MUMBAI: Tick, tock, tick?all eyes are on eight broadcast networks who have less than 12 hours of the 72 hour notice given to them by advertisers last week to revert to weekly TV ratings. As reported by Indiantelevision.com on 13 July, advertisers such as Levers, P&G, Loreal, ITC, Britannia, Marico and Godrej have said that they have given instructions to their agencies to cancel release orders on those TV channels on expiry of the 72-hour notice.

Apparently, broadcasters have not paid any heed to this overhanging threat or tried to hammer out a solution. . Because at the time of writing this report, the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) had issued a release stating that advertisers had no option but to go ahead with the cancellations. "If one were to read in between the lines in the release, it is sounding helpless, and almost apologetic about taking this step," says a media observer.

When Indiantelevision.com tried to connect with CEOs of these networks they were either unavailable or didn?t want to comment on the issue, yet. Even IBF didn?t want to comment on the situation or the steps they plan to take. It would prefer to wait till tomorrow and see what can be done next.

Aegis Group chairman India & CEO South East Asia Ashish Bhasin says that more advertisers have joined in. ?The situation is grave; but I feel that weekly ratings should come back because monthly ratings are quiet opposite of how the world is going towards.?

IPG Media Brands CEO Shashi Sinha says that he has no formal communication from broadcasters? next step.

Most media planners too would prefer to wait and watch to see how the situation takes shape.

The AAAI release, signed by its president Arvind Sharma who is back from the US, reads as follows:

"For fourteen years, TAM has been the TV audience measurement system in the country. It has been the currency on the basis of which advertising planning, buying and selling have been conducted. We all agree that this measurement system needs to evolve. That is the common goal towards which broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies came together to create Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). BARC will take ten months or so to start generating its audience measurement data.

" In the meantime, however, if individual broadcasters try to force unilateral changes in the current system, as some have tried, it will result in a disorderly and hybrid measurement system. It will become impossible for advertising agencies and advertisers to plan and therefore, buy TV spots. In this scenario, it is natural for advertisers to begin to question the value of advertising in this medium at all. Cancellation of TV releases by many advertisers on eight network groups that have insisted on unilateral changes is a natural outcome of that. More clients are following."

The apex ad organisation has once again reiterated that any change in the TV measurement system needs to be thought through and should have support from all the three industry constituents - broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies. "We continue to be firmly of the belief that dialogue among all constituents is essential for evolving the system. We remain open to discussions, as always. However, this does require similar openness across all constituents. We will continue to work towards a dialogue," adds the release.

MUMBAI: After ending his 13-year-old stint at GroupM, Hiren Pandit, managing partner, special projects at the media agency has joined SE TransStadia as COO.

On his new role, Pandit says, "I am passionate about sports and the commitment TransStadia has shown in this space is how I made this decision to join them".

Pandit?s role in the company would be to take forward the long-term vision of SE TransStadia Pvt. Ltd. to develop world-class sports infrastructure and a strong sporting culture in India.

Udit Sheth, Managing Director and CEO, said, "TransStadia has swiftly grown over the last 4 years. To manage this growth and further build the business we wanted to build a strong leadership team. I have known Hiren for some time now and believe his experience and passion are the right combination to lead TransStadia in achieving its objectives. Personally and on behalf of TransStadia I welcome Hiren and wish him all the success in his new role."

TransStadia has diversified interests across sports academies, intellectual property rights, consulting and infrastructure. Over the last few years, TransStadia has been working at the grassroot level to develop talent and has launched sports academies in various states.

MUMBAI: A New York federal judge has found that Apple colluded with major book publishers to inflate the price of e-books.

The Department of Justice brought the lawsuit in April 2012 and alleged that Apple had acted as the "hub" in a hub-and-spoke conspiracy to move the book industry from a "wholesale" model dominated by Amazon.com to an "agency" model where Apple and other e-retailers would take commissions. The result of the actions resulted in e-books being sold past the $9.99 price point that was regularly used by Amazon.

The big publishers settled the government?s claims, leaving Apple to defend its own actions in a three-week trial last month.

In a ruling on Wednesday, US District Judge Denise Cote said the government has proven its case.

"The plaintiffs have shown that the publisher defendants conspired with each other to eliminate retail price competition in order to raise e-book prices, and that Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy," wrote Judge Cote in a 160-page ruling. "Without Apple?s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did in the Spring of 2010."

MUMBAI: Teenage female characters and sex are the main ingredients that spice up the prime time slot of broadcast network TV series, according to a report titled: TV?s Newest Target: Teen Sexual Exploitation - The Prevalence and Trivialization of Teen Sexual Exploitation on Primetime TV.

The report is released by Parents Television Council (PTC), an advocacy group in the US. The 2013 report is third in a series; the previous editions being launched in 2009 and 2010.

The PTC report released this year looked at scripted original programs aired during primetime. Around 238 episodes for a total of 194.5 hours were analysed for four different months between 2011-12, concentrating on indentifying all sexual dialogue and depictions associated with females as well as scenes containing sexual exploitation. 
The report stated that 33 per cent of the content ?rose to the levels of sexual exploitation? while 63 per cent of the total episodes had varying levels of association of females and sexual content.

Prominent shows that are mentioned in the report include Last man standing, Family Guy, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Private Practice among others. An inverse relation existed between the age of a female and the frequency of instances of sexual exploitation, according to the study. Most broadcasters for these shows such as Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS etc. did not have any rebuttal for the claim made. They were also mum on a previous report that was released by the PTC that violence remained a prime time delicacy to broadcast. 

Pornography and stripping were the leading topics used as humour content. "Young people are having difficulty managing the distinction between appropriate and inappropriate sexual conduct and TV?s confusing messages are one reason," said PTC board member Delman Coates.

The study also noted that ?numerous? scenes had more than one female and underage girls (below 17) were the highest targets out of the total scenes depicting female sexual exploitation with 23 per cent. In terms of content, sexually violent scenes were popularly given to underage females while pornography to adult females.

However, the report also clarified that out of the 268, only 19 were depictions while the rest were references to such instances. The report further states that the norm is to trivialize the issue which would have been otherwise had serious repercussions. It also highlights the constant association of humor with sexual exploitation and shrugging it off as ?entertainment?.

An interesting thing to ponder and debate upon is the effect such scenes have on young men and women regarding the female sex. To support the claims it has made, the report has also given examples. One example from Law and Order: Special Victims unit talks about the vaginal and anal rape of a woman as well as mutilation of her face and fingers using power tools.

The PTC is a non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that protects children and families from graphic sex, violence and profanity in entertainment.

Said Tim Winter, President, PTC: "The PTC Report 2013 is intended to shed light on a new and very troubling trend. We?re seeing a growing amount of primetime television programming that is sexually exploitative; and much of that content is being used as a punch line to a joke. It is a matter of concern, as such content can have serious implications on kids."

MUMBAI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) announced today that things are moving at its end. In an email sent out to industry a short while ago, it said that more than 25 companies, including global leaders in technology and research have expressed interest in taking part in the RFP (request for proposals) process for its planned audience measurement system. Additionally, its CEO Partho Dasgupta told indiantelevision.com that the baseline study is expected to be completed by November- December. The deadline for receiving the RFPs, has however been set at 31 July.

"The proposals will be in by 31 July. Currently we are having several interactions with the interested companies for clarity of issues," says BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta.

Once the proposals have been received, BARC will set up an evaluation panel that will scrutinise all proposals in order to select the best in class research methodology and technology.

Emails have been issued to all stakeholders to inform them of the latest BARC developments, says BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta

The panel will concentrate on three parameters before finalising the methodology for the audience measurement system. These are: technology of equipment across all broadcast mechanisms, capture and analysis of data and dissemination of data to users.

The evaluation panel will comprise senior experts from the industry representing all stakeholders - advertisers, agencies and broadcasters. Additionally, experts in the technology domain are also being co-opted to give insights on the best technology available.

The council is working towards ensuring that people with relevant skills are all on board from across all its stakeholders to assess the best methodologies available globally. The global competitive bidding process is a way to ensure that the country gets the best in class, cutting edge broadcast measurement system.

In order to make the research future ready, BARC has set up two different RFPs, which takes into account all demographic, social, linguistic, economic and geographic variables. The first is a ?Research RFP? which covers pure research, including sampling, weighting, household identification and data collection etc. The second is the ?Technology RFP? which covers the non-research aspect of this study, including the best hardware available, remote data collection, technology for analysis of data etc.

Currently, the council is collecting the data for the baseline survey, conducted by IRS. The sample size for this baseline survey is approximately 2.4 lakhs and covers both urban and rural India. "The results of this survey will be out by November-December which will form the basis for the BARC panel," informs Dasgupta.

BARC has in its earlier statement to indiantelevision.com had stated that the new measurement system will be completely robust, transparent and representative of the entire broadcast value chain. "We have issued emails to all our stakeholders, including advertisers, agencies to inform them of the latest developments. We are also inviting suggestions from people to make a strong audience measurement system. We are open to suggestions," says Dasgupta.

The email sent out to stakeholders is the first of a dialogue that BARC has initiated.

Earlier, this month, the TRAI had met up with industry professionals to get their views on whether ratings agencies need to be accredited/regulated, what those regulatory parameters should be and who should regulate the should be regulator. It had issued a consultation paper in April this year on the same, seeking industry opinion.

MUMBAI: It's aiming for the sun. And that too in the tough Rs 1,100-1,200 crore Tamil general entertainment channel market which is dominated by the Kalanithi Maran-run Sun TV. The Rs 100 crore Chennai-based The New Generation Media Corp that runs the successful Tamil magazine and TV news channel both bearing the same name - Puthiya Thalaimurai - is now gearing up to storm the Sun Network bastion. On the anvil is a new Tamil GEC Pudhu Yugam (New Era) with an investment treasure chest of Rs 100 crore.

"We will be deciding the launch date by next month," says The New Generation Media CEO RBU Shyam Kumar. "Our vision is clear for Pudhu Yugam- we want to redefine GEC as general engagement rather than general entertainment."

And he has roped in veteran Tamil TV producer B. Kailasam (son of noted film and TV producer K. Balachander) as the channel head. Kailasam was earlier associated with some of the more successful shows on news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai.

The programming mix is going to be the usual fare: fiction, cinema, gags, blogs and many more. Kailasam has a task on his hands as Shyam Kumar says the shows will be "path-breaking" and that?s needed because of the stiff competition in this space. "Our shows will have an X-factor like has not been seen by the Tamil TV viewer," he says. "The confidence level and our experience in the news channel space which has made us the leader in Tamil news will come to bear in whatever we choose to do."

The New Generation Media CEO RBU Shyam Kumar wants to  redefine GEC as general  engagement rather than general  entertainment with Pudhu Yugam

Of course the dependence on advertising is bound to be there. Although, no names are in the bucket list yet, he is confident of bagging a good inflow of national as well as regional advertisers.

Shyam Kumar agrees that as of now Sun TV is a clear winner and its dominance is daunting for most players in the Tamil TV space, "But Pudhu Yugam will be a strong competitor to all," he says. The channel will not be looking just for domestic audiences, it is also targeting the Indian diaspora. The idea is to further make it available to viewers in the US, Canada, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai etc. which have Tamil-speaking population.

Will the channel manage to gnaw away at Sun TV?s gargantuan marketshare? Or will it stay dwarfed like several others in the past?

Well, the pedigree is there. The New Generation Media Corp was started by R P Satyanarayanan with just a magazine ?Pudhiya Thalaimurai? which grew rapidly on account of the fact that it focused on factual and "truthful reportage." Ditto with the news channel by the same name.

That could well work in its favour as it has also been able to get into slugfests with the more powerful Sun TV group as it did when it battled with it in front of the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on carriage fees late last year. So the David is unafraid of battling with Goliath

It will require the megabucks nonetheless, with about Rs 10-15 crore a month needed to burn on programming, marketing, distribution, just to keep the channel going. Of course, carriage fees are something it will have to deal with. Even though the quantum has been going down nationally, the same cannot be said for Tamil Nadu where Chennai has been immune to the government?s digitisation mandate.

Then its programming commissioning model as against the slot sale model of Sun TV is likely to prove expensive for it. Where Sun TV will be earning money from producers, Pudhu Yugam will be burning money on them. It will have to work hard to win the media agencies over and rake in the advertising bucks.

Shyam Kumar is more than aware of this and the group is examining financing options and talks are on with banks and investors for raising money to fuel its ambitions.

Shyam Kumar says the focus will be to roll out Pudhu Yugam on cable, DTH and IPTV in Tamil Nadu while restricting it to IPTV and DTH nationally. And of course the idea will be to also engage viewers through social media as well as two way interaction.

Even though the channel has yet to see the light of day (and is currently commissioning producers to make shows), Shyam Kumar is already drawing up plans of having an English news channel next year.

This is one group which is clearly driving in the fast lane.