Catering to the changing demands of quality-conscious viewers, two former executives of TV9 Kannada, who were responsible for its immense success, are launching a new 24x7 Kannada language news channel called News First. 

The new-age news channel will be different in its approach and offering, in comparison to the existing players in the market, aiming to curb the audience fatigue that has set in the market.

News First will have an exciting lineup of programmes dominated by strong content created with the blend of technology and creativity. Backed by a strong team, the channel will introduce sophisticated graphics and exclusive content that will be new to the Kannada market. 

Even though the jury is still out on the implementation of NTO 2.0, TRAI is trying for an early resolution of the 10+2 ad cap case.

On August 14, the regulatory body moved an interim application asking the Delhi High Court for an early hearing on the same.

The case was originally scheduled for an August 22 hearing.

Some of the parties associated with the case include the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), B4U, 9X Media, TV Vision, Sun TV Network, E24 and Kalaignar TV.

The case has been pending for seven years now and goes back to March 2013, when TRAI reinstated the Quality of Service norms (QoS) as per the CTNR (Cable Television Network Regulation) laws, 1995. As per the norm, which was initially published as consultation paper in August 2012, every broadcaster could run only 12 minutes of advertisements in an hour, and this may include 10 minutes of commercial advertising and 2 minutes of self-promotion.

While COVID-19 did affect market sentiments in a major way, a comeback now seems quite possible, dispelling the pall of gloom to a great extent.

The Pitch Madison Advertising Outlook H1 2020 reveals that AdEx contracted in Q1 by as much as 8%, and that the drop for traditional media was much higher. The H1 Outlook also indicates that AdEx may well recede to 2017 or 2018 levels.

However, it has also enumerated some positives that can help us look at some reasons to cheer.

June has brought in cheer for TV AdEx, signifying that some categories cannot afford to stay away from TV advertising for too long to sustain their shares and for fear of losing share to competition. This is also an indication that advertisers have confidence that demand will revive and advertising can play a big role in fuelling it. This revival has sustained in July and indications are that it will do so also in August.

BENGALURU: Subhash Chandra’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) reported a profitable quarter, albeit with steep declines in top-line and bottom-line numbers for the quarter ended 30 June 2020 (Q1 20210, quarter or period under review, COVID2019 quarter) as compared to the corresponding year-ago quarter Q1 2020. A number of Indian media and entertainment companies have reported a loss for COVID2019 quarter. Among other silver linings is growth in subscription revenue and growth in other sales and services which includes the sale of rights of movies to OTT platform. These numbers increased y-o-y by 5 per cent and 30.2 per cent respectively.

Zeel reported 34.7 per cent lower y-o-y operating revenue at Rs 1,312.03 crore for Q1 2021 as compared to Rs 2,008.12 crore in Q1 2020. Total income (Operating revenue plus other income) fell 32.8 per cent y-o-y to Rs 1,338.41 crore from Rs 2,112.03 crore in Q1 2020.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a new notification, directing all broadcasters to comply with provisions of the New Tariff Amendment Order (NTO 2.0) by August 26.

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Due to the ongoing legal battle between the regulatory body and the broadcasters in court, the date has been shifted to August 26.

During an earlier hearing in the Bombay High Court, a division bench had announced that TRAI cannot take any coercive action until the final judgment is announced.

In an earlier directive issued on July 24, TRAI has asked broadcasters to comply with NTO 2.0 by August 10 despite the issue being sub judice in the Bombay High Court. 

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) reported a decline of 34.7% in consolidated revenue to Rs 1,312 crore, against the Rs 2001.8 crore in Q1 FY20.

As per the financial statement, EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 219.9 crore, a decline of 66.7%, against Rs 659.8 crore in the previous year quarter. Meanwhile, the company posted an increase in domestic subscription revenue by 6.2% for the quarter.

The company said, “Domestic subscription revenues grew by 6.2% YoY on a higher base (47% growth in base quarter), primarily led by ZEE5 subscription revenue. However, despite a sharp increase in viewership across mediums, monetization was really weak in Apr-May leading to 66% YoY decline in domestic advertising revenues."
The company stated in the financial results that no fresh episodes of existing shows were produced in the first two months, leading to a drop in programming cost. This reduction was partially offset by content shot at homes and purchase of licensed content for linear and digital businesses. Additionally, amortization cost of movies and digital shows continued.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has extended the date to comply with the provisions of New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 by August 26,2020. The earlier deadline to implement the order was August 10. 
The regulatory authority had notified NTO 2.0 in January this year. However, a group of broadcasters had moved the Bombay High Court against the order. The matter is currently being heard by the court. In the last hearing on August 12, the court said TRAI cannot take any coercive action till the final hearing is over. 

TRAI in its directions said, “All the lAs by the petitioners-broadcasters were accordingly listed before the concerned Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay on 12 August, 2020 wherein during the course of proceedings before the Court, the Authority assured the Court that date of 10 August, 2020, as prescribed in the direction dated 24 July, 2020, would be extended to 26 August, 2020.

KOLKATA: ‘SonyLIV 2.0’ has significantly upped its game in original premium content space. After releasing successful shows like Avroadh, Undekhi, it has now released a teaser of its upcoming show Scam 1992.

Directed by Hansal Mehta, Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story is about the real-life 1992 stock market scam involving the eponymous stockbroker, which led to major reforms, including the formation of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Mehta has adapted a book on the 1992 stock market scam.

The teaser of 'Scam 1992' has been unveiled featuring Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Dhanwanthary, and Sharib Hashmi. The story is set in the 1980’s and 90’s Bomba. At the beginning of the teaser, Sharib tells Shreya, about a Rs 500-crore fraud which has taken place.

Discovery Kids, the kids’ channel from Discovery India, has partnered with national broadcaster Doordarshan to inspire and entertain children across the country. As part of the understanding, starting July, select episodes of animated series, Little Singham, Kisna and Sheikh Chilli and Friendz, are being showcased on national broadcaster at 8 am on DD National, every day.

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“Discovery Kids is committed towards bringing high-quality content for the little minds, which also keeps them inspired,” said Megha Tata, Managing Director, South Asia, Discovery. “We are sharing some of the most exciting Indian animation with Doordarshan to give another reason for children who don’t have access to Discovery Kids to stay at home even as the lockdown is over.”

DTH Company Dish TV India Limited is set to add cheer to the festive season with a slew of attractive offers and packages as it joins the Onam celebrations in Kerala. Keeping in line with its commitment to provide best-in-class entertainment choices to its new and existing customer, DishTV has introduced new channels, packs and acquisition offers along with exciting recharge offers at attractive prices to its customers.      

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Catering to the need of customers, the new packages offered by DishTV have been devised keeping in mind the diverse choice of content across various segments. As part of the offer, two new special packs have been launched, on the basis of the language preferred by the customers. The new recharge packs include Joy Malayalam Tamil HD; comprising all popular Malayalam channels with popular Tamil channels and also include three discovery channels; Animal Planet HD, Discovery HD and TLC HD and Premiere Jumbo HD; comprising all Malayalam with popular English movies, news, sports, infotainment channels.