Tag: movies

  • TV channels line up special shows for Independence Day

    TV channels line up special shows for Independence Day

    MUMBAI: The country is gearing up to celebrate India’s 74 Independence Day. The patriotic fervor is in the air. However this year’s Independence Day, which is traditionally marked with a lot of pomp and gaiety, will be subdued and restricted due to the circumstances created by the Covid2019 pandemic.  But broadcasters are keeping up the spirit. From Hindi general entertainment channels to English GECs to news and movie channels, all have donned the colours of the tricolour.

    Channels have curated special programming line ups to entertain audiences.

    Colors

    The team at Colors’ Khatron Ke Khiladi: Made in India in a special episode honour’s braveheart warriors that will air on 15 August 2020 – Independence Day.

    The real khiladis who will be felicitated on the episode are senior police officer Ramesh Nangare, Dr Anil Panchekar, and Pune’s ‘Warrior Aaji’ Shanta Balu Pawar. The khiladis will share their stories and reflect on their experiences as they worked courageously in the face of the pandemic. Senior police officer Ramesh Nangare and his team policed the city fearlessly during the pandemic. Dr Anil Panchekar worked tirelessly in Dharavi which was one of the most Covid2019 affected areas in Mumbai. Warrior Aaji Shanta Balu Pawar, whose earnings were affected because of the pandemic, performed some fearless lathi stunts to earn a living for her family. The courageous acts by the real khiladi’s will be celebrated on the show.

    Comedy Central India and Colors Infinity

    Comedy Central India and Colors Infinity have curated special programming with Indian-origin actors that have carved a niche on the international scene and become globally recognised stars. Starting 11am on the 74 Independence Day, you can watch 73 of the best Koothrappali special episodes of The Big Bang Theory starring Kunal Nayyar as Raj Koothrappali.

    Nickelodeon

    Nickelodeon under its initiative #SochKaroUpgrade intends to throw light on environmental issues the planet is facing and simple ways to create a change.

    The campaign actively seeks individuals to take the pledge on nickindia.com to protect nature and lists three commitments including planting a tree, discontinue the use of plastic bags, and save water. he franchise is extensively promoting the campaign on-air and on digital with promos and through an array of activities to drive awareness on steps to bring about a change.

    A popular doodle artist Woodle Doodle Designs also did a series of graphic illustrations to drive the message to social media audiences. 

    &Pictures

    &pictures celebrates and salutes the bravery of ordinary people with extraordinary courage with the Hindi Television Premiere of Hotel Mumbai on 16 August.  Based on true events, the visually breathtaking movie recounts the 2008 siege of the famed Taj Hotel in Mumbai and how the fearless staff risked their lives to protect their guests.  

    MTV

    In its newly released brand film, MTV shows people from different walks of life in 2019, criticising the monotony of college life, everyday hassle of traveling to office, also talking about how partying is done to death for youngsters and being self-dependent is an overrated concept.

    Viacom18  head of marketing – youth, music and English entertainment Navin Shenoy said, “The unprecedented times brought upon us by the pandemic has curtailed what impacts the youth most – their freedom to live as they deem fit. With this film for Independence Day, we wanted to put the spotlight on that everyday freedom and gratitude for it.”

    Zee Cinemas

    Zee Cinema is all set to celebrate this special day with the world television premiere of Good Newwz. Directed by Raj Mehta, the blockbuster family entertainer revolves around the hilarious roller coaster journey of two couples who find themselves in an unusual situation because of a medical goof up.

    Zee Anmol

    Zee Anmol Cinema celebrates the patriotic fervor with ‘Naye Bharat Ka Naya Josh’, a day long movie festival on 15 August. Celebrating this auspicious occasion with Full JOSH, the specially curated movie line up will transport you into a world of bravery, resilience and determination that will evoke the patriot in you. Kickstarting your day with the patriotic flavour will be the action thriller Pukar at 9.30 am. Commending the spirit of heroism and passion will be the thrilling channel premiere of Surya The Soldierstarring Allu Arjun and Anu Emmanuel. It will start  at 1 pm, the movie revolves around an aggressive soldier who aspires to serve at the borders but find trouble after getting into brawls and killing a terrorist. Vidyut Jammwal starrer Commando 2 will be kick starting at 4.30 pm, the movie traces the journey of Commando Karanveer Singh Dogra who is on a mission to eradicate corruption.

    Sony PIX

    On the occasion of Independence Day, Sony PIX will celebrate bravery, grit and courage with blockbuster movies like Mortal Engines, The Incredible Hulk, Furious 7, Jurassic World, Battleship and Rampage, all day on 15 August.

    EPIC TV

    The channel brings to fore the extraordinary Indians and their contributions, achievements, and commitment to build a united and free India. Starting from 7 am on 15 August 2020, audiences can watch Bharat Ki Awaaz for iconic speeches by freedom fighters. In the thoroughly researched ‘Epic Ke Dus’, a panel of experts giving their views, highlighting the significance of the events, and describing the mood of the era.

    Adrishya gives an experience from the point of view of India’s greatest spies like Aziz Un Nisa, Durga Bhabhi, Saraswati Rajamani, Ajit Doval and more. The series revisits the lives of these spies – the danger, the fear, the triumphs and the captures, bringing the spy’s heroic acts through their eyes. And in ‘Ekaant’ visit the famous Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, which is a dark reminiscence of the British rule in the Indian subcontinent. It’s a place where freedom fighters were kept before the independence of India. This place has witnessed the torture and pain given to the people imprisoned here after the first war of independence. This episode gives a glimpse of years of India’s struggle for freedom.

    ShowBox

    ShowBox’s musical programming for Independence day rides high on the wave of patriotism with a specially curated playlist, ‘Freedom Wala Swag’ that will evoke a truckload of nostalgia and overwhelming feelings of being an India. The playlist will air popular songs with touching melodies and powerful lyrics, including Aisa Desh Hai Mera, Desh Rangila, Chak De India. The playlist will be aired between 10 am and 2 pm. 

    Filamchi

    Bhojpuri movie channel, Filamchi also takes a dip in the mood of the day with movies like India Versus Pakistan, Love Aur Rajneeti, Ziddi, Khiladi and Dulhe Raaja, which features leading superstars like Pawan Singh, Ravi Kishan, Khesari Lal and Dinesh Lal to charm the audiences with their drama.

  • Hindi and South Indian GECs drive television viewership up; Sun TV back on Top across genres

    Hindi and South Indian GECs drive television viewership up; Sun TV back on Top across genres

    BENGALURU: Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) reported 1.73 percent growth in overall television impressions in week 30 of 2020 (Saturday, 25 July 2020 to Friday, 31 July 2020, week or period under review) to 17.6 billion weekly impressions from 17.3 billion weekly impressions in the previous week. This number is still 21.4 percent higher than the viewership of 14.5 billion impressions reported for week 4 of 2020.

    BARC and Nielsen had set the average viewership data between weeks two and four of 2020 as the yardstick to measure television consumption trends during COVID-19 weeks. The author has considered week 4 of 2020 as the reference week here.

    Viewership has been driven mainly by GECs after the series of UNLOCKs’ announced by the government and airing of new content created post UNLOCK.  In week 30 of 2019, the growth drivers have been mainly South Indian channels and Hindi GECs. The analysis in this paper is limited to BARC data available in the public domain – the top 2,3,4,5 or 10 channels of the genre/sub-genre/language/platform/market. The unit of data released by BARC is impressions in thousands (000s). The channels in BARC’s weekly lists may vary week-on-week depending upon the viewership numbers in terms of weekly impressions each channel attracts.Conclusions by the author have been derived from this limited BARC data.

    BARC data in the public domain for week 30 of 2020 reveals that the combined weekly impressions of the top 10 Hindi GECs on all platforms in the Hindi speaking urban and rural markets, HSM (U+R) increased 3.9 percent as compared to the previous week. Viewership of the top 5 channels of the four South Indian languages – Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu also increased 7.1percent, 2.1 percent, 13.5 percent and 1.3 percent respectively. BARC considers the Hindi speaking market as all India minus the markets where the four South Indian languages are predominantly used – these are Karnataka (Kannada), Malayalam (Kerala), Tamil (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and Telugu (Andhra Pradesh or AP and Telangana). By itself, the South Indian market is a huge market in terms of television penetration, and among the four, Tamil and Telugu markets are big in terms of population and TV homes.  After the various Hindi genres, BARC provided the most segmented but limited data for the four South Indian languages in the public domain. BARC provides data for the Top 5 News channels in Hindi, the four South Indian languages and English in the public domain.

    The other regional languages for which BARC releases limited data in the public domain are Assamese, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and Panjabi. BARC provides data for the top channels in each of these languages – these could be GECs or News or Movies, as also separate data for the Top 5 News channels in Assamese, Bangla, Oriya and Marathi. week 30 of 2020 saw viewership of Top 5 channels of Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati and Marathi grow 9.4 percent, 4.1 percent, 2.2 percent and 6.2 percent respectively. Combined viewership of the Top 5 Bhojpuri, Oriya and Panjabi channels in week 30 of 2020 fell 4.9 percent, 0.03 percent and 4.9 percent respectively as compared to the previous week.

    According to BARC data, GECs, movies, news and kids genres in that order garner around 90 percent of overall television viewership. GEC is the largest genre with about 45 percent of overall television viewership, with movies garnering between 23 to 27 percent of the viewership and the Kids genre about 7-8 percent. Post Covid2019, UNLOCK, the News genres has been garnering around 15 percent of television viewership. 

    Viewership of the Top 5 Hindi movie channels in HSM (U+R) on all platforms increased by 0.1 percent in week 30 of 2020 as compared to week 29.  The Top 5 kids channels saw combined weekly impressions grow 2.6 percent during the week under review as compared to week 29 of 2020.

    The Top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) and the Top 5 English Nnews channels saw weekly impressions increase 3.7 percent and 12.4 percent respectively. The English news genre is a small sub-genre in terms of viewership. 

    Combined viewership of the Top 5 Assamese, Bangla, Marathi and Oriya news channels declined 9.9 percent, 4.3 percent, 6.6 percent and 0.03 percent respectively as compared to week 29. The Top 5 Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu news channels witnessed viewership dips of 18.4 percent, 2.5 percent and 3.9 percent respectively, while the Top 5 Tamil news channels saw weekly impressions increase of 7.2 percent in week 30 of 2020 as compared to week 29. 

    Hence overall viewership in terms of weekly impressions was driven mainly by Hindi GECs and channels in the four South Indian languages, with some help from the other three major television genres.

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    The Sun Tv Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV regained top spot as the most watched channel on all platforms across genres after a hiatus. All the 10 channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 30 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week, with some shuffling of ranks.

    Seven Hindi GECs, two Telugu channels and one Tamil channel made up BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 30 of 2020. There were 3 Star India channels, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sun TV Network (Sun TV) and Viacom18 in the list for Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 30 of 2020.

    Please refer to the table below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

    Nine of the channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 30 of 2020 were the same as in week 29. One Star India Hindi movies channel at rank 10 – Star Gold exited the list in week 30 to be replaced by another Star India channel – Tamil GEC Star Vijay at the same rank (rank 10).

    There were three channels each from the Hindi GEC and Telugu genres, two channels from the Tamil genre and one channel each from the Kids and the Hindi movies genres in BARC weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 30 of 2020. There were three channels each from Star India and Viacom18 (or associated with Viacom18 through its parent Network 18), two channels from SPN and one channel each from Sun TV and Zeel.

    Please refer to the table below:

    Top 10 FreeChannels Across Genres
    Nine of the 10 channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 30 of 2020 were the same as in week 29. One channel – Enterr10 Television’s Bhojpuri channel, Bhojpuri Cinema, exited the list in week 30 of 2020 to be replaced by Zeel’s Bhojpuri channel Zee Biskope.

    There were four channels from Zeel, two channels from Viacom18 and one channel each from B4U Network, Enterr 10 Television, SPN and Star India in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 30 of 2020. There six Hindi GECs, three Hindi Movies channels and one Bhojpuri channel in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020.

    Please refer to the table below:


     

  • Zee Anmol claws to top place in Free Across Genres channels in week 29

    Zee Anmol claws to top place in Free Across Genres channels in week 29

    BENGALURU: Television viewership dipped slightly in week 29 of 2020 (Saturday, 18 July 2020 to Friday, 24 July 2020, week or period under review) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council Research on India (BARC) weekly data as compared to the previous week. BARC reported 17.3 billion impressions as Television viewership for week 29 of 2020 as compared to 17.4 billion weekly impressions during the immediate trailing week – week 28. BARC releases weekly data for the top two, three, four, five or 10 channels of a language, genre or sub-genre in the public domain. Besides, BARC also releases data for the Top 10 channels on all platforms across genres on all platform, on the pay platform and on the free platform. Similar data is also split up for the top Hindi GECs on these platforms along with further segmentation of the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking market or HSM (U+R), in HSM (U) and HSM (R). For regional and other genres such as news, languages, BARC publishes data for the top 5 or lesser channels.

    The analysis in this paper is limited to BARC data available in the public domain – the top two, three, four, five or 10 channels of the genre/sub-genre/language/platform/market.

    Despite the small dip in television ratings, GECs viewership in general seems to have continued climbing, while the News genre seems to have continued the trend of reduction in eyeballs. BARCs’ data for week 29 for the Top five channels in Assamese, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu channels shows that their combined ratings increased as compared to week 28. Only the combined weekly ratings of the top five Gujarati and Kannada channels fell as compared to the previous week. It must be noted that some of the channels in the above genres are movie channels, news channels, etc. However, BARC does publish data in the public domain of the Top five News channels in Hindi, English, Assamese, Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu and Tamil languages. The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 News channels in all these languages declined except for Bangla and Oriya News channels, which increased by 1.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively in week 29 of 2020 as compared to week 28. The combined weekly impressions of the other two major genres – Movies (almost flat growth – increased by 0.5 percent) and Kids (declined by 4.2 percent) in week 29 of 2020 did see some changes, but not enough to make a major impact to overall weekly television viewership. These four genres – GEC, Movies, News and Kids generally constitute 90 percent of the overall television ratings according to BARC reports.

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    Since its return to DD Free Dish, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s second Hindi GEC Zee Anmol has seen viewership climb. The channel was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels om All Platforms Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. Long time numero uno on this list – Enterr 10 Television’s Dangal had lost its peak position when many of the Hindi GECs returned to DD Free Dish a few weeks ago. Dangal was now ranked 5 in week 29 of 2020. 

    Seven Hindi GECs, two Telugu channels and one channel made up BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. There were 3 Star India channels, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sun TV Network (Sun TV) and Viacom18 in the list for Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 29 of 2020.

    Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

    Two channels -ranked ninth and tenth in the previous week (week 28 of 2020) exited BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020 to be replaced by Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors and Star India’s Hindi Movies channel Star Gold. The other 8 channels in BARC’s weekly list in week 29 of 2020 were the same in the previous week, with a slight juggling of ranks. There were three channels each from the Hindi GEC and Telugu genres, two channels from the Hindi Movies and one channel each from the Kids and the Tamil genres in BARC weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. There were three channels each from Star India and Viacom18 (or associated with Viacom18 through its parent Network 18), two channels each from SPN and Zeel and one channel from Sun Tv.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 FreeChannels Across Genres

    Zee Anmol clawed its way to the top spot in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. All the channels in the weekly list for week 29 of 2020 were the same as in week 28 with some shuffling of ranks. There were 3 channels each from Viacom18 and Zeel, two channels from Enterr10 Television and one channel each from B4U Network and Star India in BARC’sweekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. There six Hindi GECs, three Hindi movies channels and one Bhojpuri channel in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • Larger networks takeover free Across Genres list as Star Utsav tops All Platforms

    Larger networks takeover free Across Genres list as Star Utsav tops All Platforms

    BENGALURU: Among the bigger networks that have channels feature in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms, on the Pay and Free Platforms are DD, Network18/TV18/Viacom18 (or simply Viacom18) Star India, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), The Sun TV Network (Sun Network), and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel).  Many of the channels from these networks, as well as other networks were now available on Pay and Free Platforms, on the latter mainly because of their presence on Prasar Bharati’s free DTH service DD Free Dish.

    Until recently, channels from these bigger networks found places mostly in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms and on the Pay Platform. And until the advent of the Covid2019 Lockdown, there were generally one to four channels from two major networks/groups that were present in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres. These two are pubcaster Doordarshan and channels from or associated with the Essel group’s Zeel. Initially, DD was represented by only one of its channels, DD Sports, and that too for only the first three weeks of 2020. Zeel was represented by four of its channels in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres lists– Big Magic (Hindi GEC), Big Ganga (Bhojpuri GEC), Zee Biskope (Bhojpuri Cinema) and Zing (Youth). Only Big Magic was present during all the first 12 weeks of BARC’s Free Across Genres weekly lists. As a matter of fact, Big Magic was present during all the first 26 weeks of these BARC weekly lists of the Top Free Channels Across. Besides Big Magic, normally there were at least two other Zeel channels and sometimes even three that were present in the weekly Free Channels Across Genres lists during the first 12 weeks of 2020. But, at the same time, least six of the channels were from the smaller networks such as Enterr 10 Television and B4U Network. Enterr 10 had three to four of its channels in each of the first 12 weekly Free Platform lists, while B4U had two or three of its channels in the lists during the same period. Enterr 10’s channels included Bhojpuri Cinema, Dangal, Fakt Marathi and Enterr 10, while B4U’s channels were B4U Bhojpuri, B4U Kadak and B4U Movies.

    Week 13 of 2020, the first week of the Covid2019 Lockdown had four channels– one channel from DD and three channels from Zeel, with five channels from Enterr 10 (three channels) and B4U (two channels). The India Today group’s flagship Hindi News channel Aaj Tak entered BARC’s Across Genres weekly lists for the first time, in two Across Genres lists – Across Genres on All Platforms and Across Genres Free Platform.  In the absence of fresh programming, DD National started airing some of its library shows that had been very popular in the previous century, in Week 12 of 2020. These included Ramanad Sagar’s Ramayan and B R Chopra’s Mahabharat along with a number of other classics from its library. In Week 13, DD National became the most watched channel across genres on All Platforms and the Pay Platform and was also present in the Free Platform Across Genres list. DD National continued in the top 10 Across Genres lists until Week 18 2020. Week 14 saw DD Bharti enter BARC’s weekly list of Top Free Channels Across genres. The split was now five channels each between the bigger and other networks. And this split continued on till Week 22 of 2020. Weeks’ 23, 24, 25 and 26 of 2020 saw ratio of Bigger Networks: Other Networks at 7:3, 7:3, 8:2 and 7:3 respectively. Data for Week 26 of 2020 (Saturday, 27 June 2020 to Friday, 3 July 2020) is available at the time of writing of this paper. In Week 14 of 2020, the bigger networks were the same as in previous weeks – DD with two channels and Zeel with three channels. Similarly, the other networks mix was the same – Enterr 10 Television had three channels in the list while B4U Network had two channels. DD Bharti exited the Top 10 Free Across Genres list in Week 20, and DD National exited it in Week 24. For Weeks 20 and 21, there were 4 Zeel channels in the list, three channels from Enterr 10, 2 from B4U and one from DD. 

    In Week 23, two channels, one each from SPN and Star India and two Vaicom18 channels replaced two Zeel channels and one channel each from B4U Network and Enterr 10 Television in the list. Post Week 22 of 2020, channels from these major networks have continued their presence in BARC’s Weekly list of Top Free Channels Across Genres lists at the cost of B4U Networks and Enterr 10 Television. The bigger networks have taken over BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres. 

    Television consumption in terms of minutes, average time spent and reach has been declining from the highs of the lockdown weeks. Getting their second rung Hindi GEC and Movies channels on DD’s free DTH platform Free Dish is probably the best thing that the four major networks SPN, Star India, Viacom18 and Zeel could have done from viewership growth point of view is concerned. Analysis of BARC data in the public domain shows that 51.6 percent of Star Utsav’s viewership was on the Free Platform. In The case of Zee Anmol, Rishtey Cineplex and Sony Pay, viewership on the Free Platform was even higher. Channels such as Dangal which has seen viewership decline with the advent of Hindi GECs’ from the major networks in recent weeks had almost 70 percent of its viewership on the free platform in Week 26 of 2020.

    Besides, as stated above, GEC share of viewership has increased from the lows of the Covid2019 lockdown period. Please refer to the chart below:

    Hindi GECs have seen viewership growth on the Free Platform and in Rural Markets

    As mentioned above, these channels have re-joined Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) Top 10 channels weekly lists on All Platforms and on the Pay and Free Platforms or have jumped up ranks in in general in their respective genres in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM), be it the combined urban and rural – HSM (U+R) or HSM (U) or HSM (R) over the past few weeks. After a slow and steady decline that started in Week 15 and continued in Weeks 17 to 22 of 2020 as compared to the immediate trailing week. Combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Hindi GEC’s on All Platforms in HSM (U+R) have now grown week on week. Weeks 23, 24, 25 and 26 of 2020 saw viewership of the Top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) grow by 4.9, 6.9, 4.4 and 2.5 percent respectively. 

    The BARC-Nielsen yardstick is the average data between Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020. Using this reference point, the combined weekly impressions of Top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) have been consistently increasing starting Week 13 of 2020, except for a small fall of 0.3 percent in Week 22. Until Week 26 of 2020, consumption of the Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) in terms of weekly impressions has increased by 18.7 percent as compared to the Weeks two to four average and by 14 percent as compared to Week 1 of 2020. This growth has been led by the Free Hindi GECs and by the rural market or HSM (R) according to BARC data for the Top 10 Hindi GECs on the Free and Pay Platforms and in HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R). 
    Exact comparison has not been done based BARC data because until Week 15 of 2020, BARC only listed the Top 9 Channels in HSM (R) and for the Free Platform in the public domain. But, considering the viewership growth of the Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) of 18.7 percent in Week 26 of 2020, viewership of Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U) has increased by just 1.8 percent with respect to the average of Weeks 2- 4 of 2020. In the same period viewership of Top 10 Hindi GECs on the Pay Platform has declined by 2.1 percent, as compared to the average of the Top 10 channels in Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020.

    The increase in viewership of GECs is also evident from the figure below based on BARC-Nielsen data for the top four most watched genres below. As is obvious the share of GEC viewership has started increasing and has come up to 48 percent in Week 26 of 2020 from the lows (40 percent) of the Covid2019 weeks, but has still to touch or exceed the pre-Covid2019 period’s 52 percent.

    Some other trends in Top 10 Channels Across Genres lists in Week 26 of 2020

    26 channels have appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres lists during the first 26 weeks of 2020. Of these 26, only three channels – Dangal, Sony Sab and Sun TV have appeared consistently in the lists during all the 26 weeks. Among the frontline channels – Star Plus was present in the list for 21 weeks, followed by its Telugu Sibling Star Maa, which was present for 20 of 26 weeks in the lists. Weeks 25 and 26 of BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Channels Across Genres saw Star India’s Hindi GEC Star Utsav at rank no 1.

    20 channels appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres lists during the first 26 weeks of 2020. Here also only three channels appeared in the lists for all the 26 weeks – they were Sony SAB, Star Maa and Sun TV. Sun TV has been consistently ranked 1 during all the 26 weeks to date in this list.

    22 channels appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres lists during the first 26 weeks of 2020. Here also only three channels appeared in the lists for all the 26 weeks – they were Dangal, Big Magic and B4U Kadak. Dangal has been consistently ranked 1 during all the 26 weeks to date in this list. Please refer to the figure below:


     

  • Sun TV back on top as Star Utsav becomes most-watched Hindi GEC across genres

    Sun TV back on top as Star Utsav becomes most-watched Hindi GEC across genres

    BENGALURU: In a week that saw news channels grab eyeballs with their coverage and debates and discussions post the Indo-China Gawlan Valley skirmish, the Sun Tv Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV regained its numero uno position in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres. BARC weekly data for Week 24 of 2020 (Saturday, 13 June 2020 to Friday, 19 June 2020, week or period under review)In calendar year 2020, Sun TV had last headed BARC’s Weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in Week 2 of 2020. 

    Week 24 of 2020 saw TV consumption increase by about 1.2 percent week-on-week to 16.5 billion weekly impressions from 16.3 billion weekly impressions in Week 23.The increase in television consumption in Week 24 of 2020 was 13.8 percent higher than the consumption of 14.5 billion weekly impressions in Week 4, which has been considered as the base Pre-COVID2019 week here. Though a lot of the increased viewership was garnered by news channels in Week 24 of 2020, Hindi GECs also saw viewership grow.

    Ratings agencies BARC and Nielsen have set the average viewership data between Weeks 2 and 4 of 2020 as the yardstick to measure television consumption trends during COVID-19 weeks. While the lockdown in India commenced on 25 March 2020, which was midweek of Week 12 of 2020, BARC-Nielsen Covid2019 reports are available for weeks between Weeks 11 and 18 of 2020 at the time of writing of this paper. As mentioned above, the author has considered Week 4 of 2020 as the reference week here. Please refer to the figure below for TV viewership trends over the past few weeks.

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Free channels Across Genres increased 19.6 percent in Week 24 of 2020 as compared to the previous week, while at the same time, the combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres was almost flat (increased by 0.5 percent). Combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Pay channels declined 2.5 percent in Week 24 of 2020 as compared to the previous week.

    The week under review also saw Star India’s Hindi GEC Star Utsav climb to second place in BARC’s Weekly lists of Top 10 channels on All Platforms and find a place in all the three BARC across genres lists. Dangal slipped a couple of ranks to third place in BARC’s across genres on all platforms list, but continued to head BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres.

    Please refer to the chart below:

    While the Top 10 Hindi GECs in the HSM (U+R) market saw consumption spike 6.9 percent in Week 24 of 2020 as compared to Week 23, the Top 5 Hindi movie channels saw consumption dip 2.6 percent in terms of weekly impressions. The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Hindi GEC in HSM (U+R) on All Platforms increased 6.9 percent and those of the Free Platform increased 27.3 percent in Week 24 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Hindi GECs’ on the Pay Platform declined 3.5 percent during the same period. Growth was driven by the HSM (R) which saw the combined weekly impressions increase 12.4 percent as compared to flat growth in the combined weekly impressions in HSM (U).
     

  • Viewership dynamics changing in Unlock 1.0? Hindi GEC viewership grows on DD Free Dish?

    Viewership dynamics changing in Unlock 1.0? Hindi GEC viewership grows on DD Free Dish?

    BENGALURU: Television consumption decreased slightly (reduced 0.6 percent) in Week 23 of 2020 (Saturday, 6 June 2020 to Friday, 12 June 2020) to 16.3 billion weekly impressions as compared to the previous week which had scored 16.4 billion weekly impressions according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data. BARC had reported viewership of 16.3 billion impressions for week 21 of 2020. This number is still 12.4 percent higher than the viewership of 14.5 billion impressions reported for week four of 2020.

    BARC and Nielsen have set the average viewership data between weeks two and four of 2020 as the yardstick to measure television consumption trends during Covid2019 weeks. While the lockdown in India commenced on 25 March 2020, which was midweek of week 12 of 2020, BARC-Nielsen Covid2019 reports are available for weeks between weeks 11 and 18 of 2020 at the time of writing of this paper. The author has considered week four of 2020 as the reference week here.

    GECs have shown growth in viewership. Is it because a number of them, more so Hindi GECs and movies channels, have returned to DD Free Dish’s fold? Quite likely.

    This paper must be read with caveats. The conclusions are based on BARC weekly data in the public domain which comprises of the combined weekly impressions of the top two, three, five or 10 channels of each genre/sub-genre/platform or across genres.  The author has used the combined weekly impressions of the Top ten, five, three or two channels of the genre sub/genre during different weeks for comparison and the conclusions in this paper are limited to that extent. Further, the channels listed in BARC’s weekly lists needn’t be the same week-on-week. The comparison of combined weekly for all the weeks mentioned in this paper is meant for genre/sub-genre/platform comparison, not any individual channel (if named anywhere in this paper). In some cases, viewership in terms of combined weekly impressions of the week under review and week four is not comparable because the number of channels in BARC’s weekly lists of the respective genres/sub-genres/platforms during the two periods were not same. Probably BARC watermarks were provided for some of the channels after week four of 2020.

    For Hindi GECs, BARC provides data for the Top 10 Hindi GECs in a combination  of the urban and rural Hindi speaking markets or HSM (U+R) on all platforms; HSM (U+R) on the pay platform; HSM (U+R) on the free platform; HSM (R) on all platforms; and on HSM (U) on all platforms. It also provides data for Hindi movies in these five segmentations. It must be noted that as per BARC, HSM includes the All India market minus the south Indian markets of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. 

    In the case of regional channels, BARC provides data for the top five Assamese, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi channels as also for the four south Indian languages – Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. Many of the channels included in the respective lists of top five regional channels are from mixed genres – these could be news, music, movies, infotainment and spiritual channels. In many of the cases, it is often the news segment/programme of the GEC that is amongst BARC’s weekly list of top five programmes which is probably one of the reasons why a channel landed up in BARC’s top five channels list for that language in the first place. However, BARC’s top five lists of languages such as Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese, Bangla and Marathi have a channel mix that consists mainly of GECs and movies that run mainly GEC and/or movies content. 

    In the pre-Covid2019 weeks, four genres had 89 percent of television viewership share – in terms of size, they are GEC, movies, news and the kids genres.  The viewership share of these genres grew to 93 percent in week 18 of 2020 as per the 8th edition of the BARC-Nielsen report for week 18 of 2020. Please refer to the figure below:

    Overall, GEC had 52 percent viewership share in the pre-Covid2019 lockdown weeks. In the absence of fresh content, as well as stiff competition from news and movies channels, GEC viewership share declined to about 40 percent of total television consumption in week 13 of 2020 when there was huge growth in overall television consumption due to the various phases of the lockdowns in India. Considering the larger television consumption, more people preferred watching the news and movies genres, as well as the kids genre. Many GECs run movies on a regular schedule. Post the first few weeks of the Covid2019 lockdown, when the movies genre showed viewership growth, many GECs, more so in south India, started airing movies, and most still continue to do so. This helped perk up the viewership of GECs to grow.

    The Hindi GEC genre has a large combined viewership as compared to the all the other languages. BARC’s weekly lists of the top 10 Hindi GECs' growth was led by the HSM (R) market and the free platform in week 23 of 2020 as compared to week 21. Also, a number of second rung Hindi GECs and movie channels returned to DD Free Dish in June 2020. The reach and television consumption on the government’s free DTH service has brought back channels such as Sony Pal, Star Utsav, Colors Rishtey an Rishtey Cineplus back into BARC’s weekly lists of top five or 10 channels in their respective genres and across genres lists.

    The combined viewership of the top 10 Hindi GECs on All Platforms grew 4.1 percent in week 23 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. Consumption of the Top 10 Hindi GECs in the urban Hindi Speaking Market or HSM (U) in week 23 of 2020 was almost flat as compared to the previous week. Consumption of the Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U) grew just 0.8 percent as against the 10.9 percent growth in the rural hindi speaking market or HSM (R) in the period under review as compared to the previous week. Consumption of the Top 10 Hindi GECs on the free platform grew 21.1 percent in Week 23 of 2020 as compared to the Week 22. TV consumption of the top 10 Hindi GECs on the pay platform grew 1.5 percent in week under review as compared to the previous week. 

    Viewership growth was witnessed by the top five Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam and Bangla channels. Except for Tamil, the other three witnessed viewership growth in at lest three of the top 5 channels. In the case of Tamil, the Sun Tv Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV had major growth in Week 23 of 2020, with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd's Tamil flagship channel Zee Tamil showing a small amount of growth as compared to week 22. The other three channels in BARC’s weekly list of top five Tamil channels showed decline in viewership in terms of weekly impressions in week 23 of 2020 as compared to the previous week.

    Another indicator that Hindi GECs could have grown is BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 channels across genres – BARC has segmented across genres to the top 10 channels across genres on all platforms, on the pay platform and the free platform. Though the combined weekly impressions of the top 10 channels across genres on all platforms in week 23 of 2020 were almost the same (grew 0.3 percent) as compared to the previous week, a Hindi GEC replaced a Telugu channel in the weekly list during the week under review. Though the combined weekly impressions of BARC's weekly list of top 10 channels on the free platform in week 23 of 2020 declined 1.4 percent as compared to the previous week, two Hindi GECs entered the list at the cost of a Hindi movies and Bhojpuri channels. One more Hindi GEC that entered the free platform across genres list replaced another Hindi GEC. 

    The Hindi movies genre showed flat growth (combined weekly impressions of top 5 movies channels on all platforms de-grew by 0.7 percent) in week 23 of 2020 as compared to week 21. Combined weekly impressions of top 5 Hindi movies channels in HSM (U) was flat, while those in HSM (R) saw a growth of 1.9 percent in week 23 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. Combined weekly impressions of the top 5 Hindi movies on the free platform grew 6.3 percent, while on the pay platform they grew by 0.2 percent (almost flat growth).

    Further, unlike the previous weeks, news channels lost viewership if BARC’s weekly data for Top 5 Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, English, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu News channels for week 23 of 2020 is considered. The Top 5 Kannada news channels seems to be the only news genre that has bucked the trend, combined viewership of the Top 5 Kannada channels grew by a phenomenal 48.7 percent in week 23 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. In is worth noting that three of the Top 5 Tamil programmes in week 23 of 2020 were Tamil films on Sun TV, the other two were non-film GEC shows.

    Another major genre-the kids genre has shown growth, going by BARC data of the top 5 kids channels for weeks 23 and 22 of 2020 – week 23 of 2020 saw weekly impressions of top 5 kids channels grow by four percent as compared to the previous week. The combine weekly impressions of top five channels of the other genres which saw growth during the week under review as compared to the previous week were music (7.7 percent growth); English entertainment (21.2 percent growth); sports (5.7 percent growth) and infotainment (1.2 percent growth). The overall viewership share of these genres is in single digits percentage.

  • 8 Movies to Write an Analysis Paper on

    8 Movies to Write an Analysis Paper on

    Not all the movies and serial movies you watch are suitable for an analysis paper. Unfortunately, professors are often a little old-fashioned, and you should choose a movie remembering that. We have collected eight very different movies that you can find suitable for this assignment. If you need to present your teacher with several options to choose from – you can use this list right away. You can write papers with help of expert essay writers from WriteMyPaperHub, for example, or on your own, but make sure to choose the best movies not to get bored.

    12 Angry Men

    Twelve jurors sit in a stuffy room and talk. Lighting one cigarette after another, they argue whether a teenager with a flimsy alibi is guilty of killing his father. "12 Angry Men" is a society pressed into one room, where drama is played over an hour and a half of screen time, the end of which will inevitably become a unanimous decision. The film "12 Angry Men" is being studied and will be studied for a long time at the legal, psychological, and, of course, screenwriting, directing, and camera departments of universities around the world. Immortal masterpiece and unconditional classic.

    Interstellar

    In the near future, people face a terrible problem. Despite the fact that everyone has a TV and a computer, and high technology has become commonplace, because of the drought, humanity is corny enough food. The governments of different countries solve this issue in their own way, but no one can provide the inhabitants of the planet with the necessary amount of products.

    Scientists who have studied the Solar System have come to the conclusion that on no planet can humans survive. But a miracle happened, and a strange "hole" was noticed near Saturn – a transition to another galaxy. Once, a group of pioneer scientists went there, who were supposed to explore the mysterious transition and discover new planets.

    The idea to make a film based on scientific theory was invented by the American physicist Kip Thorne. He actively helped Christopher Nolan write the script for Interstellar, and he did it so well that even Stephen Hawking and Neil Degrass Tyson did not find contradictions in the scientific component of the film. Kip Thorne later wrote a book explaining the physical and astronomical foundations of Interstellar.

    The Pianist

    The masterpiece of Roman Polanski's "Pianist," based on real events, tells the audience the story of a Polish musician of Jewish origin. This film opened the name of Adrian Brody to the whole world, received three Academy Awards, and ten more prestigious cinema awards in the USA and Europe. Children and grandchildren of a real pianist Vladislav Shpilman also took part in the movie.

    Vladislav Shpilman is a fragile Polish boy with Jewish roots. Since childhood, he has been fond of music and eventually becomes a virtuoso pianist. But the years of Nazism come, and Shpilman falls into the Warsaw ghetto. There he has to forget about a brilliant career and to know the bitterness of humiliation and the pain of loss. But he does not break, continuing to fight for his life. Already during the retreat of the German army, one of the fleeing officers finds Vladislav among the rubble of the destroyed building and helps him escape from death.

    Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

    Eva Green, Judy Dench, Samuel L. Jackson, and Rupert Everett in the new film of the main Hollywood storyteller Tim Burton "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children". Young Jacob believes in the magical tales of his eccentric grandfather and does not pay attention to his peers, who, of course, laugh at a boy who is completely different from them, typical teenagers. After the death of his beloved grandfather, he inherits a strange book on the pages of which he finds the address of Miss Peregrine, the governess who took care of her grandfather in childhood. She knew how to turn into a bird, and under her wing lived a boy who could not be seen, mysterious twins, a girl who controlled the air and a baby who could carry enormous burdens. Jacob persuades his father to go to the island where this shelter is located. Finding it, the boy discovers that the house was destroyed in 1943 by a fascist shell… But he believes he can turn back the clock.

    Casablanca

    An American who has left his homeland, Rick Blaine, the owner of a casino in Casablanca, accidentally meets his girlfriend, Ilsa, who left him a few years ago, who arrived in the city with her current husband, anti-fascist resistance fighter Viktor Lazlo. The Germans are following in their wake, and Ilse is trying to persuade Rick to give him the important documents that will allow Victor to flee from Casablanca in order to continue his struggle.

    Avengers: Endgame

    The Avengers team last confronts Thanos, the most powerful villain in the universe. For the sake of victory, they will have to join forces and finally lay out all the hidden trump cards. The epic blockbuster of the film directors of Russo's brothers "Avengers: Final" concludes the story of the alliance and exploits of the old guard of superheroes performed by Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and others.

    Like Stars on the Earth

    Ishan is not good at expressing thoughts. Inside, a rainbow shines, and his parents see a lazy boy in a boy. The father sends his son to a boarding school, providing him with the ground for depression. This uncharacteristic theme for Indian cinema was chosen by Bollywood star Aamir Khan for his directorial debut.

    The film caused a serious resonance, collected a bunch of prestigious Indian film awards, was nominated, although it did not enter the short list of the Oscars, and took 119th place in the list of 250 best films according to IMDb. For Darsheel Safari, the role of Ishan was the first work in the movie. The second violin was performed by Aamir Khan himself. The duet of a boy suffering from dyslexia and a drawing teacher who saw his deep inner world turned out to be very touching.

    The Ghost Writer

    The political thriller "Ghost" by Roman Polanski after the release of the screens received favorable reviews from critics and viewers who can distinguish and appreciate good directing. In his eighty years, Polanski continues to make interesting films based on his own scripts, verified to the smallest detail. One of these works, the film "Ghost", is dedicated to the profession of "literary Negro" – the ghost of a pen, ingloriously selling his talent. The protagonist without a name or past receives a tempting offer – to work for the former Prime Minister Adam Lang. An unknown writer is hired to finish the manuscript of the previous author, who died under strange circumstances. Studying the materials presented, the hero gradually realizes that he has become a participant in the most dangerous game, inexorably leading to the deadly finale.

  • Small, mid-budget movies may take OTT route before landing in theatres amid COVID-19 crisis

    Small, mid-budget movies may take OTT route before landing in theatres amid COVID-19 crisis

    MUMBAI: A number of countries have come to a standstill along with major industries as the number of COVID-19 infections keeps increasing unabated. Theatres across India have shut down amid a 21-day-long lockdown and scheduled film releases in the country too are cancelled. Since the theatrical window is now a closed option, some of the producers and distributors might look at streaming platforms for an early release. Many major Hollywood studios have decided to make their movies available on streaming services in the US. Will India follow the pattern? Not immediately.

    The economics of movies are far from simple. Production budget is not the only major investment for a movie and ticket sale is not the only source of revenue anymore. Hence, experts believe that large-scale films in India will wait for this crisis to get over to have a proper theatrical release but mid-scale or small-budget films have higher chances of looking at streaming releases.

    SBICap Securities institutional equity research head Rajiv Sharma says that  some of the movies which are ready to release and can not be released may find themselves with OTT names. Sharma says if this lockdown is beyond 14 April, producers and distributors will need liquidity, particularly the regional film makers as they will  need to pay stuff, production costs. Hence, he thinks as such something needs to happen there.

    Elara Capital VP – research analyst (Media) Karan Taurani thinks only the smaller-budget films of Rs 10-15 core range might come but larger-budgets will still wait for theatres to open. He thinks  large-budget films will not come directly to TV or digital because the economics is very different, and too much money is at stake. Moreover, if budgets are very high, digital or satellite would not be able to compensate that budget.

    “OTT players, especially deep-pocket ones like Netflix and Amazon, will be willing to  pay for such movies as they are building their local /regional content libraries. This is a time to build that loyalty but the problem is Netflix or Amazon may find it easy but for other broadcasters who also have their OTT business may find it tricky given sharp pressure on the ad revenues on the TV side of the business. Nonetheless, they will attempt to pick a few, at least on the regional side, if possible,” Sharma adds.

    During the lockdown, over-the-top platforms have already emerged as beneficiaries as viewers now don’t have any other option of entertainment. Some of the major platforms even have pushed a few premium content for free. While content-driven digital-only films are already turning out as big trend, the platforms might even look for direct releases of the ones which have postponed release for indefinite time. According to the FICCI-EY 2020 report,  the filmed entertainment segment grew because of increased domestic theatrical revenues and growth in both rates and volume of digital rights sold. Digital rights continued to grow in 2019 with an increase in revenues from Rs 13.5 billion in 2018 to Rs 19 billion in 2019. Considerably, around 50 films made direct debut on digital platforms.

    Taurani mentions that it all depends now on how many cases develop in the next 15 days and that is the deciding factor. Also, we have to see if people will move out or the government doesn't lift the lockdown. He also cited the example of China which has opened around 1000 screens and they have slowly started revising the ticket prices downwards to motivate people to come to cinemas.

    Until there are no cases of infection or proper clarification that cases won’t rise in india,  people will probably have second thought about going to the cinema. According to him, the occupancy of cinemas, which operates 30 per cent for the multiplexes, wil get at 8-10 per cent for start which will also lead to losses.

    “Low-cost producers will be more interested in releasing on streaming platforms. Other than that, if they can get at least Rs 50-60 crore, they won’t mind. Later, they can even go for a theatrical release for lower but additional revenues,” Sharma states. Taurani is of the view that small-budget films will be able to easily recover the cost.  

    Members of the producers' guild, however, refused to comment when reached.

    Big films like Sooryavanshi have postponed their releases in this unprecedented situation. Theatres across the country did not have to shut down for such long time except during the 1984 riots. As the media and entertainment industry is now in uncharted water, there are several pressing questions which will need more time to be answered.

  • Zee Telugu to premiere ‘Dhrusti’ on 15 Dec

    Zee Telugu to premiere ‘Dhrusti’ on 15 Dec

    MUMBAI: Zee Telugu always brings the best of Telugu entertainment with a wide array of classic movies for its viewers on small screen. Decked with cinematic splendor and super visual experience, the channel has always taken the onus to showcase new enchanting movies for its audience, since inception.

    Adding to its vast repertoire of movies across genres, Zee Telugu will now host the exciting Premiere of Dhrusti on  December 15, 2019 at 12:00 PM. Drushti is directed by Ram Abbaraju staring Rahul Ravindran, Pavani Gangireddy, Vennala Kishore, Ravi Varma and Pramodini among others who play other pivotal characters in the film.The camaraderie between Rahul and Vennala Kishore turns out to be the USP of the film.

    ‘Dhrusti’ revolves around Mohan, played by Rahul Ravindran, a freelance photographer with a fractured limb, who happens to be a witness to a murder of an apartment neighbor. Despite being unaware of the killer’s identity and having reported the incident to the police, Mohan shockingly emerges as the key suspect to the murder. Will the police trust him? Just when the police think they have solved the case, a new twist leads the film.

    The film also showcases well-executed cinematography by P. Bal Reddy and mesmerizing music by Naresh Kumaranthat is sure to satiate the entertainment needs of the audiences.

    To ensure you do not miss out on your favorite Zee Telugu shows, choose the Zee Prime Pack that includes Zee Telugu, and Zee Cinemalu alongside 7 other top channels of the Zee Network that cater to the daily entertainment needs of your entire family at Rs. 20 per month only. For further information, contact your DTH or Cable operator.

  • Singapore High Court orders Internet service providers to block access to TV box apps

    Singapore High Court orders Internet service providers to block access to TV box apps

    MUMBAI: As you may already know, Singapore’s High Court has ordered Internet service providers to block access to TV box applications that allow users to stream and download content like movies, TV shows and live sports channels. This follows the hearing of a motion filed in October by Singnet, Fox Networks Group Singapore, NGC Network Asia, Fox International Channels (US) and The Football Association Premier League. The Judicial Commissioner subsequently granted the proposed orders against eight authentication server domains.

    In light of the above, we wanted to share a comment from Irdeto addressing the risks associated with accessing illegal content on such TV box applications, whether consumers do so knowingly or unknowingly, such as getting infected by malware or having one’s account credentials stolen and sold on the Dark Web for a profit. Feel free to use this comment in any follow up stories you might be working on.  

    If you have any further questions or wish to speak with an Irdeto executive, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Thank you!