On the occasion of Times Now completing a decade, Arnab Goswami spoke to afaqs! about his learnings and experience. Goswami believes it’s all about conviction in the business of television news, “viewers respond to impactful stories and there is no complicated science to it”. » Star India retains its exclusive broadcaster role for the English Premier League. Viewers will be able to watch the next three seasons of EPL on Star Sports channels as well as Hotstar and starsports.com. “This partnership is key in our strategy of promoting football as a priority sport in the country,” said Sanjay Gupta, COO, Star India. » Read how SC’s ruling in favour of Red FM impacts Sun TV in the long term. » IIMC’s alumni association strongly condemned and demanded swift investigation into the attack on TV journalist Kishan Barai. Barai was attacked during a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, the culprits are unidentified.
Star India
Letterman Makes a Comeback
David Letterman, of ‘The Late Show’ fame, is planning to return to TV in his maiden visit to India next year. He’ll appear as a correspondent on an episode of National Geographic’s climate change documentary series, “Years of Living Dangerously”. Letterman will reportedly speak to Indian PM Modi about the country’s energy concerns. » Star India bagged the 43rd GIANTS International Awards for Excellence in electronic media. Star India CEO Mr. Uday Shankar accepted the prestigious award in Mumbai, in a ceremony attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrika, and Shaina NC. » I&B Ministry is planning to hold a workshop to revamp the quality of advertisements issued by various government departments. Initially officials will get feedback from a panel of experts and later the ministry is considering inviting feedback and suggestions from the public.
When Stars Align
In the recently launched BARC ratings for the week 16 (from April 18th to 24th), Times Now leads the pack of English news channels followed by CNN IBN and NDTV 24×7, while Aaj Tak leads Hindi News channel genre followed by ABP News and Zee News. Star Network India & Care India NGO initiate a nationwide public service campaign ‘Ek Padosi hi Padosi ke Kaam Aata Hai’ to mobilize donations for Nepal. The campaign will see iconic Bollywood celebrities raising funds for Nepal. CEO Sanjay Hemady ends his 9 year long stint with Hit 95 FM by calling it quits. He will be replaced by Abraham Thomas, COO of Red FM. According to reports, the change of guard comes as Hit 95 FM readies to transition from an English music programming to a more populist Bollywood and Hindi programming.
Starry Days
Fox’s COO and son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch on his visit to India meets PM Narendra Modi, accompanied by Star India CEO Uday Shankar. Speculation is rife as Fox and Star India may have more plans to awake the sleeping tiger – good news for media industry. Jia Yueting, billionaire, founder and CEO of Chinese internet video site Leshi TV has sparked controversy for a poster featuring the Apple logo, sported on armband worn by Adolf Hitler. The contention is that Apple stifles innovation and harms consumer interests. It is rumored that LeTV (a Chinese mobile company) is using this as a launch stunt prior to a new product launch.
First AM then PM
Enter Rupert Murdoch again. After acquiring VC Circle in the morning, News Corp’s Indian arm Star India acquires ‘Screen’ (a film magazine) in the evening, making it News Corp’s second takeover in a day! As part of the acquisition deal with the Indian Express Group, Star India will get exclusive ownership of the Screen brand franchise, including all archival material and transfer of key employees.
And the Buzziest Brand Award goes to
The annual Surewaves Buzziest Brands Awards have been announced! In the M&E category The Times of India dominates the leader board with Colors Entertainment Channel scoring the second position while Star India marches in at number 3 followed by Times Now TV and Discovery Channel. The 10th edition of the awards was held on 27th February and was sponsored by Dainik Bhaskar Digital.
China no. 1, India no. 2 when it comes to shopping via mobile devices says in a global e-commerce report from Dyn (an Internet company) – maybe it’s just the sheer population that is driving the no. 1 and no. 2 rank – no surprises heh?
Star India has MAA…
Star India at it again! It announces the acquisition of MAA TV. Already dominant in Bengali, Kannada and Tamil media, Star India strengthens its position and goes head to head against Zee Network (Zee Telugu), Viacom Network (Eenadu TV) and the Sun Network (Teja & Gemini TV). The deal reportedly was worth 2,500 Crore.
Last week’s villains are this week’s heroes! After last week’s decision by Telangana State CM Chandrashekar Rao to bar media entry to Secretariat, this week he announced that journalists can freely enter the Secretariat and the CM Block, but they will need prior appointments to go into any other Department of Secretariat. Showing goodwill, Chandrashekhar has announced contributon of 100 crores to the Journalists Welfare Association.
The Ministry of Media
Taking a page out of Delhi Government’s media guideline, Telangana’s administrators are also toying with the idea of regulating journalist access to the Secretariat – apparently to discourage Ministers to have less media face time!
While Google is set to pull a ‘Facebook‘ with its ‘Zero Rating’ network plan similar to “internet.org” where the mobile networks will not charge for a pre-specified amount of data consumption on certain apps and internet services, delivering yet another blow to “Net Neutrality”.
As the gavel strikes, Supreme Court rules on broadcasting ICC World Cup 2015 ‘tug of war’ – Star will not be the sole broadcaster – allowing Doordarshan to share match feeds with cable operators.
The Battle Rights..Contd.
The wait continues for Star as the Supreme Court delays its verdict on Star – Doordarshan Broadcast Battle until the 19th of February. However, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, chairing the jury bench, has asked Prasar Bharti (owner Doordarshan) to examine the feasibility of starting a new Doordarshan channel to telecast the World Cup 2015 matches exclusively.
The bench has also directed Star, ESPN and BCCI to give an estimate of the losses they were likely to incur in case DD was allowed to telecast all the matches after sharing live feeds with cable operators. It is a wait and watch game for Star India. SC, extending the interim order till Thursday, allows DD to telecast all the matches.
As we approach the end of the world cup, it is evident that the battle will most likely end with a settlement.
Stay tuned for further updates!
Gladiators are you ready?
India’s media ‘Gladiators’ go head to head at one of the biggest sporting events this year. As the top cricketing nations fighti it out for the top spot, so do the media. At ‘fine leg’, Doordarshan and Star India battled it out for the Broadcast Rights of the WC2015 ultimately leading to Supreme Court intervention.. Fielding on ‘the legside’, radio radar Big 92.7 FM is the clear winner bagging the exclusive partnership rights for a second time around with event specific feature shows like: “Cricket Ka Headquarter” Standing firm ‘behind the stumps’ Star India has launched 2 new HD channels: Star Sports HD 3 and HD 4 – personalizing consumer experience with broadcasts in 4 regional languages. And finally, in ‘deep mid-wicket’ and cashing in on the event, ESPN CricInfo expect to drive over 25 million visitors to their website via a revamped mobile app.
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