ITV

Tag: Sun Network

  • Sun-Balu dispute settled as broadcaster agrees to raise invoices based on SLRs of MSO before TDSAT

    Sun-Balu dispute settled as broadcaster agrees to raise invoices based on SLRs of MSO before TDSAT

    NEW DELH: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has directed Sun Networks Ltd to accept the SLRs provided by multi system operator Balu Cable Network as the broadcaster failed to carry out a joint survey as directed by the tribunal on 10 March.

    Sun Counsl Abhishek Malhotra told the tribunal that the broadcaster is willing to accept the SLR submitted by Balu Cable Network and raise invoices on the basis of its SLR for the following channels:- 

    1. Bouquet no.2

    2. Bouquet no.5

    3 Kushi TV

    4. Jemini Life

    5. Gemini Comedy.   

    The tribunal accordingly disposed of the petition after accepting the statement of Counsel.

    Earlier in November last year, Sun Network had been directed by the tribunal to enter into a provisional interconnect agreement with the MSO and commence supply of signals.

    The tribunal had then said that it felt that the order was proper and appropriate considering much time has already lapsed.

    The tribunal had said: “We note that this petition was filed on 28 May 2015 and it is lingering on, on some pretext or the other. The request on behalf of the respondent for making physical verification of the petitioner’s SLR cannot be disallowed.”

  • Sun asked to sign provisional agreement and commence signals to MSO

    Sun asked to sign provisional agreement and commence signals to MSO

    New Delhi: Sun Network has been directed by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal to enter into a provisional interconnect agreement with multi system operator Balu Cable Network and commence supply of signals.

     

    Chairman Justice Aftab Alam and member Kuldip Singh felt that the order was proper and appropriate considering much time has already lapsed.

     

    The Tribunal said: “We note that this petition was filed on 28 May 2015 and it is lingering on, on some pretext or the other. The request on behalf of the respondent for making physical verification of the petitioner’s SLR cannot be disallowed.”  

     

    Listing the matter for 14 December, the Tribunal said Sun Network may make a physical verification of the petitioner’s SLR and submit its report on completion of the verification.

     

    Thereafter, the Tribunal will pass further orders, the bench said.

  • ‘Bindaas Challenge’ engages viewers of Udaya TV

    ‘Bindaas Challenge’ engages viewers of Udaya TV

    MUMBAI: The Sun Network owned Kannada general entertainment channel (GEC) Udaya TV has been hosting a new quiz TV show. Christened Bindaas Challenge, it airs at 10:30pm from Monday to Friday in which viewers get prizes in response to correct answers to questions.

     

    Created by Brain Share Creations, the show comes with the tag line ‘your win is guaranteed’, thus stating that every participant gets a prize in the form of either shopping vouchers or brands. Launched on 18 August, the entire series consist of 40 episodes, of which 20 have been shot.

     

    Hosted by Chandana Devaraj, Bindaas Challenge has four sponsors Kanva Mart, Indus TMT, Sasi Soaps and Kurvez. Lucky viewers get prizes worth Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 while others get points that are accumulated and can make one a weekly or monthly winner. The consolidated mega winner of the entire series gets a Tata Nano. Questions are based on general knowledge. Viewers are then directed to go to the Facebook and YouTube pages to know their scores and winners of the quiz.

     

    The production house says that the initial response has been to the tune of 75,000 responses. This is due to its intense promotion through social media, SMS and print media in Karnataka, being done by Innovative Advanced Media.

     

    The programme is technically supported by cloud servers and IVR that can handle 9000 calls and 4 lakh SMS per second. The brainchild behind this show, Madhusudhan says that the USP is that the ratings can be analysed on the basis of the responses.

     

    Targeted at viewers above 14 years of age, the set location is Bengaluru. Currently being telecast only on Udaya TV, talks are on to telecast it in the other south states as well.

  • Gemini Life’s new look in the New Year

    Gemini Life’s new look in the New Year

    MUMBAI: The New Year will see a change in one of the Sun Network channels. Its Telugu music channel Gemini Life is all set to bring on board a new programming list to engage the Telugu music lovers.

    The channel which formerly ran a list of songs through the day is now going to categorise its FPC throughout the day giving the channel a better look. Starting 1 January 2014 a new set of shows will be played during the weekday such as Manasuna Manasai that will showcase duet songs from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, Swaralajallu that will show songs from famous music directors from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm and Prema Keratam which will have love songs between 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

    Various time slots have been created throughout the day to cater to people with different choices in music. The weekends will be packed with not just songs but also movies, music related shows and live musical events. The channel claims to have the largest collection of Telugu songs and movies. The refurbishing is to present a viewer friendly format of non-stop songs that will appeal to youngsters apart from elderly people.

  • South Indian GECs push fiction to include Saturday

    South Indian GECs push fiction to include Saturday

    Television viewing has always been about appointment viewing – catch up with your favourite shows on a particular day at a particular time.

    While airing fiction shows from Monday to Friday and comedy and movies over weekends has been somewhat the norm, a clutch of channels down South, particularly in Karnataka, has taken a shine to fiction shows spilling over to Saturdays as well.

    Asianet Suvarna, Star’s GEC channel in Karnataka, took this route about six months ago when it started airing fiction shows for six days a week.

    Star’s Malayalam GEC Asianet followed suit with a few prime-time fiction shows extended to Saturday.

    Recently, Sun TV, the Tamil GEC from the dominant Sun Network, joined the fray with its prime-time fiction shows replacing a movie and a game slot on Saturday.
    Not to be left behind, Sun Network’s Malayalam GEC Surya TV added Saturday to the telecast of the crime thriller Satyameva Jayate and its Kannada GEC Udaya TV also traversed the same path.

    So, what prompted these GECs to include Saturdays in their fiction line-up? Apparently, the channels believe airing soaps on a Saturday is more profitable as compared to airing movies, which they used to earlier. “Producing a half-an- hour fiction serial would mean investing about Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 whereas acquiring a movie would mean spending at least Rs 2-5 crore depending on the movie,” says Asianet Suvarna business head Anup Chandrashekaran.

    Another factor is that while Tamil Nadu is probably and arguably the best movie market in the south, the Karnataka film industry isn’t prospering too much, according to many channel executives. Hence, neither advertisers nor the revenue from Kannada movies is consistent as compared to that from shows. Again, movie repeats depend on the premiere performance. A good movie can fetch anywhere between Rs 40 lakh to Rs 60 lakh  as ad revenues from its first telecast. This means that for recovery it has to be telecast several times but repeats don’t get the same value.

    It also states that the number of films certified from Karnataka has dropped from 162 in 2008 to 128 in 2012. Whereas, the number of films certified from Tamil Nadu has grown from 175 to 262 in the same time span.

    A month ago, Zee Kannada too joined this elite club with fiction shows between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm extended to Saturday. “Production of Kannada films has come down and for a movie to premiere on TV takes nearly a year unlike Bollywood where the gap between the theatre premiere and TV premiere is just two or three months,” says Zee Kannada nonfiction programming AVP Balaraj S.

    Balaraj says that Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are better off since movies do well there

    The Deloitte report also stated that though Tamil and Telugu films are adopting better technology to match Hollywood standards, the same is lacking in the other two markets.

    It also highlighted that since the beginning of this year, broadcasters in Karnataka and Kerala have become selective in acquiring rights of small budget movies due to the use of low quality digital cameras resulting in poor visual appeal on TV.

    ETV Kannada, which was the first GEC to extend its afternoon and evening fiction shows to Saturdays nearly two years ago, has seen better viewership since because most people are at home over the weekend.

    “It is a cost effective way of managing your Fixed Point Chart (FPC) or else you have to invest in movies or events. Fiction shows have appointment viewing and time spent on them is very high,” says Viacom 18 EVP and business head –Kannada, Bengali and Oriya- Ravish Kumar.

    For showcasing movies, the channel makes use of its existing bank rather than relying on new ones. Kumar believes that by the time the movie gets premiered on TV, the interest in it has already faded.

    Balaraj feels that the only good thing about premiering movies is a better sampling of viewers while Chandrasekharan says it is easier to get advertisers locked for six days rather than approach new ones every week for a Saturday.

    Ravish feels that having shows on Saturday gets more viewers due to it being a holiday for most

    So will this trend catch up with other states as well? Balaraj feels that it won’t affect Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh since the film community there loves producing and audiences gorge on movies. New Generation Media Corporation CEO RBU Shyam Kumar, who heads newly-launched Tamil GEC Pudhu Yugam, feels it is too early to speculate. “A movie acquisition runs into crores of rupees and recovery time is long and most channels have a separate movie channel as well,” he says.

    While the Deloitte report said of the total revenue of Rs 2,680 crore from the South Indian film industry in FY 2013, the lowest was from Karnataka with just Rs 150 crore as compared to Rs 1,190 crore from Tamil Nadu and Rs 1150 crore from Andhra Pradesh, the silver lining is that the report also estimates that the Karnataka market is set to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent by FY 2017 to reach Rs 250 crore, the highest of all four.

    TV advertising market in south India was pegged at Rs 4000 crore during FY 2013 with Karnataka contributing Rs 710 crore. So clearly, television stands at a better position than film.

    The media planners we spoke to feel that as long as serials get good viewership, brands won’t have any problem advertising for an extra day in the week and Saturday anyway gets better viewership since it is the beginning of the weekend.

    Be that as it may, the weekends look to have rung in the end of weak and expensive movies on TV in Karnataka, and the dawning of cheaper fiction shows. 

  • Ramraj Cotton plans media spends of Rs 200 mn, ropes in Arun Sarja as brand ambassador

    BENGALURU: Ramraj Cotton, South India based male innerwear, white shirts and dhoti major, plans to spend between Rs 170-200 million towards mass media communications in the year even as it nurtures ambitions of having a pan-India presence.

    The brand has roped in South Indian actor and film director Arju Sarja as brand ambassador. Sarja has acted in Tamil and Kannada films as well as in a few Malayalam and Telugu movies.

    Despitehaving a strong presence in Karnataka, Ramraj is eyeing a higher market share in the state. Sarja recently launched its first shop-in-shop in Bangalore.

    Ranraj’s mass media communication plans include television and its ads are beamed across all the major channels of the Sun Network, the Star Network’s channels as well as the channels of the ABCL group (TV9). Besides television, the brand uses outdoor and print media for mass media communications.

    Ramraj claims a 70 per cent market share in the four southern states in the dhoties (a male sarong worn on the lower part of the body) and white shirts segment. With one of its manufacturing facilities at Tiuppur, it also manufactures and exports garments to and for a number of international brands.

  • Tata Motors to initiate mass media campaign for Sumo Gold

    Tata Motors to initiate mass media campaign for Sumo Gold

    BANGALORE: Tata Motors Ltd. (TML) will be initiating a mass media communications campaign for the new variant of its Sumo- Gold over the next few days. The campaign will include television, newsprint, outdoor and online media.

    “Our media buying company Lodestar has prepared a comprehensive media plan for the new Sumo Gold,” said TML head of Utility Products Vehicle Group Ashes Dhar.

    About four months ago, during the first phase, TML had launched the Sumo Gold in a few markets like Maharashtra, West Bengal, NCR region, UP, etc. TML says that the response has been good and it has seen the sales volumes tripling with the new Sumo Gold.

    The second phase of the launch is now on and among some the regions that the Sumo Gold is being launched include the northern belt of the country, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

    The Sumo Gold was launched in Bangalore today. The company plans to push the sales of the vehicle through a national level mass media campaign, informed TML officials.

    For television, TML has planned to air TVCs on GECs, news channels, Doordarshan, and regional channels such as those belonging to the Sun Network, Asianet in Kerala, TV9 and Mahuaa, Maa TV among others. On the Internet, a TVC will be placed on YouTube today, besides which TML plans to use Google ad words among other initiatives.

    O&M handles the creative duties for Tata Sumo Gold.

  • ‘Southside sees action’

    ‘Southside sees action’

    “Mind it!”

    A phrase immortalized by Channel [V]’s south Indian cowboy character Quick Gun Murugun in the nineties. And one that is most relevant to the regional language market in 2007. The year saw a flurry of launches or announcements of launches, a change in long-running political equations, continued growth, and an increasing intensity of competition in almost every language segment – whether Tamil or Malayalam or Kannada or Telugu – of the regional market.

     

    The big news of the year in this space was the public parting of ways between Kalanidhi Maran’s Sun Network and his grand uncle Karunanidhi, the chieftain of the DMK party. The breakup was bitter, and it was almost as if the floodgates were let open and a flurry of launches followed.

    Kalanithi Maran holds the Contribution to Television Award trophy he was presented with at the Indian Telly Awards 2006.

    The DMK launched its own channel Kalaignar TV with a little bit of help from former Maran friend Sharad Kumar, a few Sun TV employees and Sun arch rival Raj TV. The latter offered it uplinking facilities for Kalaignar TV which has a menu consisting of film and entertainment programs and news. The DMK appeared to be in in a hurry to make up for time it lost – over the past decade during which it supported the Sun Network – and announced plans to build a channel bouquet with a 24-hour news channel and music or a movie channel. This apart, it initiated steps to set up its own cable network in the state to counter any moves by the Maran-owned MSO Sumangali Cable Vision as well as to gain control of the last mile.

    DMK ally, Raj TV announced plans to introduce its DTH service, again as if to darken the Sun Network’s DTH prospects. In May 2007, the Raj TV management said that it would roll out 11 channels, and would take the acquistion trail to expand nationally in other languages, without disclosing any time frame. In August, 2007, it unveiled a FTA music channel Raj Musix.

    Besides Musix, Raj TV telecasts two channels – Raj TV and Raj Digital Plus’.
    On the Raj TV horizon are Tamil and Telugu news channels.

     

    Jaya TV, backed by the AIADMK party, and a comparatively smaller player, recently started testing two new Tamil channels – music and news, which are expected to start full time transmissions sometime this month. As the year drew to a close, Tamil Nadu Congress member of parliament, KV Thangabalu’s flagged off Mega TV, a 24 hour FTA Tamil news, current affairs, and entertainment channel, while Tamil Nadu Congress MLA Vasanth Kumar said he intends to start Vasanth TV.

     

    For the Sun Network, 2007 was business as usual, the political setbacks notwhithstanding. The network, which has the highest number of channels in south India, dominates the region, with the exception of Kerala where it trails Asianet as a close No 2. It drew the curtains on its DTH service using transponders on Insat 2B, offering subscription packages that looked extremely competitive and attractive. Industry watchers expect Sun’s dominance to get eroded over time, but 2008 is unlikely to be the year when we will see that happen.

    “Sun’s biggest strength has been content, be it GEC or movie. Just because Sun may be not be gaining numbers and Kalaingar is showing unprecedented growth, it doesn’t mean that advertisers are going to run away from Sun to its next biggest rival. At present, Sun has retained a firm grasp on its slowly reducing share in percentage terms, its share has not reduced in numbers,” says an ad executive.

     

    So far, Sun has been able to maintain a lead over all the others in most of the space it operates in. In a few places, even its second channel has performed better and attracted far more viewers than its nearest competition’s main channel has. In a very dynamic space, how the new equations will work out only time can tell.

     

    For Telugu print and TV baron Ramoji Rao, however, 2007 would be a year he would prefer to write off as a bad dream. For Rao, who owns TV network ETV and leading Telugu newspaper Eenadu, it was reportedly his close alignment for the past quarter century with the Telugu Desam and his run-ins with the Congress chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y Rajshekhar Reddy that cost him dear. It is pertinent to note that a deal signed between US-based Blackstone Group and Rao’s holding company Ushodaya in January 2007 for the sale of a 26 per cent stake is yet to see closure. If Blackstone’s proposal to invest $275 million in Ushodaya had gone through, it would have been the biggest ever media investment in an Indian firm.

    2007 will also go down in the annals of regional television history as the year of TV9. Promoted by Associated Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABCL), it appears to have ambitions to get its foothold into almost every language segment. In Andhra Pradesh, TV9 News got the better of Gemini News and ETV2 News, with its Telugu religious channel Sanskruti beginning to get noticed.

    In Karnataka TV9 Kannada surpassed the biggest player Sun’s Kannada news offering Udaya Varthegalu. It has also been itching to get control of Kerala’s fledgling news channel IndiaVision, but has only managed to start selling air time for it.

     

    Karnataka witnessed the launch of two GEC channels Asianet’s Suvarna and Kasthuri (the latter headed by then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s wife) during the year. Another channel ‘Real Estate TV’ for national consumption by a construction group made a lot of noise, but failed to get its signals carried.

     

    “Kasthuri could be eating into DD Bangalore’s ad shares, especially ads by the state government and public sector undertakings based in Karnataka,” said an executive from an advertising agency. “Having been the chief minister, Kumaraswamy could leverage his contacts in these companies. Even if these pickings are small, they are very good for a new entrant,” he avers.

     

    Observers expect the action in the southern space to continue. Balaji Telefilms is expected to launch TV channels in partnership with Star TV either in 2008 or 2009. And there is no doubt that others will also make a try for the southern pie.

  • Sun ready, DTH play becoming hot chase for satellite space

    Sun ready, DTH play becoming hot chase for satellite space

    MUMBAI: Having finalised on Malaysia-based Astro as his 20 per cent equity partner, Sun network chairman and managing director Kalanithi Maran is preparing the ground to launch his direct-to-home (DTH) service. He has decided on Iredeto as the encryption system while the set-top boxes (STBs) will be from Coship Electronics in China and South Africa-based UEC Technologies, a source close to the company says.

    “He is also looking at more STB vendors. Besides the basic box which will be competitively priced, he will have graded STBs. Multiple vendors will ensure supply safety in case of a huge demand for his service,” adds the source.

    Maran will be using MPEG-4 technology that will allow him to compress more TV channels per transponder. While MPEG-2 can pack in around 12 channels, the advanced compression technology will be able to accommodate over 20 channels.

    Maran will have seven Ku-band transponders on Insat-4B, which launches on 10 March, while Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air (FTA) package DD Direct Plus will have five on the same satellite.

    He may consider himself lucky when the launch of Insat-4C satellite failed in July 2006 after the rocket carrying it veered off course and exploded. He had booked six Ku-band transponders (and one more for digital satellite news gathering) on it for Sun Direct’s DTH service.

    By being located on the same satellite, Sun’s subscribers will be able to access DD Direct’s channels without Maran having to separately put them on his transponders.

    Dish TV which was sharing the NSS-6 satellite with DD, will not be hit badly after the migration. Since NSS-6 is at 95 degree East, a minor realignment of antenna will be required for receiving the channels as Insat-4B shall be located at 93.5 degree East. Tata Sky, on the other hand, will have to recarry DD channels on their transponders.

    The DTH play in India is, indeed, turning out to be a hot chase for satellite space. If Tata Sky had to wait for the launch of Insat-4A as rival Dish TV aggressively went on mopping up customers, it is now the turn of Anil Ambani’s Bluemagic and Bharti Telemedia to plead with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to provide them with Ku-band transponders.

    In the sprint to start DTH before the market gets taken away, Bharti may be the clear loser. Unless, of course, it gets the approval from Isro to be on Measat-3, a foreign satellite launched from the Astro Group.

    “Measat has made their Ku-band transponders available for us and have supplied the data. We are studying it technically and are making an internal evaluation,” says Isro contract management and legal services director SB Iyer.

    The satellite has 49 dbW (decibel Watts) as compared to Insat’s 53. “We have indicated this problem and Measat has said that it would examine it and come up with a solution. Insat-4B has 53 dcW and offers a powerful beam across the country. We will have to ensure quality and also come into an agreement with Measat. Besides, the users will also have to express their interest in the satellite,” says Iyer.

    Measat-3 has 24 Ku-band transponders and has been designed to provide capability for data services and DTH applications in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Subcontinent.

    If no clearance is given to Measat, Bharti will have to wait the longest with Insat-4G launching only by 2008-end. The DTH market could possibly have settled by then with the spoils being distributed among Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun and Reliance’s Bluemagic.

    Anil Ambani will get a shot at the DTH market after Insat-4CR (replacement) launches in the quarter beginning July this year. Reliance has asked for eight Ku-band transponders and Isro is reserving the remaining four for other users like National Informatics Centre.