ITV

Tag: Zeel

  • TRAI vs. Star India case: next SC hearing on September 25

    TRAI vs. Star India case: next SC hearing on September 25

    MUMBAI: The Supreme Court has deferred the hearing of Star India’s petition against TRAI tariff and inter-connect order to 25 September 2018. This is the fifth time in this month that the hearing has been deferred. Despite the impending ruling, several broadcasters have already published their RIOs.

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) was first out of the blocks in publishing the RIO, declaring the MRP and nature of channels in connection with its tariff order , which had a 31 August deadline. The Punit Goenka-led company was followed by TV18 Broadcast Limited ( TV18), Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited (SPNI), who adhered to the regulator’s directive on September 4. Later, Disney India, Turner India International, Sun TV Networks have also published their RIOs in compliance with the order.

    All the broadcaster have stuck to a maximum 15 per cent MRP discount to distributors. Earlier, Madras High Court chief justice did not uphold TRAI’s proposal of allowing highest 15 per cent cap on discounts despite giving the go-ahead to all other proposals. As any clarification did not come from TRAI, all the broadcasters are adhering to the order to avoid any further confusion.

    The TRAI tariff orders, first contested in Madras High Court by the petitioners, were cleared by the Chennai court with certain riders after hearings that continued almost over 16 months in front of two benches of the court.

    Though the petitioners were unable for comments, a legal eagle explained that the very fact the Supreme Court has allotted a day for hearing the petition of Star India and Vijay TV, which basically revolves around copyright and why the regulator doesn’t have jurisdiction over such issues, highlights the fact that the judge doesn’t want to take a decision in a hurry.

    After the Madras HC had given a thumb up to TRAI tariff order, and both the petitioners and the defendant (TRAI) had filed caveats in the Supreme Court, the regulator had bowled a googly saying that its tariff order would come into effect from 3 July 2018 () as all judicial compliances had been completed.

    “Having complied with  the  judicial  mandates  in  the  matter,  the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Eighth) (Addressable Systems)  Tariff   Order, 2017 and  the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Interconnection (Addressable Systems) Regulations, 2017 as upheld by the Hon’ble Madras High  Court and the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Standards  of   Quality  of  Service and  Consumer  Protection (Addressable Systems) Regulations, 2017 come into effect from 3rd July 2018,” the regulator had said in a statement pointing out that all timelines mentioned in the original order should be adhered to immediately.

    According to TRAI, implementation of the new regulatory framework will “bring in transparency”, enable provisioning of affordable broadcasting and cable TV services for the consumer and, at the same time, “would lead to an orderly growth of the sector”.

  • Essel’s Subhash Chandra on Zee, OTT giants & the Jio juggernaut

    Essel’s Subhash Chandra on Zee, OTT giants & the Jio juggernaut

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zee) has withheld challenges from international broadcasters to acquire a place as one of the top media companies in India. While several players with deep pockets are investing a high amount in content, Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra, with 26 years of experience, says only money cannot buy the best content.

    Speaking to The Hindu, the media veteran said telecom, voice, data, and video all are merging into one single pipe. Moreover, Reliance Jio’s low pricing has made the delivery pipe cheap and affordable forcing other telecom players to do the same. This change will help content companies.

    “Even the Amazons, Googles and YouTubes of the world now call themselves media companies instead of tech companies. So, thanks to Jio, this process, which could have taken 5-10 years, has accelerated in India,” he added.

    However, he also pointed out Jio’s different nature of the business. The company tends more towards monopoly rather than being a part of the industry. This trend could catalyse the merger of content players with pipe and data, as it happened in America and Europe.

    Hailing content as the prime factor, he also said creativity comes above money. A big budget show cannot assure good ratings always. Despite expensive deals, he is sceptical of Jio’s ability to scale.

    “We have competed with all media companies. Today, NewsCorp is in India through Star. Time Warner was here, Viacom came, Sony is here, Discovery is here. So, of the top eight global media firms, five are here and we have competed with all. In 2007, a management consulting firm said India would be left with just three players and Zee is the weakest link that will either close or get sold. That didn’t happen,” he said.

    Amazon Prime and Netflix are also trying to acquire a stronger foothold in the Indian market given the high potential of the digital content business. Chandra said that Amazon being largely an e-commerce player tries to lure customers for shopping through content. Zee also shares content with the company. But as Netflix is a pure content play, it won’t share content with the streaming giant. The OTT platform’s situation is also different in the country due to its high pricing.

  • Punit Goenka says talking to Jio to renew content deal

    Punit Goenka says talking to Jio to renew content deal

    MUMBAI: A few days ago Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) had pulled out all its content from Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio. Soon after scrapping the deal with Jio, ZEEL entered into a partnership with another telco operator Airtel . While there were many questions regarding the development, ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka has cleared the air. In an interview with CNBC, he said conversations are still on with Jio.

    “We did have a deal with Reliance Jio and it was up for renewal and our negotiations failed. Hence, we had to pull our content out. Conversations are still on, and I am sure we will find an amicable solution with them as well,” Goenka commented.

    Goenka expects the company’s new big bet ZEE5 to emerge as the number one entertainment app at the end of 12 months from now. Though he did not comment on the number of subscribers, he said that since the platform started showing original content in July, the number of subscribers doubled month-on-month.

    “We are seeing a lot of traction on the OTT platforms and there is no worry yet on the television side of consumption. If you look at the television growth itself, over the last year, we have seen growth in number of television households. We have seen growth in time consumption per consumer on a daily basis,” he also said commenting on the TV business .

    Goenka on a confident note said, TV itself is growing both on advertising as well as on the subscription side. He also added phase three monetisation has started and the company is seeing good traction coming on the subscription from there.

  • Zeel appoints Rohit Gupta as CFO

    Zeel appoints Rohit Gupta as CFO

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has announced the appointment of Rohit Gupta as the CFO and will report to Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka.

    In his new role, Gupta will be spearheading the fiscal and financial management aspect of the company. He will also be responsible for the development of operational and financial strategy and monitoring of control systems designed to preserve the company assets.

    Gupta comes with a rich experience of 25 years in domestic and international markets in various aspects of business including managing operations, shareholder and investor expectations, risk management, business planning, process implementation, fiduciary governance, accounting, finance, taxation, revenue management, treasury, forex, fraud management and cost minimization, and financial management. Having a strong record of turning around businesses, he has successfully led the business restructuring and realignment exercises to enhance profitability and market capitalisation.

    Prior to joining ZEEL, Gupta was associated with the Chaudhary Group where he was responsible for the roll-out of 5G ready telecom network in Nepal. Previously, he has also worked with leading corporations like the DCM Shriram group, Hero Group, Hutchinson Max, British Telecom, Bharti Airtel, Virgin Mobile, NIIT and Brightstar India.

  • TV18, Sony Pictures India announce new channel rates

    TV18, Sony Pictures India announce new channel rates

    MUMBAI: Days after Zee announced its new tariff rates, TV18 Broadcast and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) have also made public their own rates, in accordance with TRAI tariff rules.

    IndiaCast, the authorised distributing agency of TV18 channels, has updated the new format based Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) on its website. This updated RIO will be effective for the term commencing from 29 December 2018. SPNI has also published its new RIO on its website.

    All TV18 channels will be available on an a-la-carte basis, as required by regulations. The a-la-carte rate of all SD & HD channels is under Rs 19 per month. The maximum retail price (MRP) of the basic bouquet for Hindi speaking market (HSM) named as Hindi Base starts at Rs 36 which includes Colors, MTV, Rishtey and CNN News 18. The Hindi Ultra pack has been priced at Rs 58. There’s an India Base pack which includes important channels from all regions and each genre at Rs 79.

    The broadcaster has announced multiple bouquets for several regional markets including base and ultra-pack both in SD and HD. Karnataka Base pack will cost Rs 53, while Maharashtra Base pack price has been fixed at Rs 45 and Bengal Base at Rs 41.

    SPNI is also providing a total of 32 channels including SD and HD on a-la-carte basis at under Rs 19 per month.

    SPNI has also declared ten bouquets concentrating on different regional markets as well along with focusing on its premium channels. The base pack BST Regular pack has been fixed at Rs 55 while its variants of regional languages are priced higher. SPN Blockbuster Pack priced at Rs 86.4 includes SET, Sony Yay!, Sony BBC Earth and ESPN. The Blockbuster pack also has variants with Bengali and Marathi languages.

    Two different packs focusing on the South Indian market are also available. The Big HD pack with all HD channels is priced at Rs 116 where Sony Marathi HD is proposed to be launched in place of TEN Golf HD. While the viewers of HD channels are growing slowly but gradually, two HD bouquets, one for South, are also available.

    The deadline given by TRAI was 31 August for publication of RIO, declaration of MRP and nature of channels, in connection with its tariff order. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) was the only broadcaster to publish its RIO before the given deadline.

    Star India is the only big broadcaster which has not filed its ROI yet. The broadcaster is also one of the main petitioners against the TRAI tariff and interconnect order which will now be heard on 5 September by the Supreme Court.

  • Zee becomes the first major broadcaster to declare mrp

    Zee becomes the first major broadcaster to declare mrp

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) becomes the first major broadcaster in the country to announce MRP of all its channels under the new regime as per Regulation dated 3rd March 2017. ZEEL uploaded details of A-la- carte MRP of its channels on the website on Friday 31st August 2018. Besides declaring A-la-carte prices, ZEEL has also announced MRP of various bouquets, which comprises its leading channels.

    The A-la-carte of all SD & HD channels are under Rs. 19 per month. The MRP of the basic bouquet for the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM) starts at Rs. 45 per month for a suite of 23 channels. This includes channels like Zee TV, &TV, Zee Cinema, &Pictures, Zee News, Zee Anmol, Big Ganga and many more. ZEEL has declared multiple bouquets available to consumers across the country at different price points. Premium English channels like Zee Café and &flix are available in a different bouquet. Each bouquet constitutes a mix of channels of different genres including General Entertainment, Movies, News, Infotainment and Music.

    Zee group of channels constitute the largest entertainment network of the country, with the highest viewership share including all genres (Source: BARC viewership data, week 22 to week 34). Zee channels are ranked number 1 / number 2 across languages including Marathi, Bangla, Odia, Telugu and Kannada, and in other genres like Hindi Movies and Marathi Movies.

  • ZEEL announces new TV channel prices ahead of deadline

    ZEEL announces new TV channel prices ahead of deadline

    MUMBAI: Ahead of 31 August 2018 deadline for publishing TV channel prices in a new format and a day before the Supreme Court hears a case relating to TRAI’s new tariff regime, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd  (ZEEL) has made public its channel prices as suggested by the regulator in 2016, setting an example for owners of other TV channels.

    All ZEEL channels will be available on a-la-carte basis, as required by regulations, and the consumers will also have the option to choose from specifically created bouquets for Hindi speaking markets (HSM) and different regional language markets like Marathi, Bangla, Odia, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, an official statement from ZEEL said on Monday evening.

    The Punit Goenka-led ZEEL’s initiative to be first off the blocks with a-la-carte pricing could very well put pressure on other broadcasters to follow the example. Goenka also happens to be the president of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, an industry body that claims its members manage 350+ TV channels and about 90 per cent of television viewership across the country.

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    Meanwhile, according to ZEEL, for each market, there will be multiple bouquets available to consumers across the country at different price points. Each bouquet would constitute a mix of channels of different genres, including general entertainment, movies, news, infotainment and music. The starting bouquet (B1) is likely to exclude English entertainment and English movie channels whereas the premium bouquet would include all channels offered by Zee.

    ZEEL is likely to keep the prices of Hindi language bouquets from Rs. 45 upwards. For other languages, bouquet prices will be higher in those markets where Zee has multiple offerings and lower in other cases. For the discerning high definition (HD) consumers, Zee is creating additional bouquets that will make it convenient for various operators to offer to their respective subscribers, the statement said. The Hindi language HD bouquets are likely to be priced Rs. 60 upwards.

    ZEEL has decided to offer all its News channels along with its other popular channels like Zee Anmol, Big Ganga and Big Magic as part of these pay bouquets. As a result, these channels would not be available in the FTA pack.

    In a related development, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case filed by Star India and Vijay TV against Madras High Court clearing regulator TRAI’s new tariff regulations, which were first announced middle 2016 but has been in suspended animation since late 2016 due to various legalities.

  • Aparna Bhosle appointed Zee TV business head, Shaurya Mehta to lead premium cluster

    Aparna Bhosle appointed Zee TV business head, Shaurya Mehta to lead premium cluster

    MUMBAI: Aparna Bhosle will lead Zee Entertainment’s flagship channel ZEE TV as its business head. Bhosle will continue to lead the FTA GECs and will report to ZEEL domestic broadcast business CEO Punit Misra.

    The Premium Cluster will now be led by Shaurya Mehta, in addition to his current role as the chief operating officer, Living Entertainment. He too will also to Misra.

    Bhosle has been with ZEEL for more than six years. She joined the company in 2012 as the business head of ZeeQ and Zee Anmol. In 2017, she was elevated as business cluster head of premium & FTA GECs.

    Before joining ZEEL, Bhosle worked with Astro Malaysia as Food Food head – programming, production and broadcast operations for more than two years.

    She also had a stint with The Walt Disney Company as director – programming, production and broadcast operations of Hungama TV/Disney Channel/Disney XD. Bhosle has also worked with companies like UTV, Wisden India, Diageo and Reckitt & Colman.

    Shaurya Mehta started his career in 2003 as systems associate at GE healthcare. After serving the company for about two years, he joined Deloitte Consulting as the senior consultant. In 2012, he was the co-founder and COO of Ekstop.com and after three years, in 2015, he was the head of Ecommerce at Godrej. Last year, Mehta was appointed as the Essel Group’s lifestyle channel-Living Foodz COO and now, in addition to his current role, he will also look after the premium cluster that Bhosle used to head.

  • Revenue model of ZEE5-Airtel deal is cost per subscriber, duration viewed: Tarun Katial

    Revenue model of ZEE5-Airtel deal is cost per subscriber, duration viewed: Tarun Katial

    MUMBAI: The OTT players in India seem to have found telecom partnerships fruitful. Recently, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) struck a three year deal with Airtel. Under the deal, the partners will do a co-branded promotion while the revenue model will be based on cost per subscriber and duration viewed.

    “There is select premium content from ZEE5 library that will be available for Airtel consumers exclusively in addition to being available on the ZEE5 platform,” ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial says. Though this deal is unique, ZEE5 is open to striking deals with other telecom operators also.

    “Revenue model is based on cost per subscriber and duration viewed for both in the three buckets. In the first bucket, it’s for cost per subscriber and there’s a minimum guarantee, in the second bucket it’s about volume deal for a subscription for a high-end Airtel consumer and the third model is about upscaling ZEE5 subscription packages,” he adds.

    Katial thinks this co-branding promotion across platforms will enable to create an understanding of content among consumers of ZEE5 as well Airtel. “It’s also a really good opportunity to be able to do both consumer insight as well as big data and create a recommendation for Airtel TV consumers of ZEE5 premium content,” he says. The partners will leverage each other’s social media assets also.

    Under the partnership, other than ZEE5 premium content, video content produced by ZEEL, including TV shows and movies will be available exclusively on Airtel’s digital properties like Airtel TV. Since ZEE5 already streams content produced by ZEEL along with its originals some of the selected curated content may be available on ZEE5 first while some will be concurrently available on both platforms but “deeper premium library” will be available only on its own OTT platform.

    Recently ZEEL snipped its deal with Reliance Jio pulling off all its available content on Jio TV. Though this kind of incident happens due to the failure of negotiation of cost, both the companies remained tight-lipped about the problem.

    However, the deal can boost Airtel also which has had its dominance in the telecom industry threatened after Jio’s entry. Reliance is already in a better position as it holds stakes in production companies like Eros International, Balaji Telefilms and Roy Kapur Films.

    As ZEE5 is a late entrant in the market, it is still far behind other domestic players like Hotstar, Voot and Eros Now. Moreover, international rivals like Netflix and Amazon are also eying the same OTT market. Hence, the deal is very critical for ZEE5 to reach more consumers across the country as well as to increase the visibility of existing shows on the platform. The industry being in a nascent stage does not have any clear winner till now, hence, leaving enough scope for each of the players.

  • ZEEL enters into content partnership with Airtel

    ZEEL enters into content partnership with Airtel

    MUMBAI: Days after Bharti Airtel (Airtel) decided to cut ties with Reliance Jio, it has entered into a content partnership with ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL). The two companies will work closely to curate innovative and highly compelling digital video content solutions for customers across the country.

    Under the partnership, video content produced by ZEEL, including TV shows, original series and movies will be available exclusively on Airtel’s digital properties like Airtel TV, in addition to ZEE’s home-grown digital venture ZEE5. Moreover, the ZEE5 app will be bundled into the Airtel TV app, allowing customers to get its content for free.  

    The companies will also drive joint development and marketing of innovative content solutions for the Indian market and collaborate in areas such as digital advertising. There will be a strong focus on curating regional content also keeping in mind ZEEL’s strong regional portfolio.

    “Our endeavour is to build a world-class content ecosystem by partnering all players and enable a differentiated digital entertainment experience for our customers. In Airtel TV, we have built a solid digital platform to curate top content from India and across the world and offer it to customers at one place. We are extremely pleased to announce this exclusive partnership with ZEE and look forward to collaborating with them to unlock the potential of their vast content catalogue,” Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal said.

    Recently, ZEE severed its content tie-up with Jio. The former removed all its content from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, including 35 live TV channels and more than 2 lakh hours of video-on-demand content. According to reports, it happened due to the failure to arrive at an agreement on price.  

    However, the deal can boost Airtel also which is gradually losing its hold in the telecom industry after Jio’s entry. Reliance is already in a better position as it holds stakes in production companies like Eros International, Balaji Telefilms and Roy Kapur Films.

    “As a media & entertainment powerhouse, keeping our consumers at the epicenter of our approach, we aim to be present across every platform which they wish to access and our alliance with Airtel as their lead content partner, is a firm and positive step in this direction. We look forward to this partnership, which will enable us to entertain the customers of Airtel through our thoughtfully curated content offering, leveraging our expertise in content and data. In line with our larger aim for ZEE5, to be a number one entertainment OTT player in the country, this alliance further compliments the access to our content for the overall digital consumers,” ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka commented.