Madison to pick majority stake in Sunil Gavaskar's PMG

Media and advertising agency Madison will acquire a majority stake in cricket's "little master" Sunil Gavaskar's sports management company, Professional Management Group (PMG). An announcement to this effect is expected to be made soon.

Sources close to the development said, “Madison will invest in expanding the business, while PMG’s expertise will be used to usher in growth.”

One of the first sports management companies in the country, PMG’s various achievements include the Ceat Cricket Ratings - India’s first cricket awards, The Castrol Indian Cricket Awards and the Signature Club Golf Championship.

The acquisition will mark Madison’s foray into the sports genre which is emerging as a hotspot for most advertising companies. Madison, which was founded by Sam Balsara in 1988, already operates in the advertising, public relations, media verticals, among others.

UTV plans biz news channel

Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV Software Communications is in talks with the Walt Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company News (ABC News) for launching a business news channel.

Sources in the know said the foreign media company would pick up a minority stake in the venture and provide technical support. The laws allow a foreign company to pick up a maximum 26 per cent stake in a news venture.

The discussions were at an advanced stage, and the deal would be announced shortly, they said. Walt Disney holds 14.85 per cent stake in UTV as on March 31, 2007.

'Sivaji' TV rights sold to Kalaignar TV

The ongoing media war in Tamil Nadu between Marans and Karunanidhis has moved from television channels to movie rights. Television rights of the most expensive Tamil film ever made - Rajnikant starrer Sivaji - have been sold to the soon to be launched DMK-run Kalaignar TV.

Since the Maran family owned Sun TV network had till now acquired virtually all major movies so far the acquisition of the Rs.50 crore Sivaji is being seen as another example of the widening rift between Karunanidhis and Marans.

AVM productions which has produced Sivaji said that the film will be telecast on Kalaignar TV after three years. The channel was recently born out of the recent rift between Maran and Karunanidhi.

It will be interesting to see how Tamil film producers respond to this development. Tamil Nadu has a huge fan-following for cinema and the battle for television rights for blockbusters could spill into the current media war between the two channels.


Source : indiantelevision.com

Mittal Arcelor may eye Japan steel firm

A Japanese steelmaker could become Mittal Arcelor’s next takeover target as the world’s No1 steel maker eyes technology for high-end automotive sheet, the head of Kobe Steel Ltd said on Tuesday. Kobe Steel president Yasuo Inubushi said the European steel giant, formed after Mittal Steel’s unsolicited bid for Arcelor last year, is entering a new stage in its expansion drive.

Mittal’s hostile bid for Arcelor last year has rattled current world No 2 Nippon Steel Corp, the biggest beneficiary of strong worldwide sales of Japanese cars made by Toyota Motor Corp and others, prompting it to raise defences. Nippon Steel quickly ditched its strategy focusing on high-end products, and has since been seeking growth in size by consolidating domestic and Brazilian firms, while boosting ties with Asian peers such as South Korea’s POSCO Ltd and China’s Baoshan Iron and Steel Co.

Its Brazilian affiliate Usiminas recently announced a $4.3 billion production expansion plan in Brazil, with full technological support from parent Nippon Steel. “We were lucky that Mittal turned to Arcelor last year, not to us,” Nippon Steel president Akio Mimura recently said on a TV programme about its efforts to avoid a hostile bid. Kobe’s Inubushi said his company had no plans to expand through mergers and acquisitions.

Source : Financial Express

71 pvt satellite channels to uplink from India

The proposals for 71 private satellite TV channels for permission to uplink from India are at various stages of scrutiny in accordance with the existing uplinkling guidelines, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
In a reply, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting P R Dasmunsi said the ministry has permitted 222 private satellite channels to uplink from India and six TV channels uplinked from abroad have also been permitted to downlink in India.
In addition to this, 54 foreign TV channels have been provisionally permitted to downlink in India, the minister said.
The minister also said the number of proposals received by the ministry for producing regional films on social causes such as girl child development during the last three years were 67 from Children Film Society of India and eight from the Films division.
There is no proposal in this regard from the National Film Development (NFDC), the minister said.

Rediff.com bucks trend with top line growth

In 2000, when internet companies across the world were shutting shop, this start-up refused to join the crowd and continued with its operations despite the losses – a move that defied conventional business logic at that time.

Seven years later, Rediff.com has recorded a net profit of $2 million (Rs 8.82 crore) in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007, an increase of 278 per cent from $0.53 million (Rs 2.33 crore) posted during the same period of the previous financial year.

Its earnings more than tripled to $0.07 per American Depository Share (ADS) on a 66 per cent top line growth, beating the expectations of Wall Street analysts who had projected Rediff.com’s earnings at $0.05 per ADS with 61 per cent growth in revenues.

Its online revenues, which included advertising and fee-based revenues, totalled $6.30 million (Rs 27.89 crore) in the fourth quarter, an increase of 76 per cent compared with the same quarter in the previous year. This is more than the industry average of 71 per cent. The number of companies advertising on Rediff’s website totalled 177 – a year-on-year increase of 13 per cent. However, analysts feel that the company depends a lot on its top clients. For the fourth quarter, the company’s top-10 advertisers contributed around 55 per cent of the advertisement revenue for the Indian online advertising business.

According to Rediff.com vice-president (marketing) Manish Agarwal, the company’s business model has matured, which is reflected in the confidence of advertisers and users.

“This is a result of Ajit’s (Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO) conviction. From day one, he used to stress on the fact that we have a sustainable revenue model and are here to stay,” he said.

To increase its email users, the company last month revamped its website and announced free unlimited storage space. The company had then said that they wanted users to make Rediffmail as the first preference.

The company also launched a new platform Predict and Win. This platform uses neural network concepts to generate odds and allows users to predict the outcomes of various events. Last year it also acquired a start-up. “We strongly believe that Indian start-ups have the ability to produce world-class products. Our partnership with Tachyon is to help in making Rediff popular among the youngsters,” said Agarwal.

Nimbus planning Rs 300 crore IPO

Broadcaster Nimbus Communication, which operates sports channel Neo Sports, is in talks with banks to float an initial public offer (IPO) for nearly Rs 300 crore.

Sources said that four domestic banks and three global banks met the management early last week. The IPO is likely to hit the market in 6 months.

Confirming the development, the company’s spokesperson said, “The management has met banks for the IPO and we are at a very early stage of discussions.”

Early this year in January, three foreign private equity investors 3i, Cisco and Oman International Fund stuck a private equity investment deal with the broadcaster for Rs 552 crore.

The deal is one of the largest private equity investments in the media and entertainment sector.

At that time, Nimbus’ chairman Harish Thawani confirmed that this would be the final round of private equity investment before the company was listed. The investment was through compulsory convertible debentures which was likely to converted before the company’s listing.

Currently, Thawani holds 54 per cent stake in Nimbus. However, post the conversion, his stake would come down to around 40 per cent.

With the IPO proceeds, Nimbus plans to further strengthen and explore new avenues. The company is already gearing up with its home video foray.

Nimbus is believed to be considering a venture in video-on -demand and internet protocol television (IPTV) services having partnered with Cisco which has presence in the space.

The company plans to launch an entertainment channel and invest in sports management.

Corporates take rivals head-on through ads

Confrontational advertising has become the order of the day in India with corporate houses taking on rivals head-on.

While industrialist Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines is fighting a pitched battle with Jet Airways through its outdoor advertising in Mumbai on the retail front, Kishore Biyani’s Pantaloon has decided to take its rivalry with Shoppers’ Stop and Lifestyle to the streets. Not to be left far behind are the job portals, where Times Jobs, owned by the media company Bennett, Coleman & Company is targeting its competitor Naukri.com.

Marketing experts call it the champion-challenger theory. In each of these categories the challenger brands — Kingfisher, Pantaloons and Times Jobs — are taking on champions, who have ruled their respective categories for a while namely, Jet, Shoppers’ Stop and Naukri.com. According to advertising executives, these ads help the challenger brands tackle complacency that might have set in to the marketplace, leverage the power of the underdogs and talk to a younger mindset.

In the airline industry, where a dozen domestic airlines have sprung up in the last few years, the new players felt the need to stand out in a fiercely competitive space. When Jet Airways announced a change in livery, their advertising campaign read, “We’ve changed”. Kingfisher retorted with a billboard, placed directly above the Jet Airways’ that read “We made them change!!”.

In the retail segment, dominated by Shoppers’ Stop, Westside and Lifestyle, Pantaloon defied the order through these taglines – “Keep West-aSide. Make a smart choice”, “Shoppers! Stop” and “Change your Lifestyle”.

Rajan Malhotra, CEO of Big Bazaar said, “We have always adopted an advertising model that is aggressive and in-your-face.” He added, “We are addressing our customers rather than giving free publicity to our competitors; we are using them as a reference point.”

As recruitment advertising becomes increasingly online, Timesjobs.com immediately grabbed attention with their hard-hitting ads saying, “Everyone’s quitting Naukri. And making a beeline for Timesjobs” and “Don’t waste time in a dead-end Naukri”.

Rajan Krishnan, vice-president, strategic planning, Ogilvy & Mather, said, “It requires a maverick mindset that’s not afraid of failure to break into the consumer’s mindset. These ads put champions off course and also act as a morale booster for the challenger brand’s loyalists.”

Ajay Uthaman, associate VP, Equus Red Cell, the advertising agency that created the Kingfisher ads, gave a thumbs-up to the new-age marketing style.

Kapil is exec board head of Chandra's ICL

Former India captain Kapil Dev will head the executive board of the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL).

The other members of the board include former stumper and ex-chief selector Kiran More, former England captain Tony Greig and Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones.

While making the announcement, Himanshu Modi, business head, Zee Sports, said more positions would be finalised later.

Kapil said he was delighted to be associated with the league and would utilise his experience to nurture young talent.

"It's great pleasure to lead the executive board of the ICL, the first professional league. I will try and utilise my experience of motivating and guiding players, both as captain and coach, to take young talent to the pinnacle of success," Dev, who's the country's lone World Cup winning captain, said.

Murdoch plans to launch Sun with Sun group

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is entering the Indian newspaper space in association with Chennai-based Kalanithi Maran, owner of the Sun group.

The Sun, the flagship publication of Murdoch’s News Corporation, is in talks with Maran’s Sun group to launch an English tabloid in the country.

Sources close to the development said the tabloid was likely to be titled Sun and would be introduced in south India. The partners planned to launch it in other markets later, they added, but did not reveal the time frame for the launch.

When contacted, a Sun TV executive in Chennai said, “We do not want to comment on the issue.”

According to sources, the proposed entry into print media is a part of Sun TV’s expansion and diversification. The company had indicated that it would raise Rs 2,000 crore to finance its expansion and entry into new businesses such as aviation.

It recently announced plans to foray into the domestic and international aviation industry. The company has put forward a proposal to this effect before its shareholders through a postal ballot, the result of which will be announced in mid-May. The company is also in the process of getting into distribution of content through mobile phones, Internet, IPTV and radio.

Murdoch’s Star TV was the first foreign broadcaster to transmit from India. Murdoch, the owner of newspapers and broadcast and publishing houses across the world, has been upbeat about investments in India.

Thomson in talks to buy Reuters for $17.6 bn

Canada's Thomson Corp is in talks to buy Reuters Group Plc for about 8.8 billion pounds ($17.6 billion) to create the world's biggest news and financial data company, the two firms said on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, the two firms said Reuters shareholders would get 352-1/2 pence in cash and 0.1600 Thomson shares for each share, worth an equivalent of 697 pence a share based on Monday's closing prices.

That would be 42 per cent above Reuters closing share price on Thursday, the day before it announced a bid approach.

The enlarged, dual-listed group will be called Thomson-Reuters and the combined Thomson Financial unit and Reuters financial and media businesses will be called Reuters.

The combined group will also adopt the Reuters trust principles aimed at safeguarding the independence of Reuters news, the joint statement said. The Reuters trustees have a "golden share" capable of blocking a takeover of the company.

Woodbridge, the Thomson family holding company that will own about 53 per cent of the combined company, will vote in favour of the deal, the joint statement said. Other Thomson shareholders will own 23 percent of the combined business and Reuters shareholders will own 24 percent. The deal is subject to approval by both Thomson and Reuters shareholders.

Thomson President and CEO, Richard Harrington, who has transformed the company from traditional publishing to an electronic-based business, will retire on completion of the deal, at which point Reuters Chief Executive Tom Glocer will become chief executive of the combined company.

The firms said they expected to make over $500 million of annual synergies within three years of completion.

Neo Sports, Raj TV in deal for Bangladesh series

In a first-ever deal, a sports broadcaster has tied up with a regional network to telecast live cricket in language feed.

Neo Sports will supply Raj Television Network Ltd. feed in Tamil and Telugu for the India Bangladesh cricket series which kicks off on 10 May.

The telecast will be on Raj TV and Vissa TV, the Tamil and Telugu channels. The cricket series comprises three one-dayers and two Test matches.


The cricket feed will include the Neo Sports logo bug and will present an advertising opportunity for local advertisers and brands to ride on live India cricket.

Toonz`s JV in pact with BBC

London-based First Serve Toonz, a joint venture company between Toonz Animation India and First Serve International, has inked an agreement with BBC for the telecast of a new animation series, based on the Marvel character Wolverine.

As per the deal, the BBC has secured the television rights in the UK for the series of 26 half-an-hour episodes.

According to P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Animation India, the agreement with BBC is a good step in quality programming and the BBC will be a platform for Wolverine, which is one of Marvel's most popular characters. The show will be represented internationally by Liberation Entertainment and in the United States by Marvel, he said.

London-based Liberation Entertainment is an integrated independent entertainment distribution company, which is into the business of acquiring and selling film and television content and DVD distribution, digital distribution and TV broadcast sales.

Part of the Geneva-based Comcraft Group, Toonz's client list now includes Marvel, Hallmark, Paramount, Disney, BBC and Cartoon Network.

Thiruvananthapuram-based Toonz Animation operates out of the Technopark on a 25,000 sq ft studio. Over 500 artists work in this facility from across the world including Philippines, Singapore, Canada, the US and India.

Sony pumps in Rs 2 billion+ on movie acquisitions

The World Cup is over and so too has ended the cricket monicker for Sony Entertainment Television's Max channel. The shift in identity to a pure movie channel has seen Max going all out to mop up big, medium and small movies over the last two months, with spends having reportedly crossed Rs 2 billion.

While the chances of Sony's being able to recover the high costs it has incurred for these purchases appear suspect, Set India CEO Kunal Dasgupta has set his sights on maximising revenues through leveraging digital platforms, particularly DTH.

Dasgupta, while refusing comment on the purchase price of the movies his network had acquired, says he views a video on demand service on DTH platforms like Tata Sky as one option that has huge potential going forward.

The biggest slate of titles Sony has acquired is a 16-film package it bought last month from Eros International for a reported Rs 650 million.

The new acquisitions include last year's blockbuster hit Lage Raho Munnabhai and big releases of 2007 like Salaam-E-Ishq, Namaste London, 'Provoked (Hindi) and Eklavya - The Royal Guard.

The Eros package also includes films releasing in the coming months like Partner, No Smoking, Cheeni Cum, Mahatma Versus Gandhi, Nanhe Jaisalmer, Buddha Mar Gaya, Chess - A Game Plan, Friends For Ever, Mr Black Mr White, Mr Hot Mr Kool and Aur Pappu Paas Ho Gaya.

Dasgupta is at pains though to stress that it is not just Eros that Sony has locked in as far as new titles are concerned. "Barring UTV, we have got all the big banners and directors in our movie mix," Dasgupta says.

Sony has acquired the latest titles from, among others, Yash Chopra's Yashraj Films, Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Dasgupta points out.

The notable films on the list include Yashraj's Dhoom II and Fanaa, both blockbuster hits, Dharma's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Vishal Bhardwaj's critically acclaimed Omkara.

The acquisitions Sony has made give the network exclusive global satellite broadcasting rights to the original version of these titles for a period of five years.

Vijay TV presents 'you pick your mega'

Vijay introduced 8.30ikku Enna Parkalaam a concept in which the viewers choose what they want to see. This is a one of a kind opportunity where viewers decide which mega serial they would like to watch.

The viewers would be presented with 6 different stories to choose from Monday - Thursday at 8.30pm. To know the pulse of the audience for each of the stories; these 6 stories will be shown to a studio audience who pass unbiased views on each of the stories while interacting with the cast and crew.

Every Sunday the studio audience will discuss the episodes and the phones will be thrown open for the public to vote. At the end of six weeks the viewers will be presented with a synopsis of the six stories during which the voting lines will be open.The story which receives the maximum support among the public will be chosen to continue as the mega serial in the same time band.

Viewers can also interact with the cast and crew of the story featured on BIG 92.7 FM .

The channel has roped in six production houses Magickarma, Yantra Media Pvt. Ltd., Touring Talkies Mediaworks Pvt Ltd., Sri Shapdha, Manus Visions, Widescreen Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. as part of this concept..

Ministry clears IBP merger with IOC

Kolkata May 1 The Union Ministry of Company Affairs has approved the merger of IBP Ltd with IOC. The merger may be effective from May 2 following submission of due requests before the Registrar of Companies.

The merger is expected to inflate the gross sales of IBP by approximately 10 per cent. IBP posted a turnover of net profit of Rs 15,818 crore and Rs 1,244 crore respectively in 2005-06. IOC recorded a turnover of Rs 1,76,339 crore and a net profit of Rs 4,915 crore.

"We have received the due clearance from the Union Ministry of Company Affairs on April 30 and will approach the registrar of companies (RoC) for the same", Mr V.C. Agarwal, Managing Director of IBP and Director-HR of IOC, told Business Line.

While Mr Agarwal did not clarify the effective date of merger, a senior IOC official said that it would be effective from May 2. Both the companies would approach the RoC on Wednesday in this regard.

Company sources revealed that IOC has issued a notice, declaring that the IBP board will be dissolved with effect from May 2 and IBP Ltd will, henceforth, continue as a division of IndianOil.

IOC acquired the Union Government's 33.58 per cent stake in IBP in 2002. The merger was delayed due to several reasons including differences over swap-ratio — which was finally pegged 1.1:1 or 11 shares of IOC for every 10 IBP shares — and last minute investors' complaints.

While the merger was delayed, the company has integrated operations of both the companies beginning April 1, with an executive director of IOC put in charge of IBP operations.

Accordingly, IBP started sharing the supply logistics of IOC. Also IBP lube blending capacities are brought to common use of both the companies.

Once the merger is effected, 30 divisional offices of IBP will be wound up and the available infrastructure will be used for other purposes. Also on the cards is re-deployment of manpower between both the companies

Mittal paid $1 mn/day in fees for Arcelor win

Lakshmi Mittal, the world's fifth richest person and president of global steel giant Arcelor Mittal, spent more than one million dollars a day in fees for his 33.7 billion dollar winning bid to acquire Arcelor.
The NRI business tycoon-led Mittal Steel paid a whopping 188 million dollars in fees to advisors and investment bankers as part of its bid to acquire its nearest rival Arcelor.

The fees were disclosed in the annual report of the merged company, now known as Arcelor Mittal, sent to its shareholders and US regulators last week.

Mittal, the wealthiest person of Indian origin with a net worth of over 32 billion dollars, ultimately won the battle that lasted for close to six months by acquiring control of the world's second largest steelmaker.

Since launching the first bid on January 27, 2006, it took 173 days for Mittal to get the minimum 50 per cent control of Arcelor shares to make the deal successful and a total of 180 days for completion of its offer resulting in 92 per cent shares tendered on July 25, 2006.

However, Mittal paid about 1.06 million dollars a day to its advisors by the time the minimum tender condition of 50 per cent Arcelor shares was met on July 18 for its bid.

Even after taking into consideration the additional seven days that gave it control of 92 per cent Arcelor shares on July 25, Mittal Steel paid 1.04 million dollars a day in fees.

Mittal Steel had hired seven advisors for the deal, including top investment bankers such as Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale, Citigroup and Rabobank.

Indian mangoes reach US after 18 years

The first batch of 150 boxes of choicest Alphonso and Kesari mangoes in 18 years arrived in New York from India to the delight of Indians who had been lusting for luscious fruit for years.
"But they would have to wait for a few more days before they can buy them in the market as the fruit needs to be ripened before being released for sale," said Bhaskar Savani who is distributor and was personally present at the airport when the Air-India flight bringing the cargo landed late last night.

The formal launch of the mangoes will be done in Washington DC on May 1, he said.

Mangoes from Mexico and other Central American countries is available in the United States but Indians often complain that they do not taste like the ones India produces.

Nor do the Americans have the number of varieties available back home.

Savani said the distributors expect Langra, Chausa, Mallika and Dussheri to follow to give consumers a choice of varieties.

The distributors are in negotiations with Costco chain, which sells merchandise in bulk, for distributing the mangoes and some fast food chains have shown interest in retailing mango shakes.

The US had stopped import of mangoes from India 18 years ago as it felt Indian farmers were using too much pesticide. It has taken sustained negotiations over several years to get the fruit back into the US market.

The US Department of Agriculture has imposed the condition that the mangoes would be irradiated to ensure that that no exotic plant diseases are introduced in the country. However, irradiation also increases the shelf life of the fruit.

The distributors say that they expect a huge and ever increasing demand for the Indian mangoes with the rising Indian population here and locals developing taste for Indian varieties.

India is the largest producer of mangoes in the world, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total output. It has some 1000 varieties.

Source : Financial Express

Jai Hind TV to go on air in July

Adding to the increasing number of cable television channels in the state, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)-backed Jai Hind Television is all set to go on air this July.

Announcing the launch of Jai Hind TV, director and senior congressman M M Hassan said that the foundation stone for the studio complex would be laid at the Kinfra Film and Video Park premises at Kazhakkuttom, in the state capital suburbs, on May 1 by Defence minister and Congress party veteran A K Antony.

The news studio will be inaugurated by Kerala's minister for education MA Baby and the logo will be released by film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Jai Hind TV, promoted jointly by the Bharat Broadcasting Network and Jai Hind Communications, will have KPCC on board with substantial stake in the venture.

Significantly, the channel, which has KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala at the helm of affairs as president of the venture, would be the Congress party's foray into the television scene in the state.

The CPI(M) already runs Malayalam Communications, which operates three channels under its fold - Kairali, Kairali People and We.

UTV reports annual net profit of Rs 555 million

UTV Software Communications Limited has reported its results for the year ended March 31, 2007. Consolidated revenue of the company for the year is Rs 2,030 million and net profit is Rs 555 million.

The company has consolidated the financials of UTV-US, UTV-UK, UTV-Mauritius and Ignition Entertainment Ltd. The Board of Directors has taken on record the unaudited consolidated financial results of UTV Software Communications Limited and its subsidiaries.

UTV proposes to float its 100 per cent subsidiary UTV Motion Picture Plc based in Isle Of Man on London Stock Exchange’s AIM. This company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, will house all movie production businesses of the group, may they be Hindi, regional, Hollywood or animation movies.

HC directs MRTPC to probe into alleged bungling in KBC

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Commission to investigate accusation of financial bungling by the Star Plus channel in its KBC show.
A Division Bench of Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice J P Singh asked the petitioner and the Star Plus to appear before the Commission on May 8.
"Keeping in view the contentions of the parties, importance and gravity of the allegations besides the larger interest of the general public, we deem it fit that the matter should be referred to MRTP Commission for investigation into the finances, chances of winning, element of allurement, misrepresentation, fraud and other related allegations," the Bench said.
"The Commission should implead computer experts or any other person or party who may have the know-how of finding out fraud, tricks or manipulation, if any, in the game," the Bench added.
The order came on a PIL filed by Anuj Kumar Bhati, who had sought a direction to the centre restraining Star India Private Ltd from airing the quiz show.
The petitioner also sought refund of the amount he allegedly incurred in his attempt to participate in the show.
He alleged that the producer had violated their own rules by repeatedly allowing their own employees and associates to take part in the KBC.
The court, in its order also referred to a TV news programme, which claimed to have shown alleged financial bungling by the producer in June, last year.

Brand Big B: Rs 50-cr deal with Unitech

Brand Bachchan is very much alive and kicking. Critics, who claimed that the king is losing his 'magic', may soon have to eat humble pie as Big B closes in on the country's largest endorsement deal at Rs 50 crore for real estate major Unitech. Together with this, the total value of endorsements signed by Mr Bachchan in the past few months has touched a whopping Rs 100 crore, which includes renewal of his ongoing contracts with Cadbury, Dabur, Luxor, S Kumars and Emami, among others.

ET learns that Big B has been recently signed on by Unitech for a two-year deal that involves just an eight-day stint in front of the camera. However, Unitech director Sanjay Chandra was non-committal. “It's not confirmed yet. When we sign him on, we'll let you know,” he told ET. However, a top executive from an ad agency that handles a host of real estate accounts was more forthcoming, albeit on condition of anonymity. “They (Unitech) had a certain kind of arrangement with Amitabh for a long time. There has been a mutual arrangement, which is now being worked out differently,” he pointed out.

In a recent assessment of the brand endorsement market, it was indicated that since the advent of KBC3, Shah Rukh Khan had displaced Mr Bachchan in the field of endorsements. But a month after KBC3 flagged off, dipping TRPs seem to have reaffirmed marketers' faith in Big B. In the past few months, they have renewed most of their endorsement contracts with him.

Moreover, Mr Bachchan's Rs 50-crore deal with Unitech dwarfs all other celebrity brand marriages - no one, not even SRK or Tendulkar, commands even a fourth of the nearly Rs 25-crore per annum from a single brand. Even the fastidious Aamir Khan, who endorses a handful of brands, including Coca-Cola, Toyota and Titan, charges Rs 4.5-5 crore a pop. For the records, now “rested” from the Bangladesh ODI tour, Tendulkar has a five-year, Rs 180-crore contract with Iconix, ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi's sports management arm.

According to media monitoring agency TAM India, Mr Bachchan also tops the number of brands endorsed, 41 in 2006, closely followed by SRK with 35. Tendulkar's mug adorns just 17 brands. The total market for brand endorsements in India is around Rs 250 crore per annum, according to CelebZ, a recent study by Group M's Mindshare Insights.

Along with existing endorsers, there have been new entrants like Binani Cement and Unitech in the Bachchan-alia. Dabur India, for instance, renewed its contract with Mr Bachchan last September for two years. Again, Luxor Writing Instruments signed on Big B last month for a three-year contract. “This is the seventh year that Mr Bachchan is a brand ambassador for Parker pens and he has been able to provide noticeability to the brand,” says Luxor Writing Instruments executive director Pooja Jain.

Asked how expensive Big B is, pat came the reply: “Anywhere to the tune of Rs 5-10 crore per brand he endorses.”

Of late, it's raining stars on the real estate sector. While Golden Grand has roped in Kajol-Ajay Devgan, EmGee has signed on Bipasha Basu and Shah Rukh Khan is firmly in place with DLF. Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his sons endorse Omaxe. But all these deals are sealed in the region of Rs 1-5 crore. In the past, Big B has endorsed Sahara City Homes, but with the astronomical Rs 50-crore Unitech deal, he has clearly set the Big Benchmark.

Source : Economic Times

ESPN STAR Sports to launch third channel ‘STAR Cricket’

ESPN STAR Sports has announced the launch of a dedicated cricket channel, STAR Cricket, especially for audiences in the Indian subcontinent and the new channel will commence transmission in June 2007. STAR Cricket will be the 15th channel launched by ESPN STAR Sports in the Asia Pacific region and the third in India.

RC Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, “ESPN STAR Sports has recently acquired the rights to many major sports properties including the biggest cricket property in the world, the ICC global telecast rights. The two channels that we have are already brimming with high quality content. Going forward, we intend to further strengthen our content line-up both in cricket and other sports. The launch of STAR Cricket is part of our long-term strategy to further strengthen our offering to sports fans in the country.”

Venkateish added that STAR Cricket will showcase live India and non-India cricket. “We plan to add quality first class cricket coverage from around the globe as well. The channel will also showcase feature programming on cricket including reality shows, archival programming and magazine shows,” he said.

With the ICC telecast rights for the next eight years and rights from Test-playing nations like England and Australia, the ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) network is looking at a total of 24 Test matches and 42 ODIs in 2007 alone. In addition, the network will also telecast the ICC Twenty20 World Cup later this year featuring 27 matches.

With STAR Cricket coming on air in June, cricket fans will be able to watch the India tour of England where they will play four Tests and seven ODIs.

Commented Ravi Shastri, ESS expert commentator and the recently appointed manager of the Indian cricket team for the tour of Bangladesh, said, “There is a huge interest for live, quality, first class cricket action from the top Test playing countries as well as content meticulously customised for Indian audiences, which is what STAR Cricket would strive to provide its viewers.”

Harsha Bhogle, renowned cricket commentator, said, “I believe STAR Cricket will be everything a cricket channel should be with a combination of live cricket and specially produced programming. I hope a real cricket lover will feel he is at home with STAR Cricket for he will get to see more than international cricket. I would like to believe we will present cricket with a conscience.”


Source : exchange4media

Abhiash wedding rights sold to UK TV

Rumours are rife that the Bachchans have struck a 5-crore deal with a channel.

Have the Bachchans sold the rights of the Abhiash wedding to the Travel & Living channel? According to rumours in Bollywood, a deal was reportedly struck for about Rs 5 crore, although it is learned that the amount could be a little more than that.

It was always thought that the Bachchans were keeping the local media at bay for commercial reasons. "If they had sold the rights to cover the wedding to a channel, then they couldn't possibly allow any Indian media to cover the event,"said a film industry source. According to industry insiders, "Even the photographers who shot the pictures have been bound under confidentiality contracts not to release or reveal any pictures to any media."

The Bachchans are believed to have negotiated with Hello, a top lifestyle magazine based in UK, but the deal fell through.

A proposal from an India-based television network too was sent to the Bachchans, but didn't find favour. Sources reveal that the Bachchans were looking for a foreign channel. And the one with which they struck the deal has a big viewership in the UK where there is a strong Indian population.

This deal is the first of its kind in the history of Bollywood. No other wedding has been sold to any media ever before. The Bachchans took a cue from the Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar wedding. The couple had sold the rights of their wedding for two million pounds to Hello magazine.

Uday Shankar headed to STAR India as COO

STAR India has not looked too far for a COO. The organisation has roped in STAR News CEO Uday Shankar for the post. With this, the three Presidents at STAR -- Paritosh Joshi, President-Sales, Ajay Vidyasagar who will be made President-Content & Communication, and Vijay Singh, President-Corporate Development & Strategy, will report to Shankar, who in turn will report to STAR Hong Kong and acting STAR India CEO Paul Aiello.

Internal sources further inform that it is yet not decided whether STAR will still continue the hunt for a CEO post this development, or Shankar would be subsequently elevated.

STAR India had both its CEOs -- Peter Mukerjea (CEO, STAR Group) and Sameer Nair (CEO, STAR Entertainment) quit earlier in the year. The dual unit structure is not in place at present. Following the exit of the two CEOs, STAR India has lost a significant number of people in its senior and middle-management positions.

This includes Senior Creative Director Shailja Kejriwal, Distribution Head Tony D’Silva, Legal Head Ajay Sharma and others like Juhi Ravindranath in Sales, Gaurav Gandhi in Programming and Karan Singh from operations -- and the list goes on.

Shankar will assume his new position soon. No details were available on his replacement at STAR News. Prior to STAR News, he was with Aaj Tak.

Ash-Abhishek in demand for endorsements

Bollywood couple Kajol and Ajay Devgan have already shown their star power in brand endorsement. But now they have serious competition from the star couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

Advertising industry sources said several leading companies had already flocked to the latest couple in tinsel town for brand endorsements and the price they could command was estimated to be Rs 10-12 crore, which is substantially more than the Rs 6-8 crore charged by Mrs & Mr Devgan.

That’s not a surprise as Rai and the junior Bachchan are already hot property individually. While Rai endorses seven brands across eight categories, the junior Bachchan endorses 11 brands across nine categories (as of December 2006), according to AdEX India, a division of TAM Media Research.

Rai endorses global beauty and skincare brand L’Oreal Paris, Swiss watch brand Longines, Lux and Coke, among others. On the other hand, Abhishek has increased his endorsement rates by almost a crore after the success of his movies Bunty Aur Babli by Yash Raj Films and Mani Ratnam’s Guru. Currently, Bachchan endorses American Express, LG Electronics, and radio station Big 92.7 FM, among others.

Sunil Doshi,who handles Abhishek’s endorsements says, “Brands have indeed approached them for endorsements, but at the moment we are busy with the wedding. Interested brands can approach us after the wedding.”

The highest individual endorsement rate is enjoyed by Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan who charge around Rs 4-5 crore for a single brand. Adman Prasoon Joshi, the brain behind roping in Kajol-Ajay, said the Bachchan couple will certainly be mobbed by brands.

“People are excited about the couple and they have a top- of-the-mind recall. This will work wonders for brands, which sign them on, as people are eager to take a peep into their personal lives and want to see them on the screen together,” reasoned Joshi.

Source : Business Standard

Star, Balaji in JV for regional channels

Star TV India will set up a joint venture with Balaji Telefilms to take on the regional channels . The venture will launch regional language entertainment channels.

The joint venture, 51 per cent of which will be owned by Star and 49 per cent by Balaji, will be headquartered in Chennai and will look at launching general entertainment channels in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam in two to three years, Balaji Telefilms informed the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Star India has 26 per cent stake in Balaji Telefilms, the production house that produces leading soaps for Star Plus and other Star channels. Star already has a Tamil channel called Star Vijay.

Under the joint venture, the two companies will combine their resources to infuse Star Vijay with the company content. Also, Balaji Telefilms will produce exclusive content for all the proposed regional language channels.

Sun TV is the market leader in most of the southern states and has a bouquet of 20 channels. The Eenadu group too has over 25 channels in different regional languages, but has a dominant market presence in Andhra Pradesh.

Balaji Chairman Jeetendra Kapoor said, “We are excited about this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Star. We believe that combining the expertise and resources of the two companies will enable us to create the leading regional language TV network in the country. I am confident that our investment in this joint venture will generate significant value for our stakeholders.”

Balaji Telefilms has announced that its Managing Director and Chief Executive Shobha Kapoor has relinquished her role as CEO. Kapoor, however, will continue as the managing director. R Karthik, president, strategy and business development, will be the new chief executive.

Source : Business Standard

Manorama Online claims 8th rank among global news portals

Malayala Manorama, the Kerala Media Giant has every reason to feel encouraged by the performance of its online initiative. In end-March, Manorama Online hit the eighth rank among global news portals/websites and was first among websites of Indian newspapers, according to rankings put out by Alexa.com. It logged 180million page-views in March 2007. Indiatimes.com/Times of India Online was next at No. 9.

Interestingly, Manorama Online is available in both English and Malayalam. Set up in 1997 as an HTML offering, today the website is state of the art and even offers Malayala Manorama as an e-paper free of cost.

Manorama Online today is a full-fledged portal offering over 22 channels in English and Malayalam, bilingual email, chat rooms, diverse sections on Kerala ranging from travel to culture, photo galleries and video clips, as well as shopping and subscription services.

The group was the first to have a short code in Kerala in order to reach out to the younger audiences that is more mobile-savvy. Close to 40 per cent of the page-views come from Keralites in the US, while 28 per cent are India based. The Middle East, with a strong migrant workforce from Kerala, accounts for 18 per cent of page-views.

To provide a direct link with these audiences across the globe, clips from the Malayala Manorama TV (MMTV) television channel are provided on manoramonline.com.

KBC losing viewership, Star tries innovation

Confronted with declining viewership of its much-touted quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), Star Plus has found a new way to bring in viewers.

It has launched a quiz called Khelo India Saath Saath through which viewers at home can play from home with the contestant in the hot seat and win cash prizes.

One winner is choosen for every question and is awarded Rs.1 lakh for the correct answer. Also, there is no limit on the number of entries sent by an individual per question. The contest, Star TV says is drawing viewers.

Confirmed Viren Popli, senior vice president of Star Mobile Entertainment, “We have received around 7 million calls during the first week of the contest”

He further added that the number of calls had doubled during the week when the contest was running as compared to the previous week when the number of calls received were around 3 million.

Shah Rukh Khan’s KBC3 has seen a substantial dip in its television viewership ratings (TVR). It recorded a TVR of 12.33 in the Hindi speaking belts and a TVR of 11.26 across populations in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, on day one, according to TAM Media Research. However, the TVRs have been receding.

In the period from April 2 to April 5, the TVRs were in the range of 4.45 and 5.86, according to TAM Media Research.

Ad agencies hunt for media strategists

Earlier this year, ad agency Leo Burnett returned to the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, after a gap of six years and hired six graduates as strategy planners. Mudra too has upped the number of planners in its Mumbai office to 12, the highest ever. Grey Worldwide, a part of the WPP Group, too says that it has been increasing the number of strategic planners in the mainline agency. And all of them attribute this to the changing media landscape in the country.

R Gowthaman, managing director, Mindshare, a WPP group media services agency, said that the biggest reason for the increased emphasis on strategic planning was the fragmentation in the media. “It is increasingly important for an agency to come up with a media neutral (creative) strategy - something that can be implemented across different media. This is where the role of the strategic planner becomes important,”
he said.

Ad honchos agree. “Agencies today need to provide solutions beyond just traditional advertising, across various media,” said Madhukar Kamath, CEO and managing director, Mudra. “Hence it becomes necessary to have people who can work across media and across clients at a broader level,” he said.

Nirvik Singh, South Asia chairman and South-East Asia president, Grey Global Group, pointed out that the consumer’s exposure to brands was getting increasingly fragmented, which meant that he would be receptive to different messages in different surroundings. “The need of the hour is people who can work across brands and provide research which can be used at the agency level and not just for a particular brand or client,” he said.

Source : Business Standard

Zee, Star in war of words over musical show

Entertainment channel Zee Telefilms has threatened its rival Star Plus with legal action if its new musical talent-hunt show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa turns out to be similar to its own 12-year old show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

In fact, the show on Star Plus is produced by veteran television producer Gajendrra Siingh, who was till now producing the popular musical show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for Zee TV.

Apart from the same producer, Star has also roped the same anchor (singer Shaan), and judges including music director Jatin, Lalit, Aadesh Srivastava, and singers Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik, who were on the show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV six months ago.


But senior Star executives denied any similarity to the Zee show. “The show is produced by Saibaba Telefilms, the same production house which made the show for Zee. Now they are making a musical talent-hunt show for us and we can assure you that the format and presentation of our show will be unique which viewers will know once it’s on-air,” said Harsh Krishna Rohtagi, general manager, content & communications for Star TV India.

Zee executives called the Star’s move to launch a musical talent-hunt show a ‘pity’. “It is a pity that Star has to resort to aping content from Zee TV. I do understand the frustration of Star post major programming failures and loosing out leadership to Zee on almost all the time bands but viewers worldwide identify Sa Re Ga Ma Pa with Zee and I wish star all the best in their latest copying attempt,” Ashish Kaul, senior vice president of Zee group.

However, on two previous occasions also, Zee TV had served legal notice to Star for coming up with TV shows similar in content and format to Zee shows. On both occasions Star obliged by either withdrawing the show or by changing its structure.

“Once Star Vijaya, the tamil channel of Star India was launching Saregamapa and we had served then legal notice expressing our reservations. They withdrew the show. Again, when Star One was launching a soap called Beetiyaan...similar to a Zee soap, we objected and they had to change the name,” Kaul said.

The 12-year show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has consistently delivered high ratings for Zee and has been the channel driver at 8pm-9pm time band and later at the 10 pm time band. In fact, Zee has launched several versions of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa—for kids, in regional launguages and the latest Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge which was launched in 2005.

Source : Business Standard

Ad gurus upstaged by new names in Asian rankings

It would be natural to expect creative ad honchos like Prasoon Joshi, Piyush Pandey or R Balakrishnan (Balki) to enter any elite list of top creative people in Asia.

But, according to the latest rankings compiled by the Asian creative advertising magazine, Campaign Brief Asia, at least seven lesser-known creative Indian professionals have upstaged the ad gurus in the “Hottest 1,050 Creatives in Asia” list.

Joshi at 160, for instance, is behind Hital Pandya and Karan Amin of JWT Mumbai, who are the only creative Indian professionals in the top 50. Other ad veterans like K V Sridhar of Leo Burnett and Balki are further behind at 256 and 501, respectively.

All the same, the veterans haven’t done too badly. While Joshi climbed 165 places, Sridhar or Balki were not a part of the 2005 rankings.

Predictably, senior Indian ad personalities played down the importance of creative rankings. Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, India & South Asia, Ogilvy said, “The senior ad men are probably doing more meaningful things than just award-winning work.”

Others like Balki said the rankings were a direct result of participation in creative award functions, which Lowe has been consciously staying away from. “The rankings are like a small benefit match and not the real game,” said Balki, hinting that the real win for advertising was better performance of brands in the market. Joshi was not available for comment.

The rankings are based on the performance of ad agencies and ad men at major international creative advertising awards like Cannes, The One Show, D&AD and Clio.

The rankings also reaffirmed factors like the creative renaissance of certain agencies like JWT, which in the not-so-distant past was losing its creative edge. JWT’s Mumbai office displaced Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, as the Indian agency of the year. JWT moved up from its number 10 ranking in 2005 to capture the top slot. Leo Burnett dropped a rank from two to three in 2006, while McCann Erickson held on to its fourth spot.

Even among Asian ranks, JWT Mumbai figured among the most notable moves, improving its ranks from 68 to 16. Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, was at 22, though Pandey claims that it’s the all India operations that matter.

Other Indian agencies that made it to the Top 50 were Leo Burnett, Mumbai, at 24, McCann Erickson, Mumbai, at 25, O&M, New Delhi, at 30, Rediffusion DYR, Mumbai, at 39 and Ambience Publicis, Mumbai, at 48.

Source : BUSINESS STANDARD

Sify appoints Big Bang Media as exclusive Internet ad sales concessionaire

Sify Limited has appointed Mumbai-based Big Bang Media as its exclusive Internet ad sales concessionaire. Big Bang Media will be entrusted with the management of the complete advertising sales of Sify.com’s Internet properties including Wallet Watch, Bawarchi, Khel, Samachar.com and Sifymax.com. It will also look after Sify’s innovative retail advertising product AdPlus that enables desktop advertising across Sify iWays (cyber café chain) spread across 160 cities.

Commenting on the development, V Sivaramakrishnan, President-Portals, Sify Ltd, said, “Sify presents a unique package to enhance customer reach not only through its popular consumer portals, but also its reach to the consumer through its 3,500 iWay networks across 160 cities and the unique AdPlus advertising model. Big Bang Media’s rich domain experience, combined with Sify’s reach, will help brand ads work in an online and offline delivery model.”

Big Bang Media offers 360-degree solutions in the media and entertainment space. It already handles the complete Hindi content aggregation and creation function for all Sify.com channels.

Big Bang Media has roped in Alok Rakshit as Partner to head the Ad Sales Process. Rakshit has earlier worked as National Sales Head of ETC Music and Zee Music. He has also worked with TV Today Network and Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (Times FM, Times Music and Times Response).

Raj Television board okays launching 11 channels

Broadcaster Raj Television Network Ltd’s board approved launching 11 new channels, including a national Hindi channel. Meanwhile Raj Television Network Ltd reported an increased operating profit of Rs 18.32 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 against Rs 8.4 crore posted in the previous year. According to a company press release, its revenues for the year stand at Rs 38.64 crore against Rs 31.5 crore.

However, profit after tax has come down to Rs 10.7 crore from Rs 11.9 crore in 2006. The company's earnings per share (diluted) for the year under consideration works out to Rs 9.74. It has earmarked Rs 8.92 lakh for interim dividend.

Tony D'Silva joining Sun Direct as CEO

Tony D'Silva, Star's head of distribution is set to join Kalanithi Maran's direct-to-home (DTH) venture as CEO.

D'Silva put in his papers today and will be serving a notice period. Sun officials also confirmed that he would be joining Sun Direct as CEO.

Maran is planning to launch his DTH service in June. Malaysia-based Astro has taken a 20 per cent stake in Sun Direct and is investing $166 million (around Rs 7.47 billion) in the project. The joint-venture's peak funding is estimated to be $670 million, spread over the first five years of operation.

D'Silva joins the long list of exits from Star India that include Star Group India CEO Peter Mukerjea and Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair. While Mukerjea will be heading a media venture backed by a clutch of investors, Nair has joined NDTV Group to head their entertainment business.

Sponsors may take BCCI to court

Indian cricket’s latest controversy revolving around the decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to clamp down on player endorsements threatens to upset the advertising and marketing plans of several leading companies, even as the matter appears to be heading towards the courts.

The Indian team is scheduled to make a presentation to the BCCI to discuss and, if possible, resolve the endorsement issue over the next three-four days. Meanwhile, the agents and sponsors of the players will take up the issue formally with the board on Monday and perhaps take recourse to legal action if the issue is not resolved.

At stake is close to Rs 100 crore worth of annual endorsements, with 50-70 brands riding on Indian cricket in some form or other. Advertisers such as Pepsi, Reebok, Hutch, Adidas, Britannia, TCL, Microsoft, Sansui, Hero Honda, MRF and Bharti — all of which have hinged their ad strategies around cricket — may have to rework large parts of their advertising strategies if the BCCI directives are enforced. Said an irked TCL Holdings CEO CM Singh, which uses Sourav Ganguly for endorsements, “As corporates, we should have the flexibility to decide which and how many cricketers we want for endorsements. This amounts to interfering in the personal lives of cricketers. It’s unacceptable.”

Advertisers such as Pepsi and Reebok would be worst hit, considering that they use at least six-seven cricketers each for endorsements. A Pepsi official said, “We will have to alter our strategy, depending on what is best suited for the cricketers and the company.”

Meanwhile, sponsors, advertisers and sports management agencies have decided to take up the issue formally with the board on Monday. Percept Holdings, which represents Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth, has decided to write a letter to the BCCI on Monday, presenting a case for its sponsors and players. Questioned an agitated Percept joint MD Shailendra Singh, “How can the BCCI legally restrain professionals from making money? It’s an MTRP issue. The board has ignored the people who get money into the game. Our sponsors want to know the way forward.”

Globosport, which manages Zaheer Khan and Dinesh Karthik, too has decided to seek legal opinion. Without mincing words, Globosport V-P Anirban Das Blah pointed out, “Why should there be a commercial constraint on the players and not the BCCI? It is hypocritical to bully players and enforce caps on them while there is no cap on the BCCI’s seemingly endless pursuit of profits — whether through unlimited sponsors or meaningless tournaments like the recent one in Abu Dhabi. The board has made the announcements without consulting the agencies, advertisers, sponsors or the cricketers themselves.”

A BCCI official, meanwhile, told ET on Sunday that the restrictions will not be enforced on existing contracts. “We will not disturb the current contracts of players; this will be enforced for all new contracts. The board will review every contract a player signs,” the BCCI official said. However, this raises a pertinent question: while some players have multi-year contracts, others are just beginning their careers. So, while a Dinesh Karthik would have to limit his endorsements to three, a Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, could well continue to receive Rs 35 crore annually as minimum guarantee committed to him.

Calling BCCI’s move knee-jerk, Microsoft country manager (entertainment & devices division) Mohit Anand said, “The team lost because they didn’t play well, not because of endorsements. The BCCI needs to professionalise itself. The last chapter has not yet been written on the story.”

Microsoft recently launched its Xbox game, endorsed by Yuvraj. Sport management professionals also pointed out that all over the world, successful athletes endorse brands with no comparisons drawn between their individual performances and the number of brands they endorse. “If the BCCI feels a player is not performing, he should just be dropped, instead of making generalised rulings that impact the players’ primary source of earning,” said an official who didn’t want to be quoted.


Source : Economic Times

More executives to quit Star TV

Star TV is facing a new challenge, with three of its top executives putting in their papers to join former Star India chief executive officer Sameer Nair in his new venture with broadcasting company NDTV and filmmaker Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.

Nair resigned in January this year, around the same time as Peter Mukherjea, who was the CEO of the Star group.

Since then, Star India’s Shailja Kejriwal, senior creative director, and Gaurav Gandhi, vice-president, commercial and business planning, have also resigned – both of them have put in their papers in February. Another executive who may soon join Nair’s growing clan could be Manoj Vidwans, senior vice-president, Star India.

Nair is credited with masterminding Star TV’s revival in India with ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and the family soaps of Balaji Telefilms.

Source : Business Standard

Sun TV to pump in Rs 1.2 billion for 3 channels

Apart from launching a direct-to-home (DTH) service this year, Kalanithi Maran has also plans to launch three channels with an investment outlay of Rs 1.2 billion.

The first to come up will be a kids channel, a genre Maran's Sun network has so far no presence in. Though launched in Tamil first, it would be later extended into the other southern languages. The plan is to launch the kid channel in a month's time. Sun TV Ltd plans to invest Rs 400 million in the channel.

Sun TV Ltd will also launch a sports and a documentary channel this fiscal. The strategy is being worked out for the sports channel. The focus will be local sports with some strategic alliances. The investment planned is Rs 400 million on each channel.

Sun TV Ltd, meanwhile, is considering various instruments including private placement to bring down the promoter holding in the company to a maximum permissible limit of 90 per cent within six months. After the merger of Gemini TV and Udaya TV, the promoters' holding in STL has increased to 93 per cent with Maran having a slice as large as 89 per cent.

Sun TV Ltd 's authorised share capital is being increased from Rs 1 billion to Rs 2.25 billion to accommodate the fresh issue of shares following the merger. Besides complying with the listing guidelines, this would provide for capitalisation of reserves in future if any.

STL is going to see significant growth in subscription revenues this fiscal with Sun TV raking in Rs 600 million from cable distribution alone. The flagship Tamil general entertainment channel went pay in December.

For Maran, the second half of the year will be spent in launching DTH digital satellite television services with Malaysia's Astro All Asia Networks as a 20 per cent partner. His privately held company Sun Direct is receiving an investment of up to $166 million (around Rs 7.47 billion) from South Asia Entertainment Holdings Limited (SAEHL), a wholly owned unit of Astro. The joint-venture's peak funding is estimated to be $670 million, spread over the first five years of operation.

Source : Indiantelevision.com

Cochin Ad Club invites entries for creative award

The Advertising Club of Cochin has invited ad agencies from all over South India to compete for creative awards function organised by the club.

The awards to be known as Pepper 2007 will be for different categories such as multimedia campaigns, press campaigns, TV, radio advertising, retail advertising, outdoor campaigns, POP, photography and print material.

The entries must have been produced for and accepted by an advertiser of South India between January 1 and December 31, 2006.

The winners will be presented with gold, silver and bronze awards and certificates. The agency winning the maximum number of points will be honoured with the `Agency of the Year' award. The entries will be evaluated by a team of top-notch professionals in the country.

The Cochin Advertising Club is organising the creative award function for the past 12 years and this year it has decided to open the event for the entire South India to bring more challenging ideas and concepts to the creative fraternity in Kochi, Mr K. Venugopal, President of the Club, said.

Cochin Ad Club is a professional forum with 400 members belonging to all national and regional agencies, publications, channels and industry associates. The club also runs an institute for one-year diploma course in advertising, media planning, creativity and copy writing.

Source : Business Line

Symphony Music Club inaugurated

Symphony TV, the leading Television Production Company in Kerala launched a brand new concept Symphony Music Club with the concept to spread Friendship Through Music. The Symphony Music Club was inaugurated by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister of India Shri T. K. A. Nair on Sunday 31st March 2007 at Tagore Theatre, Trivandrum in the presence of club patrons and well wishers.

Symphony Music Club is conceived as a self motivated group of genuine music lovers who share a common bondage of harmony and camaraderie through music and melody. The only criterion for symphony membership is genuine love for good music particularly melody.

Symphony Music Club will meet at regular intervals. And conduct State wide Music competition and top it up with a Grand Music Finale, every year.

Symphony Music Club will have chapters in Kerala (Trivandrum, Kochi and Calicut), Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. Symphony Music Club has already established chapters in Doha, Bahrain, UAE and will have chapters in other GCC countries, UK, Europe and USA

Symphony Music Club, Bahrain
Chief Patron : Shri Balakrishna Shetty, Indian Ambassador to Bahrain
President : Shri Mahmood Al Mahmood, Former Minister of Information, Kingdom of Bahrain.
Patron : Shri Soman Baby, News Editor, Gulf Daily News
Chief Coordinator : Shri Sunny Kulathakkal

Symphony Music Club, Doha
Chief Patron : Dr George Joseph, Indian Ambassador to Qatar
Patron : Shri C.K. Menon, chairman & MD Behzad Group of Companies (Pravasi Bharatiya Samman – National Award winner).
Coordinator : Shri Amanulla.

Symphony Music Club, UAE
Chief Patron : Shri C. M. Bhandari, Indian Ambassidor to UAE
Patrons : Shri Venu Rajamony, Consul General of India
Shri M. A. Yousaf Ali, Managing Director Emke Group
Dr. B.R Shetty Managing Director of New Medical Centre and UAE Exchange
Shri Joy Alukka, Chairman, Joy Alukkas Group
Vice President : Mr Sudhir Kumar Shetty, COO, UAE Exchange
Secretary : Shri Padma Kumar
Coordinator : Shri B. Gopa Kumar.

Symphony Television is headed by media expert Mr V. Krishna Kumar former COO of Kairali TV and CGM of Asianet. Symphony TV is an integrated production house and Television content creator with an in-house creative, production and marketing set-up. Symphony TV also conducts exclusive stage shows and offers consultancy and BPO services. Symphony TV is the first Television Production Company in India having equity participation from the Central and State Government promoted financial institution, Kerala Venture Capital Fund which is a joint venture company promoted by KSIDC, KFC and SIDBI.

NDTV launches cerebral Reality Show

NDTV has tied up with Airtel to present a reality contest named ‘Airtel Scholar Hunt Destination UK’. The show will be on air from July 14 this year.

'Airtel Scholar Hunt Destination UK' specifically targets students who will complete their Senior Secondary (Class XII) education this April. The reality show to be hosted by Arun Thapar, proposes to select the best from the Indian student community in the country and offer them five scholarships to British universities in subjects as diverse as Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Management, Computing Science, Biomedical Science and Engineering.

The winners will bag scholarships to renowned universities like Cardiff University, Leeds University, Middlesex University, Sheffield University and Warwick University for either a Bachelor’s or a Master’s degree. In addition to sponsoring the scholarships and stipend for living expenses, the participating British universities will assist in developing the specifics of the quiz and task rounds, so that the contest questions reflect their exacting admission requirements.

ADAG keen on Miditech buy

The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is now eyeing Miditech, the production house synonymous with reality programming in India, for a 51% buy-out. The company’s interest in Miditech stems from its plan to foray into the broadcasting space with a reality and lifestyle channel.

Miditech is known for its expertise in the reality genre and has produced some successful reality shows for Indian television such as Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul and MTV Roadies. Reliance is hoping to piggyback on the production house’s experience and rule the reality genre in India. This would mean that Miditech would exclusively produce shows for Reliance, discontinuing all the other commitments made to other channels in the Indian terrain.

In fact, the company was also considering entering the capital market. The Reliance spokesperson denied it saying there was no such move. Reliance’s strategy is to first secure its supply chain and then venture into a particular project, as the case was with the film and entertainment sector with the acquisition of Adlabs.

In the recent past, a host of production houses have resorted to merging with the big players to strengthen their own position as has been the case with Manmohan Shetty’s Adlabs, Siddharth Basu’s Synergy Communications, Bobby Bedi’s Kaleidoscope and Balaji Telefilms partnership with Star India.

For Miditech, the alliance with Reliance will unleash a host of new avenues considering the younger Ambani’s big plans in the entertainment arena. Now a mid-sized player, Miditech is Asia’s leading independent production company that creates a wide range of programming.

The company has received accolades for many award winning documentaries and international format game shows. The company has earned a reputation for producing programmes to meet the standards of international broadcasters with over 400 hours of programming in 2005-2006 for clients such as MTV, National Geographic Channels International (NGCI), BBC, the Star Network, SET, Doordarshan, The Disney Channel, and Turner. It also works closely with international distributors like Granada International, Beyond and Tele Images.

Source : Economic Times

3 INX channels named; core executive team of 9

Nine seems to have a great deal of significance in Indrani and Peter Mukerjea's upcoming television network. Nine people make up the core team that will be at the helm of the broadcast venture and the number is integral to the name of all the channels (with the exception of news) INX plans to roll out.

The first three channels in the broadcast bouquet - Hindi general entertainment, music and English news - have been titled 9X, 9X Music and News X respectively and are targeting a year-end launch.

The full bouquet of channels will also include various entertainment channels in regional languages and city-specific channels, all of which are to be rolled out over the next two years.

The top rung in the leadership matrix includes Ms Mukerjea herself, former editor of Hindustan Times Vir Sanghvi as CEO of INX News and editorial head of the news channel, former Star India CFO Shankar Narayan as group director finance, former Star India EVP distribution Arun Mohan as group director distribution, former Star News operations director and Tata Sky project consultant Vynsley Fernandes as group director network operations and ad filmmaker Dilip Ghosh as director content.

A conspicuous absentee from the list is Peter Mukerjea, which is clearly due to the legal limitations imposed by the non-compete clause he has with his former employer Star that runs till 30 June. Assuming that he would ultimately handle the CEO's portfolio.

One huge advantage that INX has going for it of course is that with $ 300 million in funding commitments from the likes of Temasek Holdings (via Dunearn Investments), New Silk Route, New Vernon, Kotak and SREI Group, the network will not lack for resources to translate vision into reality.


Source : Indiantelevision.com

TV ad rates to be hiked

Television channels are planning to charge more from advertisers. The rate hikes are likely to be effected in the middle of April, when there will be a large number of fresh contracts under negotiation. Many existing contracts end with the financial year.

The channels point out that while the number of cable and satellite homes has nearly doubled in the last four years, the rates have not gone up proportionately. There has been some shake-up in viewership with the introduction of the conditional access system (CAS) in some cities and advertisers say many viewers have logged out of pay channels. However, this is seen as a temporary aberration and analysts believe that general entertainment channels are at present under-priced.

Now is an opportune time, as India is out of the cricket World Cup and eyeballs are thirsting again for general entertainment. Advertisers, shaken up by the cricket debacle, will find it difficult to withstand a hard bargain from channels.

Source : Business Standard

World's largest film library from UTV

UTV (United Television), a diversified media entity with presence in movies, new media (animation & gaming), TV, and broadcasting, has launched its new business vertical UTV Palador---a 360-degree initiative in world cinema under the brand name Olive Collection. UTV Palador's Olive Collection will have the world's largest library of world cinema under one roof with over 1000 film titles from 20 countries that have won over 3000 (cumulative) awards, including BAFTA, Cannes, Pusan, Berlin, Venice, Toronto among others.

The company will invest Rs 70 crore in the category. The non-Indian language movie segment is estimated to fetch Rs 1500 crore by 2009 and UTV Palador believes that world cinema could account for 20% of that.

Olive will host the world's greatest collection of world cinema---films from countries like France, Japan, China, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina---with subtitles. It will feature maverick film directors like Akira Kurusawa, Francois Truffaut, Michael Haneke, Wim Wenders, Chabrol, Kiarostami and Kitanoalong with 50 others.

"UTV Palador's main objective is to ensure that the beauty, timelessness and quality of the world's greatest filmmakers is not lost to Indians. It was our vision to ensure that quality cinema is not a one-off event at limited locations but a regular part of India's entertainment industry," said Ronnie Screwala, head of UTV.

On the theatrical front, 20 theatres across the country will release the Olive Collection films with two shows daily that will account for nearly 15,000 shows per annum.


Source : Financial Express

Merged airline to take off as `Air Indian`

Blending the names of the country’s state-owned domestic and international carriers, Indian and Air-India, respectively, the government is planning to brand the merged entity as “Air Indian”. The Cabinet already cleared the proposal to merge the two airlines.

Sources close to the development reveal that after hectic negotiations and several rounds of meetings, the choice of brand was a unanimous one.

A new company called National Aviation Company Ltd has been registered by the government to amalgamate the two airlines along with their low-fare subsidiaries, Air India Express (of Air India) and Alliance Air (of Indian).

As for the new airline’s logo, Air India’s famed “Maharaja” is reported to have found more favour than Indian’s “Ashok Chakra” at discussions involving the brass of the two carriers. An official announcement on the decision is expected shortly.


The logic behind the new brand name is to maintain the current top position of Air India on the ABC directory, which lists airlines alphabetically and is widely used as a reference book by the International Air Transport Association, other international airlines and tour operators worldwide.

Source : BUSINESS STANDARD

KBC gets a replacement with Musical Production of FOX

Fox Production will debut on Star Plus with a musical to fill the gap left by SRK.

With Shahrukh Khan’s moneyminter Kaun Banega Crorepati’s (KBC’s) season coming to an end on April 19, Star Plus will be looking to cover up it’s weekday prime time band of 9-10 pm with two new family dramas. A channel that refrains religiously from experimenting with serial formats, it hopes to hit gold with its new primetime line-up — albeit in the genre of family dramas.

For the 9 pm slot, Fox Production will debut with its first ever prime time show, Meri Awaaz Ko Mil Gayi Roshni (MAKMGR), replacing KBC from 23 April. The 9.30 pm slot will see the inclusion of yet another Balaji family drama, titled Kasturi.


The channel is also planning to release a music CD along with the serial’s launch. Fox Studios is also ready with an afternoon family drama that will be aired on Star Plus and will launch a few non-fiction television shows by August-September.

On an average, a television serial requires an investment of around Rs 10 lakh (to begin with) but Fox’s idea of a musical instead of run-of-the-mill family dramas is going to cost the company a bit higher. Harsh Rohtagi, general manager (marketing and content), Star India, is convinced that MAKMGR will get the ratings.

He says, “The target audience is the general soap audience that primarily consists of women aged between 15-35 years. Being an emotional love story woven with a musical backdrop, it has everything that we need for our weekday primetime bands.”

While talks for a second season of KBC have been confirmed by Rohtagi, he was unwilling to share the launch dates.

“We are very sure that KBC and Shahrukh will be back for a second season and since we had a good first season, you can expect the channel to capitalise on brand KBC,” Rohtagi confirms.

KBC opened strong with a rating of 12.3 but eventually fell to 7-8 TVR points, which is way lower than its family dramas that score on an average a TVR of 12-13.

Entertainment biz to cross Rs 1,00,000 Cr

The entertainment and media sector is in an effort to take the sector from its current Rs 43,700 crore turnover to over Rs 100,000 crore by 2011.

Buoyed by growing income levels, consumerism, technological improvements and greater investments, the sector is expected to cross Rs 100,000 crore, registering an 18 per cent compounded annual growth rate(CAGR), according to a Ficci-PwC report, which will be released tomorrow to mark the annual media and entertainment convention, Ficci-FRAMES (from 2001).

The turnover of the TV industry is projected to grow by 22 per cent to Rs 51,900 crore by 2011 from the current size of Rs 19,100 crore.

Subscription revenue is projected to be the key growth driver as the pay TV homes will increase from 71 million to over 100 million in the next four years.

The print media industry is expected to register 13 per cent growth to reach Rs 23,200 crore from the current size of Rs 12,800 crore by 2011.

Currently, the print media reaches 222 million people, it has the potential to reach another 369 million literate people.

Incidentally, the report notes that 2006 saw 13 proposals for FDI in media and the ministry is examining another 22 proposals for clearance. As for the internet, though the media has a small base it is expected to show the highest CAGR of 43 per cent to reach Rs 950 crore in 2011 from Rs 160 crore now.

As per the report, advertising revenue in radio industry is expected to grow by 28 per cent annually to reach Rs 1,700 crore by 2011.

Currently, radio generates advertising revenue of Rs 500 crore. The growth is fuelled by the expansion of private FM radio companies. Piracy of Rs 2,500 crore annually is pulling back the growth of the music industry, the report said. Music industry will grow only by four per cent from Rs 720 crore, currently to Rs 870 crore in the next four years, it said.

Live entertainment segment is estimated to grow by 16 per cent from Rs 900 crore to Rs 1,900 crore and out-of-home advertising by 17 per cent from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,150 crore in the same period, the report said.

According to the report, Indian advertising spends also showed exponential growth in 2006 growing over 23 per cent over the last year at Rs 16,300 crore.

Source : Business Standard

'Big Four' to Nab Two-Thirds of all 2007 Online Ad Revenue

Two-thirds of the $19.5 billion expected to be spent on internet advertising in 2007 will be placed with the four biggest web companies Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN. Google will nab the largest share, with 32.1% of total ad spend, Yahoo is next with 18.7%, AOL follows with 9.1% and MSN is fourth at 6.8%.

That estimate -- that the Big Four will nab 66.6% of total ad spending this year -- is up from 57.4% in 2006 and 53.75% in 2005. Some of the share is attributed to search revenue, which will comprise 42.5% of online ad spending this year.

Jet Air aims global image with new look

By end April, India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, will don a fresh look. The Naresh Goyal-promoted airline will have fresh internal and external livery for aircraft to reflect its new corporate image.

As part of international rebranding exercise, the airline’s cabin crew will sport new uniform exuding freshness and warmth. Jet Airways is also expected to roll out a new international advertising campaign to reposition itself as a global carrier.

The global advertising initiative has been undertaken by international advertising house M&C Saatchi’s India wing, while rebranding has been done by the US-based Landor Associates.

“Jet Airways is also considering a brand ambassador to have an international appeal,” a source said.

This move comes at a time when Jet Airways is facing intense competition from domestic carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines and international carriers like Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Continental Airways. The rebranding exercise gains significance as the company is planning to launch its much-delayed US service.

Sources said the carrier was also planning to advance its Mumbai-Newark (US) service to early July from August 15.

“The airline, as part of the rebranding, will be introducing the first-class in its B777 aircraft. The seats for the first, executive and economy classes would feature advanced technology supplemented with new inflight entertainment,” the source said.

Christened “Global Launch”, Jet Airways is set to make an announcement on its rebranding and new advertisement campaign next week in Mumbai.

Official sources said the rebranding exercise had not been finalised and creative work for advertisements is yet to start. Noted Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who is also a director on the Jet Airways board, is likely to be present at the global launch.

Apart from the Newark-Mumbai service, Jet Airways is also planning to connect Mumbai with San Francisco via Shanghai by October. Besides aiming at flying to Gulf destinations, Jet Airways is looking at several international destinations such as Canada; South Africa; Kenya; Mauritius; China; European cities such as Rome, Zurich, Munich, and Frankfurt; and certain points in South East Asia.
The airline is targeting 50 per cent of its revenue from international operations in the next three years. Jet has reported a 77.3 per cent load factor in February with 671 flights in that month.

Source : BUSINESS STANDARD

BCCI to share Nimbus loss on feed sharing with DD

The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has agreed “in principle” to share the revenue loss incurred by Nimbus for the first year following the Bill that makes it mandatory for private broadcasters to share their live feed with Prasar Bharati.

Nimbus bagged last year five-year telecast rights for cricket matches in India from BCCI for $612 million or Rs 2,755 crore.

An auditor each from BCCI and Nimbus will ascertain the extent of the financial loss sustained by Nimbus on account of the Bill, BCCI officials said today after a working committee meeting. The auditors will submit their report by May 31.

Nimbus will also pay the bank guarantee of Rs 900 crore to the BCCI in October 2007 as part of its staggered payment arrangement with the cricket board instead of April 30, BCCI officials said. So far, Nimbus has paid Rs 350 crore to BCCI.

The loss incurred by Nimbus is a result of piracy of its sports signals beamed on Doordarshan’s direct to home platform across the Asian countries. According to estimates made by Nimbus, it sustained a loss of Rs 140-150 crore.

While a committee on enforcing encryption of signals on DD’s platform is studying the matter, no decision has been taken yet.

India Inc's most powerful top 10 CEOs

N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY

RATAN TATA

MUKESH AMBANI

NANDAN NILEKANI

AZIM PREMJI

ANIL AMBANI

VIJAY MALLYA

SUNIL MITTAL

K V KAMATH

KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA

Source : Economic Times

Yahoo! India revamping, Ajay Nambiar quits

Online publishing giant Yahoo! India is revamping their content team. Two key employees at Yahoo! India put in their papers last week.

Head of Content Ajay Nambiar and Head of Entertainment Niyati Sen Gupta had left Yahoo! India. Earlier Nambiar was with Sify heading Consumer Channels. All employees of Yahoo! India got the news via an email from managing director George Zacharias. Incidentally, Nambiar had joined Yahoo! in August 2006 along with Zacharias.

Yahoo!’s content division was recently in a controversy after a blogger accused the publisher of plagiarising her content on its Malayalam portal. Yahoo!, in turn, put the blame on Webdunia, their content provider for the portal.

While both Yahoo! and Ajay Nambiar insisted that the recent departures had nothing to do with the content controversy, it’s no secret that the headquarters at Santa Clara (California) was seeking to upgrade content from India. In fact, the top brass at Yahoo! – including Nambiar – recently went to the global headquarters to discuss the issue.

Source : agencyfaqs!

Star's primetime K-serials unite for mega episode

Star Plus has lined up a two day primetime programming treat for its viewers with an extended episode that will combine its top rated programmes Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki…, Kyunki Saus Bhi Kabhi Bahu dhi and Kayamath on 26 and 27 March from 10 pm - 11.30 pm.


Star India general manager - content and marketing Harsh Rohatgi says it will create a "visual spectacle," for which the channel is hoping to rake in its "infrequent and lapsed viewers onto the show" as the plots for the three stories will converge into one grand episode.

A refreshed programming initiative is primarily executed to create and retain the buzz on the channel, adds Rohatgi.

To build the hype off-air, a mutli-media campaign will break tomorrow on outdoor, radio and print.


Promising to unfold three big secrets, the theme will revolve around a party thrown by Parvati Bhabhi (from Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii) in which the families of Kyunki and Kayamath will be invited.