ITV

Tag: holistic

  • Strong economic logic underpins several events, says Gurumurthi, as ET Now adds new viewer category

    Strong economic logic underpins several events, says Gurumurthi, as ET Now adds new viewer category

    A while ago, the Times Network decided to embark on a mission to provide more to its business viewers of ET Now. Rather than overdose them with business news 24X7, it decided to show them how general news can also be viewed with a business lens.

    Tune into the channel after 5pm and you will get to see development related news – both economic and social, that will give a business viewer a better idea of the sector. It can also be seen as an attempt to get evening viewers, who are generally glued to the general news and debates that follow. ET Now also has general news, shows and debates to engage the upwardly mobile audience.

    Managing editor Sandeep Gurumurthy is not only behind-the-scenes but also co-hosts the 9 pm primetime debate ‘Rise with India’. In conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Shekhar Pundir, Gurumurthy sheds light on the channel’s intent to change its positioning and what has come out of it.

    1) How has this change from pure business to a mix of offerings benefitted you?

    We are truly overwhelmed with the response so far. I don’t think any news channel has taken the leap of faith that we have. We sensed a clear need to bring intelligent and informed conversations back on news TV and no other channel saw the merit in putting development at the core of its editorial agenda.

    2) How successful have you been in discussing India’s holistic development and imagery?

    While these are early days, I think we have been very successful in establishing India Development Debate as a leading platform to discuss and debate issues relating to the country’s development. We have received great responses from stakeholders, both in the policy and corporate space. Top ministers and bureaucrats from the government such as Piyush Goyal, Jayant Sinha, Rajiv Kumar and Amitabh Kant, have participated in the show and contributed to finding solutions for the issues we raised.

    3) What impact do you see on viewers after about 10 weeks of the shift?

    To me, this is more than just repositioning. The entire organisation has morphed into a new entity with a new purpose. This is a tectonic shift and I appreciate the fact that it will take a while for people to understand the importance of this change. A year ago, this seemed unimaginable. Having said that, we have only made a beginning and set ourselves on a path, which is unchartered territory.

    5) ET Now’s new shows promised to uncover the economics behind major news around us. Please comment on the effect and impact of this strategy.

    I think with all these stories, what we are trying to demonstrate is that very often, there is a strong economic logic that underpins a lot of events that happen around us. Our endeavour is to bring that out. You can’t reduce news events to binary propositions. That’s how we want to make Rise with India, the most intelligent debate show.

    7) What would you say makes the show different from the other business shows?

    To start with, this isn’t a business show at all. This is a news debate show that focuses on development issues. Development is not just economic development but also social development. We have debated issues like hunger, sanitation, etc. which are core to India’s development agenda. Tell me another channel or show that is even talking about these issues on prime time?

    9) What change in viewership have you noticed?

    We have not repositioned the channel with an intent to drive viewership. We don’t decide topics based on what will get us eyeballs or drive viewership, we decide topics based on what will create impact and make a difference to India’s development agenda. With all humility, that is what we are doing at ET Now. Thanks to our strong brand, we are already one of India’s most watched English news channels. I am certain that in this new avatar, ET Now will draw a whole new category of viewers, who have so far stayed away from business news.

    10) Wouldn’t most leaders cater to similar topics?

    We as leaders definitely believe that these issues needed to be done differently. But we don’t want to restrict ourselves to just economic issues. Our agenda is development and we will cover every aspect of it. Most other business channels don’t discuss the kind of issues that we do. If they now start doing so, I will only be too happy.

    11) What would be ET Now’s strategy, going forward?

    We want to put development at the core of public discourse. We want to make India Development Debate, India’s most influential debate show that leads to change. We want to do whatever we can to aid India’s development agenda and help every Indian to rise with India.

     

     

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  • TRAI should reconsider Spectrum Trading, says DoT

    TRAI should reconsider Spectrum Trading, says DoT

        
    NEW DELHI: A Department of Telecommunications (DoT) committee has for the present turned down any proposal to permit spectrum trading.

    In a report to the Telecom Commission, this Committee has however admitted that this finds place in the National Telecom Policy (2012). It has said there is need for a more holistic view on the matter to prevent ‘some unintended consequences’.

    It feels that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) should be asked to give a detailed recommendation in this regard. At present, only right-to-usage of spectrum is auctioned and the legal framework under which it can be treated as transferable and tradable in whole or part needs to be prepared, the Committee added.

    According to the report, any Presidential Reference on this issue should be in conformity with the Supreme Court order in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

    The Committee says there is need for assessment of market sale of spectrum. This would assume more importance in merger and acquisition (M&A) cases, for assessment of the fair value of spectrum, where the entire business might be taken over as a going concern along with the spectrum, without separate determination of the price. It should also have provisions to curb fly-by-night operators entering for only trading benefits.

    Earlier, the DoT had sought TRAI’s views on the conditions and timing for allowing trading of what got through auction, the quantity for trading by an operator, revenue payable and the legal, regulatory and technical framework. This followed a recommendation by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to Communications and Information Technology minister Kapil Sibal to allow trading of spectrum. The matter was also discussed in a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

    The DoT committee has said TRAI should reconsider sharing of spectrum. Guidelines are to be finalised for the sharing of spectrum in accordance with the TRAI suggestion on a spectrum management and licencing framework. However, the present recommendation for a flat spectrum usage charge would impact the previous recommendation, it felt.

  • Allied Media appoints Saurabh Gupta in his new role as business head

    Allied Media appoints Saurabh Gupta in his new role as business head

    MUMBAI: In his new role as business head, digital media Saurabh will be responsible for providing holistic digital solutions for all clients of Percept Media and also only Digital direct clients. He would be taking care of India region, and integrate digital in the marcom solutions of all Percept Group clients.

    With his experience of almost 10 years in the industry, he has worked with renowned companies like Reliance Entertainment Digital and Wipro Technologies. He played a major role in Zapak Digital as national sales head and has serviced brands like PepsiCo (Change the Game Campaign and Pepsi T20 Football), Mountain Dew (Dew Extreme Tours, Hrithik launch and MTV Roadies Integration), Michelin Tires (Malaysia Pilot Experience, Lemans), Airtel (F1 Online Activity) and many more

    He is a professional with qualitative experience in brand building, business development, sales, process implementation, client servicing and team management.

    Allied Media CEO Shripad Kulkarni said, “It’s not about digital marketing but a fresh way of looking at marketing to digital savvy customers of our clients. So, we will have two digital teams – a digital strategy team which is a part of the core strategy team of Percept Media and a business team”.

    On the digital strategy, business head – digital Saurabh Gupta added, “Digital media behaves in a very different form factors according to businesses and categories. But, most businesses are shortsighted and consider digital media as only a marcom instrument. We are here to change the way brands perceive digital as a medium and transform the entire marketing making it a catalyst to achieve business objective and transform the brand life stage. Our digital strategy blueprint will be: digital led business re-engineering customised for brands.”

  • Star Network and MSN’s television offering ‘What’s On Star’ soars high

    Star Network and MSN’s television offering ‘What’s On Star’ soars high

    MUMBAI: Star Network and MSN recently collaborated to introduce a new offering for television fans online – What’s On Star. The offering gives netizens access into exclusive content, picture, videos, previews on Star Plus, Life Ok, and Star Sports through msn.com.

    Star Plus, India’s leading Hindi general entertainment channel was the first to be introduced on ‘What’s On Star’, hosted on the MSN platform, to be soon followed by Star Sports and Life OK. In a span of just three months, the offerings have witnessed a huge number of 3.9 million views while the videos have been watched over 700,000 times. Amongst the popular downloads for Star Plus were Mahabharat, Master Chef Junior and Saraswatichandra. For Life Ok, Devon Ke Dev Mahadev took the lead with five out of 10 most views.

    Talking about the association, Star Plus Sr VP marketing Nikhil Madhok said, “Our partnership with MSN has worked towards satiating the need of audiences to access Star Plus’s popular content at their own convenience, for viewers, who want to engage more deeply with the content, there is also some behind the scenes footage not seen on TV. This further strengthens their engagement with our shows and creates a virtual loop.  The large fan following of the channel is pretty evident with the enthusiasm with which people have been viewing the content.”
    “Our partnership with the Star Network brings a holistic experience for digitally connected consumers who want to watch their favourite TV programs at home, at work or on the move. Viewing of content online provides freedom and engages consumers consistently across devices and destinations on their terms. On the MSN platform, the Star Network content provides original video and high-performance solutions through a consistent strategy for connected platforms,” said Microsoft Corporation India, Head – MSN Sanjay Trehan.