ITV

Tag: media

  • TRP scam: Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani arrested, remanded to Mumbai Police custody till December 15

    TRP scam: Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani arrested, remanded to Mumbai Police custody till December 15

    New Delhi: On Sunday, Mumbai police arrested Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani in the TRP rigging scam. A Mumbai court has remanded Khanchandani for two days police custody. This is the thirteenth arrest in the case.

    Earlier this week Khanchandani and CFO Sivasubramanian Sundaram moved sessions court, Mumbai seeking anticipatory bail in the fake TRP scam case registered by the Mumbai police apprehending.

    The police submitted before the court that Republic network in order to increase its TRP (TRP) paid Rs 15 lakhs monthly to ensure that more viewers watch their channels – Republic TV (English) and Republic Bharat (Hindi).

    Media reports say that police found the alleged amount in possession of Abhishek Kolawade, accused of taking money from the channel for carrying out activities to increase the viewership and thereby the TRPs of the channel.

    After interrogating ARG Outlier AVP Ghanshyam Singh, the police concluded that Singh was allegedly being directed to carry out illegal activities to increase TRPs for their channel by Republic TV COO Priya Mukherjee, who in turn was being instructed by Khanchandani.

    The remand order for Khanchandani was sought on the above points. His counsel has argued that Khanchandi was targeted because Arnab Goswami is having a dispute with the Maharashtra government for several reasons. It was also pointed out that the arrest was deliberately done on Sunday, a day before his anticipatory bail application was listed for hearing before the Mumbai sessions court, so as to defeat his anticipatory bail application.

    News Broadcasters Federation has condemned the arrest and pointed out that it is highly alarming on the law and order situation in the state. It has urged the Maharashtra government to follow the law of the land. It urged PMO to immediately set-up and independent neutral national agency to investigate any allegations of professional misconduct by journalists, executives, and owners of the media company, in order to prevent harassment

    https://twitter.com/TweetsNbf/status/1338121311646670848

    Mumbai Police unearthed the TRP scam on 8 October after rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Hansa had been tasked with installing barometers, which record viewership data at sample households.

    Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh then claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi- were involved in manipulating TRPs.

    Since then several arrests have been done in the case and there has been a lot of developments both within and outside of the courtroom. 

  • Coca-Cola calls for global media & creative pitch

    Coca-Cola calls for global media & creative pitch

    NEW DELHI: Coca-Cola has called for a global media & creative pitch. The company, which spends about $4 billion on media globally, is going for a full-scale review of its overall media planning and buying services. 

    The creative review includes creative, experiential marketing, production management and shopper marketing. The brand intends to transform and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of ITS marketing investments. It further aims to improve its processes, eliminate duplication and optimise spends to generate significant savings to fuel reinvestment in its brands. 

    Media reports suggest that Coca-Cola is working with MediaSense on the media review process, while PricewaterhouseCoopers is overseeing the brand’s creative review. Incumbent media agencies will also participate in the review. These agencies include Dentsu media agency Carat, Group M’s MediaCom, IPG Mediagroup’s UM and Publicis media agency Starcom. 

    Coca-Cola spends around $2.5 billion globally on media per year, according to data consultancy COMvergence, including $1.8 billion on traditional media and $700 million on digital media. It’s unclear how the changes to Coca-Cola’s model could impact its spending. 

    The brand is planning for a complete redesign of its agency models to align the strategic, operational, and commercial needs. It expects to complete the review by 2021. 

    The agency review follows an October announcement that the company plans to eliminate 200 brands from its roster, including Tab, Zico and Odwalla, cutting its portfolio in half. 

    In India, the brand works with McCann on the creative front and released a campaign featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal ahead of Diwali.

  • TRP row: SC rejects Arnab Goswami’s plea for CBI probe

    TRP row: SC rejects Arnab Goswami’s plea for CBI probe

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a petition filed by Republic TV and its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami seeking protection for all the employees of the news channel from coercive action by Maharashtra police.

    The channel had filed a plea in the ongoing TRP scam investigation that was unearthed by Mumbai police on 8 October.

    The plea alleging continuous hounding of Republic TV employees by the Maharashtra police and seeking a probe by central bureau of investigation (CBI) was withdrawn after a bench headed by justice DY Chandrachud remarked that it was "ambitious in nature.”

    Chandrachud said, "This petition is ambitious in nature. You want Maharashtra police not to arrest any employee and transfer to CBI. You better withdraw this."

    Goswami's counsel, senior advocate Milind Sathe, then chose to rescind the plea after the court granted liberty to Goswami and Republic TV to move appropriate forum for relief.

    The fake TRP scam came to light in October when rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Hansa had been tasked with installing barometers, which record viewership data at sample households. 

    Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh then claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels – Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi – were involved in manipulating ratings. 

    Since then several arrests have been made in the case and there has been a lot of developments both within and outside of the courtroom.  

  • Star India scores Cricket South Africa media rights till 2024

    Star India scores Cricket South Africa media rights till 2024

    NEW DELHI: Strengthening its cricket portfolio, Star India has acquired the media rights to Cricket South Africa (CSA) till the end of the 2023/24 cricket season across Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

    The agreement grants Star India exclusive rights across linear and digital mediums including all India tours to South Africa in this period. The association will commence with England’s tour to South Africa starting on 27 November 2020, marking the return of cricket on Star Sports Network since the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Star India already has the global rights for ICC, BCCI, and the IPL, apart from other cricket rights.

    “We are delighted to collaborate with Cricket South Africa. This alliance fortifies our commitment to cricket and our belief in the significance of sport in Star India's consumer proposition. South Africa has some of the most highly recalled cricketers and competitive teams, which pride themselves in taking on the best from around the world. We look forward to hosting the best of South African cricket till 2024," said Star India CEO – Sports Sanjog Gupta.

    He went on to add that the network has made significant investments over the years to deepen the relationship that fans have with the game via enhanced story-telling, innovations in broadcast and regionalisation. Going forth, Star India hopes to apply the same approach and elevate the consumer experience of CSA's matches.

    “The partnership will kick off with the England tour of South Africa on 27 November 2020 during which the three T20Is will be broadcast in Hindi for the very first time. This will give these matches significant reach in the Hindi-speaking markets," Gupta said.

    Read more news on Star India

    CSA acting CEO Kugandrie Govender said, “There are few social events on the South African sporting calendar that rally our fans up as much as the cricket-showdown between South Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, so we wholeheartedly welcome this agreement with Star India. Knowing that the sport reaches millions of people all over the world, which is now further amplified by this Star deal, will see our Protea teams even more powered up to impress fans and to outperform their rivals.”

    The agreement will cover all international cricket matches played by the South African men’s cricket team. As per future tour plans, South Africa will be playing 59 matches at home including series against top teams such as India, England and Australia. With the Indian cricket team scheduled to tour South Africa thrice in this period, this deal comprises 20 South Africa vs India bilateral matches across formats, with the first of these tours commencing in 2021/22 and comprising three Tests and three T20Is. The agreement will also cover women’s international cricket matches played by the Momentum Proteas as well as CSA’s domestic men’s franchise matches.

    Cricket resumes on the Star Sports network with the T20I matches for South Africa vs England series. This will be a first for Star India for a non-India bilateral cricket tournament to be produced in Hindi on SS1 Hindi, in addition to the English feed. England’s tour of South Africa will consist of three T20Is and three ODIs, beginning on the 27 November.

     

  • Walt Disney Co witnesses slow recovery in Q4

    Walt Disney Co witnesses slow recovery in Q4

    NEW DELHI: The Walt Disney Company reported total revenue of $14,707 million in Q4, witnessing a decline of 23 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). While parks, entertainment, products, studio entertainment business continued to register a dip, direct-to-consumer & international and media revenue saw an upsurge.

    The media revenues for the quarter stood at $7213 million, up 11 per cent year on year. The d2c & international revenue stood at $4853 million for the quarter and witnessed an upsurge of 41 per cent y-o-y. 

    Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations for the fourth quarter was a loss of $0.39 compared to income of $0.43 in the prior-year quarter. Excluding  certain items affecting comparability, diluted EPS for the quarter was a loss of $0.20 compared to  income of $1.07 in the prior-year quarter. EPS from continuing operations for the year was a loss of $1.57 compared to income of $6.26 in the prior year. Excluding certain items affecting comparability, EPS for  the year decreased to $2.02 from $5.76 in the prior year. 

    The most significant adverse impact in the current quarter and year from Covid2019 was approximately $2.4 billion and $6.9 billion, respectively, on operating income at parks, experiences and products segment due to revenue lost as a result of the closures or reduced operating capacities. 

    Media Networks revenues for the quarter increased 11 per cent to $7.2 billion, and segment operating  income increased 5 per cent to $1.9 billion. 

    Cable Networks revenues for the quarter increased 11 per cent to $4.7 billion and operating income  decreased 7 per cent to $1.2 billion. The decrease in operating income was due to lower results at ESPN,  partially offset by increases at FX Networks and the domestic Disney channels. 

    Broadcasting revenues for the quarter increased 10 per cent to $2.5 billion and operating income increased  47 per cent to $553 million. The increase in operating income was due to affiliate revenue growth and lower  network programming and production costs and decreased marketing expenses, partially offset by a timing  impact from new accounting guidance. 

    Advertising revenues were comparable to the prior-year quarter as lower average network viewership was offset by the benefit of an additional week in the current quarter, higher network rates and an increase  in political advertising at the owned television stations. 

    Parks, Experiences and Products revenues for the quarter decreased 61 per cent to $2.6 billion, and segment  operating results decreased $2.5 billion to a loss of $1.1 billion. Lower operating results for the quarter  were due to decreases at both the domestic and international parks and experiences businesses. 

    Studio Entertainment revenues for the quarter decreased 52 per cent to $1.6 billion and segment operating  income decreased 61 per cent to $419 million. The decrease in operating income was due to lower theatrical and  home entertainment results. 

    Direct-to-Consumer & international revenues for the quarter increased 41 per cent to $4.9 billion and  segment operating loss decreased from $751 million to $580 million. The decrease in operating loss was  primarily due to improved results at Hulu and ESPN+, partially offset by higher costs at Disney+, driven  by the ongoing rollout and a decrease at our international channels. 

    The improvement at Hulu was due to subscriber growth and increased advertising revenues driven by  higher impressions, partially offset by an increase in programming and production costs due to higher  subscriber-based fees for programming the live television service. 

    Higher results at ESPN+ were driven by subscriber growth and higher income from Ultimate Fighting  Championship pay-per-view events. 

    The Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Chapek said, “Even with the disruption caused by Covid2019, we’ve been able to effectively manage our  businesses while also taking bold, deliberate steps to position our company for greater long-term growth. The real bright spot has been our  direct-to-consumer business, which is key to the future of our company, and on this anniversary of the  launch of Disney+ we’re pleased to report that, as of the end of the fourth quarter, the service had more  than 73 million paid subscribers – far surpassing our expectations in just its first year.” 

  • NDTV ends all pay cuts

    NDTV ends all pay cuts

    NEW DELHI: It seems that the media industry is on the fast track to recovery as companies have started rolling back pay cuts, passing on the arrears and some have even promised to kickstart appraisal process for employees.

    In the latest development, NDTV has announced that it has ended all pay cuts for staff. After a careful review of its business, the company has decided that effective 1 October 2020, salary cuts will end for those employees who were impacted by a 20-40 per cent cut. It mentioned that all pay cuts stand reversed, effective 1 October and arrears for the month of October will be paid before Diwali.

    These pay cuts were introduced on 1 April this year on account of the economic uncertainty caused by the Covid2019 pandemic. Salaries were slashed by 10-40 per cent on a graded scale based on different slabs. Employees earning Rs 50,000 per month or less were exempted from any pay cut.

    NDTV expressed its gratitude to all its employees for their unwavering support and the senior staff for ensuring that junior colleagues were protected through the manner in which pay cuts were introduced and then removed.

    In the last fortnight, several media organizations are making the effort to return to normal such as Network18, Indian Express, India Today Group and others. It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the days to come.

  • RIL posts strong Q2 earnings, media biz betters performance

    RIL posts strong Q2 earnings, media biz betters performance

    KOLKATA: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported strong Q2 earnings on Friday. The telecom and retail business has driven the growth and the media business also bettered its performance.

    “We delivered strong overall operational and financial performance compared to the previous quarter with recovery in petrochemicals and retail segment, and sustained growth in digital services business,” RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani said.

    “Domestic demand has sharply recovered across our O2C business and is now near pre-Covid2019 level for most products. Retail business activity has normalised with strong growth in key consumption baskets as lockdowns ease across the country. With large capital raise in last six months across Jio and retail business, we have welcomed several strategic and financial investors into Reliance family. We continue to pursue growth initiatives in each of our businesses with a focus on the India opportunity,” he added.

    The company’s operating profit fell 6.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,602 crore in the July-September period. Its revenue fell 24 per cent over last year to Rs 1.16 lakh crore while operating margin widened to 16 per cent from 14.4 per cent earlier.

    Reliance Jio’s revenue including access revenues for the quarter was Rs 21,708 crore, EBITDA stood at Rs 7,971 crore. It netted Rs 3,020 crore quarterly profit, a jump of 185 per cent year on year. The telco operator’s ARPU rose to Rs 145 per subscriber per month.

    How did the media segment perform?

    The media business' revenue rose by 31.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,061 crore as Covid2019-linked impact on ad-revenues receded over the quarter. EBITDA for the quarter was at Rs 166 crore. Operating margins continued to improve, as broadcasting margins rose sharply, and digital news business swung into profitability.

    The company said in a statement that ad-revenues rebounded sharply, as economic activity restarted on tapering of lockdowns. News business’ advertising has fully recovered, and entertainment recovery is near-complete by the end of the quarter. Subscription revenues have been resilient and domestic subscription revenue continues to rise led by expanding TV and Digital distribution tie-ups.

    “TV viewership has now settled at 1.1x pre-Covid levels. Pay-TV has clawed back its share from free-to-air channels, as entertainment programming is back in full-swing. An increased propensity to pay for content has been witnessed. Flagship properties Moneycontrol and Voot have witnessed rapid growth in subscribers,” it added.

  • TAM Media Research launches Crisp

    TAM Media Research launches Crisp

    NEW DELHI: TAM Media Research has launched CRISP (Consumer Reviews & Influencer Sentiments for Brand Performance) -a robust, intelligence analytics tool to help decode consumer sentiments in the Indian marketplace. The product is specially crafted for marketers to gauge and understand the actual consumer reviews/sentiments and augment the consumer product connect. It answers the need of today – to understand the need and qualitative views of the product user and improvise customer satisfaction so as to further build brand affinity and a loyal consumer. 

    TAM has partnered with Revuze – a leading company that has revolutionized product experience management globally. The AI based dashboard will be available to the users from October 2020. 

    The end consumer of a product makes the most significant contribution to a brand.  Consumer reviews, feedback and suggestions are the mirror to the brand’s image.  Today’s consumer at a click of a button can rave or rant about a product, its performance, customer service, etc. Every marketer knows the need to listen,  understand the feedback and reviews but is struggling. There is a gold mine of non-coded and unstructured information and data available in various forms across e-commerce sites, blogs, etc. Marketers do not have a quick and reliable single window means to decode, mine and analyze the data and know the actual sentiments from their direct users/influencers. 

    Crisp will help marketers with a holistic, unbiased, affordable, AI analytical tool at their fingertips.  

    This AI-based analytical tool provides actual data insights and analytics of the user sentiments. It tracks consumer sentiments across multiple e-commerce portals and decodes unstructured data in turn help marketers with valuable information to make informed decisions. The Analyzer tool is unconstrained by human bias and perception. This proprietary technology deep dives and provides Insights via tracking reviews, opinions, and messages.  

    TAM Media Research CEO LV Krishnan says, “Today’s evolved Indian consumer is not just pragmatic about the products they purchase but extremely vocal and quick to give reviews. For a marketer, this customer feedbacks can help realign product and communication strategy effectively. Hence, it is crucial for marketers to constantly keep track, understand and re-connect while managing consumer sentiments towards brands. TAM has partnered with  Revuze to bring a new age, robust, data analytics tool – Crisp, for marketers to decode the realms of unstructured feedback data from consumers and retrace it back into defining sharper brand strategies. In a fast-paced evolving environment, it can be a crucial weapon for Marketers to win additional brand sales and market shares. Crisp will help build the much-needed superior analytical prowess within  the marketers business and help analyze product usage, identify areas of  product/service improvement based on feedbacks so as to take quick-footed  decisions.”

    Revuze CRO Shai Etzion says, “After showing significant success in the USA, Revuze  is entering the Indian Market partnering with TAM Media, a natural choice being our mutual Nielsen family relationship and their 20+ years’ experience in deep understanding of the Indian media landscape. It will be a compelling product and a  game-changer for India to understand consumer sentiments and reviews.”

  • Republic TV set to sue Mumbai police commissioner for defamation

    Republic TV set to sue Mumbai police commissioner for defamation

    NEW DELHI: Accusations have flown thick and fast between the Mumbai police and its commissioner Param Bir Singh and the Republic Media Network over the past few months. The rancour between the two parties only intensified after the former accused the latter of rigging its viewership ratings by compromising the BARC sample and paying off viewers to watch the network.

    Now, Republic TV founder and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami has directed his legal team Phoenix Legal to initiate a suit against Singh seeking Rs 200 crore in damages. Rs 100 crore of this amount is for damaging the newsman’s reputation, while the other Rs 100 crore is for harming the network’s credibility.

    Republic says its legal teams are in the process of filing the defamation suit against the police commissioner. The company decided to take this step following the revelation that the FIR related to TRP manipulation does not include the name of Arnab Goswami and Republic Media.

    In the Bombay High Court hearing today, the two-man bench of justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik noted that Republic TV has not yet been arraigned as an accused in the FIR filed by the Mumbai police.

    Arguing on behalf of the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said, "There is no mention of Republic TV in the FIR. So how can it be quashed? The FIR relates to an offence allegedly committed in relation to which several improprieties and illegalities by several may be found. That investigation is still in the nascent stage."

    He further mentioned that the press conference held by the Mumbai police commissioner exposing the TRP gaming racket did not refer to Goswami in particular, and that only Republic TV was mentioned.

    Harish Salve, arguing on behalf of Republic Media, assured that in case summons are issued to Arnab Goswami, the petitioner would cooperate with the authorities. He also urged the court to stay the investigation and restrain police from taking any coercive action against the petitioners pending hearing of their petition.

    Salve sought the court to grant Goswami protection from arrest. But Sibal rebutted, stating that no such relief can be granted in the matter since Goswami has not been arraigned as an accused as of now.

    The Republic team also stated that it is filing a contempt petition against the special executive magistrate and assistant police commissioner Sudhir Jambwadekar, on account of the fact that he initiated chapter proceedings with respect to FIRs that have been suspended by the orders of the Bombay high court.

    On 8 October, Singh addressed a press conference where he claimed that the police had busted a TRP manipulation scam that involved various channels including Republic TV.

    Republic has consistently maintained that it has done nothing of that sort and that Singh has it in for the channel on account of its founder and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami airing “exposés” of the commissioner’s alleged laxity in performing his law-keeping duties.

  • Republic Media provides proof of its innocence in TRP rigging charges

    Republic Media provides proof of its innocence in TRP rigging charges

    NEW DELHI: Republic Media Network has come out with a statement in which it is claiming a thumping victory against the “fake news propaganda being spread by the Mumbai police about it being found guilty of rigging viewership ratings.”

    Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani has in his possession an official email from the viewership ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) in which it has said “there is not a single complaint or malpractice found against Republic TV, Republic Bharat or any other affiliate of the news network.”

    The Arnab Goswami founded news network has been claiming from day one of the TRP rigging press conference organised by the Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh that the law keeper has been perpetrating vendetta against him.

    The Republic Media release states that the email “crumbles the pack of lies floated and repeated over the last nine days by Param Bir Singh and a section of the media.”

    The statement mentions that Republic Media received an email from BARC on 17 October 2020, in which the agency has stated that: “If there was any disciplinary action initiated under the said Code against M/s ARG Outlier Media Private Ltd., then BARC India would have communicated the same to you along with necessary documents for your response.”

    With this documentary evidence by BARC out in the public domain, Republic says that three things have been proven: 

    ·   The Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s comments against Republic TV were “blatantly false, lies and an extension of political vendetta. It is now incumbent on him to apologise for his lie-ridden campaign against India’s Number 1 news network.”

    ·   That every word uttered across certain sections of the media is false, unsubstantiated and fake news. “Now that the truth is out in the public domain, the onus is now on those portals to correct themselves, apologise for the fake news and put out the truth.”

    ·   The Republic Media Network which runs on the highest professional and journalistic standards has been “vindicated after a nine day slander campaign curated by vested interests and we have been duly informed that there was never a case against us.”

    The news network has demanded that serious action needs to be taken against the police commissioner as well as the political masters behind him, should they be involved for going on a tirade against it based on a series of lies. It says that it is going to fight against any forces and come out unscathed, no matter how hard the Mumbai police or anyone else tries to intimidate and harass it. “We will comply with the law of the land, but not for a moment give in to the coercive attempts to shut down our pursuit for truth through our journalism. We will fight this campaign both in the courts of law and the court of public opinion, with the people of India by our side,” the statement further says.