ITV

Tag: Shyam Kumar

  • Can a MSO block a channel airing unfavourable poll survey?

    MUMBAI: It’s a classic case of how politicking could intrude the media space. It’s not just about garnering eyeballs, buying advertising slots, publishing advertorials or simply influencing the electorate potentially through favourable exit or etc poll outcomes.

    Here, it’s a straight case of gagging the media which may purportedly harm one faction’s interest, and the Tamil Nadu state machinery seems to be involved.

    Tamil television news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai on 7 April protested against its alleged blackout in 15 districts of the state. The channel wrote to the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV) managing director J. Kumaragurubaran that its channel was taken off air since the previous night after it aired the results of a poll survey in the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, where a byelection was scheduled to be held on 12 April.

    The channel’s CEO R.B.U. Shyam Kumar said that the survey results had reflected the mood of the voters. Kumaragurubaran urged Arasu to consider its plea to protect the rights of the media and take immediate action.

    The state-run TACTV blacked out Puthiya Thalaimurai channel on Thursday night as its survey of the RK Nagar constituency saw voters recognising O Panneerselvam as the natural political heir of Jayalalithaa over Sasikala (and not incumbent Edappadi Palaniswami) as the future chief minister. AIADMK chief and late CM’s incarcerated companion VK Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dinakaran was reportedly involved in the blackout.

    In the backdrop of the R.K. Nagar bypolls, Tamil Nadu woke up to income-tax raids on Friday morning in an apparent crackdown on cash distribution among voters. In the constituency, documents suggesting money distribution to the tune of Rs 120 crore were seized from the MLA hostel.

    IT officials surveyed the house and other locations of the state health minister Dr. C. Vijaya Bhaskar, an important member of the Sasikala faction and a known fundraiser. Another IT team checked the residence bungalow of AISMK head and actor-politician R. Sarath Kumar, who had declared his support to TTV Dinakaran, allegedly at a price. The raids also covered MGR Medical University vice chancellor Dr. Geethalakshmi, who may be the conduit of black money from private medical colleges in the state.

    DMK interim president, M K Stalin, meanwhile demanded of the chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy to sack Vijayabaskar from ministerial position.

    Seeking to influence the voter may not be new. But, trying to block independent television channels airing pro or anti-factional surveys is unheard of. Puthiya Thalaimurai strangely went off the air in the districts where mostly Arasu Cable signals are distributed.

  • Puthiya Thalaimurai goes all out on election coverage

    Puthiya Thalaimurai goes all out on election coverage

    MUMBAI: The newcomer in the news industry of Tamil Nadu, Puthiya Thalaimurai had quite some things to prove and even more so with the general elections being its first attempt at covering elections.

     

    The channel, like others planned a full-fledged election coverage for its viewers. For pre poll, an expert panel of chief election commissioner TS Krishnamurthy, Madras High Court judge Vallinayagam and a few others was constituted who dealt with the authenticity of the information.

     

     

    A team of 400 people including journalists, editors, camera crew, graphics team and production crew were involved in the coverage. Six extra cams and six Live U units were hired for the one and a half month period. 16 May saw 12 hour live coverage from 21 places across the country and discussions with 36 panelists. The graphics team of 10 people came up with 3D graphics for counting day with separate teams dedicated to ticker updates, news updates, panel discussions, field reporting, counting centres, political and public reactions.

     

     

    Special shows for election season was created. These included Ungal Thogudhi Ungal Pradhinidhi (your constituency, your representative), Modhum Vetpaalargal Kanikkum Vaakkaalargal (contesting candidates and predicting voters), Naattin Naadikanippu (pulse of the nation), Prachara Medai (stage set for campaign), 40thin Naadi thudippu (palpitations of 40), Ungal Thogudhi Ungal Vetpaalar (your constituency your candidate), Special Nerpada Pesu (speak out the truth), A Day with an M.P, Star Candidates, Therdhal Vaakkuruthigal 2014 (Election promises), Election Countdown, Magalirum Makkalaatchiyum (women and democracy).  For Naatiin Naadikanippu chief ministers of the states of Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir were interviewed.

     

    A line of sponsors were also set for the channel. While Ramraj was the presenting sponsor, Paragon was roped in as powered by sponsor. Apart from this, 11 associate sponsors that came onboard Puthiya Thalaimurai included: Aravind Life Style, Shakti Pumps, AML Steels, V Guard, Black Thunder, Excel Enginering College, GSK – Sensodyne, Udayam Dal, Popular Apalam, Ponvandu Soap, Menaka Caards.

     

     

    The counting day saw three indoor and one open studio in Chennai along with reporting from various constituencies of Tamil Nadu such as Puducherry, Kovai, Trichy and Madurai apart from Delhi studio, BJP office, Congress office and Left office in Delhi. Reporters were also stationed at Trivandrum, Bengaluru and Hyderabad to give updates of the neighbouring states.

     

    Says New Gen Media Corp CEO Shyam Kumar, “The expert team members guided and focussed on the authenticity of the information with their expert knowledge and experience. Their able guidance helped Puthiya Thalaimurai stand for what it is. Yet we believe in youthful ideas too. To keep track of the process, a young team was formed.”

  • New Tamil GEC Pudhu Yugam to go live on 23 October

    New Tamil GEC Pudhu Yugam to go live on 23 October

    MUMBAI: A new channel is about to enter the Sun TV-dominated GEC space of South India.

     

    Pudhu Yugam, from the Chennai-based New Generation Media Corporation stable, is slated to go on air from 23 October. It is the second TV offering from the company after news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai TV.

     

     

    An internal launch has already taken place on 5 October, when the channel’s programming was unveiled to the New Generation Media Corporation. Whereas an official launch has been planned on 18 October at Chennai’s Leela Palace where everything about the baby channel will be revealed. The ad sales are being handled by Fourth Dimension Media Solutions while the media and creative duties will be handled by Mindshare Chennai and Disha Communications respectively. The channel logo will be unveiled on the day of the launch.

     

    Nearly Rs 100 crore has been invested in the channel, which plans to air about 100 hours of in-house content per week including serials, reality and non-fiction shows, with the rest commissioned to producers. Popular Tamil film celebrities such as Simran, Sonia Agarwal and Ambika are expected to grace the shows with their presence.

     

    New Generation Media Corporation CEO R B U Shyam Kumar couldn’t have been happier as the launch is happening before Diwali as he’d wanted.

     

    As of now, each hour will see about seven to eight minutes of advertising. Fourth Dimension has recently opened up an office in Mumbai to attract more advertisers for the channel. “I have travelled extensively across India and the response to the channel has been terrific,” says Fourth Dimension Media Solutions CEO Shankar B.

     

    Digitally speaking, all the shows will be available on the channel’s website plus viewers will be able to live stream them with a delay of just one or two minutes.

     

    Plans are afoot to launch an application for Android and iOS that will be free for the first three months, post which it will be made subscription based. Viewers will be able to see live TV on the application as well.

     

    “We tried the application with our news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai TV, and we realized people want to view us wherever they are,” says Pudhu Yugam convergence head Manikanda Boopathi. The channel will be available as a pack with PT TV for a price of Rs 250-Rs 300 per annum. Apart from that, it has also tied up with Yupptv for showing live TV and VOD.

     

     

    “We know where the world is heading and we want to be ahead of everyone else,” says an optimistic Boopathy. The PT TV application has had over 80,000 downloads that gives viewers three options- live TV, just live audio (for low bandwidth) and live tickr. All this with just under four minutes of delay.

     

    There are plans to have live streaming in HD for Tamilians in US in phase II considering Indian bandwidth is too low to allow HD on the internet.

     

    Like in the case of Puthiya Thalaimurai, the marketing campaign will focus more on outdoor than TV. Closer to the launch, events such as flashmobs have also been planned to generate buzz.

     

    Pudhu Yugam plans a breakthrough in the GEC space by positioning itself as a General Engagement (and not Entertainment) Channel with domestic as well as foreign-based Tamil viewers as its target audience.

     

    Only time will tell if Pudhu Yugam can give established networks like Sun and Jaya a run for their TVTs…

  • Puthiya Thalaimurai turns two; targets Rs 100 crore revenue

    Puthiya Thalaimurai turns two; targets Rs 100 crore revenue

    MUMBAI: Two years is when most infants just begin to walk, but this is one baby which has given its older and tougher cousins not just a run for their money, but has also left them far behind.  Tamil news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai (PT) TV  turned two on 24 August and its management used the occasion to cosmetically change its look.

     

    That’s how leaders behave, and PT TV has bested the likes of Sun News  and Jaya News – both with strong political backing. While the second is at the No 2 spot, the latter is at third place.

     

    Let’s take a look at some TAM numbers around PT TV. In the CS 25-30 SEC A & B demographic, it has been ruling the chart for the first 27 weeks of this year with GRPs ranging from 19 to 51. (From week 28 it is calculated in terms of GVTs).

     

    “The competition didn’t take us seriously then,” says NGMC group CEO RBU Shyam Kumar talking about the time when the channel surpassed Sun News’ viewership.

     

    The fresh entrant was launched in 2011 by RP Satyanarayanan, president of New Generation Media Corporation (NGMC) with an investment of approximately Rs 100 crore. Independence Day of that year saw the implementation of a Rs 7 crore marketing campaign with special emphasis on outdoor marketing proclaiming the message ‘Unmai Udanuk Udan’ which means ‘truth as it happens’.

    Shyam Kumar believes PT TV will break even by next year

     

    The team of 110 people has grown to 300 with S Srinivasan as the current director of news and M Ramasubramaniam as the executive editor. As compared to others in this space, PT TV says,  whose journalists are old and are normally seen wearing chunky gold jewelry and plaits with saris, its anchors and reporters are young and sport snazzy outfits.

     

    With the headquarters located at Chennai and four bureaus in Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Delhi, the channel has five OB vans that cover news ‘live’ for the channel which other channels usually report from the studio.

     

    The channel has also focused on getting the Tamil audience tuned to international affairs and has tie-ups with stringers at places having the Tamil diaspora such as Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and soon there will be one in London. It is available on cable TV, DTH and internet.

     

    A long list of advertisers are on the channel including national ones such as Samsung, Hyundai, Nestle, Euroka forbes, Godrej, Bajaj auto, Intel, Toyota, IT and local favourites like Pothys and Nalli Silk Saris.

     

    “You name it and we have it,” says 4th Dimension Media Solutions CEO B Shankar confidently, that handles the ad sales for PT  TV. “Brands have always reached out to us than the other way round,” he adds and also mentioned that the only name he didn’t have was HUL.  A 10 second slot on the channel would cost advertisers anywhere between Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 which is set to increase by 30-40 per cent once the ad cap comes into effect on 1 October.

     

    Expectations are that it will break even by next year.

     

    The SRM group was raided by the income tax department a couple of months ago and along with it was PT TV. While reports were that unaccounted income of  Rs 6 crore popped up during the raid,  Shyam Kumar denies this saying it came out clean as a whistle.

     

    Something that the channel is very proud of is the events that they conduct in the state. ‘Veetuku Oru Vignyani’ (a scientist for every house) was a science competition for school students and two winners will be showcasing their inventions at Malaysia at the Malaysia Science Exhibition. An annual ‘Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamilian Awards’ is organised on the lines of the NDTV’s ‘Indian of the year’ award, that promotes the unsung heroes of Tamil Nadu.  ‘Uzhavakku Uyir Uttu Ulavarku Vazhvoottu’ was their their event for providing inspiration and guidance to farmers who were otherwise driven to commit suicide. “These events have made us stand apart,” says Kumar.

     

    The programming mix is claimed to be focused on social awareness and not dependent on popular items such as cinema. The channel has a news and  feature programming departments each,  which turn over the content daily.

     

    A special feature is that all of PT TV’s show titles are quotes of freedom fighter Bharathiar. Some of its shows include ‘Nerpadu Pesu’- a daily news hour discussion, ‘Agni Paritchai’- a talk show, ‘Roudram Pazhagu’ – a show on social evils and ‘Aayudam Seivom’ – scientific innovations by common man. New programs are in the pipeline such as ‘Saamanyan odu oru naal’ which translates to ‘one day with a common man’.

     

    The channel is soon to launch a GEC with the name of Pudhu Yugam and a national English news channel is also in the pipeline. For now, PT TV seems to have captured the Tamil news market.