MUMBAI: This is one market that  is bucking the OTT trend and pay TV is actually looking strong here. South Korea has seen a growth in its pay TV subscriber base to 33 million in the first six months of the year, up 540,000 or 1.67 per cent over the second half of last year. The numbers include subscribers to system operators, satellite services and IPTV services. The most buoyant of these three has been IPTV services.

Amongst the leaders figure fixed-line and telco services provider KT with a market share of over 21.4 percent or just under 7.1 million subscribers, followed by SK Broadband with 14.7 percent and LG Uplus with 12.4 percent. These three offer IPTV services to their subscribers and have been showing healthy growth.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) has issued a statement, clarifying that all of its television channels in Tamil Nadu are fully operational across leading cable and DTH operators, including Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd., SCV and V K Digital.

The channels are also available across all leading DTH operators viz. Airtel Digital TV, Tata Sky, Dish TV, d2h, and Sun Direct, the statement said.

The statement reads thus:

“There has been no change in the consumer price (MRP) of the individual channels or channel packs whatsoever. Zee Prime Tamil SD pack, competitively priced at Rs. 10 only, is the best value pack in Tamil Nadu market, when compared to other similar bouquets available in the same market.

MUMBAI: Media conglomerate ZEEL’s channels have been blacked out by three multi-system operators (MSOs) Arasu Cable, SCV and VK Digital in many parts of Tamil Nadu due to disagreement on pricing.

Following the complaints by susbcribers in Tamil Nadu about the non-availability of ZEEL channels, the broadcaster has issued an official statement saying that all its channels are fully operational across all cable and direct to home (DTH) platforms.

It also clarified that there has been no change in the pricing of ZEEL channels or bouquets. The company has urged customers to approach their respective MSOs for getting the channels reactivated.

“Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) wishes to clarify that all of its television channels in Tamil Nadu are fully operational across leading cable and DTH operators, including Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd., SCV and V K Digital. The channels are also available across all leading DTH operators viz. Airtel Digital TV, Tata Sky, Dish TV, d2h, and Sun Direct,” ZEEL said in a statement.

“There has been no change in the consumer price (MRP) of the individual channels or channel packs whatsoever. Zee Prime Tamil SD pack, competitively priced at Rs. 10 only, is the best value pack in Tamil Nadu market when compared to other similar bouquets available in the same market.”

BENGALURU: Southern languages channels shared equal space in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across genres list with Hindi GECs in week 50 of 2019 (Saturday, 7 December 2019 to Friday, 13 December 2019, week or period under review). In the meantime, TV viewership dropped to 13.8 billion weekly impressions in week 50 of 2019 from 14.2 billion in the previous week. 

Overall TV and OTT weekly viewership according to BARC data declined 2.8 percent to 14 billion weekly impressions during the period under review from 14.4 billion impressions reported in week 49 of 2019. The Top 10 Pay Channels Across genres incurred a higher loss than the Top 10 Free to Air (FTA) Channels Across Genres did in week 50 of 2019 as compared to week 49, as their respective chartswhich follow in this paper will demonstrate.

New Delhi: In an endeavour to enable consumers to have seamless TV & online viewing experience, Dish TV India Limited, largest single-country DTH Company today announced roll-out of ‘Orbit’, its new user interface for its recently launched SMRT & Magic range of connected products for both its brands DishTV & d2h. Orbit is packed with an array of exciting features addressing best of aggregated content from various traditional and online sources available on the platform.

With a simple yet exceptional UI design, Orbit is developed to create a balance between entertainment and information by providing smooth integration of Live TV, OTT, and other value-added services. Dish TV India collaborated with Tata Elxsi for doing the UX enhancements for its connected devices. Thorough consumer research, interaction modelling , multiple rounds of UI design testing were conducted to provide a simple, attractive and engaging interface, resulting in efficient and all-rounder user experience.The new interface will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to make it easier to find content on TV where users are restricted to traditional remotes.

New Delhi: After the intense political campaigning in Jharkhand, it is now the time for results of the electoral and political test for the BJP government in the state. As the voters and the major political parties await the verdict of the election, News18 India is set to present the most comprehensive reportage of the Counting Day on 23rd December. The channel has lined-up special programming to keep the viewers apprised of latest trends and developments.

Commencing at 7AM, the day-long programming will be geared towards bringing the up-to-the-minute updates. Giving unparalleled insight into these crucial assembly elections, the reportage will be augmented with in-depth analysis and discussions. The channel will keep a close track of results and analyse the implications with eminent experts in the special programming.

News18 India’s team of journalists combined with a renowned panel of experts will aim to offer unmatched access to the developments and first reactions from the biggest newsmakers across the state and the nation. Spearheading the programming and coverage, Managing Editor Kishore Ajwani and Managing Editor, News18 UP/UK, News18 MP/CG & News18 Rajasthan Amish Devgan, along with Senior Editor Prateek Trivedi will be joined by eminent experts and political analysts.

MUMBAI: Expanding its regional footprint further, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) on Thursday announced four new regional channels — Zee Punjabi (GEC channel) and three movie channels Zee Biskope (Bhojpuri), Zee Thirai (Tamil) and Zee Picchar (Kannada). Zee Punjabi and Zee Biskope are scheduled to go on air on 13 January and 14 January 2020 respectively whereas, Zee Thirai and Zee Picchar will launch between February and March 2020.

MUMBAI: In week 50 of BARC India ratings, Colors has grabbed second position in the urban market with 442037 weekly impressions (000s). The channel has also moved to third position on pay platform. Sony SAB has also retained its second on pay platform. Last week Zee TV was seen at second position. This week on pay platform, Zee TV has slipped down to fourth position.

MUMBAI: Week 50 of BARC India ratings did not witness any significant changes in the regional space. The pecking order of the channels in Bangla, Kannada and Tamil space remained unchanged. In Bhojpuri space, Big Ganga grabbed second position. Last week B4U Bhojpuri was seen at the second position. Zee Bangla, Star Jalsha, Jalsha Movies, Colors Bangla and Sony Aath were the top five Bangla channels in week 50 of BARC India ratings.BanglaRankChannel NameWeekly Impressions (000s) sum  Week 501Zee Bangla3342402STAR Jalsha2885833Jalsha Movies611674Colors Bangla533985Zee Bangla Cinema48546WB (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ IndividualsBhojpuri Cinema, Big Ganga, B4U Bhojpuri, Dabangg and Bhojpuri Dhamaka DISHUM were the top five Bhojpuri channels.

MUMBAI: As the new tariff order (NTO) came into effect in 2019, niche channels feared its impact the most. Belonging to one of the niche genres - infotainment, EPIC channel with its focus on India-centric content went against the tide. In the tough year the channel experimented with various genres and launched shows like EPIC IQ Challenge, Regiment Diaries and the new season of Lost Recipe. Going forward in 2020 the channel will bring another season of these marquee shows along with some new and unique formats that have never been seen in the infotainment space. 

In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, EPIC channel content and programming head Akul Tripathi spoke on the channel's journey so far, challenges faced by the infotainment, advertisers' keenness on upcoming shows, content strategies and roadmap for 2020.