ITV

Tag: India News

  • The Times Now, India News blackout in Uttar Pradesh

    The Times Now, India News blackout in Uttar Pradesh

    MUMBAI: Two major news channels – Times Now and India News – were blacked out over the weekend in Uttar Pradesh, following their criticism of  the lavish Saifai Mahotsav ceremony by the Akhilesh Yadav-run government in the state. The black out of the two channels was done following unofficial orders from government officials, local cable TV operators have confessed to the media.  However, both Times Now and India News were back on most cable TV networks in the state, though the latter was was still not available in Lucknow and Faizabad, at the time of writing.

     

    The black out  has disturbed both the government and the news broadcast industry. Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari candidly remarked yesterday that his ministry would fast track TRAI’s recommendations on cable TV monopolies in various states to prevent operators from misusing their dominance. 

     

    Times Television Network CEO Sunil Lulla spoke to indiantelevision.com, saying that the issue was a matter of fundamental rights. “We completely echo the thoughts of the minister on monopolisation. There cannot be any arbitrariness,” he says. 

     

    India News which is a Hindi channel says that nearly 25 per cent of its viewership comes from UP. And, it lost a large part of that in the past two days.  “Our channel has been switched off since 10 January and although no one is coming out in the open we have heard that they have been ordered to do so. Our channel is still missing in Lucknow and Faizabad which are important strongholds. So, we are still discussing with the local cable TV ops to get it back on as soon as possible,” says ITV Network (India News and News X) CEO R K Arora. 

     

    Some fingers have been pointed toward MSO DEN Networks which has a large share of cable TV subscribers in Uttar Pradesh for giving into government pressure and switching off the two channels. However, DEN COO M. Azhar disagrees that there was any pressure from any quarter. Pooh-poohing claims that there was a large scale blackout from his network, he says that it was restricted to only a few local cable TV operators. 

     

    “All channels are now running on our network and it was only a few people who had done it for sometime but now everything is restored,” he says. 

     

    Lulla, while agreeing that his channel has been restored, states that “a standard process needs to be followed by both the broadcaster as well as the MSO and no disconnection can be done without notice. It was probably some state officials who had jumped the gun.” 

  • Journalists, anyone?

    Journalists, anyone?

    MUMBAI: The past few months have seen established news channels showing their employees the door; be it a TV18 Broadcast or UTV Bloomberg or NDTV, which took the cake when it shut down the entire Mumbai office as cost-cutting measure. Media as a whole – particularly English news channels – has sunk into a lull. However, all’s not lost. There’s still hope for aspiring journalists in the form of a smattering of channels that are out to hire in the time of widespread lay-offs.

    A case in point is the ITV Network – comprising English news channel News X and Hindi news channel India News – which is currently hiring people both in its editorial and management departments. Not so long ago, the network roped in known faces such as Rahul Shivshankar and Diptosh Majumdar as Managing Editor and National Affairs Editor, respectively. “We ensure team structure and size is controlled in order to optimise cost,” says ITV Network HR Shikha Rastogi.

    Popular news channel India TV too is looking to fill vacancies in editorial and digital media. About 20-30 people have already been hired in various departments in the last quarter.

    Even in these difficult times, many new channels are making their way into the ecosystem, paving the road for hiring more people. So, while English news channels have started containing themselves, a number of new Hindi and regional news channels have cropped up.

    Just launched Hindi news channel, Jia News, will complete its second phase of hiring within the next two or three months. News Nation, another Hindi news channel which was launched earlier this year, did a significant amount of hiring to reach its current 350 staff strength. Hereon, the channel will hire as per specific requirements. There are also instances of new channel additions, where hiring is not really a prerogative except when the need arises.

    MCCS (Media Content and Communication Services) is adding a Punjabi news channel to its existing flock of ABP News, ABP Majha and ABP Ananda but no hiring is taking place in the ABP channels presently. Ditto for ZMCL, which added Zee Rajasthan Plus to its portfolio and recently acquired Maurya TV that runs in Bihar and Jharkhand. “We only hire when we need to. No attrition has taken place so no addition will either,” says MCCS CEO Ashok Venkatramani.

    Anurradha Prasad says that the situation can be much better once pay TV kicks in

    BAG Films and Media MD Anurradha Prasad, which owns the channel News 24 agrees that the scenario is not too good but since elections are approaching they will be looking at hiring competent people to cover it. Overall, there isn’t any such post vacant in the channel.

    Again, many channels are looking at getting their staff to multi-task to restrict hiring to the minimum. Sahara Samay Editor (Network Operations) Sanjay Banerjee says that their company has not fired any employee since their hiring itself is kept to a bare minimum. “Only when we have vacancies will we fill them as we did with the recently re-launched Sahara Samay NCR as Samay Rajasthan,” he adds. The Samay Rajasthan re-launch took place in mid-September and a good number of reporters and cameramen were hired in many cities of Rajasthan.

    Meanwhile, industry insiders feel the whole ruckus has been caused due to hiring more people than required. “A lot of unnecessary hiring has happened. Where just two people could do the work, six people have been taken in,” says an industry source. “The field hasn’t matured in all these years. There’s no formula to reach the top and there’s no benchmark either. At the same time, recession is happening and then if you aren’t a strong team, you are going to be in a mess,” opines a channel editor.

    Asked about what could be the reason for this sudden lull Prasad points out :”The cost of producing news has not come down in all these years and the system of pay TV has not yet kicked in.” Most channels say they are incurring losses rather than making a profit out of the business. The wait is on for digitisation to set in which will see news channels getting a better share of revenue.

    And though the gloom hasn’t passed yet, journalists would do well to hold on to whatever they have or look for and accept any opportunity as a stepping stone till an established name in the business is ready to hire once again.

  • News X strengthening its editorial team

    News X strengthening its editorial team

    MUMBAI: Well known anchor on Headlines Today, Rahul Shivshankar, is packing his bags back to his favourite news channel – News X – with a mission in mind. From 4 September, he will be seen as managing editor with the channel and will be hosting the primetime show. Diptosh Majumdar, former National affairs editor with DNA, also joins the team in the same capacity.

    Shivshankar has years of experience. He was associated with News X as editorial director for a year between February 2011 and 2012 and six years with Times Now before that. He was also one of the members of the core team that launched Headlines in 2003. “I am emotionally involved with News X and my plan is to consolidate and give the channel a new direction and focus, which I have successfully done for Headlines Today as well,” says Shivshankar. He will be filling a vacant position.

    Majumdar has been political affairs editor with CNN-IBN and editorial director with News X in 2010 after which he left for DNA and now he’s back with News X. Recently, News X was acquired by India News. Financial constraints at the channel had led to Shivshankar leaving for Headlines but now since it seems stable he is back with it. One of the things Shivshankar plans to do is build the weekend news programming. This is one affinity to a channel!

    Three months ago, Priya Sehgal joined them as political editor from India Today magazine.

    When the whole industry seems to be laying people off, News X seems to be doing the opposite. More people are expected to join the channel in the coming months.

  • Indian tech success story takes the next step with wins in Africa

    Indian tech success story takes the next step with wins in Africa

    MUMBAI: Mumbai based Media Nucleus continued its impressive growth story with its first wins in the African continent.Media Nucleus has clients across India, South Asia, South East Asia, Middle East, I and now Africa.

    ANN7 based out of South Africa and TVC News in Nigeria have both chosen Media Nucleus’ flagship product, Broadcast Air Time Scheduler (BATS), to optimise revenues and deliver efficiencies in their broadcasting operations.

    The flexibility of the modular structure along with the intuitive features of the software that ensures reduction of human error that delivers accurate billing and programming were key to BATS winning.

    Value for money and the comprehensive, high quality yet cost effective were the main features that swayed the decision towards BATS in this case.

    These broadcasters join global brands such as Fox and CNBC, top Indian brands such as Star World, India News, Fox Movies, Dhammal, PTC, to name a few along with a growing number of other channels across India,Middle East and now Africa who use BATS to run their entire operational processes or parts of it. The ability of BATS to integrate with industry standard broadcast technology infrastructure as well as ERP products such as Oracle or SAP are some of the features Media Nucleus clients value.

    Media Nucleus Operations Director Santosh Nair believes this trend of gaining customers abroad would continue especially from the emerging markets that are undergoing through the digitisation revolution. Africa is the initial target but by no means the only one.

    “Africa is a big continent with varied levels of market maturity however technology is proving to be a great equaliser in many respects and “digitsation” would open new opportunities as well as challenges,” he said.

    “Our experience in supporting broadcasters and other content owners optimise revenues and deliver efficiencies in their operations and meet the challenges of digitisation in India and Middle East make us perfectly poised to do the same in Africa. “

    Although BATS is the flagship, he points out that CAMS (a subscriber management system for Cable and DTV Operators) has also established itself as one of the market leaders in its space. The product was launched timely to aid cable operators and others in the industry to comply with digitisation requirements

    The SaaS service model with little infrastructural costs and ease of use are some of the criteria that has made CAMS a success, but Nair believes, it is the comprehensive, high quality innovative nature of the product that defines it success especially as it also delivers quick RoI and results.

    Nair goes on to say: “Our commitment to delivering value for money with quality products and services supported by excellent customer services has helped us become a market leader in India and we are confident that we can replicate the same success in other emerging economies.”

    Aside from BATS, the company product portfolio also includes subscriber based management system (CAMS), a broadband billing system (BBS) and services that are aimed at optimising revenues and delivering efficiencies for all parts of the value chain in the media and entertainment industry.

    This Mumbai company with offices in London and Dubai has set its sight on making an impact in the global media industry by helping clients succeed in a complex and rapidly changing competitive landscape.