ITV

Tag: Dipankar Nag

  • Mission TARA: Mamata Banerjee assures Rs 50 lakh

    Mission TARA: Mamata Banerjee assures Rs 50 lakh

    After witnessing hard times for quite some time, TARA (Television Aimed at Regional Audiences) can now breathe a sigh of relief.

     

    And guess who has come to its rescue? It’s none other than our every own didi. Yes, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has taken a resolution to revive TARA Newz and Muzik, the only two surviving channels of the redundant Saradha Group’s media business, that were shut down after the expose of the chit fund fraud.

     

    Under the rescue mission, the first proposition which was floored was to take over the channels; then came the proposal of payment of Rs 16,000 to each and every employee in the form of ex-gratia and now finally, there is an assurance of monthly commercial of around Rs 50 lakh.

     

    “Mamata Banerjee has asked the state finance minister Amit Mitra to propose ways to revive the channels. And after various brainstorming sessions, it was decided that the state’s public sector units (PSUs) like West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited, West Bengal Financial Corporation among other state government undertakings will give monthly commercials worth  Rs 50 lakh so that TARA as a brand can stay alive,” says a highly confidential government source.

     

    He adds, “West Bengal Financial Corporation may release a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh to two lakh for the month of September. The channel must have got the amount by now.”

     

    After the Saradha Groups’ chit fund went bust, the employees of Broadcast Worldwide which runs Tara Newz and Tara Muzik formed an association called Tara TV Employees Welfare Association in April this year with an aim to keep the channels on the air on their own. Nag was made the secretary of the association, and was entrusted with the responsibility of running the two channels by the Calcutta High Court.

     

    When Tara Newz chief reporter Dipankar Nag was contacted to confirm the same, he denied any news of receiving any commercial order. However, he was quick to add, “We have 100 per cent faith in the CM and she will do something, so that the first 24×7 Bengali news channel can exist.”

     

    The senior general manager-administration and finance and the president of the employees’ association Indrajit Roy informs that the state government has given an ex-gratia payment of Rs16, 000 each to the 168 employees of the two channels till August 2013. However, about the assurance of advertisement, he like Nag informed that they have not received any such commitment through email or in writing. “Although, we have met Amit Mitra and other state officials and discussed on the commercial, no formal receipt about the release order has been received.”

     

    If one remembers, the initial plan of the CM was to take over the TV channels which reaches out to Bengali-speaking people across the world and is owned by the Saradha group which did not materalise because as per the present laws it is illegal for a government entity to own or run a television channel, informs the media expert.

     

    He recounts, “Ms Banerjee had decided to run the channels following an appeal by 168 employees of the two channels who were without a job as the channels had shut shop after the Saradha meltdown.”

     

    Hence, this does make one wonder if the CM has more than a general interest in saving the two channels?

  • Tara Newz looks for survival strategies

    Tara Newz looks for survival strategies

    KOLKATA: TARA (Television Aimed at Regional Audiences) Newz, one of the surviving TV channels of the redundant Saradha Group’s media business apart from Tara Muzik, plans to introduce a sponsored slot for sports news sooner to keep the show running, after witnessing hard times few months ago.

     

    “It is a new concept and still is in the planning stage. We are looking at a daily slot of 15 minutes-30 minutes,” says Tara Newz chief reporter Dipankar Nag, speaking exclusively to indiantelevision.com on Monday.

     

    Nag did not mention by when the viewers can watch and enlighten themselves with developments in the sports world.

     

    A Kolkata-based media professional praised the new initiative taken by Tara TV saying that the sports capsule could do well, but long term sustainability is what should be borne in mind. “Tara Newz must look at marketing it nationally,” he says, on the conditions of anonymity.

     

    It is learnt that the company has roped in investments from Kolkata based institutions, which are eager to help the Tara brand in its revival strategy initiative.

     

    The rebirth of the first 24×7 Bengali news channel and music channel-Tara Newz and Tara Muzik respectively deserve special mention.

     

    Many media ventures of the Kolkata headquartered Saradha Group like Sakalbela, The Bengal Post, Azad Hind, Prabhat Varta and the Seven Sisters Post among others closed down after its chit fund went bust.

     

    But the employees of Broadcast Worldwide Limited (BWW) which runs Tara Newz and Tara Muzik, after getting the closure notice from Saradha group, formed an association called ‘Tara TV Employees Welfare Association’ on 16 April 2013, with an aim to keep the channels on air on their own.

     

    “Only two channels of Saradha group could survive. The whole of the city woke up and the fight was not to keep the channels on air, but it was a movement to preserve Bengali culture,” remembers a retired state government official.

     

    TARA reaches out not only to Bengalis in West Bengal and Bangladesh, but to all Bengali speaking people of the world, further elaborates Nag.

     

    Nag, who is the secretary of the Tara TV Employees’ Welfare Association, and who has been entrusted with the responsibility of running the two channels by the Calcutta High Court said that the state government has been giving an ex-gratia payment of Rs16,000 each to the 168 employee of the two channels since the past three months from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. “We get the salary payment by the 28th or 29th of the respective month,” he says.

     

    The two Bengali channels were bought by the Saradha Group in the year 2011 but the licence continued to be in the name of the old owner, says Nag.

     

    Nag clarifies that the state government was planning to take over the management of the channels only; there was no eagerness to buy them.

     

    “The state government provided Rs 26 lakh from the CM’s relief fund to run the channels. The government shall not take the liability of the channels which accounts for nearly Rs 6 crore,” confirms Nag.

     

    The employees, knowing that the channels cannot hope to survive on government dole alone, have been trying to bring in advertising revenues, it is learnt.

     

    “We are in almost the same position from where we started our struggle. Only I can say, we, the employees are still fighting to survive with the hope and support of our chief minister Mamata Banerjee,” says Employees’ Association senior general manager-admin and finance and president Indrajit Roy.

     

    Nag adds that “Many financers have shown interest to pump in money.”

     

    If they manage to convert that interest into action, Tara could well once again rise like the evening star.