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Tag: TV9

  • New launches in a tough Gujarati TV news market

    MUMBAI: Narendra Modi is not only shaping a new Gujarat but also breathing life into a dead TV news market. A slew of Gujarati news channels are getting readied for launch ahead of the assembly elections as Modi weighs his prospects of being named as the next prime ministerial candidate for BJP.

    TV9 and VTV are the only two pure Gujarati news channels and their business life has not been too easy so far. But unnerved by the thin ad revenue market pegged at Rs 200 million this year, two leading dailies, Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar, are planning launch of their Gujarati-language TV news ventures in November, a month ahead of the December assembly elections.

    “There has been no great improvement in the market potential of Gujarati news channels. But the new launches are extensions of print media businesses. The local print market is quite strong in Gujarat and it has been more or less politically aligned,” says ABCL vice president operations KVN Murthy.

    Murthy should know. TV9 Gujarati, the channel owned by Associated Broadcasting Company Ltd, runs the most successful TV news channel in Gujarat from a viewer‘s perspective and its footage has been used by national news networks. Gujarat News Broadcasters‘ VTV launched last year and is still struggling to find space in the nascent Gujarati TV news market while ETV Gujarati airs daily news bulletins in between its main general entertainment content.

    The Gujarati news channels also have to adjust to the reality that the national news networks are quite popular there. National news broadcasters have not yet forayed into Gujarat as they realise there is a high level of cannibalisation from their Hindi and English channels. Zee, which runs a clutch of regional entertainment and news channels across India, had an entertainment channel, Zee Gujarati, which it shut in 2009.

    “Hindi general news and business channels do well in that market. The Gujarati news market will take time to evolve,” says Murthy.

    Aas Pass TV, floated by Gujarat Samachar co-promoter Shreyans Shah, and Sandesh hope to change that feeble marketplace with the backing of their strong print lineage.

    Says Gujarat Samachar’s Aas Pass TV director-sales and marketing Nilesh Thakkar, “Compared to the markets in Bengal and Maharashtra, Gujarat is at a very nascent stage. But there is scope for growth here. Only the right strategy has to be employed and patience is required.”

    The right strategy will mean a heavy load of political and crime news. And some industry sources who did not want to be named said paid news will also play a part.

    TV9 content head Vikas Upadhyay believes that pure news lineup will not work in Gujarat. “People are not interested in only news. They want a mixed offering. Also, Gujarat is a quiet place. Barring the elections, nothing unusual happens to grab eyeballs. So mixing up content is a good option.”

    Which is why TV9 has a cookery show in its lineup. And Aas Pass TV will also have other content that will help in generating revenues.

    The ad market for Gujarati news channels is set to expand. Says Thakkar, “There will be a conversion from print to TV news channels in Gujarat. This is what has happened in other regional markets as well and here it will be more obvious as two print players are entering the TV business. We will also be launching AFP (advertiser funded programme) and see great potential in real estate and retail advertisers supporting the local news channels.”

    What will also help in Gujarat is that its four main cities – Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara – are turning into mini metros. The spending capacity in these cities is increasing steadily and advertisers will want to capture this market.

    The distribution cost will also ease as the main cities of Gujarat fall under digitisation in the second phase. “The carriage cost should fall after digitisation comes in in the next phase,” avers Murthy.

  • Sreekant R joins Fourth Dimension Media Solutions

    MUMBAI: Fourth Dimension Media Solutions has appointed Sreekant R as national sales head.

    Sreekant will be based out of Mumbai. His last assignment was at Ignitee Digital Services as National Business Director.

    Fourth Dimension Media CEO Shankar B said, “We are extremely happy to welcome Sreekant in the Fourth Dimension Family who comes with rich experience across all verticals, his role is more of strategic in nature and being a part of the teams across India, Wishing him good luck for a fantabulous innings at Fourth Dimension Media.”

    “With Sreekant‘s commitment and knowledge of All India market, his experience will carry our brands very well across all Advertisers and Agencies,” Fourth Dimension Media COO Bharath added.

    Sreekant has over 11 years of experience in the industry. He had joined Ignitee in 2009. Prior to joining Ignitee, he had also worked with Hello FM 106.4, TV9 and The Times of India.

  • Ignitee GM Sreekant quits

    MUMBAI: R. Sreekant has quit Ignitee Digital Solutions as general manager – new business development.

    Sreekant‘s last day at the digital marketing and media agency was 5 October.

    Confirming his movement to Indiantelevision.com, Sreekant said, “Yes, I have quit the agency. It has been a great learning experience at Ignitee. During my stint, we won Maruti and have done some great work for them.”

    Talking about his next venture, he added, “I haven‘t decided anything yet. I have couple of options in digital and off-line and I am contemplating on which one to choose.”

    Ignitee CEO Atul Hegde said, “Sreekant has had an excellent innings with us. He has worked across functions and we wish him all the best wherever he goes.”

    His responsibilities at Ignitee include pitching for new business or clients for online communications and providing 360 degree solution in online space – creatives, search, search marketing, media plan / buy, social media and Online Reputation Management (ORM).

    Sreekant has over 11 years of experience in the industry. He had joined Ignitee in 2009. Prior to joining Ignitee, he had also worked with Hello FM 106.4, TV9 and The Times Of India.

  • Divaakar returns to TV9 as ad sales VP

    Divaakar returns to TV9 as ad sales VP

    MUMBAI: S Divaakar is set to start his second stint with the Associated Broadcasting Company Ltd. (ABCL), which operates the TV9 news network. He will serve in the capacity of vice-president ad sales national and will report to ABCL director Clifford Periera.

    Divaakar will be based in Bangalore and will handle ad sales nationally.

    Pereira said, “Divaakar’s appointment is a part of our expansion plans. We are looking at aggressive growth in the near future. This includes new appointemtns and launch of new channels which will be revealed in due course of time.”

    Divaakar had previously worked with ABCL as AGM for four and a half years before joining Public TV nine months back where he was vice-president, sales and marketing.

    He has nearly 19 years of experience in the television industry. He began his career as a sales executive in Udaya TV when the channel was launched in 1994 and has been associated with channels like Gemini TV, Jaya TV, ETC, Zee Network, Sahara One and Filmy since then.

  • TV9 scouts for investors, needs Rs 4 bn to expand

    TV9 scouts for investors, needs Rs 4 bn to expand

    MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Ltd (ABCL), which runs a clutch of regional news channels, has mandated Edelweiss Capital to find an investor that also includes complete exit from the business if the valuation is right.

    ABCL has a fund requirement of Rs 4 billion to launch news channels in Tamil for the Chennai market, Oriya and Hindi for the National Capital Region (NCR). The plan is to expand its fleet of channels to nine.

    “We are looking at an investor to expand our operations. We are prepared to dilute and may even exit if we get the right price,” a source familiar with the development said.

    Is a national media house buying out ABCL? “We have given the mandate to Edelweiss Capital. No discussion has happened with the ABCL management and any media house,” the source clarified.

    ABCL is in the process of giving 14.5 per cent stake to private equity fund Saif III Mauritius Company, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Softbank Corp. This will follow a merger between iVision Media, the India outfit of Saif, and ABCL.

    iVision had lent Rs 500 million as debt to ABCL and this will get converted into equity.

    “Saif will hold around 14.5 per cent equity, valuing ABCL at Rs 3.5 billion. We are approaching the high court to approve the merger between iVision Media India and ABCL,” the source said. iVision Media India was set up to start a video news wire agency, but Saif shelved its plans and the company is dormant.

    Earlier, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) rejected ABCL’s proposal to give stake to ABCL. “The FIPB has asked us to get the high court approval for a merger between ABCL and iVision. Then they will consider our proposal of converting the debt into equity,” the source said.

    In its earlier application, ABCL had sought merger of iVision with itself. It would have issued and allotted compulsory convertible preference shares on the date of completion of the merger.

    Post the merger, Srini Raju-promoted iLabs Venture Capital and Saif will hold around 85 per cent in ABCL.

    ABCL operates six news channels including TV9 AP (Telugu), TV1, TV9 Karnataka, News9 English (Bangalore), TV9 Gujarat, and TV9 Mumbai (Hindi).

    For TV9 Karnataka and News9 English, ABCL has given 10 per cent stake to a local partner while in Gujarat it has parted with 5 per cent. In all other operations, it holds the entire stake, the source said.

    ABCL has made an equity investment of Rs 800 million into the business and has taken a debt of Rs 500 million from Saif.

    The company has turned around and is operationally making a profit. In FY’11, ABCL clocked a revenue of Rs 1.08 billion. The company has crossed this figure in the first nine months of this fiscal, the source said.

    Also Read:

    TV9 looks at Saif ahead of IPO plans; to seek FIPB nod again

  • TV9 launches city-centric channels in Mumbai and Bangalore

    TV9 launches city-centric channels in Mumbai and Bangalore

    MUMBAI: Beating the recession, Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Ltd (ABCL), which operates news channels under the brand name TV9, is investing Rs 380 million to launch two city-centric news channels in Mumbai and Bangalore.

    TV9 Mumbai and News 9, the channels for Mumbai and Bangalore, will be launched simultaneously on 9 January.

    ABCL will invest Rs 220 million in the Hindi news channel TV9 Mumbai and Rs 160 million in the English news channel News 9.

    “We are investing Rs 380 million and will be launching the two city-centric channels tomorrow,” ABCL vice president operations KVN Murthy tells Indiantelevision.com.

    TV9 will follow up the launch of TV9 Mumbai with Bollywood news channel Lehrein. “We are adding three channels in the quarter to take our total number of channels to eight,” says Murthy.

    With the launch of News 9, the group will, thus, have two news channels in Karnataka. “News 9 will be targeted at the upmarket, young audiences in Bangalore. It will complement our Kannada news channel,” says Murthy.

    TV9 Mumbai will have 70 per cent of its programming on news and current affairs while the balance 30 per cent will be a mix of lifestyle and entertainment news content.

  • TV9 in talks to buy 26 per cent stake in Indiavision

    MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCL), which operates under the TV9 brand, is in talks to acquire a 26 per cent stake in Malayalam news channel Indiavision.

    ABCL and Indiavision have had the first round of discussions but couldn’t agree on the valuation, a source familiar with the negotiations says. Indiavision was valuing the company at Rs 1 billion but ABCL is agreeable to a much lower figure, he adds.

    The move is seen as a counter to the aggressive plans drawn by national broadcasters to step into the regional space. Zee News Ltd has already launched a Marathi news channel and others like Raghav Bahl’s TV18 Group are waiting in the wings.

    ABCL already runs a Telugu and a Kannada news channel. The company plans to launch a string of channels including a Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel. It is planning to raise Rs 2.5 billion from private equity funds to support all its expansion plans.

    Senior executives of ABCL will be visiting Indiavision office next week to thrash out some form of deal, the source says. If talks on equity participation break, discussions on forming a strategic alliance will be pursued.

    “ABCL could take up the marketing of Indiavision and an arrangement on infrastructure sharing could be worked out. Both the regional news networks realise that they need to strike an alliance as new competition is going to come from the bigger players,” the source adds.

    When contacted, Indiavision chairman and political leader Dr M K Muneer declined to comment.

    ABCL is 80 per cent owned by iLabs, a venture fund, and Unified Group. The balance 20 per cent is held by Ravi Prakash and five other professionals.

  • TV9 plans to invest Rs 1.2 billion in regional news channels, Africa operations

    TV9 plans to invest Rs 1.2 billion in regional news channels, Africa operations

    MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company PVT Ltd. (ABCL) promoters are planning to invest Rs 1.2 billion in regional news channels and starting African operations.

    ABCL will be pumping in Rs 200 million for TV9 Kannada, the recently launched news channel. The company is also considering launching news channels in Marathi and Gujarati languages which would consume an additional Rs 400 million. “We will take a final call on this in 4-6 months. We hope our Kannada channel, which we launched on 7 December, would have stabilised by then,” says ABCL vice president operations KVN Murthy.

    The promoters plan to expand to Africa through a separate company and initially pump in Rs 600 million for the venture. “We see opportunities there, particularly in cable operations. We are also looking at local language content which would be a mixture of entertainment and news. We plan to initially invest Rs 600 million and are exploring options of going through the joint venture route with a local partner,” says Murth

    ABCL has already invested close to Rs 200 million in TV9 Telugu. The company is 80 per cent owned by iLabs, a venture fund, and Unified Group. The balance 20 per cent is held by Ravi prakash and five other professionals.

    Expansion into other language channels is also on the radar. “We may step into new geographies and are looking at the other regional markets except Tamil and Malayalam where there are entrenched players,” says Murthy.

    The company may raise capital through private placement or dilution to strategic investors if it decides to go ahead with the expansion plans. “We want to first have a strong presence in the two regional markets before we decide to take a look at various valuation opportunities including tapping strategic investors. Our Telugu channel is doing well. We hope TV9 Kannada would break even in 18-20 months,” says Murthy.

    ABCL clocked a revenue of Rs 106 million in FY06. “we expect our revenues to double this fiscal and we should touch Rs 340 million in FY08 through our existing operations alone. We are EBITDA positive since this April,” says Murthy.

  • TV9 targets September-October launch of Kannada news channel

    TV9 targets September-October launch of Kannada news channel

    MUMBAI: TV9, the Hyderabad-based media firm promoted by venture fund i-Labs Associated Fund and Chennai-based Unify Wealth Management, is all set to enter the Kannada market with a news channel. TV9 Kannada is aimed at a September-October launch.

    “TV9 is all set to launch its news channel in the Kannada market. We are tentatively targeting a launch date within the September-October period. The dry run is already on,” says TV9 Kannada director Mahendra Mishra. TV9 already runs TV9 Telugu, a news channel in the Telugu language.

    TV9 Kannada will be joining Sun Network’s Udaya News, the only other news channel in the market. And the timing of the launch will be very crucial for the channel, since the Rs 2 billion market is also awaiting the launch of Kannada Kasturi, the infotainment channel promoted by the Bangalore-based Kasturi Media Pvt Ltd (KMPL). Kannada Kasturi is targeting a November launch.

    TV9 Kannada will be following a ‘market expansion strategy’ rather than setting up head-on collision situations with the rival channels. “Our plan is to expand the market further. We are looking at building a new market. News as a genre in Kannada hasn’t been really explored by the existing players as yet. Our effort will be to fill this vacuum with a very different kind of programming,” Mishra says.

    TV9 is projecting the Kannada channel as “Kannada’s national channel”. “The plan is to give Kannadigas a national channel, which speaks their language. We will be raising the bar in Karnataka, by bringing in the national standards and quality of news coverage and presentation. Our focus will be on local-oriented news, but the packaging will be completely of national standards,” Mishra explains the strategy.

    The free-to-air channel will have the retail advertiser segment playing a crucial role in its plans, Mishra adds. “Retail advertising is a huge area of activity in Karnataka. It is really booming and we will be exploring this segment to the fullest.”

    The otherwise sleepy Kannada television market is expected to witness a lot of action this year with the entry of TV9 Kannada and Kannada Kasturi. The proceedings have already been kicked off by Zee Telefilms, which launched its entertainment channel Zee Kannada in May this year.

    Says Zee Kannada business head Venkat Giridhar on the key learnings the channel had in this three-month period: “Unlike any other South market, Kannada is open to all the other languages, whether it is Hindi, English, Tamil or Malayalam. Hence, it is kind of a complicate market for a new entrant. Our effort has been to educate the viewer on genres other than films and soaps. We are going ahead with our plans and will be launching a lot of new programmes which would fit into categories such as talent hunts and reality shows in the coming days.”

  • MTV launches Nick block on Malaysian broadcaster TV9

    MTV launches Nick block on Malaysian broadcaster TV9

    MUMBAI: MTV Asia has launched a Nickelodeon block on Malaysia’s terrestrial television channel, TV9. Branded as Nick di 9, it will reach over seven million households in Malaysia.

    Nickelodeon’s properties include SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Dubbed in Bahasa Melayu, Nick di 9 will be aired daily for three hours from 3pm to 6pm. Now kids in Malaysia can also enjoy these award-winning pre-school shows including Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer on Mondays to Thursday; while from Friday to Sundays, they can look forward to hilarious fun with Nicktoons like SpongeBob SquarePants and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

    TV 9 is Malaysia’s first free-to-air channel to provide an uninterrupted kids’ block 7 days a week. With the tagline Dekat di Hati, TV9 is the Malay channel targeting to Malays who strongly associate themselves with positive values.

    MTV South East Asia senior VP and GM Christopher James says, “At Nickelodeon, we put kids first in everything we do and with Nick di 9, we will be reaching out to Malaysian kids in the language that they speak. This mutually rewarding relationship with TV9 will help both parties to better reach out to kids and families in Malaysia.

    “The launch of Nick di 9 as a Bahasa Melayu block is a significant development in the overall expansion of the brand across South-East Asia”

    TV9 COO Bukhari Che Muda says, “Responding to the Government’s call to put Bahasa Melayu as the first spoken language in Malaysia, TV9 has taken the initiative to dub all Nick’s cartoons into Bahasa Melayu. This cartoon lineup being dubbed in Bahasa Melayu is the best way of educating kids to speak in their first language. Now TV9 kids can truly enjoy their favorite cartoon characters, singing and laughing along with them in the same language”.