ITV

Tag: still

  • Government ‘still compiling data’ on news channels uplink norms deadline

    NEW DELHI: After the stridency, comes the leniency. The deadline to comply with uplink norms for news channels has come and gone, but the government is silent on the issue.

    On Friday, a senior government official said that it’s still not clear whether everybody has complied with the regulation that stipulated that by 30 September all news channels uplinking from India were to restructure and
    bring down their foreign holding to the permissible limit of 26 per cent.

    “Data is still being compiled,” the official said, evading a direct reply whether the likes of Zee News and CNBC TV18 have complied with the uplink norms.
        
                
          Though Zee News was hived off from Zee Telefilms into a separate company, which had majority Indian investment, mid-September, information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy few days later had expressed ignorance of any restructuring in Zee News or CNBC TV 18.

    Reddy had then maintained that the 30 September deadline would be strictly followed. On being contacted, an executive of Zee News Pvt. Ltd reiterated that compliance of government norms has been completed and the company had “not heard” anything new from the I&B ministry after the deadline.

    Though CNBC TV 18 was not available for comments, industry sources claimed that the restructuring process is complete. It is expected to be on the lines of restructuring done by Zee News that is based on calculating the foreign holding in news companies on a pro rata basis, which makes the whole thing complicated.

    “The complication cannot be helped as government norms are such,” a source close to the TV 18 CNBC restructuring told Indiantelevision.com.

    On 16 September, Zee Telefilms had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has decided to hive off its news business into a separate company, Zee News Pvt Ltd, which will have scaled down foreign holding.

    In Zee News Pvt Ltd, Jayaneer Capital Private Ltd will hold 40 per cent and Churu Trading Company Private Ltd 25 per cent equity stake, while Zee Telefilms’ equity stake is 35 per cent, which works out under a complex
    formula to about 20 per cent of foreign holding to comply with the 26 per cent cap.

  • ‘Sindoor’ clicks for Zee; ‘Sarrkkar’ still to settle

    MUMBAI: Zee TV’s primetime shows may still have a way to go before they begin to worry the competition, but still, they are doing well for the channel. Except for newcomer Sarrkkar, the rest of the Zee soaps have been maintaining a steady average.
     

    Since the last few weeks, Zee TV has a new performer in Sindoor Tere Naam Ka. The 7:30 pm show, launched on 21 March, has now consolidated its position as Zee TV’s top rated show, maintaining an average TVR of 2.

    According to TAM, the highest TVR Sindoor recorded in the last two weeks is 2.18 for the week 19. In the initial days, it had even crossed the 3 TVR mark. The latest line up has Tumhari Disha in the second position followed by Astitva and Kareena Kareena in the third and fourth position respectively.

    In the process, Sindoor has also strengthened Zee TV’s position in the 7:30 time band, which is presently witnessing an exciting contest. Zee TV dominated the pack in weeks 18 and 19, but Star Plus is the leader for week 20. The latest TAM data shows the channel leading the race with a channel share of 12.3, closely followed by Zee TV with a share of 10.9.
     
     
     

    It could be too early to pass judgments on the performance of Sarrkkar, but still, the high profile show Zee launched on 25 April for the 8:30 pm slot is yet to prove its ‘majority’. According to TAM, in the Hindi Speaking Markets, the show has recorded 0.69 TVR on an average. Looking at the TAM data, there is a striking dissimilarity in the kind of performance the show has been delivering in the two metro markets – Delhi and Mumbai. In Delhi, the political saga has managed an average TVR of 1. But in Mumbai, the average TVR is 0.50. In the Kolkata market also, Sarrkkar is yet to make any inroads.

    In its efforts to promote the 7:30 pm band with the Sindoor property, Zee had fired on all cylinders with a 360 degree media campaign. Apart from a campaign that covered print, radio and outdoors, the channel had conducted several ground events across all the important markets for Sindoor. Meanwhile, the critically acclaimed Sarrkkar had a relatively low profile outing in terms of publicity campaigns.

    “Sarrkkar was not promoted in the scale of Sindoor. Whether to launch a second campaign or not – we haven’t taken any decision yet,” says Zee TV VP marketing Tarun Mehra.

    Zee Telefilms CEO Pradeep Guha is hopeful that Sarrkkar will overcome the initial hiccups. “We have started our programming initiatives this year with Sindoor and Sarrkkar. Sindoor is doing extremely well. Sarrkkar hopefully will deliver better than what it is delivering now,” he had said in an exclusive interview with indiantelevision.com.