ITV

Tag: AGM

  • Anil Ambani to exit telecom business; focus on real estate

    Anil Ambani to exit telecom business; focus on real estate

    MUMBAI: The 14th AGM of Reliance Communications, promoted by Anil Ambani, saw confirmed talks of Anil Ambani’s exit from the telecom business. He said that Reliance Communications will concentrate majorly on real estate in the future.

    Founded 15 years ago on 27 December 2002, Reliance Communications was referred to as the vision of Dhirubhai Ambani, the father of Anil and Mukesh Ambani.

    At the 14th annual general meeting, Anil said that the first priority for RCom, credited for democratising telecom services through cheaper offers in the early 2000s, was to resolve its debt worth over Rs 40,000 crore.

    Pointing to the 133-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC), the headquarters of Reliance Communications, on the outskirts of Navi Mumbai, Ambani said that there was a huge realty play opportunity that erstwhile corporate headquarters possesses.

    He pegged the potential value creation from such sites at Rs 25,000 crores.

    According to the reports, Ambani said, “We have decided that we will not proceed in this sector. And many other companies have taken a similar call. This is very much writing on the wall. As we have moved out of the mobile sector, we will monetise at an appropriate stage our enterprise business. Reliance Realty will be the engine of growth for the future of this company.”

    Looking at the telecom sector, he said that there has been a “creative destruction” of the telecom sector that has resulted in creation of oligopoly, which is going towards a duopoly and maybe even a “monopoly in the future”. Banks are saddled with over Rs 7.7 lakh crore in debt and the financial troubles of operators have resulted in over 20 lakh job losses, he said.

    Post discontinuation of the telecom business, Ambani said the residual business would be the enterprise, data centres, undersea cables and international voice calling verticals etc that are expected to serve some 35,000 businesses. He said half of the revenues from this line of activity will be from overseas. But Ambani said that his company was “committed” to exit even those verticals, to pay-off banks. A decision in this regard will be taken “at an appropriate time,” Ambani said.

  • eSports viewers to cross 800 mn globally by ’22; India’s share minor

    eSports viewers to cross 800 mn globally by ’22; India’s share minor

    MUMBAI: In a new research, the UK-based Juniper Research has forecasted that unique viewers of eSports (competitive playing of video games) and Let’s Plays content (tutorials and talk-throughs of game content) will reach 858 million by 2022, up from 630 million this year with the Indian sub-continent too being a minority contributor.

    The largest driver and most significant revenue source of the eSports industry has been the use of advertising and sponsorship deals.

    Juniper said that advertising spend will dominate in terms of revenues and spend (accounting for 50 per cent in 2022), with this currently the preferred monetisation strategy. As more non-endemic advertisers come on board, this will only strengthen with a greater number of brands seeking to take advantage of a rapidly growing audience, the report explained.

    The unique viewers forcast has been split by eight key regions, which include North America, Latin America, West Europe, Central and East Europe, Far East and China, the Indian sub-continent, Rest of Asia Pacific and Africa & Middle east. The region which contributes the biggest is Far East and China.

    Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

    The report highlighted that instead of having sponsorships from more traditional players in the market such as NVIDIA, the past year has seen increased prevalence of non-endemic advertisers, including brands such as Lynx, Gazprom, Visa, Xfinity, T-Mobile, Taco Bell and Mountain Dew. Juniper believed that this has grown purely due to the audience size and scale seen at major tournaments.

    “While some brands show links to traditional gaming culture, i.e food and drink brands, others are more commonly associated with traditional sports sponsorship, ie Gazprom, and their branching into eSports shows belief that this will also become a major sporting industry,” the report stated, adding, “The issue is that eSports has been a volatile industry for a number of years, having previously had periods of growth and interest. In the mid 2000s, for example, where hype spiked, before furore around the market died down, only to be rejuvenated from 2010 onwards.”

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    Meanwhile, eSports arrived in the Indian sub-continent later than other western countries and also regions in Asia like China. However, it has been announced as a medal event in 2022 Asian Games, which is a testimony to its rapid growth in this part of the world.

    Indiantelevision.com’s research shows that U Cypher promoted the first multi-gaming platform on TV for eSports competitions in India. It comes under U Sport, which is founded by media tycoon-turned-angel-investor Ronnie Screwvala and his partner Supratik Sen.

    U Cypher’s ambition is to present a platform to talented gamers that helps them achieve their maximum potential as well as shape their careers in e-Sports leagues.

    When Indiantelevision.com spoke to eSports experts in India, one of them said, “The combined eSports and gaming market is estimated to be Rs 3,900 crore with more than 2,000 teams consistently participating in tournaments across India and abroad with over 500 million players worldwide. The industry has a number of major tournaments throughout the year with viewership in the tens of millions.”

  • Mukesh Ambani offers JioPhone from 15 Aug

    MUMBAI: At the 40th AGM on Friday, Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani introduced ‘India Ka Smartphone’ – the JioPhone. It is said to be a 4G-enabled cost-efficient feature phone, which works on voice commands. Announcing the launch, Ambani’s daughter Esha said, “It is made in India by the young Indian.” 

    She said that Jio would provide that at an effective price of Rs 153 per month, that is, three per cent of the existing price. If these users were to consume a similar quantity of data on other operator’s network, they would spend Rs 4,000 – 5,000 per month.

    The launch is likely to further change the landscape of how people consume video content in India. The OTT space is likely to get a major push and RIL has already announced buying a stake in Balaji Telefilms.

    Mukesh Ambani also announced the following:

    JioPhone will be available for free.

    Dhan Dhana Dhan plan is available at Rs 153 per month 

    Rs 309 per month Jio phone TV cable: It comes preloaded with the Namo app and can play ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme too. 

    Smart TV as well as CRT can be connected with the Jio phone TV cable 

    Jio will reinvent the conventional feature phone with a revolutionary device 

    RIL aims to sell five million JioPhones a week

    It will be available for user testing in beta from 15 August and for pre-booking from 24 August

    RIL plans to collect a fully refundable, one-time, security deposit of Rs 1,500 with every phone

    Also Read:

    Jio to raise Rs 200 bn for next phase of expansion

  • Network18 launches Amplify18 with Parekh as AGM

    MUMBAI: Network18, a diversified media conglomerate, has announced the launch of Amplify18. The entertainment, lifestyle & brand amplification entity of Network18, Amplify18 will leverage the group’s pan-national television network along with the strong digital network to drive visibility, awareness and business growth for its clients through innovative advertising and communication formats. In this direction, the group has appointed Mayur Parekh as assistant general manager to drive the corporate division. He will report to Puneet Singhvi, head – corporate development.

    Commenting on the launch, Singhvi says, “Network18, with reach spanning 23 states and combined with the significant audience, gives it a significant ability to drive our clients’ messaging across India. This is a unique positioning and strength that is unparalleled in the news space in India. With Mayur coming on board to lead the initiative, we look forward to leveraging his experience and our reach to create a successful integration and amplification vehicle for clients across domains.”

    Through Amplify18, the group aims to roll out interesting and relevant brand content and distribution integrations in order to move beyond the current format of advertising being used by brands and organizations to improve brand awareness and thereby its equity.

    On the new assignment, Parekh says, “This will certainly be an exciting creative stride for me and I am geared up to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the industry. Our goal at Amplify18 is to make branded content business affable and most importantly an entertaining affair for our consumers. My role will be to take it to the next level by growing it aggressively.”

    Parekh has over 10 years of experience in the media industry. Prior to joining Network18, he was associated with The Times of India where he was in-charge of managing Integrated Media Solutions for Brands, Events, Films & Celebrities. He has completed Masters in Marketing Management from MET Mumbai.

  • ET Now: Warren, what are the investips for Buffett tonight, bullish on India?

    MUMBAI: ET Now, India’s leading English business news channel, has edged out global news networks to become the first channel to interview American business magnate and investment guru Warren Buffett. This is for the first time that Mr. Buffett, who runs the iconic investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, has chosen an Indian channel to share his investment philosophy, post the company’s AGM.

    ET Now’s exclusive interview with ‘The Oracle of Omaha’ assumes significance, as it comes soon after Buffett’s widely tracked address to millions of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, which is tracked by Investors, market watchers and economists around the globe.

    Speaking exclusively to ET Now, Buffett says India has an incredible potential and the country should be on top of the table for global investors. “I would like to hire people (in India), I would like to buy businesses, but it has to be a big business. I have to move the needle at Berkshire,” he says.

    It will be telecast at 7:30pm and 10:30pm on Tuesday, 9 May, 2017. In this ‘unmissable’ interview, Buffett also shares his views on market-moving topics like the U.S. economic recovery, interest rates and his legendary investment philosophy.

    Going by the immense following for Warren Buffett, #BuffettOnETNOW was trending in India list today. It has a total of 4.7K mentions on Twitter with a total reach of over 67.2 Million with extremely positive sentiments.

  • NXT Digital-InCable merger gets shareholder nod; D’Silva bemoans lack of ecosystem support

    NXT Digital-InCable merger gets shareholder nod; D’Silva bemoans lack of ecosystem support

    MUMBAI: Hinduja Ventures Ltd’s (HVL’s) proposal to demerge its NXT Digital headend in the sky (HITS) business from its subsidiary Grant Investrade Ltd (GIL) and merge it into its cable TV MSO offshoot Indusind Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL) got the thumbs up from its shareholders at its AGM yesterday.

    The cable veteran and IMCL MD & CEO Tony D’Silva says that IMCL is now on the road to fully digest NXT Digital. “We are following the legal process and have already applied to the Bombay High Court and we have also informed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.”

    What drove the reorganisation? D’Silva explains: “When we launched NXT Digital, it was incorporated under GIL as an independent company. At that time, we thought it’s better to apply for a licence under GIL and we got the licence. We also thought that it’s better we keep GIL as the company away from IMCL so that no operator will feel that this is a backdoor entry to take over IMCL. But now the time has passed. GIL is an established company and so the NXT Digital move.”

    HVL whole time director Ashok Mansukhani adds that work is already on to integrate both NXT Digital and InCable. Says he: “We are starting with the backend. We are already synergising both the services. We have one of the best subscriber management systems (SMS) in HITS – ICC from Hansen Technologies. InCable is using Magnaquest for its SMS it is also migrating towards ICC. They will be kept separate but there will be one front end irrespective of who the operator is. “

    D’Silva says that more than 700 cable operator premise equipment (COPEs) have been installed so far. “An estimated three million cable TV subscribers are watching television through our HITS platform,” he reveals. “The philosophy of NXTDigital is very clearly to encourage the cable operator to grow and develop his/her business and also that we are a pure service provider. We don’t want to own any network and that message has gone to all the operators across the country.”

    NXT Digital is offering four different packages to MSOs and LCOs who opt for its service. The Gold Cope cost about Rs 13.5 lakh and gives a bouquet of 550 channels, the Silver costs Rs 10 lakh (450 channels) and the Bronze Rs nine lakh (350 channels). A new Eco package has been introduced for Phase IV areas with its price point being Rs 4 lakh (250 channels).

    D’Silva points out that almost 60 per cent of the installations are of the Gold Cope Unit in Phase III areas. “Even smaller markets are wanting HD channels,” he says.

    But even so the management at NXT Digital is pretty frustrated, and are especially concerned about the future of cable TV digitization. Says Mansukhani: “The final date of digitization is the bottleneck for us. Some 50 cases are pending in the high court. On Monday some cases will be hear. On 26 September there will be five cases in front of a chief justice and on 5 October 35 cases will be heard by a single bench. The chief justice has received these cases and whether they were issued in the constitutional law and interpretation of legislation – that decision will be taken on Monday.”

    The nuking of the sunset date for digitization in phase III areas by the various court cases has blown up the progress of NXT Digital. “We had earlier agreed between the IBF, MSOs, TRAI and MIB jointly that till 31 December 2015 the sunset date for Phase III broadcasters would not charge the digital rate to facilitate to process of digitisation,” says D’Silva. “That agreement is valid even today. But broadcasters are charging cable operators analogue rates in Phase III areas and they are slapping us with digital tariffs for the same regions. How is this fair? NXT Digital does not own any network…we are providing services. The same principle should apply to phase IV also where 60 million homes need to be digitized.”

    D’Silva exhorts broadcasters and the industry to give it its total support on HITS as it is a step forward in infrastructure sharing (which is a subject of a consultation paper that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India put up recently).

    “This must be allowed. How will a big MSO in a small area function when the switchoff happens? He has to come to me. The fact is banks are sharing infrastructure in ATMs. Telcos are doing so too. Why spend money on overbuilding infrastructure,” he asks. “Excepting one broadcaster, all of them are permitting us to provide passive services to MSOs who have a DAS licence and have content agreements with them with the proviso that they pay directly to the broadcaster subject to the SMS report filed by our HITS platform. This one broadcast network is hell bent on undermining our effort to provide television to far flung subscribers in the interiors.”

    He further adds” “Then, the subscriber in Phase IV is paying Rs 60-80 for his channels. With a digitized package it could go up to Rs 160 or so. Even otherwise he may have to pay Rs 40 for just a handful of encrypted channels. The beneficiaries are only the broadcasters and they don’t have any digital model for rural India. The BARC ratings shows more and more free to air channel are popular in rural India. Who is going to pay for pay channels?”

    Asks Mansukhani: “Are we going to have a digital divide in our country? Digitisation will only be limited to metropolitan India and benefits will not flow to rural India. And going by the current goings-on there is a great danger of that happening.”

  • NXT Digital-InCable merger gets shareholder nod; D’Silva bemoans lack of ecosystem support

    NXT Digital-InCable merger gets shareholder nod; D’Silva bemoans lack of ecosystem support

    MUMBAI: Hinduja Ventures Ltd’s (HVL’s) proposal to demerge its NXT Digital headend in the sky (HITS) business from its subsidiary Grant Investrade Ltd (GIL) and merge it into its cable TV MSO offshoot Indusind Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL) got the thumbs up from its shareholders at its AGM yesterday.

    The cable veteran and IMCL MD & CEO Tony D’Silva says that IMCL is now on the road to fully digest NXT Digital. “We are following the legal process and have already applied to the Bombay High Court and we have also informed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.”

    What drove the reorganisation? D’Silva explains: “When we launched NXT Digital, it was incorporated under GIL as an independent company. At that time, we thought it’s better to apply for a licence under GIL and we got the licence. We also thought that it’s better we keep GIL as the company away from IMCL so that no operator will feel that this is a backdoor entry to take over IMCL. But now the time has passed. GIL is an established company and so the NXT Digital move.”

    HVL whole time director Ashok Mansukhani adds that work is already on to integrate both NXT Digital and InCable. Says he: “We are starting with the backend. We are already synergising both the services. We have one of the best subscriber management systems (SMS) in HITS – ICC from Hansen Technologies. InCable is using Magnaquest for its SMS it is also migrating towards ICC. They will be kept separate but there will be one front end irrespective of who the operator is. “

    D’Silva says that more than 700 cable operator premise equipment (COPEs) have been installed so far. “An estimated three million cable TV subscribers are watching television through our HITS platform,” he reveals. “The philosophy of NXTDigital is very clearly to encourage the cable operator to grow and develop his/her business and also that we are a pure service provider. We don’t want to own any network and that message has gone to all the operators across the country.”

    NXT Digital is offering four different packages to MSOs and LCOs who opt for its service. The Gold Cope cost about Rs 13.5 lakh and gives a bouquet of 550 channels, the Silver costs Rs 10 lakh (450 channels) and the Bronze Rs nine lakh (350 channels). A new Eco package has been introduced for Phase IV areas with its price point being Rs 4 lakh (250 channels).

    D’Silva points out that almost 60 per cent of the installations are of the Gold Cope Unit in Phase III areas. “Even smaller markets are wanting HD channels,” he says.

    But even so the management at NXT Digital is pretty frustrated, and are especially concerned about the future of cable TV digitization. Says Mansukhani: “The final date of digitization is the bottleneck for us. Some 50 cases are pending in the high court. On Monday some cases will be hear. On 26 September there will be five cases in front of a chief justice and on 5 October 35 cases will be heard by a single bench. The chief justice has received these cases and whether they were issued in the constitutional law and interpretation of legislation – that decision will be taken on Monday.”

    The nuking of the sunset date for digitization in phase III areas by the various court cases has blown up the progress of NXT Digital. “We had earlier agreed between the IBF, MSOs, TRAI and MIB jointly that till 31 December 2015 the sunset date for Phase III broadcasters would not charge the digital rate to facilitate to process of digitisation,” says D’Silva. “That agreement is valid even today. But broadcasters are charging cable operators analogue rates in Phase III areas and they are slapping us with digital tariffs for the same regions. How is this fair? NXT Digital does not own any network…we are providing services. The same principle should apply to phase IV also where 60 million homes need to be digitized.”

    D’Silva exhorts broadcasters and the industry to give it its total support on HITS as it is a step forward in infrastructure sharing (which is a subject of a consultation paper that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India put up recently).

    “This must be allowed. How will a big MSO in a small area function when the switchoff happens? He has to come to me. The fact is banks are sharing infrastructure in ATMs. Telcos are doing so too. Why spend money on overbuilding infrastructure,” he asks. “Excepting one broadcaster, all of them are permitting us to provide passive services to MSOs who have a DAS licence and have content agreements with them with the proviso that they pay directly to the broadcaster subject to the SMS report filed by our HITS platform. This one broadcast network is hell bent on undermining our effort to provide television to far flung subscribers in the interiors.”

    He further adds” “Then, the subscriber in Phase IV is paying Rs 60-80 for his channels. With a digitized package it could go up to Rs 160 or so. Even otherwise he may have to pay Rs 40 for just a handful of encrypted channels. The beneficiaries are only the broadcasters and they don’t have any digital model for rural India. The BARC ratings shows more and more free to air channel are popular in rural India. Who is going to pay for pay channels?”

    Asks Mansukhani: “Are we going to have a digital divide in our country? Digitisation will only be limited to metropolitan India and benefits will not flow to rural India. And going by the current goings-on there is a great danger of that happening.”

  • Raj Nayak re-elected Advertising Club president

    Raj Nayak re-elected Advertising Club president

    MUMBAI: At the annual general meeting of The Advertising Club held in Mumbai today, the members unanimously re-elected Colors CEO Raj Nayak, as its president. Raj had replaced The Social Street chairman and co-founder Pratap Bose on 16 September last year.

    Over the past year, Raj has injected new dynamism into the Ad Club. A top notch sales professional, he has expanded the membership of the Club by initiating a drive last year which saw many a fence sitter, taking up it full time membership. Its management committee members say that it has had financially the most successful year under his stewardship. Hence, his re-election was unopposed and a bit of no-brainer.

    The CEO of Viacom18 Hindi GEC Colors has had strong links with industry initiatives over the past few years. He has been associated with several industry bodies right from the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the International Advertising Association.

  • Raj Nayak re-elected Advertising Club president

    Raj Nayak re-elected Advertising Club president

    MUMBAI: At the annual general meeting of The Advertising Club held in Mumbai today, the members unanimously re-elected Colors CEO Raj Nayak, as its president. Raj had replaced The Social Street chairman and co-founder Pratap Bose on 16 September last year.

    Over the past year, Raj has injected new dynamism into the Ad Club. A top notch sales professional, he has expanded the membership of the Club by initiating a drive last year which saw many a fence sitter, taking up it full time membership. Its management committee members say that it has had financially the most successful year under his stewardship. Hence, his re-election was unopposed and a bit of no-brainer.

    The CEO of Viacom18 Hindi GEC Colors has had strong links with industry initiatives over the past few years. He has been associated with several industry bodies right from the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the International Advertising Association.

  • RIL AGM to be streamed live from 11 am onwards 1 Sept

    RIL AGM to be streamed live from 11 am onwards 1 Sept

    MUMBAI: A lot is expected to be revealed about Reliance Jio progress and rollout plans during the course of Reliance Industries Ltd’s 42 annual general meeting with its shareholders on 1 September.

    Punters are betting that its tariffs will be disclosed as well as the plans it has VoLTE, IPTV and broadband.
    RIL has reportedly spent over Rs 29,000 crore over Jio and is expected to invest more. And while the profits are not expected to start rolling out during its investment and growth phase, RIL would still like to know what chairman Mukesh Ambani has in store. As Jio is expected to revolutionise the way Indians consume data and engage on their mobiles.

    Keeping this in mind, RIL has decided to stream the AGM live on its various online digital channels from 11 am when Mukesh Ambani is slated to begin his speech.

    YouTube

    o   Flame Of Truth channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/flameoftruth2014)

    o   Jio Digital Life channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuXlQvucItKHNH4b0ega0DA)

    ·        Facebook

    o   Reliance Industries Limited (https://www.facebook.com/RelianceIndustriesLimited/)

    o   Jio (https://www.facebook.com/Jio/)

    ·        Twitter

    o   @FlameOfTruth (https://twitter.com/flameoftruth)

    o   @RelianceJio (https://twitter.com/reliancejio)

    ·        Jio Chat

    ·        Jio Play