New Delhi: As part of the on-going #AajTakSabseTez campaign, the nation’s undisputed No.1 news channel today launched the second film of the series. The film titled ‘Achaar Gully’ highlights how Aaj Tak does not conform to the growing trend of spicing up news. The metaphorical marketplace shown is a grim reminder of the state of the news industry in general.

Conceptualised and directed by the widely acclaimed Writer-Director Pradeep Sarkar, #AajTakSabseTez campaign is a satirical take on the current news environment in the country and entertainingly highlights the relaxed standards of reporting by some players in the age of fake news. The first film ‘SachKa Band’ brought to light the exaggeration of events while presenting to the audience.

Noida: Comscore MMX’s ‘Year On Year Review’ for January 2020 to January 2021 has revealed that ABP Live gained the highest YoY growth.

The digital platform of ABP emerged as the preferred news destination for viewers all across India, as they followed national imperatives like COVID-19 and Bihar Elections, alongside other regional/local updates on ABP Live.

As COVID-19 tightened its grip across the nation and content consumption soared across platforms – ABP Network strived to offer a superior viewing experience to its audiences. Breaking free from the shackles of conformity, the network has brought something unique to its viewers every single day. Other than providing ‘news beyond limits’, ABP Network has also forayed into video content, podcasts and other forms of digital media to create greater value in this era.

As part of its 20th anniversary, Aaj Tak recently released a new campaign that succinctly highlights what is wrong with today’s news reporting and how the channel has taken a differentiated positioning.

The campaign focuses on some of the unfair practices seen in TV news today. In the first ad film ‘Sach ka Band’, an inept news reporter is seen distorting facts and spreading misinformation, going so far as to taking sound bites from cows. Looking at his antics, two onlookers comment on how Aaj Tak has been tackling such unreliable news channels.

News channels have coughed up three times more money than the reserved price of Rs 7 crore for the auction of slots on DD Free Dish for the financial year 2021-2022.

While the average bidding price for the news genre was Rs 17.3 crore, three channels shelled out three times of the reserved price — News18 India (Rs 22.05 crore), Republic Bharat (Rs 21.15 crore) and Zee Hindustan (Rs 20 crore).

Hyderabad: Zee Telugu has planned to celebrate International Women’s Day in a rather unique manner this year. The channel plans to telecast a show Maguva, Lokaniki Telusa Nee Viluva – an idea to celebrate the spirit of womanhood and one’s existence every day instead of waiting for someone else or a special day to get appreciated.

The event is about women from different walks of lives coming together and expressing themselves. These women include some of the most commendable names like Miss India 2020 Manasa Varanasi, Kanakavva – a Telangana folk artist, SI Sirisha from Srikakulam, Veena Sravani, Siva Jyothi, Jogini Syamala, Sandhya Raju, Udaya Bhanu, Actress Siva Parvati and Jeevitha Rajasekhar among another notable woman. The channel is all set to telecast the event on 7th March, a day before International Women’s day at 5 PM only on Zee Telugu and Zee Telugu HD channels.

News remained the most sought after category in the third annual (52nd) e-auction of MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish platform like the previous edition, but the prices shot up astronomically this time. While most broadcasters paid a huge premium over what they paid last year for a slot on the platform, the highest bid saw a growth of 80%. According to experts, in the absence of ratings, broadcasters couldn’t afford to lose the reach of the platform and hence pushed their bids to an unprecedented high.

In a year of dwindling profits and shrinking ad revenue, the news broadcasters are reeling under the weight of the hefty sum paid to the public broadcaster to remain on the DD Free Dish platform.

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel's wholly-owned subsidiary Airtel Digital is all set to buy 10 per cent in Tata Group’s Ferbine Pvt Ltd for Rs 50,000 cash.

With this, the telecom major has joined the race to own a stake in the pan-India umbrella entity (PUE) which has been formed to rival the National Payments Council of India (NPCI).

“The investee company has been incorporated on 18 January 2021 to make an application to Reserve Bank Of India for the PUE license. The main business of the company would be to operate a pan-India umbrella entity for retail payment systems, as would be allowed/ licensed by RBI, subject to approval of the PUE application,” Airtel said in a notice to the National Stock Exchange of India on Friday.

MUMBAI: Although Bigg Boss 14 couldn't garner the expected TRPs, it has been in the news ever since its launch. The controversial reality show concluded on 21 February after three months of regaling viewers with high drama and antics. The marquee property will be replaced by dance reality series Dance Deewane 3, with Madhuri Dixit, Tushar Kalia and Dharmesh presiding as judges. Raghav Juyal has replaced Arjun Bijlani as the host of the dance reality show, which will premiere on 27 February.

The channel’s new fiction serial Bawara Dil, premiered on 22 February at 10.30 pm, the latest in a string of fiction offerings post-lockdown; this includes Ishq Me Marjawaan2, Namak Issk Ka, Pinjara Khubsurti Ka and Molkki.

It has always been expensive for news broadcasters to be on DD Free Dish, but at the 52nd e-auction of MPEG2, the bids went bigger than ever before.

As per highly placed sources, the news bucket has already pooled in close to Rs 150 crore in the week-long auction. Apparently, another slot will be up for grabs at the final round of auction on Saturday and the news broadcasters who haven’t managed to secure a slot already are ready to go all out on the last available slot as being on the platform is of utmost importance in terms of viewership and reach for the category.

KOLKATA: The debate surrounding the future of cable operators in India has become more pressing in the wake of the Covid2019 crisis, which spurred the growth of over-the-top platforms and emergence of deep-pocket content aggregators. Despite the challenges in the present ecosystem, GTPL Hathway is looking at growing its cable TV subscriber base by more than 50 per cent in the next three years to reach a base of 12 million subscriber base, the company revealed in the Q3 FY21 earnings call.

To reach its three-year vision, it is relying on a two-pronged strategy, a combination of “push and pull”. GTPL Hathway cable TV head and chief strategy officer Piyush Pankaj said that MSOs have followed the push strategy till date by giving the schemes, benefits to partner LCOs and asking them to bring the customer back from the DTH, from the ground. On the other side, the pull strategy reaches customers directly or relies on advertisements, Pankaj explained. As a part of the second method, it plans to offer schemes directly to consumers and pay TV users it wants to convert from DTH to the cable business side.