ITV

Tag: DTH

  • RBNL rolls out ‘Switch To’ campaign for digitisation

    Mumbai: As 31 October has been decided as the deadline for digitisation in four metros, Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL), is all set to make the most of it with its new campaign titled ‘Switch To‘.

    The campaign is designed to create awareness amongst target audiences – to ‘switch to‘ the right service provider who can offer best value. It provides operators a tool to reach out through the marketing muscle and expertise of RBNL‘s mediums across television, radio, on-ground, digital and outdoor, to gain “increased visibility” through this multi-media campaign, the company said.

    ‘Switch To‘ launches on the back of Reliance Broadcasts‘ very successful campaign which rolled earlier this year called ‘Choose Your Set Top Box Wisely‘ tailored to increase awareness and empower consumers with adequate information to make the right choice while choosing their set top boxes, while parallely enabling operators to build their brand equity. This campaign takes it a step further highlighting key entertainment options available to be able to make a more informed switch! The first phase of this campaign will be led across four metros viz: Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata by key shows from the BIG CBS Network viz. America‘s Got Talent, The X Factor and American Idol being simulcast on BIG CBS Prime, BIG CBS Love and BIG CBS Spark.

    The campaign reaches out to the consumers, in whose hands the power to Switch To lies as they make a well informed decision on their DTH provider. Similarly, it also offers operators an excellent marketing campaign to strengthen their brand equity and gain optimally from the eminent revolution.

    Ensuring optimal reach, the entire media muscle of Reliance Broadcast Network will come into play across its television channel bouquet – BIG CBS PRIME, LOVE, SPARK, BIG MAGIC, BIG CBS SPARK PUNJABI and BLOOMBERG TV INDIA, its extensive radio network 92.7 BIG FM, the out of home vertical Big Street and print, on ground and digital. With a strategically crafted campaign and an extensive media outlay, the campaign promises to create significant impact.

    BIG CBS Networks business head Anand Chakravarthy said, “Digitisation is an imperative step for the growth of the broadcast sector in India. While we have technologies available to improve efficiencies of broadcasting across the value chain, the lack of adoption from consumers slows the growth of the industry. This campaign enables consumers to Switch To the provider that meets their requirements, while at the same time offering the operators with an effective marketing campaign to partner with. Together, we are confident, we can bring about the much needed Switch!”

  • Sur-kshetra:Colors takes DTH roadblock route

    MUMBAI: A roadblock strategy on two DTH platforms, heavy usage of radio and a marketing spend of Rs 60 million. That is how Colors will promote its new singing reality show, ‘Sur-Kshetra‘, which it will simulcast with Sahara One.

    The half-hour block will be on Dish TV and Tata Sky from 6-8 September at 7 pm. Colors is also creating a two-day roadblock on the music streaming website, Gaana.com.

    A singing battle between the Indian and Pakistani singers, the show will be promoted on Yahoo and other social media websites.

    Starting 8 August, ‘Sur-Kshetra‘ will run every Saturday and Sunday at 7.30 pm for 90 minutes.

    Says Colors marketing head Rajesh Iyer, “It is a co-branded show with Sahara One but the marketing effort is done through us. Wherever there is an opportunity to reach out to consumers, we have utilised that. We have a contextual advertising plan for the digital space as well. Since this show is targeted at masses, we are majorly relying on the traditional mediums and will not use on-ground activities to promote it.”

    Colors, according to a source, will be spending Rs 60 million to market the property.

    ‘Sur-Kshetra‘ is being promoted on leading radio stations with 6000+ spots. Big FM, Radio Mirchi and Radio City will also be connected with three FM stations in Pakistan – BBC Radio, Karachi FM and City FM. The RJs from India will be talking to the RJs of Pakistani radio stations about music with the main focus on ‘Sur-kshetra‘. “The promotion will be broadcast in 35 cities of India,” says Iyer.

    With the main focus on Hindi Speaking Market (HSM), Colors is rolling out print ads in leading newspapers across 40 cities.

    The promos of the show started airing during the screening of ‘Ek Tha Tiger‘. “They were aired in 250+ screens with 6750 shows of the movie,” says Iyer.

    There will be 500 OOH sites across 10 cities.

    “We are running a four-week campaign amounting to 2000 spots. We have also roped in cyber cafes in HSM, which will have ‘Sur-kshetra‘ theme on the homepages. For a week, selected mobile customers of Airtel, Idea and Tata Docomo will get the ‘Sur-kshetra‘ caller tune activated free,” says Iyer.

    Sur-Kshetra is produced by Sahara One in association with Gajendra Singh‘s Saaibaba Telefilms.

    In 2010, Star Plus had launched a singing reality show with India and Pakistan pitted against each other. Titled ‘Chhote Ustaad – Do Deshon Ki Ek Awaaz‘, the show was directed by Gajendra Singh. It also aired on Geo Entertainment Television in Pakistan.

    Ad sales drive

    Colors has roped in Philips as the presenting sponsor while the show will be powered by Dabur. The channel is looking at getting six associate sponsors to back the early prime time property.

    Philips has shelled out around Rs 80 million while Dabur has paid around Rs 66-70 million, according to industry estimates. The title sponsor is common to Colors and Sahara.

    Says Havas Media CEO- India Anita Nayyar, “Any musical show in India has a loyal viewership. ‘Sur-kshetra‘ is also bringing elements of sensitivity (India-Pakistan contest) which will give it an added advantage. The success of the show will depend on the quality of singers and the format.”

    Colors has sold around 70 per cent of its ad inventory while keeping the other 30 per cent to sell later so that it can earn premium rates. While the sponsors are consuming 60 per cent of the inventory, the remaining 40 per cent will be consumed by spot buys.

  • Prasar Bharati to move CCI against TAM

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati, which had been asked by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to consider action against TAM, is expected to file a petition before the Competition Commission of India within the next few days.

    Doordarshan Director General Tripurari Sharan told indiantelevision.com that the final draft was prepared yesterday and it would now be cleared by legal counsel before filing.

    Earlier, Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Jawhar Sircar had told indiantelevision.com that it was astonishing that TAM had been side-stepping Doordarshan, which has the largest reach terrestrially through local cable operators and around 20 per cent of the market through various DTH platforms.

    The Prasar Bharati Board had taken up the matter in its meeting on 6 August and given the go-ahead to DD to proceed with the matter.

    The Ministry had written a letter to TAM and its international partner Nielsen earlier, wanting to know the steps taken to improve the television rating measurement system and ordering for a third party audit to be conducted with an increased sample size. The Ministry has asked them to respond within 15 days on allegations of viewership manipulation.

    The Ministry had also written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for suggestions on an accreditation mechanism for TV ratings in India to curb the monopoly and asked it to frame guidelines in context to cross holdings in companies that are involved in TV ratings system in India.

    Trai had on 19 August 2008 issued Recommendations on the Policy Guidelines and Operational issues for Television Audience Measurement Television Rating Points (TRPs) suggesting Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), a suggestion which was later endorsed by the Amit Mitra Committee.

    The action by Prasar Bharati comes close on the heels of the case filed by NDTV in a New York court against TAM, Nielsen, Kantar and WPP.
     

  • SES-5 satellite launched, to boost capacity across EMEA

    SES-5 satellite launched, to boost capacity across EMEA

    MUMBAI: Leading satellite operator SES has said that the SES-5 satellite has been successfully launched into space on board an ILS Proton Breeze M booster.

     

    After a 9-hour, 12-minute mission, the Breeze M upper stage of the Proton rocket released the SES-5 satellite directly into geostationary transfer orbit.

     

    The SES-5 satellite was designed and built for SES by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a leading manufacturer of commercial satellites.

    The spacecraft, to be positioned at the orbital slot of 5 degrees East, features 36 active Ku-band transponders and up to 24 active C-band transponders.

     

    SES-5 has two Ku-band beams, one serving customers in the Nordic and Baltic countries and one serving Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as two C-band beams, one with global coverage and one with hemispheric coverage over Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The satellite provides Ku-band uplink capability, allowing for flexible operations between Europe and Africa.

     

    SES-5 is designed to deliver high performance and extensive coverage for direct-to-home (DTH) services, broadband, maritime communications, GSM backhaul, and VSAT applications in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

    The satellite also features the L-band payload for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). The EGNOS payload, which was developed for the European Commission (EC), will help verify, improve, and report on the reliability and accuracy of navigation positioning signals in Europe.

     

    SES President and CEO Romain Bausch declared, “SES-5 marks the second successful ILS-Proton launch in 2012 for SES and the third SES satellite delivered by Space Systems/Loral in the last ten months. SES-5 furthermore hosts the EGNOS payload for the European Commission. The powerful new satellite enters the global SES fleet as Number 51.

     

    “We would like to thank the launch teams of Space Systems/Loral, ILS, Khrunichev and SES for their dedicated work that ultimately ensured total mission success. We would also like to thank the European Commission for entrusting SES with the EGNOS hosted payload. After thorough in-orbit testing, SES and its customers can now look forward to SES-5 providing new, state-of-the-art satellite capacity across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.”

  • Zee TV rolls out marketing campaign for paranormal show Fear Files

    MUMBAI: Zee TV has launched a 360 degree marketing campaign to promote its new paranormal show Fear Files that will premiere on 30 June.

    The channel is promoting the show through print ads, ambient branding, DTH, viral marketing, cinema hall promotion, digital and social media. Also, differentiated augmented reality has been designed to maximise engagement while following an integrated marketing approach.

    As a part of the BTL activity, Zee TV will capture the audiences across malls and create an experience with augmented reality that uses computer graphics and sensors. There will be huge LED screens placed in these areas and people who come near the marked zone will experience something that is intended to surprise them and create a huge sense of intrigue.

    The online promotions will be centred on giving viewers a paranormal experience rather than just telling a scary tale. Internet users will be captured across various sites with captivating messages. The channel has planned a social network activity that will allow users to share their own experiences by writing in stories and upload videos. Paranormal expert Mehra Shrikhande will share daily tips and feedback to online users.

    The DTH promotional plan has ads and promos that will be played on Dish TV, Airtel DTH and Tata Sky.

    Cinema hall promotions have begun with the launch of movie ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ to tap kids and male audiences. Apart from the promos running inside the movie screen, the washrooms will carry ambient branding. The channel claims that print medium will also see “innovative and attention grabbing” advertising.

    The Facebook page of the show will also let viewers share their views and thoughts on various aspects. Micro-blogging sites like Twitter will keep the community of Fear Files viewers up-to-date on all on the shows.

    Zeel marketing head- national channels Akash Chawla said, “The biggest challenge that the marketing team had to surmount was to evoke the emotion of ‘thrill’ from its target audience. The show has intrigue and mystery as its core and these are the two factors taken forward in its marketing campaign also. Hence, keeping in mind the primary target audience of the show, promotions are centred around online and new media along with traditional media mix. The communication across every medium will aim to tease people with the fear of the unknown and give
    them a thrilling experience.”

    The 26 episode series is based on paranormal experiences in one’s life and will air every Saturday and Sunday at 10.30 pm.

  • Zee Cinema bets big on Agneepath’s TV premiere

    MUMBAI: Zee Cinema is giving a big marketing push to Agneepath, the Hrithik Roshan-Sanjay Dutt Bollywood hit that it is premiering on its channel on 16 June.

    Zee Cinema has roped in Rin as the presenting sponsor and Good Knight Advanced is powering it.

    A part of 360 degree marketing campaign, the on-air campaign of Agneepath is being aired on the network channels including Zee Cinema, Zee TV, Zee Marathi and Zee Bangla. It will also use other channels from news, music, Bollywood entertainment, kids, regional and religious genres.

    The channel has rolled out an outdoor campaign across 12 cities in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM). There will be print tune-in full-page ads on the date of premiere.

    It is also being promoted on the DTH players like Dish TV, Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky.

    Zee Cinema has launched an online campaign across 25 leading websites, including YouTube and Facebook. The channel has been doing interactive promotions with viewers on digital medium. On 16 June, an Agneepath masthead will appear on YouTube along with banner ads in Google and Facebook.

    Zee has created an ‘Agneepath’ game currently hosted on Facebook. The game was designed keeping in mind the central characters and plot of the film. Additionally, the premiere has been promoted across 322 theatres (multiplexes and single screens) across HSM during the screening of Rowdy Rathore.

    Also, under trade marketing activity, a group of women walked into the office premises of trade media agencies like GroupM, Mediacom and Madison and did an impromptu item number on Chikni Chameli. The flash mob was followed by a quiz where people were gifted Agneepath merchandise on the spot.

  • Big CBS Love’s new ad campaign talks about STBs

    MUMBAI: Big CBS Love, the diva destination from the JV between Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and CBS Studios International, is launching a new ad campaign aimed at increasing awareness about digitisation and empowering consumers with information, while parallelly enabling operators to build their brand equity.

    Titled ‘Subscribe to Love on Your Set Top Box‘, the campaign launches on the back of RBNL‘s ‘Choose Your Set-Top-Box wisely‘ campaign.

    The four week long campaign will use print, television, OOH and digital mediums.

    The message of the campaign is that viewers should not miss the Divas and subscribe to the channel. The Divas the channel is referring to are- Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), Tyra Banks (America‘s Next Top Model), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Ringer), Oprah Winfrey and Priyanka Chopra (India‘s first Glam Diva).

    Big CBS Networks business head Vishal Rally said, “Big CBS Love is all set to make the most from digitisation. Targeted at the upwardly mobile urban women audiences we have tailored our programming to offer what appeals to our audiences, making it the Diva Destination. With ‘Subscribe to Love on Your Set Top Box‘, we want to further awareness and ensure audiences are equipped to make the right choice when choosing their channels and DTH operators, so they don‘t miss out on their favourite Divas!”

    Big CBS Love is distributed as part of RBNL‘s seven channel bouquet which also includes Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Spark, Big Magic, Spark Punjabi, Bloomberg UTV, and soon to be launched Big RTL Thrill.

  • Bertelsmann arm acquires majority stake in Networkplay

    Bertelsmann arm acquires majority stake in Networkplay

    MUMBAI: The publishing division of European media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG Gruner + Jahr has acquired a majority stake in Indian digital advertising network Networkplay.

    Digital advertising agency Webchutney, incubated by Networkplay in 2008, was funded by Capital18, the venture capital arm of the Network18 group.

    Gruner + Jahr India CEO Kuldip Singh will join the board at Networkplay shortly. He will also be the CFO of Networkplay.

    The agency has presence on Internet, mobile and DTH platforms and partnerships with advertisers and publishers.

    Since inception, Networkplay has been involved in creating effective and scalable advertising solutions across all digital platforms. Over the last three and a half years, the company has grown to reach an execution capability of over four billion impressions per month across 500 publishers and 350 advertisers.

    Networkplay has also brought global event franchises such as ad:tech and iMedia Summits to India, in partnership with dmg::events, a leading international events company that manages over 80 events in over 25 countries.

    Webchutney founder and CEO Sidharth Rao said, “Ram and his team have built an amazing business from an idea a few years ago. We are very proud and delighted to have believed in Networkplay‘s vision from the first day. A partnership with a leading global company, Gruner + Jahr, will propel Networkplay on a stronger, higher growth path.”

    Gruner + Jahr is a media group and its Electronic Media Sales (EMS) division is a leader in the digital advertising space in Europe. G+J recently acquired majority stake in MaXposure Media and this is their second strategic investment in India.

    BMR Advisors was the exclusive advisor to Capital18 and Webchutney on this transaction.

  • Mogae Media appoints Varun Kohli as chief monetisation officer

    Mogae Media appoints Varun Kohli as chief monetisation officer

    MUMBAI: Mogae Media has appointed Varun Kohli as chief monetisation officer.

    In his new role, Kohli will be responsible for overseeing the sales of mobile, DTH (direct to home) and other inventory.

    He will be reporting to Mogae Media chairman Sandeep Goyal.

    Goyal said, “Varun is a very seasoned professional with vast
    experience. He has worked with many large brands in the past and we believe he will contribute to Mogae tremendously.”

    “This is a great time for mobile marketing, especially in a country such as India. Mobile, as a medium, offers unique experience and lot of opportunities for advertisers. I am really excited and elated to be a part of Mogae Media, where I would be able to grow this media,” Kohli said.

    Kohli comes in with over 18 years of experience. Prior to oining Mogae he was with the India Today group as associate publisher for Mail Today. He had begun his career in 1993 with Indian Express and has worked significantly in the print industry with brands such as Amar Ujala, Deccan Chronicle, Hindustan and Dainik Bhaskar.

  • 30 June deadline for 4 metros sacrosanct: Uday Varma

    30 June deadline for 4 metros sacrosanct: Uday Varma

    MUMBAI: Information & Broadcasting Secretary Uday Varma Wednesday said the government was committed to the 30 June deadline for the complete switchover from analogue to digital in the four metros, putting an end to speculation that the the industry would get more preparatory time.

    Delivering the keynote address at the 13 edition of Ficci Frames here, Varma said :”The government has laid out a roadmap for digitisation of broadcasting and is committed to time bound transformation of the broadcast chain, especially the cable television distribution chain.

    The cable services will switch to digital mode in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai as early as July 2012 and the whole country will go digital by 31 December, 2014.

    “It is a unique position where there is no political opposition for it (digitisation). In terms of what the government had to do, there is nothing much left. Yes, it is a difficult task but to change the status quo has always been challenging with gains and losses for all the stakeholders,” Varma stated.

    Elaborating further, he said: “30 June is not an unrealistic date. “We have set up mechanisms , task force and interest groups.”

    The I&B Ministry will go back to the revenue ministry, seeking for incentives for digitisation. When this was proposed earlier, the concerned ministry had certain reservations and would need some clarifications.

    On the promotion of digitisation, Varma said the first task is to ensure that people at large are accepting the shift. “We are at the threshold of a revolution and large changes are going to happen in a wider sense. And most of them will be beneficial for the stakeholders,” Varma opined.

    Varma also informed that the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), the nodal body for approving the FDI, has already circulated the note on raising the FDI limit in the cable and DTH sector. He stressed that there is no serious issue and it should be done soon.

    The infrastructure created via digitisation would also help in increasing broadband penetration.

    According to Varma, over 80 million analogue TV homes are going digital. “This will make cable the largest provider of digital content.”

    The government has also approved the proposal to allow 839 new FM radio stations in over 250 towns of the country, the auction process for which has already been initiated.

    He further said that the government is laying special focus on community radio and informed that as many as 1000 community/campus radio stations will be set up across the country, to give voice to local aspirations.

    Outlining other initiatives taken by the I&B Ministry, Varma said the government is mulling setting up single window facility for shooting clearances in India in a bid to promote India as a cinema shooting destination in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

    Meanwhile, Trai chairman Dr JS Sarma, who also was speaking at the annual media conclave, said that digitisation is an “essential ingredient” for India’s growth.

    Sarma said the sale of analogue TV sets has gone down while people are trying to acquire better TVs and better “digital content”.

    Trai is also open to reviewing the must provide clause and other regulations , if there is a need.