ITV

Tag: Metro channel

  • RiTV plans Marathi channel for rural viewers

    RiTV plans Marathi channel for rural viewers

    After a Gujarati and Punjabi channel, RiTV will launch a 24-hour Marathi channel during this fiscal year.

    The channel will however steer clear of the current crop of Marathi channels that cater predominanty to urban life styles and will instead target rural and semi urban viewers. It will include programming closer to the dreams, hopes, aspirations and lifestyles of this group, an official release says. Agriculture and rural development content will thus be the driving force for success, according to RiTV. The broadcaster also has plans to start a Metro channel this year, which will focus on the SEC A segment in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, a market which the company feels is ideal for a host of nice/exclusive, high profile brands.

    The company will invest Rs 40.4 million in the Metro channel and Rs 20.2 million for starting the Marathi channel. The Metro channel will source content from all the three ad heavy cities, covering social events, product launches, local self government, law and order issues, business news and Bollywood news, according to RiTV managing director Subhash Menon.

    RiTV also has commenced production of regional films for television audiences in Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi/Urdu, all of which will be premiered on the RiTV bouquet of channels, he says.

    The company, which has firmed up plans of diluting 30 per cent stake is aiming to raise Rs 200 million this year. The funds will be used to launch the two new channels and create fresh software. The current fiscal will see RiTV producing 12 Punjabi movies and six Gujarati and Marathi movies each, a number that is expected to go even higher next year. The company has given the mandate for diluting stake to consulting firm Ernst & Young, which has valued the company at Rs 540.3 million. RITV has a programming library that comprises an estimated 3,500 hours of content, valued by Ernst & Young at almost Rs 90 million.

  • No request for TV regulatory body: Swaraj

    No request for TV regulatory body: Swaraj

    I&B Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday gave further indication in Parliament that the government was close to mandating on conditional access systems (CAS) as a way to resolve the ongoing dispute between the cable industry and broadcasters. Swaraj’s comment was made as an adjunct to a question on whether the government had received a request to set up a television regulatory body.

    The government has received no request for the setting up of a television regulatory body on the lines of the Telecom Authority to regulate the subscription charged by cable operators, Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament), in a written reply.

    Swaraj disclosed that there was no legal provision at present to regulate subscriptions by TV cable operators. She, however said the government was examining the feasibility of mandating CAS for pay channel viewing through cable.

    Replying to another question, Swaraj said a group of six officials had been constituted by the Prasar Bharati to examine the feasibility of privatisation and joint ventures in national broadcaster Doordarshan’s Metro Channel.

  • DD rewinds to old hit shows on its Metro channel as Nine Gold shuts off

    DD rewinds to old hit shows on its Metro channel as Nine Gold shuts off

    Today was the day after as national broadcaster Doordarshan’s Metro channel turned the clock back a year after HFCL Nine Broadcasting took up the three-hour prime time band on the channel.

     

    It was at 10:00 pm yesterday Nine Gold signed off on a quiet note on DD, a year after HFCL Nine bought the 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm prime time slot for a massive Rs 1210 million. Nine Gold CEO Ravina Raj Kohli has been quoted as saying the real value of the band was actually not more than Rs 300 million.

     

    Channel Nine Gold launched on the national broadcaster’s Metro channel on 8 September 2000. However, with this slot becoming a hot property friction soon arose with the mandarins at DD who couldn’t seem to come to terms with the new operational culture that had set in. By June, 2001 the only thing that was clear was that the contract between Channel Nine Gold and Doordarshan had hit a dead end and was living on borrowed time.

     

    Kohli had said at the time that the serials on air would complete their runs. This has happened in part only. Weekly series like Piyaa Bina, Kavita and Zindagi Milke Betayange have had their run. Among the other serial are Mooch Nahi Toh Kuch Nahi, Choonch Ladi Re Chooch Ladi and the Archana Puran Singh-produced Samne Wali Khidki.

     

    Three daily soap-sagas Jannat, Maan, and Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli have ended without any conclusion. Asked what would happen to these shows, an official spokesperson for Nine Gold said: “We are in talks with Star and Sony but nothing has been decided yet.”

     

    Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli, which aired from 9:30 pm to 10:00 pm, was the last show to air on DD Metro under the Nine Gold banner. At the end of the show credits of the Nine Gold’s staff associated with programming, their business associates as well as in-house personnel scrolled down across the screen.

     

    Meanwhile, DD is going it alone on the programming front (after its call for bids from private broadcasters met with a pathetic response. For the present, the 7-10 pm band will be filled with old re-runs. Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, whose producer recently won back the rights to the serial, will be the biggest serial in the new (old) line-up. The telecast will mark the comeback of the first sitcom on Indian television that made its debut on DD 14 years ago.

     

    DD is also airing The Big Picture and re-runs of other series which were extremely popular series in the early 80’s like Nukkad and Udaan.

  • Discovery unveils new programming strategy; targets launch of Travel and Adventure channel before year-end

    Discovery unveils new programming strategy; targets launch of Travel and Adventure channel before year-end

    Three months into his position as head of Discovery Communications in India, managing director Deepak Shourie today announced a new programming strategy – ‘My Time on Discovery’ – targeted at both viewers and advertisers. Discovery is introducing programming blocks that it says will appeal to the various target groups at times that they prefer while at the same time giving advertisers a focussed platform to reach key audiences.

     

    The new initiative goes into effect from 1 October, 2001 and is based on studies that the channel undertook to research audience-viewing patterns across demographics, identifying the most popular day parts for each demographic, Shourie said.

     

    Subsequently programmes were identified that would appeal to each target set and scheduled accordingly, hence -‘My Time on Discovery’. The blocks that are being introduced are Sunrise (7am – 9am), Discovery Kids (3pm – 4pm), Action Zone (4pm – 5pm), Prime Time (8pm – 11pm), Friday Showcase (9pm – 11pm) and Super Sundays 7am – midnight); each of which caters to different groups.     

     

    NEW CHANNELS: Shourie also revealed that two new channels Discovery Health and Discovery Travel and Adventure would be rolled out in India in the coming 12 months. “We are trying to have the launch of Discovery Travel and Adventure by the end of the year but there is no certainty of that happening,” Shourie said.

     

    Discovery channels dubbed in southern Indian languages were also being planned, Shourie said. At present the network offers a 24-hour parallel Hindi audio feed in addition to an English audio feed.

     

    Discovery Channel India, which launched in 1995, is a 24-hour pay channel, reaching over 21 million homes throughout India according to company estimates. Discovery also airs as a block on Vijay TV, every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM and 3 PM to 5 PM on Saturday in addition to an afternoon slot on national broadcaster Doordarshan’s Metro channel. Available via PanAmSat IV, the network is operated and managed by Discovery Communications, Inc.

     

    In addition to Discovery, the company also beams Animal Planet, a joint venture with BBC. Animal Planet was launched in India in March 1999 but is still struggling to establish itself. Asked about this Shourie admitted as much and said the channel “needed to be repositioned, restrategised and repromoted.” He however could offer no answers on how this was to be managed.