Tag: Mastii

  • DistroTV joins the league of elite platforms on Tata Play Binge

    DistroTV joins the league of elite platforms on Tata Play Binge

    Mumbai: Tata Play Binge adds it’s 31 OTT platform with DistroTV, an independent, ad-supported streaming TV platform, to its offering. Featuring over 200 live and linear channels, the platform connects people’s passion points across entertainment, lifestyle, sports, news, business, documentaries, and international content. With a wide array of channels to choose from, DistroTV has something for everyone.

    The integration of DistroTV’s channels into Tata Play’s Binge platform is expected to enhance the viewing experience for Tata Play’s Binge subscribers, offering them additional choices in entertainment and news content. DistroTV features a curated, multicultural collection of 200 premium streaming channels. Viewers can access regular programming including an extensive repository of news, lifestyle, entertainment, fashion, and sports content through exclusive broadcasts on DistroTV. Be it niche sports content as available on Court Sports Network and Billiards TV, specialized pursuits like TED, Goalcast, Gusto TV, GQ, Bon Appetit and much more, the platform also caters to other specific tastes and appetites of the audience. For Indian content aficionados, DistroTV also offers popular genres like Bollywood, Music, Food, Business, Devotional and News through channels like Shemaroo Network, YRF Music, 9XM, Mastii, News 18 Channels, ABP Network, TV9 Network and more.

    Commenting on the new partnership, Tata Play’s chief commercial and content officer, Pallavi Puri, said, “We are thrilled to embark on this content partnership journey with DistroTV. Now with just 1 Tata Play Binge subscription, our customers can access DistroTV’s impressive and diverse range of 200+ Indian and International channels and over 30 OTT apps, across languages and genres, across smartphones, CTVs, and online.”

    “We are delighted to partner with Tata Play Binge, a renowned name in India’s digital entertainment landscape,” said Navdeep Saini, co-founder and CEO of DistroScale, the parent company of DistroTV. “This partnership is a significant milestone in our journey to expand our global presence. Bringing our array of free, live streaming channels to Tata Play’s Binge platform is a step forward in our mission to deliver diverse and dynamic content to audiences worldwide.”

    DistroScale APAC head Vikas Khanchandani commented on the partnership, “Our collaboration with Tata Play Binge represents a strategic alignment of our vision to democratize content and make it universally accessible. We are thrilled to bring DistroTV’s rich and varied content to Tata Play Binge’s audience, furthering our commitment to delivering exceptional viewing experiences across India.”

    DistroTV will join other popular OTT platforms on Tata Play Binge like Disney+ Hotstar, Apple TV+, ZEE5, Fuse+, Hallmark, MX Player, Lionsgate Play, Aha, VROTT, STAGE, Sun NXT, Animax, PTC Play, ReelDrama, Chaupal, Namma Flix, Planet Marathi, manoramaMAX, iStream, Tarang Plus, Hungama Play, FanCode, ShemarooMe, Curiosity Stream, EPIC ON, Travelxp, DocuBay, ShortsTV, Playflix, KliKK along with Gaming. Content from these platforms is available to the viewers of Tata Play Binge through a single subscription and a single user interface. Additionally, Netflix can be availed as a combo pack with DTH channels for all Tata Play DTH subscribers, whereas Amazon Prime Video content can be accessed as an add-on by all Tata Play Binge subscribers, who also have a DTH connection. Viewers can enjoy all 30+ apps on large-screen connected devices through LG, Samsung and Android smart TVs, through the Tata Play Binge+ Android set-top box, Tata Play edition of the Amazon FireTV Stick and www.TataplayBinge.com.

  • Delhi HC dismisses 9X Media, B4U Broadband, TV Vision petition challenging DD Free Dish e-auction

    Delhi HC dismisses 9X Media, B4U Broadband, TV Vision petition challenging DD Free Dish e-auction

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed the petition filed by 9X Media, B4U and MASTiii against the DD Free Dish e-auction. Within a few days of the e-auction recommencement notice, the broadcasters approached the court as they felt the base prices are very high for small players.

    Senior lawyer Amit Sibal appearing for the petitioner 9XM argued that the music channels were free to air channels and they were not collecting any subscription amount. Hence, those channels could not be classified in the same bucket as general entertainment channels (GECs), and other channels.

    The revised guidelines of DD Free Dish auction says that differential pricing for genre (language) will be based on principle of higher reserve price for genre (language) with greater commercial potential. Sibal argued that the guiding norm has not been followed as the music channels have been placed in the same bucket as sports and GECs. He contended that the commercial potential of sports channels is greater than music channels.

    Sibal also argued that the commercial potential of music channels was much lower than news channels and yet the reserve price for news channels has been fixed at Rs 7 crore and music channels have been fixed at Rs 10 crore. He also referred to the financial statement of the petitioners to contend that they were loss making while the news channels were making profits.

    Earlier 9X Media mentioned in the petition that it is a loss-making entity with losses of Rs 7.81 crore and negative earnings per share and such a decision could adversely impact its business. Rajeev Sharma on behalf of Prasar Bharati pointed out the total revenue of 9XM for the financial year 2018 was around Rs 146.12 crore including Rs 138.71 crore as revenue from operations. He submitted that the reserve price of a slot was a very small fraction of the revenue. Sharma also added that the petitioners were already paying Rs 8 crore and the reserve price was only 25 per cent more than the existing price.

    Talking note of the argument, Justice Vibhu Bakhru said that the court does not agree to the argument that the reserve price fixed there under would amount to disabling an entrepreneur from carrying on the business of broadcasting a music channel. He also added that DD Free Dish is not the only platform to air the channels.

    Justice Bakhru also asserted that it will not be appropriate to enter into a controversy as to the assessment of the commercial potential of various genres or channels. The court also added that the question of fixing a reserve price is a matter of commercial discretion of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

    “Prasar Bharti’s commercial decision to fix the prices is not amenable to judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, unless it is established that the same is so arbitrary or so unreasonable that no reasonable person could possibly take such a decision,” the judgement also said.

    Justice Bakhru also found Sibal’s contention that that petitioners are not challenging the policy but the implementation is unpersuasive as the petitioners are seeking to challenge the fixation of reserve price which itself is a matter of policy.

    The new policy guidelines has kept five buckets for e-auction of MPEG2 slots. Bucket A+ has been kept for Hindi GECs and teleshopping channels with a reserve price of Rs 15 crore, and Bucket A has been dedicated to Hindi movie channels with a reserve price of Rs 12 crore.

    Hindi music, sports, and Bhojpuri GEC and movie come under Bucket B which has a reserve price of Rs 10 crore. All news & current affairs (Hindi), news & current affairs (English) and news & current affairs (Punjabi) channels fall under the category of Bucket C which with a reserve price of Rs 7 crore. The Bucket D with lowest reserve price of Rs 6 crore will comprise of all other remaining genres/language channels.

  • The era of regional music dawns in India

    The era of regional music dawns in India

    MUMBAI: From Guru Randhawa dominating music charts or DJs belting out Zingaat , one thing’s for sure – the wave of regional music has well and truly arrived in India. No wonder, making headway into the Indian regional market seems to be every broadcasters latest target.

    The overall music genre on Indian television has been an under-indexed genre (in terms of advertising revenues) for a very long time. The genre commands a mere three to four per cent of the total TV advertising revenue against a six to seven per cent it contributes to the total TV viewership impressions. While ITV network recently launched a Punjabi music channel, the regional music space in general is yet to pick up pace in terms of its business.

    Times Music COO Mandar Thakur says the regional space is massive and growing, attributing 20-23 per cent odd share to it. He adds that audiences prefer Punjabi, Telegu, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Oriya music. “Some languages are developing like Marathi etc.,” he said.

    Commenting on the same, Travelxp CEO Prashant Chothani, who has Bengali, Bhojpuri and Marathi music channels under his company’s umbrella, says “South music channels are also strong, wherein if you see in North, Bengali and Marathi languages are very prominent. As you know, we have a Bhojpuri music channel as well, so the Bhojpuri audience is scattered everywhere like in Mumbai, Punjab, Gujarat and all over India.”

    According to the media reports, Network18, COO, Avinash Kaul said that regional is dominating the entire space. “We have around 270 regional channels out of 500 channels overall in BARC. The regional viewership is higher than the Hindi viewership and has a market share of 47 per cent. General entertainment channels (GEC) being the biggest attraction, regional GECs have 30 per cent more viewership than Hindi GECs. If we take a look at the advertisers, the regional market has seen an increase of 20 per cent in the last two years and around 3500 advertisers are exclusive to the regional market.”

    When it comes to the preference of Indian audiences towards regional music over Hindi music channels, choices and topicality matter a great deal.

    Chothani feels one cannot compare two markets. He says, “If you look at Bengali and ask whether or not Bengali music channel is doing well in comparison to GEC, the answer is yes. Is the Marathi music channel doing well in comparison to Marathi gec? The answer is yes.”
    According to him if the regional and film industry is active, the local culture will be intact.

    He further adds, “For example, there is no Guajarati music channel, we know that it took time to start, it has just been a while that it started to make movies, but there are no known singers in Guajarati market. Moreover, audiences have a mindset; they consume more of Hindi music rather than Gujarati music, whereas in other regional markets such as Bengali, they want to consume content of their language, so in HSM market there are 3-4 languages where there is an affinity that I want to consume content of my language in preference to Hindi.”  

    Given the influence of digital platforms these days, Thakur says everything works on a smart phone and competes with it. “It’s about the future of music TV v/s Internet / mobile streaming of video: not about regional channels v/s the smart phone”.

    Chothani feels linear TV is where you push your content to the consumers, whereas OTT is a place where audience will pull content. “A consumer goes to the app and finds the content, but how does he come to know about it? You will see traction on digital once you have consumed that content on television. If you go by BARC data, linear tv content consumption is also increasing. If both OTT and TV consumption is growing, it is good for the business,” he says

    Talking about the sustainability of the music genre, Sri Adhikari Brothers (SAB) group CEO Manav Dhanda, who has ‘Mailboli’, a Marathi music channel under his company’s umbrella, has said in the past that his regional channels are growing at 18-19 per cent and HSM is growing at about 14-15 per cent. “I don’t see sustainability to be a problem in the genre. It is about being a serious player. Rather, this is a low entry and high yield genre.”

    The regional music industry has been under-indexed in terms of advertising revenues.
    “The 10-sec ad rate falls in the range of Rs 100 to 1000 Rs. It depends on the popularity of channel. Regional music channel is actually very under priced, if you look at advertising rates, they are severely under priced,” a media expert informs us.

    The regional music space does seem to have a wide scope for growth. But, considering the influence of digital platforms these days, it would be interesting to observe how music channels in general will compete in a tricky market place. 

    Also Read:

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    ‘Bigg Boss’ holds appeal across languages: Viacom18’s Ravish Kumar

    Will launch two OTTs before end of this year: Discovery India’s Karan Bajaj

  • Mastiii receives stupendous response for #BanoDheet campaign

    Mastiii receives stupendous response for #BanoDheet campaign

    MUMBAI: Mastiii has created a huge impact with its awareness initiative #BanoDheet. In a span of twenty four hours of launching the digital leg of campaign, #Banodheet was trending at #1 and received a stupendous response leading to a whopping 1.4 crore impressions with several thousand tweets to its credit.

    The multimedia campaign targeted at creating awareness and a sense of positive stubbornness amongst the youth of India and in its own way contributed to help the youth take ownership of their actions towards the society as the first step in building a better India.

    “We feel a sense of pride in talking about the reach of the campaign that has garnered a huge response not only on Twitter where we were trending at the # 1 spot throughout India but also the large reach achieved through other media’s that were used. We highly appreciate the media partners who have associated with us in our efforts to achieve our objective with our campaign #BanoDheet and hope to make a small change through our efforts,” said SAB Group group CEO Manav Dhanda.

    The campaign was featured across numerous platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TV, outdoor, print media and radio addressing masses to take a stand against social evils that plague our society such as: Drinking and Driving, Eve Teasing, Corruption and Littering to name a few.

    The reach of the campaign was amplified tremendously with media partners – DNA, Dainik Savera, RED FM, Minimax and Corel, Vyoma and Spykar.

    Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan said, “We at Red FM have always been cognizant of relevant issues and problems that plague the society and take pride in partnering with SAB Group for ‘#BanoDheet’ campaign which is based on a simple yet so impactful concept and we are confident it will go a long way in bringing about a positive change in the society. The timing for this initiative is absolutely perfect as New Years is that time of the year when people actively retrospect their lives and impact of their action over the course of last year and make resolutions to improve the coming year. Our Radio Jock at the station is excited about driving this initiative for a great cause.

    RJ Rishi added, “Through this initiative Red FM aims to put forward in a quirky style on how ‘Being Dheet’ can be a catalyst in driving change in people’s personal lives as well as society. I am very excited to engage with the listeners & viewers for such a relevant cause in true ‘Bajaate raho’ style and I pledge to make all our listeners ‘dheet’ and contribute in establishing a mark with this initiative.”

  • Mastiii receives stupendous response for #BanoDheet campaign

    Mastiii receives stupendous response for #BanoDheet campaign

    MUMBAI: Mastiii has created a huge impact with its awareness initiative #BanoDheet. In a span of twenty four hours of launching the digital leg of campaign, #Banodheet was trending at #1 and received a stupendous response leading to a whopping 1.4 crore impressions with several thousand tweets to its credit.

    The multimedia campaign targeted at creating awareness and a sense of positive stubbornness amongst the youth of India and in its own way contributed to help the youth take ownership of their actions towards the society as the first step in building a better India.

    “We feel a sense of pride in talking about the reach of the campaign that has garnered a huge response not only on Twitter where we were trending at the # 1 spot throughout India but also the large reach achieved through other media’s that were used. We highly appreciate the media partners who have associated with us in our efforts to achieve our objective with our campaign #BanoDheet and hope to make a small change through our efforts,” said SAB Group group CEO Manav Dhanda.

    The campaign was featured across numerous platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TV, outdoor, print media and radio addressing masses to take a stand against social evils that plague our society such as: Drinking and Driving, Eve Teasing, Corruption and Littering to name a few.

    The reach of the campaign was amplified tremendously with media partners – DNA, Dainik Savera, RED FM, Minimax and Corel, Vyoma and Spykar.

    Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan said, “We at Red FM have always been cognizant of relevant issues and problems that plague the society and take pride in partnering with SAB Group for ‘#BanoDheet’ campaign which is based on a simple yet so impactful concept and we are confident it will go a long way in bringing about a positive change in the society. The timing for this initiative is absolutely perfect as New Years is that time of the year when people actively retrospect their lives and impact of their action over the course of last year and make resolutions to improve the coming year. Our Radio Jock at the station is excited about driving this initiative for a great cause.

    RJ Rishi added, “Through this initiative Red FM aims to put forward in a quirky style on how ‘Being Dheet’ can be a catalyst in driving change in people’s personal lives as well as society. I am very excited to engage with the listeners & viewers for such a relevant cause in true ‘Bajaate raho’ style and I pledge to make all our listeners ‘dheet’ and contribute in establishing a mark with this initiative.”

  • BARC week 41: Star Sports 1, Nick, Mastii, Discovery Channel, MTV top their genres

    BARC week 41: Star Sports 1, Nick, Mastii, Discovery Channel, MTV top their genres

    MUMBAI: According to the BARC data on All India (U+R) basis, Star Sports 1 became number one in the sports genre, while Nick continues to lead the kids genre. On the other hand, MTV led the youth genre, while Mastii bagged the first position in the music genre and Discovery Channel came out top in the infotainment genre in week 41.

     

    SPORTS

    In the sports genre, Star Sports 1 led the pack with 162592 (000Sums) followed by Star Sports 3 in second slot with 154779 (000Sums) and Ten Sports on third spot with 98566 (000Sums). In the fourth slot Star Sports 2 scored 22473 (000Sums), whereas Sony Six with 19590 (000Sums) was on fifth berth.  

     

    KIDS

    In the Kids genre, Nick continues to lead with 97227 (000Sums) followed by Pogo TV in second spot with 89903 (000Sums) and Cartoon Network with 79384 (000Sums) in the third place. Disney Channel with with 49298 (000Sums) and Hungama with 45675 (000Sums) held the fourth and fifth respectively.

     

    YOUTH

    MTV led the pack in the youth genre with 14219 (000Sums) followed by Zing on second with 10274 (000Sums) and Bindass on third 9645 (000Sums). Zoom secured fourth place with 6698 (000Sums), whereas Channel V was at fifth place with 4383 (000Sums).

     

    MUSIC

    In the music genre, Mastii captured the numero uno position with 113588 (000Sums) followed by B4U with 96364 (000Sums) and 9XM with 78800 (000Sums). 9X Jalwa grabbed fourth slot with 46876 (000Sums), whereas Sony MIX with 38591(000Sums) was in the fifth place.

     

    INFOTAINMENT

    Discovery Channel garnered first place with 6433 (000Sums) followed by National Geographic Channel in the second spot with 4138 (000Sums) and Animal Planet with 3326 (000Sums) in the third slot. History TV 18 secured the fourth spot with 3128 (000Sums) and Nat Geo Wild was on the fifth berth with 1382 (000Sums) respectively.