ITV

Tag: down

  • Media valuations up, distribution pulls down industry

    MUMBAI: Market valuations of the media industry in India has potential to go up but chaos at the distribution end is pulling it down, investment bankers and research experts said at the India Television Summit 2005 on Thursday in Mumbai.

    The current market capitalisation of the media companies in India is $3.5 billion but is estimated to size up to $20-25 billion by 2010, according to DSP Merrill Lynch investment banking and merger and acquisition senior vice president Saurabh Agarwal. The profitability of the TV media is $350 million and the industry is growing at 17 per cent, he added.

     
     

    The fundamental block is in the distribution side with leakages at the value chain ending at the last mile operator. Ironically, it is the subscription revenue which has a lot of potential to grow and broadcasters can increase their share of the cake from 20 per cent to 40 per cent by 2010, said Agarwal.

    The way to attract investments is to have consolidation in the cable TV industry even at the last mile operator level. The industry is fragmented. Besides, issues on corporate governance of the cable companies have to be addressed to make the industry investable, said CLSA head of media investment banking Simon Dewhurst. “There is no way that the cable TV structure can change fundamentally. The last mile operators will continue to perform the functions of rent collection from the subscribers and it is a crucial function in the industry,” he added.

    For cable companies, including last mile operators, there needs to be restructuring. “In cable companies, debt has a significant part to play. But that will require considerable consolidation in the last mile,” says Dewhurst.
     
     
    The economics for consolidation is very compelling and the interest of all the parties is to address this, once addressability takes place. “There are 2,000 frachisees in Mumbai. There is interest in the cable companies but not in the current form where there are too many leakages,” said Agarwal.

    Agreed Sahara Entertainment chief financial officer Srinivas Palakodeti: “Once there is pressure either from competition or mandatory, this will be the driving force for consolidation.”

    But Kotak Securities senior analyst Sanjeev Prasad believes there is a gap between the valuation the buyer is willing to pay and the price that the seller wants. The industry, according to him, is growing at 17-18 per cent.

    What about the direct-to-home (DTH) market? Prasad believes it would touch four million subscribers and $300 million revenues by 2010, restricted by the lack of exclusive content that it can provide from what is available on cable TV. “The growth of Dish TV is fast after it dropped the prices but it is probably adding in the cable dark areas. Once it comes into competition with the cable TV areas, growth will slow down,” he said.

  • Curtains down for HBO series ‘Six Feet Under’

    MUMBAI: The fifth season of the critically acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under came to an end on 21 August with a futuristic montage depicting the manners in which each of the family would meet his end.

    If the 60 episode show often opened with stark death sequences, the series final opened with a birth. Then the show took a dramatic turn when end part of the final episode segued into a montage that revealed each character’s final moments in life.

    While an elderly Ruth died in bed in 2025, Keith, who married David, met with a tragic end in 2029. David’s end came in the company of Keith’s ghost in 2044. Brenda died in the company of her rother Billy in 2051. Finally, Claire, the youngest member of the family, passed away alone in bed in 2085 at the age of 102.

    Over the five season’s, Six Feet Under won seven Emmys in 32 nominations. In the upcoming 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards to be held next month, the show has five nominations including the Best Drama Series prize and the Best Actress in a Drama Series honor.

    A breakout hit for HBO, Six Feet Under was created, co-written and executive produced by Alan Ball, who wrote the hit film American Beauty, winner of five Oscars including Best Picture and Original Screenplay (Ball). Last year, the Producers Guild of America honored Ball and fellow SFU Executive Producers Alan Poul, Robert Greenblatt and David Janollari with the Norman Pelton Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television – Drama.

    The fourth season of Six Feet Under will be released on DVD this week.

  • Hallmark goes down the sci-fi route with ‘ReGenisis’

    MUMBAI: English General Entertainment Channel Hallmark has started airing a science fiction series ReGenisis.

    The future is here. Bioterrorism. Designer babies. Franken Foods. Suddenly humanity posses the ability to play God. But is its progress or madness? Will cutting-edge science be our salvation? Or our demise? ReGenisis is a 13-part one-hour, dramatic series about NorBAC, an organisation formed to investigate questionable advances in biotechnology.

    The first episode is called Baby Bomb. This ish is a race against time to identify the cause of a deadly virus, spreading rapidly and headed straight for the city. It’s up to NorBAC to identify patient zero and stop it from contaminating the city. As if this wasn’t enough David Sandstrom the Chief Scientist of NorBAC has to deal with family troubles with the unexpected arrival of his belligerent teenage daughter, Lilith. Worsening it more he is involved in a scuffle for one of his team members who happens to be his top virologist who is under a security clearance issue.

  • Down to two women on Trump’s ‘Apprentice’

    MUMBAI: For the first time in the history of US broadcaster NBC’s reality show The Apprentice the show’s host real estate magnate Donald Trump will be hiring a woman.
     

    The two remaining contestants Tana and Kendra continue their quest and enter the boardroom tomorrow 12 May. The episode ends in a dramatic cliffhanger paving the way for the final showdown broadcasting live from NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on 19 May.

    In India the show airs on Star World.

    This week both Tana and Kendra run into pitfalls as they complete their final tasks. Tana, while running The NYC2012 Athlete Challenge, struggles to manage the hot tempers of Kristen, Chris and Brian and she has trouble locating an American Flag at a key moment. Kendra, who is in charge of The Best Buy Video Game Championship featuring EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 is stuck with the challenge of getting Danny, Michael and Erin to maintain their focus while also needing to appease PlayStation who had concerns with the design of the VIP room and threatened to pull their sponsorship.
     
     

    New York Governor George Pataki joins Donald Trump at the opening of The NYC2012 Athlete Challenge, which is hosted by Bruce Jenner and features exhibitions from Olympians Michael Phelps, Justin Gatlin, Nadia Comaneci, and Bart Conner. Rap artist Fabolous serves as Master of Ceremonies at The Best Buy Video Game Championship.