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Tag: Markand Adhikari

  • SAB to extend its wings into digital; to produce an array of shows

    SAB to extend its wings into digital; to produce an array of shows

    MUMBAI: Known to be one of the pillars of Indian media, the Sri Adhikari Brothers (SAB) group founded by Gautam and Markand Adhikari, has plans to enter the digital space with a new initiative. The group will create original comedy content in Hindi catering to the digital masses. The various shows will be launched under Happii-Fi and will roll-out by June.

    Through this initiative, the company plans to have strategic tie-ups with various OTT platforms, OEM’s and telecos. “Happii-fi will create comedy content in Hindi for the masses unlike the rest who create content to match with the English elite sensibilities. There are several hundred million online active users who have come up, but there is no platform that completely caters to them. We have already started the productions”, informs Sab Group chief executive officer Manav Dhanda.

    As there are different output commitments for various platforms, the group has not decided on the specific number of videos that it intends to produce. The branded content will derive its revenue from the many advertisers on board, although the IP rights will remain with SAB Group.

    The platform will only stress on Hindi language and is primarily focused on HSM markets which consume 40 per cent of all online content.

    “There are too many platforms which are not required. A person can only hold access to 3 or 4 platforms on a smart-phone. Creating one more would not solve anything. Hence, we decided on producing content which the audience can relate to”, adds Dhanda.

    The group has already produced a digital comedy show titled Gharbar which features Shakti Kapoor, Neelu Kohli, Rishab Chadda, Rakesh Shrivastav and Vaishali Thakkar. The show has been conceptualized by Dhanda and is directed by Sagar Bellary of the Bheja fry fame. It depicts a twisted take on the modern Indian family and their adventures when they decide to bring in a bar into their home. The series features Shakti Kapoor as Sharmaji the most seedha (staright forward) man ever.
    Promising a very unique doze of humor like never before, the series portrays BAR as a lead protagonist.

    Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd. (SABTNL) has been producing multi-lingual, multi-genre content and already has an established regional presence in various Indian languages including Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada amongst others.

    The group not only has a fair amount of experience in the production of content, but also in the broadcasting sector by creating a light humour centric television brand, SAB TV. With many firsts in its hat, it will be interesting to see how far this initiative takes the SAB group.

     

  • Sri Adhikari Brothers re-aligns its TV business

    Sri Adhikari Brothers re-aligns its TV business

    MUMBAI: Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network (SABTNL), a production and distribution company has announced the demerger of its broadcasting and publication units into two separate listed entities.

    The plan to re-align the business was discussed in the meeting of the board of directors held on 28 August. With this, the company aims to unlock value in broadcasting allied business, create greater financing flexibility and offer investors an opportunity to benefit from sector-focused business entities.

    The company’s broadcasting business is currently spread in a string of firms under TV Vision, a wholly owned subsidiary of SABTNL. These subsidiaries include UBJ Broadcasting, HHP Broadcasting Services and MPCR Broadcasting Services. Under the new plan, these units will be consolidated into TV Vision, which would de-merge from its parent company and become a listed entity itself.

    The  board has also  approved  consolidating the  publication  business  of the  group  under Marvick  Entertainment which will also be later changed to a public company, thereby providing  further liquidity  to the shareholders by adding a listed entity under the group.

    The revised group structure would be as under:

    Commenting on the proposal made by the management to the board, SABTNL vice chairman and MD Markand Adhikari said, “In the last few years, the company has strengthened its content business and ventured into broadcasting business by launching niche category TV channels and also forayed into allied business in the publication and event management, with focus on niche segment of the society. Foreseeing the change business would undergo with penetration of internet and government plans to unleash remote connectivity through digital platform, the company believes that it is the right time to venture into new age technology and create a level playing field in its business segments.”

    “In order to unlock more value for the shareholders, the management had proposed to independently govern  and  build  these  businesses,  while retaining  the  character  as a pure content and  IP  and  production  company   and  focusing  on  creation   and  development   of infrastructure to strengthen the traditional business  and venture  into new age media and entertainment field,” he added.

    The restructuring process will result in creation of two more listed entities in which, the existing shareholders would become shareholders in the same proportion to their holding as in SABTNL.

    “The shareholders would receive one fully paid-up equity share of Rs 10 each of the broadcasting business and three fully paid-up equity shares of publication business as well, for every fully paid-up equity share of Rs 10 each held in the company and 10,000 redeemable preference shares of Rs 10 each of the TV Vision to the preference shareholders of the company on a proportionate basis,” said a statement released by the company.

    Additionally, the company would also issue 2,381,068 redeemable preference shares of Rs 10 each fully paid-up of the company to the equity shareholders of SAB Assets (which houses the publication unit) on a proportionate basis pursuant to the transfer of the publication business of SAB Assets, based on the net worth of SAB Assets as on 31 March 2014 and supported by a report from an independent value.

    Founded in 1995, SABTNL has been producing multi-lingual and multi-genre content. It already has an established regional presence in various Indian languages including Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

    Shares of the company last traded at Rs 120.75 each, up 1.30 per cent on BSE on Thursday. The market was closed on Friday.

  • SAB forays into Marathi entertainment with Maiboli

    SAB forays into Marathi entertainment with Maiboli

    Markand Adhikari hopes to replicate the success of his music channel Mastiii

    MUMBAI: Marathi speaking audiences are set to witness a laughter riot on their TV screens. Maiboli is all set to have a silent launch on 8 August. The channel, a product of the SAB group will have a program mix of comedy and music for the Marathi viewing audience. The tagline of the channel is Aapli Aaplya Mansaanchi.

    “Marathi manoos has a very good sense of humour and there is a lot of talent,” says SAB Group vice-chairman and MD Markand Adhikari, speaking about the unusual mix of genres.

    As of now the channel will only be available on cable TV, beamed off Insat 4A, which will reach to the one million plus population towns of Maharashtra such as Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and one third of Mumbai.

    The comedy will comprise gags ranging from office, contemporary, marital, governance-related that will be in the form of three to five minute skits and interspersed will be Marathi songs. Known faces from the Marathi comedy genre such as Sunil Tawde, Anshuman Vichare, Pradip Patwardhan, Santosh Pawar will be seen on screen. The plan is to first telecast the latest Marathi songs and slowly move on to classics. Interviews of known Marathi actors from film and theatre will fill some of the weekend slots apart from comedy shows.

    The channel will have a program mix of comedy and music for the Marathi viewing audience

    Based on an internal study that the channel had conducted, the FPC has been drawn up in such a way that programs cater to the moods of viewers, depending on the time of the day. The early morning slot has Bhakticha-Thheva with devotional songs, mid-morning has romantic songs under Priteechi Jhul Jhul Gaani; the afternoon slot is dedicated to fast-paced songs with the program Mast madmast while the channel will telecast soothing and calming music at night under Sur Tech Chhedita and Chandne Shimpit Jashi.

    The channel will cater to all age groups, says Anita Varma

    Although, Adhikari says his target viewer is anyone above four years, programming head Anita Varma highlights that there isn’t any specific slot for children but the music will surely appeal to them. “We have humour for everyone and the channel will be liked by all,” says Varma.

    Initial reports were that Maiboli was to be launched last December, but Adhikari rubbishes any hints of there being any delay, saying that the group only started work on the channel six months ago.

    Close to 10 hours of programming is being produced in-house at the SAB studio. Channel promotions are to begin a month after launch. Test runs are currently being conducted.

    Advertisers will be approached after the channel comes on air and even the website will be functional post 8 August.

    “We are trying to replicate the success of Mastiii,” says Adhikari. The Hindi music channel was launched by the same group in 2010. And it has gone on to carve a smart niche for itself amongst viewers.Will Maiboli do the trick too?

  • Fake sting: Live India banned for one month

    NEW DELHI: The Live India Channel which telecast the fake sting leading to a law and order problem and arrest of a Delhi school teacher, has now been banned for one month with immediate effect.

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry today issued order for prohibiting the transmission/re-transmission of the satellite channel (which until early August was known as Janmat) on all platforms throughout the country.

    The ban has been imposed in terms of the Sub-Section (2) of Section 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. The Act is clear that ‘no person shall transmit or re-transmit through a cable service any programme unless such programme is in conformity with the prescribed programme code’.

    Section 20 (2) of the Act says the government may regulate or prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of any channel or programme ‘Where the Central Government thinks it necessary or expedient so to do in the interest of the (i) sovereignty or integrity of India; or (ii) security of India; or (iii) friendly relations of India with any foreign State; or (iv) public order, decency or morality.

    Earlier, the Ministry had issued a showcause notice on 11 September asking the channel to respond within three days.

    The order issued today, effective till 20 October says: “It had come to the notice of the Central Government that some Cable Operators in the country through their Cable Television Networks had been transmitting/re-transmitting the satellite channel namely ‘Janmat’ (assumed name Live India), which telecast an admittedly doctored sting operation on Smt. Uma Khurana, teacher, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Darya Ganj, Delhi.”

    The order further noted that the telecast of the sting operation was “defamatory, deliberate, false and contained suggestive innuendos and half-truths; incited violence and contained content against maintenance of law and order. It criticized, maligned and slandered an individual in person and it denigrated children and was irresponsibly aired by the channel without exercise of due diligence in preliminary verification of the facts of the case.”

    The channel’s reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh are already in police custody. It is also learnt that some women’s organizations have filed a complaint asking the Ministry to cancel the broadcasting licence of the channel.

    Interestingly, the incident has come out at a time when there is growing confrontation between the Ministry and news broadcasters on the need or relevance of an imposed Content Code.

    The school teacher Uma Khurana has been granted bail in the fake sting which showed her using her own students for prostitution. Businessman Virendra Arora who wanted to recover some money reportedly owed to him by Uma is reported to have hatched the conspiracy using Prakash.

    Live India is the new name of Janmat channel, promoted by Broadcast Initiatives Ltd of Markand Adhikari. Janmat was a predominantly “views channel” earlier till it re-launched itself in the form of Live India, a 24×7 news channel, on 3 August.

  • Star takes up ad sales of Hindi news channel Live India

    MUMBAI: In its first ever advertising deal outside the network, Star India has inked a deal with Broadcast Initiatives Limited for its Hindi news channel Live India.

    Star will handle the ad sales of Live India, nationally and globally, with immediate effect. Live India plans to venture into international markets including the US, UK and Dubai.

    The announcement comes close on the heels of the re-positioning of Live India from a ‘views’ to a news channel with live content. The channel was previously known as Janmat.

    Broadcast Initiatives Limited vice chairman and managing director Markand Adhikari said that the company is soon looking to foray into International markets including US, UK and Dubai. Apart from India, Star’s ad sales teams across the globe will be fully functional in this regard.

    With a distribution platform already in place, the Star network is looking to adopt an integrated broadcast services approach through its first ad sales deal outside the network. 

    Star India Pvt. Ltd president – advertising sales and distribution Paritosh Joshi said, “This is the first time Star India has offered its advertising sales capabilities to a channel outside the Star Network. This is a major milestone for this division. It is our intent to quickly evolve into the region’s top integrated broadcast services organization and this deal underscores the seriousness of this intent.”

    Adhikari added, “This is a critical partnership for us and we consider it a significant asset to securing a strong advertising revenue base for our Live India.”

    For the Marathi channel Mi Marathi, Adhikari has assigned NDTV Media to handle the ad sales functions.

  • NDTV Media appointed airtime sales rep for Mi Marathi

    NDTV Media appointed airtime sales rep for Mi Marathi

    MUMBAI: NDTV Media has been appointed as the exclusive airtime sales representative for the soon-to-be-launched Marathi channel, “Mi Marathi” from the Adhikari stable. It will be responsible for all revenue generating efforts for the channel.

    “This venture is the first step towards our entry into the regional space. With more and more niche and special interest channels taking market share, regional markets will witness an exponential growth. We believe that with the majority of the population speaking Marathi, the size of the Marathi regional market advertising pie will cross the Rs 120-crore mark by the year end. We are delighted and proud to be associated with Mi Marathi channel”, said NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak.

    Markand Adhikari in an earlier interview to Indiantelevision.com had revealed that the channel which has been in the docks for a while would be launched in February.

    The baseline of MI MARATHI is “Aaplya Manasachi Aapli Vahini”, a channel by the Son of the Soil. Sri Adhikari Brothers have in the last 20 years, produced more than 2000 hours of Marathi programming for DD Sahyadri and Doordarshan’s national network.

  • Sri Adhikari Brothers plans to raise up to $15 million

    Sri Adhikari Brothers plans to raise up to $15 million

    MUMBAI: Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd. (SABTNL) is planning to raise up to $15 million. The board has been authorised to offer, issue and allot, in a single or more tranches, through a domestic public issue or a private placement, equity shares of nominal value of Rs 2 each or equity shares underlying securities in the form of GDRs (global depository receipts), ADRs (American depository receipts), or FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds).

    “We have plans to set up a studio in Mumbai. We will be finalising that within a month,” says SABTNL vice-chairman and managing director Markand Adhikari.

    The board has given authority to borrow the aggregate paid up capital and reserve of the company from time to time, not exceeding Rs 1 billion.

    SABTN Ltd has also approved the increase of its authorised capital from Rs 150 million to Rs 200 million through the creation of 25 million equity shares of Rs 2 each.
    The board has approved the declaration of dividend at the rate of six per cent (Re 0.12 per share) on equity shares of Rs 2 each.