15 Creative Agencies empanelled for the global Incredible India campaign

Ministry of Tourism has empanelled 15 creative agencies for the global Incredible India campaign.

The 15 empanelled agencies include Mudra, Lowe, Contract, W+K, Dentsu Marcom, TBWA India, Mercantile Advertising, Stark Communications, Crayons, Critique, Quantum, Basic Four, FS Advertising, IBD India and India Tourism Development Corporation’s creative wing (also known as Ashok Creatives). The ad spends are estimated to be more than Rs 120 crore for the global campaign.

The 15 agencies have been appointed for a period of two years. Recently, four agencies – Crayons, Euro RSCG, Span Communications and ZenithOptimedia – were appointed to handle the media duties for Incredible India.

While this is news of the global campaign, the creative and media duties for the domestic one will be decided much later. It is learnt that popular actor Aamir Khan has been appointed brand ambassador for the domestic campaign, and since he is currently busy with some other assignments, the ministry will work out the details once he is back in action.

Source : afaqs!

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

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.

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..

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.