ITV

Tag: TV9

  • TV9 signals still not on air in Telangana

    TV9 signals still not on air in Telangana

    MUMBAI: A few days ago, the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) ordered MSOs in Telangana to carry TV9’s signals. This came after the latter decided to give an apology for telecasting ‘defamatory’ content.

     

    The case was disposed off two weeks ago after which TV9 filed an EA. However, counsel for TV9 (Associated Broadcasting Company) stated that despite the order, the channel’s signals continue to be off air while distributors claim that they are still receiving threat calls from unruly elements.

     

    The TDSAT had asked the state government to provide protection to the MSOs, which the counsel for Telangana had also agreed to.

     

    The case is now put up for 10 October when TDSAT has ordered Telangana additional advocate general J Ramchandaran Rao to be present in court.

     

    In the earlier order, it had ordered TV9 to refrain from telecasting such content in future and to strictly abide by the Programme Code and the Advertisement Code from rules 6 and 7 of the Cable Television Networks Rules (1994).

  • TDSAT directs TV9 to stop airing defamatory and inflammatory programmes

    TDSAT directs TV9 to stop airing defamatory and inflammatory programmes

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has disposed off the case between Associated Broadcasting Companies (ABC) that runs the channel TV9 and multi system operators (MSOs) Hathway Cable and Datacom and Siti Vision Digital Media regarding a show that had been telecast on the channel which had made defamatory remarks against the new Chief Minister (CM) K Chandrashekar Rao of the state.

     

    The programme telecast on 12 June was carried by the MSOs and LCOs in Telangana and according to the tribunal was ‘highly defamatory’ of the CM leading to a serious law and order problem. Therefore, MSOs and LCOs stopped carrying TV9.  As the petition filed by ABC involved Constitutional rights and public order, The Union of India through the Information and Broadcasting secretary and Telangana home secretary were directed to be impleaded as respondents in the case.

     

    Although the broadcaster stopped the broadcast of the offending programme and issued a public apology for it, MSOs did not resume transmission and the channel was literally taken off air in Telangana.

     

    The TDSAT had in an earlier order this month directed the MSOs to commence showing the channel. Siti Vision started showing it on 3 September in the evening but had to take it off the very same day as it received threatening calls. ABC went ahead and filed an EA in the tribunal.

     

    On reading the transcript of the programme, TDSAT stated that it found the content ‘extremely defamatory, offensive and inflammatory and the product of a sick mind.’

     

    Counsel for the government, K Parameshwar, informed TDSAT that the I&B Ministry had written a letter to the Telangana chief secretary to ensure that the tribunal’s orders are complied with. The letters of the same had been submitted to it.

     

    A similar case is pending before the Privilege Committee of the Telangana Assembly for which no proceedings have begun either under the Cable Television Networks (regulation) Act 1995 (CTN) section 19 or any other law. However, counsel for Siti Vision and Telangana additional advocate J Rama Chandra Rao pointed out that Rule 5 (A) of the CTN Act (1994) casts an obligation on the MSOs and LCOs to not carry programmes which might be in violation of the programme code and/or the advertisement code prescribed under rules 6 and 7 of the CTN Act.

     

    According to TDSAT, the MSOs have also changed their stance for stopping the broadcast of TV9. While earlier it was fear of public violence, now it is due to non renewal of interconnect agreement that expired on 31 March 2014. To this the counsel for the government stated that this was merely an excuse to not show the channel for fear of public anger. Rao assured TDSAT that the state of Telangana would do all that is required to provide sufficient security to the MSOs and LCOs, as long as the channel does not telecast any defamatory statements against Telangana, its people and the government.

     

    The TDSAT has directed TV9 to strictly abide by the Programme Code and the Advertisement Code from rules 6 and 7 of the Cable Television Networks Rules (1994) and that it won’t make any false or malicious references to the state of Telangana or its people or government or its elected representatives. Subject to this, the MSOs are directed to carry the broadcaster’s channel.

     

    It also clarified that this order would not come in the way of the proceedings in the Telangana Assembly nor would it stand in the way of the authority to take legal action against TV9 under section 19 of the Regulation or any other provision of the law.

  • TV9 ends standoff with MSOs in Telangana

    TV9 ends standoff with MSOs in Telangana

    MUMBAI: It has been two months since multi system operators (MSOs) in Telangana decided to cut of signals from two news channels- TV9 and ABN Andhra Jyoti. Now, one of them has decided to take the initiative and end the ongoing war between MSOs and the channel.

     

    As per a report by the Hindu Business Line, the Associate Broadcasting Company (ABC) that is the majority promoter of TV9 is seeking to have a dialogue with MSOs to get the channel back on air. ABC has reached out to the MSOs to enter into an agreement. It has written to the Telangana State Federation of MSOs.

     

    The company has been on the lookout for a buyer for the channel as it wants to exit the business. However, this standoff between the MSOs and the channel apparently seems to have affected its valuation in the market. As per the report, ABC plans to exit within a month or two. Edelweiss is running the sale process. 

     

    In June, TV9 had allegedly telecast a programme that showed the Telangana government in a bad light due to which MSOs of the newly formed state decided to cut off signals to it. Meanwhile, the MSOs said that they would show the channels only if people asked for them.

     

    Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had also asked the state government of Telangana to clarify queries regarding the blocking. He said that MSOs cannot censor channels on their own and if they did, the Ministry was empowered to take action against them.

     
  • Telangana MSOs continue to boycott two news channels

    Telangana MSOs continue to boycott two news channels

    MUMBAI: The Telangana Multiple System Operators (MSOs) on 11 August 2014 decided to continue blockade of TV9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi news channels, a mediahouse reported.

     

    Federation of Telangana MSOs’ president M Subhash Reddy, charged the channels of telecasting objectionable content that hurt the sentiments of Telangana people and said, “Even the Telangana state assembly took cognisance of the objectionable content.”

     

    The Federation maintained that they had presented their case to the High Court and responded to a notice served by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). “The TRAI sought explanation on why we had stopped the two channels without the mandatory 15-day notice and we explained the reasons. There was pressure on us from the Telangana people and we had to act,” the president of the federation said.

     

    At a meeting attended by district representatives, the Federation of Telangana MSOs said they are planning to send a delegation to the I&B minister to explain to him the events that led to the cable operators blocking these two news channels.

     

    Reddy also added that since the channels are not doing anything to find a resolution to the problem, the MSOs will stick to their decision of blocking the channels.

  • Samaya TV appoints Fourth Dimension to handle its national media ad sales operations

    Samaya TV appoints Fourth Dimension to handle its national media ad sales operations

    MUMBAI: Samaya TV was launched on 20 June 2010  and the positioning line for the channel is Naija Suddigaagi which stands for real and true news. Within a year of launch Samaya TV reached a wider viewer-ship making it the second most viewed newschannel in Karnataka after TV9.

     

    Currently the channel is also available online through live stream and can be viewed by Kanada Diasporas across theglobe. It’s a free to Air Channel and is available across most of the DTH network and cable network across India.

     

    Samaya TV has appointed Fourth Dimension as their national media sales partner , this collaboration will enable them to reach out to advertisers across India through the strong sales network which has been built by Fourth Dimension over last 3 years of Operations in India.

     

    Fourth Dimension Media Solutions CEO Shankar B adds, “We are confident about this development and hope this benefits advertisers/clients who have a big appetite for Karnataka as a region”

     

    Fourth Dimension currently also handles Puthiya Thalamurai the no.1 Tamil News Channel apart from the fastest growing GEC in the state “Puthuyugham” and the only English Radio Station – Chennai Live 104.8FM.

     

    Samaya TV business head G V Krishnamurthy adds “ Fourth Dimension has been a successful media outsourcing firm which helped channels like Puthiya Thalamurai build major market share in Tamil Nadu among advertisers and I am sure they will bring in the same expertise to fuel ourgrowth too…”

     

    G V Krishnamurthy (fondly known as GVK) was previously with Sun TV Network handling Gemini TV and group channels portfolio, he was solely responsible for their business revenue growth in the Telugu Space. He also brings with him over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing operations entailing business development, programming and brand management in the media industry

  • Andhra Pradesh: A chaotic news market

    Andhra Pradesh: A chaotic news market

    According to the Ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), there are nearly 800 satellite channels in India, of which about half are news channels. With an already crowded market, an increasingly loud general election has added to the number of news channels mushrooming across the country.

     

    Andhra Pradesh, which till recently was in turmoil because of the imminent bifurcation into Telangana and Seemandhra, is no exception. Counted as the state with the highest number of satellite TV channels, the last one year has seen newer additions (V6 News, Express News, 10TV and ETV3) to the existing list (ETV2, TV9, TV5, NTV, Mahaa News, HMTV, Studio N, Raj News Telugu, I News, 4TV, Sakshi TV, Gemini News, 4TV, Vanita TV, ETV Urdu, CVR News, ABN Andhra Jyoti, the now shut Zee 24 Gantalu).

     

    It is not as if the number of TV viewing homes is on the rise but that doesn’t deter these newbies from popping up. Indeed, AP has the highest number of cable TV homes in India at 15 per cent. At a national level, channels are deploying cost-cutting measures but in AP, newer channels are being spawned. So, what is the survival strategy of these channels? Apparently, they are all backed by political muscle though no politician will openly come out in support of them. More than anything, it is about party views being propagated through the media, sometimes openly sometimes subtly.

     

    Only two of the 20-odd channels – TV9 and TV5 – have major market share, followed by the likes of ETV, NTV and Sakshi TV. According to local people, YSR Congress funds Sakshi TV, NTV and TV5, while V6 is backed by six politicians affiliated to Congress.  Rumours are that ideologically, HMTV seems pro-Telangana though may not be backed by any party while ABN Andhra Jyoti is pro-Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Let’s not forget Gemini News of the Sun group under Kalanidhi Maran who has the backing of DMK leader M Karunanidhi. The office of Telangana News channel is actually located within the headquarters of the party office in Hyderabad. Now that’s called risk! According to the public, only TV9, Raj News Telugu, CVR News and the newly launched Express TV are apparently among the channels without political bias.

     

    Again, owning a channel may be a power trip but running it is an altogether different ballgame. Approximately Rs 1.2 to Rs 1.5 crore per month is required to run a channel in the state and this includes cost of infrastructure and technology and staff salaries. On the other hand, revenues don’t exceed Rs 70 lakh and typically, a channel takes nearly three years to break even (under good financial condition), which means an initial investment of Rs 40 crore is required.

     

    25 per cent of the Rs 1,000 crore advertisement market is from news channels. Of which, the top five news channels make up for Rs 200 crore while the smaller channels scramble for the left over Rs 50 crore. The ones with high viewership such as TV9, sources say, command up to Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 for a 10 sec slot. On the other hand, the not-so-high-on-viewership channels get just about Rs 600 for every 10 sec. Channels with political backing rarely have to bother about ad revenue since money will flow in anyway…

     

    In such a scenario, it is not surprising that rumours of channels unable to pay their employees have been doing the rounds. While Raj News Telugu has been stuck in revamp for months, ETV has already launched its Telangana-specific channel, ETV3.

     

    With 80 per cent of the state being dominated by Hathway Cable and Datacom, distribution woes are not unheard of. And yet, channels keep growing year on year.

     

    To add to it, soon, many new Telangana centric channels will crop up to add to the existing chaos. The existing channels will be rearranging their distribution and editorial strategies to suit the needs of two states.

     

     It’s time channels realised that the market is oversaturated before it’s too late. Surely the MIB can look into the state of news broadcasters in the state and rethink before giving out licences like freebies.

  • Seventh News Television Awards gets a full house

    Seventh News Television Awards gets a full house

    NEW DELHI: The bright shining chandeliers that towered over the audience could not match the delight on the faces of the winners as they cheered for their team mates and channels at the seventh edition of indiantelevision.com’s News Television Awards. The gala evening held at The Lalit in New Delhi saw the who’s who of the News TV fraternity and the best of them took away the coveted trophy.

     

    Awards being presented by noted personalities that included Communication advisor to the prime minister Pankaj Pachauri, national commission for minorities chairperson Wajahat Habibullah, fashion designer Ritu Kumar, former cricketer Ajay Jadeja,  actor Parvin Dabbas, Padma Shri dancers Raja  Reddy and Radha Reddy, Dabur chairman VC Burman, politician Subramanian Swamy,  former Comptroller & Auditor General of India Vinod Rai, NDTV head honcho KVL Narayan Rao, cricketer Surinder Khanna, among many others.

     

    Some of the big take aways for the gala night were NDTV 24X7 editor  Barkha Dutt and NDTV India editor Ravish Kumar for best TV news anchors in English and Hindi respectively, Bloomberg TV editor Vivek Law as best business news anchor in English and CNN-IBN’s Suhasini Haidar as best TV news presenter in English.

     

    Shows that won accolades included CNN-IBN’s India at 9 for best daily news bulletin in English and Dastak by Aaj Tak for the same in Hindi. CNBC TV 18’s India Business Hour was given the award of best business news programme in English while NDTV 24X7’s We the People won for best talk show in English.

     

    Not to forget were the awards given away in the two regional categories as well- Telugu and Marathi. K Nagendar Sai from CVR news won best business news anchor in Telugu while K Padmini from TV9 was awarded for best entertainment news anchor in Telugu. Alka Dhupkar from IBN-Lokmat was recognized as the best TV news anchor in Marathi. V6 news from Andhra Pradesh won best channel packaging of the year and Zee 24 Taas’ show Rokhthok- Shradhecha Bhandwalachi Mujori won for best news debate in Marathi.

     

    Apart from this, for the first time, recognitions were given to the ‘game changers’ of 2013 by indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, that included NDTV, Zee Media Corporation, Network 18 and India TV.

     

    The evening saw around 500 guests – consisting of professionals from the TV news ecosystem –  attend and cheer for the winners as they took away galores of prizes.

     

    The ceremony was possible thanks to partners such as Jia News, News Nation, Akamai Technologies, India News, News X, Sakshi TV, TV9, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC TV18.

     

    Click here for the complete list of winners

     

  • Kolkata TV to be auctioned for the third time

    Kolkata TV to be auctioned for the third time

    KOLKATA: On 28 March, a 24X7 Bengali news channel, Kolkata TV, will be ‘auctioned for sale’ under the supervision of the Kolkata High Court. Sources in the know said the stated base price would possibly be around Rs 50 crore. They also said that a few people have shown interest in the channel while some have even contacted the official liquidator.

     

    “We are going to sell Kolkata TV and with the realized amount, the government will clear all the claims of vendors, financial institutions and employees,” said the official liquidator. He hinted that the base price would be fixed on 28 March itself and would be mostly above Rs 42 crore.

     

    It is learnt that this is the third time Kolkata TV is on auction in the last one year, as no one showed interest on the earlier two occasions, given the high base price.

     

    Launched in 2006 by SST Media, the ownership of the channel changed hands a couple of times. Some years ago, Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting acquired a majority stake in Kolkata TV via TV9. When contacted, TV9 officials simply said, “Associated Broadcasting has no more interest in Kolkata TV” suggesting that TV9 had sold off its stake in the channel.

     

     Kolkata TV airs a wide range of programmes including hourly news, analyses of major news events and international news.

  • Raj TV Telugu COO Swapna Sundari moves to Sun Group

    Raj TV Telugu COO Swapna Sundari moves to Sun Group

    MUMBAI: She is one of the leading ladies in the Telugu news market and not to forget a classical singer as well. After a three month stint at Raj TV Network as its Telugu market COO, Swapna Sundari has decided to shift to the popular Kalanidhi Maran run giant Sun Group.

     

    She joined as a consultant for the Sun group yesterday and viewers of leading Telugu GEC Gemini TV will be able to catch her every night at 10:30 pm on its new show Newsroom. The show will be a political discussion that has been timed to suit the election mood in the country. “Sun is a wonderful group to work with. The assignments are exciting and since elections are soon approaching it will be enriching to work during this time,” says Swapna.

     

    Her decision to leave the company comes in the wake of Raj TV Network’s delay in relaunching its Telugu bunch of channels. Although the network targets a March relaunch, Swapna has decided to focus on the upcoming election season through the new show on Gemini TV. The show, she adds, may stick around even after the elections are done.

     

    The strategy to place the news show at a late night slot on a GEC is a strategic move by the Sun group to get viewers hooked to it. Gemini TV also claims to have the best distribution in Andhra Pradesh.

     

    Prior to Raj TV, Swapna was executive editor at Sakshi TV. Apart from this, she has also worked with TV9 and Reliance ADAG’s FM department.

  • TV9’s Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel to convert into Marathi

    TV9’s Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel to convert into Marathi

    MUMBAI: Associated Broadcasting Company Limited (ABCL), which runs a clutch of regional channels, is converting its Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel into full-fledged Marathi.

    The decision to make TV9 Maharashtra a local regional-language news channel comes in the wake of losses from the city-specific Hindi news channel. “We are changing it into Marathi as it is the only loss-making channel in our entire bouquet. Earlier being in Hindi, we were not attracting any state government advertisements. Going local would also mean that we get more connected with people outside Mumbai,” said ABCL vice president operations KVN Murthy.

    The channel’s operational loses are estimated at close to Rs 300 million a year, according to market estimates. TV9 officials, however, declined to comment on the extent of these losses.

    TV9 Maharashtra has begun the process of transitioning into a full-fledged Marathi news channel as part of its strategy to go local. The news bulletin and the other prime-time shows have already made the shift to Marathi with the exception of the Entertainment bulletin which will eventually go Marathi.

    TV9 Maharashtra head Srinivas Reddy said that 90 per cent of the content is in Marathi while only 10 per cent is in Hindi. “We haven’t decided any date on when we want to become a Marathi channel completely. But that is the way we are moving.”

    ABCL had made its expansion into the Hindi language with the launch of TV9 Mumbai in 2009 focussed on local news. However, TV9 Mumbai was last year rebranded as TV9 Maharashtra to widen the viewership base. But language turned out to be a major impediment since Marathi is the most widely spoken language in Maharashtra.

    “Marathi is the language of the common people in Maharashtra. We thus decided to become a Marathi news channel,” Reddy said, talking about the shift to Marathi language.

    TV9 Maharashtra, which will have to compete with established players like Zee 24 Taas, ABP Majha (earlier Star Majha) IBN Lokmat and ETV Marathi, is betting on local content to drive viewership.

    “If you look at other Marathi news channels, they are covering more of other news rather than news of local relevance. We will be focusing only on local news. In fact, TV9 Maharashtra will have 90 per cent of local content and maybe 10 per cent of other content like sports,” he averred.

    TV9 Maharashtra has around 100 part-time and full-time journalists across Maharashtra and around 15 anchors. While most of the team is in place, the channel will hire new employees for its output division.

    The Marathi news broadcaster also has offices in different cities of Maharashtra including Nagpur, Nashik and Pune.

    So will there be a sizeable retrenchment because of this makeover exercise? “We are not sacking anybody. In fact, a lot of our employees were already Marathi speaking and we are also training existing employees in our output division in addition to hiring new people for output division.”

    However, Indiantelevision.com has been made to understand that the broadcaster has already told certain employees to look out for a new job as part of its resturcutring excercise.

    In addition to TV9 Maharashtra, ABCL runs four regional news channels including TV9 Karnataka (Kannada), TV9 Gujarat (Gujarati), Indiavision (Malayalam), Kolkata TV (Bengali), besides an English news channel News9. It also has a niche channel in Telugu devoted to Entertainment and News called TV1.