News Headline | Indian Television Dot Com

Aaj Tak claims absolute numero uno status amongst news channels; launches new ad campaign

Submitted by ITV Production on Nov 15, 2001

Aaj Tak is making hay out of the conflict in Afghanistan. If the ratings are to be believed, the Hindi news channel from the India Today stable has soared way ahead of competitors Star News and Zee News, as well as the BBC and CNN.

As per TAM figures for the week ended 20 October, Aaj Tak commanded a 50 per cent share as against Zee News‘ 35 per cent share. BBC had a share of 5 per cent while CNN boasted a 3 per cent share. As per INTAM figures for the week ended 7 October, Aaj Tak had a channel share of 42 per cent as against Zee News‘ 37 per cent. Aaj Tak maintained the channel share among the premium audiences (Sec A,B/25+) as well, while the channel share of Zee News dropped by 5 per cent.

The channel claims that on 7 October, the day the news that the hilly nation had been attacked by the coalition against terrorism broke, Aaj Tak drew the highest audience, with the channel witnessing a 156 per cent increase in its viewership. Viewers, says a press release, tuned into Aaj Tak for national as well as international news.

It had earlier witnessed an increase of four times in its usual viewership immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.

Says Aaj Tak CEO G Krishnan: "Aaj Tak‘s dynamic programming wheel format coupled with the state-of-the-art technology and uplink facility from India allows it to break news immediately."

The media group is hoping to further consolidate the gains it has made in recent times by harping on this point in a new ad campaign, which is planned to run across outdoor, cinema, radio and print until March 2002. The campaign tries to reinforce the message Aaj Tak is the first to deliver news to viewers.

Communication for the outdoors is largely slated to be through hoardings (billboards), kiosks and buses in Delhi and Mumbai. The key line of the ad campaign: "Aaj Tak -Sabse Tez Channel". Promos can also be watched in leading cinema halls nationally and heard on select FM and Vivid Bharati radio stations in all major cities.

The extensive media activity is to be complemented through ad releases in group magazines such as India Today and Business Today.

Aaj Tak claims absolute numero uno status amongst news channels; launches new ad campaign

Nov 15, 2001

Aaj Tak is making hay out of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Jason Dasey to co-host Sportsline for ESS

Nov 15, 2001

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has a new host on its signature sports news programme, Sportsline.

ESPN-Star Sports vs 7 Star: Both claim victories

Submitted by ITV Production on Nov 15, 2001

News Headline

The legal brawl between Mumbai cable TV independent 7 Star Cable and pay TV sportscaster ESPN Star Sports over payments to the latter is far from over.
ESPN Software India has said it is going to take the dispute to an arbitration panel and that it may move the court once again if 7 Star continues to breach its contract. 7 Star says it is going to continue to take the ESPN-Star Sports feed from other cable ops with which it has alliances, even if the sportscaster continues to keep its integrated-receiver decoder box switched off.

"We have already paid the arrears for a month and 21 days and also deposited the bank guarantee for the remainder period with the court within the timeframe directed by it, " says Raja, one of the promoters of 7 Star. "We are free to tap the two channels from InCable or any other provider who we choose to affiliate with. The court has not issued any order restraining us from airing the two channels once we meet the conditions it has set for us. "

So far both claim to have registered victories. While ESPN-Star Sports says 7 Star has been forced to pay up all its arrears, the latter says the former has reportedly not been able to prevent it from retransmitting the two channels to hotels that it services. "We have told them to discontinue the service to 1,518 rooms in hotels that take a cable TV feed from 7 Star‘s headend," says another partner Shamim Shaikh. "We do not have the technical capability to stop doing so. The court has agreed with us."

According to Raja, the network is willing to come to an understanding in the cause of the cable TV industry, if the sportscaster network does not stay adamant about the subscriber base it wants to be paid for.

Says he: "We would like them to gradually up the subscriber base for which we pay and not drastically as has been proposed. An increase from 7,000 paid subs to 20,000 is too drastic a jump. If they are not open to a phased increment of subs, then let them hike the subscription fees levied per sub. Let ESPN-Star not do both: increase the subscriber base and even the sub fees. Hopefully it will come to a settlement. This industry is about relationships, let‘s maintain them."

The case looks more like a Mexican standoff and the final verdict from this arbitration could probably have far reaching consequences for broadcasters and the cable TV industry.