ITV

Tag: Anurradha Prasad

  • Narayana Rao re-elected NBA president

    Narayana Rao re-elected NBA president

    NEW DELHI: K V L Narayana Rao has been re-elected president of the News Broadcasters Association for 2012-13.

    Rao is Executive Vice Chairperson of NDTV Group – New Delhi Television Ltd.

    Barun Das, CEO of Zee News, is the Vice-President. Ashok Venkataramani, who is ABP News CEO, is the honorary treasurer.

    The other members on the NBA Board are :
    1. Rajat Sharma, Chairman – Independent News Services Pvt. Ltd.
    2. Sunil Lulla, Managing Director & CEO – Times Global Broadcasting Company Ltd.
    3. Saikumar Balasubramanian – Group CEO (Network 18) – IBN 18 Broadcast Ltd.
    4. Anil Mehra, Director – TV Today Network Ltd.
    5. Anurradha Prasad, Chairperson-cum-Managing Director, News24 Broadcast India Ltd.

  • BAG Network creates CEO post, hires Arora

    BAG Network creates CEO post, hires Arora

    MUMBAI: B.A.G Network has appointed RK Arora as CEO of its broadcasting initiatives.

    In the newly created post, Arora will look after the complete operations of Hindi news channel News24, Bollywood channel E24 and FM radio business Dhamaal24. He will also be responsible for the expansion plans of the network.  
         
      Before joining B.A.G. Network, Arora was associated with Independent News Service since inception which launched India TV in 2004. A Chartered Accountant by profession, he was CFO and executive director of the company.

    Arora said, “I am pleased to join B.A.G. Network which has different verticals such as television, radio, teleport services, TV serials, film production and media institute and with my vast experience of 14 years in media, I will be able to enhance the growth of the Network.”

    B.A.G Films and Media CMD Anurradha Prasad said, “With an experience of over 14 years and his grip on the media industry and distribution network including technology implications, he is going to help B.A.G Network reach new milestones.”

  • ‘A generational shift is happening in the TV news space’ : BAG Films and Media CMD Anurradha Prasad

    ‘A generational shift is happening in the TV news space’ : BAG Films and Media CMD Anurradha Prasad

     

    BAG Films and Media founder-promoter Anurradha Prasad has put up a mighty fight. Not many would have dared take her seat a year back as she had to fend for her two newly-launched channels amid an epic global economic downturn.

     

    News24 was fighting for space in a crowded Hindi news TV market. The top tier – Aaj Tak, India TV, Star News and Zee TV – had settled. Just down below were IBN7 and NDTV India, both big brands and threatening to pace up.

     

    Prasad promised hard news, a gap that wasn‘t being serviced too well. But down the road she realised that news consumption was changing. Riding the cyclic wave was important. So she changed gears without compromising the basic ethics of journalism. “We have to bring in the interesting element. India is a youth population. We have to show news that appeals to them,” she says.

     

    News24‘s market share improved, inching close to seven per cent. E24, the Bollywood news channel, was also gaining currency. While the slowdown allowed her to trim costs, revenues also started looking up. The net result: bringing down the broadcasting business‘ operating loss to Rs 122.36 million during the first nine months of FY‘10.

     

    The struggle, though, is far from over. The broadcasting business is still bleeding while the TV content production, which used to rake in revenues of around Rs 600 million, is almost blank.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Sibabrata Das & Gaurav Laghate, Prasad says the broadcasting business will operationally break even this fiscal and the focus will be to revive the content production business.

     

    Excerpts:
     

     
    Bag Films recently raised $17.4 million. Is the funding complete with that or you will need more capital?

    We have raised Rs 804.5 million ($17.4 million) through a GDR issue to fund our existing broadcasting business. The board had taken an approval to raise $30 million over two years. We will need new capital when we decide to launch two more channels.

     
     
    But aren‘t the two existing channels bleeding while the TV content production business is almost a blank?

    Yes, we are still posting losses, but they are much less than the earlier fiscal. The two channels will be operationally breaking even this fiscal. We will be raising our ad rates by at least 20 per cent while we have brought down the costs.
     

     
    Won‘t there be a shortfall even then as your cash burn rate is about Rs 700 million?

    For News24, the cash burn is around Rs 600 million, while our revenue at this level is Rs 400-450 million. We are starting with a hike in ad rates in the first quarter of the fiscal, but expect to post more growth during the course of the year. We will also be tapping more clients. As for E24, we are already very close to being in a break even state.
     

     
    When you announced your broadcast plans, you said you needed a funding of Rs 4 billion. How much have you completed so far?

    We had raised Rs 2.4 billion from India Bulls promoter Sameer Gehlaut, High Growth Distributors and Fidelity. Add to this the Rs 804.5 million we have just raised. There is still a shortfall but the original plan included the launch of four channels. We have put the launch of two channels on hold.
     

     
    Recession hit the industry just as you made an entry into the broadcasting space. Were your plans upset in a major way?

    We deferred the launch of our two channels. Our revenue projections also went for a toss. But the slowdown actually acted as a blessing in disguise. We could rationalise our costs very early into our expansion into the TV broadcasting space. We transferred our E24 operations from Mumbai to Delhi. This was a bold step as we had to take the risk of running a Bollywood news channel from Delhi, but we succeeded. We also initiated multitasking at the junior level.
     

     
    ‘The two channels will be operationally breaking even this fiscal. We will be raising our ad rates by at least 20% while we have brought down the costs by 30% on a monthly basis‘
     
     

    Did this also mean trimming manpower?

    Our peak staff strength came down from 900 to 650 people. But I did not make any compromise on the editorial and we did not ask anyone to leave. By restructuring operations, we brought down our costs by 30 per cent on a monthly basis. And now with the market improving, we see ourselves ready for growth.
     

     
    News24 has managed to improve its market share in the Hindi news channel space to around 7 per cent. Just before launch, you had said that you would focus on serious news. Have you had to dilute from your original position to gain market share?

    We have had to change along with the tastes of our viewers. So we brought in the “interesting” factor in news without compromising on our journalistic ethics. For example, we aired a story on prostitutes dancing on a cremation ground in Varanasi. We wouldn‘t have shown this two years back. Visually, it was a great story. We must remember that India has a dominant youth population and they consume news so differently. And why blame them? It is a twitter age.
     
     

    So is news getting redefined?

    Let‘s face it. A generational shift is happening in the TV news space. And there are cyclic waves of viewing preferences. After the Mumbai terror attack, all channels started ‘Pakistan bashing‘ while the ‘bhoot-pret‘ (ghosts and demons) element came down. And audiences loved that.

     

    Indians love experimentation in every aspect. I also believe that though English has become the link language, Indians typically think in Hindi. Which is why some of the English news channels are also changing.
     
     

    In such a cluttered Hindi TV news market, how will News24 wing its way up?

    Our focus this year will be on distribution. We feel we have a strong chance of going up the ratings ladder among the second tier of Hindi news channels once this is taken care of. I firmly believe that chaos leads to creation.

     

    We see a high growth and revenue potential for News24 as there are still over 200 advertisers to tap. And the effective rate of advertising is still the lowest in the broadcasting sector. We believe the market will expand to accommodate more players.

     

    Also, the sporting events like Commonwealth Games, T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup will generate a lot of excitement, which will help the news channels.
     
     

    Do you have plans to launch your channels in international markets?

    We have international expansion plans for our broadcasting business. We plan to launch both the channels in the Middle East by the first quarter of this fiscal.

     

    We already give the feed of E24 to DirecTV in USA for two hours daily.

     
     
    How do you plan to revive your TV content production business that was raking in about Rs 600 million?

    Since our broadcasting business is under control, we will bring back our focus on the TV content business. We understand that side of the business very well. We will make soaps as they are the staple diet of all Hindi general entertainment channels. Non-fiction content is expensive and the RoI (return on investments) is not good; broadcasters are realising this. 

     

     
    On the FM radio front, will you bid for phase III once the government comes out with a policy for it?

    We have 10 operational radio stations at this stage. We will take a call on bidding for more stations once there is clarity on regulation. There are still question marks on royalty and permission of news on radio. Since we are already in TV news, we believe permission of news on radio will give us a definite push and advantage.

     
     
    Are we going to see Bag Films being active on the movie production front this fiscal?

    We will wait for further price corrections. Recent movies like LSD (Love, Sex aur Dhoka) are good business models.
  • BAG Films plans to take News24, E24 to Middle East in early FY’11

    BAG Films plans to take News24, E24 to Middle East in early FY’11

    NEW DELHI: BAG Films and Media, which has diverse interests across broadcasting, television production and radio businesses, is planning to take its two channels to the Middle East by early next fiscal.

    News24 (Hindi news) and E24 (Bollywood news channel) are slowly gaining market share in their respective segments.

    “We have international expansion plans for our broadcasting business. We plan to launch both the channels in the Middle East by the first quarter of the next fiscal,” BAG Films and Media CMD Anurradha Prasad tells Indiantelevision.com.

    The company already gives the feed of E24 to DirecTV in USA for two hours daily. “We have a content tie-up with DirectTV and two hours of E24 feed beams in the USA,” Prasad says.

    The focus this year will be to achieve operational break even for the two channels, she adds.

  • B.A.G’s News24 is now available on Tata Sky

    B.A.G’s News24 is now available on Tata Sky

    MUMBAI: B.A.G Films and Media’s newly launched Hindi news channel is now available on direct-to-home (DTH) platform Tata Sky.

    Currently a free to air channel, News24 is expected to go pay by next month.

    B.A.G Films and Media MD Anurradha Prasad, “Television viewers will have one more platform to watch News24 wherein Tata Sky would definitely work as a catalyst in better brand positioning of the Channel. Going forward, we are confident of bringing back the discerning Hindi viewers to watch News24 as our message to all the viewers is that News is Back.”

  • ‘The discerning Hindi viewer has moved away to English news channels’ : Anurradha Prasad – B.A.G Films & Media Ltd managing director

    ‘The discerning Hindi viewer has moved away to English news channels’ : Anurradha Prasad – B.A.G Films & Media Ltd managing director

     When she started Bhagwan Allah God Films, a television content production company, many thought she was out of her mind. The company (known better by the acronym B.A.G Films) has moved far above what it had initially stepped out to achieve. Today, it is a full-blown media house and a public limited company, with stakes in content production, TV broadcasting, radio channels and mobile content development.

     

    In an interview with Sujit Chakraborty, B.A.G Films & Media Ltd managing director Anurradha Prasad talks about the steps the company is taking to emerge as an integrated media company.

     

    Excerpts:

    Now that you have got FDI (foreign direct investment) clearance, how much does it ease your investment plans?
    We had already raised substantial money earlier for our broadcasting venture. Now what we are getting is Rs 600 million from Fidelity. We are also going in for FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds) in two tranches.

    With the funding in place, what are your launch plans?
    We are launching E24 in the first week of March. It is not a GEC (general entertainment channel). It has snacky entertainment content – like glamour, lifestyle, Bollywood. We shall not have fiction and soaps. No saas bahus for us, though my content division is doing saas bahus for others (laughs). Moreover, there are already three new GECs and others coming in. My TG is different even within the entertainment genre.

     

    Our next launch will be Bliss24, a wellness channel, after 4-5 months. Life24, the fourth channel, will come up after a similar time lag, and we are firming up the content for that.

     

    Once we are over with the channel launches, we will look at the film production business more seriously as it is an area of expansion.

    What has been the progress of the Hindi news channel which was launched over a month back?
    As far as market position goes, News24 is behind NDTV India but we have a long way to go. We have to sort out distribution problems and go far beyond the channel’s 19 per cent reach. As connectivity grows, we will also grow.

     

    The encouraging thing, though, is that audience stickiness to the channel is high when big news like the Narendra Modi (Gujarat chief minister ) issue breaks. Our stickiness has been as high as the top three Hindi news channels. This strengthens our belief that credibility is valued. Even as one realises that we are operating in a cluttered market, we are also convinced that our stance towards news coverage pays. Otherwise, the credibility of Hindi TV news has eroded.

    Trends show that you might get lower ratings than the rival news channels that have a preponderance of sex, violence and the supernatural. Would you say people in the Hindi belt prefer nonsense to news?
    That is a misnomer. The discerning Hindi viewer has moved away to English news channels. There is definite demand for proper news in Hindi.

    The government has a problem with repetitive shots of violence and abuse – the mainstay of Hindi news. Are you doing the same?
    No we are not. But if it is news, it will be on my channel. Two years back, you could not have thought of one Indian Test win in a series getting an eight-column banner headline in newspapers. But this is happening. So the way people are viewing news is changing. It is a young, vibrant India, and if we do not reinvent at every stage, we shall be out. But it is not that people want only bhoot-pret and sex. If that is so, why should NDTV, CNN IBN or IBN 7 work? And they are working.

    There has been a demand that such channels be termed ‘tabloid channels’ and not news channels. But if people want to see these things, they will. Does any change in definition make any difference?
    Let them. It is for the government to decide what goes on air – whether people are becoming more superstitious or not. I am saying that I shall not go for that kind of news content. Besides, there is a span of time that certain things sell. The same old thing does not last long. Proper news has lasted and will last.

    You created the Hindi news crime show Sansani but are now doing away with sensationalism in your own news channel?
    People have missed the point about Sansani, as it was much more than a show where people with problems would come to us rather than go to a police station. It was a socially important show. We stopped doing Sansani last July because we were coming up with our own news channel.

    Are you planning something on those lines for News24?
    We are going to do something. Crime against women is a big issue for me. We are working on that, after launching the campus programme in which students from across the country report for us.

    Good method of increasing penetration?
    Yes, of course. It works very well.

    Which economic or social segments does your news channel target?
    A and B category viewers. But as I see it, the real problem is with the ratings system. The economic definitions of A and B are not correct. If the criterion is the ownership of a fridge and a TV, then in the last five years a whole lot of lower strata people have moved up in economic terms but not in cultural terms. The system by which weightage is given is flawed. Some channels are taking advantage of that because it is their business model. As a strategist, I would rather trace out the need gap, which I have, and put things that way.

     

    Ultimately as a content person, I must do what I believe is the need and that has to be based on scientific studies. My analysis shows that news was losing credibility. Secondly, a whole lot of channels were not reinventing themselves. There was a strong need for a young, vibrant and credible brand… that’s why News24.

    There is a concern that with tabloid news channels getting more TRPs, advertisers might swing their way. Does that worry you?
    Going forward, it can’t be like that. Any good advertiser will check out whether he is reaching only the masses, or hitting the target consumer or not. As an advertiser, I would be asking my media buying department, Boss, jismey dalaa hai uska return kya hai? (what is the return from the channel where you have placed my ad)? Right now, the returns are all hedged because they are all enmeshed in the whole issue of TRP and GRP.

    ‘E24 shall not have fiction and soaps. No saas bahus for us, though my content division is doing saas bahus for other channels‘
    In the FM radio business, you were talking of leading a consortium of smaller operators. Since that has not taken place, how has it affected your revenue flows?
    Our revenues are not affected as it was not based on consortium selling. Besides, we now have a network to sell across TV channels and radio.

    Does it make better business sense going to the smaller towns?
    Definitely, because that is where new buying power is coming from. We are now in places like Hissar, Karnal and Patiala, and these stations can be looped. We have still to launch in Simla, Jalgaon and Jabalpur out of the 10 FM stations we have won the bid for.

    Don’t you think metros offer bigger opportunities?
    Metros will be there, but they are saturated markets. The psyche is different in the smaller towns and the push is happening from there. We are not afraid of competing in the bigger cities. But we saw the saturation coming, so it was a conscious business decision to go the small-town way. This will give us better penetration and better revenues.

    How are you differentiating your content from the others?
    Firstly, in most of these cities, we have the first mover advantage. Then interactivity is a huge thing for those towns, and we have fully interactive studios. Besides, we are a content company from the beginning and our content is different. The songs may be the same, but in our case interactivity is huge. And we are geared towards the youth.

    But isn’t every radio operator doing that?
    Yes, I am sure they are, but in these small B and C class cities, the youth is massively aspirational.

    What are the regulatory issues that concern radio operators?
    The government has opened up radio licences but not done those other things that need to make radio a successful industry. They are not allowing news. They have irrationally capped the FDI in radio at 20 per cent. These are crucial issues. In advertising and films, you have 100 per cent FDI.

    When you first forayed into the Film City and started your venture, a lot of newspaper circuit people said it was crazy to shift to media production. So, what was the idea then?
    I did not change. I was just working for someone else. A newsperson in the television arena, I decided to do it for myself instead of doing it for others. I was just quitting the Observer Channel. True, since there was hardly anyone else there, people might have thought “she is crazy.” Television business was not like what it is today. But by the time I started in 1994, Zee TV had launched, and satellite TV had come in. So I could see that things were changing. I felt that if one has to learn about it, why not do so by being with oneself?

    What would you say were some of the landmarks in that phase?
    Every show had been a landmark in its own genre, whether it was Zaikay Ka Safar which was a food and travel show that went on for eight years, or Chitrahaar, in which we radically changed the format and many others. They all were landmarks.

    What, according to you, had been the most important step from the government to boost the industry over the years?
    Actually the best thing is that the government did not do anything for a long time, which ensured that we grow on our own. But the government ought to have done something on the distribution area in the initial stages. Of course, now they have started doing certain things.
    You mean Cas (conditional access system) as one of them?
    Cas is one, and then there are various DTH (direct-to-home) players coming in. But there seems to be no desire to push digitisation forward in a big way.

  • Rajesh Jathar joins News 24 as regional ad sales head

    MUMBAI: B.A.G Films and Media Limited has announced the appointment of Rajesh Jathar as regional head (corporate advertising sales, West and South) of its broadcasting arm News 24.

    On the new appointment, B.A.G. MD Anurradha Prasad said, “We are confident that Jathar vast and varied experience in the field of media and entertainment would add to the growth of the company.”

    Jathar has more than 14 years of experience in both print and television advertising sales. Prior to B.A.G., he was working with NDTV Media. He has also worked with Zee, the TV Today group and Hindustan Times, at various positions.

  • B.A.G Films to launch glamour channel in January, 2 more by mid-2008

    NEW DELHI: B.A.G Films & Media Ltd. will launch its glamour channel E24 by January-end and the spirituality and lifestyle channels will be up by the middle of 2008.

    This was disclosed by B.A.G Films MD Anurradha Prasad while stating that the Hindi news channel, News 24, would launch on 13 December, 5.30 pm onwards.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that B.A.G Films would invest Rs 4 billion in its broadcast venture and the Hindi news channel would launch on 13 December.

    News 24 is aimed at the “Young Adult.” Said Prasad, “Why another channel in this already cluttered Hindi news channel space? We feel that news has vanished from the channels. The youth particularly do not take any interest in the news channels. That’s why we decided on a new channel addressing that target group.”

    The entire editorial guideline of the channel is based on reporting, analysing and presenting hardcore news for the youth. “There is no room for infotainment in our channel, since I have a hard news background. This is what we are going to restore in the Hindi TV news space,” said Prasad.

    Asked about the differentiator between her channel and channels like IBN 7, which also thinks on similar lines, Prasad said that this would be finally decided by the viewers.

    With regard to marketing research for positioning her channel, she said, “I consciously avoided research because my experience is that people get influenced by researches. I am sure that any research agency would ask me not to get into this cluttered market. We are in the content business, and content is a gut feeling. So we went with our gut feeling. But yes, on taking that decision, we did some focused research on what the target group would want to see.”

    The channel will have a dedicated 30-minute programme daily focused on youth and the issues that concern them. They will also feature a programme on campus life and issues relating to coming of age, presenter of the campus programme Anjana Kashyap said. She added that there is a separate group of 30 reporters for the youth programming, which is distinct from the general news set-up.

    Prasad said that the channel will be “hugely interactive” with a clear presence on the Internet and not just the use of the SMS system.

    News 24 will use state-of-the-art technology for all editorial inputs from its 42 reporters, and 300 stringers across the country who will come on the Internet using FTP.

    News 24 is adopting tapeless cameras making time-consuming physical delivery of tapes completely redundant. Moreover, the innovative IT News Gathering Technology will enable on-field journalists to upload/uplink recordings instantly, thus ensuring immediacy of news. The entire network is transparently connected across the 13 bureaus. The network has implemented a revolutionary digital archiving system that can store up to 5,000 hours of coverage with expandable memory.

    The channel has tied up with Reliance Infocomm to gather news from wherever their own reporters or stringers are not present, giving them a much higher penetrating news gathering machinery, an official from the channel explained during a tour of the studio.

    The channel will be seen in most states across north India but not in some of the southern states, which would happen in the second phase, a distribution official said.

  • ‘Line between credibility and sensationalism is becoming thinner ‘ : Anurradha Prasad – B.A.G Films and Media Limited MD

    ‘Line between credibility and sensationalism is becoming thinner ‘ : Anurradha Prasad – B.A.G Films and Media Limited MD

    B.A.G Films & Media Ltd. managing director Anurradha Prasad has her plate full. Having created a long list of popular TV shows, she now has her eyes fixed on FM radio, TV channels, animation and feature films.

    The company has spun separate subsidiary outfits for each of these activities. The news channels will be housed under B.A.G Newsline Network while the non news broadcasting venture will be under B.A.G Glamour.

    FM Radio is under B.A.G Infotainment and is operating under the Radio Dhamaal brand while animation will be via a joint venture with Sieindesign Co.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Sibabrata Das, Prasad talks of the changing face of news television with the growth of tabloidisation, the excitement of FM radio and her plans to create a vertically integrated media empire.

    Excerpts:

    Are TV content companies in India under compulsion to foray into broadcasting space as an effort to scale up their business?
    We can go on doing a service job and generate ratings for the broadcasters. But the fundamental problem is that we have no ownership of those shows. So how do we do a forward and backward integration? We were already doing a 360 degree of content; now we have decided to do a 360 degree of media. If we don’t do it now, then when will we? We have taken the organisation into a position of strength. Now is the time to take the leap.

    Is the decision to have control over your destiny a fallout of B.A.G Films losing flagship shows like Sansani as Star News decided to do it themselves?
    It had nothing to do with Star retrenching our shows. It was actually a two-way process and the pullout happened in May-June. We were actually contemplating on our future course of action nine months back and last December we took a call. Having done content, we had learnt a whole gamut of things and we decided to move from B2B to B2C. The things started unfolding when we bid for FM radio stations and created a new company structure. We did our first placement in January.

    Were you looking at a model like Balaji Telefilms where a broadcaster picks up stake in the company and you venture into TV channels space enjoying an assured content supply?
    That is a good business model as it provides a huge element of security. But we wanted to be on our own. Surely, we run a higher risk. But India today is all about challenges. If we don’t take that up right now, we will have slipped an opportunity.

    You mean to say that this is the right timing?
    Media is attracting huge interest and is going to rule the entire consumer process. The whole distribution rejig is also happening. Cas (conditional access system) is being made mandatory, direct-to-home (DTH) platforms are up. Other media vehicles like mobile TV and internet are emerging . The cost paid for distribution is going to drop.

    We have created tried and proven content. We have already set up an infrastructure and have the resource network in place. What we have to do now, and correctly, is marketing, positioning and distribution. For us, it is a very calculative challenge.

    In the broadcasting space, why did you decide to get into the news and lifestyle genre?
    For the last two years, there has been growth in these genres. And they have been eating into the audience share of the general entertainment channels (GECs).

    Are Hindi news channels growing at the cost of the GECs because of crime shows and tabloidisation of news?
    The drama in the news channels is an important driver for getting eyeballs because GECs are totally focused on women. As the GECs provided no alternative for male and young viewers, they went to news channels.

    Won’t it be tough as you are entering at a time when the news market is getting fragmented among 4-5 players?
    The competition is huge and in the process people are going to any level to grab eyeballs. They are expanding the viewership through non fiction entertainment and are getting only TRP-driven. But in the process, they have never marketed their product or channel; they have sold cheap. The truth is that you can have a large number of eyeballs, but you may not necessarily enjoy fat revenues. People who watch news channels are not necessarily what the advertisers want. The perception you have created is very important. Which is why NDTV may have less viewership than some of the competitors but enjoys more revenues than them.

    Isn’t tabloidisation the winning bet for grabbing audiences in the Hindi news space?
    The non fiction entertainment in Hindi news channels has created a new kind of TV. But there are no isms being followed and the editorial staff is getting edgy in this battle for TRPs. We started tabloidisation in India with the properties (Sansani, etc) that we created for Star News. But even in that space, nobody could question our credibility. That is getting lost, especially in the last two years. And some of the good properties which are getting created outside this, are not being marketed or sold properly.

    How could you establish credibility in this genre which thrives on sensationalism?
    When we did Sansani, it was the most credible crime show. We did research and stood by our stories. We provided all the drama but also reflected the interest of the people; several tantriks who were duping people were exposed. More than programming, it was the helpline that added to the credibility. When others took the crime genre, they never did justice to it.

    As a serious organisation which is in the business of news, you can’t be doing certain things which are not credible. That line between credibility and sensationalism is very thin. And it is becoming thinner because of the growth of this genre.

    Do you see this trend growing?
    The cost of making some of this kind of programming, particularly relating to ghosts, is cheap – and there is an audience for this. But I don’t see this going on and on. It is also a happy India that we are in now.
    ‘We plan to make a combined investment of Rs 4 billion in our broadcasting business‘

    Will we see opinionated news in your network?
    We will carry the opinion of the people. We should have the guts to say whatever we want to say. Otherwise, why should we be in the news business?

    How much will you be investing in your Hindi news channel?
    We plan to make a combined investment of Rs 4 billion in our broadcasting business. We are launching four channels – two in the news space, one lifestyle and `Bliss’ which will be all about mind, body and soul. For the news venture, we are pumping in Rs 2.5 billion. While the first will be a general Hindi news channel, we are still strategising on the second one. We expect to launch the Hindi news and lifestyle channels in October-November. We are using the Insat satellite and have applied for a teleport licence.
    Are you diluting 25 per cent stake each in the two broadcast companies, B.A.G Newsline Network and B.A.G Glamour, to raise Rs 2 billion?
    I can’t comment on it.

    Are India Bulls promoter Sameer Gehlaut and Kolkata-based High Growth Distributors individually picking up 12.5 per cent in each of the two companies? Have you raised Rs 1 billion each from them?
    We are a listed company. We can’t comment at this stage.

    How different will the lifestyle channel be?
    We are trying to create a new space. It will be a celebrity-driven, aspirational channel.

    For the FM radio business, would you require to raise fresh capital in B.A.G Infotainment?
    Our fund requirement is Rs 480 million. We have offloaded 10 per cent in the subsidiary company to IDBI Bank. B.A.G Films is investing through internal accruals and we have also tied up debt. We are adequately capitalised.

    Are you in talks with foreign investors?
    We will launch our brand and grow the business. We will create value before we decide to go in for a further dilution.

    When will all the 10 stations get launched?
    We have already launched Hissar and Karnal. Patiala is coming up next, followed by Muzaffarpur, Ranchi and then Jalgaon. We should have launched all our stations by August-September.

    What is the strategy behind bidding for the stations in the northern region and the sugar belt of Maharashtra?
    We believe that the towns we have selected will push for the radio revolution that has come so late in India. And the cities we have selected in the northern region falls within one extended stretch of tourist belt. Ranchi is an upcoming capital while Jabalpur is fully Hindi. In Maharashtra, the sugar belt has money.

    Will your stations have a common distinct personality?
    The tagline is `Hila ke rak de.’ This is because the belt we have selected, particularly in the north, is high on energy. We have trained our RJs accordingly. We will be a mass-based station as we have to first get the radio culture in those places.

    What are the plans for the animation business?
    We have entered into a joint venture with Sieindesign Co, a firm which has a presence in the production, distribution and licensing of animation movies and TV series. We will see this segment growing.

    How do you see growth in the parent company which will house the TV and film production business?
    We will continue to do fiction programming for general entertainment channels as we see no friction there with our new lines of broadcasting business. The scope, in fact, will broaden as a slew of new channels are in the process of being launched.

    We have also launched an international show Yeh Vaada Raha for Ary Digital, Dubai available in Pakistan, UAE, USA and UK. This is our first step towards going international. We are also foraying into Bengali feature Films with Ami,Yaseen aur amaar Madhubala. Directed by Budhadeb Dasgupta, it is set for release in October. All these efforts should give us topline and bottomline growth.

  • B.A.G Films to launch two news channels

    MUMBAI: B.A.G Films & Media Ltd plans to invest Rs 2.70 billion for the four channels it proposes to launch as part of its strategy to diversify into broadcasting business from just being a pure content company.

    B.A.G Films will launch two news channels, says managing director Anurradha Prasad. For the Hindi news channel, it has roped in Aaj Tak director news Supriya Prasad.
    “We plan to invest Rs 2.70 billion for the four channels. We expect to launch the Hindi news channel by November. Supriya Prasad is joining us as director – Hindi news,” says Anurradha Prasad.

    The lifestyle channel could be launched during the same time while “Bliss” will be all about mind, body and soul which will roll out later.

    The two segments are being housed under two associate companies, B.A.G Newsline Network (P) Ltd and B.A.G Glamour (P) Ltd. While the news channels will be under B.A.G Newsline Network, the non news venture will be in B.A.G Glamour.

    B.A.G Films has already applied for uplinking facility with the information and broadcasting ministry to launch channels in news and non news category.

    The company will have its own distribution team. “We are in the process of hiring the distribution head,” says Anurradha Prasad.