ITV

Tag: news television

  • CNN-News18 Launches ‘Reporters Project’

    CNN-News18 Launches ‘Reporters Project’

    MUMBAI: News television has become circumscribed by big debates and studio shows. In the process, ground reports that help us understand what’s really going on with people, are rare.  CNN-News18 wants to change the existing paradigm with its new showReporters Project. The show launches on August 11 and will leverage the channel’s extensive network of seasoned reporters.

    In line with channel’s commitment to bring diverse news based content,Reporters Project will have reporters travel the length and breadth of the nation capturing ground realities, assessing issues and recording the sentiments of the people at the centre of any news story.

    Reporters Project will provide visually compelling story-telling that will literally takes the viewers to where the story is. The show will also experiment with presentation formats where the story will dictate the form of the narrative.Reporters Project will aim to open up your weekends.

  • GUEST COLUMN: Is The Current News Dumbing Us Down?

    “Sonu Nigam Quits Twitter!!”flashed on my TV screen today morning. We obviously thought this was worthy of coverage at a national level, because the ‘breaking news’ kept playing in loop for a considerable period of time. 

    When CNN covered the Gulf war in the early 90s, it was to be the coming of age of News television. As explosion after explosion played out on the screen to the background score of intermittent gun-fire, News was suddenly more interesting than daily soaps and movies. This was information, played out in real time, offered without filter or opinion. The promise of a new age of journalism was immense, and Indian news channels mushrooming over the next decade carried this promise with them. 

    Cut to today, when the same channels are falling over each other purely with an objective to grab eyeballs. Celeb gossip has replaced substance, leaving crucial news stories and events to fade away, thus resulting in what is called the‘dumbing down’ of us, the audience. Issues that have no worth culturally or socially are being brought to the forefront and as breaking news.Today, when a celeb singer was quitting a social media platform as breaking news, a major bus accident in Uttarkashi was relegated to the background. In layman terms, breaking news refers to events that are unexpected and impromptu. 

    Clearly, news topics such as politics or calamities are a lot harder to report on in an interesting way. While allnews channels pursue stories of lesser significance, some may even choose to embrace it as their lead story. After all, in order to hold more viewership than that of the competitions’, it obviously must be something that entertains and excites.As a result, we are forced to air content that is appealing to masses because we gauge both news and non-news by the same yardstick.

    Television is primarily consumed for entertainment and anything that’s entertainment will get the numbers, anything that’s not will simply miss out on the ratings. As a result, globally in the current scenario, most of the news stories cater only to human interest. 
    Ideally, there should be six factors thatmake a story newsworthy- 

    public://p1.jpg

    How is the content of a news channel judged?

    Arbitrating the content of a news channel is a subjective call. It is not a mechanical process, there has to be human intervention to gauge the quality of what is being aired, which would be the 5 factors covered above along with On-Air presentation.

    The other even more critical factor – Distribution.

    public://p2.jpg

    News ratings are direct impact of distribution and affinity from a panel, relevant to news itself, while taking distribution factors into consideration.What news is witnessing today is more the consequence of the Medium’s Measurement Methodology, than that of Distribution’s Multi-LCN phenomena. 

    The import lies in being able to measure news qualitatively on-air, and cannot be limited to extrapolation of minute by minute viewing data.Furthermore, there are content affinity (On-Air presentation) factors that impact news delivery today- starting from News Pick, Graphic Display, Screen Packaging, Treatment to LIVE, Anchor Presentation, Expert Panel Members and so on.  

    Coming to distribution, there are critical factors like Pack Placement by MSOs leading to Channel Non-availability in the Universe, Multi LCNs, Landing Channels, EPG Ranking, Channel Neighbourhood, etc. It is therefore important to factor the Universe delivery and presentation dynamics, in the viewership measurement methodology, as the Sample itself derives itself from the Universe. In the Universe lie 6000+ Towns, 6 Lac+ Villages, 1200+ licensed /otherwise channels, 60,000+ LMOs and some 5000 large and independent Distribution Providers.

    public://p33.jpg

    It is time the industry understands the grave impact the delivery chain has on Viewership Measurement. In my view, On-Air factors (qualitative) married with Off-Air factors (distribution) would create abalanced News Viewership Index, thus making way for news that is relevant, fair and informative.

    public://pankaj.jpgPankaj Krishna is the founder & CEO of Chrome Data Analytics & Media Pvt. Ltd. Views expressed are personal, and indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them.

     

  • Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand speaks out on l’affaire Arnab

    Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand speaks out on l’affaire Arnab

    MUMBAI: Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand is known to be a rather reticent kind of executive. He would rather keep a low profile and speak only when he is approached. So, when he decides to open up to the media, there’s obviously something he wants to set right.

    Says he: “Ever since Arnab’s departure, the rumour mills have been running amok and a lot of canards have been let loose. I would like to set them right.”

    According to Anand, first is the buzz that Arnab left because he was being sidelined, and that he did not have much editorial independence. “The fact is that there was zero pressure on him,” he says. “We don’t meddle with the editorial policy. I have spoken to him on content matters only twice since I have been here. And, the shareholders do not really get in to day-to-day operations at all.”

    Anand shares that it was Arnab who announced his departure to his team before putting out his resignation to him, and let it to go viral on social media.

    “We share a good relationship. We continued carrying his picture and name on the shows he used to host for a long time even after he announced his departure. Even on the last day, I had lunch with him and there was no negativity. I would have loved to retain him. I was saddened to see him go and, of course, I miss him,” he acknowledges.

    Anand berates the fact that there seems to be a campaign to malign Times Now. “People were saying that Times Now and Arnab are synonymous. That Times Now has sunk after Arnab. BARC data shows otherwise. Week 1-45 of this year, Times Now had an audience share of 41 per cent; week 46-50 it has the same 41 per cent,” he says.

    Then, there is the rumour that the news channel lost Rs 100 crore in revenue post-Arnab. “Untrue again. While I believe it’s worth that much, I wish we made so much money on NewsHour that he used to anchor,” he expresses.

    Market estimates are that Arnab’s prime time shows contributed around Rs 50-60 crore to the channel’s top line, figures which Anand is unwilling to confirm.

    “The advertisers who were there when Arnab was anchoring are there even when he is not,” says he. “Just take a look at the Adex data for October and November.”

    What Anand wants to finally rectify is the perception that hordes of journalists have followed in the wake of Arnab. “Times Now has 320 employees,” he says. “Nine have left. We have a normal attrition rate of 25 per cent which is about 80 people leaving each year or around six to seven staffers each month. If we lose nine people, it does not mean there has been an exodus. 311 staffers have chosen to stay on.”

  • Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand speaks out on l’affaire Arnab

    Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand speaks out on l’affaire Arnab

    MUMBAI: Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand is known to be a rather reticent kind of executive. He would rather keep a low profile and speak only when he is approached. So, when he decides to open up to the media, there’s obviously something he wants to set right.

    Says he: “Ever since Arnab’s departure, the rumour mills have been running amok and a lot of canards have been let loose. I would like to set them right.”

    According to Anand, first is the buzz that Arnab left because he was being sidelined, and that he did not have much editorial independence. “The fact is that there was zero pressure on him,” he says. “We don’t meddle with the editorial policy. I have spoken to him on content matters only twice since I have been here. And, the shareholders do not really get in to day-to-day operations at all.”

    Anand shares that it was Arnab who announced his departure to his team before putting out his resignation to him, and let it to go viral on social media.

    “We share a good relationship. We continued carrying his picture and name on the shows he used to host for a long time even after he announced his departure. Even on the last day, I had lunch with him and there was no negativity. I would have loved to retain him. I was saddened to see him go and, of course, I miss him,” he acknowledges.

    Anand berates the fact that there seems to be a campaign to malign Times Now. “People were saying that Times Now and Arnab are synonymous. That Times Now has sunk after Arnab. BARC data shows otherwise. Week 1-45 of this year, Times Now had an audience share of 41 per cent; week 46-50 it has the same 41 per cent,” he says.

    Then, there is the rumour that the news channel lost Rs 100 crore in revenue post-Arnab. “Untrue again. While I believe it’s worth that much, I wish we made so much money on NewsHour that he used to anchor,” he expresses.

    Market estimates are that Arnab’s prime time shows contributed around Rs 50-60 crore to the channel’s top line, figures which Anand is unwilling to confirm.

    “The advertisers who were there when Arnab was anchoring are there even when he is not,” says he. “Just take a look at the Adex data for October and November.”

    What Anand wants to finally rectify is the perception that hordes of journalists have followed in the wake of Arnab. “Times Now has 320 employees,” he says. “Nine have left. We have a normal attrition rate of 25 per cent which is about 80 people leaving each year or around six to seven staffers each month. If we lose nine people, it does not mean there has been an exodus. 311 staffers have chosen to stay on.”

  • The year of the great tossing

    The year of the great tossing

    The year Indian news television channels got a sneak peek at what Pi Patel must have experienced while battling the raging storm in mid-seas in Ang Lee’s Life award winning Life Of Pi. Like Pi, news channels were tossed around, heaved up and down, had spear sharp rain and high waves buffeting them, got scalded by the hot sun, went through bouts of starvation and dying thirst – and they lived – at least most of them did – to tell the tale. It was a tough, tough year for them no doubt.

    Rising inflation, a tough economic environment which saw advertising spends being slashed, rising costs for carriage on cable TV and DTH, further fragmentation and evaporation of viewership – all led to their top lines and even bottomlines being beaten black and blue. Net result: layoffs, restructuring, reorganisation, was the name of the game. To top it all, the regulators – the Information & Broadcast (I&B) ministry and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) – too got into the act. The I&B pushed ahead with its digitisation drive even as it cracked down on them for paid content, and the TRAI ordered a reduction in advertising time permitted on air on channels.

    The news television industry has always had problems of plenty. More than 100 TV channels battle for a piffling Rs 2000 crore in ad spends. And more jumped onto the bandwagon during 2013 -an estimate is that around 25 new news channels made their debut. As though there wasn’t enough competition for the small morsels of advertising available in the various states and languages all over the country. But what kept the whole industry gloomy was the heartbeat aka advertising revenue which stayed flat for the whole year; and for some it even dipped. The big players were the ones who got to taste a little blood while the others struggled to make money out of inventory.

    The alarm bells started ringing out earlier in the year when TAM Media the viewership ratings agency did a rejig with its panels and started reporting on LC1 towns and also a new set of data reflecting the digitisation that was spreading across phase 1 towns. As an outcome, some of the channels ended up showing near zero viewership. TAM said this was because real viewership patterns were cropping up with deeper penetration of people meters.

    NDTV India, one of the older news broadcast networks, tried in vain to prosecute TAM’s parent AC Nielsen in the US on charges of fraud, but the NY court shooed it away, saying it should fight the legal battle on Indian turf. Allegations of TAM being rigged started rising to a cacophony and unanimously several channels decided to unsubscribe from TAM including NDTV, Times, CNN and Zee. A fierce battle issued between channels, advertisers and TAM that also saw support grow for the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).Angry advertisers threatened to pull out advertisements from channels that had unsubscribed from TAM- including the seven big networks. After weeks of an impasse, resolution finally came about with rolling ratings of four weeks and silver, gold and platinum packs for clients. The major change coming about was the conversion of TRPs to TVTs. Satisfied channels finally went back to TAM but are still clinging on to the new lifeline-BARC.

    It was in the second quarter of the year that a bunch of channels in Kolkata under the Saradha group went belly up with the financial and real estate group going bust. Questions were raised about the MIB’s laxity in issuing broadcasting licences. In a bid to tighten its procedures, it wrote to all channels, asking them to provide them with details about their operations and to see if they were still complying with the licence terms. Some 67 channels did not; and had their licences revoked. The MIB also became stricter about norms relating to directorial appointments on news channels’ boards.

    But the big big fight of the year was the one that blew up when the TRAI introduced a quality of service regulation that restricted advertising air time to just 12 minutes per hour. Broadcasters who were accustomed to showing 20 to 25 minutes of ads experienced a jolt when this came out. They all collectively revolted, specially the news channels claiming that their revenue would be affected in an industry that is already suffering much losses. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) also met the I&B ministry to ask TRAI to go easy on this regulation.The industry seems to have pacified the ministry on the content front at least, with the NBA, the Broadcast Editors Association, and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF)’s Broadcast Complaints Content Council (BCCC) in place. This despite, 2013 saw paid news being discussed very aggressively. Suggestions to set up a body to monitor broadcast – just like how the Press Council of India (PCI) does for the print media – were made. But the NBA opposed this strongly, saying that the self-regulatory mechanisms that are in place are enough to ensure that the news channels stay in line.

    The news channels yelped that they feared a shut down if the ad cap were to be implemented right away. They suggested that the ad cap, if necessary to be implemented, should be concurrent with the completion of digitisation in the country as then there would be more revenue flowing in. I&B minister Manish Tewari seemed to concur and even came out in their support on this approach.

    The interim order got smiles on some of their phases. The year 2013 was choppy to say the least for most of the news industry. High carriage fees, a slowdown in advertising growth, and extremely thin subscription revenues had forced even the older and long established news networks to look for solutions to keep their businesses viable. Almost all of them reorganized, consolidated their news operations which led to lopping off of bloated employee payrolls. The big buzzword during the year was the integrated newsroom – wherein a centralized bureau of journos and news crew helps service web, TV, and other online properties for a news network having several news channels.Finally the regulator decided to give the news channels some more time. A new advertising limit per hour was set. 20 minutes of ad time for news channels and 16 minutes for GECs till 30 September and after that everyone would have to together switch to 12 minutes and would have to submit compliance reports. But this formula did not go down well with the NBA even as the TRAI announced that it would rap violators on their knuckles. Some NBA members– along with some other niche channels – decided to take steps to protect themselves. They challenged TRAI’s mandate in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) which heard arguments from all the affected parties for nearly 20 days. The NBA’s appeal to the tribunal got them an interim order preventing the regulator from taking any action against erring channels, allowing them to heave a collective sigh of relief. Even as the TDSAT was about to deliver its judgment, a coincidental verdict was given by the Supreme Court which stated that the tribunal had no power to hear or adjudicate on challenges to TRAI regulations. Swiftly, the TDSAT dismissed the case and the NBA immediately moved the Delhi Court to hear its plea. The Delhi High Court after listening to the initial appeal decided to get into its details later, giving the next hearing date as 13 March 2014. It however gave an interim order disallowing the TRAI from taking any coercive actions against channels not following the 12 minute ad cap.

    At the time of writing, Zee Media Corp was slated to take the same route following the announcement of the merger of DMCL – the company that produces the Times of India-challenger newspaper DNA – with it. It had prepared for the merger by donning a new moniker, dropping Zee News and naming itself as Zee Media Corp. The year saw it running a skeleton Telugu news channel, even as it launched Zee Rajasthan Plus.Network18, NDTV, UTV Bloomberg, BAG Network, among many others shed staff. Network 18 bid adieu to nearly 350 people, NDTV shut down its Mumbai bureau itself and Bloomberg handed over the much dreaded pink slip to 30 staffers. Roles of those retained were redefined and they were given additional responsibilities.

    Several other new offerings are lined up for 2014 including an English news channel, English business channel and two regional channels for Odisha and Bihar-Jharkhand . The company also repackaged itself and came up with a new positioning which seeks to attract India’s youth to watch its news channels.

    The year 2014 looks set to be an exciting one with national elections on the anvil. Even international channels have taken note of this with Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC World News sprucing up their presence in the country. But there are challenges that the broadcast news sector will have to face: the ad cap situation needs resolution, carriage fees need further reduction, and the struggle to make money continues. But what’s keeping the sector hopeful is the scheduled completion of digitisation by end 2014. The hope is that the dark clouds will part to reveal a silver lining. And then clear skies.With controversy surrounding the Sahara group and its consistent clashes with the Securities Exchange Board of India, it decided to drop the Sahara name from all the channels, retaining the Samay as a brand. India TV too changed its complete look while it has also brought on board several news professionals including veteran Q W Naqvi. Bag Films hired former Star group president Ravina Raj Kohli on its advisory board while IBN7 CEO Dilip Venkatraman left the organisation after giving it a new look. The ABP group announced that it would launch new services but was stalled on account of the MIB’s tough stance on licensing norms and procedures. Even then a rumour that persisted through the year was the rumour that its former partner Star India would re-enter the news channel business.

    The year 2014 looks set to be an exciting one with national elections on the anvil. Even international channels have taken note of this with Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC World News sprucing up their presence in the country. But there are challenges that the broadcast news sector will have to face: the ad cap situation needs resolution, carriage fees need further reduction, and the struggle to make money continues. But what’s keeping the sector hopeful is the scheduled completion of digitisation by end 2014. The hope is that the dark clouds will part to reveal a silver lining. And then clear skies.