Govt allots Rs 15 crores for DD Urdu

An amount of Rs 15 crores has been allotted for Urdu channel of Doordarshan for the year 2007-08. The DD Urdu channel has been included for mandatory carriage by all cable operators and multi-system operators (MSOs) in all states and Union Territories, apart from being a part of DD Direct Plus which is Doordarshan’s free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) platform.

I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi has informed the Parliament today, adding that Twenty-one persons knowing Urdu have been given contract jobs in this channel.

Effective packaging, outsourcing quality software from top producers from the field of production, filmmaking, culture, literature and media are some of the steps taken to popularise the channel. The channel has allotted a daily slot to the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) for the telecast of informative and educational programmes produced by its Media Research Institute.

Launched on the Independence Day in 2006, DD Urdu is now a 24×7 channel. It is being telecast on the Insat-4A satellite, thus making it available throughout the world. The channel has a fresh band from 5-11 pm, repeating these programmes in the bands from 7 am to 12:30 pm and then from 1 pm to 3:30 pm everyday.

History Channel, Maxim join hands for ‘Dogfights’

The History Channel has tied up with Maxim, the men’s lifestyle magazine from the Media Transasia group, for ‘Dogfights’, the adrenaline-pumping series based on the real battles.

Together History Channel and Maxim bring the second season of the ‘Dogfights’. Every episode is combined with actual encounters from war-zones from different latitudes, longitudes and time zones from the world over, the show will feature submarine, tank, helicopter and ship battles.

“The tie-up has just the right brand fit with respect to our reader’s interest. Also the content of the series is packed with thrills, action and nail biting adventure which will help us to make a better connection with our readers,” says Piyush Sharma, CEO and Publisher, Maxim India.

Premiering March 11 and then every week night from Tuesday to Thursday at 9 pm each episode of this series promises to keep the viewers riveted with action, adventure, spectacular battles, daring missions, application of science and thrilling fights. The March series will start with ‘Dogfights: The greatest air battles’, the episode will trace back to the origins of the first ever dogfights in world war one followed by ‘The first dogfighters’, ‘Gun kills of Vietnam’, ‘Jet vs. Jet’, ‘Kamikaze’, ‘Luftwaffe’s deadliest mission’, ‘Desert aces’, ‘Night fighters’ and ‘Thunderbolt’.

Also in the March and April issues of the magazine, the show will be presented to readers as a ‘Must watch’ TV Series on History Channel, strongly recommended by Maxim.

Raj TV’s video-on-demand on BigFlicks

BigFlicks, the movie rental service from the house of Reliance ADA group, has joined hands with Raj Television Network Productions (RTN), the Tamil media and entertainment major, for its video-on-demand (VOD) division. The audiences will have access to the vast content of Raj TV on the website for free viewing.

BigFlicks also has a VOD division – http://www.broadband.bigflicks.com, with a library of more than 700 movie titles in 12 Indian languages. BigFlicks already has content partnerships with NDTV, Zoom, Star TV and 7 Star Care, under which viewers can see these channels free of charge. The business model of the service is based on advertising.

With the Raj TV tie-up, users will be able to view movies, TV shows and music content owned by the Raj TV Network free of charge. The Raj TV Network claims to have movie rights worth Rs 500 crore.

Kamal Gianchandani, COO, BigFlicks, said, “Raj Television Networks is one of the largest media and entertainment houses in India with a very strong and niche content base down south. We are very happy to tie-up with Raj Television to make available all content on our platform for free viewing.”

BigFlicks will launch some TV shows from the Raj TV Network for free streaming on the website. The Raj TV Network has properties like Raj TV, a general entertainment channel, Raj Musix, a music channel, and Raj Digital Plus, a Tamil movie channel.

S. Swaminathan, Head, Distribution, Raj Television Network, said, “Today online media plays a very pivotal role in every ambitious company’s growth plans. Big Flicks is a fast growing company and has aggressive plans with regards to its website content and retail stores across India.”

Channels line up battle for afternoon viewers

The Hindi General entertainment Channel (GEC) space is getting replete with strategies, counter strategies, experiments and innovations.

While newbie NDTV Imagine has grabbed the number three position with Ramayan as its content driver, Zee Tv has topped the prime-time slot with shows like Banoo Main Teri Dulhann and Mayka.

The battle for supremacy in prime time is being fought hard by Star Plus and Zee. The other GECs are also investing heavily to grab viewership in this time band as it attracts a major chunk of the revenues.

However, the story does not just end at the prime time. Since a major chunk of the total GRPs comes from prime time, every channel wants to leverage it. But the fact remains that a Hindi GEC with the core target of active female viewers has to focus not only on the prime time but also on the afternoon slot, which is the second most sought-after in terms of revenues.

While at the moment only Star Plus, Zee TV and 9X are the players that have an afternoon slot with fresh programmes, others in the field have either repeats of their prime-time shows or movies. But they are also eyeing this space.

To understand the dynamics, let’s take a look at the afternoon slots of these channels.

	1:00 pm – 1:30 pm	1:30 pm – 2:00 pm	2:00 pm – 2:30 pm	2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Star	Kumkum	Bhabhi	KAA	Grahasti
Zee	Saath Saath	Rakhi	Meri Doli Tere Angana	–

Star Plus has its top performing shows which have been traditionally doing well for it. The slot begins witn KUMKUM at 1 pm followed by Bhabhi and Karam Apna Apna at 1:30 pm and 2:00 pm, respectively. All the three shows have delivered well for the channel. What is interesting to see is that two of these shows are from Balaji Telefilms. The third show is Grihasthi, which was launched last month, replacing Sarrthi at 2:30.

Zee presently has Sath Sath at 1 pm, Rakhi at 1:30 pm and Meri Doli Tere Angana at 2 pm.

STRATEGY

It was Star who first dominated the afternoon turf with fresh programmes. Zee had, more or less, fixed its eyes on the lucrative prime-time band.

Until May 2007, afternoons on Zee TV meant a repeat of prime-time shows. But having stabilised the prime-time band, Zee launched the attack to grab the afternoon viewers.

The first to fill this space was Meri Doli Tere Angana on at 2 pm. This was then followed by the launch of Rakhi at 1:30 pm in August.

Zee’s strategy was to first hit the slot where Star Plus was relatively weak and from 2 pm to move to the 1 pm band.

“We have already consolidated the prime time and now our focus is on the afternoon slot,” says Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) president of revenue Joy Chakraborthy.

This obviously came as a strategy to increase the GRPs for the channel.

On Star Plus’ front, the “K” shows from Balaji Telefilms have been the ruling ragas on the channel. Interestingly, of the present lot of the K shows, two are on the afternoon band – Kumkum and Karam Apna Apna. All the three shows are running for long and have consistently delivered well for the channel.

The consistency and loyalty of viewers reflect well in the TRPs these shows deliver. How will Zee break the cult?

“We are gradually building over the slot with shows. Moreover, one should not forget that Star Plus has been running these shows for two to three years and the loyalty has been built already. Gradually, we will also secure the afternoon slot with shows targeted towards women,” says Chakraborthy.

It seems the hide-and-seek game will persist for some more time.

FEASIBILITY

Launching a slot is not an easy job because revenues play an important role. Every slot should be workable.

With huge monies involved, channels need to be more cautious while launching shows. The afternoon band also is relatively low paying but there is potential to up the rates.

“The CPRP is also lower and because of which the afternoon inventory is choc-a-block and that makes an investment worth returns,” says Chakraborthy.

“The female viewership is higher in the afternoon slot because of which there are 65 per cent to 70 per cent of FMCG brands advertising in the afternoon slot,” he adds.

However, the trend remains that the prime time, which constitutes the major chunk of the GRPs, has to be consolidated first and then comes the daily afternoon slot.

If that is the case, Zee launching an afternoon slot makes sense. But the middle rung channels which are still toddling behind have to still give it a thought.

“The investments that go into producing the shows are huge but the RoIs have to be equally huge. At this time, we want to establish our prime time. However, afternoon is something that needs to be addressed on our channel and we will focus on it very soon,” says Sahara One programming head Kalyan Sundaram.

“With this kind of investment, a lot of research needs to be done and everything has to be worked out,” adds Sundaram.

	12:00 pm- 12:30 pm	12:30 pm – 1:00pm	1:00 pm – 1:30 pm	1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
9x	Rasme Rasoi	Dahhej	Neelajanaa	Veeranwali

Industry observers say that only after the prime time is strengthened, the channel should intrude the afternoon slot. Traditionally that has been the case.

Kumkum was a low-budget show, and later on went on to become the major driver of the channel.

“I was involved in the mounting process of Kumkum which was the show that gave insight of using afternoon slot for building GRPs,” says Sony Entertainment Television (SET) creative head Sanjay Upadhyay.

The other channels repeat the shows that are aired in the prime time.

“Repeats drive the prime-time slot. It is our extended offering to viewers who could not catch the shows at prime time. We don’t want to get scattered everywhere. As the industry says, first strengthen the prime time and then focus on afternoon. By showing repeats, we are trying to build up our prime time and as far as movies are concerned, they have their own strengths,” adds Upadhyay.

9X, which is a new entrant in the genre, launched its afternoon slot in January 2008 with Rasm-E-Rasoi at 12:00 noon. 12:30 pm has a repeat of a prime-time show Daheej. Then comes Neelanjana at 1 pm and Veeranwali at 1:30 pm – both of which are fresh shows.

9X’s afternoon slot begins at 12 noon which is one hour ahead of Star Plus and Zee’s slot.

“A strong daily afternoon band will only add variety to the offerings of a GEC, which have to be rich and varied because it’s a general entertainment channel. We have two original daily dramas and a cookery show. We wanted to offer our key audiences the best of programming not just in prime time but in the afternoons too,” says INX Media founder-CEO Indrani Mukerjea.

Star and Zee have fresh programming in the afternon slot, but they have an established prime time. Considering that, isn’t it too early for 9X to launch the afternoon slot with fresh programmes?

“These programming decisions are in keeping with our business plan, and we have a long-term perspective. We believe that the homemaker female audiences need good, original programming that informs and entertains in the afternoons. Hence, we are offering cookery shows and two original daily dramas for them,” adds Mukerjea.

Star TV to shell out more money to IT Department

The channels of Star Television India Private Limited will have to shell out more money to the Income Tax (IT) Department than it has offered to pay. The Bombay High Court on Wednesday admitted the appeal filed by the IT Department against the order of the Settlement Commission allowing Star Group to pay Rs 1,300 crore and settle the matter.

Mohan Paearasaran and Beni Chatterji, counsel for IT, said that the Star Group disclosed Rs 150 crore later. Hence their first application was not true and did not give full disclosure, said Chatterji.

“If their entire revenue was considered then their dues would be over Rs 2,600 crore plus interest plus penalty. Hence the matter should not be settled by the Settlement Commission,” argued Chatterji.

There were numerous litigations pending against the Star Group with the IT Department with regard to taxable income of the 11 channels. The channels have not paid the income tax, stating that all of them are registered in the British Virgin Islands.

However, the IT department claimed that monies were being transferred from India. The Indian unit is collecting revenue to be transferred abroad, which ought to have been deducted as TDS as per the IT Act.

The group approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which upheld the claim of the IT Department. The group approached the HC against the order of the ITAT.

Meanwhile, the group made an application before the Settlement Commission to settle the entire issue by offering to pay tax, which was 29 per cent of the revenue that was sent abroad.

According to Star, they had transferred Rs 5,000 crore abroad in July 2007 and were willing to pay Rs 1,300 crore. The Settlement Commission admitted the Star’s application, whereby the group would be let off after paying a little over Rs 1,300 crore.

ICL or IPL can happen only in India, says Michael Bevan

Former Australia cricketer Michael Bevan feels Twenty-20 tournaments in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) or Indian Premier League (IPL) format can happen only in India because of the availability of large number of local players.

“Only India can sustain two such alternative tournaments. It’s only possible for India to provide so many players required to support such an endeavour,” Bevan, coach-cum-player of the Chennai Superstars ICL team. He is in hyderabad for the ICL 20’s Grand Championship match against Hyderabad Heroes to be played at the Lal Bahadur Stadium on March 15.

“The national cricket boards in all cricket playing countries are involved in a different kind of cricket and none has as many players as India. For any other country it’s very difficult to conduct such tournaments. Such tournaments will boost local players and help improve the standard of the game. But few countries can afford to organise such tournaments,” the left-hand batsman added.

Bevan, who has been associated with the ICL for about one year, observed India has a lot of young talented players. “I am associated with ICL as a coach for the last one year. During all these months I have come across so many potentially good players who might not have got chances to play at the top level. Given a chance, they can do wonders for the country,” he added.

Speaking about his experiences with Indian cricket, he said there are a lot of emotion attached to the game here. “Cricketers here are more passionate about the game. The kind of enthusiasm I have seen here is rare,” he added.

Bevan, who was considered to be a one-day specialist, said he really enjoyed the new format of the game. “The Twenty20 is a pretty new concept. It’s giving cricket a new dimension altogether. I have enjoyed it so far,” he said about the faster version of the game which he said would be more fun and entertaining for the viewers.

Pyramid Saimira in strategic deal with UK’s Spize TV

Pyramid Saimira Entertainment Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd, has entered into a strategic partnership with UK-based Spize TV, a pan-European direct-to-home (DTH) TV platform offering Asian and niche content.

Pyramid Saimira will facilitate content and new channels services, on Spize TV. It may be noted that Saimira Access Technologies, a privately held company floated by Pyramid Saimira, has acquired 51 per cent stake in Spize TV.

Ajoy Khandheria, CEO, Spize TV, said, “Spize TV is a very exciting prospect for us as this will enable us to offer niche content on a pan-European basis. We are extremely happy to work with Eutelsat to create EB9 as a new hot location for the region, and with Pyramid Saimira to capitalize on their extensive content expertise.”

P. S. Saminathan, Managing director, Pyramid Saimira said, “The partnership with Spize TV is a very crucial step, in terms of our global entertainment strategy. With this venture, we will gain access into more new territories, which will help synergize and leverage our content significantly. This also sets us well on our way towards expansion in Europe. Personally speaking, this marks my re-entry into the cable & satellite space and signals the beginning of an exciting journey in this space.”

Spize TV will offer numerous channels in the North Bouquet and South Bouquet categories. The North Bouquet will offer Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Bangla, Gujarati language channels, while the South bouquet will offer Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Singhalese and Malay channels.

Spize TV will have both Viaccess and Irdeto conditional access systems to allow both bouquets to watch a mix of channels including live international cricket matches played in India and Pakistan.

SpizeTV will be arranging the installation of dual-LNBs on the existing viewers’ of HotBird dishes to allow them to continue watching their other favourite channels on the HotBird satellite, as well as a large bouquet of channels on SpizeTV on the EB9 satellite.

The deal was advised by Elara Capital of UK and Keynote Capitals of India.

9X to launch Sunday prime time with ‘Vodafone Yeh Hai Jalwa’

INX Media’s Hindi general entertainemnt channel (GEC) 9X is launching its Sunday prime-time band “Sunday Dhamaka” from 16 March at 8 pm with Vodafone Yeh Hai Jalwa. This follows the channel’s launch of afternoon band in January. INX Media founder-CEO Indrani Mukerjea said, “This new show will set the tone of our new offering ‘Sunday Dhamaka.’ We promise to give our viewers a fresh programming that includes a lot of new shows and events, all on Sundays.”

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Vodafone Yeh Hai Jalwa, which is the second reality show on 9X after Mission Ustaad, is a dance-based reality show. Conceptualised and produced by Eternal Dreams India Pvt Ltd and Cineyug, the two-hour weekly show will span over 13 weeks.

So far, the channel has been airing only films in the Sunday prime time slot. This is the first dance reality show on the channel.

The show will have nine teams and each of them will be mentored by popular faces on Indian TV. Each team has six participants – one celebrity and five people from different walks of life including housewives, slum dwelling kids, professional dancers, white-collar executives and workers.

Eternal Dreams CEO and director Bonnie Jain said, “This is a new show peopled with the most popular faces from television. The teams are composed of the common people and that is the differentiator for the show.”

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In an attempt to grab the eyeballs, the new show has roped in Sakshi Tanwas and Smriti Irani as anchors. Additionally, each episode will have a performance by a Bollywood celebrity.

The squad of celebrity mentors and their teams are as follows:

Ronit Roy will play mentor to “Bindass Bosses,” a team of white-collar workers.

Shweta Tiwari will lead a team of housewives, “Bahu Ki Behnein.”

Varun Badola’s team of senior citozens is called “Guru Kool.”

Rosa Catalano’s team of blue-collared workers is called “Rangeele Dilwale.”

Rohit Roy leads a lineup of international dancers “Firangi Phatake.”

Prachi Desai’s team of college students is called “Masti Ki Pathshala.”

Hussain Kwajerwala leads a team of aspiring actors and models called “Kal Ke Kalakaar.”

Rakhi Sawant leads a team of lovable kids, called “Hillar Party.”

Sharad Malhotra leads a team of professional dancers, called “Toofani Toli.”

Unlike other reality shows, Vodafone Yeh Hai Jalwa will have the winner determined by 100 per cent public votes. The prize money for the mentor is Rs 2 million while each of the winning team mates will receive a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

Sun TV to float Sun Pictures for film production

Sun TV Network, India’s largest media network in terms of market capitalisation, is gearing up to enter film production. It plans to produce at least 10 feature films each in three languages – Tamil, Telugu and Kannada annually through Sun Pictures, a soon-to-be-floated unit.

Sun TV is also preparing to launch its ‘home entertainment division’, to launch DVDs of the collection of regional films in its library. It also plans to tap the growing online movie download market across the globe, currently dominated by illegal initiatives.

On the film front, Sun’s initial focus will be on the Tamil cinema, before it moves to neighbouring markets, film industry sources told this paper here on Monday. The company’s Chairman and Managing director, Kalanithi Maran, declined to comment on the subject.

According to the sources close to the development, Sun TV Network has signed up with all leading players, including stars, directors and music directors in the Tamil film industry. While company officials declined to name them citing the sensitivity involved, a formal announcement is expected by end-March or early April.

The entire funding for films will come from Sun TV Network, but every film will be produced on a “commissioned basis”, with a set of existing production houses being roped in as ‘executive producers’. For instance, the Tamil films will be handled by Radaan Mediaworks, promoted by actress Radika Saratkumar.

The first film to be produced by Sun TV Network is likely to hit theatres this Diwali. The move to directly get into film production is a natural extension for Sun, which has acquired almost 80 per cent of all the movies in the southern regional markets for well over a decade. “Sun spends close to Rs 100 crore each for Tamil and Telugu markets to acquire satellite rights of films every year.”

Zee plans to launch Bengali movie channel

After rolling out Zee Talkies to address the Marathi market, Zee Entertainment and Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) is planning to launch a Bengali movie channel. document.write(“”) “We are thinking of launching a Bengali movie channel. This will help us create a wider bouquet in that local market,” says a senior executive in Zeel. In the regional space outside the southern belt, Marathi and Bengali are two large markets. document.write(“”) Zee’s strategy is to pack the main regional language markets with a GEC (general entertainment channel), a news and a movie channel. “We have created such a combination in the Marathi market. We are planning to repeat this in the Bengali market,” says the executive. Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Network has adopted such a strategy in the southern states, adding GEC, movie, news and music to the list. But Zee is not thinking of language music channels. “We don’t see music channels being viable in these markets,” the executive adds.

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