• Zee AGM

    Issues that may come up at Zee AGM today

    Sep 28, 2001

    Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms holds its annual general body meeting today in Mumbai.

  • TRPs to top agenda at crucial IBF meeting today

    Submitted by ITV Production on Sep 28, 2001
    News Headline

    It‘s all happening at the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. The representative body of broadcasters is meeting today at 6:00 pm at The Club in Mumbai‘s western suburb of Andheri, with - you guessed it - the TRP issue at the top of the agenda.

    With Zee broadcasting CEO Sandeep Goyal having declared that he has absolutely no faith in both the ratings agencies - ORG Marg‘s INTAM and AC Nielsen‘s TAM Research - the meeting is expected to produce some fireworks.

    Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, Sony Entertainment Television CEO Kunal Dasgupta and vice-chairman and managing director of SABe TV Markand Adhikari are also among those who have confirmed they will be present.

    According to Dasgupta, another issue that will be raised regards the "hedging" that Star and Zee apparently resorted to after the recent IBF decision to ban three agencies - McCann Erickson, HTA (Hindustan Thompson Associates) and HTA Fulcrum (handles the Hindustan Levers account) - for alleged payment defaults.

    It was the first concrete decision by the IBF to play a role like that of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) which blacklists agencies that play truant as far as payments to member newspaper organisations are concerned. Once the agency is placed on the blacklist, other INS members are supposed to co-operate and not carry any of their ads.

    Though the IBF declared its blacklists on 15 September (a Saturday), till 19 September (Wednesday) when the dispute was resolved, neither Zee nor Star had instituted the ban. Even allowing for the fact that it takes 48 hours to make changes as far as ad scheduling is concerned for broadcasters that uplink from outside India, the embargo should have been effected by Monday evening or Tuesday morning at the latest.

    On Wednesday, when the embargo was called off, Star was quoted as saying it would take at least till Friday to pull out the ads.

    It is not clear whether any other issues will be raised at the meeting.


  • TAM Media Research

    TRPs to top agenda at crucial IBF meeting today

    Sep 28, 2001

    It's all happening at the Indian Broadcasting Foundation.

  • Issues that may come up at Zee AGM today

    Submitted by ITV Production on Sep 28, 2001
    News Headline

    Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms holds its annual general body meeting today in Mumbai. The meeting comes at a time when the company is organising a major revamp on the programming front and indicates a "genuine effort to get things working again," seems to be the general view among a cross-section of financial analysts.
    Although the issues that are listed on the agenda of the meeting are pretty tame (including approval of salaries to be paid out to the company‘s directors), the topics that may come up for discussion, according to the analysts, are:

    The positives first - 1) How has encryption of the Zee bouquet proceeded? No real problems there as it has gone off pretty well which augurs well for the company as far as fund flows are concerned.

    2) What level have discussions reached to bring on board a strategic partner? While, there is a low likelihood of specifics being forthcoming, the industry seems to be taking the moves in that direction as a very good sign for the long-term as it would bring with it a more transparent and organised corporate ethic.

    3) The moves to streamline operations within the group by merging the many companies under the Chandra umbrella into fewer entities will be welcomed.

    4) How has the new programming strategy fared? Though some issues may be raised over why the over-all pick-up has not been as spectacular as Zee would have liked, there can be no quibble really as to the kind of effort that has gone into it so it is not expected to raise too many hackles. The fact that the revamp is still in its early phase naturally helps things.

    The negatives - 1)The problems over the links with cornered bull operator Ketan Parekh are still to be sorted out. Especially since Zee has been specifically mentioned in the report prepared by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

    2) There is still some Rs1200 million that Chandra has to return to Zee Telefilms from the monies that were transferred to investment companies of Chandra‘s Essel group which were meant to help bail out Parekh.

    All-in-all the overall industry sentiment seems to be cautiously optimistic, with the rider that there is still a lot of work to be done.

  • Zee expects subscription revenues to cushion ad sales fall; puts search for foreign partner for Siti Cable on hold

    Submitted by ITV Production on Sep 27, 2001
    News Headline
    Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra today warned investors that the overall negative market scenario prevailing was going to impact on financials as companies cut back on advertising. It was also clarified later that efforts to bring on board an international player as strategic partner for its cable arm Siti Cable had been put on the cold burner for the present.

    Zee‘s Nineteenth Annual General Meeting, which took place at the Nehru Auditorium in Worli in Central Mumbai today, started at 12 o‘clock sharp with a short speech by Chandra. ‘There will be a dip in total revenues as well as net profit of the company as industry is going through a rough patch," Chandra said. He later explained while answering shareholders‘ questions that though overall growth would be there, the earlier rates of growth which had stood at 45 per cent and 60 per cent far the last few years would not happen.

    On the positive side he said there would be an increase in revenues of around 20 to 25 per cent from subscription during this financial year. The Zee bouquet having gone pay on 10 June this year had proved a success with higher than anticipated revenue collections.

    Chandra referred to the AT Kearney report which suggests that operations within the group be streamlined by merging the many companies under the Zee umbrella into fewer entities. Chandra said that the present 22 companies which make up the group would be reduced to 12 under three broad operations of access, content and education.

    Cable arm Siti Cable and Patco (company set up to handle marketing for DTO) come under access for which there will be investment worth Rs 1300 million while RS 200 million had been set aside for content in this financial year, Chandra said.

    As far as the education business was concerned the growth prospects were not that positive, he said.

    Seeking to reassure investors over Zee‘s links to cornered bull operator Ketan Parekh and the subsequent fallout, he said that there was no investigation on against the company. Out of a total of Rs 2,200 million that was transferred from Zee Telefilms to investment companies of Chandra‘s Essel group meant to help bail out Parekh, Rs 1300 million had already been paid and the remaining amount would be paid within a short period, he said. Chandra further clarified that henceforth, as a matter of company policy no Zee group company would have any financial transactions with Zee telefilms. In his speech, he also mentioned the tax liability of the company as a foreign broadcasting channel.

    "Also, the investment in Buddha Films which is Rs 102 Crores (Rs 1020 million) would be returned to Zee as part of divestment within this financial year along with interest of 15 per cent," he said.

    Clarifying on some other investment issues raised by the shareholders, Chandra said that there was no investment in Agee Gold (there as an agreement between Zee and Agee Gold Refineries that Agee will use the Zee brand name for selling their products for which they will pay 20 per cent of their net profit as royalty). ‘There is also advertising tie-up under which they have to advertise on the network," Chandra said.

    Replying to a question as to how far discussions to bring on board an international media player as a strategic partner had proceeded, Chandra said the search had been put on hold for the time being.

    However, RK Singh, corporate affairs CEO, Zee Telefilms, subsequently clarified that what Chandra meant to say was that the search for a strategic partner for group cable arm Siti Cable had been shelved.

    Chandra was reluctant to disclose the profits made on the recent mega hit Gadar. "Films are not new for us. Before Gadar happened, in the last seven years there were something like 12 films that we made which were low budget but all were cash positive," he said. Talking about the future plans on the film front, he said this financial year Zee would doing one more film. The investment would be close to Rs 10 to 20 million and if further finances are required, the film will finance itself through the sale of various rights in advance as well as with the advertising partnerships.

    To one investor who raised the issue of the sharp increase in salary expenses, he explained that earlier there were only four channel while that number now stood at 13, which needs strong backend to support which adds to the cost. "But if you see the overall operating costs of the company you will see it is well under control," he said.

    On the programming front he expressed optimism. "We have 32 per cent of overall eyeballs despite the fall in ratings. Our next rival has 20 per cent which is far behind," Chandra said. The media and entertainment industry will grow at the rate of 30 per cent this year, he said.

    PRAISES SHOWERED ON CHANDRA

    If one didn‘t know better it could have seemed that all was well in the Zee camp. At least that was what could be made out purely going by the kind of feedback that investors offered at the AGM.

    The main concern among the shareholders present appeared to be to get some free screening of Zee‘s mega hit film Gadar, a request that was partially accepted by the board. Most of the shareholders who spoke at the AGM started their speech with praises for Chandra and his caliber in having managed such fantastic results despite the bad market conditions.

    Some went so far as to say they wished Chandra would soon be on top of the heap as far as Indian billionaires were concerned.

  • Vijay TV launching aggressive programme drive from 1 October

    Submitted by ITV Production on Sep 27, 2001
    News Headline

    With latest addition to the family Vijay TV firmly in tow, Star India today gave notice it was ready for a long haul battle with undisputed leader Sun TV and distant second Jaya TV for the ultimate prize - the eyes and minds of the Tamil viewer.

    Starting 1 October, Vijay TV will have a slew of fresh new programmes, starting with mega soaps like Marumagal, Kathai Kathaiam Kaaranamam, Kavyanjali, Agnisatchi, Kudumbam oru Kovil to weekly comedy shows like Crazy times, Galatta countdown, along with mega movies during the week.

    Announcing this at a press briefing in Chennai, Ajay Vidyasagar, GM, said: "Our programming philosophy has been to get strong story lines to be enacted by the best Tamil actors and actresses. The focus has been to raise the bar on packaging, promotions and the quality of presentation that has been the hallmark of the Star network. With Vijay we believe that TV viewing families in Tamil Nadu will have the privilege of choice".

    Kicking off the programming blitz is a daily soap Marumagal, with top cine star Khushbu making her debut on Tamil TV. She is cast as Nandhini an intelligent young woman who gets married into the family of a rich businessman. The story revolves around her demanding mother-in-law, played by Manjula, the popular film star of yesteryear, and how she solves tangles and wins the love and affection of everyone. This is also for the first time that Khushbu will star with Manjula and both are excited about the show.

    Kathai Kathaiam Kaaranamam, is a collection of stories written by literary stalwarts like Vaasathi, Sivasankari and Balakumaran. This series is directed by Revathy, with the lead roles enacted by top rated actors and actresses. In the first story Shobana cast as Malathi in Vaasanthi?s hugely popular Nampikaikalum Anumanumgalum, plays the lead role.

    Galatta is a music countdown show with comedians Senthil and Manivannan hosting.

    Slotted for the weekend is Crazy Times scripted by Crazy Mohan one of Tamil cinema?s leading humourists.

    According to Vijay TV officials, the new programming line-up has been crafted after an elaborate exercise done across consumer segments in Tamil Nadu.

    Suresh Iyer, programming head for Vijay says: "We have gone into local production by partnering with some of the best quality production houses. There is a lot of involvement from our end. We have set up a creative services cell that thoroughly evaluates all shows and based on merit these will play on the channel. We have a strong commitment to provide quality content and bringing stars to the homes of consumers (instead of the consumer going in search of them)"

    Sameer Nair, head of programming, Star, said: "This is only the first step towards what we believe is a long term plan in harnessing the creative talents in South India. And like we have learnt with Star Plus, we are in a marathon and not a hundred meter race"

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