KOLKATA: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited third parties to express their interest (EOI) in acquiring the title sponsorship rights for the Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL) to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 19 September 2020 to 10 November 2020.

The rights are available for the period from 18 August 2020 to 31 December 2020. The turnover of the interested third party must be over Rs 300 crore as per the last audited accounts.

The BCCI confirmed on 6 August that Vivo will not be the title sponsor for IPL 2020 which signed a five-year sponsorship deal in 2018. The title sponsorship is a large source of IPL revenue.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that marketing agency/agents are not eligible to bid and any bid submitted by a marketing agency/agent shall be rejected at the outset,” BCCI added.

Saluting the brave Galwan valley martyrs, broadcast network Times Network will release a special documentary, ‘Gallantry at Galwan – A Tale Of Valour’, this Independence Day. Marking two months of the deadly Galwan clash, which witnessed the heroic sacrifice of 20 brave soldiers who valiantly fought Chinese transgression in Indian territory, the special documentary scheduled for telecast on August 15, at 1pm on Times Now, Times Now World and Mirror Now brings forth the story of grit and raw courage of these soldiers.

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A 45-minute succinct account of factual events that took place in the intervening night of June 15-16 in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh, the documentary analyses the bloodiest engagement between Indian and Chinese troops in 45 years and aims to inform the viewers about the history of border dispute between the countries and reflects on how tensions unfolded over the years. Accessing high technology tools like 3D graphics and Google Earth studio, the documentary brings a comprehensive narrative of the circumstances that led to the fatal face-off and how men of 16 Bihar Regiment crushed the Chinese aggression.

With fresh content resuming on television, the audience is slowly getting back to the screens and realigning their viewing patterns. According to Manisha Sharma, Chief Content Officer for Hindi Mass Entertainment at Viacom18, the concept of prime time and non-prime time has disappeared.

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“We are adapting to the new normal and collectively developing a safe production environment as it is need of the hour. We are trying to find opportunities to associate with brands, keeping crises at bay, and taking one thing at a time. For instance, viewership last week was good but we saw a variation this week. So it is volatile and we are working around it,” she said.

Speaking about the audience’s response since the return of fresh content, Sharma said they have impressive ratings for prime-time content. “Our prime-time fiction shows have fared well. Choti Sarrdaarni, Barrister Babu, Shakti — Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki have done great and are among our top-rated shows. The overall industry has mounted shows and landed approximate ratings between 1.3 and 1.4 TVRs. So, it is a challenge for everybody,” she explained.

NDTV Group has posted a profitable quarter ending June 30, 2020, despite the widely-reported impact of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses in India and the media sector in particular.

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The television business of the company, NDTV Limited, has declared profit after tax of Rs 4.42 crore. Of the last nine quarters, the broadcasting business has shown a profit in eight.

The Group's profit after tax for this quarter is Rs 6.89 crore.

With the group building its financial strength, its liabilities (including bank borrowings) have reduced by 95 crores in the last two years.

The Group would like to acknowledge the loyalty and commitment of those employees who took pay cuts for Q1 (the majority of employees have seen these cuts reversed as of August 1; the management and other senior employees continue to work with reduced salaries).

NDTV Convergence, which is the Group's digital business, remains a market leader with huge traffic on account of its credible reporting of the pandemic. Its EBITDA for the quarter was 23%, the same as that of the last quarter (Q4) of FY 2019-20.

Mumbai: In keeping with its focus on enhancing its services to its subscribers; IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd. (“IMCL”), one of India’s premier content distribution platform companies has engaged Cloudpoint Technologies to manage key aspects of its B2C segment, in Mumbai initially. Cloudpoint, which has been engaged by IMCL since last year to provide strategic advisory and support services for its direct points, will now take on the mantle of providing key services to IMCL’s direct CATV subscribers in Mumbai – ranging from revenue collection and end-to-end customer lifecycle management to upselling and cross-selling. Cloudpoint will deliver these services through a dedicated team completely focused on the core objective of consumer satisfaction.

Commenting on this engagement, Mr.N.K. Rouse, Chief Operating Officer (COO), IMCL said, “It is our constant endeavour to enhance consumer experience through superior service and also foster growth through engagements with specialist firms. This initiative is one such endeavour and is in line with one of the guiding principles of our Hinduja Group – “Partnership for Growth”. It is not only going to unlock opportunities for bringing about desired growth, but also result in superior consumer experience through agile and focused consumer service for our Direct Point consumers.”

India TV’s popular anchor and Executive Editor Sushant Sinha has stepped down from his role. His next move is still not confirmed.
Sinha joined India TV in March 2019. In his 18-year long career, Sinha has served at several big news channels. Prior to joining India TV, he was associated with India News as Deputy Editor. His longest stint was with NDTV India where he worked for over five years.

KOLKATA: It may be the heyday of over-the-top (OTT) platforms but it’s not like the pandemic will not have any impact on their operations. While everything appears great on the surface, the constraints of shooting large-scale projects are going to affect the pipeline of long-format premium originals in the first half of FY22, according to executives who spoke at ‘Future of OTT content and its evolution in India’, hosted by Indiantelevision.com. Being cautious of the situation, the platforms are going to evolve content formats which can be shot amid all the constraints.

MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar accepted that it would run out of shows which were shot before lockdown by the end of the year. The platform is trying to see if it can change the narrative and also trying to explore if there are shows which can be produced within the given constraints. He added that it would look at smaller shows which can be put together in fewer locations with fewer artists, but with interesting stories. Talwar emphasised that OTT platforms have to adapt to the environment. Hence, MX Player will get into the shoot with smaller shows.

MUMBAI: Mumbai-based surgeon Dr Bimal Shah runs Hare Krsna TV, a free to air (FTA) satellite TV channel. Being a self-funded channel run for social service, several cable operators carry it without a carriage fee. However, the challenge has been with the bigger names in cable and DTH, who are hesitant.

Shah says, “I believe running a channel is the highest form of social service as it caters to both the rich and poor.  A lot of money is spent on content and broadcasting. Cable operators can also be benefitted by carrying this channel because it is unique in its approach and it is not like other devotional channels. Cable operators will have some good content in their bouquet to offer the viewers and eventually retain their subscribers.”

The channel sources, curates and processes content from the worldwide centres of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). The programming lineup consists of temple darshan from various centres of ISKCON, morning darshan and all the aartis. Besides this, a major portion of the programming includes music and satsang. The footages are acquired from 600 ISKCON centres in the world. Considering the pandemic, the channel has had to install multiple camera setup in various ISKCON centres across India for the live feed. Through this medium Shah wants to highlight the importance of Indian and Indo-western culture.

India’s leading entertainment destination for music, Bollywood news, trends, lifestyle and fashion, zoOm gears up to welcome the biggest International stars on its much talked about chat show Access Allowed. Hosted by Renil Abraham, Access Allowed will feature some of the most sought-after global celebrities, including Christian Navarro (13 Reasons Why), Anna Maria Sieklucka (365 Days), Twan Kuyper (Youtube Star and Influencer), Tom Rhys Harries (White Lines), Chloe Veitch (Too Hot To Handle), Luke Cook (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Johnny Orlando(Canadian singer-songwriter and actor), Michael Ronda(Control Z),  Zane Hijazi (Youtuber) and more, make their India Television debut in a fun tête-à-tête.

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With the biggest line-up of international celebrities on an Indian Television show ever, Access Allowed will see the global stars indulge in a candid conversation to discuss nepotism, on exploring sexuality in front of camera, Black Lives Matter movement, mental health and much more.  With engaging conversations, Q&A with viewers and some exciting challenges & games so that the celebrities can let loose and unveil their fun side, the show will offer viewers a glimpse into the lives of their favourite celebrities as they have never seen before.  

TV Today Network Limited, which runs news channels Aaj Tak, India Today TV and Tez, and FM radio station Ishq FM, posted a net profit  of Rs 12.77 crore in Q1FY21, down 75% from Rs 51 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

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The company’s total revenue for the quarter ending June 30, 2020, stood at Rs 175 crore, down 32% from Rs 260 crore in Q1FY20.

The television broadcasting business continued to contribute with more than 82% to the total revenue from operations of the company. The revenue from television operations stood at Rs 137.79 crore, down 18% from Rs 167.7 crore in the same quarter last year.

The radio broadcasting business earned a total revenue of Rs 23 lakh in Q1FY21 compared with Rs 3.78 crore in the first quarter of the previous year.