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Tag: cable TV

  • Workshop to train manpower in cable TV distribution

    Workshop to train manpower in cable TV distribution

    NEW DELHI: A workshop is being held on 27 November to deliberate on the importance of skilling, certification and accreditation of the manpower deployed in cable TV distribution.

    It is organised by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd ( BECIL) in collaboration with the Instrumentation Automation Surveillance & Communication-Sector Skill Council (IASC-SSC in New Delhi a Vigyan Bhavan.

    Digitisation of the cable TV networks in the country has enabled availability of state-of-the-art services not only in the field of TV but also broadband access and host of value added services. HD, 4K & 8K quality TV pictures can also be provided on digital cable networks. This has provided a lot of opportunities to cable TV service providers which are not available even on DTH/ IPTV/ OTT platforms.

    However, it has also posed challenges like properly equipping and training the manpower in the field of digital technology to maintain the quality of service specified not only by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India but also for consumer satisfaction.

    Certification of their skills for better employment opportunities and their accreditation (since the personnel visit homes during hours when most women and children are alone) are also considered important issues.

    Keeping in view the need of skilled manpower, the government embarked on Skill India Mission and a number of schemes have been initiated. IASC-SSC was created with the objective to carry out skill-gap analysis, development of qualification packs and national occupational standards and affiliation of training partners and assessment agencies, certification of trained manpower and help their placement.

    IASC-SSC is an industry-led non-profit company under the preview of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The council is also certifying the existing available human resources having domain knowledge under recognition of prior learning (RPL) scheme to bring them into mainstream

  • IDOS 2017: Television is growing and will continue to do so, says BARC’s Partho Dasgupta

    IDOS 2017: Television is growing and will continue to do so, says BARC’s Partho Dasgupta

    NEW DELHI: Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India CEO Partho Dasgupta sounded a positive note at Indiantelevision.com’s 13th Indian Digital Operators Summit (IDOS 2017) in New Delhi’s The Lalit on 28 September 2017. Dasgupta stated that the video distribution ecosystem will have place for all types of DPOs – DTH, cable TV, OTT, terrestrial, free to air and even FTTH.

    “India’s cable TV operators have been pretty resilient over the years,” said he. “There is a lot potential for them to distribute video in India. TV has till now reached around 64 per cent of the Indian households. Thirty-six per cent is still left. A 100 million households are still not connected with TV. Even if 50 million more were to get connected, that’s a lot of potential for everyone. Multiple players and multiple digital formats will exist,” he said.

    He explained that India is one of the few countries where around 40 (television) channels are being added (as per MIB permissions) every year. “The launches are happening because there is potential in the market,” he said.

    He pointed out that TV viewership is seeing growth like never before. “It spurted by 25 per cent to 27.0 billion impressions in 2017, from 22.4 billion impressions in 2016,” he stated. “Even the daily average time spent (ATS) has grown by 16 per cent from three hours seven minutes in week 41 2015 to three hours thirty-seven minutes in week 36, 2017.”

    Dasgupta exclaimed that Doordarshan’s FreeDish is emerging as a potent force. “Free TV with 80 channels is being watched in rural areas. For them, the fact that some of the programmes are repeats does not matter because viewers are watching them for the first time.”

    He highlighted that there is a lot of excitement around flat TVs, HD TV, 4K TV, but the reality in the Indian marketplace is that 86 per cent of TVs are CRT (cathode ray tube) sets. “There is movement upwards expected in this area too,” he added.

    Dasgupta was of the view that the new millenials are watching some TV but they are also consuming video on their handheld devices. “However, OTT has some way to go because of bandwidth issues in India,” he pointed out. “Though the situation could change soon with dropping bandwidth prices and quality. And, we are getting ready with our measurement of multiscreen viewing which will include handheld devices.”

    He stated that future of television looks healthy, as almost every genre is showing growth in terms of viewership. “GEC has expanded 12 per cent since the beginning of the year,” he elaborated. “News and movies have also grown. Hindi movies grew by 60 per cent in 2017 over week 41 of 2015; Hindi news by a whopping 93 per cent in 2017 over week 41 of 2015.”

    For TV industry professionals, that should surely come as good news.

  • Brands bullish this festive season but not for Navratri

    Brands bullish this festive season but not for Navratri

    MUMBAI: Marketing mavens are aware that a majority of brand spending in India takes place between August and December every year because of a range of festivals that dot this period. It begins with Raksha Bandhan and chugs ahead with Ganesh Chaturthi and gathers steam in September with Navratri, Durga Pooja and Dussehra, only to move at a superfast speed during Diwali, until the calendar year ends. Indian consumers are in a celebratory mood, flush with cash, courtesy employment bonuses.

    The past 10 months have, however, been different. The reason: the double whammy of demonetisation and the rollout of goods and services tax (GST) put the brakes on optimism. Both forced brand custodians to zip up their ad purses and postpone any spends until customers had money to splurge and the entire GST process – which commenced on 1 July 2017 – panned out.

    Net result: even the months of August 2017 and early September 2017 have seen sedate brand activity. Questions are being asked whether marketers are ready to let their hair down during Navratri 2017 to get consumers back to spending on goodies ostentatiously?

    Indiantelevision.com got in touch with a clutch of marketers and agency heads and the consensus was that a majority of national brands are going to go easy on both, Navratri and Dussehra, but they are going to go hell for leather during Durga Pooja and Diwali, allocating a large chunk of their ad and promotional budgets during these two periods.

    Even in Gujarat, which normally goes into marketing overdrive during Navratri,  there will be some amount of softness this year between 21-29 September.

    “Navratri is clearly the biggest festival in Gujarat which is bigger than Diwali in terms of activations and promotions. It is a big period for Gujarati channels (national and local) as all major FMCG brands, automobile brands and local retailers want to make the most of this season but the spends will be soft this year because of GST and demonetisation,” says a media expert.

    Navratri event organisers in Mumbai and Gujarat had to struggle this year to find sponsors mainly due to the fact that real estate and telecom categories, which otherwise are heavy advertisers during the nine-day festival, shied away, unlike previous years.  The real estate sector was relatively cold as a majority of the developers are busy getting their houses in order to comply with the stringent requirements that new real estate regulations that have been thrust on them by RERA. Adding to developers’ relative lack of enthusiasm is the GST rollout.

    Says a media buyer from a leading agency: “Navratri this year will see a lot of local and retail advertising rather than multinational players. This is a great opportunity for local and small brands to promote themselves on the venue or via various BTL activations at a reasonable cost which otherwise would be priced very high.”

    Indeed, some savvy companies are stepping in to take advantage of the opportunity and spend on the various garba events that have been organised across Mumbai and Gujarat. Thousands gather on various grounds in these two states to dance to the rhythms of dandiya stars — Falguni Pathak, Parthiv Gohil, Preeti Pinky, among other. These events are normally aired on the local cable TV channels as well as on some of the handful Gujarati language channels.

    Consider:

    * ONE Broadband, Hinduja Group’s Flagship Company for Telecom Data Services for Consumer & Enterprise Segments will be offering unlimited 10mbs free Wi-Fi service to the devotees during Navratri season across Maharashtra and Gujarat.

    * Residential, commercial and real estate company Ruparel Realty is the title sponsor for Mumbai’s Navratri Mahotsav 2017 while Colors Gujarati is the television partner for the event. Gujarati queen Falguni Pathak will be seen performing at the event for nine days.

    * Ride hailing app Uber will provide lucky customers with a free gift hamper which consists of free passes for Radio Mirchi Rock n Dhol garba event in Gujarat along with two dandiya sticks.

    * Online e-commerce platforms  Flipkart, Amazon and Ebay have also announced their big sales to commence the festive season encouraging people to buy more products online. The sale on these platforms began yesterday and will go on for a week.

    Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO – South Asia Ashish Bhasin told Indiantelevision.com that there’s no reason to worry, however, as overall he sees the festive season spends this year growing 20 per cent over the last year even as the advertising budgets for the whole year will expand 10-12 per cent. What this means is that the last quarters of this year should contribute heavily, and help make up for the losses during the previous quarters.

    Bhasin notes that consumer goods, automobiles and FMCG  sector are going to go all-out with campaigns to seduce India’s fast-burgeoning middle class.

    A media planner adds that brands are actually drawing up massive plans and there’s actually going to be a shower of spending (mainly by categories like automobiles, real estate, jewelry, electronics along with e-commerce)  this festive season as most of them have got over the demonetisation and GST issues.

    That should be music to most media and TV ad sales professionals who have been toiling away, struggling to meet their ad sales targets.

  • Cable operators who worked with Arasu, Sumangali ‘blocking’ new digital players, plaint lodged

    Cable operators who worked with Arasu, Sumangali ‘blocking’ new digital players, plaint lodged

    MUMBAI: A district collector in Tamil Nadu has reportedly received a complaint against a cable operators’ group that had worked with Arasu Cable for not allowing new digital operators to enter the market.

    The plaint has been lodged against the group of about 20 operators which had earlier worked with (then) analogue cable operators such as Arasu Cable and Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), the Times of India reported.

    The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV)’s digital operations  (DAS) were launched on 1 September with the inauguration of upgraded MPEG 4 control room. The Centre had in April this year given a provisional MSO licence to Arasu on the condition that it adopts DAS within three months. TACTV had sought extension, but the Centre had only agreed to one month — till 17 August.

    Around a fortnight ago, a Tamil Nadu federation of unions had alleged that the Arasu MSO had been following  ‘monopolistic practices’. TACTV had set the subscription fee as Rs 70, which was below the fee recommended by TRAO. Of this, cable operators were expected to pay 50 per cent to Arasu, the federation alleged.  

    Now, on Monday, the petition submitted before the Coimbatore district collector TN Hariharan by a local digital cable television operator said the group of 20 has taken over around 85,000 connections in the district and put pressure on BSNL not to allot fibre-optic cables to new digital players.

    Cable Television Network (CTN), a Coonoor-based digital cable television operator, which claims to have around 500 connections, alleged that the ‘cable mafia’ had misled the BSNL by lodging false complaints against the new entrants.

    ALSO READ :

    Delayed Arasu DAS starts, 7 mn subs to get 180 channels in Rs 125

    Arasu ‘monopolistic practices’ decried by LCOs, TN body seeks GST exemption

    Punjab govt. studying Arasu & other regulatory models on distribution

     

  • MIB: Set up cable TV regulatory panels, Century, Chinar & Pan India among 6 FM licences revoked

    NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry has issued directions to states to set up district-level and state-level monitoring committees to regulate content telecast on cable TV/FM radio channels/community radio stations to ensure adherence to the AIR Broadcast Code.

    Meanwhile, the licences of a total of six FM radio channels being operated by six companies in different parts of the country were revoked under FM Phase II. The six are — Century Communication, Chinar Circuits, Kushal Globalo Ltd. Pan India Network, Positive Radio Pvt Ltd, and Singla Property Dealer Pvt Ltd.

    According to ministry sources, a total 312 private FM radio channels are being operated by 44 Indian companies.

    The sources told Indiantelevision.com that during the last three years and the current year, the ministry issued four show-cause notices to 93.5 Red FM, Hit 95 FM, 94.3 FM Radio One and Radio City 91.1 FM on 23 January 2015, 17 February 2016, 2 September 2016 and 1 August 2016, respectively, for airing allegedly vulgar, obscene and objectionable content in violation of the provisions of GOPA and programme and advertising code as followed by All India Radio (AIR).

    Action was taken eight times on violation of provision of GOPA and Programme and Advertising Codes as followed by AIR by private FM radio channels by airing of obscene, vulgar and objectionable content during the last three years and the current year. These include two advisories to all channels and one only to Tamil Nadu-based FM channels. The channels that came under the scanner were ENIL Patna (Radio Mirchi), Malayala Manorama Kochi (Radio Mango), Digital Radio Broadcasting (Delhi) Ltd (Red fM), Clear Media (India) Pvt Ltd (Hit 95 FM), and Next Radio Delhi (94.3).

    Private FM Radio broadcasters have to follow the rules and regulation prescribed in the Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA) signed by them with the Government. Private Satellite TV channels are required to abide by the terms and conditions as mentioned in the Policy Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Private Satellite TV channels in India.

    Only Indian companies registered under the Company’s Act, 2013 are eligible for bidding and obtaining permission for FM radio channels. The conditions are elaborated in the Policy Guidelines for expansion of FM radio broadcasting through private agencies Phase-III.

    GOPA provides that FM Radio Channels should follow the same Programme and Advertisement Codes as followed by All India Radio. These codes contain a whole range of parameters to regulate content on FM channels.

    ALSO READ :

    State-level television committees to monitor FM & Community Radio

    No plan for one-stop broadcast authority at present, says Rathore

    MIB flags issue of anti-national content on cable channels, seeks industry advisory

  • Punjab govt proposes law on outdoor advertising, decision to tax cable, DTH subs pending

    NEW DELHI: Not content with exploring additional local taxes on cable and DTH connections in the state of Punjab, minister Navjot Singh Sidhu now wants to bring in a policy to increase the state government’s revenue from outdoor advertising.

    Sidhu, a cricketer-turned-TV personality-turned politician who’s a minister in the Congress Party-run local government in Punjab, wants to bring a new and “potent” policy to increase the state government’s annual revenue from outdoor advertising to at least Rs 3,000 million, according to a report filed by PTI, which added that the local bodies minister blamed the previous SAD- BJP government for causing “revenue leakage” by framing a “toothless” law in this regard.

    Punjab is earning a meager amount of Rs 250 million annually from outdoor advertising and hoardings in 164 cities of the state as compared to Rs 2,000 million being earned by neighboring Haryana from its municipal areas, Sidhu told PTI.

    The flamboyant Sidhu, who also spends time on the sets of a comedy show when he’s not proposing to bring in new legislations in Punjab, told PTI that the state had suffered a loss of Rs 2,00,00 million from the cable business.

    Sidhu has proposed to levy a token amount of entertainment tax to keep a check on the “cable mafia”, which, he alleged, had “proliferated under the previous (political) dispensation”.

    He also hit out at the previous government for allegedly “looting” the state by facilitating individuals in the outdoor advertising and the cable businesses, and framing laws that benefitted “vested interests”.

    “After an inquiry, following a complaint, I came to know that the government cannot levy a penalty despite the violation of the advertisement law. They (the previous government) made toothless laws which facilitated only individuals,” PTI quoted the local minister as saying who also added that the present regime’s aim was to raise an annual revenue between Rs 250 million to Rs 3000 million from advertisements in municipal areas.

    Laws are being drafted on outdoor advertising and cable businesses in consultation with experts in order to increase the state’s revenue by 10 times, Sidhu said, adding that his department has submitted a proposal to chief minister Amrinder Singh in which a token tax of Rs 2 to Rs 3 (per cable and DTH connection) could be levied (as entertainment tax) to check malpractices in the cable TV distribution business.

    However, sources in the Punjab government told indiantelevision.com that the chief minister has not taken any decision on the proposed entertainment tax on cable and DTH connections as the levying of an additional tax over and above the recently rolled out federal government-mandated GST (goods and services tax) may complicate the tax structure. India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley, though, has clarified earlier that states can levy entertainment tax if they so wish.

    ALSO READ:

    Probe Punjab ‘cable mafia,’ demands minister, Fastway refutes charges

    Punjab govt. studying Arasu & other regulatory models on distribution 

    Retransmission law contravened: Sidhu, Fastway refutes ‘monopoly’ charge

  • Cable TV, DTH and OTT distribution

    MUMBAI: Having an OTT service is not enough; you’ve got to get it out on every outlet possible, is something we all know. But are traditional TV distributors like DTH and cable TV open to giving them carriage? That was the topic of discussion on one of the panels at Indiantelevision.com’s second VIDNET – Content on the Go powered by Viu conference in Mumbai’s Hotel Westin.

    On stage were Shemaroo CEO Jai Maroo, DEN CEO SN. Sharma and outgoing Videocond2h COO Himanshu Patil.

    Maroo said Shemaroo was interested in getting its content on every service – DTH, cable TV, OTT, traditional linear channels, or even YouTube.

    “We have done content supply deals with all the four major DTH operators and are about to do some with cable TV as well,” said Maroo. “Our content has to be on every screen.”

    He added that the company is constantly mulling over the idea of setting up its own OTT but has not gone ahead on it. “Every six months we visit the thought of doing our own app,” he shared. “But I see what’s going on with our other VOD partners and we drop it. We may do it when we think the time is right. Currently, we are curating and packaging our large content catalogue to them”

    Patil stated that the DTH provider had partnered with Shemaroo for several VAS services that Videocon d2H was offering to its subscribers. “And mind you they are willing to pay as much as Rs 30-40 for the service like Darshan, And its not only high end HD or 4K customers who are at the premium pack end who are willing to subscriber to our BAS service. Even the basic pack customers are” disclosed Patil. “So OTT players should take heart from our experiences – the willingness to pay is there as long as you provide her with the content she wants.”

    He added that Videocon2h is ready to embed any OTT app into an user interface on the DTH service. “We are currently integrating Netflix with our connected box, and are talking to almost every OTT player in India to do the same,” he said.” I’d rather have my customer stay with me for my DTH service and offer him the entire bouquet so he can move out into VOD when he wants and come back into linear television when he wants. We will be working on voice activated search and discovery which will enable to him find every piece of content related to that search.”

    He revealed that the operator had dropped the idea of serving an on-the-go app to its subscribers. “All the broadcasters are coming up with their own apps. It did not make sense for us to have our own,” he explained.

    DEN’s Sharma disclosed that the MSO had, on the other hand, unveiled its own OTT on which it was offering traditional linear channels as subscribers had expressed the need to watch these on their hand held devices or on the go. “But it’s early days for us and we are learning along the way,” he said. “We know we have to aggregate content, apart from our normal linear fare. We have 2,500 movie titles, and other video on demand fare. ”

    He highlighted that he was open to integrating any app or OTT service into the DEN network. “Yes, we are willing to partner, possibly, initially to provide customer service and get the apps or OTT players traction, but we would like to see revenue coming our way at some stage,” he elaborated.

    The fact that this would benefit his Boomband broadband services was not lost on him. “It will be a win-win for all of us,” he expressed.

    He said DEN was working on getting boxes into homes which would enable regular TVs to become smart. “Very soon,” he said.

    He was not worried about the impending launch of Jio Fibre or Jio DTH wherein rumours are that it will disrupt the wired broadband market just as it did in the wireless space.

    “If it goes the free way like it went for its 4G mobile service, I am sure no one will be able to stand up against it,” he stated. “But the fact is that it is going to take time to be available nationally. So lets’s wait and watch.”

  • GTPL Hathway IPO proceeds may help increase subs base & penetration, hike stake in JVs

    MUMBAI: GTPL Hathway, India’s leading cable TV distribution company reaching an estimated eight million households in 10 states, proposes to open on 21 June an initial public offering of equity shares of face value of Rs. 10 each for cash (including a share premium) comprising a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs. 2,400 million and an offer for sale of up to 14,400,000 equity shares – comprising up to 1,136,000 equity shares by Aniruddhasinhji Jadeja, up to 440,000 equity shares by Kanaksinh Rana, up to 5,480,000 equity shares by Gujarat Digi Com Private Limited, up to 7,200,000 equity shares by Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited and up to 144,000 equity shares by Amit Shah (collectively the “selling shareholders”). 

    The bid will close on 23 June, 2017. The price band of the IPO has been fixed at Rs 167 to Rs 170 per share. 

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, GTPL Hathway head – investor relations Piyush Pankaj said that they planned to increase its cable television subscriber base as well as penetration into the markets. “There are joint venture (JV) companies where we are considering to increase our stake — (it is a) pipeline where we would need the board’s approval,” Pankaj said. On stake dilution, Pankaj said that it was a strategic decision by the promoters to dilute only around 25 per cent stake, and not up to 30 per cent. As stated in the official parlance, GTPL Hathway would use the proceeds for debt reduction and general corporate purposes.

    The book-running lead managers to the offer are: JM Financial Institutional Securities Limited, BNP Paribas, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors Limited and Yes Securities (India) Limited.

    Also Read:

    GTPL Hathway gets SEBI nod for Rs 600-cr June IPO, to repay loans, expand cable & b’band with new tech

    GTPL Hathway files listing prospectus

  • The shape of Indian OTT universe circa 2021 according to Rethink Tech Research

    MUMBAI: This should put OTT players on alert and gladden the hearts of linear TV distribution and programming executives. The latest numbers about how India’s video guzzlers are going to consume VoD services by the UK-based industry tracker Rethink Technology Research reveal that India will have about 14.6 million VoD subscribers by 2021. Indiantelevision.com estimates are that, comparatively, Indian DTH will account for about 75 million active subscribers and cable TV more than 100 million by then.

    Clearly, VoD will have made a marginal dent in eroding linear TV distribution platforms stranglehold on Indian viewers thanks to the lower sticker prices for cable TV and DTH, which will possibly continue to be in play even in 2021. Cord-cutting, which is becoming increasingly common in many markets, may not really make its way to Indian shores.

    Yes, the data suggests that India will be the second largest market in Asia Pacific after China which will account for 60 per cent of the Asia Pacific’s $10 billion subscription revenues and 200 million subs, by 2021. (The corresponding figures for 2016 are at $6.5 billion and 100 million respectively.)

    “Asia Pacific is made up of a multitude of contrasting individual markets, making it fragmented and complex with broadband penetration above 50%, in some regions and below 10% in others,” said a statement from Rethink Technology Research.
    There will be a hard pitched battle for subscription shares between the 30 odd OTT players in the game in India. By then probably many more OTT providers will have stomped into the terrain. And hence one wonders how many of them will be profitable.

    Both, Netflix and Amazon Prime, are just about beginning to plonk down top dollars – like India has not seen before – on original shows which should hop on to their India – and later global – offering by next year. Hotstar and Viacom18’s Voot have also been investing heavily to acquire customers. Estimates are that the two have pumped in around Rs 4000 million and Rs 1400 million, respectively, since launch. Others such as Viu, NextGTV, Spuul, ErosNow, Hooq, SonyLiv, YuppTV and Alt Balaji too are in a customer acquisition phase, having just got onto the runway.

    The good news, according to Rethink, is that pure play SVoD services in APAC (expected revenues by 2021: $6.29 billion) will dominate operator-supplied services.

    As far as APAC is concerned, the research house predicts that Indonesia and Japan will be third and fourth, with each increasing to 9.96 million and 8.1 million by 2021, respectively.

  • COMMENT: KNIVES, ARNAB, & THE OLD GUARD OF ENGLISH NEWS

    COMMENT: KNIVES, ARNAB, & THE OLD GUARD OF ENGLISH NEWS

    MUMBAI: The knives are out. The blades are being flashed around. And those involved in the street fight are drawing blood and bleeding as well. Only difference is that the street fighters are not the ruffian kind, rather they are gents who you watch on the TV screen or dressed up to the T in well pressed suits in boardrooms.

    What has got these reasonably well-behaved folks from the English news channel space all het up?

    Well, a possible shakeup in the pecking order courtesy a newcomer who likes a round – some say bouts – of fisticuffs – both on air and in the marketplace. Team Republic TV led by editor-owner Arnab Goswami is clear that it wants to own the English new genre – or create a new one combining both Hindi and English – by hook or by crook. After all, all’s fair in love and business isn’t it?

    So far he and his CEO Vikas Khanchandani have used tricks which older players have resorted to in the past – multiple LCN distribution on cable TV networks and allegedly pinching content which was recorded when he was in another channel’s employment.

    The courts will decide whether Arnab and team are thieves or not; we are not insinuating anything. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will clean up the multiple LCN mess by coming down hard on the errant distribution platform owners who have fallen prey to the smell of money – lots of it.

    But the affair Republic TV has thrown up a lot of deeper issues which could be thought about.

    When all members of a gymkhana or club have agreed upon a code of conduct, and a new entrant does not adhere to it, then should he not be told to fall in line when the infringement is brought to the establishment’s chairperson’s notice? Could the chairperson give the older members a patient hearing and heed what they have to say?

    Older players are an aggrieved lot. Yes, they admit that they have been bad boys in the past. But then they have mended their way, signed a truce and decided to follow the straight and narrow path. Should their old behavior be brought up to excuse that of the new entrant?

    And when they decide to protest by not coming to the club, should they be further threatened that they will be banned for longer if they do continue with their picketing?

    Of course the chairperson is BARC; the policeman/security is TRAI and the members are the NBA. No second guesses for who the new entrant is – Republic TV.

    Would BARC have responded the same way had it been the general entertainment channels which would have raised a hue and cry? Remember what happened to TAM!) After all the entertainment broadcasters contribute about four to five times more to BARC’s purse then do the news channels.

    Could broadcasting licence issuance by the ministry of information and broadcasting be linked to well-behaved and well-accepted distribution practices? If some one does not adhere to them, could the licence be suspended?

    Should news channels be measured alongside entertainment channels? This modus operandi has forced them to resort to entertainment or outshout-and-out-abuse-your-guest kind of programming (read entertainment again) which seems to appeal to TV soap viewers wanting to have big names of society and public life being squashed like flies on TV. Some have called this the dumbing down or bimbo-isation of news television.

    Is there a need for a new viewership currency or data points – which are more specific to the news genre – other than what BARC churns out? Could media agencies and brands resort to qualitative checks of content before signing cheques for ads on TV news channels? The most watched read/watched genre of content on the internet begins with a P. Do all major advertisers place their consumer messaging in that environment?

    Could distribution platforms have stricter penalties if they fall for green dollars, violating codes set up by regulators? The DTH guys would not dare to go for multiple LCN placement because what they do immediately comes to the public’s and regulator’s eyes – they are accountable for their quality of service. Fear of punishment can be a big deterrent.

    From an editorial perspective, questions are being asked as to how far will Arnab go? And then will the other channels show restraint or will they beat the same path? So far, it appears that some of them played follow-the- newcomer on the multiple LCN issue. Of course, they all did a volte face when the policeman/security guard waved around his night stick.

    Whatever be the case, it is quite sure that the NBA English news members will kiss and make up with BARC, the TRAI and each other. Sooner then later. (BARC and NBA are scheduled to meet today to pencil out points that will help them resolve the crisis.)

    Who knows Arnab may also find some sense in the NBA and its code of conduct and eat his own words and also house his channel under its protective roof? There was a time when another bespectacled news journalist was labelled the villain of TV news; today he is part of the establishment.

    After all, they all need each other. This is despite some media blogs and websites which have sketched the industry’s execs as shaking hands while holding a dagger behind each others’ backs.

    Industry old timers are betting that ratings released after week 22 will give a true reflection of what’s going on with English news TV viewership. The three to four weeks’ data prior to that is simply something to be kept aside as an aberration as it will continue to show Republic TV as the numero uno. After that it could well go into a free fall and the older players will continue with their leadership position, is their prediction.

    Republic TV executives are clucking that this is wishful thinking. Indian viewers have been waiting for the Arnab school of journalism like the Jews did for manna from heaven in the good old Bible, is what they have voiced. And that their channel will continue to top the charts for the foreseeable future.

    Only time will tell which prediction turns out be true.

    Until then, we will keep channel surfing with hope in our hearts that we will get to watch some real news.