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Tag: Rajesh Sethi

  • Ten Sports gets Sri Lanka cricket rights till 2020

    Ten Sports gets Sri Lanka cricket rights till 2020

    MUMBAI: Ten Sports – the sports broadcasting channel under the Zee network – has joined hands with Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) for a seven year deal to broadcast SLC’s international cricket matches. The deal will run through till March 2020 and includes multi-platform media and sponsorship rights globally.

     

    Through its network of international affiliates and other broadcasters worldwide, content will be distributed in over 100 countries, reaching millions of cricket lovers. Apart from English, Ten Sports will also be broadcasting the matches in Hindi and other regional languages.

     

    Ten Sports will be the host broadcaster for Sri Lanka Cricket and will be responsible for ensuring consistent and high level production. There will be strong focus on digital engagement, branding and promotion of Sri Lanka cricket to improve the viewer experience as well.

     

    “We are delighted to further extend our partnership with Sri Lanka Cricket Board, with whom we have shared a very strong relationship over the past decade. The exciting cricket action will be available during prime time making it a very interesting proposition for fans and advertisers alike,” says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi. “We will work closely with Sri Lanka Cricket Board and invest in production and marketing to ensure that Sri Lanka cricket reaches its full potential. As we have done with other rights, we will aim to innovate and create an exciting visual spectacle for international viewers.”

     

    Ten Sports currently holds rights for four cricket boards which includes South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and West Indies. It also holds long-term rights for WWE, UEFA Champions League, French League 1, US Open Tennis, ATP & WTA, and Capital One Cup, European Tour & Asian Tour Golf among other exciting properties. Ten Sports will be also be telecasting Asian Games, Commonwealth Games this year.

  • As a strategy we have never completely rested our fortunes on only India cricket: Rajesh Sethi

    As a strategy we have never completely rested our fortunes on only India cricket: Rajesh Sethi

    He worked with the likes of Tata Motors, GE Infrastructure, GE Money and Allianz Global before taking on the mantle of Ten Sports CEO in July last year.

    A graduate in mechanical engineering and a post-graduate in marketing, Rajesh Sethi spent many of his academic years in hallowed institutions such as the Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management and INSEAD.

    Sethi has an impeccable track record of value creation and growth across sectors and is known for his entrepreneurial streak coupled with a keen sense of global business. Little surprise he has been conferred the ‘Rashtriya Udyog Ratna’ by NEHRDO and the ‘Global Indian Achievers Award for Business Excellence 2012’ by the Economic Development Forum, among others.

    In an exclusive interview with Sidharth Iyer of indiantelevision.com, Sethi opens up about Ten Sports’ journey since its launch, the diverse sports’ offering of the channel, its digital presence and more…

    Q. How has the channel progressed in the past 12 years since its launch in April 2002? What is the idea behind launching Ten Cricket, Ten Action, Ten Golf and Ten HD? Are you happy with the way these channels have shaped up?

    The journey of Ten Sports started in April 2002, at which point, our offering mainly revolved round the India vs Pakistan cricket series. Ten Sports had the opportunity to host some of the greatest matches in the India Vs Pakistan cricket rivalry, including the Sharjah series, and this was our brand identity back then.

    But over a period of time, the sports industry witnessed a gradual shift in audience preferences. In my opinion, the shift began post-2010 or so, when Generation Y started showing interest in sports beyond cricket like hockey, tennis, badminton and football. This era also saw the emergence of a niche audience for sports like golf. Looking back, it was imperative for us to break the clutter in the space and really honour viewer preferences. And so, we launched Ten Cricket and Ten Action in 2010 with the former targeted toward cricket and the latter toward football. In 2012, we launched Ten Golf, a dedicated golf channel. In 2011, we introduced Ten HD to improve the viewership experience by offering content in high definition.

    Unlike our competitors, our focus is not just cricket but a wide array of sports – what I call a segmented, nuanced approach through multiple channels. While we’ve seen Ten Action’s viewership increase manifold, Ten Golf is still in its nascent stage but we’re confident it will do well as it’s a long-term investment. With Ten HD too gaining rapid traction among our viewers, we are extremely happy with the progress made so far.

    Q. With five channels in your stable, how do you ensure each gets its due in terms of viewership, distribution, advertising and brand identity?

    As mentioned earlier, we follow a segmented, nuanced approach with different channels covering different sporting events. We have a team focused on each of these channels with a strategy to nominate an internal ambassador to each one of them. So, say within the Ten Sports team, we have avid sports fans as ambassadors, who take up the responsibility for any one sport for which they are the critic-cum-advisor-cum person who remains glued to the channel for constant feedback and suggestions as to improving the viewing experience. The whole intent is to focus on viewers, which in turn ensures that our content and scheduling is absolutely aligned to what our viewers want.

    Coming to distribution, we have ensured that our channels are widely and adequately available and viewers are able to watch their favourite sports on our network. Thus, we are available across multisystem operators, direct-to-home platforms and as video-on-demand. As a network, we are available in nearly 140 million households, with Ten Golf accounting for nearly 1.2 million homes. Our distribution team ensures that each sport is given due importance and reach so as to sustain and increase viewership.

    Our segmented approach also gives advertisers better visibility in terms of a dedicated audience, allowing them to reach a specific audience in a more refined manner. Among the advertisers onboard, few are focused on sports as a genre while others look at investing only in cricket or football or golf. So, it’s a fair mix of both kinds of advertisers.

    Q. Phase 3 and 4 of digitisation are drawing near. How do you intend on monetising sports other than cricket, especially since you have so many sports on offer?

    We are bullish about promoting sports, especially under the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, since these are in the national interest and have a wide viewer base.

    Digitisation will largely benefit sports viewership. It will give viewers an opportunity to see what they want to see and broadcasters a chance to provide multiple ways and means of consuming content. So, there will no longer be the problem of limited bandwidth where broadcasters are confined to providing one solution on the national platform. Ten Sports will be able to offer varied content on varied platforms through digitisation, especially with our differentiated sports offerings and multiple channels. Indeed, this is how TV viewership has evolved in developed markets. Sports’ broadcasting is slowly moving from a B2B to a B2C model, and B2C really helps us connect with the audience in a more refined manner and by offering more quality content.

    Even in case of our online platform, tensports.com, we have seen unprecedented growth with the recently concluded South Africa Vs India series as well as the South Africa vs Australia series. Availability of online content is very much part of our long-term content strategy. We want to further enhance the quality of our online content as it’s a win-win situation for both broadcasters and viewers. We want to harness and at the same time harvest this opportunity as we go along.

    Q. In terms of generation of ad revenue, are the trends changing for sports broadcasters? How is your channel positioned as compared to the competition? What is your share of the pie and are you planning on hiking ad rates?

    I do not feel revenue share is the right parameter as it varies from event to event and depends on the number of marquee properties the sports broadcaster has. I can emphatically say that Ten Sports is the leading sports broadcaster in terms of revenue when it comes to non-cricketing properties, and no other sports broadcaster comes close to us as a network in terms of non-cricketing properties.

    We offer propositions in leading properties like WWE, football, Indian I-League and athletics, where I believe we are the home of athletics in India. We have also acquired a few more non-cricketing properties, which we will announce shortly. We are witnessing incremental growth coming from niche sports on Ten Golf and multi-fold growth from non-cricketing sports.

    Unlike GECs, sports’ broadcasting is an evenly poised business and ad revenue is directly dependent on the events that take place during the year. But talking about the recently concluded South Africa Vs India series in December, we witnessed some healthy billing with bookings at 115 per cent and we sold out our ad inventories, which were nearly 30-40 per cent higher than any earlier India series. We also benefitted as it was a shorter series whereas a longer series leads to viewer saturation, which in turn, impacts ratings and advertisers and sponsors.

    We are currently analysing all our properties and are in the process of identifying the possibility of hiking our ad rates as we believe we have been delivering quality content across our network and will continue to do so for years to come.    

    Q. How has your recent relocation from Dubai to Noida helped the channel? With huge investments in state-of-the-art studios and broadcasting and transmission centres, has it helped in creating better content for viewers?

    The relocation was one of the best strategic moves made by Ten Sports, which we have completed in the last few months. It has helped us integrate our backend with the frontend, where until recently, Dubai was more for production, programming and other such activities and India was focused on distribution, ad revenue and marketing. With both aspects under one roof, it gives us the advantage of driving better synergies, helps us in integration and enhances the overall positioning of the company, which is strategic as well as commercial in nature.

    For the last one year, we have invested heavily in in-house programming, state-of-the art studios, commentary rooms, master control rooms, new equipment and technology; all of which has really helped us enhance our graphics and production quality, which is evident on our channel and in the encouraging feedback from our viewers.

    Also, as a sports network, we invest heavily in upcoming local leagues in India. We have been doing the production of the I-League in India for football and we have been investing heavily in audio-visual equipment to improve production quality. So, we are investing heavily in improving the way sports is consumed in India and we will continue to get the best of sports content and serve it to our viewers with the best production quality.     

    Q. In 2014-15, Ten Sports does not have much India-related live cricket; what is your programming strategy? Also, with cricket broadcasting being a highly loss-making business, how do you think it can become a profitable proposition?

    As per the current Future Tour Program (FTP), we don’t have much India-specific live cricket, but Ten Sports as a sports network has never completely rested its fortunes on India cricket.

    Other than India cricket in 2014-15, we have close to 150 days of international cricket. And based on the numbers we witnessed during the recently-concluded South Africa Vs Australia series, we are confident of replicating the same success during this calendar year as well.

    We believe in segmentation of sports and if we take the example of the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, we have a huge in-house contest around both these games and with the improved performance of our athletes in the international arena and Indian viewers looking forward to these events, we will ensure state-of-the-art broadcasting coupled with great programming to make for a superlative viewing experience.

    For any property to become profitable, the network has to have control over both revenue and cost. With cricket broadcasting, while the cost has sky-rocketed, with the mad rush to acquire content, revenue remains the only constant in the hands of broadcasters to drive profitability and generate higher numbers. But unlike developed markets, Indian regulators still somewhere regulate the pricing of channels such that it hurts the profitability of broadcasters. There is also a cap on the pricing of channels, and with things like piracy of signals, there need to be stringent, anti-piracy laws that can help make cricket broadcasting a profitable proposition.

    With digitisation setting in, we are confident it’s going to help bring about change in the way sports penetrates smaller pockets of the Indian subcontinent. With an overall mix of sports on offer, we are confident that we will continue to deliver on our commitment of providing quality content and at the same time, acquire properties that are more in line with our content strategy.  

    So, with a reach of more than 140 million homes in the Indian subcontinent and a sports offering of WWE, US Open, ATP Tournaments, WTA, Ryder Cup, Moto GP, Euro league, PGA Championship, Asian Tour, European Tour and Tour De France; Ten Sports is all set to consolidate on its share in the competitive landscape of sports broadcasting.

  • Ten Sports betting big on Aussies vs. Proteas

    Ten Sports betting big on Aussies vs. Proteas

    MUMBAI: The Ashes is passé. Get set for some riveting action on the 22 yards strip as Australia takes on not England but another cricketing great, South Africa, in a test series starting tomorrow on Ten Cricket.

     

    Being aired live along with ball-by-ball commentary in English, the tourney has big names associated with it, what with Micromax and Fogg as co-presenting sponsors, Royale Aspira, Clear and Asian Paints as associate sponsors, and spot buys taking place in the course of the series.

     

    Ten Cricket, which is looking at making anything between Rs 10-12 crore in ad revenues, is pushing the series mostly on the digital platform and through promos on its network.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com ahead of the telecast, Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi said: “Globally, Australia and South Africa are the world’s two best test playing nations, so it will be a clash of the titans and is poised to be an interesting proposition for the viewers. We have created eye-catching promos and have been aggressively promoting it through our network.”

     

    Billed as Australia’s challenge to South Africa’s supremacy in test cricket, the series’ promos have been created in-house by a team of 15-odd members.

     

    For the test matches, ad slots have been sold at Rs 10,000 for every ten seconds whereas for the T-20s, they’ve been sold at Rs 20,000 for every ten seconds; revealed Sethi. “We are in a comfortable position with over 95 per cent of our inventories sold for the three T-20s and for the three tests, they’ve sold for more than 80 per cent,” he said before adding, “The content is not that aggressively priced and hence the spot rates are decently priced.”

     

    A media analyst offered his perspective on the channel’s claim saying: “Big sporting events such as these generally sell out 80 per cent of their inventories and make the most of the remainder of the same. Ten Sports on its part has surely garnered a sizeable amount for the series.”

     

    Sethi’s concluding remark was: “Since this series is as big as the Ashes in terms of the level of competition, we would expect to witness good traction among the viewers and we have generated a buzz on the social medium as well.”

  • Ten Sports hits a six with India-SA series ad inventories

    Ten Sports hits a six with India-SA series ad inventories

    MUMBAI: So what if Indian cricket lovers are yet to recover from the loss of their God – Sachin Tendulkar?  Ten Sports is pulling out all the stops as the world’s best cricketing nation gets ready to battle with the world’s No 1 test team – South Africa.

    India’s great performance on the cricket field in almost every tournament recently has resulted in Ten Sports selling out almost 90 per cent of its inventory three days before the action starts with the Proteas. And it seems as if there’s a lot many more advertisers waiting to sign up in what is being billed as ‘Clash of the Titans.’

    Says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi: “Post the departure of Sachin from the national side, I feel this will be the true test of the young brigade that we have against the fierce pace attack of the South Africans in their backyard. We are looking at this series as speed vs skill and the feedback on social media has been really encouraging for this series.”

    Big names are associated with the tournament, what with Kent RO the title sponsor and iBall the co-presenting sponsor for the studio show; Micromax as co-presenting sponsor for the series along with associate sponsors Xolo, Vodafone, Havells, Go daddy, We Chat, Daikin, Tata Motors and ITC.

    We are targeting nearly Rs 120 crore in terms of ad revenues from this series, says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi

    Sethi further reveal that for the ODIs, ad slots have been sold at Rs 4.25 lakh for every ten seconds and for test matches, they’ve been sold at Rs 1.25 lakh for every ten seconds.

    “We are in a very comfortable position with just 10 per cent of our inventories remaining to be sold and with three days still remaining for the highly anticipated series to commence, we are planning on hiking the rates by 20 per cent.” he laughs. “We are targeting nearly Rs 120 crore in terms of ad revenues from this series and I am confident of hitting that mark.”

    The 360 degree marketing campaign has cost the channel nearly Rs 10 crore, which includes above the line (ATL) with a wide outdoor campaign as well as below the line (BTL) activities, with road shows in key cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. “Apart from this, we have also carried out an innovative campaign on the digital platform with a Hindi jingle that has gone viral on social platforms for the high octane series,” informs Sethi.

    Giving his perspective on the channel’s claim, Madison Media COO Karthik Laxminarayan says: “Big sporting events such as these generally sell out 80 per cent of their inventories and make the most of the remainder of the same. Ten Sports on its part has surely garnered a sizable amount for the series.”

    Madison Media COO Karthik Laxminarayan feels Ten Sports on its part has surely garnered a sizable amount in ad revenues for the series

    On Twitter, Ten Sports has over 43,850 followers while on Facebook, it has got 2.3 million likes with fans continuously interacting about the upcoming series.

    Between 5 and 30 December, the series will be shown live on Ten HD, Ten Cricket and Ten Sports. On Ten Sports, there is Hindi commentary while on Ten HD and Ten Cricket the ball by ball action will be narrated in English.

    Explains Sethi: “With the viewer becoming more and more demanding like any other nation, and rightfully so, there is a viewer base that is looking forward to Hindi commentary and then the usual English commentary feed. Thus, we are only trying to reach out and satisfy the needs of our viewers and keep everyone glued to the action being played out on their screens in the language of their preference.”

    Ten Sports has over 100 million viewers across the market, and will be sharing the telecast of the ODI series with the public broadcaster Doordarshan. Like the last India vs West Indies series, this series too is expected to grab eyeballs.

    “Each property has its own traction and there are different reasons for each event to have the kind of viewership it had, as we all know the main reason for the series being followed was the last two test matches of Sachin’s career; but having said that, with two of the best in the sport locking horns on the field and with the injection of fresh blood in the Indian squad, cricket lovers are surely in for a treat,” Sethi signs off.

  • Ten Sports readies to dribble with Junior Hockey World Cup

    Ten Sports readies to dribble with Junior Hockey World Cup

    MUMBAI: Right now, the nation is moaning about the retirement of Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar. Clearly, the focus is on cricket and punters are betting that his farewell test is going to notch up never before heard of ratings.

     

    But wait, here’s a channel which is hoping to take the viewership of hockey – another national passion  (until cricket took over) –  up a few notches as it readies for a blast which is going to hit the air waves in the next 10 days. Ten Sports, which is the official broadcaster of the Hero Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup 2013 says it is going to unleash a promotional blitzkrieg for it. To be held in Delhi from 6-15 December, it features 16 national teams and will be played out at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium, New Delhi.

     

    “We are building up a strategy to make hockey really big. We know that the sport has huge potential to catch up with cricket as it has the same energy and vigour,” says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi, adding that the promotional strategy includes going big on social media to build the buzz for the tournament.

     

    Commentary is going to primarily be in English unlike rival Star Sports which normally telecasts hockey with Hindi commentary.

     

    In fact it’s not just Junior Hockey World Cup, the channel, which also has a right to broadcast the Hockey World Cup that will be played in Netherlands in May-June 2014, the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow (23 July- 3 August, 2014), and 2014 Asian Games (September-October 2014) scheduled to be held in South Korea, is planning a huge build up for all these spectacles from now onwards.

     

    “Hockey forms a big chunk of all these games. With the telecast of the Junior World Cup, we will start building up an environment for the sport,” says Sethi, who is closing on some “big advertising deals” for the tournament very soon.

     

    According to sources, the channel is also planning to rope in a well-known person as the brand ambassador to promote the tournament.

     

    Rival channels are not too disturbed by Ten Sports push.

     

    Says one of them: “Ten Sports has a long term agreement with International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the way we try to make all our events big, even they will do that. There’s really no need for us to be troubled because of that. The sport has its loyal audience; hopefully Ten Sports’ push will expand the viewership. The entire sports industry in India wants other sports to develop viewership so that our dependency on cricket can reduce.”

     

    All league matches featuring India will be played in prime time slot at 8:00 pm, beginning 6 December. Should the GECs be worried?

  • Ten Sports Rajesh Sethis relocation challenge

    Ten Sports Rajesh Sethis relocation challenge

    Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi is clocking a lot of flying miles these days. And it is easier to catch him aboard a flight en route to Dubai than in his office. Reason: Well! He is busy organising a massive relocation of staff from Ten Sports’ Dubai office to Noida in Uttar Pradesh.  

    It is not only Sethi who is caught up with this shifting. Even those who have agreed to relocate are busy wrapping up rent agreements for accommodation in Dubai, repaying local loans, seeking admissions for their kids in schools in Noida, packing their bags and searching for new accommodation options in north Indian industrial town and surrounding areas.

    Ten Sports Network (TSN) which operates five sporting channels- Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action, Ten Golf and Ten HD is today owned by Zee which bought out the Dubai-based Bukhatir group’s 95 per stake in Taj Television in 2010. And it had seen some sort of an exodus even then. Senior managers, mainly expatriates, headed for the exits following the acquisition by India’s most known TV network. Among those who bailed out included:  COO Peter Hutton along with his number two Mark Denton, both of whom cofounded the network with former CEO Chris McDonald who had left even earlier.

    We are now consolidating our operations in India with the purpose of increasing stakeholder value and also enhancing viewership experience expounds Rajesh Sethi

    TSN has some prime cricket properties which can be considered hot viewing options for Indian sports TV viewers. This includes the exclusive India rights to telecast action on the field for five cricket boards – South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As compared to this, rival ESPN Star Sports has the rights to domestic Indian cricket, which it pocketed after committing close to $770 million dollars to the BCCI.  Neo Sports – another sportscaster in India – has the rights to New Zealand cricket, while Sony Entertainment boasts of the highly popular and profitable though controversial Indian Premier League. This apart, TSN has also signed up other sporting properties such as WWE, US Open, ATP Tournaments, WTA, Ryder Cup, Moto GP, Euro league, PGA Championship, Asian Tour, European Tour and Tour De France.

    Clearly, when Ten Sports was set up in Dubai, it was headed by expats who were tapping into investments provided by Bukhatir with employees having several different nationalities as is the practice amongst companies in west Asia. At the time of being set up, the company had more than 100 staff and it had stated that “Taj represents Dubai’s premier television production resource. No other production facility in the UAE can match Taj in terms of technology, experienced personnel and efficiency. “

    When Zee TV acquired the network from Bukhatir, chairman Subhash Chandra too had waxed eloquent about having an outpost in west Asia. “The acquisition of a stake in Ten Sports not only gives us a strong foothold in the arena of sports broadcasting across Asia but also strengthens our operations in the Middle East,” Chandra had said then.

    The Zee Network currently operates popular entertainment channels in the Middle East and has a team – headed by Mukund Cairae – which looks after its interests there. In fact, Cairae has done very well for Zee in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and has been ranked 24 in a list of powerful Indians for the region.

    A Dubai-based broadcast professional who has been in the Middle East for more than a decade gives his perspective on Zee TV there. Says he: “Zee TV’s operations in the Middle East involve turning around its GECs and movie channels and producing and acquiring local Arabic content for its channels Zee Alwan and Aflam. It also garners local advertising revenues for its bouquet of channels. Cairae and his team operate out of the same Ten Sports building from the third floor.”

    Two years on after acquiring Ten Sports, Chandra discovered that it was bleeding badly and running up losses running into crores, something which a former employee says upset him greatly. He decided to shift Ten Sports’ base to India to generate whatever sayings he could generate from the move. For the network, it became a mandate to be implemented.

    Says a sports broadcast veteran: “The sports business is pretty tricky, especially international sports rights. You buy the rights in dollars, which have been appreciating consistently against the rupee, and you take advertising in rupees. The rise in advertising rates has not been making up for the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. Hence, unless distribution revenues go up significantly which have not so far, losses are bound to be there. For the Zee Network it made eminent sense for Ten Sports to shift its technical operations including play out, production and post-production to a lower cost base like Noida where it has its uplinking hub, rather than operate out of expensive Dubai where employee costs are pretty stiff, and everything is costlier.”

    Agrees Sethi: “The move is a part of our decision to make India a hub for better synergies, virtues and also for huge scales of economy, which the country, as a common central location, offers us. We have a significant set up in Noida with huge facilities and have invested heavily in both technology and modern equipment. We are now consolidating our operations in India with the purpose of increasing stakeholder value and also enhancing viewership experience.”

    An investment analyst expects the Ten Sports shift to Noida to generate savings in double digit crore annually for the Zee Network. A local TV professional estimates that the savings will be in the region of $4-5 million per annum, mostly in employee costs. “It’s a very good reason for them to shift,” he says.

    Since Chandra’s diktat was announced, the rumour mills had been running internally that relocation was coming, and several employees had already started looking for other options. Dubai-based Ten Sports COO Sanjay Raina left the firm in June end and is reportedly working with Fox International in Dubai.  A handful quit to take up jobs with other regional broadcasters, according to local reports.  Additionally, Mumbai-based TSN CEO Atul Pande chose to take up another posting within the Zee Network and Sethi was brought in as his replacement in mid-2013.
    Sethi claims that the first communication regarding the shift was relayed in March this year while the final letter went out in August.

    The Dubai-based broadcast professional – quoted earlier – highlights that “Effectively only a month’s notice was given to employees. The way TSN management has dealt with the relocation is objectionable. They could have dealt better with it on the human resources front. Employees have been given just one month’s severance pay; look at Network18 in India, it is giving employees a three month severance package. You have to remember the Dubai media job market is saturated with very few jobs going around. Working rules in the Middle East are pretty tough for Indians. Many of the former Ten Sports employees are literally on the streets; and this after serving the organisation for so many years. Remember their families’ future is also in jeopardy.”

    But Sethi empasises, “Every Dubai-based employee has been given an opportunity to relocate to Noida. While few are happy, there are a few who are anxious about the change. People are free to either take the opportunity or refuse. No one is being laid off.”

    Employee reaction to the offer has been mixed, says the Dubai-based broadcast professional.  He explains: “Most staff that had earlier moved to Dubai had done so to get higher salaries and to upgrade their life style. These executives and professionals are now apprehensive about shifting to Noida, where they will have to start from scratch. For many employees, this was more than a hint to resign. “

    Sethi however maintains that quite a few of the staff are looking forward to the change even as “There are others who are happily ensconced in the Arab emirate and not very enthusiastic about the shift. This is because of nationality issues. While there are a few who are happy and are in fact pushing to bring forward the shift date, there are others who are uncomfortable because they do not have roots in India. This is basically due to mixed nationalities that Ten Sports employs.”

    Out of the 114 employees with Ten Sports in Dubai, it is learnt that around 15 Pakistani employees have chosen to discontinue as working in India was not feasible.  And about 25-30 of them are actually boarding the relocation boat to Noida. The others are struggling to stay afloat.

    For employees being yanked out of the relative comforts of Dubai, things don’t just end with moving to a new workplace in crowded and noisy Noida. Concerns are also being aired about their pay slips being clipped.

    “The base salary according to Indian standards is anyway less. Additionally, there are taxes. One can expect a 30-40 per cent cut in the salary,” informs the Dubai-based broadcast professional.

    Sethi begs to differ. “We are not majorly cutting salaries of those we are relocating.  The taxation laws in the two countries are different. While India has a huge taxation policy, Dubai is a tax-free nation. And I do not think this can be termed as a salary cut,” he says.

    The TSN CEO expects the relocation exercise to keep him busy for at least another couple of months. Settling down the staff to a routine could take a little longer.

    But when it is completed and Ten Sports’ operations start purring smoothly out of India, he would have fulfilled what he had been mandated to do when he was hired for the job earlier this year.

  • Ten Sports’ Rajesh Sethi’s relocation challenge

    Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi is clocking a lot of flying miles these days. And it is easier to catch him aboard a flight en route to Dubai than in his office. Reason: Well! He is busy organising a massive relocation of staff from Ten Sports’ Dubai office to Noida in Uttar Pradesh.  

    It is not only Sethi who is caught up with this shifting. Even those who have agreed to relocate are busy wrapping up rent agreements for accommodation in Dubai, repaying local loans, seeking admissions for their kids in schools in Noida, packing their bags and searching for new accommodation options in north Indian industrial town and surrounding areas.

    Ten Sports Network (TSN) which operates five sporting channels- Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action, Ten Golf and Ten HD is today owned by Zee which bought out the Dubai-based Bukhatir group’s 95 per stake in Taj Television in 2010. And it had seen some sort of an exodus even then. Senior managers, mainly expatriates, headed for the exits following the acquisition by India‘s most known TV network. Among those who bailed out included:  COO Peter Hutton along with his number two Mark Denton, both of whom cofounded the network with former CEO Chris McDonald who had left even earlier.

    We are now consolidating our operations in India with the purpose of increasing stakeholder value and also enhancing viewership experience expounds Rajesh Sethi

    TSN has some prime cricket properties which can be considered hot viewing options for Indian sports TV viewers. This includes the exclusive India rights to telecast action on the field for five cricket boards – South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As compared to this, rival ESPN Star Sports has the rights to domestic Indian cricket, which it pocketed after committing close to $770 million dollars to the BCCI.  Neo Sports – another sportscaster in India – has the rights to New Zealand cricket, while Sony Entertainment boasts of the highly popular and profitable though controversial Indian Premier League. This apart, TSN has also signed up other sporting properties such as WWE, US Open, ATP Tournaments, WTA, Ryder Cup, Moto GP, Euro league, PGA Championship, Asian Tour, European Tour and Tour De France.

    Clearly, when Ten Sports was set up in Dubai, it was headed by expats who were tapping into investments provided by Bukhatir with employees having several different nationalities as is the practice amongst companies in west Asia. At the time of being set up, the company had more than 100 staff and it had stated that “Taj represents Dubai‘s premier television production resource. No other production facility in the UAE can match Taj in terms of technology, experienced personnel and efficiency. “

    When Zee TV acquired the network from Bukhatir, chairman Subhash Chandra too had waxed eloquent about having an outpost in west Asia. “The acquisition of a stake in Ten Sports not only gives us a strong foothold in the arena of sports broadcasting across Asia but also strengthens our operations in the Middle East,” Chandra had said then.

    The Zee Network currently operates popular entertainment channels in the Middle East and has a team – headed by Mukund Cairae – which looks after its interests there. In fact, Cairae has done very well for Zee in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and has been ranked 24 in a list of powerful Indians for the region.

    A Dubai-based broadcast professional who has been in the Middle East for more than a decade gives his perspective on Zee TV there. Says he: “Zee TV‘s operations in the Middle East involve turning around its GECs and movie channels and producing and acquiring local Arabic content for its channels Zee Alwan and Aflam. It also garners local advertising revenues for its bouquet of channels. Cairae and his team operate out of the same Ten Sports building from the third floor.”

    Two years on after acquiring Ten Sports, Chandra discovered that it was bleeding badly and running up losses running into crores, something which a former employee says upset him greatly. He decided to shift Ten Sports’ base to India to generate whatever sayings he could generate from the move. For the network, it became a mandate to be implemented.

    Says a sports broadcast veteran: “The sports business is pretty tricky, especially international sports rights. You buy the rights in dollars, which have been appreciating consistently against the rupee, and you take advertising in rupees. The rise in advertising rates has not been making up for the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. Hence, unless distribution revenues go up significantly which have not so far, losses are bound to be there. For the Zee Network it made eminent sense for Ten Sports to shift its technical operations including play out, production and post-production to a lower cost base like Noida where it has its uplinking hub, rather than operate out of expensive Dubai where employee costs are pretty stiff, and everything is costlier.”

    Agrees Sethi: “The move is a part of our decision to make India a hub for better synergies, virtues and also for huge scales of economy, which the country, as a common central location, offers us. We have a significant set up in Noida with huge facilities and have invested heavily in both technology and modern equipment. We are now consolidating our operations in India with the purpose of increasing stakeholder value and also enhancing viewership experience.”

    An investment analyst expects the Ten Sports shift to Noida to generate savings in double digit crore annually for the Zee Network. A local TV professional estimates that the savings will be in the region of $4-5 million per annum, mostly in employee costs. “It’s a very good reason for them to shift,” he says.

    Since Chandra’s diktat was announced, the rumour mills had been running internally that relocation was coming, and several employees had already started looking for other options. Dubai-based Ten Sports COO Sanjay Raina left the firm in June end and is reportedly working with Fox International in Dubai.  A handful quit to take up jobs with other regional broadcasters, according to local reports.  Additionally, Mumbai-based TSN CEO Atul Pande chose to take up another posting within the Zee Network and Sethi was brought in as his replacement in mid-2013.

    Sethi claims that the first communication regarding the shift was relayed in March this year while the final letter went out in August.

    The Dubai-based broadcast professional – quoted earlier – highlights that “Effectively only a month’s notice was given to employees. The way TSN management has dealt with the relocation is objectionable. They could have dealt better with it on the human resources front. Employees have been given just one month’s severance pay; look at Network18 in India, it is giving employees a three month severance package. You have to remember the Dubai media job market is saturated with very few jobs going around. Working rules in the Middle East are pretty tough for Indians. Many of the former Ten Sports employees are literally on the streets; and this after serving the organisation for so many years. Remember their families’ future is also in jeopardy.”
    But Sethi empasises, “Every Dubai-based employee has been given an opportunity to relocate to Noida. While few are happy, there are a few who are anxious about the change. People are free to either take the opportunity or refuse. No one is being laid off.”

    Employee reaction to the offer has been mixed, says the Dubai-based broadcast professional.  He explains: “Most staff that had earlier moved to Dubai had done so to get higher salaries and to upgrade their life style. These executives and professionals are now apprehensive about shifting to Noida, where they will have to start from scratch. For many employees, this was more than a hint to resign. “

    Sethi however maintains that quite a few of the staff are looking forward to the change even as “There are others who are happily ensconced in the Arab emirate and not very enthusiastic about the shift. This is because of nationality issues. While there are a few who are happy and are in fact pushing to bring forward the shift date, there are others who are uncomfortable because they do not have roots in India. This is basically due to mixed nationalities that Ten Sports employs.”

    Out of the 114 employees with Ten Sports in Dubai, it is learnt that around 15 Pakistani employees have chosen to discontinue as working in India was not feasible.  And about 25-30 of them are actually boarding the relocation boat to Noida. The others are struggling to stay afloat.

    For employees being yanked out of the relative comforts of Dubai, things don’t just end with moving to a new workplace in crowded and noisy Noida. Concerns are also being aired about their pay slips being clipped.

    “The base salary according to Indian standards is anyway less. Additionally, there are taxes. One can expect a 30-40 per cent cut in the salary,” informs the Dubai-based broadcast professional.

    Sethi begs to differ. “We are not majorly cutting salaries of those we are relocating.  The taxation laws in the two countries are different. While India has a huge taxation policy, Dubai is a tax-free nation. And I do not think this can be termed as a salary cut,” he says.

    The TSN CEO expects the relocation exercise to keep him busy for at least another couple of months. Settling down the staff to a routine could take a little longer.

    But when it is completed and Ten Sports’ operations start purring smoothly out of India, he would have fulfilled what he had been mandated to do when he was hired for the job earlier this year.

  • Ten Golf changes course

    Ten Golf changes course

    MUMBAI: It is teeing once again and it surely is good news for golf lovers and players. 24 hour Zeel group golf channel Ten Golf, will now be available in India on both DTH and cable TV as part of  high end packages. It is close to announcing deals with three DTH players and some MSOs. The channel which is available at an a la carte subscription fee of Rs 200 per month for subscribers will now see a significant shift in pricing on both DTH and cable TV.

    The first among the three DTH operators is Airtel Digital TV which now has Ten Golf as part of its Ultra pack. “We are now a part of a package for which the DTH platform charges anywhere between Rs 400- Rs 500 a month,” says Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi. Close to half a million viewers on Airtel Digital have signed on to the service, he says.

    There’s a shift in pricing strategy on the anvil he reveals. “On 1 September we have made a filing with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for price revision. We are looking at a reduction in rates to both promote golf and make it available to larger viewership base,” says Sethi. “I am looking at reaching out to 1.4 million subscribers once we get on the high end offerings like magnum, platinum packs etc on the other two DTH platforms. This should happen by October,” informs Sethi.

    Ten Golf was initially targeted at avid golf players, and hopes to address  aspirational golfers with its expansion in distribution and price lowering. “Aspirational golf players are mostly corporate executives and they are huge in number. Also Ten Golf today is seen as a lifestyle channel. People not only watch the channel for the sport, but also for the beautiful landscape it offers. All this called for a bigger reach and lower subscription fee,” he adds.

    Sethi is also hopeful to get advertisers to use the channel as an advertising platform.   “The positioning will help us with more advertisers. The channel has its own unique niche value and there are partners and corporates who want to advertise.”

    Ten Golf will in the next six to eight weeks be also clubbed together in high end packages offered by major MSOs like DEN, Hathway and Siticable, reveal industry sources.  “The subscription fee for the channel on the package provided by the MSOs will be much lower as compared to the DTH players. All this will take traction in next six to eight weeks,” informs Sethi.

    Shall we say fore?