ITV

Tag: Ravi Nair

  • Senior executives continue to exit B4U

    Senior executives continue to exit B4U

    MUMBAI: Back to square one? Just when it seemed like B4U television network is getting its act together, comes news about senior executives putting in their papers.

    Latest, B4U Television Network vice president Ravi Nair has ended his six-year stint with B4U. An old hat at B4U, Nair had put in his papers six months ago but on the company’s request continued to overlook the Indian operations. With the appointment of Sunil Rohra as the global chief executive officer, Nair finally decided to move on to pursue other goals.

    Associate vice president and sales head Samir Mazgaonkar has also quit. He has joined MTV Networks kids channel Nick as national ad sales head. “I was looking for new challenges. With competition heating up in the kids’ channel arena, it seemed like a good time to join Nick,” he says.

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Nair explains, “I have a six-year bond with B4U network. I had put in my papers about six months ago, but on request waited till Rohra was made global CEO. I am getting into a software venture.”

    B4U has had a mass exodus since the exit of Ravi Gupta early last year. Among others who left the company are chief distribution officer Debashish Dey, marketing head Rajnish Lall, B4U music head Kalyan Sunderam and programming chief Yugander V V.

    With Rohra taking charge as global CEO, B4U’s Indian operations is set to have a new team.

  • B4U UK, Europe head Sunil Rohra becomes Global CEO

    B4U UK, Europe head Sunil Rohra becomes Global CEO

    MUMBAI: B4U Group will now have a global chief executive officer, a position that was left vacant after the exit of Ravi Gupta for over a year.

    B4U UK and Europe CEO Sunil Rohra has been given the additional responsiblity as the global head of B4U and, thus, will be directly overseeing the company’s Indian operations.

    B4U Television Network’s India operations head Ravi Nair will be reporting to Rohra.

    With appointment of a global CEO, the energy now would be focused on synergies between the Indian and UK operations, as well as the overall objective of capitalising on worldwide operations, say company sources.

    Despite being Bollywood music and movie specialist channel, B4U saw mediocre response from Indian audience. Even the problems that the channel faced because of its distribution set up took a heavy toll on the channel share.

    B4U was poised for a fresh start with a new team put up this May. The core team comprised associate vice president and sales head Samir Mazgaonkar, marketing and PR head Melissa Machado Bhalla and programming and production head, for both India and overseas beams, Khalid Sayed.

    “The management of B4U in India was in a mess. Nobody had a clue how important was the Indian operations to the Group. Now we will at least have some clarity on what the strategy is for India,” said a source.

    Taking charge as the Global CEO Rohra commented, “It is a big responsibility and I am looking forward to meeting the challenges that lie ahead. I am confident that I will be able to fulfill the expectations of the shareholders and the Board.”

    “It is my aim to make B4U Network synonymous with Bollywood, such that if anybody wants to know anything about Bollywood, then they’ll know that B4U Network needs to be on their agenda,” added Rohra.

    Former CEO of Zee TV UK, Rohra took over the reins at B4U on 2 August 2004. His appointment came almost in tandem with B4U’s senior vice-president business development Neeraj Arora defecting to rival Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) as vice-president for international business.

    Rohra had been with Zee TV in the UK for 10 years and had been the CEO of Zee UK for the last two and half years. Rohra is reported to have turned Zee into a very profitable company and established Zee as the market leader in the Asian market.

  • Chaniya-choli for the world – B4U to be India’s fashion window to the world

    Chaniya-choli for the world – B4U to be India’s fashion window to the world

    Finally Indian fashion will have a showcase to the world. B4U, the channel which carried Indian cinema to the global audience is all set to do the same with India Fashion.

    B4U, the distributors of Fashion TV, or FTV as it is popularly known has tied up with the channel and will broadcast Indian Fashion shows throughout the world. This means that a whole new world for people from the Indian fashion industry who have been largely restricted to local markets.

    The channel will also be involved in local level promotions like showing Indian fashion shows in theaters, promoting new faces and organising fashion shows and contests. For the purpose of fashion contests, B4U has tied up one of the leading model agencies of the world, Metropolitan.

    Apart from the fashion channel, B4U will also start its music channel that is expected to compete with MTV and Channel V. B4U is also doing its bit to popularise Indian music. B4U has an arrangement with the international music channel MCM, wherein MCM will air one hour of exclusive Indian music.

    The channel will also make foray into internet with its fashion channel. B4Ufashion.com is under construction and once it is completed it will be linked to FTV.fr. Ravi Nair would heads thec team of the channel. The site would have both B2B and B2C sections.

  • Debashish Dey quits B4U; Vishal Sankal takes over as distribution head

    MUMBAI: The churn at B4U Networks continues unabated. The latest person to leave the broadcaster is Debashish Dey. He used to be the chief distribution officer but left a couple of weeks ago. Vishal Sankal has taken over as distribution head.
    Over the past few months B4U has seen personnel quit from areas like public relations. Way back in April B4U Worldwide CEO Ravi Gupta ceased to hold that position. Later in July B4U Music started to launch ten shows in a phased manner.
    In May B4U made a couple of appointments. Ravi Nair, who used to earlier head B4U Movies Worldwide took charge of the music channel after B4U Music head Kalyan Sunderam had put in his papers. Similarly, Yugandar who used to be in charge of the creative for the movie channel started overseeing the music channel.

  • B4U appoints Samir Mazgaonkar head of sales

    B4U appoints Samir Mazgaonkar head of sales

    MUMBAI: B4U has appointed Samir Mazgaonkar as the new head of sales at B4U India. Taking on the role with immediate effect, Mazgaonkar will be responsible for leading and implementing the sales strategies and operations for B4U India sales portfolio.
     

    Prior to his current assignment at B4U, Mazgaokar has been working with ESPN Star, says a company release. His portfolio also includes a stint with Turner International, where he worked on channels like Cartoon Network and HBO.

    Besides the change in the positions at sales operation, the channel has been in the process of introducing various new programming ideas on-air and a host of off-air activities.

    According to Mazgaonkar, “I look forward to this assignment as an opportunity to bring to B4U a whole new approach in terms of sales strategy and execution, which would be in tune with the market expectations from the brand. I have had the good fortune to work with some of the best media brands and teams in the business, and I intend to bring all those learnings to this assignment to create a difference.”

    Says B4U vice president Ravi Nair, “Mazgaonkar brings a wealth of industry experience to B4U, which will prove invaluable. He is an experienced individual who understands the business and the people, and I am pleased to welcome Mazgaonkar as the head of the all-India sales team at B4U.”

  • B4U Music to build brand with different programme genres

    MUMBAI: B4U Music, hitherto a quiet player in the music channel segment, is bustling to make its presence felt among the plethora of me too music channels.

    The channel will introduce ten new shows which will cater to a wide spectrum in the next ten days. From night clubs to looking at issues affecting those in the 15-20 age bracket, the new line up promises something for everyone.
    This is not all. B4U has also undergone organisational changes. Ravi Nair, who used to earlier head B4U Movies Worldwide has also taken charge of the music channel a couple of months ago after B4U Music head Kalyan Sunderam quit. Similarly, Yugandar who used to be in charge of the creative for the movie channel is now also overseeing the music channel.
    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the new programme initiatives Nair says, ” In terms of concepts these shows are very ambitious. An Indian music channel has not tried such shows.”
    About the target audience, Nair points out that any music channel looks at an audience in the age group 15-35. B4U Music however also targets people upto 44. As far as a shift in direction, is concerned Nair says,” We are looking at the area of property building rather than just being known as a channel that airs music based shows. We are looking at getting into more interactive programming. While the logo will not change, the channel will have a more international, vibrant look.”
    Dwelling on channel share, Nair says, “The share of B4U Music has gone up. We are fighting along with Channel V for the number three spot. In some areas, they are strong while in others we hold the edge. Six months back, our share was in the range of 0.30. Now it is 0.50. We see a spurt in viewership mostly in the mornings. It starts coming down at four and after six in the evening the general entertainment channels take over. In the North, B4U Movies is 1.10.”
    As far as B4U Movies was concerned, Nair says that for six months it hadn’t gotten into acquiring big ticket releases. Now however it was looking to at acquisitions. He refused to divulge the names of titles, however, that were being examined. B4U has a tie up with iDream Productions. He also mentioned that the broadcaster was in talks with Saregama India which has just entered the area of film production. B4U is not looking at concentrating too much on making films that will go straight away onto television. “Film branding basically happens in theatres. So we will work with producers looking to make releases for the silver screen” Nair says.
    As far as interactive measures are concerned, Nair feels live interactivity is some time away from the broadcaster. Right now it would be recorded. This will happen a couple of months from now. Asked if any on-ground events were in the pipeline, Nair says, ” Most of the shows that we are producing have the potential to become on-ground events.” Nair hinted that an onground event centred around a show would start a month after it had gone on air.
    As far as ad revenues are concerned, Nair says that ad revenues for the music channel were better than those for the movie channel. On the pay front, B4U Movies is slowly picking up. Post CAS the price would stay at Rs. 10 while B4U Music would continue to be free to air. 2000 boxes have been seeded for B4U Movies in six months. For B4U Music there are 3000 boxes.
    Elaborating further on CAS Nair said, “I don’t think that anyone has an answer to CAS. The Indian market is very complex and it is very easy for us to say that the government does not know what it is doing. The Rs. 72 for all channels is only a temporary measure and viewers should not expect all channels to come free. Entertainment should not be treated as a necessity,” Nair says.
    Watch this space for further details about B4U Music’s new programme initatives.

  • B4U claims to have developed comprehensive ERP solutions for media firms

    B4U claims to have developed comprehensive ERP solutions for media firms

    B4U is branching out into avenues less trodden.

    The company has developed an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that offers integrated software solutions to media companies. 

    Bramble, the system built up by B4U over the last three years, provides solutions to practically every task a media company undertakes, including scheduling, production, branding, agreement management systems, cinema database, library (including the rights to software and the period for which the rights hold), telephone directory and ad bookings.

    Customisation of the system is an ongoing process, according software systems head Ravi Nair. Giving a comparative example of how comprehensive Bramble is, Nair points out that Star India paid Rs 600,000 for an ERP package called Scope that handles only ad bookings. 

    Financial accounting and Human Resource Development are also being added to Bramble’s scope, Nair says. 

    As far as the safety aspect is concerned, the system operates through a lease line connected to a router, which is connected to a proxy server, which in turn is connected to the web server and thence to the data server. The firewall protection works at two levels – one at the router and the other at the proxy server, Nair says. The main server, says Nair, is regenerated every two hours.