MUMBAI: Digital satellite TV guide cum info TV channel, Channel Guide India Limited has obtained a teleport license from the ministry of information and broadcasting.
According to a company release, transponder space has already been booked on Insat 3A .
Besides being used in house, the teleport would also cater to other channels using Insat 3A as a platform. Insat 3A is fast emerging as a popular Hot-Bird over India. This would be the first private satellite TV teleport in Mumbai, says the release.
According to Channel Guide managing director Rajesh Jain, the company has already received serious enquiries from prospective customers. Besides Channel Guide’s teleport, the only other teleport in Mumbai is VSNL’s teleport, which caters to Thaicom Clients
While the company is in the process of zeroing in on suitable location for setting up the teleport, the company has already assembled state of the art back-end facilities like shooting floor / studio for live broadcasts and tape-less play out matching international teleports to which Indian broadcasters have been accustomed to, the release states.
The teleport would also be available for occasional users/SNG services. Channel Guide hopes to commission the services within the next two to three months.
Tag: Channel Guide
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Channel Guide gets teleport licence in Mumbai
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Channel Guide achieves turnaround; posts profit
MUMBAI: Channel Guide India Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 721,000 for the year ended 31 March 2003 as against a loss of Rs 15.28 million for the previous year.
The listed company runs what it says is India’s first and only FTA digital info TV channel catering to the promotional needs of the entire entertainment industry – television, films, music and events.
The company also posted an income of Rs 14.59 million for year ended 31 March 2003 as compared to Rs 12.24 million for the previous year. A press release states that the turnaround can be attributed mainly to the commencement of revenues and stringent cost controls.
“Incidentally we are very upbeat about the opportunities than CAS will throw open to FTA channels in general and Channel Guide in particular,” says Channel guide COO ravi Deshmukh.
The company has drawn up an ambitious plan that is proposed to be implemented in three phases:
Phase I – TV Info Channel (already on air)
Phase II – Info TV Channel.
Phase III – Interactive TV with t-commerce applications such as teleshopping, Video on Demand (VOD).
The company currently operates a 16 hours a day ( IST 9am to 1am) TV Channel providing a unique promotion platform for India-specific promotion of TV channels and content, films (both Hindi and English) intended for theatre release, music and events (both ground and televised). The statement says that the thrust is to ensure that the presentation is customised to meet the promotional needs of the broad spectrum of content providers on one hand and the information needs of the viewers on the other hand. The programmes and channels are classified as per language and genre at the primary level and time band at the secondary level.
The company has recently launched first ever satellite video delivery linked cable marketing services. -
Channel Guide nears 1 year on air, claims to reach 7.5 million homes
Channel Guide, India’s first and only free to air digital satellite TV guide channel, is set to complete one year of operations. It now reaches over 7.5 million cable & Satellite homes across 19 states, an official release states.
A new initiative the channel has recently launched is satellite video delivery network, a service for cable operators. The service claims to help cable networks all over the country mobilise corporate advertisements that by leveraging the “guaranteed viewership and highest TRPs” cable networks enjoy. Channel Guide has already enrolled over 350 members under the scheme, the release says.
The channel, which is on air for 18 hours a day from 7:00 am till 1:00 am past midnight, covers programmes on all the television channels, the latest film and music releases and also hosts information like train and flight schedules, programmes on career choices, educational opportunities, etc.
The channel is packaged in a unique format that has one or more streams of information and entertainment for the viewers at any given time, unlike other channels where commercial breaks deprive the viewer of other content, the release says. Channel Guide is in the process of a major content expansion and technology assimilation, the release concludes.
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Channel Guide to allot equity shares on preferential basis
Channel Guide India Ltd informed the Bombay Stock Exchange today that the company board has decided to issue 2 million equity shares of Rs10 each at par to promoter/director/relatives/associates and selected person on preferential basis.
The board will call a shareholders meeting to obtain approval in due course, a company release says.
Queried as to the reasoning behind the move, Ravi Deshmukh, chief operating officer, Channel Guide said the it was to fund the company’s expansion plans.
Channel Guide is a specific preview and menu free-to-air channel that primarily relays infomercials about the various satellite channels that exist today. The channel also acts as a promotional platform for the new film and music releases and highlights major cultural events and certain premium brands.
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Channel Guide makes formal launch
Channel Guide, which started beaming its test signals four months ago, was formally launched earlier this week at the Club in the northern Mumbai suburb of Andheri.
Channel Guide India managing director Rajesh Jain says that loads of research has gone into the channel before its launch.
‘We are spending more on state-of-art technology and distribution, but the programming cost is almost nil for us. All the data is provided by the advertising channels themselves. I feel this will help us to break even in fourteen months,’ says a visibly relaxed and confident Jain.
The television channel is an innovation for the Indian market as it is hoping to serve as a promotional platform for the entire entertainment industry – namely, television, films, music and events.
‘It also provides programming info to viewers in a simple format. Any person will get to know maximum within six minutes what is going on on any of the channels,’ he points out.
At present, Channel Guide is not charging advertisers and partners for placing their promos. Channel Guide COO Ravi Deshmukh says that advertisers will be provided prime and non-prime time slots with rates for the former being on a par with the prevailing commercial market rates.
‘We will start charging from mid-October when our channel will be reaching 3 million homes,’ says Deshmukh. As of now the reach, is 2.1 million.
Deshmukh reveals that that three channels have already confirmed their partnership status with Channel Guide.
From 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm, time slots will be sold to advertisers – be they channels or event creators or producers – for shows/events that each of them wants to promote. The rest of the time will be allocated to promos of various channels in a format designed by Channel Guide programming executives themselves.
Each screen can have a maximum of 16 small windows, showing what is going on 16 channels at any point of time along with a live programming schedule which will change every few minutes. The management is planning to reduce the number of channels visible to four at a time.
Programming blocks in Hindi and English have been set aside. “In the near future we are going to dedicate separate time slots for regional languages,” says Deshmukh. “Marathi, Gujarathi, Bengali and Punjabi are the four languages on the cards.”
One of the shows that Deshmukh is extremely kicked about is Meet the Telebrity featuring a popular TV personality. The first episode features Amar (Mihir) Upadhayay.
Channel Guide is beaming off Thaicom-3 as a free-to-air service. The channel is looking forward to getting an Indian uplinking from either Delhi or Hyderabad.
Technical Specifications:
Satellite : Thaicom – 3
Downlink Frequency : 3554 MHz
FEC : 2/3
Downlink Polarisation : Vertical
Symbol rate : 13333 Kg Symbol/sec
Free-To-Air