ITV

Tag: Gujarat

  • THE BOSS MEETS ETV VIEWERS

    THE BOSS MEETS ETV VIEWERS

    NEW DELHI : ETV and Honda created a platform for the viewers of ETV to personally meet the Bollywood superstar, THE BOSS : Akshay Kumar along with the other star cast of the movie today, at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi.

    ETV partnered with Viacom 18’s movie BOSS, to promote the movie through a customized contest designed for it’s viewers to participate and win couple movie tickets, as well as a chance to meet Akshay Kumar in person. The initiative was presented by Honda Dream Neo.

    The BOSS contest, that was aired on ETV Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand, ETV Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, ETV Rajasthan and ETV Bihar/Jharkhand, created an excitement among the viewers to meet Akshay Kumar. An aggressive participation was seen during the contest.

    10 winners were selected at the end of the contest. Sanjeev Srivastava, from Kota, Sridhar from Dehradun, Yogendra from Noida, Bhagat Aggarwal from Gorakhpur were the winners to name a few. Akshay Kumar was present at the event to meet these winners personally in order to congratulate them, get pictures clicked and sign autographs for them. Immense excitement and nervousness was seen among the winners as it was a dream come true experience for all of them.

    Senior representatives from ETV, Honda and Viacom 18 were present at this do.

    Honda and Viacom 18 expressed their gratitude and congratulated ETV to have initiated this activity like never before and mentioned about their willingness to associate in the future too.

    Akshay Kumar talked about the upcoming Grand Finale of ETV Rajasthan Ke Superstars, scheduled for 16th October, 2013, in Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur and congratulated ETV to have created a platform with such a noble cause of honoring the ordinary people, for doing something extraordinary for the society.

    The BOSS star interviews and clippings of this meet and greet show, will be aired in this week, only on ETV! Keep watching…

    ETV Network offers enriching infotainment via 12 regional channels; ETV has its strong foothold in over 10 states of India- Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Apart from being present in all the state capitals, ETV provides unmatched regional coverage with specialised dedicated teams for small towns and districts. With its own Earth Station for up-linking and expediting timely transmission of news, ETV is among the country’s biggest satellite TV operations. For more information, visit www.etv.co.in 

  • New Kid on the Hindi news block: Jia News

    New Kid on the Hindi news block: Jia News

    MUMBAI: Starting 5 October, 7:00 am onward, the Hindi news space will see one more channel going live.

    Named Jia News, after channel chairman Rohan Jagdale’s daughter, the channel, whose slogan reads: ‘Ehsaas Badlav Ka’ (Feel the change), is looking to tap people’s spiritual side apart from giving them their daily fix of news and current affairs.

    About five months ago, Jagdale and his wife who is channel director Madhulika, started work on Jia, which also stands for ‘Journalist in Action’.

    Equipped with a head office in Noida, 16 bureaus in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, and a staff of 150 people including journalists, cameramen and stringers, Jia will air 60 per cent current affairs and 10 per cent sports and 10 per cent entertainment  as part of its programming strategy. As of now, no south Indian state has been included and news from the southern region will be through tie-ups with ANI. Joy Sebastian has been appointed channel head while Ashish Mishra is chief editor. The hunt for a CEO is still on.

    Interestingly, Jagdale, who has an oil and gas business, has funded Jia entirely out of his own pocket. “I have started the channel on emotions and feelings,” he says.

    Unlike other channel launches, no big marketing campaign has been planned. Reason is Jagdale wants to first reach out to school and college students by hosting debates and elocutions and making them understand the importance of Hindi as a language. “Hindi as a language has become something of a burden and I want to change that,” he says. Promos will be uploaded on the Internet on the day of the launch.

    Initially available on cable TV only, Jagdale plans to touch nearly 1.5 crore people. The web page will be launched on the tenth of this month. The channel also plans to have spiritual shows to help people relax and relieve stress.

    Given the rash of Hindi channels lately, it remains to be seen whether Jia will manage to stand out from the crowd.

  • Priyanka Chopra gets ready for Ramleelas item number

    Priyanka Chopra gets ready for Ramleelas item number

    Priyanka (Babli) Chopra has turned more badmash for Ram Leela’s item song. Priyanka who recently made headlines for her item numbers Babli Badmash and Pinky, is all set to drive her fans crazy once again with her upcoming sexy moves in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ramleela.

     

    The special dance number has been choreographed by Prabhu Deva’s brother Vishnu Deva. 20 other performers have joined the leggy lass in the item number.

    Though her latest item numbers Babli Badmash and Pinky failed to impress her fans, her look in the Ramleela number is quite blazing and promising.

    Set in rural Gujarat, Bhansali’s Ramleela is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in lead roles. The movie also features Supriya Pathak, Richa Chadda, Gulshan Devaiah, Shweta Salve, Barkha Bisht Sengupta, Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh and Sharad Kelkar.

  • Google aims to get 50,000 Gujarat SMEs online

    MUMBAI: Google India has announced its plan to get 50,000 small medium businesses in Gujarat online by end of 2014. The initiative is part of Google’s national campaign titled ‘India, get your business online’ which offers free websites and hosting to small medium business in India. The campaign is aimed at bringing down the barrier that prevents small medium businesses to get on the Internet. Giving a head start to this project, Google also unveiled the details of a special project wherein Google India & HostGator went to popular traditional markets in Ahmadabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot and built websites for 5,000 small businesses making them accessible to the world.

     

    In addition to creating the websites, Google India also created Google maps listings and Google+ business pages for these businesses. All these 5,000 businesses will be able to use 24×7 customer support to manage their websites and get free online advertising credit that can be used on Google search to promote their business online.

     

    This initiative was announced by Google India Head – SMB Sales Suryanarayana K, who said, “SMEs are a key driver for economic growth of India, but very few businesses have been able to utilise the benefits of the internet effectively. Gujarat houses the largest number of SMEs in the country. These can benefit greatly by having a website for their businesses which will open up new markets for them. Google’s ‘India Get Your Business Online’ initiative aims to boost the SME ecosystem by giving them a simple, effective and free platform to get their business online. We aim to get 50,000 SMEs online, which will dramatically change the business landscape and opportunities for SMEs in Gujarat.” 

    “Our research has shown that SMEs who use internet, see revenue growth of 51 per cent and raise in profits by 49 per cent. Gujarat already represents 10 per cent of the total internet population in the country and houses many export oriented businesses, by being present on the internet, they can make the world their market and continue to boost the economy of the country”, he added. 

     

    Amongst the businesses that were covered in the project, Google India team built websites for traditional businesses operating out of popular local markets in Ahmedabad like the Manek Chowk, Teen Darwaza, Kabootar Khanna, Lathi Bazaar. In Surat the project covered Millenium market, Radha Krishnan market (textile market), In Rajkot – Soni bazaar and Sant Kabir road famous for jewellery stories, and in Vadodara – Lehri Pura Darwaja a market that focuses on traditional artifacts. 
    Nakul Makker, owner of Swati Furniture based in Visharam Marg, Ahmadabad said “We get a lot of customers who always ask us about our website as nowadays the customers expect us to put our catalogue online. We have been thinking about making one but we did not know how to go about it. With Google offering to set up a website for us, our business is now accessible online to anyone and everyone in Ahmadabad. A website today is like a mobile phone, as a business you need to invest in one and grow your business. With our website we can also look at expanding our customer base which is not limited to Ahmedabad.” 

     

    In addition to this initiative, Google will host several workshops through its 200 Google partners in Gujarat, who will provide local support to SMEs and help them to get online and grow their business through online marketing. The campaign will also be supported by an aggressive marketing campaign that will focus on improving the awareness on the benefits of Internet for small medium businesses.

  • King Khan shares the magic of fresh ‘n’ juicy mangoes with his die-hard fans

    King Khan shares the magic of fresh ‘n’ juicy mangoes with his die-hard fans

    MUMBAI: India’s most cherished mango drink- Frooti, announced winners of the ‘Share a Frooti with SRK’ contest. As a part of the contest, only ten blessed fans amongst the billion others in the country earned the chance to share a Frooti with none other than the King Khan.

    The brand invited participation from Frooti enthusiasts and SRK loyalists, asking them to creatively describe their love for both through voice messages. All they had to do was dial-in on number specified on Frooti packs or online channels and narrate short stories, >mimic Shahrukh Khan’s dialogues, use Frooti’s iconic jingle tone etc alongwith describing their passion for Frooti and SRK. This nationwide contest ran for a duration of 4 months (April 10, 2013 – August 10, 2013) and ten best answers were selected. The winners came from across the country- New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan including Maharashtra to spend a special evening with SRK.

    Talking about his experience, Frooti’s brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan said, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Frooti contest. I really enjoyed the time I spent with the winners who expressed their love for me so sweetly. Cheers to Frooti for organizing this amazing evening and good luck to all the participants.”

    That is not all, the entire journey of fans coming from various parts of India is documented through webisodes that will be uploaded on Frooti’s official channel. It will capture everything starting from the time they leave their home, to them taking a flight, reaching Mumbai and finally meeting SRK.

     ‘Share a Frooti with SRK’ contest was conceptualized to create excitement around the association of number one superstar of the country with the number one mango drink and has received unprecedented success. The contest built strong engagement with the audience through telephonic calls and social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

  • Can Sonys new offering Live it up?

    Can Sonys new offering Live it up?

    MUMBAI: Every Thursday is a reality check for the channels and its shows. And more so when it gets a new show onboard. The success of any marketing campaign is reflected in the ratings and so when Sony Entertainment Television launched its new soap Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara, it built a big marketing campaign to create the right buzz to get good viewership numbers.

     

    Sony which is the highest gainer this week, as it added 48,804 TVTs (Television Viewership in thousands) taking its cumulative to 349,377 GVTs (Gross Viewership in thousands) (300,573 last week), launched Jee Le Zara, on 15 August in the 9:30 pm slot.

     

    The show which entered into a very competitive time slot with Star Plus’s Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Zee TV’s Qubool Hai ruling the ratings chart in this time slot, has received 2,620 TVTs in its launch week and all this after some good marketing campaigns.

     

    “Every time slot today is competitive, we need to get audiences and so created a huge marketing campaign to inform people of the new show,” says SET senior VP & head-marketing Gaurav Seth. From a ‘Van Flag Off’ by Sangeeta Ghosh, the protagonist of the show to running of Twitter contests, the channel went a whole hog to hit the right cord with its audiences.

     

    The promotional activity started with the three promos shot for television. “Similarly, we had radio spots, which spoke on Sangeeta’s character in the show. We also launched a big multi-media print campaign on the day of launch of the soap which sustained till the first week of it going on air,” informs Seth.

     

    To sustain pressure and ensure that the promos went viral, the channel launched several social media activities and outdoor innovations. “One of this was when on 13 and 14 August we had a Jee Le Zara bus ferrying women from one part of the city to the other. The idea was to inform people of Sangeeta’s return on TV and also to promote the idea of Jee Le Zara,” he comments.

     

    The channel which launched the #Jee le zara moment contest on Twitter received over 7700 tweets with nearly 5.37 million people joining the conversation. “We were trending on Twitter on the launch day,” he informs.  The channel also ran promos of the show in major cinema chains nationwide for one week during the screening of Chennai Express.

     

    With Sony targeting not only the metros, but also UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat, with a 360 degree marketing campaign, we wonder if the numbers are enough when compared to the 7,435 TVTs of Qubool Hai and 7,284 TVTs of  Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. The show will need some catching up to do in the coming weeks.

  • MCOF to hold seminar for LMOs

    MCOF to hold seminar for LMOs

    MUMBAI: With Last Mile Operators (LMOs) viewing digitisation as a threat and legal tussles between them and Multi System Operators (MSOs) on the rise, the Maharashtra Cable Operators Federation (MCOF) has organised an educational and business seminar on ‘challenges and opportunities post DAS’ to address their growing concerns.

    To be held on 23 November at the Prabhodhankar Thakarey Krida Sankool in Vile Parle, Mumbai, the seminar will see the who’s who of the industry educate LMOs about the kind of business opportunities lying in wait.

    Addressing operators from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa will be Castle Media director Vynsley Fernandes, who will speak on ‘global industry standards and trends’; HSBC Securities (Telecom and Media) lead analyst Rajiv Sharma, who will touch upon the financial aspects; former Sun group CEO Tony D’Silva, who will discuss HITS (Headends in the Sky) technology, UPASS managing director Ravindra Deshmukh and PING Network founder Prashanto Das, who will talk about global trends in broadcasting.

    Also among the invitees are small scale industries and the State Bank of India (SBI) regional head.

    Says MCOF president Arvind Prabhoo: “There is a lot of confusion about digitisation and LMOs feel the business is going out of their hands but if you understand what digitisation is and how to go about it as well as reorient yourself to the changing scenario, then you don’t look at it as a challenge but as an opportunity. I want LMOs to know that digitisation is not a threat and remove the fear factor from their mind.”

    A few women cable operators are also expected to attend the seminar that will be conducted in both Hindi and English. Nearly 500 to 600 LMOs are likely to participate with registration fees fixed at Rs 500 per head. Leading Marathi and Gujarati newspapers will be carrying advertorials tomorrow and day after to promote the event.

    Apart from challenges and opportunities post DAS, the seminar will also cover topics such as maximizing broadband penetration, optimised network architecture in DAS and future proof, Value Added Services (VAS), identifying right equipment and spares, supply tie ups and employee training.

  • RBNL expands reach in HSM with new carriage deals

    RBNL expands reach in HSM with new carriage deals

    MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has expanded the reach of its multi-lingual international men‘s entertainment channel Big CBS Prime beyond the eight metros to 1 million+ towns across Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM).

    RBNL has inked deals with leading distribution platforms to extend its reach to 30 million households across the markets of Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and top 8 metros.

    BIG CBS Networks Business Head Anand Chakravarthy said, “With the launch of the Hindi language feed, BIG CBS PRIME now expands into 1mn+ HSMs in the country, expanding its audience base. The channel has seen very encouraging results over the last few weeks, since launch of the language feed in metros, and we expect to get an even better response in HSM‘s. We are sure that the channel will build a strong viewer base ensuring better ROI for marketers and advertisers.”

    The channel which is already available on all leading DTH platforms and national MSO‘s in metros has now inked deals with all the regional MSO‘s as well, making Big CBS Prime available to a larger cross-section of male audiences, showcasing the best international content in a dual feed.

  • DAS extension pleas quashed in Karnataka and Gujarat

    DAS extension pleas quashed in Karnataka and Gujarat

    NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The information & broadcasting ministry can heave a sigh of relief as the the high courts in Karnataka and Gujarat today dismissed petitions filed by cable operators seeking extension of digitisation.

    The court orders mean that the government can go about systematically switching-off analogue signals in the cities that are covered in the Phase II of the rollout of cable TV digitisation in the two states.

    The Karnataka high court today dismissed a petition filed by Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association (KSCOA) seeking extension of deadline for implementing digital addressable system (DAS). The KSCOA petition was trashed as the HC found no merits in the case.

    Similarly, the Gujarat high court also dismissed two petitions seeking postponement of digitisation in the four cities in the state. The court also vacated the stay ordered on 28 March in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara.

    The decision by the high courts paves the way for switch-off analogue signals in the cities that are covered in Phase II of DAS.

    Expressing satisfaction, Information & Broadcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma told Indiantelevision.com that the judgements vindicated the government‘s stand that the advent of new technology could not be stopped. He also said that there was no truth in reports about the shortage of set top boxes (STBs).

    KSCOA president Patrick Raju said that he and his legal team would look at a copy of the court order before commenting about further action that his association would take in the matter.

    Among the contentions of the cable operators association in Karnataka was that a large number of cable homes in Bengaluru and Mysore would go dark if DAS is implemented since there isn’t enough supply of STBs.

    The KSCOA and MCOA (Mysore Cable TV Operators Association) had filed separate petitions, which were later clubbed together, seeking relief in the digitisation deadline due to shortage of STBs and lack of clarity on box ownership and many other issues.

    The Cable Operators Association of Gujarat (COAG) in its petition had contended that there was a shortage of STBs and no clarity on acquisition of these boxes. COAG president Pramod Pandya said STBs ordered from China had failed to arrive because of internal problems in that country and therefore the local cable operators could not be penalised for this.

    Also read:

    Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    Karnataka HC dismisses KSCOA petition, paves way for analogue cable switch-off

  • Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    Gujarat HC dismisses petitions seeking DAS extension

    NEW DELHI: The Gujarat High Court today dismissed two petitions seeking postponement of Digital Addressable System (DAS) in the four cities in the state that were covered under Phase II of digitisation.

    Justice Rajesh Shukla quashed the petitions filed by Cable Operators Association of Gujarat (COAG) through its President Pramod Pandya and another body of local cable operators from Surat.

    This follows a similar order by the Karnataka High Court earlier in the day striking down Karnataka State Cable TV Operators Association‘s (KSCOA) petition.

    The court also vacated the stay ordered on 28 March in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara, thereby allowing the Information & Broadcasting ministry to implement analogue signal switch-off in the state.

    Earlier, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had impleaded itself as a party in the case in Gujarat, primarily to argue that there should be no delay in DAS.

    In its petition, the COAG had said that there was shortage of set top boxes and no clarity on acquisition of these boxes.