Tag: Rajat Sharma

India TV announces mega conclave ‘Samvaad’

MUMBAI: While on the ratings front India TV has been breaking all records in the last few weeks, the channel announced yet another top initiative, this time in form of a full-day mega conclave. This shall be an effort to highlight the hits and misses, opportunities and challenges that will define the next three years of current NDA regime’s mandate. Modi government is completing two years in office this month.

Led by India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma, the ‘Government of Hope and Anticipation’ shall be put to test by a team of premier journalists who shall be at their grilling best while they delve deep inside the present government’s performance in its first two years.

As it is a norm with all India TV events, this Conclave too shall be studded with the biggest political decision makers from both ruling & opposition camps amongst an august gathering of delegates including top corporate honchos, Media personalities and other Newsmakers. The channel has gained a huge reputation for its top-notch on-ground initiatives over last few years, hold many promises for the avid political watchers & analysts through this initiative.

To name a few, big guns like Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadhkari, Piyush Goel, Ravishankar Prasad and Gen. V.K. Singh are not only expected to come and make some big headlines from this platform, but shall also share the stage with influential leaders from the opposition camp including Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh, Lalu Prasad and Raj Babbar amongst others. Other top dignitaries include Baba Ramdev, Madhur Bhandarkar, Kumar Vishvas and Mahmood Madani etc.

Announcing the conclave, India TV managing director Ritu Dhawan said, “Since the announcement of General Elections 2014, PM Narendra Modi has remained under constant scanner. As India’s biggest news channel, we at India TV wish to always keep our viewers on top and completion of second year of the most anticipated regime of our times, holds a lot of probing potential. This initiative is a manifestation of the same.”

This full day mega conclave will be held in New Delhi on 16th May 2016.

May 9, 2016
‘Intolerance’ news coverage receives highest coverage and viewership: TAM week 45

MUMBAI: With the number of debates and shows increasing the coverage of ‘Intolerance’, news channels are putting every effort to grab a piece of pie in terms of duration and viewership.

S-Group, an analytical arm of TAM Media Research analysed the news coverage of ‘‘Intolerance’’ by media channels. ‘Intolerance’ received highest coverage and viewership in week 45 on the English News genre with 18% coverage and 24 per cent viewership.

It received the second highest coverage and viewership in the Hindi news Genre with 13% Coverage and 12 per cent viewership. The Other top stories were on the Bihar Assembly elections and underworld don Chhota Rajan’s arrest.

In terms of duration, English news channels like News X, Times Now, and India Today gave

relatively greater focus to coverage of ‘Intolerance’ News, whereas ABP News, IBN 7, Zee News and India TV were the Hindi News channels who gave more focus to the issue.

In terms of viewership Times Now and Aaj Tak led the two genres.Amongthe English news channels, Times now got 63 percent of viewership followed by India Today with 19 per cent. Whereas in the case of

Hindi news channels like Aaj Tak got 24 per cent of the viewership and ABP followed with 20 per cent.

Many celebrities have spoken on ‘Intolerance’ and the debate shows focused on few of them like Shahrukh Khan and Anupam Kher.

But in the terms of duration and viewership, Anupam Kher received maximum focus in the discussions with 20 per cent share on duration basis, while Shahrukh Khan led with 20 per cent in viewership on English News channels.

On Hindi news channels, Anupam Kher led both in duration as well as in viewership with 14 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

(Hindi News: TG – CS 15+, Market – HSM; English News: TG – CS 25+ Male AB, Market – All India 1Mn+)

The report was sampled by approximately 19 per cent audiences across all markets in India by TAM. Karnataka including Bangalore contributed 36% to the Viewership of Report on ‘Intolerance’ in the English News genre, especially as the murdered writer Kalburgi belonged to Karnataka.

Rajat Sharma from NDTV and Arnab Goswami from Times Now had the highest viewership with 10 per cent and 41 per cent on Hindi and English News genres respectively.

The issue of ‘Intolerance’ continues to intensify as people like Minister VK Singh and the Dalai Lama have spoken on it. As to ‘Intolerance’ being of national interest, its stories are engaging people; grabbing more attention as many artists, historians and writer have returned awards given to them by the government.

News channels are focusing on the subject as it receives heavy amount of viewership. With more comments coming in from politicians and public figures, only time will tell how events unfold in News genre in the future.

November 16, 2015
Rajat Sharma re-elected president of News Broadcasters Association

NEW DELHI: India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma has been re-elected as president of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) for 2015-16, while ABP News Network CEO Ashok Venkataramani has been elected as the vice president.

On the other hand, News24 Broadcast India chairperson and managing director Anurradha Prasad was reappointed as honorary treasurer.

The other Members on the NBA Board are: NDTV Group executive vice chairperson K V L Narayan Rao, TV Today Network CEO Ashish Bagga, Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand, Zee Media Corporation CEO Ashish Kirpal Pandit, TV18 Broadcast group CEO A P Parigi and Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd. whole-time director M V Shreyams Kumar.

September 23, 2015
NBA apprises new I&B secretary Sunil Arora with revenue models of news b’casters

NEW DELHI: The newly appointed Information and Broadcasting Ministry secretary Sunil Arora was today apprised of various issues relating to news broadcasters in a wide-ranging discussion with the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).

NBA president Rajat Sharma told indiantelevision.com that all issues including the ad cap were discussed with Arora.

The meeting comes soon after the adjournment of the ad cap case to 23 September by Delhi High Court.

This is the first meeting of the new secretary who took over on 31 August, 2015.

Issues relating to carriage with multi system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) and revenue models for growth of the industry were also discussed.

The delegation led by Sharma comprised NDTV’s Narayan Rao, Ashok Venkatramani of ABP News, Anuradha Prasad of News 24, Ashish Bagga of India Today, A P Parigi of Network 18 and NBA secretary general Annie Joseph.

Special secretary J.S. Mathur was also present in the meeting.

The delegation also apprised the secretary about the initiatives taken by the broadcasting industry in the direction of self-regulation which includes working of News Broadcasters Standards Authority (NBSA), an independent authority set up by NBA and the two tier mechanism of complaints redressal relating to news channel followed by them.

September 10, 2015
TAM week 32: Star Plus sees ascend in ratings

MUMBAI: After continuous decline in the ratings over the last few weeks, Star Plus in week 32 of TAM ratings, observed an ascend as the channel registered 246 GRPs compared to 229 GRPs in week 31.

Colors at the second spot also saw a slight ascend as the ratings went up from 202 GRPs to 207 GRPs in week 32. On the other hand, Zee TV, in the third spot, has gone down from 153 GRPs to 148 GRPs in week 32.

SAB continued to stay put in the fourth slot with 144 GRPs, while Life OK garnered 121 GRPs to grab the fifth berth. Sony Entertainment Television secured the sixth position with 105 GRPs while &TV with 61 GRPs sat at seventh slot.

Aaj Tak with 26 GRPs topped the list of most watched Hindi news channels in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM) and was followed by ABP News with 22 GRPs. Rajat Sharma’s India TV secured the third slot with 21 GRPs.

August 13, 2015
Rajat Sharma gets Padma Bhushan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Tarak Mehta receive Padma Shri

NEW DELHI: Senior media person Rajat Sharma today received the Padma Bhushan from Indian president Pranab Mukherjee at a function in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

A former Information and Broadcasting Minister, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

Carnatic composer and vocalist Sudha Raghunathan also received the award at the event attended among others by vice president Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This is the first part of the presentation of the civilian Republic Day honours, which have been split into two in view of the large number of awardees. The second event is expected to be held around 8 April.

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was also presented the Padma Shri, apart from author Tarak Mehta on whose writings the popular television series Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma is based.

Cartoonist and Chacha Choudhary creator Pran Kumar Sharma, who died in August last year, was given the Padma Shri award posthumously.

March 30, 2015
Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan get Padma Vibhushan

MUMBAI: Legendary Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar and megastar Amitabh Bachchan have been conferred with the second highest national honour – the Padma Vibhushan – in the Republic Day honours this year.

A former Information and Broadcasting Minister, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani has also been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

India TV’s Rajat Sharma, Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua, carnatic composer and vocalist Sudha Raghunathan, and khayal and dhrupad classical vocalist Dr. (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj are also among the recipients of the Padma Bhushan.

The Padma Shri awardees include filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, wildlife and natural life filmmaker Naresh Bedi, veteran music director Ravindra Jain, lyricist Prasoon Joshi and author Tarak Mehta on whose writings the popular television series ‘Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma’ is based.

Recipients of Padma Shri from the music field include carnatic music vocalist A. Kanyakumari, Oriya singer and musician Prafulla Kar, Shillong Chamber Choir founder Neil Herbert Nongkynrih, music composer and singer Shekhar Sen and Hindustani classical vocalist Tripti Mukherjee, who is now based in the United States.

Cartoonist and ‘Chacha Choudhary’ creator Pran Kumar Sharma who died in August last year has also been named posthumously for the Padma Shri.

The Bachchan family now boasts of six Padma awards: Amitabh has earlier received the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan; his late father Harivansh Rai Bachchan received the Padma Bhushan, and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan have also received the Padma Shri.

January 27, 2015
Ad Cap: Broadcasters buoyed by Arun Jaitley’s comment

MUMBAI: While delivering speech at the first Justice J. S Verma Memorial lecture Information and Broadcasting Minster of India Arun Jaitley opposed the concept of Ad Cap in channels. He termed this concept as a contradiction to the Article 19 (i) A of Indian constitution.

Jaitley had said, “With the growth of digital platforms, news channels are going to find it immensely difficult to survive. The definition of news has changed; it was accuracy then and spontaneity now.”

With this Jaitley stressed on the fact that as news is now immediately available on the digital platforms, lesser people will tune into the television for the same.

NDTV executive vice-chairperson KVL Narayan Rao said, “If this development turns real it will put an end to the lengthy sustaining debate. We will be extremely delighted and grateful to the government as we have been campaigning for this since a long time now. It will strengthen the development and bring a balance as the distribution charge is very high and the major source of revenue is advertisement.”

The Minister, during his speech also noted how distribution costs were “phenomenally high.” He was of the opinion that low revenues in the media industry is a threat as it leaves direct effect on quality in terms of news gathering and reporting. “Low revenue will result in numerous amalgamations and takeovers,” Jaitley had said.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on Jaitley’s remark on Ad Cap, Multi Screen Media president Rohit Gupta said, “We were never in favour of ad cap and see this comment of the Minister as a positive step. This will enable us to develop and hence I appreciate and welcome the statement.”

The I&B Minster had also mentioned that many a times he come across speeches that he actually never delivered. According to him, these things happened due to two reasons: 1) Misinterpretation by the reporter in charge, and (2) In order to generate more TRP both are directly proportional to revenue. “If adequate revenue is generated then companies will have better reporters and there will be less thrive for TRP and hence the final product will be more credible,” he said.

Appreciation also came from India TV editor in chief and chairman and News Broadcaster’s Association president Rajat Sharma. “News broadcasters have been raising this issue for more than a year now, I am happy that Arun Jaitley has understood the problem. He has realised that ad cap will make news channels unviable but more important is the minister’s view that the ad cap is against freedom of expression provided in the Constitution of India.”

Focus News managing editor Shailesh Kumar termed it as a move in the right direction. He said “If the remark of I&B Minister on Ad Cap turns into a decision, it will be a blessing for the channels. Most of the channels are going through a tough time and need to generate more revenue.”

On the other hand, Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka was of a slightly different opinion. While speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Goenka said, “It is a good move for news and music channels.” Separating his channel from the others, he further added, “Zee will continue to follow the ad cap. The ministry comes up with such statements and many fall for the trap.”

Jaitley concluded his speech by saying, “It will be music to Rajat (Sharma) and other media person’s ear on hearing this view from me. My I&B Ministry, a couple of years ago came out with a statutory amendment to law saying no channel will telecast advertising beyond so many minutes, since then I am struggling in my own mind as how this meets the challenge of Article 19 (i) A (of Indian Constitution). Is the government suppose to say how much news and how much advertisement or it should be viewers prerogative to switch when it turns monotonous.”

The controversial law was invoked by the Authority in May 2012 and it was disputed by television broadcasters, who had also challenged the jurisdiction of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in this regard before the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

The News Broadcaster’s Association (NBA) along with others had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial air time on television channels. The Delhi High Court panel led by Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai adjourned the petition till 24 March, 2015.

Meanwhile TRAI gave assurance of taking no action against any channel till the matter is resolved in court. The regulator’s instance, directed all channels to keep a record of the advertisements run by them. It can be noted that the ad cap case was adjourned to 21 January, 2015 when it last came up for hearing on 20 November, 2014.

January 26, 2015
“Thanks to fruitful elections, balance sheets look better in 2014”: Rajat Sharma

The news industry has taken a full circle – from providing welfare information to entertainment to astrology to cricket to sensationalism and now almost pure news taking back the centre stage. In a recent phase, news channels were dominated by frivolous content and Hindi news channels stood as the main suspects. The industry has worked really hard get over it to regain its lost respect. I can now safely say that “NEWS IS BACK”.

While the news channels have proved themselves as an effective platform for promoting culture, movies, sports and many other activities, at the same time they have played a pivotal and decisive role in tackling core issues like corruption, rape, terrorism and inflation. Relentless coverage of Delhi rape case, Anna Hazare’s Lokpal agitation, 26/11 etc. to name a few stand a testimony to that fact.

Despite the fact that news channels comprise an enormously important element of the socio-economic and geo-political ecosystem of the country, most such channels are facing monetary issues – characterised by negative pressures on the revenue toplines and ever increasing costs. The current year though may prove to be an exception and the respective balance sheets may look better than explained, because the industry has seen a relatively long and fruitful election season.

The carriage fees regime stemming out of the analogue pipeline (despite a couple of phases of digitisation already complete) still plagues the industry. However, with the recent developments over the last couple of years, we hope that the actual correction (from digitisation) will start happening in the near future.

The increased bandwidth due to transition to the DAS regime, will not only push the carriage fee down, but also bring in the transparency that shall further help proper monetary compensation for the operators so that the pressure can further reduce on broadcasters. This will help boost the profitability and further the cause of more investments in developing quality content that will be dished out with better audio/video quality.

What could have been another blow to the industry, which is already reeling under multiple pressures, a 12 min/hour advertising cap that was introduced by TRAI for all the channels. We are happy that after a series of discussions with TRAI and TDSAT, High Court has finally put a stay on the same.

I think it’s time now that broadcasters should unite and work towards the growth of broadcasting industry that not only provides employment to thousands but is an important pillar of India’s democracy. In an example of this unity, IBF & NBA along with other industry stakeholders, have created BARC as an alternate to TAM which we are sure will be a transparent and incorruptible currency.

(These are purely personal views of India TV chairman and editor in chief Rajat Sharma and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

December 16, 2014
Subhash Chandra knew I had a winning concept: Rajat Sharma

“In the 21 years of this show, nobody has been forced to reply, Rajat knows the art of extracting a reply through his sweet questioning. Another big quality of Rajat is that he uses his tongue sparingly in his show, but he uses his heart to the fullest. A clever mind works behind this,” is how Prime Minister Narendera Modi described the man who has been for 21 years making the icons of the country answerable.

Rajat Sharma’s journey with ‘Aap ki Adalat’ began with Zee TV in 1994 and from then there has been no stopping. The talk show has seen politicians, sportspersons, celebrities and others pour out their heart as well answer some of the trickiest questions.

Amidst the celebrations, indiantelevision.com’s Meghna Sharma in a freewheel chat with Sharma spoke about what keeps him ticking, his favourite interview and much more.

Excerpts…

21 years is a long time, what do you have to say about the journey? What keeps you ticking?

It still feels that the journey has just begun; all my memories with the show are still very fresh. The type of guests we have hosted on ‘Aap Ki Adalat,’ their replies, the viewers’ response, the in-studio audiences, the ambience that makes me feel at home every time I step into the Adalat Studio, the affection showered upon me, probably the never-ending love of my viewers…all makes me feel really blessed and probably gives me the strength to keep going.

When did you come up with the idea of starting ‘Aap ki Adalat’? Any glitches faced while launching the show?

The idea came up in a casual conversation with Zee TV owner Subhash Chandra on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai, 21 years ago. Without much thinking I told Subhash Chandra how the interviews should be done for TV. I told him about putting politicians in the dock and making them accountable to public. After we landed I forgot about the conversation. Subhash Chandra, however, was quick to realise that I had come up with a winning concept.

Your most memorable interview so far and why?

Like I said, all of my interviews have been really special and still very fresh in my memory, however if you tell me to pick one, I would pick the one with the then PM candidate, Narendra Modi. The reason for my pick is not only did the show created a huge ripple in the broadcast media Industry, when almost India’s 85 per cent news audiences watched the show’s first telecast with competition reduced to negligible numbers but also because of spontaneity and ease with which Mr. Modi responded even to the trickiest questions…given the fact that he had a really bad throat after addressing six-odd election rallies during the hectic campaign spree. We weren’t expecting more than 15 minutes of shoot. We ended up shooting him for over two hours and the result was breathtaking.

Whom/what do you attribute this success to? How do you still maintain the charm of the show?

Talking of success, I am very sure that it wouldn’t have been the way it is now if the director of my show, who also is my wife, Ritu Dhawan wouldn’t have been around. She is the one who has been standing like a rock behind my success…taking care of everything, from my looks to the positioning of the show, she is everywhere.

I have always believed in doing my job right and just focus on that. We have been able to create the right mix of depth, detailing and research mixed with the right amount of humour, we have ensured to keep the show relevant to the changing preferences of the audiences over the last two decades, probably that’s what you are referring to as charm.

After 21 years, will we see any changes in the format?

Change is inevitable, however more than planning any such change we would rather keep ourselves adaptive to what our audiences would prefer.

From President to PM to celebs, everyone attended the celebrations. What do you have to say about the support?

One word, I am overwhelmed. Feeling deeply humbled. While just focusing on my work, I never expected the amount of affection and respect showered upon me by all including country’s topmost icons. I am more than grateful to all and most to my viewers who have backed me all through as their advocate while I tried to amplify their voice with who mattered.

December 6, 2014