Ten Sports, one of the few sports broadcasters in South Asia recently extended the broadcast rights for the premium football competitions: UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for the next cycle of three seasons starting 2015-16.  

The network also bagged the rights for the 2018 Gold Coast Common Wealth Games. Overall, it will be seeing a major revamp in early 2015 which could see new channels either being added or existing ones being removed.

Heading these path breaking changes is the network’s CEO Rajesh Sethi.

Indiantelevision.com’s Herman Gomes talks to the enterprising man who took over his new job in July last year and finds out  not just about  the acquisitions but also about India’s new found sport-Kabaddi.

How has Ten Sports progressed in the past 12 years since its launch in April 2002?

Ten Sports was launched in April 2002 and our offering mainly revolved around India-Pakistan series. In this, we had the opportunity to host some of the best matches in the history of India and Pakistan cricket (including the legendary Sharjah series). We have grown from one channel to eight channels and a dominant sports broadcaster in the sub continent.  We have a significant presence in international markets like the middle east/far east and the Caribbeans.

But sports industry witnessed a gradual shift in terms of audience preference and tastes since early 2010. Generation Y started picking up interest in other sports like soccer, tennis, hockey and badminton. Also this era saw an emergence of a niche audience which focused on sport like Golf. In this context, it was imperative for us to break out of the clutter and honour our viewer’s preference. 2010 marked the launch of Ten Cricket and Ten Action which were dedicated cricket and football channel respectively. Next in line was a dedicated golf channel - Ten Golf - which was launched in the year 2012.

Also sports as a genre saw a rapid increase in its aspirational quotient. Individual sports also started flaunting its plush green outfields (as is witnessed in football, golf and LFL) and picturesque landscapes (as is visible in Tour-de-France). Sports’ viewing was no more watched just for its adrenaline quotient but also for its ‘awww’ moments. Hence in the year 2011, Ten HD was launched to enhance the overall experience of the sports audience by broadcasting the content in the HD format.

In your previous interview you said that as a strategy you have never completely rested your fortunes on only India cricket. Is there any change in your strategy now? How are you approaching football?

Taking cue from the previous statement, it is true that we completely do not rest only on India cricket, we believe in bringing content across genres in terms of football, cricket, tennis, golf, multi sports events, wrestling etc from across the world to our viewers to enrich their viewing experience.

Football is world’s most followed sport, while India is considered as the sleeping giant of the game. We have always been the propagator of this beautiful game since inception as we bring across best of football content and experience to our viewers which include UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Super Cup, Copa Del Rey, Capital One, Skybet Championship, French Ligue, A-League and I League.

Do you see the HD feed as a value proposition for your channel Ten HD? And what has been the audience response for your Ten Golf channel?

With growing HD TV penetration every year, it is imperative for us to bring value proposition before the market gears up.

HD households in India is approximately 10 per cent, while, Sports HD viewing share in the overall pie is close to 8 per cent.

Unlike GEC, sports broadcasting is all about being able to replicate the real ground experience. In this context, HD (with its power packed Dolby Sound offering) channel plays a critical role in ensuring the quality of the content is top notch and brings home the real ground experience. Our HD offering in the form of Ten HD is rapidly gaining traction and we are extremely happy with the uptake of the same by our distributors.

With increasing HD demand even MSOs are gearing up with a stock of HD boxes for installations at customer end.

Ten Golf responses have been very encouraging as we offer almost 80 per cent of exclusive and premium content. Ten Golf is niche offering in our product portfolio and it is still in the nascent stage of its life cycle. We view it as a long term investment in our portfolio. In the context of 400 million sports viewing TV audience, the current golf viewing audience of more than half a million in India, is touching only the tip of the iceberg. In such a scenario, channel distribution plays a pivotal role in providing the channel to as many MSO and DTH platforms. Clearly, change will not happen overnight. It will require a lot of effort to break the status quo. We believe that electronic medium can shape this change, provided all the cable and satellite operators make it available for their subscribers to discover and develop a habit of consuming golf. Our intent is to get more amateur golfers involved with the game which in turn leads to greater viewership when golf is reintroduced as an Olympic sport in 2016.

Ten Sports went big with its efforts to promote the 2014 Commonwealth Games. How did the property fare for your channel? Why did you decide on extending your rights for the 2018 Commonwealth Games as well?

As a sport network, we truly believe that it is our duty to bring best of sports in the market. Carrying our faith forward, we decided to be the broadcast partner for CWG in the Indian subcontinent.

As a measure to promote CWG and to support the Indian contingent, we brought in the proposition of “Saare Jahan Se Aacha, Hindustan Hamara” via a 360 degree marketing approach which united the sports fans in the country and helped in the uplift of multi sporting events and sports persons from various parts of the country.

As a result of our initiatives and the good performance of Indian athletes, the sporting event was highly accepted and engaged by the fans, sporting personalities, journalists, media houses, corporate and other non sporting fans.

The Asian Games are scheduled to begin on 19 September 2014. How are you planning to telecast the sport in India? Will there be language commentary? Any special marketing initiatives?

Asian Games is one of the most popular multi sporting event in Asia. We intend to enhance the experience of viewers via broadcasting on dedicated channels in our network in tandem with live streaming of the event on our digital platform “www.tensports.com”

We developed our marketing campaign drawing insights from Indian athlete’s performance in the just concluded Commonwealth Games, to carry forward the quest for the medal hunt, where we intend to motivate them via our communication theme “Go for Glory”. To amplify the theme we have done tie ups with Mary Com – the movie starring Priyanka Chopra. And dedicated Asian Games promos featuring Priyanka Chopra.

We have exploited all the marketing collaterals like billboards, dedicated e-mailers, digital media activations, with our centralised theme.

Ten Sports has extended the broadcast rights for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for the next cycle of three seasons starting 2015-16. How have these two properties performed for your network?

UEFA champions’ league is the biggest and most prestigious football club competition on the planet. Top teams and best players compete in this tournament.

Both UCL and UEL are popular in our country and have been very well received by the Indian audience.

Also, with increased football fan following, we intend to bring best of football action for our viewers. The popularity of the league is also reflected on the TAM numbers where in UEFA is head of all other competitive country leagues.

MSOs and DTH operators are creating separate sports packs for their subscribers. How do you view this trend and how does it affect you?

MSO, currently do not have fixed packages in place. They are still in the process of freezing their packages, while, DTH players are bringing different packages for retaining their existing customer base and to attract new potential customers.

We see creating sports packages as an opportunity, positive move to bring in sports enthusiast. It will help in bringing quality viewers (the core audience of sports), loyal and passionate follower of sports.

What is the growth in subscription that you foresee with the completion of digitisation in phase I and II?

Digitisation offers great benefits for viewers by giving them a choice of what they want to view and also gives a choice to broadcasters to provide them with a wide range of content by giving them multiple ways and means by which he can consume the content. With our differentiated sports offering (in terms of dedicated channels for each of the major sport) we have ensured that each group of individual can avail the sport of his/her choice. This is in-line with how TV viewership has shifted in the developed markets. Globally, sport broadcasting is gradually shifting from B2B to B2C. B2C helps you connect with your audience in a much more refined manner and increase the overall quality of your content.

Beyond enhancing the content quality, digitisation also helps in bringing transparency to the overall subscription business enabling better clarity on the number of subs. This enhances better revenue realisation with minimal revenue leakages. 

All in all we feel digitisation will have a definite positive impact in the growth of the subscription revenues and we are very hopeful of a healthy double digit growth in our year on year subscription revenue.

Your new website was re-launched on 27 March this year. What is the amount of traction you have been able to receive since it was launched? Is your content sourced from bloggers or created in house? 

Our approach for the development of the new website was to focus more on sporting events. The whole architecture of the website was redesigned to enable users to easily access the information to their desired sports or event. This approach has proved highly successful; our dedicated pages for sporting events are attracting good traffic and are engaging the users. We have seen more than 40 per cent increase in the “time spent on site” since the re-launch.

We also observed that traffic on site was diversifying with various devices contributing with mobile devices rapidly increasing the share. The site was made responsive across all platforms, to give users an enriched experience. This resulted in increased consumption of content from site, highlighted by 40 per cent increase in page views / session and a staggering 70 per cent increase in stay time on site from mobile devices.

The blogs and content is created by our brilliant team of in-house sports writers, who churn out insightful articles. We plan to reach out to sports bloggers and enrich tensports.com with more user generated content.

Are you seeing an increase in your ad revenue?  In terms of your competitors what is the position of Ten Sports currently?

We are witnessing incremental growth in revenues from niche sports (like Golf) and other non-cricket sports.  This is a positive trend change for us, where as in cricket we still witness a steady growth in revenue with respect to non-India cricket.

Ten is number one in non cricket properties and also have leading properties in Wrestling (WWE), Football (UEFA), Athletics (CWG, Asian Games). There are several other non-cricket properties which we have closed recently and are awaiting final completion of paperwork.

We witnessed record ad sale rates in our recently concluded Commonwealth Games. We were able to charge ad rates which were good 20-30 per cent higher than our previously concluded athletics events. We are seeing similar level of built-up for the upcoming Asian Games. We are currently in the process of analysing each of our properties and some of our ad slots for few of our niche properties might very soon see a hike in the ad rates.

Unlike GEC business, sport broadcasting is an event based business and purely dependent on what event we have in a particular year. So competitive benchmarking would not be the right thing to do.

Sports analysts feel that India may soon have a second sport which is Kabaddi due to the fact that two Kabaddi Leagues came up this year and one of them did well in terms of response and production values. What are your thoughts? Do you see other Indian sports having a similar future?

India, being a growing market for sports, has a very bright future with Indianised sports content. With increasing opportunity in different genre of sports like Football, Hockey, Badminton, the participation and performance of Indian players have grown tremendously.

Hockey India League which was introduced was considered successful in its first year of inception, but it didn’t grow as expected in its second year. We still have to conclude - is hockey a dawn for Indian sport.

Kabaddi, which is very popular in rural and tier III urban cities of our country, Indian audience has been very receptive for Kabaddi league. We wish the sport to grow with the Indian audience, though it’s at a very early stage.

Now, Ten Sports is being marketed along with Taj Television. How do you view this business move helping Ten Sports channels?

It definitely helps our business to grow. With a bouquet of 47 channels of Zee, it becomes much easier for us to reach to the audience in lesser developed parts of the country. This move has given us an opportunity to reach sports followers.

It has helped us to explore and identify certain lesser known or rather unknown spots.

Is Ten Sports looking at acquiring any new properties in the future and which are these? Are you also looking at a revamp?

Acquisition is an ongoing process. We intend to acquire best of sporting properties on continuous basis.

MUMBAI: Vidya Balan’s famous line about entertainment sells, stay true to the television business as well.

With new channels launched and new genres explored every now and then, the production houses have a lot on their platter. One such production house, Colosceum, known for its non-fictional properties like Roadies, Splitsvilla recently got on board Siddharth Anand Kumar as scripted content head to strengthen its overall approach.

A graduate in filmmaking, he has worked as an assistant to Mira Nair during the making of Kamasutra (1995), as DOP and editor for Bobby Bedi during the production of the TV series Rajdhani (2000), and as the executive producer for Shekhar Kapur’s company Digital Talkies during which he oversaw the production of two feature films and the country’s first International Digital Film Festival (2001).

He has directed two films: Let’s Enjoy (2004), a film about a Delhi farmhouse party, and Semshook (2010), a coming of age story set in the Tibetan exile community. And his TV projects include Seven and Khotey Sikkey by Yash Raj Films on Sony and Mahabharat by Swastik Pictures on Star Plus.

“We have a partnership with Colosceum. And our aim is to bring in some really interesting new content into the Indian television which is currently happening and we want to be a part of it,” says Kumar while elaborating on his role.  “In the industry there is a position of content director and director and I will be mixing both these roles. It is also something which the channels want and are eager to do because it is the director who makes the show. And sometimes we have creative director who doesn't engage in day to day procedure of the show or while communicating with the broadcasters. We want to bridge that gap.”

He along with the Colosceum team is currently busy conceiving and pitching ideas to broadcasters, which will then be taken forward if the broadcaster shows interest.  

The production house is known for its seasonal shows, but with this hire it wants to strengthen its fiction side as well. Kumar goes on to explain why. “Colosceum had non-fiction bend but if you look at the trend, all the big production houses whether they are Endemol or Fremantle, you will see a small shift little away from non-fiction because non-fiction costs a lot. And the numbers that you get are pretty much the same as a hit fiction property. So, everyone understands that the return of investment is higher on fiction. Producers who have had a very strong non-fiction background like Colosceum need to partner with strong fiction heads to tell the broadcasters ‘look we have the right team in place’.”

Furthermore, he believes channels are now moving towards fiction. Stating the example of how Bindass, which once used to air shows like Big Switch and Dadagiri, today has fiction shows. Similarly Channel V and MTV have now become youth general entertainment channels (GECs).

Moreover, even GECs which offered their viewers two to three non-fictional properties over weekend, now only have one such property. 

“Take Colors for instance, apart from Jhalak Dikhla Ja it doesn't air any other non-fictional property on the weekend. I won’t take Comedy Nights with Kapil to be one as it is scripted. The trend is indicating that every channel is putting their money into one non-fiction show because they are expensive and rest on fiction,” he says and adds, “Right now we are in the phase when there is a greater demand for fiction than non-fiction. At some time, the circle might change again. So, this is a good time to generate some quality fiction content and strengthen it so we are able to serve the broadcaster in both the genres.”

Kumar believes that as audiences mature, the content will change as well and hence, channels are moving towards younger content as well as dealing with social issues apart from the regular saas-bahu dramas. Another aspect which is also a main reason for this shift in content today is the demand from the advertisers. “The consumer categories which are very hot at the moment are smartphones, cars and e-commerce, and they need to talk to a younger-skewed audience not only in metros but also in tier I and II cities where there is high aspirational power. Youth has more spending power because as one grows older, the commitments/priorities change. So advertisers need to talk to them and hence broadcasters need to create content for this audience.”

One needs to just turn on the TV to see who is advertising so if it’s a Karbonn mobile it doesn’t want to advertise on Saath Nibana Saathiya but need a show like Airlines or Shastri Sisters.

In the coming years, he proposes that as more and more people start consuming content on digital, production houses might have to start making specific content for that medium and also learn how to monetise it well. As media proliferates there is going to be more fragmentation and niche programming.

Hence, Colosceum will focus on creating tailor-made shows for broadcasters based on what that broadcaster wants in its programming lineup. Currently, the team has a lot of ideas on the platter and will soon approach broadcasters with the innovative and interesting ideas.

In his 12 years career, Kumar says that even today "we don’t know what the audience wants." There is still a lot of guess work even though there are various research agencies doing a lot of footwork. So when it comes to talking to the audience and seducing them with the work there is still a bit of hit and miss. “We usually have the tendency of coping what becomes a hit, but it won’t serve our purpose as we will start creating same content that will create fatigue amongst audiences.”

“We need to provide a varied content to audience which is also dynamic. So that we can learn what the audience wants,” he concludes.

NEW DELHI: Doordashan’s cultural channel DD Bharati, which has been telecasting some gems from the Best of Indian Cinema every week, is slated to telecast the Marathi film Shevri and the Kannada film KanasembaKudureyaneri during this month.

Under this series, Doordarshan along with the West Bengal government had telecast six Bangla films earlier this month - for the first time in a hall. It featured some award-winning and renowned films like ‘The Last Lear’ by Rituparno Ghosh, ‘Nishhabd’ by Jahar Kanungo, and ‘Kalbela’ by Goutam Ghose. Other films are ‘Prohor’ by Subhadro Choudhury, ‘Ellar Chaar Adhyay’ by Bappaditya Bandopadhyaya, ‘Mahul Banir Sereng’ by Sekhar Das. Some of these are slated to come on DD Bharati shortly.

Under the series launched to coincide with the centenary of Indian cinema, the films are telecast every Saturday at 8.30 pm and repeated at2.30 am and 20.30 pm the next day.

Under this section, the films have to be either winners of the Swarna Kamal Award for the Best Feature Film of the Year, a National Award winner for Best Direction, the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Feature Film in any Indian language/dialect (including Hindi, Urdu and English), or have won the Indira Gandhi Award for the Best Film of a Director or it should have been selected for the Indian Panorama of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Films that have participated or showcased in any of 16 prominent International Film Festivals can also be screened. These festivals are- Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Nantes or Festival de 3 Continents, Rotterdam, Fribourg, Munich, Busan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Rome, and Sydney.

Shevri is a Marathi film made in 2006 by the renowned Gajendra Ahire and produced by Neena Kulkarni. Noted Marathi actress Neena Kulkarni’s maiden production venture, Shevri (wisp of cotton) is a sensitive portrayal of the havoc played by divorce in a simple middle class woman’s life. The ‘Shevri’ in the title is embodied in the films protagonist Vidya Barve played by Neena herself, a helpless little soul drifting along with winds of change in her life, without a strong will or desire of her own. The title ‘Shevri’ suggests an insignificant wisp of cotton. Her coming to terms with her state today and becoming present to her life is what gives essence to the film which will be telecast on 13 September.

Girish Kasaravalli’s adaptation of Amaresh Nugadoni’s ‘Savaari’ is a film connoisseur’s delight.  Kanasemba Kudureyaneri (Riding a Stallion of a Dream) is a 2010 starring Vyjanath Biradar, Umashree and Sadashiv Brahmavar in lead roles. It won the National Award for Best Screenplay and for Best Feature film in Kannada. Kasarvalli's use of non-linear narrative for the first time succeeds in building the audience's curiosity. Engagingly convincing, Biradar and Umashree are seen throughout the movie in tattered clothes, getting every inch into the characters. The film will be telecast on 27 September.

MUMBAI: Going with its ‘youngest lifestyle channel’ image, NDTV Good Times is launching a 11-part food reality television series, Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America.

Hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman, the show is a quest to find the best sandwich in America. In each episode, one region of the country will sample its top three sandwiches and the host will choose the best among them to represent the region in the ‘National Championship’. The best sandwich will be chosen on the basis of its B.I.T.E Scale (Bread, Interior, Taste and Eating Experience).

Talking about the new show, NDTV Good Times channel head Arati Singh said, “NDTV Good Times is always trying to bring new and interesting programming on the channel and while Adam Richman is exploring in the west, the Indian audience has a long standing love affair with sandwiches whether it is Pau Bhaji, Dabeli or Bun Samosa’s. So we feel that the combination of a great host who is looking for the best sandwich will make for relatable content that is a must watch.”

Produced by Sharp Entertainment, the show will have 10 half an hour episodes, while the finale will be a one hour long episode.

“On a lifestyle channel food programming works well and we run a Food band at 9:00 pm. The show has been selected as a part of that band,” the channel head added explaining why they are launching the show at a primetime slot.

The best sandwich from every episode will compete against each other in the final episode of the show to find ‘America’s No. 1 sandwich.’ Adam will also be seen taking recommendations from singer/song writer Will Hoge, world traveller Anthony Bourdain, MLB player Curtis Granderson, Hollywood actor Jay Baruchel, renowned chef Andrew Zimmern and television host Samantha Brown among others, in deciding the best sandwich in America.

In the series, sandwiches will be chosen from regions across the South, Northeast, Gulf Coast, Midwest, Mid Atlantic, Northwest, West Coast, Great Lakes, South West and New England.

Starting 13 September, the show will be aired every Saturday at 9: 30 pm.

NEW DELHI: Just as in India, telecom companies in Pakistan are expected to shortly get regulated as far as marketing and advertising is concerned, with the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) revising its previous guidelines to take care of today’s marketing and advertising practices.

According to an official statement, the CCP has issued draft ‘Marketing Practices Guidelines for the Telecom Sector’ pursuant to the provisions of Section 29 of the Competition Act, 2010 earlier this month.

These Guidelines replace the previously issued draft “Deceptive Marketing Guidelines for the Telecom Sector.” The Guidelines have been issued to provide guidance with respect to Section 10  of the Act ‘Deceptive Marketing Practices’ to undertakings providing telecommunications services. The draft regulations cover cellular operators, broadband, Wifi, Internet etc., according to More Magazine of Pakistan.

The draft says, “The distribution of false or misleading information in respect of telecommunication products or services may take any form, be it through the print media, television advertisements, brochures, billboards, banners, advertisements on internet, telemarketing and Short Message Service (SMS) offers, among other means of advertising.”

 The definition of “False Information” includes oral or written statements or representations that: Are contrary to truth or fact and not in accordance with the reality or actuality; Usually imply either conscious wrong or culpable negligence; Have a stricter and stronger connotation than can be justified; and are not readily open to interpretation.

Similarly “Misleading Information” is oral or written statements or representations that are: Capable of giving a wrong impression; Likely to lead to error of conduct, thought or judgment; Tend to misinform or misguide owing to vagueness or any omission; Omission of information is also misleading.  Omission of material information also constitutes deceptive marketing practice.

Omissions include the situations when: A Telco chooses to omit relevant material information in advertisements, this will be considered as false representation.

Half truths may also be considered to be in violation of Section 10, if the effect  of  the  half  truth  is  that  the  consumer  is  misled.  For  example,  not disclosing  that  a  certain  offer,  which  entitles  the  consumer to  get discounted  rates  is  only  available  for  a  limited  period  of  time or not mentioning the date of expiry, may be regarded as violation of Section 10 of the Act.

 The CCP has elaborated in its Orders relating to Section 10 that in case of deceptive marketing practices, it does not have be proved  that any consumer has been actually deceived  by  a  marketing  practice  of  an  undertaking.  It is enough if the marketing practice adopted by an undertaking has the tendency or capacity to deceive a consumer.

It is mandatory on the product seller and service provider to stop using the terms “terms and condition apply” that we normally come across in almost every advertisement in which a company wants to hide actual charges or a certain time period.

“In promoting or advertising a good or service, a telco needs to make its best efforts that all key terms and conditions of the product or service are mentioned in the advertisement. A disclaimer stating “terms and conditions apply” may not be regarded as sufficient.

Disclaimers must be clear,  conspicuous  and prominent  as well in a  font size and colour that  is  readable,  and  not  in  fine  print.  Also, the disclosure must be placed as close as possible to the claim.

Disclaimers in audio messages must be presented in adequate volume and cadence.

Following are further areas where CCP has clearly issued its draft policy.

Misleading Prices

The  practice  of  advertising  prices  of  products  or  services  offered  by  telcos  in  the denomination  of paisas will be regarded as deceptive as  the  one rupee coin is  the lowest recognised unit. Paisas are no longer recognised as legal tender in Pakistan.  Instead of a price being expressed as 90 paisa per minute, for example, it should be expressed as Rs 0.90 per minute.

When  using  words  such  as  “free”,  “gift”,  “given  without  charge”,  or  “bonus”,  telcos should be careful to disclose all relevant terms and conditions of the offer. The product or service  being  advertised  in  such  a  manner  should  be  actually  free  and  the  consumer should not have to pay for that product or service in some other manner.

If  a Telco  uses the word “unlimited” in advertising any telecommunication  service, it has to  clearly  define  what  aspect  of  the  service  the  term  applies  to,  and  also  disclose  any other conditions that may qualify the offer.

Comparisons should only be made between products or services that meet the same needs or that are intended for the same purpose.

Similarly,  bundled  products  and  services  should  be  compared  with  similar  “bundles” offered by a competitor  to prevent any comparison from being misleading or deceptive. Comparisons have to be truthful and meaningful.

Comparative advertising should not in any way discredit the trademarks, trade names or other distinguishing marks of an undertaking.

Telcos when advertising promotions should generally disclose the approximate number or nature of the prize, restrictions on entry or the number of entries, the areas in which the consumers can take part in the contest, any information that may affect odds of winning, etc.

Unlimited Internet and Fair Usage Policy

If  a  Telco  uses  the  word  “unlimited”  in  a  broadband  advertisement,  it  has  to  disclose  in  the advertisement any terms and conditions which apply. Similarly mentioning “Fair Usage Policy Applies” is insufficient as the consumer may not be aware of FUPs of the respective Telco.

Claims should not be made that internet/downloading speed remains constant when it is in fact not the case.

Telcos must explain to the customers that the actual speed they will receive will depend on line quality, distance from exchange, load of traffic, among other factors.

If possible, the number of people using the internet at any given period in time must be estimated and the contention ratio must be calculated.  Internet users must be made aware of this contention ratio through the service provider’s website.

A Typical Speed Range (TSR) representing the range of speed actually achieved by three-fourth of the customers should be used when advertising broadband on the basis of speed.

If a maximum up to speed is used in an advertisement, the Typical Speed Range must be equally highlighted. Furthermore, the up to speed must be achieved by at least half the consumers at any given time.

CCP has asked all the parties to forward their comments and suggestion on the draft guidelines that available on www.cc.gov.pk.

MUMBAI: After the success of Farhan Akhtar’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom, and Irrfan Khan’s Paan Singh Tomar, Sonam Kapoor seems to be the next in line.

As biopics seem to be trending in bollywood, buzz is that the fiery actress is going to play the legendry Indian painter Amrita Sher-Gil on big screen. The film would revolve around Amrita's life, love, friends and mentors.

Born in 1913 to a Punjabi-Sikh father and a Hungarian-Jewish mother, Amrita Sher-Gil was a pre-independence painter and one of the most prolific female painters of the pre-Independence era. Referred to as the ‘Frida Kahlo of India’, the legendary painter lived in France and India and died in 1941. The actress is in talk with the painter's family for the same.

Sonam Kapoor is currently busy promoting her latest project Khoobsurat with co-star Fawad Khan. The movie also stars veteran actresses Ratna Pathak Shah and Kirron Kher in lead.

Set in Rajasthan, Khoobsurat is the story of Dr. Mili Chakravarty (Sonam Kapoor)- a middle class physiotherapist from Delhi. Mili is sent to Rajasthan to treat the paraplegic Shekhar Rathore, Raja of Sambalgarh. Over the course of her stay in the mahal, Mili charms the Rathore family, especially young Vikram Singh Rathore- with her free spirit and funny antics.

The film, which is a remake of Hrishikesh Mukerjee's 1980 hit film of similar name starring Rekha is directed by Shashanka Ghosh and is slated to hit the silver screens on 19 September.

MUMBAI: Actress Julia Roberts is in talks to come on board for the English-language remake of Oscar-winning Argentine thriller Secret in Their Eyes.

To be directed by Billy Ray; Chiwetel Ejiofor and Gwyneth Paltrow have also been cast in the remake. IM Global is fully financing the project and selling the rights to the project at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The original Spanish-language Juan Jose Campanella movie which was based on the Eduardo Sacheri novel, won the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2009. The movie centered on a retired attorney who seeks closure for an two decade old unsolved case and for his unrequited love for his former superior by writing a book.

Roberts will portray a character whose daughter is murdered. Her friend digs up the case years later when he thinks he’s found the guy who got away with it. Roberts’ role initially was earmarked for a male actor, but Ray rewrote it specifically for the actress.

Mark Johnson will produce along with John Ufland. The remake, described as a sophisticated crime thriller, is scheduled to start production this fall with plans to shift the shoot from Boston to Los Angeles.

The movie will be a reunion for Roberts and Paltrow, both of whom appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 movie Hook.

Robert’s role in 2013’s August: Osage County got her the best supporting actress Oscar nomination. She most recently appeared in HBO’s The Normal Heart, for which she received a best supporting actress nomination at Emmy.

MUMBAI: It is that time of the year when everyone will rush back home to switch on their television sets to watch 12 known faces stuck in the house. 

Yes, one of the biggest non-fiction properties of the Indian television industry - Bigg Boss - is back on Colors. Come 21 September, in its eighth season, the show will have in store a never-seen-before thrilling adventure which promises to be all about bumps, jolts and spilled drinks.

Pieced together by Endemol India, the bhai of Bollywood, Salman Khan, will host the show which is themed around aviation with the tagline 'Bigg Boss aath, sabki lagegi vaat'.

12 first-class passengers and newsmakers from all walks of life, will block their seats in this one of a kind aircraft, forge their own connections and survive in this airspace. So are contestants selected as per the theme? “No,” comes a quick reply from Colors CEO Raj Nayak. “Contestants are not chosen according to the theme. We choose contestants from different walks of life and then map them. There are certain characteristics we are looking for as we don’t want boring people in the house.” Thorough research is conducted to analyse their way of thinking and behaviour.

He recalls the moment that two years ago after being the victim of too many controversies, the channel had decided to change the theme and go parivarik with the show. Like always, he believes the challenge is to not show content which can be uncomfortable for families. So, the channel takes the decision of editing the content.

“At the end of the day one must realise that contestants are recorded 24 hour and it is not that things don’t happen in the house. But we will not show such things on-air. Obviously there are dos and don’ts, but on television we are very careful. And ever since we made it parivarik, we have not got a single complain,” says Nayak.

Nayak further goes on to say that he has received a feedback saying it is an educational programme on human psychology. “For me, we have looked it as an education programme on human psychology and at the same time it is entertaining and see different sides of human beings. It teaches you a lot of things. So, here there is an opportunity for you to sit down and say that I am doing a crash course on human psychology in 100 days,” laughs Nayak.

He states that the channel does not have any control on how the contestants behave on the show. According to Nayak it is a challenge because it is not scripted and there is no interference from the channel’s side even if things get ugly. The only communication between the channel and the contestants is through the Bigg Boss and the various tasks. “We create some tasks which may create friction, romance, etc. And if it gets little boring, we cover it by doing dance competition. We cannot control how they behave in what they do,” says Nayak.

Considered to be the most expensive property on TV, the spend goes into the set, contestants, technological equipment, the celebrity host and marketing. According to sources, the production cost per season is around Rs 180 crore.

Endemol managing director Deepak Dhar believes that the show has won over viewers across age groups. “The audiences revel in the erratic format of Bigg Boss and with every season we reinvent ourselves to make the show as unpredictable and entertaining as ever.” Also the creators have realised that the Khan as host transcends from a seven year old to a 75 year old.

After five-long years, the channel has got on-board Snapdeal as its new presenting sponsor instead of Vodafone India. In a deal which is speculated to be worth Rs 35 crore, this is a giant leap for the e-commerce site which had previously sponsored reality shows on MTV including MTV Roadies.

Talking about the partnership, Nayak says that several e-commerce firms wanted to get on board but they snapped the deal. He also added that the Bigg Boss 8 team approached the company for the sponsorship. The deal is currently for only one year and the CEO hopes to continue the association in the future.

Excited with this new collaboration Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl says, “The money is well spent. Hopefully this is the beginning to a long relationship. This is the right show for our young brand to reach the right audience. Sure that we will get a good return for our investment.”

With the huge competition in the e-commerce space and the stringent government policies, India-based online retailers like Snapdeal have been looking for various new ways for raising funds. This partnership is going to make perfect brand recognition for Snapdeal.

The channel has also roped in Oppo Mobiles as the powered by sponsor. Moreover, Colors has created a new category called ‘Driven by’ and has roped Maruti Suzuki. Other associate sponsors are Garnier Men, TVS Motors, Cardekho.com, Bisleri Urzza and JK Tyres.

The channel is not looking at getting more sponsors on-board. “There are lots of people who may not be able to afford the tickets as of Rs 10-12 crore. Plus we have a lot of advertisers who are our regular patrons, so we want to give them an opportunity to also be a part of Bigg Boss,” Nayak reveals that sponsors consume normally 65 per cent of the inventory. As for the ad rates this time, the channel has increased its overall pricing by almost 30 per cent as compared to the previous seasons.

According to sources, each associate sponsor pays Rs 12-15 crore. Spot rates range from Rs 4.5-5 lakh per 10 seconds in episodes that feature Salman Khan, while other episodes command Rs 3.4-4 lakh per 10 seconds. For the channel to breakeven, ad revenues are pegged around Rs 350 crore.

On the marketing front, hundred per cent consumer entertainment being the mantra of Airlines #BB8, the marketing strategies will revolve around increasing the market penetration and connecting with new consumers.

The route will be encompassing all the mediums across 200 cities and towns to encourage repeat flying for the viewers. For a higher resonance radio stations across 30 cities will be tapped. For build-up, promotional content will be plugged in across 30 channels and, for a glaring visibility and tune in, an attractive outdoor campaign will don the high walls at strategic locations in key cities.

On order for the consumers to get better passenger information an interesting digital plan has been floated. Viewers can source the entire daily dose via Facebook and Twitter. While FB will have a fun Bigg Boss themed app to test the survival strategies of the player, Twitter will leak live information 24*7. The website www.colors.in will have uncensored videos and a Khabri who will blog live updates. Moreover, a mobile app will beam the live feed to keep the viewers tuned in on the go.

This time Snapdeal is very keen keeping in mind the virtual space. “You will find a lot of engagement activities on the digital space where you will be able to get Snapdeal vouchers, gifts and much more exciting stuff,” adds Nayak.

Unlike last year, where Bigg Boss videos where also available on YouTube, this year the channel has banned it.

About the expectations from this season, Nayak believes that he is very superstitious with numbers. “Every time you launch a show you hope that it will be better than the previous season. Previous season had a very good opening, so we think this season should do it even better. The promos we have launched this time and the amount of buzz we have got is the highest we have ever seen either on social media or general feedback.”

On Twitter, Nayak confidently says that there is no other show in this country that trends as much as Bigg Boss does the moment the show is launched. “I don’t have to spend much money also on marketing because the buzz gets created on its own,” concludes Nayak.

MUMBAI: Finally passing all the hurdles, Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) announced to the BSE that the company has finally got the Bombay High Court nod for the ‘Scheme of Arrangement between Diligent Media Corporation Limited (DMCL) and the Company and their respective shareholders and creditors, for demerger of Media Business Undertaking (MBU) of DMCL’.

The undertaking comprises media and entertainment business, event management activities, TV channel license and TV reality show formats for game based shows. Through this business, Zeel is planning to give an impetus to its event management capabilities. Planned are events and game shows.

The scheme looks at the demerger of the MBU from DMCL and then vesting it with Zeel. Equity shareholders of DMCL will be given preference shares by Zeel in the ratio of one preference share of Re 1 of Zeel for every four equity shares of Rs 10 each held in DMCL. The company says that 2.23 crore preference shares shall be issued in all.

DMCL was formed in 2005 with a 50:50 JV between Essel Group and Dainik Bhaskar Corp (DB). In 2012, Essel Group bought out DB’s 50 per cent.

The entire DMCL is now under the two arms of Essel - Zee Media with DNA and Zee Entertainment with the MBU.

Zeel was also recently included in the 50-share CNX Nifty index replacing Diageo-controlled United Spirits. The network has been included in the recently launched CNX Media Index on the NSE and carried the maximum weight of 45.45 per cent in the index that comprises 15 media and entertainment stocks.

Reacting to the news, the share price of Zeel rose to 285.25 during trading on 12 September and closed on 283.75

MUMBAI: One of the strongest channels in the Zee Entertainment stable, Zee Marathi, has been a leader of the genre for quite some time. Nearly 15 years in the genre, it has seen itself transform from Alpha Marathi to Zee Marathi.

With high TAM ratings to back it, the channel has sustained its values over time through the kind of story telling that it does to viewers. While now, the channel has turned its focus to get younger audiences hooked to its shows, it faces several challenges.

Zee Marathi business head Deepak Rajadhyaksha says that over the years the Marathi general entertainment channel (GEC) has managed to keep its values intact as time progressed. Two new shows launched by the channel are proof of the same. Ka Re Durava is a story about a married couple in an office who have to pretend to be unmarried for some reasons while HonarSun Mi Ya Gharachi is about a woman from a nuclear family who gets married into a joint family with six mother-in-laws and how she deals with them.

“We are a youth inclusive show. Our survey in Maharashtra led us to understand what today’s youth is interested in, how is his lifestyle, thought process and TV consumption, which we incorporate in our shows. The youth of today will be our main target tomorrow,” says Rajadhyaksha. He goes on to add, “Ka re Durava has a young married modern couple. If a similar story was there in the previous generation shows, the same understanding and support system would have been missing.”

The in-house research showed some important findings for the channel- the youth had the ability to take risks, extremely smart and not stuck in complexities of relationships and are very social media savvy. These findings were similar for both urban and rural areas.

Another show Julun Yeti Reshamgathi shows the lead woman leaving her boyfriend and getting married to a man chosen by her parents. When she tells her husband about him, he asks her if she wants to go back to him, but she stays on and slowly falls in love with him. While the family comes to know of it and starts doubting her, she has her husband’s support. “We deal with issues in a non-dramatic way but such is the pattern of storytelling that we follow,” says Rajadhyaksha.

Regional channels usually end up taking shows from Hindi and showing it to its viewers. But Zee Marathi says that in its case, it’s the reverse. Honar Sun Mi Ya Gharachi has been adapted for Zee Kannada with a request to also adapt Eka Lagnachi Dusri Goshta. Zee Telugu has also asked to adapt some shows from the Marathi GEC while the network’s flagship channel Zee Marathi has also pitched in for Honar Sun Mi.

Budget restrictions disallow them from experimenting too much with non-fiction but it does as much as it can. The recently launched Jai Malhar is the first mythological show in the genre costing nearly Rs 10 crore for the series. Home Minister and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are famous in-house properties with the former in its eleventh year, since the channel does not believe in remaking international formats.

While most Hindi GECs still work on the endless show format, Zee Marathi has kept the 9pm slot as a finite story band. Rajadhyaksha says that its viewers are now acquainted to this slot and are smart enough to understand the time period of shows. A month before the show ends, viewers are informed, either indirectly or directly, about it.

However, even though TAM considers a Maharashtra population of 4.72 crore viewers, it still has to penetrate 25 per cent of the state. Digitisation has helped it reach metros well, but they along with LC1 markets still remain a challenge. “The borders are the toughest market for us to crack, near Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Hindi is widely spoken here and it’s difficult to pull Hindi viewers to Marathi because Hindi shows are grander than ours. But slowly and gradually we will be in a position to capture them too,” says Rajadhyaksha.

Digitisation and implementation of the 12 minute ad cap has allowed them to increase ad rates by around 20 to 25 per cent overall and around 35 per cent for primetime. Subscription rates have increased by 13 per cent since last financial year.

Currently about 15 per cent of its viewers are youth. For the tech savvy generation, all its shows are available online with two people employed for the digital medium. At the same time, out of India markets such as the UK, South East Asia, UAE, Mauritius, Australia and the US are prominent pockets.

MUMBAI: Siti Cable, the multi system operator (MSO) from the Essel group is looking at expanding its business in other parts of the country. In a document given to investors, it has asked shareholders for approval to increase its authorised share capital, give authority to the board of directors to create charges/mortgages in respect of borrowings and issuance of equity shares or securities convertible into equity share of up to $100 million.

The company says that the reason for loss was under declaration of subscriber base and low average revenue per user (ARPU). With digital addressable system (DAS) being implemented, the MSO hopes to generate higher revenue from subscription. Siti Cable also has already become EBIDTA positive this year.

For digitisation implementation, it has procured and deployed large number of set top boxes (STBs), leading to periodical amortization, leading to inadequate profits.

In order to improve its situation, the MSO has proposed a few measures. It is looking at expanding its business in north, south and central India, apart from its stronghold of east India. It is preparing strategies for increasing its digital market share and becoming a strong player in DAS areas. The company is rolling out its value added services (VAS) plans across the country in phased manner. Broadband services are intended to be rolled out on advance DOCSIS 3 technology in Delhi and NCR in Q2-2015, besides having broadband subscriber base in eastern region.

Meanwhile, the increase in productivity will be measured in terms of EBIDTA margin, rationalisation of expenses, standardisation of process and systems to shift focus from individual centric approach to system driven approach and additional incremental profit by rolling out VAS.

The BOD is asking for approval to “create such charges, mortgages and hypothecations on all or any part of assets or immovable properties of the Company wherever situated, both present and future, and/or whole or part of the undertaking(s) of the Company of every nature and kind whatsoever together with power to take over the management of the business and concern of the Company in certain events, to or in favour of banks, financial institutions, any other lenders or other investing agencies and trustees for the holders of debentures, bonds, other instruments to secure rupee/foreign currency loans hereinafter collectively referred to as “loans”) to secure the amount(s) borrowed or to be borrowed by the company from time to time for due repayment of the principal together with interest, charges, costs, expenses and all other monies payable by the company in respect of such borrowings.”

It is also seeking approval for authorisation of loan and investments by the company. The BOD is asking approval for “giving any loan to any person or other body corporate, giving any guarantee or providing security in connection with a loan taken by any other body corporate or person; and/or acquiring whether by way of subscription, purchase or otherwise, the securities of any other body corporate; up to financial limit of Rs 1000 crore over and above limits available under Section 186 of the Companies Act, 2013, notwithstanding that the aggregate of the investments and loans so far made or to be made and the guarantees so far given or to be given by the company and securities so far provided and to be provided, exceeds the limits/will exceed the limits laid down under Section 186 of the companies act, 2013 read with companies (meeting of board and its powers) rules 2014.”

For issuing shares, it is seeking approval to “offer, issue and allot in one or more tranches, to investors whether Indian or foreign, including foreign institutional investors, financial institutions, non-resident Indians, corporate bodies, mutual funds, banks, insurance companies, pensions funds, individuals or otherwise whether shareholder(s) of the company or not, through an issue of equity shares or bonds, debentures and/or any other securities including foreign currency convertible bonds or depository receipts convertible into equity shares of the company at the option of the company or the holder of such security, including by way of qualified institutional placement (QIP) to qualified institutional buyers (QIB) in terms of chapter VIII of the SEBI regulations, through one or more placements of equity shares (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘Securities’), in domestic and/or one or more international markets whether by way of private placement or otherwise, in one or more tranches, so that the total amount raised through such issue(s) of securities shall not exceed Rupee equivalent of $ 100 million.”

It has also appointed VD Wadhwa as the executive director for a period of three years from 12 August 2014.

MUMBAI: After the Kabaddi extravaganza, its back to cricket again. The sixth edition of the Champions League T20 kicks off today at Raipur, beginning with the qualifying rounds. Star Sports which is the rights owner this time will be showing all the matches live on Star Sports1 and Star Sports HD. Live streaming will also be available on starsports.com.

In terms of innovation, a drone camera will be used for the first time to get the best images from the stadiums.

In the first game, Lahore Lions will take on defending CL T20 champions Mumbai Indians followed by New Zealand’s Northern Knights who will play against Southern Express of Sri Lanka. The qualifying stage of 2014 Champions League T20 kicks off on 13 September and will last till 16 September, after which the tournament gets underway.

The qualifiers will see four teams: Mumbai Indians (India), Lahore Lions (Pakistan), Northern Knights (New Zealand) and Southern Express (Sri Lanka). These four teams will play each other once and, at the end of it, the two top teams of the qualifiers will progress to the next stage.

The inaugural match would be played on 17 September at Hyderabad with the reigning IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders taking on the Chennai Super Kings.

Oppo Mobiles have bagged the title sponsorship while Birla White is the central associate sponsor.

The tournament will be played from 13 September to 4 October 2014 at Raipur, Mohali, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The tournament will follow a format similar to the three previous editions, with a Group Stage preceded by a Qualifier. A total of 29 matches will be played in the competition, on 19 match-days. There will be 10 double-headers, the semi-finals included.

Raipur will host eight matches. These will comprise two Group Stage games, plus all six Qualifier matches. The Qualifier matches will be double-headers.

Hyderabad will host five group matches, including one double-header. The city will also host the semi-finals on 2 October, which will be a double-header. Bengaluru will host six matches, including two double-headers. The city will also host the Oppo CLT20 final on 4 October 2014. Mohali will host seven group matches, including three double-headers.

BENGALURU: Consumer products player in oral care, personal care and household care space Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited (Colgate-Palmolive) spent Rs 180.55 crore (18.7 per cent of Total Income or TI) in Q1-2015 towards advertising and marketing (ASP), which was 15.9 per cent more than the Rs 155.78 crore (17.8 per cent of TI) in Q1-2014 and 8.9 per cent more than the Rs 165.86 crore (17.8 per cent of TI) in Q4-2014. At 18.7 per cent of TI, the company’s ASP spend in Q1-2015 was the highest across 9 quarters starting Q1-2013 until Q1-2015.

Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

The company had spent 40.5 per cent more at Rs 688.66 crore (19 per cent of TI) towards ASP in FY-2014 versus Rs 490.07 crore (15.2 per cent of TI). Both on a quarterly basis during the nine months under consideration and across seven financial years starting FY-2008 until FY-2014, the company’s TI, and ASP show increasing linear trend in terms of absolute rupees as well as in terms of percentage of TI.

Colgate-Palmolive’s TI in Q1-2015 at Rs 963.35 crore was 9.9 per cent more than the Rs 876.61 crore in Q1-2014 and was 3.3 per cent more than the Rs 931.22 crore in Q4-2014. Its TI in FY-2014 at Rs 3629.13 crore was 12.9 per cent more than the Rs 3213.73 crore in FY-2013.

Please refer to Fig 1 below.

Colgate-Palmolive’s ASP comprises two components – (a) Advertising, and (b) Sales promotion. Data for three financial years – FY-2012, FY-2013 and FY-2014 show the breakup of ASP into these two components.

Please refer to Fig 1A below.

The company’s PAT in Q1-2015 was 27.2 per cent down at Rs 134.91 crore (14.1 per cent of TI) versus Rs 185.22 crore (21.5 per cent of TI) during the year ago quarter Q1-2014 and just 2 per cent more than the Rs 132.3 crore (14.3 per cent of TI) in the immediate trailing quarter. PAT in FY-2014 at Rs.539.87 crore (14.9 per cent of TI) was 8.7 per cent more than the Rs 496.75 crore in FY-2013. On an annual basis, the company’s PAT shows an upward linear trend in terms of absolute rupees, but a downward linear trend in terms of percentage of TI. During the nine quarters under consideration, the company’s PAT shows almost flat to downward linear trend in terms of absolute rupees and a downward trend in terms of percentage of TI.

Please refer to Fig 2 below.

Colgate-Palmolive’s brands include Colgate, Palmolive and Axion. Its oral care products include toothpaste, toothbrush, toothpowder, whitening products, kids products, mouthwashes, and plax. Its personal care products include body wash, hand wash, shave preparations, skin care and hair care. Its household care products include surface care products under the brand Axion.

Click here to read the annual report

Click here to read the unaudited results

MUMBAI: After elevating RK Arora to ITV Network group CEO, another appointment has been made in the now growing network. Sanjay Dua, who formerly headed Network18’s web operations, has joined as NewsX CEO and ITV Network chief revenue officer.

He will report to Arora. His new responsibilities include providing strategic direction, creating new opportunities in the market and making a roadmap for the business of NewsX as well as revenue management for the entire network.

Prior to this, Dua was Network18 CEO news media and handled ad sales for CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN-IBN, IBN7, IBN Lokmat and History TV18. This apart, he has also worked with Walt Disney, Bennett Coleman & Co, ESPN, Sahara, Hallmark and Zee News.

Speaking on his appointment, ITV Network managing director Kartikeya Sharma said, “Sanjay is a seasoned and trusted leader who consistently delivers results.  He is uniquely qualified to drive strategic monetisation and product prioritization. Sanjay’s profound experience of working with clients has provided him with a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the current media environment. Sanjay has the vision, tenacity and integrity to ensure that ITV Network will quickly become India’s most profitable and largest TV news network.”

Arora said, “Having someone of Sanjay’s caliber leading our monetisation effort is well-timed for the company and will directly benefit our advertisers and clients. With his outstanding track record, result-oriented approach and deep understanding of the advertising ecosystem, the future is looking robust and exciting for us.”

Speaking on his new stint at the network, Dua said, ‘I am delighted to join the ITV Network as it moves into the next exciting phase of development. I have watched ITV Network’s impressive strides through innovative programming and in building a unique content network that is clearly unmatched in the marketplace. The company is in a perfect position to dramatically expand in the market and I’m thrilled to take on this role and be a part of the ITV Network team.”

MUMBAI: Endemol’s most successful reality format Bigg Boss has done it again! Season 2 of Bigg Boss Kannada hosted by Sudeep, aired on Suvarna TV, Star Network’s Kannada General Entertainment Channel, has hit the top of the charts and has been increasingly gaining popularity with audiences across age groups. The unpredictable format of the show has won over the viewers’ attention and loyalty garnering a 6.41 TVR in the last week of August with an average of 753 million viewers; an approximate 25 per cent increase over the 604 million viewers for Season 1 of the show.

As unpredictable and entertaining as ever this seasons’ numerous surprises have ensured that Bigg Boss Kannada is one of the most talked about shows on regional television. The anticipation and the excitement for the launch of the second season was palpable right from the start; it launched at 961 TVM vs. 661 TVM in the first season. The show also contributes approximately 40 per cent of the channel’s GVM and is one of the key factors attributing to the channels current number 2 position.

Endemol India COO – Television Abhishek Rege said, “The combination of Superstar Sudeep, the Bigg Boss Kannada House, an intriguing mix of housemates and Suvarna TV is an explosive one. The disruptive and differentiated format and content of the show has hit a high note with the audiences and the peaking TVR’s and the show’s gaining popularity are evidence of the same. We are encouraged by the fantastic response received by Bigg Boss Kannada Season 2 and hope that the legacy of record breaking TRP’s for Bigg Boss continues.”

Bigg Boss Kannada Season-2 based on the successful format of “Big Brother” airs every day at 8 PM only on Suvarna TV.

MUMBAI: Held over a period of three days (11 - 13 September), the ninth edition of Kyoorius Designyatra concluded on a thought-provoking and inspiring note. Over the three days, the conference was a hive of creativity that sparked new ideas amongst the best creative minds from across the globe. The 1520 delegates from 18 countries contributed to a diverse, eclectic atmosphere in Goa.

Kyoorius founder CEO Rajesh Kejriwal said, “It’s exciting to see almost nine months of planning come to fruition. This year we brought together a group of divergent thinkers to encourage cross-pollination between people from different countries and disciplines. No matter your background or professional experience, each delegate left Designyatra thoroughly inspired. At Kyoorius, we hope that delegates will go back looking at their work with fresh eyes and take more chances to step out of their comfort zone.”

The day kickstarted with Moving Brands CEO Mat Heinl speaking on creativity in a moving world and the need for brands to . Todd Rovak talked about Fahrenheit 212’s ideology of combining money and magic to create transformational growth and innovation for their clients. Hakuhodo’s Morihiko Hasebe emphasised that agencies need to evolve and explore possibilities beyond advertising. Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv co-founder Ivan Chermayeff, offered the audience insights into some of his iconic, timeless identities, many of which are still in use; he ended his talk advising young designers to make things which are simple, memorable and appropriate. Holly Hall highlighted D&AD’s educational programmes, funded by its widely celebrated and extremely selective awards programme and the importance of giving back to the international creative community. For Ajaz Ahmed of AKQA, more than technology, imagination is the most powerful thing in the world. Liam Paton and Nathan Prince of Silent Studios wowed audiences, merging motion and sound to create immersive experiences for a number of brands.

 Interactions at Kyoorius Designyatra were not limited to the stage but also occurred during smaller, intimate breakout sessions, allowing for more in-depth knowledge sharing in an informal environment. Over the three days, hands-on sessions were conducted by professional experts, including one on law and intellectual property for designers by Kushagra Shah, a participative workshop on creative ways to ideate by Hyper Island’s Maria Eriksson. Students and young designers also had the opportunity to show their portfolios and gain insights from the who’s who of the industry.

 The Kyoorius Designyatra was also pledged to be a carbon neutral event, partnering with Greening Advertising and Media Entertainment to calculate and offset its carbon footprint.

MUMBAI: Kyoorius in association with D&AD, announced the winners of the 2014 Kyoorius Design Awards at the awards night at the Grand Hyatt in Goa.

A total of 680 entries were submitted across nine categories – Branding and Identity, Communication Design, Book Design, Editorial Design, Design for Space, Design for Packaging, Writing for Design, Design Craft and Design for Good. The 72 In-book winners were also nominees for Blue Elephants, and the jury awarded a total of 27 Blue Elephants and 2 Black Elephants.

Alok Nanda & Company, Umbrella Design, Redlion, Curry Nation, Chlorophyll Brand and Communications Consultancy, Kulture Shop, Bombay Duck Designs, Locopopo, Trapeze, Lotus, as well as agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis India and Grey Worldwide were among the in-book winners at the 2014 Kyoorius Design Awards.

The 27 Blue Elephant winners included work by Alok Nanda & Company, Trapeze, Redlion, Kulture Shop, Umbrella Design, Bombay Duck Designs, Locopopo, Eleven:43, The Architects Office, NH1 Design, Please See, Out of the Box, Lotus, Famous Innovations and Grey Worldwide, Publicis India, Creativeland Asia, TBWA India.

Two Black Elephants were awarded to outstanding work that cut across categories, both in terms of concept and execution, which the judges deemed to be exceptional across all the work entered.

Bombay Duck Designs was awarded a Black Elephant for BLUED Book (Category: Design for Books), a self-published and designed book by Sameer Kulavoor. Inspired by the ubiquitous blue tarpaulin seen in urban and rural India, the book aims to bring out the socio-cultural relevance and the subtle humour of this unique material.

Ogilvy & Mather was awarded a Black Elephant for :{to:) CleftToSmile, created for Operation Smile India (Category: Branding & Identity). This social media campaign transformed a simple combination of keyboard characters into a memorable identity and highly successful Twitter campaign for Operation Smile India’s Cleft to Smile initiative.

Kyoorius founder CEO Rajesh Kejriwal commented: “The Kyoorius Design Awards brings the best of Indian Design into focus, and is a reminder of the level of craft, skill and design acumen that exists in this country. Looking back on last year’s winners, who’ve gone on to achieve even more recognition and exposure following their success at the Kyoorius Design Awards, we can proudly say Kyoorius Awards are on their way to set the benchmark for creativity in India.”

“Thanks to our partnership with D&AD, we have created a completely neutral and robust programme. Kyoorius Awards have been clear from the beginning that every piece of work that surpasses our high standards criteria, must be rewarded. We have no gold, silver and bronze — just the coveted Blue Elephant and for the best of the best — the Black Elephant. Winning an elephant at the Kyoorius Awards represents the pinnacle of creative achievement in India.”

D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay added, “D&AD is delighted to see the Kyoorius Awards, and our partnership with Kyoorius, continue to grow in its second year, both in numbers and in the diversity and quality of work. Writing has been a very strong category this year, along with illustration. It is especially encouraging to see self-initiated projects being recognised and more work entered by independent designers and small studios from all over the country. Along with Kyoorius, we are committed to nurturing and stimulating the creative community, and using surpluses from the awards show to develop initiatives that will benefit emerging talent throughout the year. D&AD looks forward to watching the Indian creative community evolve with each year.”

 In the signature Kyoorius way of never doing the expected, instead of a traditional awards ceremony the audience was treated to a 70’s theme party. Held on the final evening of Kyoorius Designyatra, the event saw over 1000 creative professionals, students and clients from across India in attendance, which included the conference delegates as well as speakers along with awards nominees.

MUMBAI: Are you a foodie? But worried about putting on those extra kilos every time you indulge. Well, Zee Khana Khazana, India’s premium 24hr food channel has a solution in its new offering, “Health Bhi, Taste Bhi”. Hosted by one of India’s finest chefs, Chef Ranveer Brar, the latest show on Zee Khana Khazana, will showcase delicious YET healthy food options for those who love to eat. This great new show will bring to table the skills required to give their favorite meal, a healthy makeover by cutting the calories without compromising on the taste. This fat free show will premiere on Monday, September 15^th 2014 at 1 pm only on Zee Khana Khazana.

Amit Nair, Business Head Zee Khana Khazana says, “Getting carried away while enjoying a scrumptious calorie filled meal is human tendency. Through Health Bhi, Taste Bhi, we aspire to propagate wellness through food. The show is not about denying yourself the food that you enjoy but rather enjoying the food you love in a responsible manner – a manner that benefits you rather than harms you. This show will definitely appeal to the urban and non-urban audience equally. The urban audience will love it for its practicality and it will be an eye-opener to the non-urban audience.”

If you've ever been frustrated trying to inculcate healthy eating habits in your family, then “Health Bhi, Taste Bhi” is the show for you. The format is based on the principle that fad diets are not a solution to stay fit. The idea is to know what you eat and inculcate good eating habits. Therefore each recipe in the show will inform the audience of the caloric value of ingredients including that of the final dish. The show focusses on healthy diet options and teaches you everything about nutrition without comprising on the taste. It is aimed at breaking the myth that healthy food is bland and boring.

MUMBAI: Creature 3-D has not been appreciated. At 135 minutes, the film is found to be rather too long and taxing for a horror film with repetitive sequences. The makers have got carried away with their newfound creature.

The film opened to poor response and failed to improve on Saturday and Sunday. While its main face, Bipasha Basu, is out of favour with the audience, the Pakistani actor, Imran Abbas Naqvi, failed to make an impression. Also, 3-D is no more a novelty. It ended its opening weekend with Rs 10.7 crore. Not very encouraging.

Finding Fanny (English with dubbed Hindi version) did well at select multiplexes at major metros. In fact, it has done better than the other releases of the week, Creature 3-D. Deepika Padukone has proved to be the main attraction as well as the sustaining star in this film. The film has collected Rs 16.8 crore for its first weekend.

Mary Kom has remained below par despite much hype and gone the way most sports biopics do: mostly ignored. The film managed to collect Rs 42.2 crore in its first week, the drop having started after the opening weekend.

Raja Natwarlal proves to be a nonperformer at the box office with the audience rejecting the routine, run of the mill Emraan Hashmi fare dished out on regular basis. The film, which opened to poor response continued to be so through first week and, then, adding a mere Rs 2.75 crore in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 23.75 crore.

BENGALURU: India integrated media content house Shemaroo Entertainment Limited’s 100 per cent Book Built Initial Public Offer (IPO) opens tomorrow. The company has activities across content acquisition, value addition to content and content distribution. The issue sized Rs 120 crore closes on 18 September 2014. The promoters of the Company are Raman Maroo and Atul Maru.

The face value of each share is Rs 10 in the price band of between Rs 155 to Rs 170. A 10 per cent discount is offered to retail investors. The minimum number of shares per lot is 85 and in multiples of 85 thereafter. The maximum bid for retail customers is Rs 2 lakh. The equity shares will be listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Note : 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore.

The total size of the issue is between 71 and 77 lakh shares. The break up is: Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIB) including Anchor Investors who may be allocated 60 per cent of the QIB portion is 50 per cent of the issue, non-institutional investors 15 per cent and retail investors 35 per cent of the issue size.  The objects of the Offer are to fund, working capital requirements and expenditure for general corporate purposes and achieve the benefits of listing the Equity Shares on the BSE and the NSE and to carry out the sale of 22,555,124 Equity Shares by the Selling Shareholders. 

Data by Karvy Stockbrokers of the company over a five year period in an IPO note says that the company’s Earnings per share (EPS) has gone up by 20.4 times from Rs.0.69 (PAT Rs 1.26 crore) in FY-2010 to Rs 14.08 (PAT Rs 27.95 crore) in FY-2014. Shemaroo’s revenue has gone up 2.6 times from Rs 103.57 crore in FY-2010 to Rs 264.68 crore in FY-2014. Its net worth has gone up 2.2 times from Rs 79.27 crore in FY-2010 to Rs 177.45 crore in FY-2014. The figures released by Karvy Stockbroking indicate a PE ratio of between 11 (Price Rs 155 per share) and 12 (Price Rs 170) based on an EPS of Rs 14.08 in FY-2014.

A Shemaroo press release says:

“ Shemaroo’s Content Library consists of more than 2,900 titles spanning new Hindi films like Queen, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Dedh Ishqiya, The Dirty Picture, Kahaani, OMG: Oh My God!, Black, Ishqiya, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Omkara, Dil Toh Baccha Hai, Bheja Fry 2, amongst others. Hindi films classics like Zanjeer, Beta, Dil, Disco Dancer, Mughal-e-Azam, Amar Akbar Anthony, Namak Halaal, Kaalia, Madhumati etc., titles in various other regional languages like Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali among others as well as non-film content.

Shemaroo is one of the largest independent content aggregators in Bollywood. Currently, the Company distributes content over which it has either complete ownership rights or limited ownership rights.

The Company distributes its content through various mediums such as (i) television such as satellite,

terrestrial and cable television; (ii)New Media platforms consisting of mobile, internet, direct to home (“DTH”) and other applications; (iii) home entertainment; and (iv) other media.

Shemaroo’s recent initiatives include tying up as an official channel partner for Google Inc.’s You Tube where it is managing 32channels. It is also moving beyond providing just content, to providing content management solutions to partners including Reliance Communications Re 1 WAP store and Airtel digital television in connection with an interactive devotional service, namely “iDarshan”.

Shemaroo’s key strengths include an established brand name; vast, diverse and growing Content Library; diversified distribution platforms; de-risked business model; experienced directors and management team; and strong relationships in the industry. Shemaroo’s overall strategy is structured around its Content Library and its successful exploitation to ensure that it can be monetized through diversified platforms on a worldwide basis and designed to address predictability, scalability and sustainability, ultimately resulting in profitability.”