ITV

Tag: Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd

  • Adcap violations cases against 15 TV channels put off to April

    Adcap violations cases against 15 TV channels put off to April

    NEW DELHI: Complaints against various television channels before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate relating to adcap violations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are now slated to come up for hearing on 2 April.

    CMM (Delhi Central) Pooran Chand directed that as the matter was pending in the Delhi High Court, the interim orders would continue.

    TRAI had filed complaints before the Magistrate’s Court against IBN Lokmat News, Zee News, TV Today Network, Sun TV Network, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, NDTV Lifestyle Ltd, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Odisha Television Ltd, Celebrities Management P Ltd, Eenadu Television P Ltd, Panorama Television P Ltd, MAA Television Network, Sarthak Entertainment P Ltd, and Prism TV Pvt. Ltd.

    According to information available with Indiantelevision.com, some of these cases have been pending since 2013. There have also been some instances wherein executives of various channels have been seeking exemption from personal appearance whenever the cases came up.

    In the Delhi High Court TRAI had earlier assured that no coercive action would be taken till the court’s final decision.

    However, the Delhi High Court had directed every channel, which was involved in the case before it, to maintain a register of the advertisement time consumed by them.

    The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) had challenged the adcap rule, contending that TRAI did not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions were filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamour, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eenadu Television and Raj Television.

    Later Home Cable Network, which claims pay channels should not be permitted to carry advertisements, was impleaded. Discovery Communications has also filed for being impleaded and this application is slated to be heard on 29 March.  

  • Adcap violations cases against 15 TV channels put off to April

    Adcap violations cases against 15 TV channels put off to April

    NEW DELHI: Complaints against various television channels before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate relating to adcap violations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are now slated to come up for hearing on 2 April.

    CMM (Delhi Central) Pooran Chand directed that as the matter was pending in the Delhi High Court, the interim orders would continue.

    TRAI had filed complaints before the Magistrate’s Court against IBN Lokmat News, Zee News, TV Today Network, Sun TV Network, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, NDTV Lifestyle Ltd, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Odisha Television Ltd, Celebrities Management P Ltd, Eenadu Television P Ltd, Panorama Television P Ltd, MAA Television Network, Sarthak Entertainment P Ltd, and Prism TV Pvt. Ltd.

    According to information available with Indiantelevision.com, some of these cases have been pending since 2013. There have also been some instances wherein executives of various channels have been seeking exemption from personal appearance whenever the cases came up.

    In the Delhi High Court TRAI had earlier assured that no coercive action would be taken till the court’s final decision.

    However, the Delhi High Court had directed every channel, which was involved in the case before it, to maintain a register of the advertisement time consumed by them.

    The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) had challenged the adcap rule, contending that TRAI did not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions were filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamour, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eenadu Television and Raj Television.

    Later Home Cable Network, which claims pay channels should not be permitted to carry advertisements, was impleaded. Discovery Communications has also filed for being impleaded and this application is slated to be heard on 29 March.  

  • Sunil Lulla promoted to President, Corporate Development of BCCL Group

    Sunil Lulla promoted to President, Corporate Development of BCCL Group

    MUMBAI: Nine years ago, Sunil Lulla was given the challenge of steering the Times Television Network’s (TTN) fortunes in a competitive Indian TV landscape. Today, the late entrant in the industry has blossomed as a broadcast major. And it seems like the former TTN MD and CEO’s  efforts have not gone unnoticed by the board of Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). Lulla is being challenged once again to work his magic on and grow some relatively nascent activities within the group.

     

    Lulla has been designated as President of Corporate Development in the BCCL group and has been been given the task of replicating his earlier success with TTN in smaller BCCL businesses like music, sports, new IP, international events and other initiatives. The Times Music division will now be reporting to Lulla who will be working closely with Times Internet CEO  Satyan Gajwani and BCCL group  MD Vineet Jain.

     

    Former Disney UTV Media Networks MD MK Anand will be taking over as the new MD and CEO of TTN, stepping into Lulla’s shoes. The date when both of them will be taking on their new roles is not yet clear but it will be sometime in February.

     

    Lulla has nearly three decades of experience in the industry. He has worked with leading organizations such as MTV, Sony Entertainment Television and successfully built TTN into an enterprise.  Now he will have to create a new legacy for TTN’s parent-BCCL.

     

    While MK Anand was unavailable for comment, Sunil Lulla confirmed the news about his new role. Apparently an official announcement was made internally by the BCCL management very recently.

  • ASCI upholds a record 99 complaints in January

    MUMBAI: Kicking off the new year, The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) upheld the highest ever number of complaints against misleading advertisements in January.

    Ninety-nine out of 108 complaints received have been upheld by the CCC. ASCI’s National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS) also contributed in tracking down the misleading claims made in ads in various sectors.

    ASCI said in a statement, “The NAMS initiative has helped in strengthening the self-regulation and redressal process manifold. The proactive monitoring has helped in tracking a wider numbers of misleading ads month on month. This is a positive development as it is helping to protect consumer’s interest in India.”

    The highest number of advertisements was pulled back in the healthcare segment with 28 complaints being upheld. The second highest number of complaints was upheld in the education sector with the CCC finding 22 advertisements misleading or making claims that are not substantiated by sufficient data. Sixteen advertisements in the personal care category, 10 in consumer durables segment, nine in the miscellaneous category, three each in the food and beverages and real estate segments and two advertisements in the media category were pulled up by the CCC as they were found to have contravened Chapter I.4 of the Code.

    The advertisers that were asked to pull out or modify their ads for the month of January included Star India, Whirpool, Natraj Electricals, Radikal Foods, Bennett Coleman Co Ltd, Tata Housing Frankfin Institute of Air Hostesses, Marico, Hindustan Unilever, Gillette and Rupa.

    Star India Ltd’s Star Cricket TVC shows “a boy with cricket bat jumping over a creek and his face changing to Chestshwar Pujara‘s”. The advertisement is trying to communicate that children who take risks turn into top cricketers. The element of risk is clearly visible when other children are shown astonished to see the feat of the boy jumping the creek. This scene clearly violates the ASCI Code. Also the shown jump seems morphed which accentuates the risk as normal child cannot jump such a broad creek.

    The CCC concluded that the boy jumping over small creek shows a dangerous practice and manifests a disregard for safety without justifiable reason. The TVC contravened Chapter III.3 of the ASCI Code and the complaint was UPHELD.

    BCCL’s ET NOW has a print advertisement that shows a comparison of viewership of some English business news channels in a stated target audience group and market. The primary objection is that the source of the data is not mentioned. Assuming that the source is TAM, the market share numbers stated in the graph are incorrect. The visual has pictures of people who are Engineers, Doctors, Entrepreneurs & Corporates whereas the TG stated for the graph is males, 25-44, Sec A which would include these professionals, students and non-working individuals as well. The CCC concluded that the source of the data substantiating the claim was not mentioned in the advertisement and the manner in which the comparative data was presented was misleading as the base level was not mentioned. The advertisement was found misleading and contravened Chapter I.4 of the Code. The complaint was, thus, upheld.

  • Times of India Group to invest Rs 211 million in Mid-Day

    Times of India Group to invest Rs 211 million in Mid-Day

    MUMBAI: The print industry is seeing strange marriages. If traditional rivals The Times of India and Hindustan Times formed a joint venture to publish a newspaper in Delhi, Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd, publishers of a popular tabloid in Mumbai and Bangalore, today announced its new strategic alliance.

    Bennett Coleman Co. Ltd (BCCL which owns the Times Group) will own 6.65 per cent in Mid-Day Multimedia for Rs 211.1 million. The holding will be routed through a preferential allotment of Mid-Day shares at Rs 60 per share.

    Mid-Day said today it would issue and allot on a preferential basis 26,85,000 equity shares at a price of Rs 60 per share to Banhem Financial & Investment Consultants Ltd, an affiliate of BCCL. It would further issue 8,33,333 convertible preference shares to Banhem Financial & Investment Consultants at Rs 60 per share.

    “We have signed a business cooperation agreement. This alliance will benefit both organisations through cooperation in printing, circulation and advertising sales,” Mid-Day said in a statement.

    The promoters of Mid-Day are enhancing their investments in the company to support the company’s growth in print anf FM radio in metro markets across the country. Mid-Day will issue and allot on a preferential basis 29,27,333 equity shares at a price of Rs 60 per share to Ferari Investments and Trading Co Pvt Ltd, a promoter Group company. It will also issue 8,33,333 share warrants at a subscription price of Rs 6 per warrant (10 per cent of an exercise price of Rs 60 per warrant) to Ferari Investments and Trading.

    Mid-Day promoters will, thus, put in an incremental investment of Rs 225.6 million. The promoters will own 51 per cent while BCCL will have 6.65 per cent after both rounds of investment, the release said.

    It may be recalled that the Indian Express had bought a 10 per cent stake in Mid-Day for a little over Rs 250 million while BCCL held about 8 per cent. Subsequently, both had sold their stakes in the open market.

    In a joint statement, BCCL executive director Ravi Dhariwal and Mid-Day Multimedia managing director said: “The Times of India with its leadership position in the morning broadsheet market and Mid-Day with a successful formula for the middle-of-the day, are in fact complementary plays. With this alliance, we will endeavour to garner a larger market share of both readers and advertising in major metros of the country.”