ITV

Tag: Anil Ambani

  • RCom and Twitter partner for Cricket World Cup 2015

    RCom and Twitter partner for Cricket World Cup 2015

    MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has partnered with Twitter to provide customers with the most comprehensive platform to follow the excitement and global commentary as the world’s 14 cricketing nations compete for the tag of the champion team.

     

    By allowing its users new ways to connect and engage on Twitter and follow the six week tournament, Reliance Communications will look to drive internet adoption and usage during this iconic event, and help drive greater recharges and create stickiness around data usage.

     

    Reliance Communications consumer business CEO Gurdeep Singh said, “We are delighted to partner with Twitter to offer this unique service to all cricket fans for a unique World Cup experience.”

     

    “Cricket is best enjoyed with friends and the fun doubles when you can share exchange with all friends instantly. It is with this thought that Reliance has made Twitter free and inclusive, so that our customers can get the most of this World Cup,” he added.

     

    One unique aspect of this service is that customers who do not have a Twitter account can also access cricket related Tweets by logging on towww.rcom.co.in/cricket on their mobile phones throughout the duration of this global event.  RCom customers can engage with players, commentators and celebrities, watch exclusive pictures and videos and of course remain updated with all the latest scores without incurring any data charges.

     

    On the other hand Twitter India and SE Asia director of business development Arvinder Gujral commented, “As a platform for live, public conversations, Twitter has changed the way people connect with sporting and global events including cricket tournaments. All the exciting action on and off the pitch as well as the roar of the Indian cricket fans from Jamagar to Itanagar, and Srinagar to Coimbatore, will be heard on Twitter. Through this partnership, Reliance Communications will enable millions of subscribers across the country to join this cricket party for free and in real-time via Twitter.”

     

    Customers will also be able to follow their favourite accounts and get updates without any data charges from Team India, BCCI and its players, including skipper MS Dhoni, or vice-captain Virat Kohli, the voice of Indian cricket Harsha Bhogle, as well as international legends like Vivian Richards  and Shane Warne, amongst many others. Reliance will also encourage users outside the Reliance network to participate in various interactive contests on Twitter on its account @RelianceMobile. Participants could win miniature bats as souvenirs.

     

    In addition to this, Reliance has launched an exclusive Cricket Portal wherein Reliance customers can download exciting content related to the event like match highlights, commentary, and behind the scenes images. All a customer has to do is go to ICCCWC2015.rcom.co.in.

     

    Reliance has also announced an exciting and fun recharge offer where customers who recharge with certain data packs will get free data depending on the runs scored by India during their games. So for a Rs 177 data recharge (Circle-specific MRP), each run India scores will give them an additional 2MB of extra data absolutely free. And if India wins the match, the free data will be doubled.

     

    Through its initiatives and offers, RCom will bring its customers right into the action as the greatest cricketing spectacle takes center stage.

  • Our aim has always been to diversify humour genre: Tarun Katial

    Our aim has always been to diversify humour genre: Tarun Katial

    2014 was a fantastic year for Big Magic as we expanded reach and launched as a national entertainment channel positioned as the one stop destination for humour. Our journey has been excellent; we have not only performed in terms of numbers but have also won the affinity of our viewers. We ranked ninth within the leading channels which is a commendable start in spite of the clutter in the entertainment market

    After receiving phenomenal success in the regional belt, it was a logical step for us to go national. It was the perfect time as digitisation was getting implemented in key markets, which has helped us to reach out to a larger spectrum of audiences. With strong presence in HSM and PHCHP markets, our main focus was to create brand equity for the channel and newly launched shows. Each show has been conceptualised on the basis of market insights, derived from in-depth research amongst our core TG. The current offering on the channel has been a concoction of traditional celebrations peppered with comedy which has resonated excellently with the entire family. Our shows like Akbar Birbal, Ajab Gazab Ghar Jamai and Uff Yeh Nadaniyaan have been a huge hit amongst all age groups.

    Our aim has always been to diversify humour genre and explore the untapped opportunities. In the new year – the promise is to deliver more chatpata content living up to the expectations of our viewers with season wise programming focus across our popular shows.

    Hits and Misses

    One of the catalysts for our success has been the channel’s proposition of serving clutter breaking and fresh content in the humor space e.g. India’s first historical comedy – Har Mushkil ka Hal Akbar Birbal. In terms of the overall performance, Big Magic demonstrated an impressive 48 per cent growth in its viewership along with a staggering reach in 85 million Indian households. At present the channel delivers a 10 per cent unduplicated incremental reach across the markets of UP, MP and Rajasthan, when compared to the top six GECs. The exuberant performance of Big Magic has also garnered interest amongst leading advertisers and marketers, resulting 100 per cent ad inventory.

    Apart from HSM and having focused on distribution and marketing, we are experiencing new viewers from Maharashtra, Gujarat and other parts of the country. A major milestone for us was the launch of Big Magic International in US, Canada and Australia to tap Indian diasporas.

    As we know the route less travelled is always difficult, and it was no exception for us. One of the major challenges we faced was the stiff competition from the leading broadcasters. When we entered the market, it was already cluttered, but with our innovative programming strategy and robust distribution in place, we emerged as a leading contender. Another obstacle we faced was establishing the brand lineage in the markets where our competition has been the leader, but with steady performance we see positive reaction across these markets as well.

    In a nutshell

    We have seen positive synergises between radio and television which has further consolidated our position as the leading media network. With successful implementation of digitisation, the television network witnessed further boost.

    With the new government, the corporate world is optimistic, instilling positive sentiments amongst national and international investors. This year also saw e-commerce industry emerging as one of the highest spenders across advertising platforms especially on television. These factors will further help to boost industry.

    We also saw the launch of many general entertainment channels, but future will belong to the segmented channels offering niche content. Overall, Big Magic saw a promising year with new show launches – Har Mushkil Ka Hal Akbar Birbal and Bal Gopal Kare Dhamaal.

    92.7 Big FM has maintained leadership in share and some shows as Suhana Safar and Breakfast shows continue to rank as number one in the Mumbai and Delhi market. New properties as Big Green Ganesha, Big Green Durga that raised concern for the environment is our focus area, going ahead. New show launches as Seher with Anup Jalota has started rating well too.

    In 2015 broadcasters will focus on newer formats, as content will drive engagement and growth. Comedy as a genre will further see diversification and will continue to move north on the rating charts.

    (These are purely personal views of RBNL CEO Tarun Katial and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Reliance MediaWorks acquires 30 per cent stake in Prime Focus

    Reliance MediaWorks acquires 30 per cent stake in Prime Focus

    MUMBAI: After its mega announcement a few days ago about Prime Focus World merging with Double Negative to create the world’s largest independent, VFX, stereo conversion and animation company, one of the Ambani brothers has decided to step into the game as well.

     

    Anil Ambani owned Reliance MediaWorks has bought shares in Prime Focus and merged itself with Prime Focus. The trio will now be the world’s largest and most integrated media services group with over 5500 people across 20 locations offering services such as visual effects, stereo 3D conversion, animation and cloud-based digital media solutions that transcend the film, advertising and television industries.

     

    An announcement by the two companies to the BSE states that “the combination brings instant benefits to global clients, with new levels of creativity, technology innovation, truly integrated digital media services, unmatched scale, financial stability and sustainability.”

     

    The new group will also have the world’s first hybrid cloud-enabled media enterprise resource planning. This unique platform virtualises the content supply chain and helps broadcasters, studios, brands, sports and digital businesses manage their business of content by driving creative enablement, enhancing ecosystem efficiencies and sustainability, reducing costs and realising new monetisation opportunities.

     

    Reliance MediaWorks and the promoters of Prime Focus, Naresh and Namit Malhotra will each infuse fresh equity capital of Rs 120 crore into Prime Focus at Rs 52 per share through a preferential allotment, aggregating Rs 240 crore. The equity process will also be used to fund the merger of Prime Focus and Double Negative.

     

    The India and overseas operations of Reliance MediaWorks’ film and media services business will be combined with Prime Focus through a slump sale which means transferring of the whole or part of a business undertaking that is capable of carrying out operations independently for a lump sum consideration without assigning values to individual assets and liabilities. After that, the net consideration will be paid in the form of fresh equity shares of Prime Focus valued at the same share price.

     

    Once the preferential allotment and business combination is done, the shareholding of the Prime Focus’ promoters will come down from 41.48 per cent to 33.5 per cent and Reliance MediaWorks will be 30.2 per cent. The mandatory open offer in Prime Focus has also been announced to the extent of 26 per cent of the fully diluted share capital of Prime Focus at Rs 52 per share as well.

     

    Through this combination, Prime Focus’ will get access to one million square feet of facilities in Film City, Mumbai, 30 per cent stake in Hollywood VFX house- Digital Domain and 100 per cent ownership of LA based digital film restoration firm Lowry Digital.

     

    Reliance Capital states that it wants to primarily focus on its financial services and align its noncore investments with successful entrepreneurs.

     

    Namit Malhotra will be the executive chairman and global CEO of Prime Focus Group. Says he, “This is a very exciting time in the life of Prime Focus. From being able to partner the world’s finest visual effects provider Double Negative, to having the Reliance Group come on board, to help mobilise our strategy in building the bridge between the west and the east. I am very confident about the benefits this combination brings to all our customers, employees and stakeholders worldwide.”

     

    Speaking on the deal, Reliance Group group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala said, “We are hugely excited about the transformational growth opportunity created by the powerful combination of the global film and media services business of Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus. Namit is an enormously passionate leader, who has created and run a highly successful global media services business. We are delighted to have the opportunity to support Prime Focus as the company moves to the next orbit of growth under Namit’s dynamic and ‘turbo-charged’ leadership.”

     

     Reliance MediaWorks CEO Venkatesh Roddam said that this was a natural and synergistic combination to optimise resources. “We are very pleased to combine our global film and media services business with Prime Focus. This will create enhanced value and new opportunities for all stakeholders, including customers in India and overseas and our dedicated team of people.”

     

    Commenting on the new media house creation, Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh said, “The proposed transaction reflects a significant step forward in Reliance Capital’s strategy of unlocking value from its investments in sectors other than financial services. We intend to partner and align ourselves with successful entrepreneurs like Namit Malhotra of Prime Focus, who has established high growth businesses, and we will support them in their endeavours to attain global leadership and excellence in their chosen areas of core expertise. This strategy will free up management bandwidth  and resources  in Reliance Capital, enabling us to singularly focus  on, and   further  accelerate  growth  in, our  core  business of asset management, life  and non-life  insurance,  broking and distribution, commercial finance  and related sectors in financial services.”

     

    Similar discussions are underway in relation to unlocking of value from other investments made by Reliance Capital in areas outside financial services, and further announcements will be made at the appropriate stage.

     

    Some of the works handled by the trio include: The Dark Knight Trilogy, Transformers 4, Inception, Gravity, Harry Potter and Avatar. The deal between Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus brings integrated services to the Bollywood industry from equipment rental and shooting stages up to final digital distribution.

     

     EY India was the exclusive advisor to Reliance MediaWorks for the transaction and Centrum Capital was the exclusive advisor to Prime Focus. The transaction is expected to go on for a couple of weeks.

     

    Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus’s wholly owned company Monsoon Studio has taken 2,30,76,923 equity shares. 6,73,07,692 shares will be given via the open offer.

  • RBNL to seek shareholder approval for delisting

    RBNL to seek shareholder approval for delisting

    MUMBAI: As the stock markets closed today, those in the trade saw the Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) shares go down from the opening of Rs 52.35 to Rs 49.05 at close. The stock was dragged down by the news that the Anil Ambani group company had got board approval to delist from the stock exchanges.

    It is to be noted that the ADA group which had a 72 per cent shareholding in RBNL earlier but has since reportedly taken that up to 75 per cent will now have to buy out another 15 per cent of floating stock from the public in order to meet the 90 per cent promoter holding requirement set by Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for complete delisting. Estimates are that the tab for buying up the full public shareholding for the ADA group will be in the region of Rs 100 crore.

    RBNL is involved in various media segments which includes: Radio (92.7 Big FM), television broadcasting (Big CBS,  Big Magic, Big RTL Thrill), outdoor (Big OOH), Experiential marketing and production (Big Production).  Its radio business is among the front runners in the country and proftable, while its television vertical is yet to make a substantial impact in the broadcasting firmament, though it accounts for about 30 per cent of its revenues.

    “The management of RBNL wants to re-structure the company,” says a financial analyst. “And it’s easier for the company to do so if it is not in the public domain; you can avoid following many listing guidelines; you don’t need shareholder and SEBI and stock exchange permissions to make changes if it delists and goes private once again.”

    RBNL officials refused to make any comments. But a perusal of the company’s latest quarter financials on a consolidated basis shows that it is continuing to make losses though they are being shaved year on year and quarter on quarter. In Q1 to June 2013, it generated total revenues of Rs 61.13 crore and a net loss of Rs 15.76 crore as against a revenue of Rs 65 crore and a loss of Rs 24.15 crore in the previous preceding quarter. In its previous full financial year to March 2013, its revenues were at Rs 233.53 crore with losses at Rs 91 odd crore.

    As per the board meeting held yesterday, the company will now seek approval of its shareholders through a postal ballot in terms of the SEBI delisting regulations.

  • Fame is dead, long live Inox

    Fame is dead, long live Inox

    MUMBAI: In 2011, Inox’s takeover of Fame India made for headlines, while giving a fillip to the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Capital Partners and becoming the country’s biggest multiplex chain in the bargain.

    Two years later, change is finally happening. On Monday, 17 September the Fame website www.famecinemas.com ceased to exist, and is in the process of moving into the Inox website.

    All Fame properties will henceforth be called Inox. Also, a marketing campaign comprising print, outdoor and radio and spanning over two months has been kicked off to communicate the new name to people. As part of the campaign, there will be advertisements and inserts in a range of newspapers across cities that house Fame multiplexes. The value of marketing across 24 cities is pegged at approximately Rs 15-20 crore by industry sources. Similarly, Fame will undergo physical changes where the new logo of Inox will make its presence felt on tickets, popcorn cups and uniforms worn by the staff.

    About the acquisition, Inox Leisure CEO Alok Tandon said: “The good points of Fame and Inox have been put together. The first phase will see Mumbai experiencing the change this week, after which, Kolkata and Bengaluru are next with cities such as Pune, Panchkula and Dhanbad following suit.”

    Asked why it took two years for the renaming, Tandon said: “The acquisition got finalised only this year in May since we had to visit two courts (Baroda and Mumbai) in two states- . Only after that could we start our renaming process.”

    With 73 multiplexes and 284 screens across 40 cities; of which 25 multiplexes with 94 screens belong to Fame India, Inox is in a happy space. Maharashtra boasts the highest number of Inox multiplexes – 19 with 76 screens, followed by West Bengal with 13 multiplexes and 49 screens. Indeed, the last of Inox’s 73 multiplexes was added only yesterday, in Haryana, with nearly Rs 7-10 crore having gone into the setup. As things stand, Inox claims to attract over four crore movie goers annually.

    What’s more, plans are afoot to expand into cities like Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Jalgaon, Madurai, Jamnagar and Manipal as also increase the existing number of multiplexes in places like Lucknow, Raipur and Surat.

    To mark the change from Fame to Inox, a new ‘Feature Presentation Dater’ has been created, with sound designing by Oscar Award winning Resul Pookutty. “Our aim is to make the audience experience high fidelity,” says Pookutty, adding that an atmos version of the same is on the anvil.

    The question now remains whether Inox will continue to retain its Fame?

  • Sun TV channels threatens to pull plug on Reliance Big TV

    Sun TV channels threatens to pull plug on Reliance Big TV

    MUMBAI: The sun is likely to set on Reliance Big TV. The south’s leading broadcaster has issued a public notice to the Anil Ambani-owned Big TV that it better pay up money owed to it or it will pull the plug on 18 channels in different languages that are carried on the DTH platform.

    According to Sun Network sources, Reliance Big TV has been given a deadline of three weeks as per TRAI rules to cough up back dues which some say have not been paid for six months.

    According to an industry source, Reliance Big TV had earlier received a notice from another aggregator for non-payment of subscription dues but had made the payment after it was issued.

    The 18 channels which will go off air from Reliance Big TV, if the dues are not cleared are: KTV, Sun Music, Sun News, Gemini TV, Gemini Comedy, Udaya TV, Udaya Comedy, Udaya Movies, Udaya News, Gemini News, Gemini Music, Gemini Movies, Adithya TV, Sun TV, Udaya Music, Chutti TV, Surya TV and Kiran TV.

    The notice comes at a time when there were newspaper reports that Reliance Big TV was close to concluding merger talks with Sun DTH. Obviously things have not moved forward positively and it’s quite likely the deal has been aborted. Reliance Big TV subscribers are hoping things get sorted out on the Sun TV channel carriage front.

  • Reliance MediaWorks yet to conclude PE deal; in talks to extend exclusivity period

    Reliance MediaWorks yet to conclude PE deal; in talks to extend exclusivity period

    MUMBAI: For cash-strapped Reliance MediaWorks (RMW), a big relief was the promise of private equity financing. But the Anil Ambani-controlled film and entertainment services company said Monday it is yet to conclude the Rs 6.05 billion equity investment deal it had signed with a private equity firm last year.

    The company clarified that “no definitive agreement has been executed in respect of the proposed transaction.” RMW has not yet named the private equity firm.

    RMW said it is in talks with the private equity firm to extend the exclusivity term-sheet period for Rs 6.05 billion investment for a minority stake in the company. The window expired on 15 October 2012.

    The company and the fund are in the process of extending the exclusivity period, RMW clarified.

    The company had last year announced that it had signed a term-sheet with an unnamed PE fund to get an investment of Rs 6.05 billion for the debt-ridden company, whose entire net worth got eroded due to consecutive losses.

    The investment was to be made in a subsidiary company of RMW under which the media services division would be housed.

    While Reliance has declined to divulge the name of the PE firm, a report in a business daily had speculated that the company was in talks with L Capital, the private equity arm of the world‘s biggest luxury company LVMH.

    Meanwhile, the company which had extended its financial year till 30 September 2012, has narrowed its net loss to Rs 1.16 billion in the quarter ended 31 December, from Rs 1.5 billion a year earlier.

    RMW’s income from operations for the third quarter remained flat at Rs 2.02 billion against Rs 2.07 billion a year ago. The company also contained its expenses in the third quarter at Rs 2.6 billion against Rs 2.89 billion a year earlier.

    RMW operates three businesses — film distribution under BIG Cinemas, TV production unit under Big Synergy, and a film and media services segment.

    The company‘s loss from film services division before tax and interest widened to Rs 386.3 million in the third quarter from Rs 85.23 million a year earlier, while the revenue from this segment declined to Rs 322.1 million from Rs 534.3 million a year earlier.

    Its loss from theatrical exhibition declined to Rs 220.9 million from Rs 510.3 million a year earlier. However, its revenue remained flat at Rs 1.42 billion against Rs 1.47 billion a year earlier.

    The television/film production and distribution business, the only profitable segment for the company, posted a profit of Rs 98.88 million in the third quarter, up from Rs 17.39 million a year ago. The division’s revenue grew to Rs 334.4 million in the third quarter from Rs 128.8 million in the earlier year.

  • RComm signs $1 bn deal with Ericsson to manage network services

    RComm signs $1 bn deal with Ericsson to manage network services

    MUMBAI: Billionaire Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications today signed an eight-year full-scope managed services agreement with Ericsson for $1 billion to operate and manage the wireline and wireless networks in the Northern and Western states of India.

    As per the contract, Ericsson will manage the day to day operations across wireline and wireless networks and will take over responsibility for field maintenance, network operations and operational planning of Reliance Communications 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks.

    This agreement is aimed to meet the fast evolving customer demand for communications applications and services in one of the world‘s most dynamic telecom markets.

    Reliance Communications will benefit from Ericsson‘s world-class processes, methods and tools and the partnership will allow Reliance Communications to free up resources to focus on user experience, as well as improving innovation power, agility and speed across the specified geographies. Reliance Communications‘ infrastructure covers 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages in India to which it offers converged services including voice, data and video.

    Ericsson will streamline Reliance Communications‘ operations by bringing all aspects of fiber, tower operations, wireless networks and wireline access networks to Reliance Communications‘ wireless and global enterprise business, across differentiated product lines. Ericsson will also drive a modernisation of the tools, processes and best practices that are applied across the business resulting in operational efficiencies by managing cost through consolidation.

    Commenting on the agreement, Reliance Communications CEO – Wireless Business Gurdeep Singh said, “We are happy to announce our partnership with Ericsson to manage our wireline and wireless network enabling us to provide a higher level of customer experience in terms of network and services. Given the complexity of network increasing with platforms, technologies and application offerings, we are banking on the experience, innovation and technical expertise of Ericsson to improve the productivity of our network and ensure that it delivers to its full potential. We are confident that they will exceed the expectations of our customers through optimization of resources and provide us cost effective solutions.”

    Ericsson EVP and Head of Business Unit Global Services Magnus Mandersson said; “We are excited to partner with Reliance Communications for this strategic multi-technology managed services deal. The increasing uptake of new technologies requires an increased focus on customer experience management in the hyper competitive and highly dynamic Indian telecom market. With this partnership Reliance will increase focus on their core business and innovation. We are pleased to welcome more than 5,000 employees who will join us from Reliance Communications and support our long term commitment to India‘s ICT market.”

    This agreement will be driven by defined service level agreement governance. Ericsson will be responsible for improving network performance and ultimately service quality, with the goal of increasing customer satisfaction and retention. Ericsson will also work closely with Reliance Communications to identify opportunities to introduce new services and expand its existing businesses to help realise the full potential of its network.

    “This partnership will enable our enterprise customers to deploy state-of-the-art data services on our integrated network through the global expertise of Ericsson. This is one of the first times that wireless and wireline enterprise network is being outsourced to deliver world-class service and performance assurance,” added Reliance Communications CEO, Global and Enterprise Business Punit Garg.

  • DDB Mudra completes last leg of restructuring

    DDB Mudra completes last leg of restructuring

    MUMBAI: DDB Mudra has completed the last leg of its restructuring, a process that started in November 2011 after Omnicom took majority stake in the Anil Ambani-owned company.

    The senior level changes include Arijit Ray who will now work on a new assignment in the DDB Asia-Pacific network while Sudarshan Banerjee will serve as director business development in the DDB Mudra Group in addition to his role as head Mudra Ahmedabad. Ray was president Mudra West till now.

    Banerjee will report to Pratap Bose who is group CEO.

    Also, Anurag Bansal will now serve as director finance in the DDB Mudra Group and be the deputy to the group chief financial officer Dilip Upadhyaya.

    At the beginning of 2012 Mudra had announced the joining of Vandana Das as head of its North operations while Rajiv Sabnis was given the reins to head the West operations. Ranji Cherian continued to head the southern operations.

    Sabnis and Cherian will also be involved in initiating integration projects and business for DDB MudraMax from the existing clients within DDB Mudra and Mudra in their respective regions.

    DDB Mudra will announce its new identity on 28 February. The effective date for the makeover is 1 March.

  • Police arrests TV5 editors, Editors Guild condemns irresponsible reporting

    Police arrests TV5 editors, Editors Guild condemns irresponsible reporting

    MUMBAI: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Police has arrested two senior editors of the Telugu news channel TV5 for alleging Ambani brothers’ involvement in the death of former chief minister YS Rajshekhar Reddy.

    The report, citing a Russian website, was first aired by TV5 and was later broadcast on NTV and Saakshi TV. This led to attacks on Reliance groups’ outlets in Andhra Pradesh.

    Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash on 2 September last year.

    After the attacks, criminal cases have been filed against the two other channels also. The cases were handed over to the CID, which arrested TV5 senior executive editor Brahmananda Reddy and input editor P Venkatakrishna from their office amid protests by staff.

    Meanwhile, the Editors Guild of India has expressed grave concern over “unprofessional” reporting by channels.

    In its statement, the guild asked the channels to desist from “irresponsible reporting”. “Such reporting is sensational in nature and goes against the basic ethics, standards and principles of journalism,” it said while condemning such reporting.

    The statement further said that “such reporting triggered some violence in certain parts of Andhra Pradesh is highly unfortunate”.

    “It may be pertinent to reiterate news organsiations should exercise all possible rigour and cross-checking of fact, source and motivation of the information before disseminating it in public,” it added.

    Meanwhile, both Mukesh and Anil Ambani-led companies have issued statements expressing shock at the report.