ITV

Tag: Zee Telefilms.

  • Roy floats NDTV Ventures for entertainment channel, new media expansion

    Roy floats NDTV Ventures for entertainment channel, new media expansion

    NEW DELHI: The Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Ltd, which today reported a 27 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenues for the quarter ending September 30, announced formation of NDTV Ventures to start a slew of TV channels, including a Hindi general entertainment channel.
    NDTV figs for FY 06 ended March ’06
    Total income: Rs 1941.48 million
    Profit after tax: Rs 199.12 million
    Unveiling the future course of expansion, top honchos of NDTV said it is to take the company revenue up to $ 500 million in five years; focus on triple play and make NDTV a global Indian media brand.

    NDTV Ventures, a 100 per cent subsidiary, has been formed to undertake major expansion in non-news segments as well as aggressively push new media propositions.

    “Every three to four years we take a leap, consolidate our position and then again move ahead,” is how NDTV chairman Prannoy Roy explained the philosophy behind the latest expansion model during an interaction with journalists today evening after a company board meeting.

    “The new model is based on an entrepreneurial management structure aimed at attracting and rewarding the best global talent in the business, including the large talent bank within NDTV. The model will help streamline existing operations and make them more cost efficient,” Roy said in a year when quite a few media companies like Television Eighteen and Zee Telefilms have undertaken corporate restructuring to chart out new expansion plans.

    Though no time frame was given, Roy also said that the company plans to start “soon” four city-centric English infotainment channels called NDTV Metro Nation.

    The new model envisages having NDTV LTD as the parent entity with news and non-news operations under it as separate subsidiaries. Each of the subsidiaries will have a number of verticals, NDTV’s chief executive for growth and strategy Vikram Chandra said.

    The non-news forays would be undertaken by NDTV Ventures (in the process of being formally incorporated) and will have under it the entertainment and new media divisions.

    NDTV New Media, in turn, will have NDTV Convergence (Internet initiatives), NGen (media process outsourcing) and NDTV Labs under its umbrella. According to Chandra, NDTV Labs, which will develop in-house broadcast technologies for sale to proposed clients, has already closed its first deal.

    The corporate model for NDTV Ventures, which will incubate and operate focused verticals, will permit investments by strategic and financial partners in individual verticals apart from NDTV Ventures itself.

    If that was not enough, NDTV has also acquired for the rights of Indian boxing fixtures for the next 10 years.

    This, in a nutshell, marks out the route the Roys and associates are taking to expand regionally as well as globally. The new growth model would enable NDTV to raise funds for its future businesses beyond news, Roy said, adding that an IPO of NDTV Ventures is “one of the options before us.”

    NDTV MAINTAINS OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

    The company’s board, which approved the new growth plans, also approved the Q2 financial results.

    The company declared net profit at Rs 37 million on revenues of Rs 545 million. Revenues in the previous corresponding quarter stood at Rs 430 million.

    The company added 78 new clients and 172 new brands to its advertiser base this quarter.

    The current quarter’s expenses include the costs attributable to certain initiatives for generating new income streams in the future. Some of the operating loss of Rs 33 million has been incurred in building new businesses.

    On the revenue front, the company said the second half of the year is expected to be far more buoyant with revenues in the news business expected to grow at a robust 30-35 per cent.

    Going forward, the company expects top line growth to accelerate, with substantial contribution from new business initiatives.

  • Scat gets a more focussed response

    Scat gets a more focussed response

    MUMBAI: Scat India 2006, which positions itself as being India’s largest exhibition for the Indian satellite and cable TV industry concludes today 14 October 2006 at the World Trade Center.

    Scat Media and Consultancy executive director Dinyar Contractor says that the biggest improvement this year has been more focus. “Exhibitors appreciate the fact that there was a clear focus on cable television.

    Earlier we had other focus areas as well but this time around there was a clear focus on the digital arena. The feedback we received from the exhibitors was that the trade visitors were well informed and clued in.

    “They have done their homework which indicates that the digital arena is coming off age in India. One firm from Europe says that the questions that he has been asked about his products have been more knowledgeable and intelligent compared with some other tradeshows.

    While earlier people would ask about what a product does now they ask whether a product has a certain feature. Visitors were hapy that weer big international names at the event.”

    Scat is now in its 15th year. Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra inaugurated the exhibition. By the time the event concludes it would have had around 12,000 attendees. There are 80 stalls and Contractor adds that at least 30 per cent of the exhibitors have confirmed that they will return next year. Some of them have booked bigger stalls.

    The firms that took part included 2nd Wave Technology, Aditya Broadband, AlJazeera International, Beijing Swt Optical Comm. Catvision, Conax Systems, D-Link, Kieth Electronics, Micronas, Motorola, Finolex Fitel, Fujikura, Scientific Atlanta and Shenzhen Coship

    A key product that the trade fraternity focussed on was digital headends. These will be needed for the deployment of conditional access (Cas) on 1 January 2007 in certain areas of Mumbai and Delhi. Normally headends are expensive. However at Scat Chinese vendors will display headends that are at a cost effective and competitive rate.

    It was not just operators in areas where Cas will be rolled out in January 2007 that are interested. Contractor adds that even operators in small towns are interested. Though it is a bit expensive they know that once Cas comes in the problems between them and the broadcasters over under declaration will not exist. Hence they are willing to invest. The mood of the trade fraternity at Scat he says is confident that Cas will be rolled out smoothly.

    Some operators are mentally gearing uop for Cas though it has yet to be mandated for their areas he adds. Therefore the interest in digital equipment is not surprising.

    Other technology products that were on display include DVB-S and DTH Products, DTT, DVB-S and DVB-c test and measurement equipment, Fibre Optic products from global firms were also be on display.

  • After Europe, India where Time Warner focus is: Parsons

    After Europe, India where Time Warner focus is: Parsons

    MUMBAI: So-called restrictive legislations or not, India is a market that no mass product company can ignore. World’s biggest media company Time Warner is no exception.

    This is evident from the fact that chairman and CEO of Time Warner,Richard Parson, sees India as a priority international market after Europe for his organisation.

    At a time when Asia’s biggest market China has stringent media regulations making it difficult for non-Chinese companies to operate there, liberal India is the next haven for Western business houses.

    “Time Warner in the US is such a large player. Where are we going to get growth from?” Parson was quoted by worldscreen.com as saying at an interaction with journalists at Mipcom in France on Wednesday.

    According to Parson, “The first place we are going to look at is Europe. They are developed economies, established platforms, and there’s an orientation towards Western content. We are focused on Europe and the emerging markets of India and China, in that order.”

    Though media has speculated on investments in India by Time Warner, but the company has preferred to keep a low profile.

    At present, Time Warner’s biggest exposure to India is through a 26:74 joint venture with Zee Telefilms, called Zee Turner Ltd, for distribution of TV channels in India.

    With over 30 channels in its bouquet, in certain markets within India Zee Turner has beaten Star and Discovery-Sony TV One Alliance in terms of subscription.

    Zee Turner is targeting a turnover of Rs 4 billion by March 2007, signifying a revenue growth of 30-35 per cent compared to last financial year.

    Through some of its group companies – Turner’s three satellite TV channels CNN, Cartoon Network and Pogo, Warner Bros. Movies based in Mumbai, Zee Turner and also a small outfit of AOL in Bangalore – Time Warner has an
    adequate presence in India.

    But it would be nowhere near as lucrative or penetrative as competitor Rupert Murdoch’s Star.

    In 2004 when Parson came on a flying visit to India, he did indicate at a party thrown for India’s business elites that Time Warner would like to set up a business process outsourcing unit (reason not known) here also.

    Presently, Time Warner is slightly worried over the fate of a court mandated ban on airing ‘A’ certified movies by movie channels in the Mumbai market.

    The ban affects Indian and foreign film channels, including HBO in which Time Warner has interest.

    Meanwhile, speaking at length about his company’s plans in Europe at Mipcom, Parson did not rule out a cable acquisition in Europe.

    “We all believe cable is the winner over time,” Parsons was quoted in media reports as saying.

    “We look at everything. It’s a big issue. Cable will win in the US but maybe not outside the US since the infrastructure is not there. We look, we evaluate on price, you never know,” he added.

  • MEASAT appoints Vishal Mathur as sales director – South Asia

    MEASAT appoints Vishal Mathur as sales director – South Asia

    MUMBAI: Measat Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd.has appointed Vishal Mathur as South Asia sales director. In this role, Vishal will be responsible for building and supporting Measat’s customer base across the South Asian region.|

    Prior to joining Measat, Vishal worked with Zee Telefilms as AVP. At Zee Telefims, he managed the sales and marketing portfolio for the Asia Pacific market. 

    Prior to Zee Telefilms, Vishal worked with Ten Sports, Espn Star Sports and Global Tele Systems.

     

  • Tata Sky starts receiving Zee-Turner channels

    Tata Sky starts receiving Zee-Turner channels

    MUMBAI: It took a rap on the knuckles today by the sector tribunal, but finally, DTH service provider Tata Sky can now claim to have a “complete” channel offering. Zee-Turner this evening provided the signals for its channels after an order issued earlier in the day by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

    “Now they (the Zee-Turner channels) are on,” Tata Sky MD & CEO Vikram Kaushik told Indiantelevision.com. “The channels were delayed by Zee-Turner and the tribunal directed them to provide the signals,” he added.

    Coming down heavily on the distribution network, TDSAT chairman Justice Arun Kumar was quoted by Press trust of India news service as saying, “tricks would not work … at least I did not expect this from you … you are more interested in earning money rather than implementation of the order.”

    During the proceedings Zee-Turner, a 74:26 joint venture between Zee Telefilms and Turner International India, a sister concern of Time Warner, contended that Tata Sky was yet to address issues “regarding territory and piracy” mentioned in their terms and condition, the PTI report said. In its response, Tata Sky accused Zee-Turner of unilaterally deciding the terms and conditions under which they would provide signals.

    Zee Turrner had given an undertaking last Wednesday (20 September) to TDSAT that it would provide all the 32 channels in its bouquet at an interim pricing of Rs 75. Tata Sky is already offering 75 channels at an introductory price offer of Rs 200.

    Zee Turner claims had then told Indiantelevision.com that it had got what it wanted. “We wanted our entire bundle of channels to be taken and at that price. This falls in line with the latest TDSAT directive,” Zee Turner CEO Arun Poddar had said.

    The final hearing will be on 18 October where the issues of pricing, capacity and other related issues will be decided.

    It may be recalled that Zee Turner was willing to provide all its channels at a price of Rs 75 while Tata Sky wanted to select the channels it wants at half the price of cable TV rates.

  • Zee Telefilms lodges FIR against T-Series’ Bhushan Kumar

    Zee Telefilms lodges FIR against T-Series’ Bhushan Kumar

    MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra’s Zee Telefilms Ltd. has accused T-Series promoter and Super Cassettes Industries Limited (SCIL) CMD Bhushan Kumar of non-payment of dues and forging of agreement papers. Accordingly, the company has registered an FIR with Mumbai’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) against Kumar for cheating and forgery.

    According to Zee Telefilms lawyer Ramesh Pandey, the basis of the case with the EOW are two letters drafted by Bhusan Kumar, one on 15 September and the other on 15 May, in which he claims that an amount of Rs 57.3 million was to be paid to SCIL by ETC Channel Network Ltd., on the basis of alleged agreement/Letter dated 15 May 2006.

    However, there is no such agreement/Letter dated 15 May 2006 on the records of ETC Channel Limited, and therefore ETC Channel Network has exercised its legal right & filed a complaint before the EOW for commission of an act of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against Kumar. Pursuant to the same an FIR has been registered at Oshiwara Police Station against Bhusan Kumar and others of SCIL for commission of offence as mentioned above, Pandey adds.

    T-Series lawyers have been quoted in a Financial Express report as saying that, “The letters are not forged and if at all there was a case in the matter, its civil in nature.” The company also claimed that the two officials who had signed the agreement on behalf of ETC have been removed.

  • ICC rights bidders to be called to Dubai by month-end

    ICC rights bidders to be called to Dubai by month-end

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) says that this month will mark the next stage of its sale of media and sponsorship rights for events from late 2007 to 2015.

    Information available with indiantelevision.com indicates that potential commercial partners that meet the ICC’s criteria for bidding will be invited to Dubai at the end of this month. The aim is to to further progress the process that began in April when the ICC’s Executive Board decided the host for its tournaments in that eight-year period.

    The period will have 18 ICC tournaments. The five big ones are the two World Cups, in Asia (2011) and Australia/ New Zealand (2015) respectively, and a minimum of three Champions Trophy tournaments. The deal will also include the first two, Twenty World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009). The latter takes place in the ICC’s centenary year.

    Potential partners who meet the ICC’s qualification criteria that have already made expressions of interest will shortly be receiving correspondence detailing when they will be able to meet ICC officials for talks.

    The ICC says that any interested parties yet to express interest in the rights can still do so by contacting, the ICC.

    The ICC’s team of negotiators will include former President Ehsan Mani, who played a key role in securing the current agreement with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), which is owned by News International Limited.

    That agreement, which began in 2000 and ends with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies next March and April, includes two ICC Cricket World Cups and four ICC Champions Trophy tournaments. The GCC had paid out $550 million to secure the rights after a fierce bidding war with Subhash Chandra’s Zee Telefilms. At the time of bidding the GCC was a 50:50 JV between News Corp and World Sport Nimbus (itself a 50:50 JV between Harish Thawani’s Nimbus and the UK-headquartered World Sport Group). News Corp subsequently bought out WSN’s stake in the JV.

    ICC CEO Malcolm Speed said, “The sale of the ICC’s commercial and broadcast rights makes this a hugely significant and exciting time for cricket. That sale gives us the opportunity to place cricket on a sound financial footing for the next eight years and, by doing that, it will provide all our members with the chance to both sustain and grow the game.

    “We have been gratified and encouraged by the expressions of interest we have already received. We are now looking forward to meeting our potential partners and have only one aim in mind – securing the best deal for cricket.”

    The ICC has also included two women’s World Cups in the timeframe. One takes place in Australia in 2009 and the other takes place in India in 2013.

  • Star, Zee both claim rights to ‘Betiyaan’ concept; issue set to reach Court

    Star, Zee both claim rights to ‘Betiyaan’ concept; issue set to reach Court

    MUMBAI: The Diwali fireworks have already hit Indian television’s Hindi Entertainment space with archrivals Star India and Zee Network locking horns over a copyright issue.

    The “war” was kicked off with Zee Telefilms issuing a notice to Star demanding it withdraw all activites around its upcoming soap, tentatively titled Betiyaan, claiming ownership of the concept.

    Star dismissed Zee’s charges, asserting that the show’s writer Rekha Modi had registered the titles and the concept with various copyright bodies well before Zee made its own registration.

    In its legal notice sent to Star, Zee has said that its upcoming prime time soap Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan, produced by Creative Eye, would face serious market implications if Star went ahead with its prime time project carrying a similar title Betiyaan.

    Revealing the registration dates of the Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan title and concept with various copyright and industry bodies such as Film Writers Association, Film and Television Producers Guild of India and Society for Copyright regulation of Indian Producers for Film and Television, Zee has warned Star that, “Use of key elements or concept or format in your programme/series may constitute a violation of applicable intellactual property laws, including without limitation those regarding copyright infringement and passing off.”

    Buttressing its case, Star made available to Indiantelevision.com copies of the registrations made with the Film Writers Association on 5 April, 2006; 12 April, 2006 & 27 July, 2006. The show concept, characters and scripts were registered with the Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers on 29 July 2006 with the titles Betiyaan and Ghar Ki Lakshmi…Betiyaan. A copy of this document was also furnished.

    Zee’s notice to Star further states, “We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the television programme ‘Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan’ is owned by Zee Telefilms Ltd. We have already started the promotions on 5 August, and have incurred and/or committed substantial sums on business promotion / advertising and publicity etc for the programme. Our right to the programme is highly valuable to us as we have invested a lot of resources in the programme in building up awareness and goodwill in the said programme.

    “We state that, on 2 August 2006, our programme was registered with the “Film Writers Association” and on 21 August, registered with the Film and Television Producers Guild of India and Society for Copyright regulation of Indian Producers for Film and Television (SCRIPT). We understand that, this registration was done by the Guild after confirming with Association of Motion Pictures & TV Programme Producers.”

    A Star spokesperson countered, “We have been working with Rekha Modi on a show which she has registered with various industry bodies. The show concept and script of Betiyaan was registered with the Film Writers Association on 5 April, 2006; 12 April, 2006 & 27 July, 2006. The show concept, characters and scripts have also been registered with the Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers on 29 July 2006 with the titles Betiyaan and Ghar Ki Lakshmi…Betiyaan.”

    Star has further said that, it would be sticking to its original plan of launching Betiyaan very soon. “We will be launching this show very soon, though we are yet to finalise the title of the same. As far as the show is concerned, we are convinced that this is Rekha Modi’s original concept and will take all steps necessary to protect our position in this regard,” the company said.

    As per the Zee notice, the Star soap will be telecast by Star One. However, the star spokesperson refused to divulge any more details regarding the programme.

  • Essel Group picks up stake in UNI

    Essel Group picks up stake in UNI

    NEW DELHI: The Subhash Chandra-promoted Essel Group, which is the co-owner of DNA newspaper along with the Dainik Bhaskar group, has joined the United News of India (UNI) board as a shareholder.

    News agency UNI has shareholding from about nine big media organisations who also form the board of the news organisation formed in 1961.

    Confirming the development, Essel Group senior vice-president Ashish Kaul said, “We are on the board of UNI now as a shareholder, but the quantum of the holding cannot be disclosed at this point of time.”

    Kaul also clarified that Zee Telefilms, also an Essel Group enterprise, has nothing to do with the UNI deal. The other shareholders and board members of UNI include media outfits like HT Media, Times of India group, Ananda Bazar Patrika and The Hindu.

    Chandra has used his investment vehicle, Mediawest, to conclude the UNI agreement.

    Launched in March 1961, UNI has grown into one of the largest news agencies in Asia. today it serves more than 1000 subscribers in more than 100 locations in India and abroad. They include newspapers, radio and television networks, web sites , government offices and private and public sector corporations.

    The agencies communication network stretches over 90,000 kms in India and the Gulf states with bureaux in all major cities and towns of India.

    UNI has collaboration agreements with several foreign news agencies, including Reuters and DPA , whose stories are distributed to media organisations in India.

    Apart from that, UNI has news exchange agreements with Xinhua of China, UNB of Bangladesh, Gulf News Agency of Bahrain, WAM of the United Arab Emirates, KUNA of Kuwait News Agency, ONA of Oman and QNA of Qatar.

  • ‘K’ show rate hikes: Balaji expects 8% rise in turnover

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms Ltd. is targeting a 7-8 per cent growth in turnover to around Rs 3.1 billion this fiscal on the back of a rate hike on four of their popular TV serials and an increase in programming hours.

    The investment in capital expenditure for the year is estimated at Rs 250-300 million. “We are adding two more studios this year. The capex is also towards equipments and sets,” a source in the company says.
    Of the four serials that will come up for an upward rate revision, three are expected from Star India and one from Zee Telefilms. Balaji makes a prime time show, Kasamh Se, for Zee TV.

    The paid up capital for Balaji’s wholly owned subsidary company at Sharjah will be Rs 40 million.

    The company is making a serial for ARY which will go on air by the first week of November. “The serial will air four days a week. If demand for our shows increase, we will invest in ramping up our facility. We don’t expect revenue inflows getting reflected this fiscal,” the source adds. The subsidiary company will produce serials aimed specifically at the Middle East market.
    Commissioned programming in the year is eexpected to increase by 7-8 per cent while exposure in the sponsored category will reduce. Revenue from the southern market is also estimated to reduce from Rs 320 million to Rs 200-250 million. Balaji has an exposure on the Sun Network channels.

    “The average revenue realisation per house will see a further rise this fiscal,” the source says. Balaji’s realisation per hour of commissioned shows rose from Rs 1.7 million to Rs 2.2 million for FY06.

    The company is adopting a cautious approach towards movie production. It will not be releasing any movie this year and is taking the co-production route for the next three films. “We are taking safer bets. There is no pressure on us to take risks. Our bottomline will stand even stronger this year,” the source says.

    Balaji Telefilms saw a robust growth in FY06 with topline increasing 43 per cent to Rs 2.8 billion. Net profit rose 44 per cent to Rs 594 million.