ITV

Tag: ETV Channels

  • Viacom completes process of 50% acquisition in ETV channels from Reliance

    Viacom completes process of 50% acquisition in ETV channels from Reliance

    MUMBAI: Viacom Inc, which received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to acquire 50 per cent equity stake in Prism TV for Rs 9.4 billion (approximately $153 million) earlier this month, has completed the transaction.

     

    The transaction was completed today (31 July) between Nickelodeon Asia Holdings Pte Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc., and Shinano Retail Private Limited, a company effectively 100 per cent owned by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited.

     

    Prism runs five regional language general entertainment channels namely ETV Marathi, ETV Gujarati, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla and ETV Odia, all of which were recently rebranded under the Colors umbrella.

     

    With this acquisition, Viacom Inc. will hold 50 per cent of Prism TV and the remaining 50 per cent interest will continue to be owned by the Network18 Group, Viacom’s partner in the Viacom18 joint venture.

     

    Viacom18 operates 10 channels including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Colors.  The deal gives Viacom a significant presence in the fast growing regional TV sector in India, where almost 60 per cent of the population of more than 1.2 billion people speak regional dialects as their first language. Collectively, regional TV stations account for the second largest share of viewing in the Indian market, behind only Hindi general entertainment channels.

     

    Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, “We’re thrilled to be broadening our presence in one of the largest and fastest growing TV markets in the world, and deepening our already strong partnership with Network18.  This acquisition is an important step in building on our leadership position in India, a key market in Viacom’s international growth strategy.”

     

    Network18 CEO AP Parigi added, “This acquisition by Viacom International Media Networks further strengthens the partnership with Network18 both in terms of depth and breadth. I am confident India will emerge as a global entertainment powerhouse in the year ahead.”

     

    Viacom International Media Networks president and CEO Bob Bakish said, “Regional TV networks – and regional ad markets – are the next wave of growth in India. Having a strong national and broad regional presence gives us a powerful platform to launch additional brands, and introduce successful franchises and formats across India.”

     

    Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats said, “This acquisition is a big milestone for Viacom & Network 18 and it showcases their combined conviction to build a powerful broadcast offering for the Indian market.  We are delighted by the transaction and the next growth phase for the companies.”

  • Sonia Huria to handle entire Viacom18s communications

    Sonia Huria to handle entire Viacom18s communications

    MUMBAI: After being vacant for almost four months, the position of Viacom18’s corporate communications head is being filled up. The position had been vacant after Sandeep Dahiya decided to move on from the company. Now, Sonia Huria, who was serving as the Colors corporate communications head, will head all the communication and PR functions for Viacom18.

     

    In her new role, she will be handling the communications for all the Viacom18’s broadcast channels including Colors, the ETV channels it recently acquired, VH1, MTV, Nickelodeon, Sonic Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. She will also handle Viacom18’s motion pictures as well as allied functions like consumer products INS and digital. Her appointment is effective from today, 25 November, and she will report directly to Viacom18 Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats.

     

    “Work has already piled up. The entire Viacom18 is getting into the regional market and I will do my best to deliver the message of one Viacom18,” says Huria.

  • Hiremath resigns from IndiaCast Media Distribution

    Hiremath resigns from IndiaCast Media Distribution

    MUMBAI: Distribution veteran Sanjev Hiremath has announced his resignation from his position as IndiaCast Media Distribution executive vice president. Indiacast media distribution, a strategic joint venture created by TV18 and Viacom18 was formed in May, last year, to create India‘s first multi-platform content asset monetization entity.

    Prior to Indiacast, Hiremath had started digital and new media business for Viacom18, TV18 and ETV channels. He also had a role to play in setting up one of the early cable TV initiatives.

    The veteran has been closely associated with the cable & satellite industry. He joined MTV networks as head ofnetwork development for India & South Asia, when it was launched in India in 1996. He was also instrumental in successful launch and distribution of several channels like Nickelodeon and VH1. Post the joint venture between Viacom and Network18 he oversaw the launch of Colors, Comedy Central and Sonic.

    Announcing Sanjev‘s departure, IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi said, “Sanjev has admirably led our new media and digital business over last one year or so and has put us on a path of high growth trajectory. He is an old friend and colleague and we will miss his expertise and knowledge in the cable and satellite industry. As he now ventures out, I wish him all the success in all his future endeavors.”

    Hiremath, who resigned from his position in April, has not decided his further career plan. “I have not decided to join anywhere as yet. This industry has taught me a lot and so I have decided to continue with this industry itself. I want to work in both traditional and new media space,” said Hiremath while speaking to indiantelevision.com.

     

    His last day in office is 30 June. Where will he go next? Well, we will have to wait and watch.

  • IndiaCast collaborates with iStream to carry its content online

    IndiaCast collaborates with iStream to carry its content online

    MUMBAI: IndiaCast, the joint venture between TV18 and Viacom18, has entered into a multi-year licensing deal with online TV service provider iStream.com.

    The deal will give iStream.com access to IndiaCast’s library of content from a bouquet of the network’s 20 channels for its streaming and video on demand services online and Internet-enabled devices including smart phones and tablets.

    It will also allow IndiaCast to broaden its audience base by distributing its content on the fast growing digital platform.

    iStream.com audience will now have access to content from Viacom 18’s leading entertainment channels like Colors and MTV, TV18’s leading news channels like CNN IBN, CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, IBN 7 and IBN Lokmat, History 18 from A&E 18 and the entire bouquet of regional channels from the ETV channels.

    “This is one of the most important deals we have signed so far. IndiaCast brings to the table, some of the most-watched TV networks in the country, giving us access to one of the largest libraries of news, entertainment and regional content," said iStream.com founder & CEO Radhakrishnan Ramachandran.

    IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi Added, “With the digital space becoming more main stream and evolving with the speed of every second, it is imperative for us to take our content from television to online and give access to our viewers across all platforms. We are excited to collaborate with iStream as we see a team that has the expertise and capabilities to ensure that our content reaches out to the right audiences in the right format, broadening our audience base.”

    iStream.com will have dedicated landing pages for each of these channels and will showcase some of the reality shows like Bigg Boss and India’s Got Talent, fiction shows like Balika Vadhu & Uttaran, popular youth shows like MTV Roadies and Splitsvilla.

    Besides, with ETV’s bouquet of channels, regional audiences can have their own share of fiction and reality shows, like the hugely popular Abhiskekam and the Rasoi show.

    iStream.com adds hundreds of new videos every day to its library of over 200,000 clips of news, shows and movies in five Indian languages from over 80 channels. It also streams 26 news channels live in English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam.

  • ‘India is the only market where we pay carriage fees for our channels’ : BBC Worldwide Channels, Asia senior VP, GM, Mark Whitehead

    ‘India is the only market where we pay carriage fees for our channels’ : BBC Worldwide Channels, Asia senior VP, GM, Mark Whitehead

    BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of BBC, has decided to shut its two channels in India. This will mark the closure of BBC Entertainment and CBeebies from 1 December and reflects the difficulties that niche channels have in growing their business in an analogue cable TV driven market.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, BBC Worldwide Channels, Asia senior VP, GM, Mark Whitehead explains why.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    BBC Entertainment was refreshed last year. What went wrong?
    The nature of the Indian market for pay-TV channels make the economics of running channels very challenging at this time. We have reluctantly concluded that we need to close our channels.

     

    Could you talk about the carriage costs that had to be incurred versus revenues that were earned?
    India is the only market where we pay carriage fees for our channels. We can’t go into commercially sensitive detail on our revenues.

     

    BBC Worldwide was talking to platforms like the One Alliance. Why did talks fall through?
    We did not choose to comment on speculation at the time and I’m sure you will understand that we won’t be doing that now.

     

    Was the decision to exit part of the overall cost re-structuring exercise that is going on?
    This decision has nothing to do with the overall restructuring of BBC Worldwide. We took the difficult decision to close the channels for commercial reasons.

     

    Some of the reasons included the uniquely challenging pay TV market in India and the delays to digitisation.

     

    ‘India is a uniquely challenging market and decision to withdraw CBeebies and Entertainment is not part of an Asia-wide view‘

    Didn‘t BBC Entertainment have an edge over competition as it covered three genres – entertainment, factual and lifestyle?
    Both channels – BBC Entertainment and CBeebies – have been exceptionally well received by the Indian audience. However the uniquely challenging pay TV market in India made the economics of running them very difficult at this time.

     

    CBeebies was ad free. Is running an ad free channel in India unviable at the moment?
    Advertising is currently a major source of revenue for pay TV channels in India. Without that revenue we found it unviable to run CBeebies in India at this time.

     

    Having said that isn‘t this the wrong time to exit given that the digitisation process has just started with Mumbai, Delhi already switching off analogue signals?
    Digitisation has been slow and the long term impact on the economics of running a channel is unclear at this stage. If those economics improve with digitisation, we will reconsider launching the channels.

     

    Is BBC Worldwide Channels looking more carefully at the cost structure across Asia and are you exiting other markets to an extent?
    India is a uniquely challenging market and our commercial decision to withdraw the CBeebies and Entertainment was not part of an Asia-wide review. We have no plans to close channels in any other markets at this time.

     

    There have been a lot of changes in the BBC such as a new DG and COO. How will this affect the functioning of the channels business?
    The international Channels business is part of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC.

     

    BBC Worldwide has a strong focus on international markets, and our channels business remains an important part of that strategy for growth. We have a clear leadership structure running the channels business with David Weiland as acting Managing Director of Channels and I (Whitehead) running the Asia business.

     

    Is there the chance that BBC might re-enter India in 2015 when digitisation is complete?
    We believe India is an exciting market and in the event of changes in the options available to us, we would certainly consider re-launching our non-News channels in the market.

     

    BBC Worldwide remains committed to India, where BBC World News – the BBC’s international news and current affairs television channel – continues to be available across the market, along with the bbc.com and bbchindi.com websites, BBC Hindi radio and Global India, a new primetime programme produced by BBC Hindi TV which launched on five ETV channels this month.

     

    In addition, BBC Worldwide operates a TV production business, a content syndication business and Lonely Planet in India. BBC Worldwide is also evaluating the potential for a number of digital initiatives which have been successfully developed in other markets. BBC Entertainment programmes will also continue to be available on other channels in India – both terrestrial and cable, as well as digitally on our YouTube channel.

  • ETV channels to go pay, price at Rs 10

    ETV channels to go pay, price at Rs 10

    MUMBAI: Eenadu Television is taking its Bengali general entertainment channel pay with effect from 1 February. The other channels in the network will also go pay in a phased manner.

    ETV Bangla will be priced at Rs 10 a month per subscriber. “Our Bengali channel is going pay from 1 February. The other channels in the network will follow suit,” a senior ETV executive confirms.
    ETV Kannada and ETV Marathi are likely to go pay by March. All the ETV channels will be priced similarly at Rs 10.

    In the Cas (conditional access system) areas of Mumbai and Kolkata, ETV has not yet decided whether it should stay free-to-air (FTA). “We haven’t taken a call yet whether ETV Bangla will be FTA in the Cas notified areas of Kolkata. Similarly, we have to decide about ETV Marathi in the Cas region of Mumbai when we take the channel pay,” the executive said.

    Last year ETV had taken its Telugu channels – ETV Telugu and ETV2 – pay and priced it together at Rs 10. ETV has a bouquet of 12 regional channels including ETV Oriya, Gujarati, Urdu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

    Private investment firm Blackstone Group recently announced it would pump in $ 275 million (approximately Rs 12.38 billion) to acquire a stake in Ushodaya Enterprises Limited (UEL), the holding company that manages Ramoji Rao’s media assets. UEL owns Eenadu, the third largest newspaper, and ETV, the fourth largest private television broadcasting network in the country.