ITV

Tag: Tamil Nadu

  • ESS, SCV in talks as clock ticks for World Cup kick-off

    ESS, SCV in talks as clock ticks for World Cup kick-off

    MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: The countdown is well and truly on as the world awaits the greatest sporting spectacle on the globe – the Fifa World Cup 2006 – to get underway tomorrow in Munich, Germany. 

    In India a very different confrontation is on between ESPN STAR Sports, the exclusive telecast rights holder, and Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), promoted by the Sun Network, which belongs to the Maran family that rules in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and owns cable networks in Chennai, a city where CAS has been implemented since 2003.
    The first ball in the fracas was kicked by SCV on Wednesday when it issued a statement that all World Cup matches would be telecast live on any free channel on the premium band enabling viewers without STB (set top boxes) to get all the action. 

    ESS in its response issued yesterday was quite categorical that “soccer lovers in the city can enjoy live telecast of Fifa World Cup 2006 only through set top boxes or through DTH services.” For Maran family patriarch and DMK leader M Karunanidhi, recently sworn in as chief minister after ousting bitter political rival Jayalalitha at the hustings, the prospect of Chennai’s citizens being deprived of the chance to see the soccer World Cup is unthinkable.

    While the buzz in Delhi is that Karunanidhi had called for a meeting with ESPN managing director RC Venkateish and his team might well be stretching things, that ESS and SCV executives were scheduled to meet to thrash out the matter today is true.

    It is worth noting here that one of Karunanidhi’s pre-election promises was for the supply of free colour TV sets to the state’s needy so all matters linked to the television are politically charged. 

    Till the time of writing this report, an update on the meeting between ESS executives and the Marans were not available.

    According to information available with Indiantelevision.com, the issue will get resolved if an agreement is reached between SCV and ESS on the payout Chennai’s dominant MSO will have to give to access the telecast.

    Once that happens, SCV’s assertion to its subscribers that the World Cup matches would go live on the free-to-air (FTA) band will be fulfilled. 

    The fact is though, that whether SCV and ESS reach an agreement or not, if the MSO were to show the World Cup matches on the FTA band it would be in breach of existing CAS laws. 

    Chennai after all is the only metro in the country where conditional access is operative and delivery of pay channels by any means other than through a set top box is illegal.

    A point of note is that SCV already appears to be in in violation of CAS laws in the matter of the Ten Sports telecast of the ongoing India-West Indies Test series being played out in the Caribbean. SCV has been airing the matches live on the FTA band. 

    However, since the SCV subscriber is not having to pay anything extra for getting the Ten Sports feed, for all practical purposes the Dubai-based sports channel is an FTA channel in the Chennai territory. That the Sony-Discovery One Alliance distribution bouquet (of which Ten Sports is a part) has chosen to look the other way about it is clearly linked to the fact that SCV is its distributor in Tamil Nadu.

    Sun TV Network promoter Kalanidhi Maran’s younger brother, Dayanidhi, is a minister in the federal coalition government in charge of telecommunications and infotech portfolios. 

    ESS warns cable ops against unlawful Fifa telecast 

    Rajesh Kaul, associate vice-president, affiliate sales, ESPN Software has in a statement said, “No other channel, whether pay, free to air or terrestrial is authorized to provide, show or distribute the Fifa World Cup Germany 2006 in the territory of India.”

    He added, “Also carriage, reception or distribution of the Fifa World Cup Germany 2006 by any MSO / cable operator / sub-operator without written authorization from ESPN Star Sports is a violation of copyrights and hence an illegal activity. If any person(s), entities are found to be resorting to such activities, legal action shall be initiated against such persons(s) / entities.”

    These assertions by ESS were necessitated as cable operators in various parts of the country were threatening to show the World Cup either through ESS signals or by accessing them from elsewhere.

    For example, Indiantelevision.com learns from ESPN India that a cable operator in Agartala in north-eastern part of the country had threatened to access the World Cup via Bangladesh TV, signals of which spill over to Indian border states also.

    Dish TV bullish on WC fuelling STB sales

    The cable controversy apart, Subhash Chandra’s Dish TV, country’s first DTH service, is bullish that the World Cup would fuel sale of boxes not only in Chennai, but in other parts of the country also.

    Dish TV business head and additional vice-chairman of Essel Industries Jawahar Goel said, “The off-take of our DTH boxes in Chennai is up almost 300 per cent these days.”

    While admitting that having ESPN and Star Sports on the DTH platform is an incentive for sale with the soccer fiesta just a day away, Goel, however, said that Dish TV would like to keep “away from the controversy” raging on in Chennai involving ESS and Sumangali.

    “We are businesspeople and would like to restrict our involvement to business deals,” Goel explained.

    An added advantage for Dish TV — present subscriber base in India close to 1 million — in pushing up its sale is that pubcaster Doordarshan will only be able to show the opening ceremony and match, plus the two semi finals and the final of the soccer World Cup.

    According to a report in The Hindu, taking advantage of the growing World Cup football fever, infotech major HCL will start distributing Dish TV products through Nokia outlets in Chennai. 

    HCL, itself a Nokia distributor, officially launched its DTH distributorship at a meeting for 120 dealers in Chennai on Wednesday. 

    Meanwhile, asked what would be Dish’s reaction if cable ops in football-crazy Kolkata in West Bengal re-transmit ESPN and Star Sports signals during the World Cup illegally to subscribers, Goel said action would be taken against errant cable ops.

    “Any cable operator trying to steal ESS signals from Dish TV (for football matches) would be hauled up and legal action will be initiated against him,” Goel said, pointing out that such subscribers would be switched off from the Dish control room.

    “We have launched a nationwide anti-piracy drive and will not tolerate piracy of signals from Dish TV,” Goel said.

  • 9.2 million Indians to seek jobs online by 2006-07: IAMAI

    9.2 million Indians to seek jobs online by 2006-07: IAMAI

    MUMBAI: The number of Indian online job seekers is expected to cross 9.2 million this year (2006-07) with the estimated market size of the Indian online recruitment industry reaching Rs 2.41 billion for 2006-2007 from Rs 1.45 billion for 2005-2006.

    The industry is also likely to maintain a year on year growth of over 60 per cent, according to a survey conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) recently.

    As per the findings, the number of Indians seeking jobs online reached 6.5 million in 2005-2006 recording a rise of 71 per cent over last year.

    The survey also found that junior, mid-level and senior executives accounted for more than 50 per cent of online job seekers. In addition, in keeping with the overall pattern of internet usage, among the states Maharashtra topped the list of online job seekers followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.

    Fast facts of online job search

    — 43 per cent in the 26-35 age group
    — 72 per cent male and 28 per cent female

    Qualification:
    — 41 per cent have a Graduate / Post-Graduate General (BA, BSC. MSC, B.com etc.)
    — 40 per cent have a Graduate /Post Graduate Professional Degree.

    Occupation:
    — 25 per cent Mid Level Executives
    — 15 per cent Junior Executives
    — 13 per cent Students
    — 12 per cent Senior Executives

    Top five states:
    — 26 per cent Maharashtra
    — 17 per cent Delhi
    — 13 per cent Tamil Nadu
    — 8 per cent Karnataka
    — 6 per cent West Bengal

    Online Job Search is one of the top five online activities (e-mail, surfing, chatting, search and job search) that Indians indulge in on the internet.

    Fuelled by a rising internet penetration and 38.5 million users, e-recruitment is gaining ground as a preferred medium of hiring in India. For job seekers, the internet has opened up the world of job searching, turning it into a 24-hour-a-day marketplace. Internet is arguably the most immediate, convenient and comprehensive medium for employment seekers to research and prospect for jobs.

    Commenting on the findings of the survey, IAMAI president Dr Subho Ray said, “Online job search is a winner all the way. For job seekers it eliminates the disadvantages of location, cost and time. For recruiters, it provides easy access to the best talent at a competitive cost. Given the obvious advantages, this segment is set to grow at a scorching pace.”

    A growing economy, a thriving job market and increasingly net savvy users have converged to create the right environment for the online job search market to grow.

    To understand the exact demographics of the online job seekers as well as parallel activities they do online, IAMAI mandated a study in January 2006 with a base of 3269 respondents who seek jobs online. The survey was mandated by the IAMAI to online research firm Cross Tab Marketing Services, with the overall objective of obtaining data to understand and anticipate online job trends.

  • Assembly polls: Regional channels in overdrive

    Elections are a matter of life and death for politicians and political organisations. Another section of society that approach elections with equal earnestness is the media.

    With five states – Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry – engaged in assembly elections in April – May, the regional television market has entered an exciting phase.

    While Assam has already completed the formalities, West Bengal had the first and second phases of polling on 17 April and 22 April. Three more phases are remaining – 27 April, 3 May and 8 May. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry have it scheduled for a single date, on 8 May. In Kerala it is three phases: 22 April, 29 April and 3 May.

    Thus we have three important regional television markets of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which command 50 per cent of the total language television revenues, trying to make the most of this opportunity for market expansion. Understandably, all these three ‘news hungry‘ markets have been witnessing a lot of churn recently, be it with channel launches or expansion of existing operations.

    Tamil Nadu is one market that has been attracting attention for all the wrong reasons. Kalanithi Maran-headed Sun TV is enjoying a superior position in the market and we are not again talking about that viewership dominance. The channel is in an envious position of having no competition at all in the news space; or to put it better, no competitor at all. While Sun TV and its news channel sibling Sun News are making the maximum out of the elections, rivals Jaya TV, Raj TV and Star Vijay don‘t have the necessary permission to telecast news and live programmes.

    Ever since its inception in 1999, Jaya TV has been fighting for a teleport licence, which would enable it to beam live news. This year, as the elections approached, the channel had intensified its efforts with the purpose of launching a separate news channel and the matter had even reached the Madras High Court. But, as per the indications, Jaya‘s plans of launching the news channel to capitalise on the election may not just get materialised. The channel is now concentrating on the election coverage by telecasting delayed news bulletins and current affairs programmes.

    “At this crucial time, we can‘t afford to indulge in court battles. We don‘t want our attention to get diverted. We are making our best efforts possible covering the elections,” states Jaya TV VP News Sunil KP.

    As already reported by indiantelevision.com, Raj TV‘s coverage of the elections is also restricted to delayed news bulletins and other non-live programmes. Star Vijay, meanwhile, sounds very pleased with what is has been doing as a general entertainment channel. “We are presently concentrating on bringing quality entertainment programmes to our viewers. Our audiences turn to us for entertainment and we are doing what we are supposed to do in the best possible manner,” quips a Star Vijay executive.

    Looking west to Kerala, God‘s own country deserves a mention more for broken promises. Keralaites were promised two more news channels ahead of the elections: MM News from print giant Malayala Manorama‘s TV arm MM TV and Jai Hind TV from the state‘s Congress party. While MM News is now targeting a May-June launch for the channel, Jai Hind will be unveiled only by mid-May. However, MM News has already started its dry run partially.

    “It is for sure that the channel launch will happen only after the elections. We want to enter the market fully prepared and we didn‘t want to launch the channel just for the sake of covering the elections. We have now started sending our team of reporters to cover election-related events, but it is not a full-fledged dry run yet,” says MM TV news director Johny Lukose.

    However, unlike Tamil Nadu, Kerala is not short of news channels. The state already has three news channels in Asianet News, People TV and Indiavision. For the youngest of the three Malayalam Communications‘ People TV, the launch timing couldn‘t have got any better. The channel was launched in 2005, ahead of the state local body elections and now in 2006 follows the assembly elections.

    To the up to West Bengal, both local as well as national players are showing equal aggresive intent in this market. Star India made its debut in Bangla last year by launching its news channel Star Ananda, in association with print major Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP). Again in 2005, Rathikant Basu-promoted Broadcast Worldwide withdrew its GEC Tara Bangla from the market to launch news and music channels, Tara Newz and Tara Muzik. Both launches were timed to coincide with the local body elections.

    Now, in April this year, Zee Telefilms found the time ripe to launch its Bangla news channel Chobbees Ghanta in association with Akash Bangla. Kolkata-based Xenitis Group of Companies also entered the market this year with its news channel Kolkata TV, keeping in mind the elections coming up. The latter has reportedly spent Rs 100 million on the pre-launch outdoor publicity campaign.

    PROGRAMMING STRATEGIES

    As soon as the government declared the polling dates, channels across these three markets had unveiled their special initiatives. The general strategy has been, covering the election in three phases: pre-elections, elections and post-elections.

    In the West Bengal market, where the results are reportedly a foregone conclusion, issue-based programmes have stolen the limelight. “Here, there is no suspense attached to the election results. Hence, the effort has been to do more issue-based programmes. Apart from that, Tara Newz has been doing in-depth constituency analyses, live discussions and debates,” says the channel head Amit Chakraborty.

    Star Ananda has branded its election coverage special as Lalbarir Lorai. “The series empowers the viewer with a ringside view of all the twists, turns, sub-plots and issues on hand with continuous updates, news, views, live on-ground debates, travelogues, interviews with the big names, scorecard of performances, opinion polls, exit polls,” claims an official communiqué from the channel.

    Speaking on the channel‘s election coverage strategy, one Star News executive offers,” Star Ananda‘s election programmes are meant to empower the viewer to make informed choices. As a news channel, we give primary importance to this responsibility.”

    According to Zee News director Laxmi Goel, the new kid on the block Chobbees Ghanta will try to lure viewers by offering unbiased coverage and fast delivery of news. Market leader ETV, meanwhile, has increased the duration of its hourly five minutes news updates to ten minutes. However, there are not many special programmes from the channel. “Being a GEC, we are addressing a larger audience. We will put efforts to cover what matters most, the results,” says ETV chief producer Manvi.

    Speaking about the programming strategy being followed by Malayalam channels, the sub-genres followed are more or less the same as those of Bangla channels.

    According to Malayalam Communications MD and editor John Brittas, the competition has helped the channels to raise the bar in election coverage. “Malayalam Channels are more matured now. The election-related programmes have turned more in-depth and issue-based. The reports are now more objective and the quality has really gone up. Technology upgradation has also improved the quality of delivery. With so many channels out there, channels have been making their best efforts possible,” says Brittas.

    “We are trying our best bring in the quality and effectiveness of reputed national news channels to the regional language. We don‘t want to be here as just another Malayalam channel. Our aim is to deliver Keralites a channel that holds the national standards and we have been making the best use of elections to do that,” says Amrita TV director & CEO Sudhakar Jayaram.

    Asianet managing editor KP Mohanan takes pride in coming out with a series of exclusive interviews when it mattered the most. “We have been doing a lot of exclusive stuff these days. We did a half an hour live interview with the prime minister Manmohan Singh recently and that was the first of its kind in Malayalam television,” says Mohannan.

    INVESTMENTS

    Election is also an occasion that television channels choose to make fresh investments in infrastructure and human resources. According to Zee‘s Goel, the company has earmarked Rs 90 million for the first three months operations of Chobbees Ghanta.

    “Since the channel was launched just ahead of the elections, we have gone for the best of the broadcast technology and infrastructure. And of course, this is a long term investment,” says Goel.

    Tara Newz has made investments to the tune of Rs 10 million to provide best services during the elections. The company recently installed the graphics set up offered by the Beehive Systems for about Rs 2.8 million. However, Chakraborty feels that the investments have been made with long term goals in mind. “We have upgraded our systems keeping in mind the upcoming Bangladesh elections also. Tara Newz is popular in Bangladesh also, and we will be covering the elections extensively,” he says.

    According to Jayaram, Amrita TV has invested about Rs 7.5 million on its election-related initiatives. “The channel was given a facelift recently, as we completed one year of operations. We are now preparing software that will help the anchor to analyse each constituency to the minute details during the results. We are also associating with top election analysts of the country,” says Jayaram.

    Malayalam Communications is spending about Rs 4 million on its election programmes. “This is something like a mega Onam (the most popular regional festival) and we are trying our best to make the most out of it. We have made fresh investments in technology and graphics,” states Brittas.

    Meanwhile, Asianet News, the news channel from Asianet Communications, is gearing up for a major face lift. “We have spent quite a sizable amount on infrastructure. Investments have been made in various segments including graphics and server based production systems. On 11 May, when the assembly elections results will be announced, Asianet News will come out with various noticeable changes. The channel will be given a new look and feel, says Mohannan.

    Rival Indiavision has used the opportunity to acquire new equipments. “We have been renting our equipments but now we have bought our own. We have also increased our live connectivity to 10 districts this time round. Originally we had only one OB van in Delhi, and now we have one for Kerala as well,” says Indiavision executive editor M V Nikesh Kumar.

    However, for Surya TV Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief Anil Nambiar, the trick of the trade lies in using the limited resources and space to its utmost value. “Surya‘s news content duration is limited as we bank on sponsored programmes and other fiction initiatives. Hence, we are a team of 30 reporters, trying our best to come with quality coverage,” says Nambiar.

    Post results, as politicians get busy deciding their future actions and doing the performance analyses, these television channel executives will also be spending a considerable time in the board rooms, analysing their performance.

    After all, for regional channels, there is no business like the news business.

  • Essar to build telecom site infrastructure for sharing with operators

    Essar to build telecom site infrastructure for sharing with operators

    MUMBAI: Essar Group has floated a new company, Telecom Tower and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (TTIPL), to build telecom site infrastructure and share it with various telecom operators. This will push down the cost for telecom infrastructure.

    The company has already built 150 sites for Hutchison Essar in the BPL Communications’ circles of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala. “We plan to have 500 sites by May. We have also responded to a tender floated by Tata Teleservices for building base towers,” says Essar Teleholdings president Ajay Madan.

    Hutchison Essar is a joint venture company with Hutchison Whampoa and is one of India’s largest telecom companies with a national presence and a subscriber base close to 14 million.

    Essar is hunting for a CEO to head TTIPL, says Madan. The company was incorporated recently and aims to help reduce costs for telecom operators by focusing on sharing the same infrastructure with multiple players.

    TTIPL will acquire, design and construct the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) site and provide the tower allied facilities including civil, electrical and other requirements. Provision of stable power and air conditioning for housing the equipment will also be undertaken by the company, says Madan.

    Cellular operators will have the advantage of not locking up their funds in building civil and electrical infrastructure. Since TTIPL will focus on site acquisition and maintenance on a massive scale, it will have built in operational efficiencies which it will be able to transfer to the cellular operators, says Madan. No license fee is payable by the operator for this method of infrastructure sharing.

  • Govt role: CAS’ fate linked to political compulsions

    Govt role: CAS’ fate linked to political compulsions

    The Indian government (read the information and broadcasting ministry) is suddenly finding itself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, which more often than not takes great pleasure in turning red.

    Sandwiched between a strident judiciary — justifiably so in the present circumstances — and the politics of running a coalition government with vocal allies (who seem to have a view on anything and everything), the Manmohan Singh regime is bound to find it difficult to implement a recent Delhi High Court order that in short says: implement conditional access system in the areas notified earlier by a previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition regime over 18 months ago.

    State-level elections in April-May would compel the government to give a deep thought to the so-called concerns of regional politicians. And, decision-making gets that much tougher when one of the states going to the polls, West Bengal, is ruled by a Left party, which is also a crucial ally of the federal government in New Delhi.

    The I&B ministry hasn’t yet held any talks with the various state governments where CAS is sought to be implemented. Nor have any meetings been held with industry stakeholders
    _____****_____

    Though the Delhi High Court order exhorts the I&B ministry to rise above regional level party politics and not use ‘public interest’ to influence an executive order (the notification related to CAS rollout) passed by the federal government, reticent politicians would definitely try to have their own way. Don’t forget that the I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi’s parliamentary constituency lies in West Bengal and the street-smart politician has cut much of his political teeth in Bengal.

    With Kolkata in West Bengal, one of the metros targeted for CAS rollout, already swinging to the election tune, the I&B ministry would have to see how New Delhi’s Left-oriented allies react to the issue of CAS or ‘watching TV channels via a black box that would cost around Rs 3,000 (approximately $ 67),’ as some politicians are explaining addressability to the people.

    It can just be that the ministry goes in for an appeal one day ahead of the month-long court-mandated deadline
    _____****_____

    Though it hasn’t reached a crescendo, already there are murmurs amongst politicians of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), especially the local ones, on how CAS’ introduction around election time can be ‘disruptive’ and have telling effects on the electoral fortunes of the party in West Bengal.

    It is pertinent to note that the I&B ministry hasn’t yet held any talks with the various state governments where CAS is sought to be implemented. Nor have any meetings been held with industry stakeholders to discuss the issue in the light of the court’s observation.

    Apart from the West Bengal politicians, those representing the seven constituencies of Delhi in Parliament have already been petitioned by some cable operators on the ground that implementation of CAS might upset cable TV consumers of the National Capital Territory.

    With Delhi’s aam junta (hoi polloi) totally clueless on what CAS is all about — apart from what has been fed to them by politicians and the media — scepticism is bound to run all across on something new, which is not part of the basic infrastructure that is severely lacking here and making daily life that much more worrisome.

    And, the Congress-led Delhi government, trying to battle its own intra-party differences on demolition of illegal constructions all over Delhi (as directed by Delhi HC) that has left the denizens of the Capital fuming, the will to immediately implement another court order (on CAS) is definitely lacking.

    It would also be interesting to see how New Delhi could read the Delhi court order, which is not as simple as is being made out by many industry stakeholders — the benefits of CAS or addressability, notwithstanding.

    For the I&B ministry to plan a rollout of CAS as per the court order, it has to first revoke an executive order that suspended implementation of CAS.

    Now, here is the piece de resistance: the court order is silent on the fact whether addressability should be introduced, as per the prayer of the petitioners, ONLY in the south zones of the metro cities of Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai in Maharashtra or the whole of the cities.

    After revoking an earlier notification, the federal government can stick to CAS’ introduction only in the south zones of the metros or interpret the court order as rollout in the whole of the cities. A clarification on the interpretation hasn’t been sought yet by the I&B ministry as there is a section that feels an appeal should be made against the present court order.

    If the government goes in for an appeal, which can turn out to be time consuming, then the timing of it would also be important. It can just be that the ministry goes in for an appeal one day ahead of the month-long court-mandated deadline.

    As things stand today, the government is keeping things fluid — deliberately so — to weigh all options, including the biggest challenge: political compulsions.