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Tag: Indian Broadcasting Foundation

  • Some channels yet to join IBF ad clampdown

    Some channels yet to join IBF ad clampdown

    MUMBAI: Is the Indian Broadcasting Foundation‘s (IBF) diktat ordering its members to take TV commercials off the air waves being adhered to the T? While TV commercials have done the vanishing act from a majority of channels and networks, some were still airing them, which include regional channels.

    Multi Screen Media (MSM), Star India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Times Television Network, Big CBS, ETV and the Viacom18 group are among the big daddies of the TV biz which are strictly following the clampdown.

    But networks such as Discovery and Turner International India still had TV commercials running between programming, even as recently as the evening of 2 May. As had other regional players in the south. These included: the Sun Group channels (Udaya and Gemini), Raj TV channels, Maa TV, Kasthuri TV V3 (Kannada), Makkal (Tamil), Janashree (Kannada), and KF (Kannada music channel).

    Why have these channels not joined in the TV commercial ban as the IBF seeks to force the AAAI to change the advertising billings system from gross to net?

    IBF secretary general Shailesh Shah told Indiantelevision.com that hardly one in twenty channels have not fallen in line. He said that even these will comply in a day or two should the impasse continue. “Channels being uplinked from overseas have also assured compliance,” he said. At the same time, he further stated, channels were free to carry ads of those agencies which agree to the net billing system.

    “It is our endeavour to always uphold the best practices and compliance standards of the industry. As members of the IBF we will comply with the stand taken by the federation,” explained Discovery South Asia senior VP and GM Rahul Johri. “Since Discovery‘s offerings are being uplinked from outside the country, we have been given more time to stop carrying ads and we should stop by 6 pm tomorrow.” He stated.

    RBNL CEO Tarun Katial confirmed that the Big CBS channels have toed the line. “We as an industry have to stand together,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Shah said that talks are on at various levels in Delhi and Mumbai with the agencies and office bearers of the AAAI to resolve the issue.

  • IBF plays hard ball; orders TV channels to take off ads from 1 May evening

    IBF plays hard ball; orders TV channels to take off ads from 1 May evening

    MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: From 6 pm evening on Labour Day, (1 May), the Indian Broadcasting Foundation’s (IBF) pulled the plug on all television advertising on its members channels. It sent out a missive to its members forcing them to stop airing any TV commercials. The only exception to this ban were Sony Six and Sony Max, the two channels which are airing the sixth edition of IPL.

    Already around late afternoon Star Plus and its channels had started carrying a ticker which read: “Ads are not running on this channel because advertising agencies have refused to accept revisions in billing methods which are seen as flawed by tax authorities. We regret any inconvenience but Star group is committed to doing business with the highest standards of compliance which reflects the true commercial arrangement between advertisers and broadcasters.”

    According to Star India CEO Uday Shankar, his network was carrying only ads of those agencies whose clients had agreed to work on net bills as of midnight 30 April.

    Among the brands, the ads of which were being aired on the Star network included: Navratna Oil, and Fogg Deo. Zee TV was carrying spots of Wasan Eye Care. Colors too had stoppped airing commercials. Sony also blacked out all advertising on its network though in the day it was as business as usual. Sab aired commercials of Lays, Breeze and VIP; Sony Entertainment Television – Breeze, VIP, Bournvita, LG, Clinic Plus, Airtel, Dell, Frooti, Whirlpool, Caprese, Odonil among others. Most of the broadcasters were using the ad inventory to promote shows on their network channels.

    Shankar reiterated that there was no truth that the black out of ads will last a few hours or just one day but in fact will continue till the issue is sorted.

    According to News Broadcasters Association (NBA) board member Anurradha Prasad, the black out of ads is being supported by the association too. “We need to get this issue resolved quickly. The income tax authorities have been sending us notices for tax which is not our responsibility. Hopefully, this black out will put an end to the net bill confusion, though channel losses (in the absence of advertising) could be substantial.”

    AAAI president Arvind Sharma in an SMS to our correspondent said that they were in discussions with IBF and ISA on the same. “We are hopeful that these will be concluded by the evening of 2 May.”

  • IBF advises broadcasters to stop carrying TV commercials on net billing issue

    IBF advises broadcasters to stop carrying TV commercials on net billing issue

    Mumbai/New Delhi: The spat between TV channels and advertising agencies on the net billings issue took a new turn today with the former‘s association, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), telling its members to stop airing any TV commercials from 1 May.

    At the time of writing, the response to the IBF missive was mixed with some broadcasters taking off commercials while others continued airing them.

    The advisory sent last evening said ‘it is in our best interest that broadcasters consider net billing transaction from 1 April to avoid further litigious and tax related issue. To further avoid complications, the release orders were received for you to stop facing the scrutiny from authority. You are best off not carrying work on your channel unless the release orders have been changed for the transacted rate.”

    A representative from a niche channel told indiantelevision.com that IBF‘s advisory is a word of caution and there is no clear cut statement saying that action will be taken against those who do not switch off the ads.

    “We cannot afford to lose revenue which bigger players like Star and Sony can. Also, it is the channel‘s decision whether it should air ads or not. We are going against the advisory of IBF and not the diktat of the body.”

    Also, ads being shown on channels are believed to have been released by agencies which are not the members of AAAI. The advertisements on channels carried during the Indian Premier League 6 (IPL) have also been exempted.

    IBF secretary general Shailesh Shah told indiantelevision.com that all member channels have been asked to take ads off the air.

    He said the stand-off will continue till the issue is resolved, adding that the television channels had given adequate warning to the advertising agencies.

    Star CEO Uday Shankar told indiantelevision.com that the non-airing of ads will continue till the issue is resolved. “We have been negotiating with the agencies for nearly two months now. But it has not worked.”

    Referring to his own group, he said ads of those media agencies which were okay with net billing were being carried.

    Both Shankar and Shah refused to give details of losses per day to the TV channels, but said the amounts were ‘huge’.

    The IBF had last month asked its members to send net bills to media agencies for television commercials carried on channels. These will replace the gross bills which used to be the norm. A month or so earlier, certain broadcasters received notices from the Income Tax Department on gross bills not having a deduction of TDS on 15 per cent agency commissions.

    The IBF then decided to move over to the net billing system from the first billing cycle of April, something which the AAAI opposed. The IBF then told its members to defer the dispatch for another week to allow the IBF, the AAAI and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) to hammer out a solution.

    “Broadcasters had last week started sending out net bills to agencies. AAAI had responded that its members would return the bills to broadcasters if they were not on a gross basis. It also said that joint representation should be made to government by the IBF and AAAI on resolving the issue. But the two could not come to terms on a common ground,” says a media observer. “Fearing that the impasse would continue, the IBF decided to take this extreme step.

    Gross billing is the value of the bill including the 15% agency commission; net billing is the value of the bill minus the commission.

  • TAM to release TV viewership data on Monday

    MUMBAI: After much drama and negotiations over the last few days, India will get its first television viewership data from the digital viewership with news being masked under the ‘Others‘ category. TAM Media Reseach, which had suspended the release of the data from 7 October, will unveil it on Monday morning.

    The agreement between the three industry bodies – Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of dvertisers (ISA) -was reached today morning.

    “TAM data will be released on Monday, 24 December around 10 am,” a TAM spokesperson said. “The data for news channels will be reported in Others category which includes religious and shopping channels.” The data will be for the week ended 41-50, 2012.

    The industry bodies could not reach an agreement on when release of data would resume for individual news channels. “We are still in discussions with the news channels and have not arrived at any consensus.

    As already reported, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has agreed that TAM resume reporting of viewership data from 9 January, including for individual news channels. For the period since 7 October, no individual news channel data be reported. However, other industry bodies are yet to give their consent to the proposal and no final decision has been made yet.

    Earlier on Friday, TAM had said in a statement on its website that, “At the request of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and in concurrence with the ISA, AAAI and IBF, data of news channels is being withheld. From week 41 of 2012, data for news channels for all markets will be aggregated with ‘Others’.”

    Accordingly, TAM was to release the later on Friday but decided it would first want to have “quick” consent letters from individual news channels (including members of NBA) stating their agreement with their channel’s viewing being clubbed into the category of ‘others’. Others category includes lesser viewed channels like religious channels and shopping channels.

    TAM had suspended ratings of all genres from 7 October after an agreement with AAAI, ISA and IBF. It was to release data for the nine-week period of suspension on 19 December, but was asked by the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to not resume reporting television ratings on the prodding of NBA.

    Also Read:

    NBA agrees to release of ratings data only from 9 January

    Why news broadcasters want TAM to defer ratings

    Govt pushes TAM to defer release of TV ratings data

  • Digitisation: Consensus eludes broadcasters and advertisers on suspension of ratings

    MUMBAI: Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) on Monday could not arrive at a consensus on the issue of suspension of television ratings from the four metros after the compulsory shift to digitisation from 1 November.

    The meeting between the three industry bodies and TAM Media Research dragged on for about four hours in the Zee office from the evening hours but no agreement could be thrashed out at the end as it involves commercial interests that tend to differ. The discussions centred around the pros and cons of suspension of TAM ratings that decide on advertising fortunes of television shows and channels.

    An industry source told Indiantelevision.com that the meeting was inconclusive but a decision on the issue would certainly be announced on Tuesday.

    Another source said the broadcasters are asking for eight weeks of non reporting of television viewership data by ratings agency TAM. Advertising bodies are not agreeable but both parties would on Tuesday come to a settlement on the period for non reporting of data. Another area of contention is whether TAM should monitor the data at all while non reporting the findings to the industry and media.

    “It looks like the advertising bodies are agreeable to non reporting of data. It is the period that is still being debated. A joint announcement will be made tomorrow,” the source added.

    The government has suggested to TAM to stop releasing television ratings from the four metros for a short period till the teething problems arising from the switchover to digital delivery of television channels from 1 November are resolved.

    The broadcasters are in agreement with the government suggestion but the advertisers and the advertising agencies have expressed reservations.

  • The ball is in the IBF court: AAAI prez Arvind Sharma

    MUMBAI: The ball is in the Indian Broadcasting Foundation‘s (IBF) court and the draft document (incorporating memorandum and articles of association) has been sent to them a while back, the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) president and Leo Burnett chairman and CEO of India subcontinent Arvind Sharma told Indiantelevision.com, while dismissing charges that the body was stalling the progress of BARC for setting up a new television ratings system that would be more transparent and representative of the country‘s socio-economic demographics and geographical spread.

    IBF president and Star India CEO Uday Shankar admitted the draft has reached the IBF. “But they have not signed it. The issue needs to be treated with more urgency,” he said.

    Shankar had earlier blamed the AAAI and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) for slowing down the progress of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

    Sharma said the need of the hour is to move forward and get BARC rolling. “I can understand Uday Shankar’s eagerness to progress on BARC and frustration on why it is taking so much time. But we have not signed because they have not responded,” he replied.

    The government is also pressing for speed and had earlier this year told Parliament that BARC would issue its first report by July 2013, an informal dateline that looks hard to meet. The three stakeholders, IBF, AAAI and ISA, have yet to make BARC operational after announcing in March their equity partnership in the entity. While IBF has 60 per cent stake in BARC, AAAI and ISA hold the balance 40 per cent.

    Nagesh Alai, Interface Communications director and the immediate past president of AAAI, believes that it is in everybody’s interest to move BARC forward.

    “It seems to be a misconception or a miscommunication or a misinterpretation. Whatever it is, the statement is rather unfortunate and unwarranted. AAAI (and its members ), as custodians of the clients’ monies and scientific allocators of these monies over various media, is as interested in a robust and transparent research and research design. We are keen to get it off the ground quickly, as is IBF. The drafts of the MOA and AOA of BARC, incorporating these agreements, had been exchanged with IBF and this is under discussion and process. AAAI has always believed in working in partnership with other industry bodies in mutuality of interest and good business practices and so will it be going forward. It will continue to work with IBF and ISA to get to a good place. Stalling BARC is in no one’s interest,” Alai remarked.

    The recent NDTV lawsuit in New York against TAM Media has also prompted the government to consider a probe into the alleged fudging charges after several complaints from broadcasters.

    NDTV has sought damages of $810 million as compensation for loss in revenues suffered over the years and $580 million for negligence by Nielsen and Kantar officials, the owners of TAM.

    Meanwhile, TAM India has preferred to maintain its silence. “We don‘t comment on any litigation,” is all that TAM’s spokesperson had stated when media reports broke out about NDTV’s lawsuit against TAM and parent company Nielsen. TAM is a joint venture of Nielsen, Kantar and Cavendish Square Holdings B.V.

  • NDTV lawsuit may trigger Govt action on BARC

    NEW DELHI: The petition filed by NDTV against TAM in New York may force the Government to speed up BARC‘s progress on revamping the television audience measurement system, particulary since the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has failed to do so.

    In fact, the Government had expressed its concern to IBF officials over a month earlier about the delay in moving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) forward so that the first audience survey report could come by July next year.

    In a meeting held at the initiative of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry a few weeks earlier, Additional Secretary Rajiv Takru had told IBF that the government may step in to ensure that the timeline is met.

    The IBF had taken cognizance of the Committee headed by former Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Amit Mitra on TRP ratings.

    The Committee had said though self-regulation is the best way forward for the broadcasting industry, it expressed “the fear that in case significant progress is not made within defined timelines, the Government may be left with no option but to step in, primarily because of the nature of public concerns that have been raised and debated across many platforms”.

    The IBF, the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) had late last year set up BARC, a nationwide audience research joint body. Its primary aim: not to exclude or work outside TAM but to model itself like BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) in the UK; it would not conduct audience measurement directly but commission it.

    Late last week, NDTV filed the lawsuit in New York seeking injunction against publication of television ratings by TAM Media Research. NDTV also sought $810 million as compensation for the loss in revenues it suffered over the years and $580 million in penalty for negligence by Nielsen and Kantar officials.

    Also read:

    NDTV sues TAM, Nielsen for manipulation of data

  • CAS: Government to revert to Delhi HC next week

    CAS: Government to revert to Delhi HC next week

    NEW DELHI: The government is likely to revert to the Delhi High Court with a status report on CAS’ rollout early next week even as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has raised several queries on addressability’s efficacy.

    “A senior official of the information and broadcasting ministry admitted that it has to go back to the court with a feedback on CAS, but said it’s timing is still not clear.

    “One month for us would be calculated from the day we received a certified copy of the court order. As on 10 March, a verbal order was passed,” the official said.
    Still, the official also added that the court would have to be apprised of
    the progress on CAS front and “it would be done.” With diverse signals emanating from the industry stakeholders, the government is slightly confused, the official said.

    However, the deluge of facts and figures relating to CAS and various time lines proposed by stakeholders also gives the government some breathing space.

    On 10 March, the Delhi High Court directed the government to implement CAS in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai within a month’s time. The judgment came on a petition filed by some MSOs, including INCablenet and Hathway.

    While a large section of the cable fraternity has been pushing for quick
    implementation of CAS, a section of broadcasters and consumer organisations want a certain comfort level before CAS is rolled out.

    IBF AGAINST PRICE CONTROL UNDER CAS

    Meanwhile, the IBF in a submission to the government has said that there should not be any price control in a CAS-enabled regime and the issue of piracy should be addressed as a priority.

    “Under the Trai (sector regulator) recommendations to government for CAS implementation, presented on 1 October, 2004, it was recommended that there should be no price control in addressable markets. In view of this, we believe that for CAS notified areas, there should be no price fixation,” the IBF letter states setting the cat amongst the pigeons (read the cable operators).

    The letter, a copy of which is available with Indiantelevision.com, drops broad hints that pay broadcasters would not give a la carte price for consumers — something that has been in demand for over a year now during confabulations on CAS.

    “Broadcasters are whole sellers to cable operators as the consumer price for cable TV is fixed by the operators,” IBF has said, adding all pending litigations and outstanding dues involving the cable industry must be resolved before CAS is rolled out.

    Hinting that the claims of MSOs and cable ops on availability of set-top boxes might be exaggerated, the IBF goes on to state that effective steps should be taken to ensure that in the notified areas, adequate number of boxes is available with MSOs and last mile operators to cater to the demand.

    “There should be no instance that consumers want to install STBs and
    MSOs/LCOs are unable to provide them. MSOs/LCOs would also need to ensure that there is proper coordination between them and their LCOs. The MSOs/LCOs should provide a detailed STB implementation plan,” the IBF letter says.

    The broadcasters have also urged the government to ban carriage fee, which is demanded by cable operators and also given by most major broadcasters whether free to air or pay.

    “The IBF members are of the view that the government should make sure that cable operators not demand carriage fee from the broadcasters… in view of the fact that they collect subscription revenue from the subscribers,” the letter states.

    Another point raised by the IBF is that since CAS is being mandated by the government, unlike in other countries where market forces bring about its rollout, other addressable systems like DTH, IPTV and broadband should also be similarly mandated to create “a level playing field” for those platforms.