MUMBAI: Alarmed by the complaints of arm-twisting of regional channels by the distribution platform operators (DPOs), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is mulling to do away with the threshold of 5% subscription for regional channels for direct to home (DTH) platforms.

The authority has also consulted all stakeholders whether placement fee/marketing fee agreements should be regulated in view of the complaints about the misuse of the forbearance granted by the TRAI on these kinds of deals. In the new regime, only the carriage fee has been regulated.

In its consultation paper ‘Issues related to Interconnection Regulation 2017’, the TRAI has stated that it has received representations from quite a few regional broadcasters wherein they have highlighted their concerns regarding the declaration of the target market by DPOs.

The existing regulations provide freedom to the DPOs to declare their target market for the purpose of ascertaining the carriage fee.

 

"We are monitoring new technology developments and are responding to these. In the next few weeks, we are going to introduce connected boxes (android boxes) for the customers who seek new age media entertainment. We also have smart stick at Rs 599," Dish TV India corporate head (marketing) Sukhpreet Singh said, as quoted by PTI.

Singh also added that the company expects to upgrade 20 per cent of its customers to online streaming services with the connected devices in the next 18-24 months. However, the price of the proposed set top boxes have not been revealed.

While the DTH platform has also launched an over-the-top platform Watcho recently, it will also help in consumer engagement and customer acquisition, according to Singh. "Currently, Watcho is free for six months. But it will attract rentals as we also offer exclusive content," he added.

MUMBAI: At the 20th annual general meeting of the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF), Sony Pictures Networks India chief executive officer NP Singh has been re-elected as the foundation’s president.

“I am elated to lead IBF when the industry is at crossroads trying desperately to have some iota of certainty and stability in the regulatory space. IBF leads the advocacy for the broadcasting fraternity and strives to provide an invigorating atmosphere for the sector to grow. To provide the leadership at this crucial juncture comes both as a challenge and opportunity. I look forward to meet all the challenges in conjunction with the Board members and office bearers of the Foundation. I am confident that in keeping with the vision of Prime Minister of digital India and ease of doing business, the sector will get its legitimate recognition,” Singh commented  on the re-election.

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s regional channel Zee Bangla recently completed 20 years of its journey in the Bangla market. The mantra of consumer-centricity has kept the channel in the leading position in the market. Going farther in its journey, the channel wants to be known as a brand which is relevant, relatable and embedded into Bengali values and culture. While speaking to Indiantelevision.com, ZEEL cluster business head- East Samrat Ghosh spoke on the journey of channel, evolution of content in the Bangla market, consumption trends, impact of economy slowdown and advertisement on the channel.

Xaxis India, the outcome media company and GroupM’s advanced programmatic arm, has partnered with global measurement and data analytics company Nielsen Media as a primary digital audience measurement provider in India to bring industry-wide third-party verification for Xaxis View, video premium and audio campaigns.

As a ‘mobile-first’ market, analysis of mobile media consumption habits is crucial for success. With Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings now offering mobile measurement across leading social, video and audio streaming platforms, Xaxis and its clients will get an accurate read of demographics, reduplicated unique audience numbers, as well as reach, frequency and gross rating points (GRPs) for all campaigns.

Zee5, the ConTech brand, has teamed up with HockeyCurve Technology Labs to offer dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) and ad serving for their programmatic campaigns.

HockeyCurve will help Zee5 in faster creative development, customising user experiences through (AI) Artificial Intelligence-based creatives.

The DCO solution from HockeyCurve Technology Labs integrates easily with Zee5 to develop genre, show, episode-based ads in real time, thus increasing relevance for viewers. Through this solution, Zee5 will be able to set performance expectations from the creative and look at strategic ways of monetisation of their medium. Moreover, it will also empower them with insights drawn from real time data across key business performance indicators like new user acquisition, retention and subscription among others.

News and infotainment network iTV Network has further consolidated its presence in regional news space. iTV network and AM Television has announced their agreement to launch NE News to redefine news experience for its viewers in the north-east at the event held at Hotel Vivanta, Guwahati.

NE News will be a free-to-air news channel. It will be available across all the platforms and will have a presence on cable, DTH and digital platforms.

The channel philosophy is to present content that is credible, insightful and positive in nature. It will telecast daily state-specific news bulletins done in the vernacular language of all states. The programming will focus on regional news (in Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Nepali, Hindi and English), socio-legal shows, news insights, talk shows, cultural shows, special programming on food, fashion, lifestyle, tourism, music, sports, health and education, et al.

Pay-TV subscribers increased by 26 million in 2018 across 138 countries, taking the total beyond 1 billion, according to Digital TV Research estimate.

The report stated Satellite TV grew by 2 million subscribers and pay DTT by 1 million in 2018. Digital cable TV added 7 million subs, but analogue cable TV shed 16 million subs—meaning a net loss for cable.

Cable TV accounted for half of all pay-TV subscribers in 2018; down from three-quarters in 2010. IPTV increased its share of pay-TV subscribers to a quarter in 2018. Satellite TV generated 22 percent of pay-TV subscribers in 2018.Simon Murray, the principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “IPTV added 42 million subscribers in 2018 alone to take its total to 257 million. IPTV overtook pay satellite TV in 2018.”

The e4m Conclave 2019 saw many key industry leaders gather together to have an evening of learning. Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5, spoke about the age of Hyper-personalisation and AI.

Speaking about how things have evolved with the advent of digital, Katial reminisced, "I think most of us, advertisers, marketers and agency folks, started in the late 90s or early 2000s looking at target audiences. We were told we were to look for an upper cap of 25-44. You could add gender, geography to it. Then there were some studies which added lifestyle attributes to it and so on, and so forth. Then came digital, about five to seven years ago which started to do user-level activation and tried to understand user cohorts and segments. Then we got excited that Google could tell us more than we know about our audiences."