ITV

Tag: Media Distribution

  • TDSAT directs MSM Media Distribution to restore signals to Shiv Cable

    TDSAT directs MSM Media Distribution to restore signals to Shiv Cable

    NEW DELHI: MSM Media Distribution Pvt Ltd has been asked to restore the signals to Shiv Cable Network on payment of Rs 2 lakh on an account basis. 

     

    Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT) listed the case for 23 November and said in its order that the parties will make reconciliation of their accounts in order to ascertain the exact dues of the respondent. The reconciliation of accounts must be completed by 30 October.

     

    The petition by Shiv Cable was filed following the disconnection of supply of signals by the respondent for non-payment of its dues. In the disconnection notice, the dues are shown in the sum of Rs 3.17 lakh. Kunal Tandon on behalf of MSM says the aforesaid amounts are the dues up to 15 September. 

     

    The Tribunal noted that there appears some dispute with regards to the exact dues of the respondent.  

     

    The Tribunal also asked the petitioner to make payment for the month of October 2015 after discounting the period during which the supply of signals was discontinued.

  • Where Advertising Can’t, Content Can: Vinit Karnik National Director, Sports and Live Events of GroupM ESP

    Where Advertising Can’t, Content Can: Vinit Karnik National Director, Sports and Live Events of GroupM ESP

    Marketers for brands, consumer products, retail chains, media and entertainment are struggling to redefine and reinvent “advertising” for a new generation of empowered consumers.

    Media proliferation and fragmentation is making it harder to reach consumers with traditional formats of “interruption” advertising. New technologies, media platforms and consumer behaviors are affecting every aspect of traditional marketing and thereby dramatically impacting marketing effectiveness.

    There is a strong need to create “engagement” advertising models with digital at the core which will facilitate more sophisticated, powerful and profitable connections between brands, content creators and their target audiences….

    There is a strong need to create “engagement” advertising models with digital at the core which will facilitate more sophisticated, powerful and profitable connections between brands, content creators and their target audiences.

    Internationally, the content-commerce partnership evolution is gathering momentum. Brand entertainment partnerships are changing the rules of developing creative campaigns, marketing and advertising planning and production.

    In response to these challenges, GroupM India launched GroupM ESP to help brands harness the power of content based solutions by activating the power of movies, music, sports, live, celebrities and characters.

    GroupM ESP specialises in evaluating, negotiating, developing, activating and measuring strategic content platforms and partnerships around movies, music, sports, celebrities and characters. Uniquely positioned at the intersection of the media and the sports and entertainment industries, the ESP teams focus on developing innovative content strategies and solutions with a digital core that embed advertiser’s brands in consumer passion points using multimedia leverage and multifaceted partnerships.

    GroupM ESP also works closely as a high end consultant with clients and rights owners to help create and own multi-media content assets of long term value and their exploitation through media distribution, marketing, licensing and retailing to build deeper and more valuable connections with consumers.

    The Indian entertainment and sports market, the largest in the world by size, offers advertisers and their brands, unique and multiple passion points to reach and engage target audiences with profitable and proven content solutions, embracing all the learnings from traditional media and advertising. New technologies and new channels incorporating licensing need to be harnessed creatively using insights with marketing ROI rigorously quantified.

    The Indian entertainment and sports market, the largest in the world by size, offers advertisers and their brands, unique and multiple passion points to reach and engage target audiences…

    The GroupM ESP content team comprises more than 50+ specialists (the largest for any advertising or media agency in India) has been providing end-to-end solutions for over a decade now. Known for its transparent dealings, easy and preferred access to content and talent (International, National and Regional), GroupM ESP is also able to seamlessly deliver the benefits of parent GroupM media volumes, relationships and specialist units backed by robust systems and processes. All this has been recognised through more than 50 awards at various industry and company platforms.

    Through its high profile alliances and partnerships with content creators, rights owners and talent across every domain and geography, the GroupM ESP team is able to offer expanded capacity and capability to handle complex projects smoothly.

    As we move from a decade of “Airing” to “Sharing”, digital needs to be at the core of any marketing program and the GroupM ESP team is adequately equipped to impart a strong digital dimension in all its projects. An in-house ESP digital team backed by the parent GroupM resources ensures that solutions are digitally centered and executed.

    More than 100 advertisers in India have benefited from their association with GroupM ESP.

  • DAS Phase II: Indiacast-Hathway- GTPL slugfest on DAS deals

    DAS Phase II: Indiacast-Hathway- GTPL slugfest on DAS deals

    MUMBAI: A war of sorts has broken out between India‘s second largest content aggregator IndiaCast Media Distribution and Hathway Cable and Datacom, the country‘s biggest Multi System Operator (MSO) and its affiliate GTPL, Gujarat‘s largest MSO with footprints in other states too.

    This is happening at a time when the entire broadcast and cable TV industry and government have been grappling with how to deal with the Phase II digitisation (DAS) of India‘s cable TV. And it clearly reveals how much more needs to be done to make the government‘s agenda to professionalise and spruce up India‘s cable TV sector a reality. (MIB wants MSOs-b‘casters to sign DAS agreements within 15 days )

    Now on to the problem between IndiaCasat and GTPL and Hathway. Both Hathway and GTPL have switched off IndiaCast channels in multiple markets across India including Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh as the latter is demanding a reduction in carriage fee and growth in subscription fee.

    IndiaCast distributes 35 channels from the TV18, Viacom18, Disney UTV and A+E Networks spanning across Hindi general entertainment, news, kids, youth and regional genre.

    Hathway, on the other hand, has cable operations that straddle across key Indian geographies and offers cable television services across 140 cities and towns.

    However, Hathway and GTPL feel IndiaCast‘s demand is unjustified. Their contention is that the time is not ripe for a carriage fee reduction or an increase in subscription fee payouts as they have hardly started collecting money from the ground.

    IndiaCast though feels that its demand is justified as the analog cable TV networks around the country are being digitised in a phased manner which will lead to broadcasters getting their fair share of subscription revenue due to transparency in subscriber base of LCOs.

    The content aggregator alleges that both Hathway and GTPL want to maintain status quo by doing deals similar to that in the analogue era. According to IndiaCast, the two MSOs also want to revisit phase I deals which were done on cost-per-subscriber basis.

    Hathway Cable and Datacom MD and CEO Jagdish Kumar feels the broadcasters‘s maw is increasing and they are unwilling to support the MSOs in this transition phase.

    “Broadcasters have become too greedy. They are behaving like ostriches. They want a reduction in carriage fee and a growth in subscription revenue. Reduction of carriage fee is not going to happen overnight. As far as growth in subscription revenue goes, the MSOs themselves have not started collecting money from the ground,” thunders Kumar.

    Kumar‘s suggestion to broadcasters is to do “equitable” deals till the situation on the ground stabilises particularly since the MSOs have made large investments in making digitisation a reality.

    “We also have to look at returns on the investments that we have made so far,” adds Kumar.

    The dispute that began end of December has reached the sector regulator‘s door. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has asked GTPL to respond by 10 April to a complaint filed by IndiaCast alleging abuse of its dominant position in Gujarat.

    Says IndiaCast COO Gaurav Gandhi, “GTPL‘s intention is to use these coercive methods on broadcasters and aggregators to pressurise them to keep DAS deals in line with what was there in the analogue regime – at any cost they don‘t want a reduction in their carriage income. Almost all our deals in DAS Phase I were done on a cost-per-subscriber model. We have written to Trai on the violations done by GTPL & Hathway and the regulator has now asked GTPL to respond by 10 April.”

    In its complaint, IndiaCast has alleged that Hathway and its affiliate GTPL illegally collided to coerce IndiaCast into acceding to their demands including increasing the placement fees, reducing subscription fees and also to re-open DAS Phase I deals already executed.

    Giving his perspective on the dispute, GTPL president Sumit Bose says that the MSO has followed Trai regulations in letter and spirit while dealing with IndiaCast. GTPL, he says, had an agreement with IndiaCast till 31 March 2013.

    He claims that IndiaCast itself did not respond to GTPL‘s offer of working on a new deal for phase II for almost two and a half months. IndiaCast officials did get in touch with GTPL by that time the company‘s management had decided against entering into a new deal with IndiaCast.

    “IndiaCast was never inclined to sit across the table to discuss the deal with us despite our keenness. We waited for more than two and a half months but there was no response from them (IndiaCast). Since we did not get any response, the GTPL management decided to switch off the channels as we had to look at our own business objectives as well,” affirms Bose.

    The MSO then switched off IndiaCast channels in Gujarat citing financial unviability.

    However, IndiaCast‘s Gaurav Gandhi is amused with the idea. On the contrary, he feels that the deal is unviable for IndiaCast as its analogue deal had it paying out more in carriage fees than the subscription fees that accrued to it courtesy GTPL.

    “Both GTPL and Hathway have cited financial unviability and financial constraints as reasons for discontinuation of deals for IndiaCast channels. This is the basis of the notice they sent for their existing deals – and these existing deals are where we were paying them more carriage, then they are paying us for subscription. So how can a deal be financially unviable for the MSO if they are receiving more than they are paying? This clearly demonstrates the strong-arm tactics and the intentions of GTPL and Hathway,” avers Gandhi.

    Bose strongly denies charges of strong arm tactics by IndiaCast. To buttress his point, he says that Gujarat is as competitive a market as any other market in India is, with the presence of several leading MSOs and DTH operators.

    According to Bose, it is quite optimistic on the part of anyone to think that carriage fees will come down so soon despite digitisation. He also asserts that GTPL has managed to retain its carriage fee level in the deals they have done so far to what they were earlier.

    “I don‘t see the carriage fee coming down in the near term. Particularly the market that we are operating in, we expect to cross our own expectations on the carriage front. The deals we have done so far are in line with our expectations,” declares Bose.

    The last word on the dispute has not yet been said.

  • Bigflix.com pockets Viacom18’s film catalogue

    Bigflix.com pockets Viacom18’s film catalogue

    MUMBAI: Over the top service provider Reliance Entertainment Digital’s BigFlix announced today that it has added to its catalogue of films for viewing online. The move on demand service said it has acquired internet rights to stream 55 films from Viacom18 Motion Pictures through Indiacast Media Distribution (a TV18 and Viacom18 JV).

    “Our new acquisitions include some of Viacom18 Motion Pictures top grossing releases like Jab We Met, Singh Is King and Golmaal3 ,and some which are scheduled to be released in the next 12-15 months,” says BigFlix Business Head Shreyash Sigtia.

    BigFlix has a catalogue of around 2000 titles in which Bollywood comprises of 600 titles while there are around 200 Hollywood titles. The remaining 1200 movies are regional with Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam having the major numbers. Sigtia refused to comment on latest consumption statistics on Bigflix.com. But according to its website, it has 20,000 plus active subscribers, and more than a million visitors have been served so far. According to Alexa.com users are spending an average of about 3 minutes on Bigflix.com daily.

    BigFlix allows users to watch unlimited movies online for Rs 249 per month. The user can watch 10 minutes of a movie free of cost, after which a subscription has to be purchased.

    Talking about how the deal will help BigFlix Sigtia said, “It will help us in bringing fresh titles like Oh My God, Special 26, Aiyaa and Inkaar and also movies that have higher repeat value therefore helping in increasing consumption. We expect our subscriber base to double with this acquisition.”

    BigFlix aims to have a secured screening, and claims that the content is protected on DRM. “Users can’t rip of any movie from the site and this helps us monetise more effectively,” Sigtia added.

    IndiaCast group chief executive officer Anuj Gandhi said, “There is a growing base of movie viewership on digital as more and more people are tuning in to watch films online. This association between IndiaCast and BigFlix acts as a value addition for both parties. In Bigflix, we have found the right partner that not only has a huge base of film enthusiasts but also operates in a secured, controlled and authorized environment.”