Colors Tamil, the Tamil GEC from Viacom 18, aired a special programme to engage its viewers with the teachings about Lord Muruga from Sri Sri Ravishankar. On the auspicious occasion of Aadi (Kanda) Shasti, the channel telecast the programme from Sri Sri Ravishankar’s ashram, highlighting the importance of Shasti for its viewers and ensuring that they stay mentally and spiritually healthy. This was followed by a mass chanting session that united millions of Tamilians across the globe. The special programme Murugan Rahasiyam was aired on Sunday, July 26, 5:30 pm onwards.

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Anup Chandrasekharan, Business Head of Colors Tamil, said, “Colors Tamil has always focused on storytelling that matches the rich heritage of the Tamil Nadu culture with innovative and quality content. Amid the lockdown, we began making constant efforts to ensure that our viewers stay connected with us while being entertained. On the auspicious occasion of Kanda Shasti Kavasam, the programme from Sri Sri Ravishankar’s ashram will enhance inner balance and spiritual wellbeing of all our viewers. Our commitment towards entertaining our viewers further makes us accountable to ensure that we don’t miss out on important cultural events. We hope that this divine experience will be able to uplift people’s spirit and help them tide through this crisis.”

Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (Zeel) on Saturday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 765.82 crore for the January-March quarter of FY 2019-20.

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The company had logged a net profit of Rs 292.53 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago, it said in a BSE filing.

Total income was down 4.06% to Rs 1,991.74 crore during the said quarter as against Rs 2,076.06 crore a year ago.

It made a provision of Rs 113.70 crore as an impairment charge of the recoverable amount of goodwill allocated to the online media business which represents a separate cash-generating unit (CGU), the company said.

Remember how arrest warrants against influential people are issued on Friday evenings, leaving no options for the affected persons to get bail before Monday? This is an old but tried-and-tested formula to harass someone by not allowing them enough time.

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Of late, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has started following in the footsteps of enforcement agencies. The regulator on Friday issued orders, asking broadcasters to comply with NTO 2.0 by August 10, despite the fact that the matter is sub judice before the Mumbai High Court. Interestingly, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar had assured that the amendment would not be implemented anytime soon as the industry was already reeling under the impact of Covid-19.

The television industry, which is already under pressure because of the coronavirus pandemic hitting the advertising revenues hard, recevied yet another blow on Friday as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked broadcasters to implement the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 by August 10.
The industry had objected to the order even when it was notified in January this year. Some broadcasters had moved the Bombay High Court stating that the order is impunging on price control. The matter is currently subjudice. Later in May, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar assured broadcasters/IBF members that NTO 2.0 will not be implemented any time soon. However, just two months after the assurance, TRAI now wants broadcasters to implement the order.
Leading players and industry experts believe this is not the right time to impose new regulations as the industry is already going through a rough phase and implementation of NTO 2.0 will further put pressure on the business.

KOLKATA: In the month of July 2020, media giant, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) moved the Bombay high court to restrain television channels Maha Movie and Manoranjan TV from broadcasting its films namely Jung (1996) and Kartavya (1979) without obtaining a license from ZEEL for the same. The court passed an order asking them to suspend future broadcasting of the movies in any form or through any medium.

Maha Movie is a television channel owned by Teleone Consumer Products Pvt Ltd and Manoranjan TV is a television channel owned by Creative Channel Advertising and Marketing Pvt Ltd.

MUMBAI: Earlier this month, BBC Studios, a global content company, announced the re-launch of its popular children’s channel, CBeebies, in India after a long hiatus of eight years. For the uninitiated, the channel had discontinued its operations in November 2012. CBeebies aims at helping preschoolers learn while they are playing. The programme schedule in India consists of entertaining and interactive series and offers a mix of new and landmark, high-quality, UK-produced programmes to educate and entertain BBC's youngest audiences.

Riding on the back of globally-known content as well as a better distribution platform in the country through digitisation, the channel hopes to attract eyeballs this time. In a special interaction with indiantelevision.com, BBC Studios south and southeast Asia SVP and GM Ryan Shiotani speaks at length about the channel's content strategy, marketing plan and much more.

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Mumbai: With fresh content back on air, Star Plus has consolidated its leadership in PHGEC with a sharp growth from 218 GRP to 246 GRP, adding a 48% viewership gap with the nearest competition. It is evident that viewers are excited to have their favorite shows back, as the channel’s weekly reach has grown from 66 Mn to 71 Mn. With the weekday primetime growing by 13% and Hotstar watch time by 30%, Star Plus current market share stands at 28%.

Since 2019, only 3 shows have launched at 2+ TVR, of which 2 belong to Star Plus (Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke and Yehh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka). Anupamaa launched at 2.1 TVR, becoming the slot leader in its first week, watched by 20 Mn viewers.

Commenting on this momentous occasion, Channel Spokesperson said, “We pride ourselves in serving quality content which our viewers love and come back for. The numbers are a testimony of our thought-through programming and promotion strategies and we will continue to excite viewers in the days to come.”

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday directed broadcasters to ensure compliance with the provisions of the New Tariff Amendment Order (NTO 2.0) by August 10.

“In order to promote orderly growth of the sector and to balance the interests of service providers and to safeguard the interest of the consumers, it is necessary to give effect to the Tariff Amendment Order 2020 and Interconnection Amendment Regulations 2020 without any further delay,” it said in its direction.

Issuing the implementation order, TRAI stated, “TRAI has issued direction to all broadcasters to ensure compliance of various provisions of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff (Second Amendment) Order, 2020 and the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2020 dated January 1, 2020,”

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday directed broadcasters to ensure compliance with the provisions of the New Tariff Amendment Order (NTO 2.0) by August 10.
“In order to promote orderly growth of the sector and to balance the interests of service providers and to safeguard the interest of the consumers, it is necessary to give effect to the Tariff Amendment Order 2020 and Interconnection Amendment Regulations 2020 without any further delay,” it said in its direction.
Reacting to the order, Karan Taurani, Vice President, Elara Capital, said NTO 2.0 will lead to lower average revenue per customer (ARPU) for TV, which has shot up by almost 60% at an average post NTO 1.0. Lower ARPU would mean a lower share of revenue for the broadcasters, who were getting almost 50% share post NTO 1.0. We are expecting the share to remain similar, but the absolute distribution revenue to move down substantially."
Talking further he said it may lead to "enhanced movement towards selective viewing as few consumers may move towards ala carte due to price correction. Also, the size of bouquet will come down in terms of channels from about 8-10 channels to 3-4 channels which will lead to a big management problem for distributors."
According to him, he expects some of the key channels, which were earlier FTA pre NTO and then became pay and lost viewership/ ad revenue to again consider the FTA route.

The regulator which the broadcasters say will ruin the business stated that the amendment is essential in order to promote orderly growth, balance the interests of service providers and safeguard the interest of the consumers

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued direction to all Broadcasters under section 13, read with section 11, of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, to ensure compliance of various provisions of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff (Second Amendment) Order, 2020 dated 1st January 2020 and the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2020 dated 1st January 2020.

The regulator which the broadcasters say will ruin the business stated, "In order to promote orderly growth of the sector and to balance the interests of service providers and to safeguard the interest of the consumers, it is necessary to give effect to Tariff Amendment Order 2020 and Interconnection Amendment Regulations 2020 without any further delay."