New Delhi: Indian broadcaster New Delhi Television (NDTV) has cut down on its staff strength, mostly in Mumbai.

NDTV Group CEO KVL Narayan Rao told Indiantelevision.com that only around 40 people, most of them from Mumbai had been asked to go out of a total workforce of 1800 members.

He said this step had been taken only where "we found we were over staffed, and to build a more robust organisation."

It had been reported in the media that this step was taken by the broadcaster in order to curtail costs. Reacting to this Rao said, "We would have taken this step even if we had achieved great profits. It is the part of every vibrant organisation to trim itself from time to time."

Another spokesperson from the broadcaster confirmed that 40 to 50 people from its Mumbai bureau had been given the pink slip after Ernst and Young reported that it was over staffed. "In April, we had identified the people who had to be laid off and had given them options to either change their post/position or their city. It is only after they have refused to do either that we have taken this step," the spokesperson informed.

It is learnt that apart from its internal study, NDTV had also sought the help of Ernst & Young to make suggestions to make the organization more vibrant.

The employees that have been asked to leave are all from the junior to mid level in the hierarchy.

MUMBAI: Mumbai-based club RN Sports Club, backed by a celebrity and a businessman, is willing to purchase the Deccan chargers team outright and bypass the bidding process.

The club located in South Mumbai is willing to pay Rs 9-11 billion for the team and will have a meeting with Deccan Chronicle tomorrow.

According to the club?s marketing head Ankush Tripathi, the BCCI has also been informed of the intention.

"There is a clause in the bid document which allows a party to buy the franchise if the owners agree. We do not want to go through the bid process. RN Sports Club management is constantly in conversations with the BCCI and the Deccan Chargers management for this deal," he tells Indiantelevision.com.

Tripathy believes the breakeven period can be achieved in three years. "The team will retain the same name and be based in Hyderabad. As per the terms in the bid document, this cannot be changed," he says.

The club?s promoter is Vijay Barhate. The aim of R.N. Sports club is to promote cricket. "We have been wanting to purchase an IPL team since IPL-4, as we already conduct various successful talent hunt camps at an all India school level. We have also done talent hunt camps aboard, We have cricket coaching centres in several places including Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. We also have cricket academies in Mumbai. The aim of purchasing our own team is to promote the young cricketers of nation."

Interestingly R.N. Sports Club had a deal with Rajasthan Royals for running a talent hunt. Tripathi says that the MoU expired and so the club chose not to renew it. Earlier Rajasthan Royals had said that it had terminated the deal over non payment of dues which Tripathi flatly denied. For him, owning a franchise is the next step.

Other names doing the rounds who could bid for the franchise include Videcon, Adani Group and former Satyam COO Srini Raju who is now Peepul Capital co-founder, chairman.

New Delhi: Any attempt to justify the conduct of the news television channels for their live coverage of the terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26 November 2008 by citing the right to freedom of speech and expression would be totally wrong and unacceptable, the Supreme Court has said.

In its judgment confirming the death sentence of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the court said ?the freedom of speech and expression, like all other freedoms under Article 19, is subject to reasonable restrictions.?

In a strong rebuke of the electronic media, Justices Aftab Alam and CK Prasad said ?an action tending to violate another person?s right to life guaranteed under Article 21 or putting the national security in jeopardy can never be justified by taking the plea of freedom of speech and expression?.

?It is beyond doubt that the way their (security forces) operations were freely shown made the task of the security forces not only exceedingly difficult but also dangerous and risky.?

?It is in such extreme cases that the credibility of an institution is tested. The coverage of the Mumbai terror attack by the mainstream electronic media has done much harm to the argument that any regulatory mechanism for the media must only come from within.?

The Judges said the shots and visuals that were shown live by the TV channels could have also been shown after all the terrorists were neutralised and the security operations were over. But in that case the TV programmes would not have had the ?same shrill, scintillating and chilling effect and would not have shot up the TRP ratings of the channels?.

NEW DELHI: Staying ahead of competition, Dish TV has launched the first-ever standard definition box with recorder to cater to the majority of subscribers who are not hooked on to high definition.

Dish TV expects the pricing to be a killer as recording facilities offered by rival direct-to-home (DTH) service providers are only in high-definition boxes and are much costlier.

The STB with recorder to be known as Dish+ would cost a mere Rs 100 more than the present STB which is priced at Rs 1590. Dish TV is also giving a 4 GB pen drive free as promotional offer.

?Dish+ is a comeback of recorders in the living room and is a clear differentiator vis-?-vis other alternatives including digital cable. Its highly competitive launch price will position it as a preferred option amongst all DTH buyers?, Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said

Dish TV?s high-definition box which has a recording facility is priced at Rs 2690. Dish would charge another Rs 200 for installation.

Any USB port can be connected to the standard box for recording, and there is facility for unlimited recording.

A budget of Rs 250 million has been set aside for a 360 degree marketing campaign, Kapoor told Indiantelevision.com.

"The high-definition market at present is just five per cent of the total households (around 50,000 subscribers). The majority are, thus, deprived of any recording facility. Since the video cassette recorder fades out for recording facility, most subscribers are going to welcome this new innovation."

The government has mandated digitisation in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai by 1 November. "The second phase will cover a total of 40 cities. We want to be able to give the viewers an option," said Kapoor.