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Tag: Wow Cinema

  • TDSAT interim order ensures continuity for private channels on FreeDish

    TDSAT interim order ensures continuity for private channels on FreeDish

    NEW DELHI: Private TV channels on Doordarshan’s FreeDish with expired licences have been informed by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT) that they can continue airing until further orders. This applies to even those whose licences are soon to expire.

    Channels can continue on a pro rata basis taking the bid with which they had won the slots or the reserve price, whichever is higher, as benchmark. This can continue till the government formulates a new policy within two months.

    TDSAT chairman justice Shiva Keerti Singh, and members B B Srivasatava and A K Bhargava gave three days to any other channels similarly affected to take advantage of this interim order by informing the tribunal.

    While admitting all the petitions before it, the tribunal asked the government to file its reply within four weeks.

    Earlier in the morning, the government through counsel Rajeev Sharma presented a letter sent to Cinema 24×7 which laid down a new formula aiming at bringing the pricing at par with the system followed for FM channel auctions which also provides for revenue sharing.

    Sharma said that Prasar Bharati was in the process of reorienting its content to live up to its credo of public service broadcasting and had therefore sought a time of two months. However, channels whose licences will expire this month or in February next year can continue by paying the highest bid amount and by sharing its revenue with the pubcaster. However, counsel for the private channels rejected this as discriminatory.

    Counsel Aman Lekhi who represented Cinema 24×7 said the government could not bring an interim policy which was not relatable to something that law recognises. He said this would also amount to creating two classes of TV channels: those who were on a pro rata basis and those who were being forced to pay an amount that was higher than the amount for which they had successful bid for the channels. There was no guarantee that the government will not revert to the existing prices after the two-month exercise was over.

    He added that the ad hoc exercise was even unnecessary since the government is in contemplation. Such a measure doesn’t give certainty or continuity and alterations have to be by ‘sound consideration’. In fact, he stated that even Prasar Bharati was unaware why the auction was called off by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani.

    Senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan added that it was clear that DD was eager to continue with the auctions but the ministry had arbitrarily stopped them. He also said that ‘continuity’ implied continuing with the existing policy and not imposing something completely new.

    He said equating general entertainment channels with news channels was sheer arbitrariness. This may result in closing the channels and shutting doors to people.

    Assistant solicitor general Tushar Mehta added that the aim of the government had been to balance equations on both sides. He said that in the FM auctions, the channels shared revenue of fifty per cent apart from the bid amount in the e-auctions and so the same policy was sought to be extended to the TV channels on FreeDish.

    Apart from Cinema 24×7 which runs Wow Cinema and News Nation, others who joined the fray today included Enterr 10 TV Pvt Ltd., B4U Broadband India Pvt Ltd, and Independent News Service Pvt Ltd.

    The letter sent by a senior executive of Doordarshan said that Doordarshan “can as an interim measure follow a model on the pattern of FM auction policy of the government for two months or till the centralgovernment policy is made, whichever is earlier for the channels which are going to be off the air on completion of their contract period” and they may “be offered continuity of operation at the highest bid amount for any of the channels auctioned in the past, together with revenue sharing at the rate of 50 per cent of the gross profit or 4 per cent of the gross revenue  or  2.5 per cent of upfront highest bid amount whichever is higher. This system, as an interim arrangement should be operated on first come first served basis if the terms and conditions of the short duration extension are acceptable to the existing  contract holder.”

    The letter noted that FreeDish has witnessed a significant growth spurt in free to air (FTA) channels in  2015-2016 and the popular FTA channels spanning general entertainment, movies and music have targeted core TV audiences and according to estimates reported in the media to have earned Rs 5 to 7 billion. Keeping so many vacant slots will not only affect revenue from one of Doordarshan’s largest sources but will also force people to shift to other expensive options.

    Soon after Smriti Irani became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) few months back, the decision of halting the bids for FreeDish slot was announced. This came at a time when FreeDish was testing its MPEG4 technology in an attempt to encrypt the platform and also expand the number of TV channels that could be carried. At present 80 channels are carried on the FTA DTH platform. 

    Also Read:

    WOW Cinema petitions TDSAT on delayed auctions for DD FreeDish slots

    10 FreeDish slots may fall vacant by Oct-end as renewals hang fire

    TDSAT gives Prasar Bharati 2 days to respond to FreeDish auction suspension

    Dish TV moves TDSAT against Star Life OK name change & turning FTA

  • TDSAT gives Prasar Bharati 2 days to respond to FreeDish auction suspension

    TDSAT gives Prasar Bharati 2 days to respond to FreeDish auction suspension

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has two days more to come out with the real reason for suspending the auctions on its DTH service FreeDish in August this year. From 27 October 2017 the telecoms and broadcast disputes tribunal TDSAT will hear two petitions challenging the decision of public broadcaster.

    In the last hearing, the tribunal had told petitioners Cinema 24×7, (distributors of WOW Cinema),  News Nation Network and others to file applications with Prasar Bharati. It had said it would hear the matter if not resolved by the pubcaster.

    When the matter came up yesterday, only Cinema 24×7 (WOW Cinema) was represented by its counsels. Prasar Bharati, represented by Assistant Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, sought two more days to finalise the government and Prasar Bharati’s stand on the issue.

    Soon after Smriti Irani became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) few months back, the decision of halting the bids for FreeDish slot was announced. This came at a time when FreeDish was testing its MPEG4 technology in an attempt to encrypt the platform and also expand the number of TV channels that could be carried. At present 80 channels are carried on the FTA DTH platform.  

    ALSO READ:

    WOW Cinema petitions TDSAT on delayed auctions for DD FreeDish slots

    10 FreeDish slots may fall vacant by Oct-end as renewals hang fire

  • WOW Cinema petitions TDSAT on delayed auctions for DD FreeDish slots

    WOW Cinema petitions TDSAT on delayed auctions for DD FreeDish slots

    MUMBAI: Peeved by Doordarshan’s decision to keep a new round of e-auctions for slots for private TV channels on pubcaster’s FTA DTH service FreeDish on hold and fear of being shoved off the platform after annual contract expiry, WOW Cinema has moved disputes tribunal TDSAT questioning Prasar Bharati’s stand.

    Wow Cinema’s manager Cinema 24×7 Pvt. Ltd. has requested telecoms and broadcast disputes tribunal TDSAT, amongst other temporary relief, to restrain DD’s parent Prasar Bharati from removing the TV channel from the DTH platform after expiry of the agreed terms in September 2017 till the final disposal of the present petition.

    As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, slots for private broadcasters were not being filled up after falling vacant on DD FreeDish with the expiry of annual contracts, while Prasar Bharati has also reportedly put on hold a fresh round of e-auctions since August 2017 citing “administrative reasons”.

    This stance of the pubcaster, according to the petition, would/could affect more TV channels on DD FreeDish. According to the petition, which is likely to come up for preliminary hearing on 12 October 2017 at TDSAT, on account of absence of clarity on e-auctions from Prasar Bharati and the agreement with the petitioner coming to an end September 2017, WOW Cinema would not be available to viewers of FreeDish despite the petitioner’s willingness to fulfil all future obligations as part of auto-renewal of the contract.

    However, Prasar Bharati, through its counsel, has argued that since the petitioner was free to participate in a fresh round of auctions (as and when it happens) and would be governed by a fresh agreement on winning a slot, the request for an auto-extension was unfounded.

    It was also submitted by Prasar Bharati that two more channels (VAA Movies and RT Movies) too had gone off DD FreeDish due to the expiry of their agreements in August 2017— and so Wow Cinema is not an exception.

    DD FreeDish, a multi-channel FTA DTH service, was launched by Prasar Bharati in December 2004 and, at present, carried approximately 80 SD TV channels, along with 32 radio channels. This Ku-Band DTH service provides TV coverage throughout the Indian Territory (except Andaman & Nicobar islands) and, reportedly, has a subscriber base of about 22 millions.

    Though FreeDish is now over a decade old, but it’s only in the last few years that private TV channels realised its importance and the platform’s reach. With BARC India starting to measure rural audience, the primary base of FreeDish, private broadcasters started to jump on to the FTA bandwagon — even paying sizable carriage fee. WOW Cinema, for example, paid Rs. 80 million in an e-auction for a year’s shelf life on DD’s KU-band platform.

    Not only some private TV channels from the stable of big broadcast companies like Zee, Viacom18, Sony and Discovery, GECs and news channels included, had hopped on to the FTA bandwagon, but the likes of Star India had recently launched revamped or new TV channels (Star Bharat and Star Sports First) on the DD FreeDish with fresh programming to extend their reach and improve on audience measurement data.

    ALSO READ:

    10 FreeDish slots may fall vacant by Oct-end as renewals hang fire

    Doordarshan puts off 37th FreeDish auction

  • Cinema 24×7 launches new Hindi movie channel for LC1 market

    Cinema 24×7 launches new Hindi movie channel for LC1 market

    MUMBAI: Even as there are talks of media and entertainment behemoth Eros International looking to disrupt the Hindi movie channels space with its plans to launch a channel that will focus on shortening the window between the theatrical release and television premier of a film, a new player has quietly entered the already cluttered space.

     

    The cluttered Hindi movie channel genre, which has more than ten players like Zee Cinema, Star Gold, Sony Max, Sony Max 2, Zee Classic, Zee Action, &Pictures, Movies OK, B4U Movies, UTV Movies and Filmy, can now add ‘Wow Cinema’ to its growing list. 

     

    The channel, whose tests runs have been on since 1 June, 2015, will be available across the country from 10 June onwards on all Direct to Home (DTH) operators as well as major multi system operators (MSOs).

     

    Armed with a chest of more than 500 Hindi movies, which have been released between 1990 and 2006, the new free to air (FTA) channel from Cinema 24×7’s stable aims to target the LC1 market initially and then gradually move ahead to capture market share in the metros.

     

    From the sound of it, the channel may as well compete directly with Zee Classic, which only airs old Hindi movies. Nonetheless, Wow Cinema does have plans to acquire new movie titles in the near future.

     

    Speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com, Cinema 24×7 CEO Hitesh Sabharwal says that the channel will aggressively forge ahead towards buying movies and creating a strong library. The channel has the rights for the movies for a period of five years.

     

    Facing stiff competition from existing players who pull in viewers with big ticket movie premieres along with old but popular Bollywood fare, Wow Cinema aims to be a destination that will offer a mix of old and new. However, Sabharwal refused to divulge names of the movies that the channel has the rights to.

     

    “Wow Cinema will be a destination for Indian viewers to witness the mix of new and old. While we will keep the retro mode with our wide collection from 1990s to 2006, we will also have national premieres on the channel. The channel will give 360 degree value to advertisers on board and in the long run will compete with every player irrespective of new or old, small or big. Our target age group is from 4 to 60 across the country,” he asserts.

     

    Cinema 24×7 head of sales Dipak Shelke explains, “Our priority at this stage is to make a mark in the LC1 market and then gradually evolve in the metros. In terms of viewership, our initial target is to garner around 20 GRPs in the HSM.”

     

    With zilch subscription revenue coming in courtesy its FTA status, the channel’s single source of revenue will be advertising. Moreover, with the 12-minute ad cap regulation still being applied to FTA channels as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has not yet taken a formal decision to exempt them from it, Wow Cinema’s task has been cut out for it. In a scenario like this, the channel will have an uphill journey in raking in the revenues.

     

    Shelke opines, “Wow Cinema has the potential to emerge as advertisers’ destination as we promise to be audience’s choice by providing extensive content. We are in talks with many brands but it’s too early to name names. All I can say is that FMCG brands and E-Commerce companies are showing keen interest in the channel and we hope to seal the deals soon.”

     

    The channel launch will be backed by a marketing campaign, which will be rolled out soon.

     

    It now remains to be seen how the new channel differentiates itself from existing players and whether it manages to make a mark in the consumers’ mind by offering them fare that they haven’t seen before.