ITV

Tag: Rajdeep Sardesai

  • CNN-IBN launches special series on ‘Retail Revolution’

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN is launching a special series ‘Retail Revolution’ on the booming retail business in India. The week long series will look at the distinctly transforming face of retail, with a special focus on its effects on the towns and villages across the country.

    Retail Revolution will feature stories on issues that include the impact of retail prosperity on farmers; changes in rural households; the fate of small-scale traders; people’s changing eating and shopping habits; availability of big brands in small-towns, and the altering landscape of leisure and entertainment retail with the proliferation of multiplexes.

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “The pattern of consumption, both amongst urban and rural Indians, is changing at a rapid pace. ‘Retail Revolution’, therefore, is our attempt at providing an insight into this fascinating and dynamic phenomenon that is affecting consumers, traders and industries alike.”

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 national sales head Sanjay Dua said, “The series is bound to draw interest from all segments of our audience as ‘retail’ is something that touches everyone – whether a housewife, teenager, businessman, or any other. Therefore, those choosing to advertise with us will find this property particularly lucrative.”

  • CNN-IBN launches ‘All about the Money’

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN has launched a weekend show All about the Money. The half-hour show will provide guidance on issues relating to savings and investments.

    Each episode will be divided into a number of segments like ‘personal finance’, ‘realty check’, ‘consumer watch’, ‘indulge’, ‘class room explainers’ and ‘business unusual’.

    The segment ‘personal finance’ will provide guidance on insurance and mutual funds to banking and tax law and ‘realty check’ will provide map of realty prices and broker tips on investments.

    ‘Consumer watch’ highlights the after-sale services of companies and facilitates in addressing consumer woes. ‘Indulge’ reviews the latest consumer launch of the week. While ‘class room explainers’ answers basic questions related to personal wealth management, ‘business unusual’ explores money-making business ideas.

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “All about the Money is our endeavour in helping the discerning viewer on how best to invest his disposable income in order to receive maximum returns. The main aim of the show is to provide methods of financial enhancement that are simple and comprehensible.”

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 national sales head Sanjay Dua said, “All about the Money is the sort of show that would be of interest to everyone – whether a working professional, housewife or even someone who has just started earning. I am confident our advertising associates will find this property most lucrative in providing their brands excellent visibility.”

  • CNN IBN announce ‘Indian of the year’ awards

    CNN IBN announce ‘Indian of the year’ awards

    Mumbai: The winners of the ‘CNN IBN Indian of the year’ awards for sports, politics and business were announced by the channel. Golfer Jeev Milkha Singh won in the sports category while Dr. Manmohan Singh and Ratan Tata were winners in the politics and business category respectively.

    The winners in each category were chosen through a public voting process and the Electoral College.

    “I would like to convey my heartiest congratulations to the three winners for being chosen the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in their respective fields. They are truly the most deserving aspirants emerging successful despite tough competition from fellow nominees and a rigorous selection process involving the public and Electoral College. Their various endeavours and achievements have made the nation hold its head high with pride- making them true Indian icons,” says CNN IBN and IBN 7 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

  • CNN-IBN and IBN 7 to conduct Indo-Pak poll in ‘State of the Nation’

    MUMBAI: To celebrate the 60 years of Independence, IBN 7 and CNN-IBN is re-starting the channels’ flagship public opinion series State of the Nation. The opinion series will involve a two nation simultaneous opinion poll conducted by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in India and AC Nielsen in Pakistan.

    Beginning on 12 august in CNN-IBN and IBN 7, the three half-an-hour episode series will have a final one-hour show on 15 August.

    The bi-nation poll divided into four parts includes the Kashmir question, opinion about India, Pakistan and the World, the political debate — UPA in India, General as dictator in Pakistan and people to people show, Indian and Pakistani citizens on each other.

    The bi-nation opinion poll will be based on face-to-face interviews with about 2500 respondents each in India and Pakistan, broadly representing the regional and social diversity of each country.

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Both India and Pakistan have come a long way since Independence in 1947, despite once being a single entity. While myriad socio-political and economic differences have arisen between the two countries in the past 60 years, our cultural and historical links are nonetheless still the same. Our attempt at such a poll is to understand these very differences and commonalities from both sides of the border and possibly work towards a more affable future.”

    IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh said, “Don’t you ever wonder what our Pakistani counterparts think about us? Do they hate us, like us or are indifferent to our existence? What about the Kashmiris? This particular edition of State of the Nation is one of its kind and will attempt to provide answers to these questions straight from the horse’s mouth.”

    CNN-IBN and IBN national sales head Sanjay Dua said,”State of the Nation has always been extremely popular with our viewers. However, this particular version is in a league of its own as it involves the first-ever bi-nation opinion poll of its kind. This property speaks for itself and will prove a lucrative platform for those looking to advertise with us.”

  • Rising India: longest single-theme TV programming with some soul in it

    NEW DELHI: India’s longest and largest single-theme television programming – “Rising India” from the TV 18 group’s CNN IBN and IBN 7 – is poised to stun the viewers with an array of episodes such as a renowned historian explaining history through cricket, or a modern music icon leading a host of rock bands in an ensemble of patriotic songs in a modern package.

    In an exclusive interview, Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor in Chief of CNN IBN and Ashutosh, Managing Editor, IBN 7 told indiantelevision.com the idea was to showcase Indian achievements on TV in the 60th year of Independence since even at the time of the Golden Jubilee, TV had not really taken off.

    The programme will air every day from August 10 to mark the occasion of Independence Day, but has really started from 1 January, when the series started off, and is about to reach its flashiest best, in content and presentation.

    The key question is about showcasing Indianness, which Ashutosh said should be the modern India of software engineers and scientists – not the jholawallahs treated as cabbies in the West – and the rural India.”

    Ashutosh laughs nervously at the question that has baffled almost everyone, and says: “India is changing so fast it is really difficult to put it one word, so Rising India” series is about the present India as it has evolved, and is nicely poised for the next big leap forward.”

    Sardesai added that it is about the “fantastic diversity and enormous freedom that we as Indians enjoy. This is not there in any other country, and we are living it… we did not have proper TV when India turned 50 and we do not know if we will be there when it turns 75, surely not when she turns 100, so this was the best timing possible.”

    Sardesai says: “The story, as Nandan Nilekani (Infosys head) said once to me, is about the glass being half full, rather than half empty… there is so much we can actually show that is so typically Indian and innovative, it is about survival, the quintessential Indian-ness,

    “When India was born, everyone said it would break up, and here we are, a bustling and vibrant democracy and a fast developing economy… and they had said Pakistan would be a much more unified force, but Pakistan is just falling apart. That is how we conceived Rising India.”

    Sardesai’s allusion to being innovative survivalists may find some endearing examples in the episode “Only in India”, which about Indians having a knack of doing a lot of things in our own quirky “ishtyle” that makes us who we are and differentiates us from the rest of the world.

    This half-hour light-hearted show (14 August at 8:30 pm) takes a look at things like galli Cricket, lassi preparations using a washing machine, among other innovative Indian take-offs from what was originally a Western concept.

    But it is not just about frivolity, there’s tonnes of stuff between tomorrow and 15 August.

    Here is a stunning episode of the Ten Defining Moments of Indian history, moments that have changed the course of the country, and presenting this with Sardesai would be historian Ram Chandra Guha who, Sardesai says is the best intellectual who can carry the most serious message across to the least discerning.

    “He would perhaps be talking Sunil Gavsakar till you realise he is teaching you serious history,” Sardesi said.

    Due to various factors, this particular episode has been cut short drastically, especially due to shortage of archival material, but the channel had given viewers 100 such moments to choose from and taken a poll, then cut it down to 60 and finally to 10 of the most defining moments, Sardesai said.

    Both the editors are especially excited about the series featuring India’s real heroes, in the programme of the same name.

    The preparation for the massive programming had started almost the same month a year ago, and it was the idea of Ritu Kapoor and her Features team to showcase the real heroes.

    As a statement from the channels says: “CNN-IBN identifies 24 unsung heroes from four zones – East, West, South, North – (six from each zone) across the country. Capsules through the day will be aired daily to celebrate their achievements along with regular stories on the news wheel and weekend specials.

    Every week, six heroes from a particular zone will be profiled and a dedicated half an hour will be aired every Saturday at 1:30 pm summarising the entire zone. The series will be aired as follows:

    South Zone (11 August) 
    North zone (18 August) 
    East Zone (25 August) 
    West Zone (1 September) 

    “After we decided on this, our bureaus across the country identified the real grassroots level heroes and were selected and filmed. This is about the real India,” Ashutosh said.

    Taking a look at the gamut of the programmes, it encompasses what CNN IBN and IBN & is trying to do as a group: the programme genres cover everything from popular programmes (60 years of Indian cinema, Cricket 360 Special – India’s dream team, or Only In India); history (Defining Moments), entertainment like Best of India Rocks).

    Besides, it has contemporary programming and then looking at the future, like a discussion to be hosted on Indian economy and other issues by TV 18 patriarch Raghav Bahl.

    “It is not just about what the people want to see but what they ought to know, and the point is about how to tell them, which is our forte. Why should Rehman or Indian Ocean, or Euphoria or Silk Route not sing patriotic songs and make it relevant to the present generation?” Sardesai asks.

    The programmes would be aired on both the Hindi and English channels, which brought about the question of will Hindi audiences take it, given the statements of another news channel that Hindi viewers want just gore and violence?

    Ashutosh does not at an eyelid: “Why not? Journalism is about making things available and accessible to the people, so if we understand the medium, it does not matter what language you speak in or your viewers hear in”.

    For instance, who would not listen to the first ever opinion poll across India and Pakistan on issue of common interest, whatever be the language of discussion? This is a unique programme, in which Indians and Pakistanis would be asked serious questions such as Kashmir issue, as also emotional subject who Pakistanis think is an Indian Idol and vice versa.

    There will be two important fallout of the programming, and one of them is also perhaps the first of its kind for a TV channel to undertake. The corporate sector has agreed to sponsors each of the 24 Real Heroes for their future, Sardesai revealed.

    “We do not believe in just showcasing such heroes for eyeballs, we feel it is for us to bring them up and approach the corporates to empower them,” he said.

    Te other fallout would be in the field of education, for the 10 Defining Moments programming would be put on CDs and given to schools free of cost as their educational tools.

    Both are some serious, sustainable corporate social responsibility through programming!

  • CNN-IBN, IBN 7 trace 60 years of Indian cinema

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN and IBN 7 have launched a new series titled Splendid 60: Six Decades of Cinema as a part of their celebration of 60 years of India’s independence. It will be presented by Rajeev Masand on CNN-IBN at 10 pm and Amrapali Sharma on IBN 7 at 11 pm every Saturday.

    The four-episode series will focus on the journey of Indian cinema along with some of the top filmmakers choosing their personal all-time favourite films of the last 60 years. The series will present special segments discussing – sexuality and the Hindi heroine, changing face of the Hindi film hero and growth of parallel cinema.

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Six Decades of Cinema is an attempt to walk down memory lane and look at the most defining moments in Indian cinema. The viewers will thoroughly enjoy this recapitulation of one of their favourite pastimes.”

    IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh said, “The progression of Indian cinema has been anything but linear. The industry is enormous with several linguistic spheres that together reflect the richness of Indian culture. Six Decades of Cinema will follow this journey step by step and showcase its most defining moments.”

  • TV 18 shines at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 2006

    MUMBAI:TV 18 has received the maximum number of awards at the ‘Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 2006-07’ including the ‘Journalist of the Year – Broadcast’ being conferred to Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief.

    The other awards include ‘Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award’ for ‘Uncovering India Invisible – Broadcast’ to Living Positive of CNN-IBN’s Nilanjana Bose, excellence in ‘Environmental Reporting – Broadcast’ to The Last Dance of the Sarus of CNN-IBN’s Bahar Dutt.

    Rohit Khanna from the CNN-IBN’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) won the ‘Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award’ for ‘Political Reporting – Broadcast’ for a special investigation on Netas for Sale.

    Hiral Sachde and Khushboo Narayan of CNBC-TV18’s have won the ‘Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award’ for ‘Business and Economic Journalism’ for the show Uncovered.

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “I am really humbled on having won this title and am very proud to have been considered worthy of this award by the Ranmath Goenka Memorial Foundation. This would not have been possible without the team at CNN-IBN and I also congratulate Nilanjana, Bahar and Rohit for their achievements.”

  • CNN-IBN joins hands with The Telegraph to present ‘Lal Salaam at 30’

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN has joined hands with The Telegraph to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Left Front rule in West Bengal through a number of special stories Lal Salaam at 30, an opinion poll and a panel discussion on the various facets and developments that have taken place under the Left Front rule since 1977.

    CNN-IBN and The Telegraph alliance will entail exercising the editorial and marketing synergies between the organisations. The publication will carry regular stories reflecting the mood of the people as revealed through the opinion poll and special debate conducted by CNN-IBN.

    As part of the celebration, the channel will air a one-hour special panel discussion and opinion poll results on the Left front governance on 21 June at 9:30 pm.

    The opinion poll and special debate being conducted as a part of the series are aimed at providing an analysis of the state’s Left Front administration. The panel discussion, held in Kolkata will reveal the findings of the opinion poll conducted by AC Nielsen on various aspects of the Left Front regime in West Bengal that has persisted, for the last three decades.

    The poll attempts to answer questions relating to the state government’s performance.

    Speaking on the tie-up CNN-IBN and IBN 7 director marketing and online projects Dilip Venkatraman said, “CNN-IBN in joining hands with The Telegraph and the Ananda Bazaar Patrika Group of publications has created a powerful alliance to bring viewers and readers a short, but riveting series analysing the Left Front government’s performance since the past 30 years. I am confident this partnership will prove beneficial to all parties and pave the way for other such endeavours in the future.”

    “This partnership has meant the merging of both editorial and marketing resources between the media brands, which has translated into in-depth coverage on the left front rule in the state on the occasion of their 30th anniversary. We are delighted to have worked with CNN-IBN on this initiative,” added The Telegraph president Amitabha Datta.

    “To complete 30 years of rule in a single state is by no means a small feat. Lal Salaam at 30 is our recognition of this milestone while simultaneously analysing the corollary of the same,” said CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

  • Plagiarism case: Bombay HC raps CNN-IBN

    NEW DELHI: In a landmark final order in the case between Urmi Juvekar Chiang Vs Global Broadcasting Network and others, the Bombay High Court yesterday ruled that CNN-IBN has breached the confidentiality of Chiang and violated her copyright.

    The court also reprimanded CNN-IBN editor Rajdeep Sardesai for stating in the court that he did not know that one of his team, Ramchandran Srinivasan, had been talking to Chiang about her proposed TV reality show.

    The court, in its ruling, stated: “The claim of the Defendants that they have conceived in-house programme “Summer Showdown” around March-April 2007 as a reality show comprising families in metros dealing with problems related to summer, even if accepted, does not take the matter any further.

    “For, the Defendants have eventually come out with the programme which departs from the theme of the title ‘Summer Showdown’ but is ascribable to the theme of the programme of the Plaintiff titled ‘Work in Progress’.”

    In fact, the court underscored a similar order of the Delhi High Court, which had said that if protection is not granted in such cases to the persons whose original work is violated thus, it would be “catastrophic for the television industry”.

    The channel had countered Chiang’s claim that its show (Summer Showdown) was based on Chiang’s original literary piece for a proposed reality show (Work in Progress), by stating that theirs was not a reality show, but the court said that this statement did not fit the facts.

    CNN-IBN had been advertising in its website, stating that Summer Showdown was indeed their new reality show, and this was given in evidence to the court by Chiang, whose plaint the court upheld on all counts.

  • CNN-IBN & Indian Express team up for UP election coverage

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN and The Indian Express and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) have joined hands to cover state elections in Uttar Pradesh. Special month-long programming titled ‘Battle for U.P’ on CNN-IBN will include live debates amongst various party leaders and prominent authorities; exit poll projections after each phase of polling and post-poll surveys – providing a holistic account of the electoral activities taking place in various parts of the state.

    An editorial and marketing collaboration between the two news houses The Indian Express and CNN-IBN promises to provide the readers and viewers with the most up-to-date, comprehensive and precise news on all aspects of the election – from pre-polling, the actual ballot casting to post-poll results and developments, informs an official release.

    The scope of the partnership entails The Indian Express featuring tune-in advertisements on the ‘Battle for U.P.’ programming along with regular extensive poll coverage on the days after it is aired on CNN-IBN.

    In addition to daily news wheel stories the channel will also air a series of programmes dedicated solely to the elections. Some of them will include –

    *A half hour special debate show from Lucknow on – whether the state’s capital is being left out from the rest of the country when it comes to economic and social growth – featuring some of the city’s most recognisable faces. The show will air on CNN-IBN on 27 April at 8:30 pm

    *’Battle for U.P. exit poll special’ on CNN-IBN- will present the exit poll projections of that phase on 1 May.

    *Similarly, on 8 May – the day of the last phase of polling – a one-hour special at 9:30 pm on CNN-IBN will be aired analysing and predicting the exit poll results.
    *11 May will see live, day long special coverage of the UP ballot counting on CNN-IBN beginning from 7 am until at least 2 pm. Two more shows will follow in the evening.

    Introducing the campaign, CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “The UP elections are without a doubt one of the most important state assembly elections taking place in the country this year and CNN-IBN will be present on location to bring their viewers the most up-to-date news and comprehensive analyses as and when they happen.”

    Speaking on this significant alliance, CNN-IBN and IBN 7 director marketing and online projects Dilip Venkatraman said, “This coming together of the two biggest news brands to report on the U.P. elections is an all-encompassing approach that includes the best of both print and broadcast news. We are delighted to work together with The Indian Express on a property as important as this and hope for similar collaborations with them in the future.”

    “It is a great pleasure to collaborate with CNN-IBN in bringing our readers the latest on the U.P. state elections. I am confident that our partnership will provide the most current and inclusive coverage on the event(s) along with reliable analyses of the post-poll results,” said The Indian Express head corporate business development Gautam Mukherjea.