ITV

Tag: Broadcast

  • TV Today Q2 results: Broadcast ad revenues grow marginally

    TV Today Q2 results: Broadcast ad revenues grow marginally

    KOLKATA: TV Today Network has posted an operating revenue of Rs 176.71 crore in Q2. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 27.40 crore.

    Although the operating revenue is up on a like-to-like basis, it has declined compared to the corresponding quarter last year. In Q2 FY 20, the company reported Rs 180.45 crore operating revenue.

    It further reported that the net profit grew by 13.5 per cent. The media company posted a net profit of Rs 23.70 crore in the Q2 2019-20.

    TV broadcasting revenue grew 0.9 per cent YoY to Rs 143. 6 crore led by strong recovery in ad spends across major verticals post the unlock along with the positivity around festive season. It posted a net revenue (in the broadcasting business) of Rs 142.28 crore in the same period in 2019.

    Radio broadcasting segment witnessed a negative growth of 65.7 per cent YoY to Rs 0.95 crore. TV Today posted a net revenue (in the radio broadcasting business) of Rs 2.77 crore in Q2 2019-20.

    Newspaper publishing segment witnessed a decline of 87.1 per cent YoY to rupees one crore. It posted a net revenue (in the print publishing business) of Rs 7.75 crore in Q2 2019-20.

    The company has further realigned its senior management with key elevations.

  • NT Awards 2020: And the winners are…

    NT Awards 2020: And the winners are…

    NEW DELHI: Indiantelevision.com concluded the much-coveted News Television Awards in a virtual ceremony today. Conferring the honours was Indiantelevision.com founder and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. The event was powered by TVU Networks.

    Over 120 awards were presented to multiple news media groups and eminent personalities in the industry. News channels were awarded in multiple categories – Programming Awards, Promo – Design – Packaging Award, Sales & Marketing Awards, Special Awards. These included the likes of Zee, Aaj Tak, NDTV, India Today, Wion, TV9 Telugu, ABP News, Odisha TV, ABP Ananda, Zee Rajasthan, News18 Lokmat and others.

    A round of personality awards were conferred to anchors, journalists, producers, cameraperson, video editor, and others. Some of the winners in the category include CNBC TV18 managing editor Shereen Bhan, India Today & Aaj Tak news director Rahul Kanwal, Aaj Tak’s Rohit Sardana, Zee 24 Kalak’s Janak Sutaria, Wion’s Digvijay Singh Deo, NDTV India's Nidhi Kulpati and others.

    The Hall of Fame Award went to India Today vice-chairperson Kalli Purie.

    The complete list of winners is shared here.

  • Catch NT Awards Live today

    Catch NT Awards Live today

    New Delhi: Last week, Indiantelevision.com concluded a successful two-day News Television Summit powered by TVU Networks, where eminent broadcast news industry leaders discussed imminent opportunities and challenges that lay ahead of them. They touched upon several core subjects like ad-volumes, subscriptions, pay-TV, ratings, regulations, and technology.

    Industry leaders such as TV9 News Network CEO Barun Das, ABP CEO Avinash Pandey, Zee News CEO & editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary, Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand, Wion executive editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay, India Today & Aaj Tak News director Rahul Kanwal, Times Now editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar, PolicyBazaar head of brand & marketing Samir Sethi, and TVU Networks VP of sales – South Asia & MENA Sushant Rai participated in the discussion.

    Up next is the News Television Awards, also powered by TVU Networks. The awards will felicitate the best in broadcast news industry across multiple categories such as – Programming Awards, Personality Awards, Promo Design & Packaging Awards, Sales & Marketing Awards, and Special Awards.

    Read more about NT Awards

    Indiantelevision.com received over 500 entries that were rigorously screened by a 37-member jury that includes senior personages of the industry.

    The awards will be handed over to the winners in a virtual ceremony by Indiantelevision.com’s founder and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. The event begins at 2.30 pm today.

    Join the festivities here.

  • TRP Scam: Hansa Research moves Bombay High Court, claims harassment from Mumbai crime branch officials

    TRP Scam: Hansa Research moves Bombay High Court, claims harassment from Mumbai crime branch officials

    New Delhi: Hansa Research Group has moved the Bombay HC, alleging that Mumbai Police’s crime branch officers probing the case are pressuring its employees to “retract” a report, based on which Republic TV had claimed it was not among channels named in the TRP Scam case. It has urged the court to transfer the probe to CBI or another state agency, accusing the Crime Branch of being “biased”.

    The media report said that the group has filed a petition and the four petitioners – Hansa Research, its director Narsimhan K Swamy, CEO Praveen Nijhara and deputy GM Nitin Deokar – contended that since October 12, several employees of the company have been repeatedly called to the crime branch office and were pressured to make a “false statement” disowning the report telecast on Republic TV on October 10 – referred to as the “Hansa report”.

    They mention that they are caught in the crossfire in a “battle-like situation between Mumbai Police and certain sections from media for the last few months…. It is evident that the petitioners are being used by police and certain section from media as means to attack each other and petitioners are suffering from collateral damage in this.”

    The petition further stated: “Harassment caused to the petitioners by respondent no. 1 (Assistant Inspector Sachin Vaze) is only with a view to extract a statement, albeit false, from them that the…purported Hansa report shown on Republic TV since October 10 is not that of the petitioner no. 1 but a fake one.”

    Read more news on Hansa Research

    The petitioners stated that they told crime branch officers repeatedly that they could not confirm or deny the report since they were not aware what the ‘Hansa Report’ cited by Republic TV was, as the channel had not sought their permission or informed them about using the report, and only parts of the report were telecast. They said that they will have to see the entire document to ascertain its veracity.

    The petition names assistant police inspector (Crime Branch) Sachin Vaze, Mumbai Police commissioner Parambir Singh, assistant CP and chief investigating officer Shashank Sandbhor, Maharashtra government and the CBI as respondents.

    The petition stated that on October 26, four directors of the company and one vice-president (finance) were present at the crime branch office. The petitioners claimed that while the crime branch officers again told the petitioners to deny ‘Hansa report’ as fake, they also disallowed their lawyer to enter the premises. They were then informed that they were being arrested and their phones were seized, the petition further stated.

    The petitioners alleged that since October 12, when Nijhara and Deokar first went to the crime branch office, their employees have been “kept detained there for over 200 man hours for no justifiable reason”. The only objective of the crime branch, the petition alleged, is to “keep them detained and pressurise and frustrate them so that they make a false statement according to the desire of respondent no 1 (Vaze) for reasons best known to him.”

    The petition is likely to be heard by the court later this week.

    Earlier, the group moved the city civil court seeking an order restraining Republic TV from citing the report as ‘Hansa Report’ since they were not informed by the channel. The city civil court, however, refused to grant the injunction.

    On 6 October, Hansa Research Group lodged an FIR against its employee Vishal Bhandari after he was found allegedly accepting payments illegally to make certain households watch specific TV channels, allegedly to fudge TV TRP ratings. Several arrests have been made in the case. 

  • Dish TV posts weak Q2 results

    Dish TV posts weak Q2 results

    New Delhi: Dish TV India has reported second-quarter fiscal 2021 unaudited consolidated subscription revenues of Rs.7,65.7 crore and operating revenues of Rs. 8,46.4 crore.

    The subscription revenue has seen a dip of 3.3 per cent year-on-year. In 2019, the subscription revenue stood at Rs 792 crore for the same period.

    Operating revenue is also down by 5.2 per cent Y-o-Y. The operating revenue for the same quarter in 2019 stood at Rs 893.2 crore.

    EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs. 525.3 crore up 0.9 per cent Y-o-Y. EBITDA margin was at 62.1 per cent, up 380 bps Y-o-Y.

    Profit after tax was Rs. 64.5 crore as against a loss of Rs. 96.4 crore last year.

    Total expenses during the quarter were down 13.9 per cent Y-o-Y despite the loss from discard of consumer premises equipment (CPE), with trade partners, due to regional floods. The loss on account of write off of such CPE was to the tune of Rs. 99 million, as against Rs. 30 million in the previous year.

    Dish TV reported strong second-quarter numbers despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic and a generally weak quarter. Working on all fronts, the company continued to build on its strengths while exploring and developing new technologies and processes to strengthen areas requiring improvement. As one of the steps towards retaining existing subscribers the company, in a bid to enhance subscriber engagement with the platform, upgraded its home-grown OTT platform ‘Watcho.

    ’ The upgrade introduced a popular feature that allows subscribers to create and upload videos. ‘Watcho,’ hosts a variety of indigenous web series and is believed to be an important connect between the DTH platform and its subscribers. The newly introduced feature provides a stage for creators to produce content in multiple formats – short to very short videos and short films, thus giving them exposure while helping ‘Watcho’ gain momentum in the user-generated content ecosystem. With social distancing norms keeping majority of the people indoors for most of the quarter, the company considered it critical to continue to work on further streamlining the touchless and digital recharge and buying experience.

    While home delivery of set-top boxes picked up speed, the sales and service teams spent significant time upskilling themselves and the on-ground network to integrate the new normal into their regular business practices.

    On the cost front, work on enhancing operational efficiencies and cost optimization carried on. In a significant departure from years of practice the company decided to procure set-top-boxes and other key accessories from India, going forward.

    The first consignment of ‘Made in India’ set-top-boxes was deployed during the quarter and India made power adaptors and remote controls are next on the list. The company initially plans to procure almost 50 per cent of its requirement of STBs from India.

    Dish TV India CMD Jawahar Goel said, “We are excited to be a part of the Government of India’s, ‘Make in India’ initiative and are geared up to localize the manufacturing of set-top-boxes and other key accessories. With the vision of ‘Make in India,’ we reiterate our commitment to quality products that would exceed the rapidly evolving needs of customers. We thank the Government for their support and favourable policies that would help grow the sector.”

    In the absence of fresh television content from pay entertainment broadcasters, subscribers remained picky in channel selection.

    Dish TV India group CEO Anil Dua said, “We continue to be cautious yet agile, listening to market and customer voices. As we tread through these never seen before times, we remain committed to leveraging our strengths and overcoming our shortcomings to keep Dish TV India strong, relevant and profitable. Our performance during the quarter was in line with our larger strategic decisions such as, disciplined acquisition and sensible capital investment. Lower overall revenues were more than offset by our expense management measures.”

    Dish TV and d2h continued to strengthen their regional content portfolio during the quarter. Both platforms added six new HD channels for their respective subscribers down south, making them amongst the strongest content platforms in those markets. Other regional markets like Bengal and Orissa too witnessed fresh content being added to their list of channels.

    In Bengal, Dish TV India partnered with ‘Hoichoi,’ a leading Bengali on-demand platform. The ‘Hoichoi’ app was also added in the App Zone of the Companies Android based connected devices, Dish SMRT Hub and d2h Stream. The company looks forward to enhance the content offering on its hybrid STB through more such partnerships aimed at catering to the entertainment appetite of its native language subscribers.

    Dish TV India, in an industry-first initiative, announced the launch of ‘Korean Drama Active’ service. Observing a surge in consumption of content of Korean origin online, the company in its endeavour to meet subscriber viewing preferences launched the Korean Active service at a nominal subscription price of Rs. 47 plus taxes per month. The service enriches subscribers’ DTH experience by giving them access to more than 300 hours of premium Korean content dubbed in Hindi language. 

  • Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami sent to judicial custody for 14 days till Nov 18

    Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami sent to judicial custody for 14 days till Nov 18

    New Delhi: Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s problems does not seem to be coming to an end. Yesterday, in a big spectacle, Mumbai Police arrested him in abetment to suicide case. Soon after his arrest, there were reactions from different stakeholders of the industry and bureaucrats and many of them condemned the manner in which Mumbai Police had acted. Ministers, celebrities, lawyers, and broadcaster associations called upon the Maharashtra government to ensure a fair investigation in the matter without exercising powers of the government on media.

    In the latest development, Arnab Goswami has been sent to a 14 day judicial custody until 18 November. Media reports say that Goswami was presented before a magistrate in the evening and a court in Alibaug passed the order. However, the court turned down the plea for police custody.

    Reports also mention that Mumbai Police has registered FIR against Goswami, his wife, son and two others for allegedly assaulting police official. It will also start an enquiry against the officer who had earlier investigated abetment to suicide case in which Goswami was arrested today. The investigating officer had filed closure report, saying there was no evidence.

    Read more news on Arnab Goswami

    According to the reports, the case goes back to 2018 when the architect Avnay Naik, and his mother committed suicide in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by Republic TV. In 2018, the Alibaug police had filed a case of abetment to suicide but in 2019 the case was closed by Raigad Police. In May 2020, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh announced a fresh CID investigation into the case after Adnya Naik, daughter of Avnay Naik, approached him.

    However, ARG Outlier Media has completely trashed the case finds it shocking that a case that was decisively closed has been reopened with the sole purpose of misusing power, concocting facts and forcefully arresting Arnab Goswami in a prima facie act of revenge and vengeance for his news coverage which questioned those in power in the state of Maharashtra. It further mentioned that the ARG Outlier Media had paid 90 per cent of its dues to the company of the deceased as per the terms of agreement. The remaining sum was to be paid on completion of the pending work, which has since not been undertaken. Repeated attempts were made by ARG Outlier Media to make the balance payment to CDPL, for full and final settlement of all claims.

    It must be noted that these developments are taking place amid the investigations of the ongoing TRP scam that saw Mumbai Police – Maharashtra government at loggerheads with Goswami on multiple occasions. The two sides have been repeatedly attacking each other.

  • Arnab Goswami’s arrest is attack on fourth pillar of democracy: NBF

    Arnab Goswami’s arrest is attack on fourth pillar of democracy: NBF

    New Delhi: The News Broadcasters Federation is shocked at the arrest of Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief and MD of Republic TV; in a 2-year old abetment to suicide case, and condemns the manner in which he was taken into custody in the early hours, on Wednesday, from his residence by the Mumbai Police.

    NBF calls upon the government of India and state government of Maharashtra to follow the due process of law and ensure fair treatment to Goswami, editor-in-chief of a news channel.

    As the largest organisation of news TV broadcasters, NBF also calls upon the entire media and news fraternity to come together and stand for the freedom of the press, the fourth pillar of democracy.

    "The early morning arrest of Arnab Goswami by the Mumbai police is shocking and is a direct attack on the fourth pillar of democracy. This is sheer disrespectful, fascist and anarchist action against the Freedom of Expression and the press in the history of the country. We draw the urgent attention of the Government of India to draw specific processes to safeguard journalists who are being victimised for performing their professional duty," said NBF secretary-general R. Jai Krishna. 

    “For the protection of journalists and news media organisations, the central government should put in place a neutral agency as a deterrent against abuse of power by any agency to stifle the freedom of the press,” said NBF VP and OTV (Odisha) MD Jagi M Panda.

    “I condemn very strongly the arrest of Arnab Goswami. It is like breaking down the fourth pillar of democracy. I request the central government to intervene in this matter and put pressure on the state government. If required the emergency should be declared in the State of Maharashtra. As this happened during the emergency rule and similar is happening today. This attack is not at all acceptable and I request all the news media to come together because it can happen to any of us,” said NBF VP and founder Prag News Sanjive Narain.

    NBF VP and ITV Network founder Kartikeya Sharma said, "The sudden arrest of Arnab Goswami is condemnable. The entire media fraternity should come together to stand against such actions against Freedom of the Press."

    “I’m aghast and at the loss of words to hear that a celebrated and respected journalist Arnab Goswami of a leading news network like Republic TV is being yanked from his place at 7 am in the morning is absolutely loathsome and outrageous, this is not right at all,” said NBF VP and Fourth Dimension Media CEO Shankar B.

    “We strongly condemn the illegal detention and arrest of Mr Arnab Goswami for a case closed by the court much earlier. This action of the Mumbai Police is a blatant misuse of power. The media community should stand united against this kind of attack against the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed in the Indian Constitution," said 24 News Channel (Kerala) chief editor R Sreekandan Nair.

    “We condemn the arrest of Arnab Goswami, vindictive behaviour is unacceptable and freedom of the press must be protected,” said MH1 News MD and chairman Mahinder Bathla.

  • NBA condemns Arnab Goswami’s arrest

    NBA condemns Arnab Goswami’s arrest

    NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has condemned the manner in which Republic TV editor in chief Arnab Goswami was arrested by the police. According to the police, Goswami was arrested in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.

    The association released a statement noting, “NBA condemns the manner in which Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, was arrested by the Raigarh police. Even though the NBA does not agree with his type of journalism, we denounce retaliatory action, if any by the authorities against a media editor. Media is not above the law but due process must be followed." 

    NBA also appealed to the chief minister of Maharashtra to ensure that Goswami is treated fairly and state power is not misused for vendetta.

    NBA president Rajat Sharma also tweeted his views on the same.

     

     

    For the record, earlier in the day, Republic TV founder & editor in chief Arnab Goswami was picked up from his residence  by the Mumbai police. According to Republic TV, 10 policemen entered Goswami’s residence and pushed him around, before taking him away. According to the media firm, the police had no summons or arrest warrants at the time of his arrest. It has been said that Arnab has been arrested in connection with an old abetment to suicide case of a 53-year-old interior designer. A Mumbai police official said that an architect and his mother committed suicide in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by Republic TV. 

    Goswami, it says, has been arrested under Section 306 and Section 34 of IPC. Goswami has been taken to Raigad for questioning.

    However, the Republic Media has issued clarifications on the subject and pointed out that it is a false case and has been made as part of a larger vindictive exercise against an independent journalist and an independent news organisation.

    Several bureaucrats and ministers have also lent their support to Goswami and condemned the act.

  • How Covid2019 impacted ad rates & consumption of news genre

    How Covid2019 impacted ad rates & consumption of news genre

    NEW DELHI: Covid2019 impacted every category of the television business. In the news genre, ad volumes, as well as ad rates, were hit initially, but have since regained momentum. There was a massive surge in viewership, which is now beginning to stabilise. And with more and more people getting onto the digital platform, the news consumption pattern has witnessed a slight change.

    In a session titled – ‘Advertising on News’ at Indiantelevision.com’s News Television Summit, co-powered by TVU Networks, eminent advertisers and agency heads discussed how stakeholders in this business are analysing the rapid changes and adjusting their strategies to it. The panellists included FBB, Future Group CMO Prachi Mohapatra, Policy Bazaar head of brand marketing Samir Sethi, Wavemaker CEO – south Asia Ajay Gupte, Essence SVP & MD – India Anand Chakravarthy, ITV group CEO Varun Kohli. It was moderated by E&Y partner M&E Ashish Pherwani.

    Pherwani began by asking Kohli how he sees the ad rates at news channels in the current scenario. Kohli mentioned that Covid2019 had hit everyone adversely big time. “The FMCG brands that were operating on the other genre started coming to the news genre because the latter was growing. All other genres were lacking fresh content, except movies where the channels just played their libraries. Overall, the news genre was impacted for the first two months of the financial year but then it regained,” added Kohli.

    He elaborated that in the post-Covid scenario, especially during the festive season and election times, the frequency news channels will be able to get their old rates back. “So maybe the leaders might not have gained it yet but the frequency channels have started getting their rates back in some order because they are making a lot of sense to the agencies and advertisers in terms of CPRP mix.”

    Adding to this Gupte from Wavemaker shared that Covid was a big blessing for the news genre. “GEC was not launching fresh content and newspapers also suffered during that time, which led to news on television doing really well. During that time, there was a high viewership throughout the day and the viewership among women also went up. Interestingly, we are also seeing a lot of appointment viewing coming into play, which was not there earlier. Previously, the news channels sold on the basis of TRPs or day parts, but now it’s also selling some shows that command a premium,” explained Gupte.

    He went on to add that during this time a lot of extended family viewed news channels, so it will be interesting for the latter to think about creating content that works for other family members too.

    Pherwani then touched upon changes in consumption of news on the digital front, especially more after the Covid period, to which Chakravarthy from Essence responded that people are fast moving towards digital consumption.

    “I think with English news genre, building a product which is completely differentiated and is able to add value over and above what a digital platform to my mind will determine how long this genre will exist. If we do not change the nature of how English news channels position themselves and their content and what they offer, I fear that they may be over indexed today and will start witnessing a decline in ad revenue before it starts moving to digital very quickly – especially in a country like India, which is rapidly becoming digital. On the other hand, in the language news sector, the content and consumption of news is picking up slowly. It is happening but there is a possibility of a longer run,” he outlined.

    Seeking a marketers point of view, Pherwani called upon Mohapatra, who mentioned that the digital consumption has rapidly increased especially from the start of the lockdown. However, her mantra regarding spends on digital news is that she seeks a brand-safe environment to operate and a clear RoI on it.

    On the other hand, Sethi from PolicyBazaar stated that his brand continues to stay bullish on TV as it is extremely RoI focussed. Moreover, television offers the consumer freedom to surf the internet. He mentioned that whenever a PolicyBazaar spot runs on television, a simultaneous surge within 10 seconds is observed by the brand while it is mapping the data. People can watch the spot and engage with the brand on the website but when a similar set of audience is watching news on OTT, they hold back from exploring the internet.

  • NDTV ends all pay cuts

    NDTV ends all pay cuts

    NEW DELHI: It seems that the media industry is on the fast track to recovery as companies have started rolling back pay cuts, passing on the arrears and some have even promised to kickstart appraisal process for employees.

    In the latest development, NDTV has announced that it has ended all pay cuts for staff. After a careful review of its business, the company has decided that effective 1 October 2020, salary cuts will end for those employees who were impacted by a 20-40 per cent cut. It mentioned that all pay cuts stand reversed, effective 1 October and arrears for the month of October will be paid before Diwali.

    These pay cuts were introduced on 1 April this year on account of the economic uncertainty caused by the Covid2019 pandemic. Salaries were slashed by 10-40 per cent on a graded scale based on different slabs. Employees earning Rs 50,000 per month or less were exempted from any pay cut.

    NDTV expressed its gratitude to all its employees for their unwavering support and the senior staff for ensuring that junior colleagues were protected through the manner in which pay cuts were introduced and then removed.

    In the last fortnight, several media organizations are making the effort to return to normal such as Network18, Indian Express, India Today Group and others. It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the days to come.