ITV

Tag: Bennett Coleman

  • Zee Media appoints Manish Seth as chief revenue officer

    Zee Media appoints Manish Seth as chief revenue officer

    NEW DELHI:  Zee Media has brought in Manish Seth as chief revenue officer, banking on his track record of doubling digital revenues to power the broadcaster’s next growth phase.

    Seth joins with immediate effect from 28 October, the company told stock exchanges on Monday. The appointment, approved by the board on the recommendation of the nomination and remuneration committee, designates him as senior management personnel under India’s listing regulations.

    The new chief revenue officer arrives with a formidable reputation. At TV9 Network, where he most recently served as revenue head for digital and business head for Money9, Seth doubled digital revenues in just two years. He also pioneered integrated television and digital sales models that broke new ground in Indian media.

    Before TV9, Seth spent years at Zee Unimedia, Zee Media and Bennett Coleman, consistently delivering double-digit growth and launching multiple channels and products. His expertise spans revenue strategy, sales transformation, go-to-market planning and profit-and-loss management across broadcast and digital platforms.

    Seth holds a postgraduate diploma in marketing management from the Times School of Marketing and a bachelor’s degree in science from Delhi University.

    Zee Media is betting that Seth’s digital chops and proven ability to build high-performing teams will accelerate its transformation at a time when traditional broadcasters are scrambling to capture online audiences and advertising rupees. With 25 years of trench warfare in media sales under his belt, Seth now has the mandate to write the next chapter of Zee Media’s revenue story.

  • Seenu Kurien joins Carnival Cinemas as VP sales and marketing

    Seenu Kurien joins Carnival Cinemas as VP sales and marketing

    MUMBAI: Carnival Cinemas, a motion picture exhibitor, today announced the appointment of Seenu Kurien as VP- sales and marketing. At Carnival Cinemas, Kurien will be heading sales and marketing functions and will be responsible for ad sales – off screen and onscreen, marketing, branding, alliances and PR.

    Commenting on her new innings with Carnival Cinemas, Kurien said, “I have long admired Carnival Cinemas for its commitment to its vision and excited to be a part of making this vision a reality. I am delighted and look forward to working with the teams to further the brand.”

    Kurien has over 13 years of work experience in sales, strategy, branding and operations. She has worked across industries including media and construction in various functional roles in emerging (India) and developed markets (USA). Before joining Carnival, she was national head – exhibitions with Bennett Coleman (The Times of India) and was responsible for creating joint exhibition IPs, and driving ad revenues via exhibitions to all print products across all markets nationally & internationally.

    Prior to becoming national head for exhibitions, she was a regional sales head and was responsible for advertising space sales, developing partnerships, agency relations, providing integrated marketing solutions and identifying new business opportunities. She also had stints in corporate strategy and branding.

    Speaking on the appointment, Carnival Group founder and chairman Shrikant Bhasi said, “We are incredibly pleased to welcome Seenu to our Carnival family and executive leadership team.The entertainment business is seeing huge growth and we are confident that Seenu’s experience will help the company build the next phase of growth. Her extensive experience in media will be extremely useful as the group moves towards leadership position in the film exhibition sector.”

    She has also spent a considerable amount of time working in the real estate and construction sector in the US handling project management, contract management & operations.

  • Being a ‘cry baby’ won’t help Times Group, says Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami

    MUMBAI: The slugfest between the established leader and the new entrant in the national English news genre is getting murkier by the day. After allegations of telecasting Republic TV on multiple feeds by some MSOs surfaced, and the NBA petitioning the TRAI, there were reports of unethical behaviour against the new channel’s editor.

    No might or strategy however seems to be working to put down the self-proclaimed David in its fight with the Goliath. Hours after Bennett Coleman registered a police complaint against the former editor of Times Now, the Republic TV founder and editor Arnab Goswami called up indiantelevision.com to talk about his triumphs in the audio-visual media as well as the social media.

    Excerpts:

    How is Republic TV doing?

    The channel has got tremendous traction — it’s way above on our own expectations. Our digital traction, social media traction — all have been extremely encouraging. We are tracking viewers’ behaviour and their responses to our campaigns and the stories that we are breaking everyday — it is without an iota of doubt we are on path to be the leaders.

    What do you have to say about the police complaint against you?

    I just wanted to say in the response to this attempt by the Times of India Group that  it’s a desperate act of the party which is losing. As I said at the FICCI conference recently, this is the David versus Goliath battle, and the Times of India Group has lost all its viewership.

    They must look at their content and work in their newsrooms, and sit in the police station. If they would have spent more time in their newsroom rather than in the police station, may be, somebody would have watched them. But, essentially, the desperation and paranoia of losing Goliath proves that they are unable to come to terms with defeat. The TOI Group must accept defeat gracefully — it will be better for them.

    The TOI Group must introspect the reasons for their rejection. We telecast a numbers of big stories and exposes from day one of our launch — 6 May. And, people have accepted us with open arms.

    Aren’t you legally on a weak wicket if the tapes which you played in Sunanda Pushkar and Lalu Yadav-Shahabuddin case were actually recorded during your employment at Times Now?

    (Arnab Goswami parries the actual question)

    The Sunanda Pushkar case been going on for two and half years now. Justice has been denied in this case for this period. Journalism is all about pursuing the truth, and I will pursue the truth. I am not responsible if the Delhi Police has not followed up on this case. When we were with Times Now, Prema Sridevi was instructed by her immediate superior of Times Now not to share these tapes with the police.

    You seem to be saying all that is being said against you is totally wrong.

    The paranoid behaviour of the Times of India Group including the impeccably foolish attempt  to claim copyright over the phrase “Nation wants to know” has rendered them a laughing stock in the eyes of the people across the country. Never before has one heard a case of one media house going to the police because of a story done by another media house.

    I would like like thank TOI for giving us the viewership. A senior TOI executive told us that they would be watching Republic TV. Being a “cry baby” would not help the TOI Group.

    You have still not answered our question of whether or not it’s correct to take away material that ethically belongs to your (now former) employer.

    If the Times of India Groups wants to take me to jail, I will walk from here to jail. This will be the first time in the history of journalism that a journalist and editor has sent to jail for for following a murder investigation. Would you not agree that from 6 May, news has not been the same?

    Vineet Jain and the Times Group should invest more time with their lawyers in police stations. But, I have many more news stories to break and follow.

    Are you saying that you would want to win by hook or crook?

    There is no hook and there is no crook, my friend — this is only journalism.

  • Zee, Bennett, Discovery, Disney, NDTV, Viacom 18, BBC & Raj TV among 112 channels awaiting clearance

    NEW DELHI: Even as the government claims to have permitted 892 private satellite television channels as on 28 February 2017, applications of a total of 112 channels have been awaiting clearance, some of them since October 2010.

    Stating this, the minister of state for information & broadcasting told the Parliament that the government has no plan to place a ceiling on the number of TV channels in the country.

    Meanwhile, a list annexed to the minister’s reply showed that Cinema 24*7 leads the list of those awaiting clearance with seven channels. Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd and Zee Media come next with six channels each.

    Six companies are awaiting clearance for three channels each: Yogi Networks, Vedic Broadcasting Ltd, Eduall India, Media Worldwide Ltd, Raj TV Network and Neo Broadcast Pvt Ltd.

    Those who have applied for two channels each include Springtide Infotainment Media, Vrinda Channel, Enter 10 TV, AETN 18 Media, Viacom 18, Chaman Broadcasting, Kasthuri Media, BBC Global News India, Discovery Communications, Dev Varsha Jatropha Bio-Energy Ltd, Kamyab TV, Sowbhagya Media Pvt Ltd, and Sudarshan TV.

    All others including NDTV Lifestyle and Disney International have queued up for one channel each.  

    Also Read:

    892 pvt TV channels against 1500 targeted in 12th Plan

    Total of television channels in India rises to 892, with three cleared in June

    81 teleports permitted to uplink, downlink TV channels

     

  • 2011: Building leagues and searching for life beyond cricket

    2011: Building leagues and searching for life beyond cricket

    2011 was a year where sports took a leaf out of the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and announced leagues following a similar franchise format. Leagues ranging from football to hockey are being built to offer content to sports broadcasters.

    Sports marketers believe that there is an audience for sport other than cricket as long as it is packaged, marketed and organised well in a professional manner.

    As far as cricket is concerned, the big news was the termination of Nimbus‘ rights for India cricket by the BCCI. On a more positive note, the sport did well for advertisers in terms of ROI.

    As far as the push towards non cricket is concerned, two leagues were announced this year in motorsports and American football. Nimbus and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) concretised their plans for World Series Hockey (WSH).

    The property for Nimbus will serve as a feeder for Neo Sports. Wizcraft International director Sabbas Joseph expects this franchise to break-even within five years. But given that politics has been responsible for the national sport going down the drain, it is not surprising that the initiative has run into some rough
    weather.

    In order to take the sport of horse racing to another level, R1 was launched marking Bennett Coleman‘s first big push into sport. The push also extended to sports entertainment with WWE opening an office in India.

    Life In The Fast Lane: It is not just mass sports that are going the league way to gain a wider audience and boost their commercial value. In motorsports, Machdar Motorsports announced the launch of a racing league at a cost of $12-15 million a year. It will no doubt be encouraged by the response that the first F1 race got in Delhi. The league, called i1 Super Series, will see the likes of Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan owning a team.

    The league, though, has been postponed to January next year, partly due to the fact that franchise owners want time for marketing activities. Also, it has been finding it tough to get corporates to own teams for I series, which is why it had reduced the ownership price from $5 million to $3.5 million.

    1 Super Series managing Darshan M expects the franchises, who have ownership for 15 years, to recoup their investments in the fourth year. Each team will race with two cars forming an 18-car grid.

    Aiming to grow the amount of sports it covers, Ten Sports has taken the broadcast rights for the event. Ten Sports CEO Atul Pande believes there is place for a domestic racing league. “Our programming mix is the best among the sports broadcasters and this property is a significant addition. With the kind of capital and marketing dollars chasing it, the event will gain traction,” he says.

    And for Khan, this offers an opportunity to get involved with other sports ventures apart from his Kolkata Knight Riders IPL franchise.

    GroupM ESP managing partner Hiren Pandit notes that the involvement of celebrities like SRK will lend visibility. “But ultimately it is the quality of sport being dished out that will determine its fate. At this point I am not sure if it will turn out to be a good TV sport. This will be a toy for the big boys.”

    Taking a Punt: In order to boost the profile of horse racing, RWITC formed a joint venture with Bennett Coleman and Procam to launch R1.

    R1 has 13 races lined up across the country in its debut year. Aired on Ten Sports, R1 kicked off with the Indian 1000 Guineas on 11 December 2011. The aim of the stakeholders is to position the sport as being cool and trendy so that younger viewers start tuning in.

    Zee is pushing the property on its other channels like Zee Café and Zee Studio. Bennett Coleman will also heavily promote the event across its different properties like Times Now.

    For the first time in the history of this sport, behind-the-scenes action will be captured, which include the jockeys‘ room and the stewards room. The live world feed will include new cameras including a Super Slo-Mo Camera.

    According to Pandit, horse racing operates in a tight segment. “It is seen in India as a gamblers sport. Some brands will associate with it. Whether they broaden the audience base or not remains to be seen,” he says.

    EFLI makes an entry: The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) announced a league aiming to grow American football in India. Based on the franchise model, it starts with eight teams, building up to a total of 52 by 2022 representing all Indian cities with a population in excess of one million.

    With Ten Sports as its partner, the league will kick off in November 2012 in Pune. Says EFLI CEO Richard Whelan, “American football is fast, furious and fun to watch. Indian viewers are now watching sports other than cricket. There is no doubt in our minds that the EFLI has picked the right time for its Indian touchdown. Even women are keen on watching sports.”

    Nimbus‘ Woes: Speaking of the bat and ball game, Nimbus is on a sticky wicket. It moved the Bombay high Court over its deal with the BCCI (the Board of Control for Cricket in India) that got terminated for non payment of dues.

    The BCCI has time to find a new broadcaster as there are several months to go before India plays a series at home.

    Ad revenue scene: Sports broadcasters earned an advertising revenue of around Rs 21 billion in 2011, a healthy growth over last year.

    Agrees Lodestar UN CEO Shashi Sinha, “2011 was special for sports as there was the cricket World Cup and the IPL. You had the highs of big properties as well as events that helped build the image of sports. FMCG brands also got more involved with cricket. The economic slowdown has not impacted sports ad revenue.”

    There is a challenge, though, in 2012 as ad revenue from cricket could degrow in terms of monies due to a lesser number of high profile events.

    Sinha finds the entry of new leagues an encouraging sign. “The surface of sports in India has not been scratched beyond cricket. There is scope for leagues to work as long as investments are made. It will be a question of how a property is leveraged and marketed.”

    The Cricket Rights Scene: On the cricket rights front, 2012 will see a lot of action as a host of properties come up for grabs.

    In 2011, Zee took the crucial step of renewing its rights for Cricket South Africa. Zee also renewed rights for Zimbabwe cricket, while ESPN Star Sports (ESS) retained Australia.

    The rights for India, England, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and New Zealand are all due for grabs.

  • Vikram Thukral appointed as VP distribution for Times Now and Zoom

    Vikram Thukral appointed as VP distribution for Times Now and Zoom

    MUMBAI: Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd. (BCCL) has fused the distribution team of the two channels Zoom and Times Now to drive in penetration and bring in revenues. The distribution will be overseen by the newly appointed VP- distribution Vikram Thukral.

    Thukral fills in the space vacated by Hitesh Sabharwal who was handling the distribution aspect of Zoom.

    Vikram Thukral will be reporting to the Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla and Zoom CEO Suresh Bala respectively. At Star, Thukral has led each of the regions of east, north and west expanding Star’s household reach and earning significant revenues from distribution, informs an official release.

    And the distribution teams of both the pay channels; the glamour and lifestyle channel Zoom and the English news channel Times Now will be reporting into Thukral.

    In a joint statement issued, Bala and Lulla stated, “We welcome Vikram’s leadership and believe both channels will be served better with combined efforts, in growing each channel’s household reach.”

    Over the next few weeks, both channel teams will be integrated for a common customer facing team. Time Now is owned by Times Global Broadcasting (A Times Group & Reuters Company) and Zoom is fully owned by Bennett Coleman & CO Ltd.