'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.