ITV

Tag: Star Ananda

  • Times Network appoints Amitabh Biswas to Head Marketing for the English Entertainment cluster

    Times Network appoints Amitabh Biswas to Head Marketing for the English Entertainment cluster

    Mumbai: Times Network, India’s leading television broadcasting network, today announced the appointment of Amitabh Biswas as Head of Marketing, English Entertainment cluster. In his role, Amitabh will lead the brand and media strategy for the Network’s English Entertainment channels (Movies Now, Romedy Now, MNX and MN+) across platforms. Based in Mumbai, Amitabh will report to Vivek Srivastava, EVP and Head Entertainment Cluster, Times Network. 

    Commenting on the appointment, Vivek Srivastava, EVP and Head Entertainment Cluster, Times Network said, “I’m delighted to welcome Amitabh to the Times Network team.A versatile marketing professional with a proven track record in brand building along with a strong understanding of the business, Amitabhwill be an asset to our brands. I am confident that he will add tremendous value to our ambitious growth strategy in the English Entertainment segment.”

    Speaking on his new role, Amitabh Biswassaid,“It’s great to be back at the organization where I’ve grown through critical stages of my career.With continuous break-throughs in the media platforms, evolution of the connected consumer and tectonic shifts in their content appetite, I look forward to this opportunity to enter the next era with these leading entertainment brands.”

    With over 15 years ofbrand management experience acrossbroadcasting, advertising, telecom and management consulting, Amitabh joins Times Network after his entrepreneurial venture. In his previous roles, Amitabh has worked with Times Network’s news channels, RelianceInfocom, Star News, Bloomberg UTV,Star Majha, Star Ananda, where he focused on brand inventions, market research, strategic planning and operations.
     

  • ABP News Network CEO Ashok Venkatramani departs

    ABP News Network CEO Ashok Venkatramani departs

    MUMBAI: Even as the week was ending, came another shocking piece of news. Ashok Venkatramani, the CEO of ABP News Network (ANN) had quit and in fact had even served out his notice period with Friday (4 November 2016) being his last day at work.

    A hardcore Hindustan Lever professional, Venkatramani was given charge of the network in 2008, when it was a 76:24 per cent joint venture Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS) between West Bengal based print media group ABP and Rupert Murdoch’s Star India.  The joint venture launched three channels Star News, Star Ananda, and Star Majha, in the Hindi, Bengali and Marathi news space.

    The two parted ways in 2012 as Star India wanted to focus on its entertainment and sports business under CEO Uday Shankar with ABP buying out the Star India stake. The parting agreement included the dropping of the Star name from the channels.  Something which many thought would be detrimental for the ABP group in revenue terms.

    Venkatramani had the responsibility of overseeing the rebranding of the channels to ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha. And he did that pretty effectively. Revenues not only stayed put, they also grew. Venkatramani, after some struggle with the ministry of information and broadcasting on getting a licence, also launched ABP Sanjha in July 2014. His efforts were recognized at 2016’s indiantelevision.com News Television (NT) Awards this earlier this year and he was inducted into the NT Awards Hall of Fame.

    Venkatramani confirmed his departure to indiantelevision.com, saying that he was leaving for newer challenges. And he confirmed that he was being replaced by Atideb Sarkar (the son of ABP editor in chief Arup Sarkar). Not much is known about where Venkatramani is headed, but his deputy and the company’s COO Avinash Pandey appreciated his efforts in a comment to a media portal. As did the ABP managing director and CEO D. D. Purkayastha.

    Venkatramani is currently the president and director on the Board of the News Broadcasters Association of India (NBA) and chairs its HR and sales sub-committees. He is also a former director of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Ashok is also a member of the Digitization Task Force appointed by the Indian government.

    He is is a B. Tech from Bombay and has done his management post graduation from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Harvard Business School.

    Also Read:

    Murdoch set to exit TV news biz in India

    Star, ABP announce divorce; Star News to be ABP News

    ABP’s Punjabi channel, Sanjha, finally gets its licence
     

  • ABP News Network CEO Ashok Venkatramani departs

    ABP News Network CEO Ashok Venkatramani departs

    MUMBAI: Even as the week was ending, came another shocking piece of news. Ashok Venkatramani, the CEO of ABP News Network (ANN) had quit and in fact had even served out his notice period with Friday (4 November 2016) being his last day at work.

    A hardcore Hindustan Lever professional, Venkatramani was given charge of the network in 2008, when it was a 76:24 per cent joint venture Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS) between West Bengal based print media group ABP and Rupert Murdoch’s Star India.  The joint venture launched three channels Star News, Star Ananda, and Star Majha, in the Hindi, Bengali and Marathi news space.

    The two parted ways in 2012 as Star India wanted to focus on its entertainment and sports business under CEO Uday Shankar with ABP buying out the Star India stake. The parting agreement included the dropping of the Star name from the channels.  Something which many thought would be detrimental for the ABP group in revenue terms.

    Venkatramani had the responsibility of overseeing the rebranding of the channels to ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha. And he did that pretty effectively. Revenues not only stayed put, they also grew. Venkatramani, after some struggle with the ministry of information and broadcasting on getting a licence, also launched ABP Sanjha in July 2014. His efforts were recognized at 2016’s indiantelevision.com News Television (NT) Awards this earlier this year and he was inducted into the NT Awards Hall of Fame.

    Venkatramani confirmed his departure to indiantelevision.com, saying that he was leaving for newer challenges. And he confirmed that he was being replaced by Atideb Sarkar (the son of ABP editor in chief Arup Sarkar). Not much is known about where Venkatramani is headed, but his deputy and the company’s COO Avinash Pandey appreciated his efforts in a comment to a media portal. As did the ABP managing director and CEO D. D. Purkayastha.

    Venkatramani is currently the president and director on the Board of the News Broadcasters Association of India (NBA) and chairs its HR and sales sub-committees. He is also a former director of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Ashok is also a member of the Digitization Task Force appointed by the Indian government.

    He is is a B. Tech from Bombay and has done his management post graduation from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Harvard Business School.

    Also Read:

    Murdoch set to exit TV news biz in India

    Star, ABP announce divorce; Star News to be ABP News

    ABP’s Punjabi channel, Sanjha, finally gets its licence
     

  • News channels to telecast Durga Puja live

    News channels to telecast Durga Puja live

    KOLKATA:  With the arrival of Durga Puja in Bengal, the biggest festival in the state, India’s national broadcaster, Doordarshan along with other regional Bengali channels will telecast the grand festival from Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal live for the next four days.

     

    Channels planning live telecast of the celebrations include 24 Ghanta, Akash Bangla, Star Ananda, Tara News, ETV News, Channel 10, Ne Bangla and Kolkata TV among other channels.

     

    Talking about the same, a Focus Bangla official said, “We will invite singers to our studios. We will also visit a celebrity’s house for the puja and be a part of their home experience.”

     

    Adding to that, a 24 Ghanta reporter added, “Each year, organisers come up with new themes and try to better their previous attempts. We try to cover all the important pujas from different locations so that old people and the young alike can enjoy the live puja from indoors.”

     

    The 10-day festival which started on 25 September will conclude on 3 October.

     

    Festooned with lights, giant cardboard cut-outs and clay figures adorn the entrances to lanes. The city has also been decked up like a bride to welcome the goddess.

     

  • DD Bangla, among other Bengali channels to live telecast Durga immersions

    DD Bangla, among other Bengali channels to live telecast Durga immersions

    KOLKATA: India’s national broadcaster, Doordarshan is likely to live telecast Durga Visarjan (immersion of Goddess Durga) on DD Bangla from 6:15 pm today.

     

    While other regional Bengali channels like 24 Ghanta, Akash Bangla, Star Ananda, Tara News, ETV Bangla, Channel 10, Ne Bangla and Kolkata TV among various other channels apart from covering news will live telecast the Durga Visarjan from Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal from noon till late evening.

     

    Biswa Majumdar, editor-in-chief, Northeast Bangla (Ne Bangla), a Bengali language 24×7 news channel, said: “We will show live Visarjans from noon till late evening. Most of the channels would be busy in covering the immersion as most of the idols will be immersed today as tomorrow is Eid.”

     

    Covering teary eyed devotees bidding an emotional farewell as idols of goddess Durga and her four children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik – be to immersed in ponds, lakes and rivers of West Bengal is a touching experience, said a cameraman.

     

    We will invite singers in our studios. We will also go to some celebrity puja and be a part of their home experience, said another reporter.

     

    Married women would be decked in the ritualistic red-and-white sarees marking the event with the customary “Sindoor Khela” or smearing each other and the idols with red vermillion to prepare the goddess and her clan for their long journey home, as dhaaks (traditional drums) plays in the background.

     

    There will be festive look on the banks of the Ganges and other water bodies, with spirited chants of “Bolo Durga Mai Ki Jai” adding to the fervour.

  • Sudip Roy is Neo Sports Broadcast senior VP, ad revenue

    Sudip Roy is Neo Sports Broadcast senior VP, ad revenue

    MUMBAI: Neo Sports Broadcast has appointed Sudip Roy as senior VP advertising revenue. He has over 16 years of broadcast ad revenue experience.

    He replaces Raju Udupa. Prior to this, Roy was working with Media Content and Communications Services India (MCCS) as business head events and special features. He was responsible for ad revenue for all the news channels (ABP News-formerly Star News, ABP Ananda-formerly Star Ananda and ABP Majha-formerly Star Majha)

    His career began with Zee Telefilms where he quickly rose to become the youngest branch head for all Zee Channels in Kolkata in 2001 and subsequently grew into the role of ad sales head for Zee Bangla in the Western region.

    Post this, he moved to MCCS, where he was the part of the team that launched Star Ananda and was the top regional head from 2005-2008. He also conceptualised the uniform rate card for Star News, Star Ananda and Star Majha and was the rate card president for three years.

    He then took over as the first business head of events, special features for these three channels and ensured that all events conceptualised were profitable.

    Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan said, “With his impressive track record in the broadcast industry and focus on profitability, Sudip is the ideal candidate to grow our business further and I welcome him into the Neo family.”

    Roy said, “With multiple long term rights deals with leading global sports federations, Neo Sports is poised for growth in an exciting new era for sports broadcasting in India. It‘s been an exciting ride for me in the broadcast industry so far, and I look forward to working with the team to lead advertising revenue at Neo to new heights”.

  • Nilesh Thakkar moves on from GS TV to launch The Real Media People

    MUMBAI: Media veteran Nilesh Thakkar, whose latest stint was with Aas Paas TV (the television wing of Gujarati daily Gujarat Samachar), has turned entrepreneur with his media venture – The Real Media People (TRMP).

    The media agency will focus on providing media solutions to the real estate sector which is heavy on print and out of home media. It will also help players in the sector capitalise on the use of electronic media, which has not been used effectively by the builder community as yet.

    Thakkar, the founder CEO of TRMP, said, “At TRMP, we shall give 360 degree solutions to builders who are still heavy on print and will generate additional revenue for all regional and national news channels by way of spot/non FCT/advertiser paid feature. Real estate is huge sector for print and this sector requires a personalised touch. We shall not operate like an ad agency but will act as consultants in promoting the clients.”

    TRMP was inaugurated on the pious occasion of Vasant Panchami and will start full-fledged operations from 1 April. Thakkar will be joined by two more partners, whose identities will be revealed in due course of time. There are already some new channels that have tied up with TRMP.

    Thakkar further said, “I started working at a very early age, practically during my school days. I always thought I shall retire early and start something on my own by the time I enter the early forties.”

    Thakkar has 20 years of experience in the media business having spent seven in years in print with publications like Manorama, Abhiyaan and Chitralekha and 13 years with Zee, Star News, Star Ananda, Star Majha, Tv9 and Gujarat Samachar (GS Tv).

  • Narayan Rao re-elected NBA president

    Narayan Rao re-elected NBA president

    MUMBAI: NDTV Group executive vice chairman KVL Narayan Rao has been re-appointed president of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) for 2011-12.

    In the Annual General Meeting held today, Zee News Ltd CEO Barun Das has been re-elected as vice president, while Media Content and Communications Services (which manages news television channels Star News, Star Majha and Star Ananda) CEO Ashok Venkatramani is the honorary treasurer.

    The other members on the NBA board are Independent News Services chairman Rajat Sharma; Times Television Network MD and CEO Sunil Lulla; and Network18 Group COO B Sai Kumar.

  • Distressed, news channels seek rescue in digitisation

    Distressed, news channels seek rescue in digitisation

    NEW DELHI: Stung by high carriage costs and a slump in advertising rates, television news channels are looking at tapping subscription revenues to drive growth.

    The subscription income of news channels is pegged at around Rs 2 billion, but is restricted to only a few players like CNBC TV18, NDTV, TV Today Network and Zee News.

    “We have to open up subscription revenues. There is a future there,” said TV Today Network CEO and executive director G Krishnan, while speaking at the 4th News Television Summit organised by Indiantelevision.com.

    News channels are struggling, as they depend heavily on advertising revenues, and media buying agencies do not give them a fair ad price commensurate to their reach.

    “We are not given a premium for the impact that we have. We are treated like commodities by the media buying agencies,” Krishnan said.

    Madison Media CEO Basab Datta Chowdhury, however, did not agree. “The news channels deliver a genre share of 7 per cent while they command a revenue share of 11 per cent. So there is a premium that is given to them. The problem is that there is a plethora of news channels and it is very difficult to differentiate. News is commoditised today,” she said.

    The rise in advertising revenue, though, has come from more inventory utilisation than an increase in ad rates.

    “The 10-second rates have come down. Ad revenue is growing because news channels have flooded the market with inventory. That’s a mistake we have done,” said Krishnan.
            
      News channels have as high as 20-22 minutes of commercial time per hour of telecast, a path they do not prefer to follow, but are led to by a softening of ad rates.

    MCCS (which owns and operates Star News, Star Ananda and Star Majha) CEO Ashok Venkatramani said the value of the content of news channels does not get realised by the agencies. “Media buyers do not look at the profile of audiences. On the cable TV front also, we do not have transparency. There is no proper mechanism at all,” he added.

    BAG Films & Media CMD Anurradha Prasad urged the news broadcasters to get together to fight against “unreasonable carriage fees” demanded by the multi-system operators (MSOs).

    “It is a rat race out there and broadcasters should collectively fight against high carriage fees. And on the advertising front, we are not paid for the reach that we have. We are not getting the kind of revenues that we had anticipated,” Prasad said.

    Media Network and Distribution (India) Ltd (a joint venture with Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd) Yogesh Radhakrishnan believed at the crux of the problem was the rapid growth of the media industry in a short span of time. “The Indian TV market had grown too fast too soon. But post digitisation, news channels can drive subscription revenues and up ad rates as they create differentiated content,” he said.

    Krishnan, however, is bullish about the TV news industry. “Currently the ability to grow is limited. But five years down the line, we will see strong growth. Digitisation will lower our carriage fees and we can fetch more pay-TV revenues,” he said.

    The challenge for the news broadcasting industry, thus, is to cap ad inventory, aggressively chase subscription revenues and create value for advertisers.

  • Star Ananda to show football, inks deal for WC 2010 qualifiers

    Star Ananda to show football, inks deal for WC 2010 qualifiers

    MUMBAI: Bengali news channel Star Ananda will show football content to widen its audience base.

    The ABP-Star run channel has inked a deal with sports marketing company Total Sports Asia (TSA) to telecast Fifa 2010 World Cup qualifiers of Italy and Spain.

    With the Fifa World Cup commencing in less than 10 months, World Cup fever is steadily catching up and Star Ananda is hoping to capitalise on this to deliver world-class football programming in the football loving state of West Bengal.

    TSA is the exclusive rights holder throughout Asia for all Italy and Spain World Cup qualifiers and friendlies for the Fifa World Cup 2010.

    TSA associate director – sales and business development Vishal Jaison says, “We’re delighted to be working with Star Ananda for the live broadcast of the Fifa World Cup qualifiers of Spain and Italy. With an impressive football catalogue offering World Cup qualifiers and other Fifa WC 2010 magazine shows, we will be actively involved in many such region centric deals to make football viewership more accessible to the vast number of fans across different states.”