Friday, April 17, 2009

Now, watch layoffs on reality TV

Every aspect of one's personal life makes for reality television nowadays. But Fox Network's Someone's Gotta Go, in which employees of a recession-hit firm will vote each other out, takes things too far, believe professionals here. Famous for reality shows like Big Brother, TV production house Endemol is producing the show, which would showcase every week a new struggling company, which needs to cut jobs to remain afloat, and it would be its employees deciding on who gets the boot.

The US director of Endemol, David Goldberg says that the show would do a favour to the employers."For a lot of people, it takes the pressure off them. As a boss myself, I don't want to have to make those decisions. It's safe to say it hasn't been difficult to find companies willing to participate," he noted. "The global economic downturn has already seen millions of people losing their jobs at thousands of companies in countries ranging from the US to India. Workplace rivalry exists everywhere, but this show will make things vicious." says media professional Pallavi Walia.

Heather Gupta, business head, UTV Bindass, feels that getting sacked on prime time television will add to the pink slipped person's misery. "Even if you sack people, they must be treated with respect," Gupta says. Sumit Saxena, marketing head, Focus Brands India, a liquor firm, finds the idea "immoral and unjustifiable". He says, "If I have to give somebody the pink slip, I'll tell them the reasons first. On a TV show, a person cannot prove his caliber."

However, reality show veterans predict that voyeuristic viewers will buy the concept. Pankaj Saraswat, director, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, says the cruelty of the concept is precisely what could make it sell, because "people are sadists these days".
"The whole world will know you've been fired," exclaims NGO worker Aanchal Sapra, while banker Tanisha Singh, feels the show could lead to a mental collapse. But Sandhya Shadangi, employee at an IT company, does not think this show is any worse than others, as "all reality shows are about meanness and negativity."

The layoff show may also find its way in India, where a local version of Endemol's Big Brother show, titled Big Boss, has already completed two successful seasons on Sony and Colors. However, the format of the show could get altered, as regulations in the country, where actual layoffs are also generally a hush-hush affair, might not allow a totally real- life format on such an issue.

Courtesy - Televisionpoint.com

Trai extends consultation on DTH to 24 April

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended the date for consultation paper seeking views regarding value added services (Vas), platform services and carriage of radio channels on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform till 24 April. Earlier, the date for receiving comments from the stakeholders on "DTH issues relating to tariff regulation and new issues" under reference from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was extended to 14 April from 30 March, on the request of stakeholders.

The date has been extended again following further requests pointing out the complexity of the subject. The authority has also scheduled open house discussions on the subject on 29 April at New Delhi and on 5 May at Pune. The issues falling under the ambit of debate include carriage fee, tariff between broadcasters and DTH operators and their subscribers. Questions such as the need for a cap on carriage fee across the DTH operators have also been raised.
The regulator wants stakeholders to comment on whether tariff regulation for DTH at wholesale level should be in terms of laying down relationship between the prices of channels/ bouquets for non-addressable platforms and the prices of such channels/ bouquets for DTH platform.

A Indiantelevision.com News

BJP rolls out five TVCs.

Bharatiya Janata Party has launched five new television campaigns, focusing on the needs of the ‘Aam Aadmi’. The TVCs are scheduled to go on air from 18 April and will run on Hindi news channels and Hindi general entertainment channels along with regional news channels. Says BJP spokesperson Sidharthnath Singh, “The new campaigns are based on the issue of governance. The campaigns further highlight how in the last five years, Congress had neglected the ‘Aam Aadmi’ as the poor population increased with the addition of 5.5 crore people below the poverty line. The campaigns also talk about the solutions BJP will be providing to various problems.”

From the set of five campaigns, one focuses on the increase in farmer suicides and BJP’s plans to provide loan waivers and fresh loans to farmers at 4 per cent. The second TVC talks about how BJP plans to retrieve the black money stored in Swiss banks within 100 days of coming to power. The third campaign is about the increase in number of female foeticides and how under the Laaldi Laxmi scheme, BJP will provide the girl child with money at different stages of her education. The fourth campaign is about the high tax paid by the citizens of the country and BJP’s proposal to increase the exemption in tax up to Rs 300,000. The fifth campaign, meanwhile, is about farmers being provided food grains at affordable rates. According to Singh, these campaigns are based on BJP’s manifesto.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

SS Jr - will it come ???

There were promotional videos for Airtel Super Singer Junior's next season and I thought it would start soon.. but looks like it wud take more time..its been long time Vijay TV had the promotional videos n they have stopped them from being telecasted... I guess with the Super Singer 2008 version going on for long time they wud have planned for the junior version for 2010 ;) wat say ??? It will be really funny n interesting to see the juniors perform...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

MDMK to launch TV channel by yearend

The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief
V Gopalswamy (also known as Vaiko) said on Monday that the party is planning to launch a television channel by the yearend. The MDMK will launch the channel in December to counter the “disinformation campaign against the party by Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi and the demands of suffering Lankan Tamils,” the party statement said.

Vaiko also said that he will contest the elections from the Virudhunagar constituency, undeterred by the trumped charges filed by Karunanidhi. Meanwhile, police had filed an FIR against Vaiko for allegedly speaking in support of the banned LTTE at a meeting. Vaiko had warned “bloodbath” in Tamil Nadu if anything happened to LTTE chief V Prabhakaran.

A Indiantelevision.com News

Mumtaz still with B Vs G..

Glamorous actress Mumtaz will be judging the performances of the contestants in the Boys Vs Girls program this week also.. its really bad that Vijay TV is not having any of the female judges constant.. initially it was Namitha & these days we tend to see many of them replacing her. will this be the trend of the show or any problem with Namitha and Vijay TV.. I think it was consitant in Jodi No 1 but not here. This week it would be action round as challenge between Guna and Aishwarya.. From this week the challenge round performance will be telecasted on friday itself and not on saturday.. so do not miss the challenge on friday..

Prasanna, Raghini & Santhosh...

Prasanna, Raghini & Santhosh are selected by the judges for the wild card round... for a change the jduges were asked to select contestants (rather than eliminating) and each of them had different options with choosing. But, they were asked to pick only 1 contestant whom they would want to give a chance in the wildcard round.. First it was Srinivas and he opted for Santhosh n Deepshika.. finally it was Santhosh who got the nod.. Next, Sujatha opted for Prasanna & finally with Unnikrishnan it was Raghini. So, next week it would be Ranjani, Vijay with these 3 contestants fighting for the final round spot. The judgement would be based on voting from the public even.. so, I guess there will be very tough competition..

Will it be today ??

There were promotional videos on the Wild card round of Airtel Super Singer last week and still going on.. but its not yet started.. the monday show had the already selected final contestants Ajeesh, Ravi and Renu with their family members and friends speaking about their selection to finals.. It was quite interesting.. yesterday I felt they should have telecasted the show bcos the film D-War got over arnd 9.15 itself.. What to expect from todays show.. will it have something in the contest or any other time pass videos ??

Mani Ratnam hotpitalised !!

Film director Mani Ratnam was hospitalised following breathing difficulty and dizziness. He was admitted to the hospital here last night after he complained of "breathing difficulty" and discomfort in the chest and specialists, including cardiologists, were attending on him, hospital and family sources said. The condition of Ratnam, who is under observation, is now stable and he would remain in the hospital for "some time", sources said.

The 52-year-old director, who introduced Oscar winning musician A R Rahman in "Roja", had survived a heart attack in 2004 when he was filming the multi-starrer, bi-lingual 'Yuva'. Mani Ratnam is currently involved in a project starring national award winner Vikram, Abhishek Bacchhan and Aishwarya Rai, among others, tentatively titled "Ravan."

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Rasigan Express..

Vijay Rasigan Express started... first set of images are here...




Monday, April 13, 2009

Koffee with Veteran singers..

It was P.B. Srinivas, L.R. Eshwari and T.K. Kala to have koffee with day before.. it was nice to see these veteran singers sharing their experiences.. which were almost 30 to 40 years bac... i liked the singing part in the show where they proved that they are still capable of giving some hit numbers ;).. its pleasing to see the way they respect ppl and other singers/actors. quite shocked even.. with achieving so much in life still they speak this way. the show had koffee tarro but not koffee award.. i wished they had asked for an award too...

What to expect from Ini oru Vidhi Seivom..

Well-known faces of the small screen Revathy Sankaran and Devadarshini acting as moderators in the show.. I am not sure how the show is going on.. since its in the afternoon on weekdays.. These are some of the topics tat would eb discussed
‘Wife earning more than husband’, ‘Divorce’, ‘Single parenthood’, ‘The importance of grooming’, ‘Housewife vs. working woman’, ‘Bigamy’ and ‘The sacrifices a woman has to make after marriage’.
Looks like there would be special guest invited for the shows and these Special guests invited to the show will offer their opinions on the topics discussed... guys.. let me know how this show goes.

Only 14 million broadband subscribers by 2010 ?

There are plans and there are visions. While the former involves the laying down of foundations for experiments to materialise, the latter envisages the ultimate culmination of the entire cycle of events. The government's directive to achieve 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010 is an instance where the 'plan' fell short of the 'vision'. According to a report by E&Y and CII titled 'India 2012 Telecom growth continues' in 2007 (termed as the year of broadband) there were only 3.1 million broadband subscribers, increasing to 5.8 million by the end of 2008.

Going by the current growth rates, it is expected that there would be only 14 million broadband subscribers by 2010, missing the target by 6 million. In contrast mobile services are growing at a much faster rate, adding 15.41 million subscribers in January 2009 alone. As a result, takers for internet services are rising faster in the mobile segment than are for broadband services. "In India mobile broadband would be more popular," informs T Ramachandaran, DG, COAI. In an evolving society, even though such anomalies can be attributed to consumer preferences, the reason behind the failure of a cheaper service vis-a-vis an expensive alternative is still unexplainable.

"There is no denying about the potential of broadband in India, the problem is that we do not have any infrastructure and it would be futile to advertise when you can't deliver," informs an insider from Reliance Communications (RCOM). This fact can be well-illustrated by looking at the definition of broadband. Broadband is defined as an 'always on' data connection that is able to support interactive services, including internet access and has the capability of minimum download of 256 kilo bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber.

In sharp contrast to its capability, the Indian version delivers only 100 kbps. Also there are no real content that is available to the Indian users. Even if the logic pertaining to an increase in the consumer base holds true, it is hard to ignore the fact that it is actually not possible for the private sector companies to offer entire junket of broadband services in India. Despite the vast fibre optics that these operators have already laid, they still do not have the last mile covered. Additionally, these telecos require multiple permissions in order to dig and lay new fibre optic cables, a situation which is herculean if not impossible. The only player that has these end points covered is state-owned BSNL.

In the year 2004, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended that the state provider should unbundle these local loops in order to give access to the private players, but to no avail. The other option for connecting the fibre optical end points could be the introduction of WiMax but there are indications about the auctions being held before March 31, 2009 and it would be only by the beginning of 2010 that it would be functional.

"In the western countries, it is the cable wire that also delivers broadband, and the companies should be looking at making use of the cable wire that is going in every household to make broadband popular," informs, Sukanta Dey, president, emerging business, Tata Teleservices. It does sound as an innovative solution but is a misfit in the Indian context. "The cable broadband would require an integration of the broadband with the cable operators but as of now the cable sector itself is highly unorganised," explains, Prashant Singhal, Telecommunications Leader, Ernst &Young.

There are a great deal of synergies possible between cable and broadband as is seen in several developed markets where IPTV (a combination of these services) has gained much popularity. However, even though cable operators have fired all cylinders for market penetration, strangely broadband operators have remained numb. As a matter of fact even players like Sify and Hathway, which offer both broadband and cable while being around for quite some time, have not been able to do much in this direction.

Apart from these there are BSNL and MTNL who are offering triple play services but the lack of awareness of their offerings ensures that there are no takers. The telecom market leader has just entered this arena with the launch of its IPTV (available only in Delhi) and it is expected that it would undertake some form of branding exercise in order to increase awareness. Sagar Mahableshwar, national creative director, Redifusion Y&R, the agency for Airtel telecom service, reveals, "We are working on a campaign on broadband and it would be on air shortly."

Currently the only beneficiaries of broadband are the corporate and reaching these enterprises through TVC's may not be a very prudent idea. "As majority of clients for broadband are corporate, it makes sense to hard sell and up-sell products to them," informs Abdul Khan, Head, GSM, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra). Also as broadband has a limited reach, telecos see value in talking to retail and other users through direct marketing. The high price of broadband services is also a major hurdle, where retail customers find affordability difficult. A corrective measure however can only be taken either after a government (TRAI) directive or more competition.

Going on a mass scale would only be a prudent decision when companies know that they are in a position to cater to the needs of the consumers. At this stage the biggest users of broadband are only corporate, since the return on investment from this segment is high, it makes sense for the telecom companies to talk to them directly at least for now. Also, by ensuring that a larger number of organisations use their broadband networks would also lead to more people being aware of the offerings, which are available under a single brand (Umbrella branding); as operators can make a mass impact about their brands virtually anytime, given their deep pockets and brand awareness. Nonetheless, since operators like Airtel are already looking at rolling out some commercials and even Tata Teleservices has hinted that it would be looking at branding seriously, the day is not far when we would see carpet bombing techniques being deployed for broadband; hopefully that would help in getting the Indian broadband on a 'visionary' path.

Courtesy - Televisionpoint.com

Vijay Virundhu @ Coimbatore..


Vijay TV will present a musical nite ‘The Chennai Silks Vijay Virundhu’ in the city on April 19. According to the organisers, the programme will be held at the Hindusthan College of Arts and Science grounds. Playback singers from the film industry like Anuradha Sriram, Srinivas, Mahathi and Benny Dayal will perform. Looks like contestants of the talent shows Airtel Super Singer and Amul Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhudheva will stage a live performance. Singers of the Airtel Super Singer 2008 will be part of the event.

Arasan Soap, Black thunder, Shakthi Masala and SKM Porna are the associate sponsors. Radio Mirchi will be the radio partner and The Hindu will be the media partner for the show. For sponsorship, contact 0422–4377125.

Summer Fest 2009

In a bid to grab eyeballs in the time of IPL frenzy, Vijay TV is dishing out an array of innovative shows. One such show is ‘Summerfest 2009’, an exciting series of popular English films...Dont miss them on Monday to Friday at 14.00. The exciting line-up includes ‘Bal Ganesh’, ‘My Friend Ganesha’, ’Krishna - Aayo Natkhat Nandalal’, ‘Dino Croc’, ‘Robocop 3 ’, ‘The Terminator’, ‘Spy Kids 3’, ‘The Brothers Grimm’ and ‘Dragon Chronicles the Maidens of Heavenly Mountains.’

Films ‘Dead or Alive’, ‘Internal Affairs’, ‘Born to fight’, ‘Signs’ and ‘Blown Away’ will premere on Vijay TV as part of the festival. Also lined up are kung fu actioners starring Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee — ‘Twins Effect’, ‘Police Story’, ‘Project A’, ‘The Young Master’, ‘Fist of Fury’ and ‘Game of Death’... I think this would be loved by the kids..

IPL 2 to attract more viewers than election coverage

The venue for the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) might have shifted to South Africa, but the Twenty20 cricket league will not miss out the viewership balls. Research studies by two media buying firms - mediaedge:cia and Maxus - say that the IPL will attract more viewers than the election coverage.

mediaedge:cia View
The aim of the mediaedge:cia survey was to ascertain the consumer involvement in Season 2 – in terms of the overall interest and the favourite teams and players, the impact of the change of venue, and how viewer time will be divided between the elections and IPL.
The sample size of the survey was 1,568 and it was carried out in 10 cities – all the eight team cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chennai and Chandigarh) and two neutral cities – Nagpur and Ahmedabad.

The expected viewership was arrived at, based on the fact that IPL being in its second season; the level of television viewing in the downturn; the impact of the change of venue; the impact of elections; popularity of the teams and team owners and scheduling of the matches. The agency found other factors that would influence the viewership of the game – performance of home teams, favourite team playing, Indian stars playing, time of the match, which day the match will be held, team owners' profile and in-stadia atmosphere. Among the teams, Rajasthan Royals clearly tops the popularity charts, followed by Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. While city loyalties in Chennai, Jaipur and Kolkata are strong, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai need to up their loyalties.

mediaedge:cia predicts that the average TVR for the 56 league matches will be around 5.1, while the TVRs for individual matches in 2009 could be higher than in 2008. The first five matches are expected to garner 16 per cent higher TVRs than last year, while the next five will be at par and the others will be much lower than the first season. The first match, between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on April 18, is expected to record a TVR of 9.4. Shubha George, managing director, mediaedge:cia, says, "There will be more IPL watched than elections for sure. But unlike last year when viewers just watched IPL during the time it was on, this year they might keep flipping between elections and cricket, so average viewership is likely to drop by 7 per cent."

Maxus View
According to Maxus, if an IPL match and the General Elections 2009 coverage happens at the same time, approximately 60 per cent of the viewers will prefer to watch cricket. The sample size of this survey was 120 and it was carried out in 3 cities – Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, The agency estimates that in 2008, IPL, over a course of 44 days generated around 300 gross rating points (GRPs), whereas the daily GRPs garnered by 25 news channels that covered the results of the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 were around 93. Comparing viewership generated over 44 days with viewership garnered over a day may not seem fair, but Maxus argues that IPL was telecast for only 3 hours and there was only one channel telecasting it, whereas in the case of elections, there were 25 channels involved, and they covered the declaration of results around the clock.

Maxus points out that "viewers can somewhat clearly re-collect that IPL is to be played on Max (the channel that belongs to Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, which is the broadcast partner for IPL), but for elections, they are being shown everywhere." The study also points out that while viewers can get updates on elections intermittently, cricket fans are not likely to sacrifice live action once they sit in front of their television. It also say that the profile of viewers on IPL will be much better than news channels.

A Televisionpoint.com News

Sunday, April 12, 2009

TOI celebrates first anniversary in Chennai

The world's largest English daily, The Times of India (TOI) is celebrating its first anniversary in Chennai this April. The much hyped launch of TOI Chennai last year had created quite a stir and jolted the status quo of newspaper readership in the city. The leading newspaper has also launched its official website focusing on local content to mark its first anniversary. Rahul Kansal, chief marketing officer, The Times of India, said, "In a culturally evolved market like Chennai, and with a strong competitor like Hindu, the last one year for us has been extremely gratifying."

"Among a breed of young readers, pro change readers, readers with a national and global outlook, the acceptance rate has been very high. We have been respectful of the city's cultural inclinations and rather than been a brash newcomer, we have tried to culturally integrate with the city and that has worked for us." Rahul adds. Ninan Thariyan, assistant vice-president, TOI Chennai, said, "Both in terms of readership and revenue, Chennai has been favourable for TOI. In a market dominated by some long existing players, TOI has redefined newspaper readership in the city."

The newspaper will have a series of brand building activities in the coming months. To start with, it has introduced the 'What's up Chennai' feature capturing the life of Chennai, which started on April 6 and will culminate on April 14, coinciding with the first anniversary of TOI Chennai. Extending its digital initiative, TOI Chennai is launching an official website on the occasion of the first anniversary in Chennai. The site will be user interactive and a fun networking site exclusively for the city of Chennai.

The site will have features like 'Click your Chennai', through which TOI will be inviting readers to send their mobile capture pictures of Chennai. Every week one winner would be chosen. 'Tag line for Chennai' is another feature where readers would be invited to coin a tag line for Chennai. These apart, there are features like 'The Great Wall of Chennai', where one can post anything and everything. For the record, TOI Chennai edition is priced at Rs 2 on weekdays and Rs 3 on Sundays. The cover price of The Hindu is Rs 2.50 on weekdays and Rs 3 on Sundays. The New Indian Express is priced ar Rs 1.50 on weekdays and Rs 5 on Sundays, while Deccan Chronicle is priced at Rs 1.50 on weekdays and Rs 2 on Sundays.

A IndianTelevision News
 
koffee with anu super singer jodi no 1 anu alavum bayam illai celebrating kamal's 50 vijay tv vanga pesalam kallikaattu pallkoodam maharani vijay awards vpl en peyar meenakshi yuvan vijay tv anchors kings of comedy