UTV's new channel is a flop show

The latest channel launch from UTV stable 'bindass' turns out to be 'bakwas'.The content is lousy,cheap and metrocentric.The channel has no mass appeal.After the hopeless show by hungama,which was later on sold to disney,UTV again looks out of sync with the market realities.
The youth is not interested in television,they are busy in internet,cricket and other activities.To start a channel with youth as target audience was a bold decision.And to make content attractive to youth is a more difficult task.UTV has failed in making quality content for the target segment.
Ronie needs to improve the product if ,he wants his other channels to get eyeballs.A lot of shareholders money is spent on launching a channel,as UTV is a listed company.Television watching in India is turning out to be women and cricket centric.No news channel is making any money.Not only research but gut feeling is required to make successful and watchable content for television audience.

Why everyone in the Zee Distribution is leaving

Since the departure of Arun Poddar from Zee ,their is chaos in the distribution department.Seventy percent of the sales staff has resigned after the takeover
by General Sharma.
General Sharma is an ex army and knows nothing about the distribution of Channels.
He was appointed to the top post because of his proximity to Mr Subhash Chandra Goyal.
The new appointees in distribution department are all from the outside field.A lot of
people from telecom are joining the company and are not able to give results.
They are not able to grasp cable business so fast.Due to this the distribution
division is facing loss in revenue.
Cable distribution is a very complex business and here relationship matters a lot.
General Sharma is appointing a lot of Ex army people,who may not be able to perform
well.Mr Subhash Goyal needs a strong and old man from the distribution to makeup
the loss.
When Zee is doing so well,contentwise its distribution is not able to give numbers.

Peter Mukharjee to Join NDTV

Unconfirmed sources say arch rivals and opponents Pranoy Roy and Peter Mukharjee may team up together to create magic for the new entertainment channel from NDTV.Peter was the one responsible for the ouster of NDTV from the news production of Star News.
Since the promotion of Sameer Nair in Star Plus and sidelining by Rupert Murdoch, Peter was looking for something new and exciting.After signing Karan Johar,now Pranay will use the marketing acumen of Peter to promote the new channel.
Peter is considered to be one of the best brains in Indian Television.
This new channel will bring NDTV at par with the other media groups.

How much is Shahrukh Charging for KBC

The mother of all game shows,and saviour of Star Plus will be back on television.After a lot of of convincing,when Amitabh Bacchan refused the offer,Shahrukh was contacted to do the role.

The amount paid to Shahrukh is close to thrice the amount paid to Amitabh.Sources say the deal was done in Australia.Shahrukh agreed readily seeing the amount and has given bulk dates.

Anita Kaul Basu, wife of KBC's producer Siddharth Basu, says, "The shooting will begin in the last week of December or early January. It will be telecast from mid-January. Initially, we will be shooting 52 episodes."

After Sameer Nair tookover from Peter as the CEO,Zee is giving tough competition to Star.TRPs are the driver of the channels and bring in revenue.Sameer was the brain behind 'KBC' and always considers 'KBC' as a safe bet.

IPTV launch in Delhi, Mumbai through MTNL

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd is all set to launch IPTV services in Delhi and Mumbai, which will enable subscribers to get TV channels using telephone lines despite regulatory uncertainties.
MTNL has tied up with Aksh Optic Fibre to offer the services, which will be launched in Mumbai on Saturday and in Delhi on October 17. This will be the first IPTV deployment in India.
UTStarcom is the technology provider for the services that will allow users to pause, fast forward and rewind live and recorded content stored on a remotely located server by the service provider. The technology is being touted as the next big thing in broadband and is becoming popular in other countries.

The MTNL move comes even as the telecom regulator is going through a consultation process to formulate a policy for the service since it may infringe on the cable service providers business. Broadcasters have demanded that IPTV be kept under the Cable TV Act, while TRAI had earlier put it under telecom services. A number of other operators, including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Reliance Communication are planning to launch IPTV in a big way.
A consumer possessing a broadband connection and a television will be ready for the IPTV revolution. The set-top boxes will be available upon rollout of the technology in the area.
How it works
IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal, sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection and a set top box programmed with software much like a cable or DSS box that can handle viewer requests to access many available media sources.
The viewer's TV connects to a set top box that decodes the IP video and converts it into standard television signals. IPTV allows operators to deliver content to their subscribers using telephone lines through IP technology. So far, this technology was being used to deliver voice through Internet telephony. The services on IPTV include video-on-demand and digital video recording.

TV over telephone line is slated to be the next big application for telecom service providers. Even mobile operators are looking at technologies like the FLO and EVDO to broadcast live TV on cellular phones. It is predicted that by 2008, 20 million homes worldwide will subscribe to IPTV services

By The Hindu Business Line