ITV

Tag: West

  • MSL appoints Shashanka Nanda as vice president North & West of 20:20 MSL

    MSL appoints Shashanka Nanda as vice president North & West of 20:20 MSL

    MUMBAI: MSL, Publicis Groupe’s exclusive strategic communications firm, Monday announced the appointment of Shashanka Nanda as vice president, north and west at 20:20 MSL, based in Delhi NCR. With over two decades of experience, Nanda brings deep knowledge of integrated communications, leading multi-stakeholder campaigns across verticals including technology, automotive, aviation, and infrastructure across public and private sectors. Prior to this appointment, he held the position of vice president and technology lead at Edelman, India.

    MSL South Asia CEO Amit Misra said, “Shashanka is an accomplished professional. His depth of experience will add strategic value across our diverse client portfolio. As a strategic thinker and team player, his knowledge of the communication environment will be complementary to our operations. I am confident that he will be a great asset to our teams and I look forward to working closely with him.”

    “We are delighted to have Shashanka join our team,” said 20:20 MSL MD Viju George. “With his deep expertise in the technology sector, he will be a terrific addition to our leadership team as we continue to focus on expanding our bouquet of services and up-scaling our offerings.”

    During the course of his career, Nanda has advised global corporations, start-ups, not for profits and governments on developing and executing effective communication strategies. A few clients that he has managed include organizations such as Microsoft, HP, TrendMicro, Oracle, Hitachi Data Systems, Airbus, GMR, Maruti Suzuki, the ministry of renewable energy, government of India, the government of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and  the World Bank, among others.

  • DAS Phase III status report: East and West

    DAS Phase III status report: East and West

    MUMBAI: Though the deadline was announced well in advance, the action on-ground took quite some time to get rolling. And now it’s certainly too late to finish on time. “It’s chaos and carnage together. Digitisation, which was meant to be a panacea has turned out to be a poison for cable operators and it’s sad that there is no one to stand by their side,” said a retired official from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on condition of anonymity.

     

    As per the official’s assessment, on an average, 40 per cent seeding of set-top-boxes (STBs) has been done successfully and it will be impossible to meet the 31 December, 2015.

     

    Digitisation is an East – West – North – South affair and the progress report is quite similar everywhere. This report by Indiantelevision.com covers the proceedings of the eastern and western parts of the country.

     

    East

     

    The North Eastern part of the country has always been one of the most neglected areas when it comes to central government’s attention. The story is no different when it comes to DAS too. “People here are not aware of 10 per cent of the laws. There is nobody to go to and talk about grievances. Not everyone can go to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) as they cannot afford to. So they have two options, to either opt out entirely from the cable business or succumb to unfair means. While there are grievances involved, we cannot expect work to go on a brisk pace and it’s all delayed,” Task Force member from Assam Iquebal Ahmed tells this website.

     

    While Ahmed refrained from putting a number to the progress but as per the assessment of other cable operators, approximately 30 per cent of the seeding has been done so far.

     

    And this 30 per cent is still on higher side the story is even worse in West Bengal. “Only eight to 10 per cent of the seeding has been done so far,” estimates Siticable Kolkata director Suresh Sethia. But he also says the work has picked up recently and it is not impossible to meet the deadline provided there is a surge in consumer demand.

     

    “The government has to advertise more aggressively by putting more newspaper inserts to drive consumer requirement. The message needs to be very clear that people need to have set top boxes before 31 December or there will be no TV,” stresses Sethia.

     

    The crisis of STBs, which is very widely spoken about is not something Sethia is bothered about. “As far as we are concerned, we have enough hardware to meet the demand,” he says confidently.

     

    West

     

    The west side story is a lot better in comparison. “About 60 per cent of the seeding has been done in Gujarat and if we continue with the way we are forging forward, there is a good possibility of us reaching the target by March if not December, provided the deadline is not postponed. However, if the deadline is postponed, the momentum of work will break since the pressure will ease off and then we might not be able to achieve it by June,” says GTPL Hathway COO Shaji Mathews.

     

    Mathews is of the opinion that deals with broadcasters cannot be a reason behind the delay. “Even in Phase I and II, analogue deals continued in digitised areas for a brief period. The transition takes time and will gradually fall in place,” he adds.

     

    However, the progress report in Maharashtra is not as hunky dory as that of Gujarat. The Maharashtra government, like the Central government, is adamant on no extension of deadline. The respective collectors have also communicated the same across every nook and corner. But there is a huge lack of awareness among consumers, says a senior member of Nasik District Cable Operators Federation.

     

    He further adds, “Do we have the infrastructure ready? Why are we not talking about that? The MSOs will benefit the most from this chaotic scenario. They are not releasing the boxes now and the reason is that when the demand hikes up at the last moment, they can jack up the price and sell. DEN is charging Rs 1600 for a STB! Can a phase III consumer afford it? The government needs to look into the deeper issues and generate more awareness instead of showing its muscle power.”

     

    What the scenario at the ground level will be post 31 December, 2015, only time will tell.

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s next report will focus on the ground realities in the Northern and Southern parts of the country. Stay tuned.

  • WGA & Congressman Cardenas oppose Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger

    WGA & Congressman Cardenas oppose Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger

    MUMBAI: Congressman Tony Cardenas (CA-29) added his voice to the growing list of public officials, consumer groups and businesses that are opposed to allowing Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable. During a briefing held at the headquarters of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and attended by representatives of legislative offices from across the L.A. region, Cardenas officially stated his opposition to the deal.

     

    “Today I announce my strong opposition to the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. I ask the FCC, the DOJ, and the California Public Utilities Commission to deny this merger because it is bad for consumers, will harm competition, will lead to less diverse content, more expensive cable and internet access, and will eliminate good jobs in California. If approved, the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger will drastically change the landscape for media and broadband internet service in America. The pending merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable will enable an increased market dominance that will have a particularly negative impact on diversity of content and minority communities,” said Cardenas.

     

    “Mergers that increase the power of content gatekeepers do not serve the interests of consumers or creators. Comcast has already stated that if the merger is allowed it will save money by paying less for content. This means that programmers will have less money to invest in content, which means less creativity, less innovation and less product. This could translate into fewer jobs, including right here in Los Angeles. While approval of this deal once seemed an inevitable outcome, the issues raised here today and over the last year make clear that the appropriate action for state and federal regulators is to say no to the merger,” added WGAW president Chris Keyser.

     

    Presentations given by the WGAW, The Greenlining Institute, Entravision Communications Corporation, Sports Fans Coalition, and Presente.org detailed the far-reaching effects the merger will have on consumers, independent programmers and content creators, diverse communities, sports fans, and businesses throughout the Southland. New research conducted by the WGAW concludes that should the merger take place, Comcast’s increased buyer power as a distributor of television and the Internet will lead to higher prices for consumers, fewer content choices and less diverse and innovative content. Virtually no one in the L.A. region will be left untouched by this mega-merger.

     

    L.A. Consumers are almost certain to face higher prices for cable and Internet service, more restrictions on how they can access the content they want and worse customer service. Local consumers will have little choice but to accept this new reality because for 72 per cent of Los Angeles County residents living in Comcast’s proposed footprint, Comcast will be the only choice for high-speed broadband.

     

    Latinos across the country and here in Los Angeles will be harmed if this merger is approved. Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable would allow it to reach more than 90 per cent of Latino households nationally and become the dominant pay TV provider in LA, the largest Latino media market. Comcast will have make or break power over programmers trying to reach this audience. In addition, the company’s higher prices will hit local Latino consumers even harder, because with a median income of $21,314, compared with $44,929 for Anglo-Americans, they make significantly less than their white counterparts.

     

    Moreover, 78 per cent of African American residents and 73 per cent of Asian residents living in Comcast’s proposed LA County footprint will have no other choice for broadband service that offers speeds of 25 Mbps or faster.

     

    Local sports fans can expect higher prices or less access to home team games if the merger is approved. Already, 70 per cent of Angelenos do not have access to the local Dodgers channel because of Time Warner Cable’s anticompetitive pricing policies. The problem will only get worse if Comcast takes over Time Warner Cable and Charter systems locally because the bigger the cable provider gets, the more it charges competitors for access.

    The Creative Community will see Comcast increase its ability to pay less for programming and strangle the growth of online video, threatening the new “golden age of programming” we are currently living in.

     

    Independent and Diverse Programmers will face a larger, vertically integrated distributor that controls 30 per cent of the pay TV market and 50 per cent of the high-speed broadband market, giving it tremendous bargaining power over programmers. For Latino-oriented independent programmers, the situation is even worse because Comcast owns several Spanish-language networks and has both the incentive and ability to limit content competition.

  • Are tech companies interested in Time Warner? Fox or Time Warner, who will blink first?

    Are tech companies interested in Time Warner? Fox or Time Warner, who will blink first?

    BENGALURU: Are tech companies really interested in Time Warner? Speculation is on about one of the biggies like Google, Amazon, Apple coming in as the knight in shining armour to thwart Fox’s unsolicited offer and taking over. Or maybe Verizon or Disney could step in, up the ante and carry away the bride? Is there really a knight in shining armour at all? Time will tell.

     

    While an acquisition like Time Warner would most certainly help Google get into Hollywood and help it create online platforms, Google is not in the content creation business and it could acquire other properties at a far lower price.

     

    Though Amazon has signed a multiyear agreement with Viacom for streaming children’s content and has had a successful video-on-demand partnership with CBS, it would be entering into completely new territory, were it to take over Time Warner. Amazon is already into competition with mobile handset players like Samsung and Apple with its Fire phone, does the company have the wherewithal (besides funds) and the bandwidth to take on more?

     

    For Apple’s iTunes and Apple TV, the merger would be great news, and acquisition of the huge content would be great, but Apple’s focus has been on devices, and not content. Will it be able to leverage the content to the extent to make it worthwhile spending that kind of money?

     

    As mentioned earlier, Time-Warner had rejected Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox (Fox) unsolicited offer allegedly worth about USD 76 billion cash and stock. 21st Century Fox had offered to buy Time Warner for USD 32.42 in cash and offered a ratio of 1.531 Fox class-A share for each Time Warner share. The Fox offer was worth about USD85-86 per share.

     

    In a defensive move, Time Warner has in the meantime initiated evasive action to thwart attacks on its soft underbelly by eliminating a provision in its bylaws that earlier could let just 15 per cent of its shareholders call special meeting, so as to prevent it being forced to consider the Fox offer in case Fox resorts to this measure to force the issue. The bylaws now say that the CEO or a majority of the board can call a special meeting.

     

    Joining the fray against the Fox Time Warner merger is the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), which says that such deals could harm writers.

  • Black List teams with TNT & TBS to promote diversity in the industry

    Black List teams with TNT & TBS to promote diversity in the industry

    MUMBAI: TNT and TBS are partnering with The Black List – an online community where video content creators find scripts to make and writers to write them and where writers find producers, studios and networks to make their scripts and employ them. The three are partnering on an initiative to promote diversity in the industry by identifying talented writers to develop scripts and concepts for the networks. TNT and TBS are the first television networks to team up with the Black List following the site’s expansion into episodic content.

     

    The networks will be looking for writers from diverse backgrounds for possible blind script deals and staffing consideration on TBS and TNT series, with the goal of signing script deals with particularly strong writers in the half-hour comedy and hour-long drama genres.

     

    Launched in October 2012, the Black List has hosted more than 10,000 screenplays and teleplays and has completed more than 13,000 script evaluations. More than 40 writers have found representation at major agencies and management companies, while more than 20 writers have sold their scripts as a direct result of introductions made via the site. At any given moment, more than 2,000 screenplays and teleplays are being actively hosted on the site for perusal by over 2,300 film industry professionals, ranging from agency assistants to studio chairs and network heads.

     

    As part of its program with TNT and TBS, the Black List will solicit teleplays to be evaluated via the Black List website by its community of industry professionals and readers. The Black List will then provide TNT and TBS with a short list of five finalists in each genre. The finalists will be chosen based on criteria the networks provide and on the evaluations received. The networks will then have the option to offer blind script deals. The list of finalists may also be shared with TBS and TNT’s current showrunners, who will have the option to offer staff positions.

     

    “As we continue to expand the original programming lineups for TNT and TBS, it’s important that we forge partnerships not only with established producers but also with fresh talent,” said president, TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) head of programming Michael Wright in a release. “We’re confident that through this initiative with the Black List, we’re going to find an abundance of exciting, highly creative work from a wide array of emerging writers.”

     

    In addition to TNT and TBS, the Black List is currently partnered with the Writers Guild of America, East; the Writers Guild America, West; the Sundance Institute; and Warner Bros Pictures.