened just as Zomato is gearing up to launch its long-talked-about going out app, District, that will serve users looking for restaurant bookings, payments, live performances, sports events, staycations and holiday rentals. Khambhati’s role will be to look after the live entertainment vertical of the app. 

    He has oodles of experience under his belt: he played a big hand in live events and IP for nearly eight years, across India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Before this, he had held the position of associate vice-president – marketing strategy & sales at Percept for nearly 10 years.  He is a 2006 graduate of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management. 

    At Zomato, Khambhati is most likely expected to work alongside former Twitter exec Rahul Ganjoo and Pradyot Ghate (spent several years in Zomato across product, tech and growth) who will lead the District app. 

    Zomato  had hired Zeenah Vilcassim as CEO of its live entertainment division last year from Bacardi where she  was the marketing director of  India. 

    When District launches, Zomato will have three apps – Zomato, (food delivery), Blinkit (grocery delivery ) and District (going out).

    That’s not all:  Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal wants to take Zomato live into the stadium space as well, partnering with those who are willing and upgrading the infrastructure. 

    The execs at Zomato live are sure going to have their hands full. 

     

  • Sorbojeet Chatterjee joins Zeel as cluster head marketing – Hindi GECs

    Sorbojeet Chatterjee joins Zeel as cluster head marketing – Hindi GECs

    MUMBAI: ZEEL has appointed Sorbojeet Chatterjee as marketing senior vice president for the cluster of Hindi general entertainment channels including Zee TV, Zee Anmol, Smile, 9X and Zee TV HD channels.

     

    For his responsibilities, Chatterjee will report to Zeel executive vice president and marketing head – national channels Akash Chawla.

     

     Zeel also announced that Sapangeet Rajwant will now take over as Zee TV marketing head and she will report to Sorbojeet.

     

    Chatterjee brings with him 13 years of rich experience from both sides of the media business – the creative side as a copywriter and the business side in marketing and strategy. He moves from DNA where he was designated as senior VP – marketing. His earlier stints have been with Neo Sports Broadcast as vice president marketing, TV Today Network as head of marketing and special projects and Gslot.com as copywriter.

     

    He has extensive media marketing experience across television, print and radio brands.

  • New Silk Route looking to encash part of 9X Media investment

    New Silk Route looking to encash part of 9X Media investment

    MUMBAI: The news of New Silk Route (NSR) approaching buyers to divesting a part of its stake in 9X Media is out. And Pradeep Guha, the managing director of 9X Media, who incidently also holds a small (15 per cent) stake in the group feels this could not be a better move for the network.

    “If more buyers come in with more money, then it is only going to benefit the group,” he says.

    However, he has not decided if he will be offloading his holding or keeping it. He feels that it is too early to discuss it and all depends on what happens next.

    Launched as INX Media, the company started operations with 9XM. It was renamed 9X Media in August 2010, with complete focus on its music business. (The assets and liabilities of the mother GEC 9X were absorbed by Zee Entertainment.) It currently operates five channels, 9XM (Hindi music channel), 9XO (international music), 9X Jalwa (classic Bollywood music), 9X Tashan (Punjabi) and 9X Jhakaas (Marathi).

    The NSR had invested in the network founded by Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani Mukerjee in 2007 and took over its reins in 2011. “We are a private equity fund so it was but obvious that at some point we will exit the venture,” says NSR Advisors partner Shantanu Nalavadi who clearly states that it is the company’s seventh year in the group as an investor.

    Nalavadi proudly proclaims that over the years, the group has become a great platform. “We are now known as a music group and we hope to be known as the music destination among our viewers.”

    He highlights that it will continue to invest in 9X Media because it has been showing 30 per cent growth year on year. “We didn’t take the decision overnight and are in talks with others over the past two years or so. And we will not leave it completely,” he clarifies.

    According to Mihir Date, a consultant with Ernst & Young says that with 100 per cent FDI allowed in non-news channels there will be many takers. He adds that the plan to sell it when the company is at a peak is a wise decision. “The position of 9X Media is good in the genre and its plans to expand are positive signals for any buyer.”

    That must be music to Guha’s ears.

  • 9XO Fresh Hits gets onboard iTunes

    MUMBAI: Universal Music India and 9XO have announced the release of a new music compilation exclusively on iTunes in India. 9XO Fresh Hits is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the Indian music market and points to a potentially exciting future for music fans in India. 

     

    9XO Fresh Hits features the biggest international hits from 2013 with artists including Avicii, will.i.am, OneRepublic and PSY.

    9XO is the official marketing partner of the compilation alongside Universal Music India. 9XO is aimed at an international music audience with programming that includes interactive countdowns and showcases the best international music videos. 9XO will be promoting the complication through innovative in-video integrations, promo spots programmed at key tune-in times throughout the day along with aggressive marketing across their social communities.

     

    Universal Music India Digital Head Vinit Thakkar says, “Following the launch of the iTunes store in India in December 2012 it became clear to us that we needed to create a first-of-its-kind product for the Indian market and distribute it through iTunes. Needless to say, we are delighted to have worked with such as strong channel partner in 9XO, who has been instrumental in the entire process and getting the end product out to Indian customers.”

     

    Speaking of this association 9X Media Group SVP – Digital Vibha Gosher said, “We are extremely pleased to partner with Universal Music to launch 9XO Fresh Hits on iTunes. In its very first year of launch, 9XO has become India‘s favourite destination for International music. Knowing that most of our viewers consume their music across platforms we have channeled our strategies to make a significant footprint across platforms. 9XO Fresh Hits is our first initiative for the International Music fans. The compilation captures the 9XO experience for music lovers who love to consume their music on the go. We feel this will definitely resonate well with our viewers. It’s been received very well by our Social Media communities. The 9XO Fresh Hits will give our fans and viewers a fantastic listening experience at a great price.”

     

    9XO Fresh Hits will be available for Rs 150 from iTunes on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC or at: www.iTunes.com/In.

  • Dish TV adds two Bengali channels to its Lifetime Offer

    Dish TV adds two Bengali channels to its Lifetime Offer

    MUMBAI: Leading direct-to-home operator Dish TV has added two Bengali news and entertainment channels, Rupashi Bangla and Kolkata TV, to its lifetime free offer for the four metros.

    Under this offer, customers will be eligible to receive a basic channel tier comprising 70 plus channels free of cost for life. The offer spans for five years and requires customers to remain active by subscribing to a regular package at least twice during the year.

    The two Bengali channels, along with 70 plus free channels offered under Lifetime Free offer, is to only customers in Kolkata acquired after the announcement of this offer.

    Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor said, "By adding two popular Bengali news and entertainment channels to the lifetime basic tier free offer, we’re extending ourselves as a more personalised option to Dish TV subscribers in Kolkata."

    The offer will include all Doordarshan channels, 9X, Zee Smile, B4U Movies, Cinema TV, News Express, P7News and 9XM. It also has three international channels like NHK World, Russia Today DW-TV Asia+.

  • ‘Why would BCCI want its biggest new property on a new channel?’

    ‘Why would BCCI want its biggest new property on a new channel?’

    Looking at the larger perspective, what have been the big challenges the broadcast sector faced and will face, going forward?
    The pathetically slow pace of digital rollout (Cas) has been the biggest challenge for existing players. Though I do believe digital distribution will come into play from 2008 onwards.

    Combating all these new players will be the big upcoming challenge. The (leadership) pecking order will have to be reestablished. Star is not complacent in its position of number 1. Even Zee as a challenger is not complacent. Everybody will face challenge. The whole media business will face challenge.

    The industry is seeing huge churn now. The channel explosion is going to further fragment audiences. We will soon have 9/10 channels in each of the genres – news, sports and movies.

    You say pathetically slow digital rollout on the cable front is the biggest challenge for the new players as well as the existing players. But if we look at 9X, the numbers they are drawing are not due to cannibalization, but due to new viewers.
    It’s not cannibalization of GEC but other genres like music.

    So you don’t believe that people have an inherent desire to consume entertainment content but may have been tuned off by the lack of variety presently on offer so they are trying out channels like 9X?
    Its not just 9X. Even Bindass is getting new viewers. 9X is making a lot of noise but give me a name of one show that stands out. On NDTV Imagine also, nothing will stand out.

    What do we have in 2008. BCCI’s Indian Premiere League will take off and what else?
    I don’t know on which channel it will take off. I hope it is on ours.

    But as you yourself said, there will be new sports channels launching and we should expect bids from new players.
    They can of course bid but why would BCCI want its biggest new property on a new channel? Its not just money, they (the cricket board) have to make it successful.

    New players should enter digital distribution in the cable front. More people are required, more funding is required

    We do have an example of Ten Sports, which launched with World Cup Soccer in 2002.
    There were only two channels – ESPN and Star Sports – then. Today there are seven channels (DD Sports, Ten Sports, Zee Sports, ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket, Neo Sports). Additionally, Max is half a sports channel.

    Each time you launch a new channel, the space will get further fragmented. There is too much out there. There is going be a blood bath.

    What about a platform proposition, like in the case of Sky in the UK? For a rights holder, could IPL potentially become as critical as EPL was to Sky?
    Firstly, in India no exclusivity is being allowed. Secondly, the new guys bidding for the rights are channels which are not yet launched. If platforms like Dish TV or Reliance were to buy the rights, then I would understand but the guys buying are unknown people. They are all startups. They are doing it for their business valuations. They are not bothered whether IPL succeeds or not. Whereas BCCI wants IPL to succeed. IPL will collapse with new players.

    Coming back to the year ahead, how do you see 2008 for your network and the industry?
    As far as the industry is concerned, we would want to see the Reliance launches happening. It’s a very big thing. Then IPL should succeed. New players should enter digital distribution in the cable front. More people are required, more funding is required.

    As for ourselves, we will take some other new initiatives and continue to build our business. We need one hit show. Saat Phere was the starting point for Zee. I need one hit show from Monday to Thursday. That is my perspective. I have no problem in any other area of my business except that. We need to build up, which is not happening.

    Each channel is doing its own thing and so are we. In the meantime, I am doing syndication and international distribution. I am doing everything right except getting that one hit show.