Multiscreen Media, broadcaster of Sony (NYSE: SNE) Entertainment Television, has hired Ajit Thakur as business head of its flagship channel reports e4m. Thakur was CEO of Balaji Motion Pictures, the film making division of Balaji Telefilms Ltd.

Medianama reports that Salil Kumar has put in his papers as the COO (business) at NDTV convergence. When we got in touch with Kumar, he declined comment. 

As per the shareholders’ agreement, JPL has the first right of refusal should INM decide to sell. While the companies did not do a private deal, Agarwal said the company was buying as much stock from the open market as possible without triggering an open offer. “I have authorized my people to buy upto 5%—that is the most we can buy under the restrictions of the takeover code,” Agarwal said. “Exactly how much we ended up buying, I’ll know only tomorrow,” Agarwal said.

The promoter group—Jagran’s Gupta family—held 59.25% prior to the current transaction. (In the picture L-R: JPL CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta and CEO Sanjay Gupta) 

INM, which publishes The Independent, among others, acquired a 26% stake in JPL in 2005 at Rs467 per share. It got diluted to 20.8% after JPL’s initial public offering in 2006. Today, INM sold at Rs67.39. However, INM subsequently received bonus shares in JPL, adjusting for which, the effective price of acquisition becomes Rs143.7. In addition to this, JPL also undertook a stock split, which means while the face value of the shares was Rs10 at the time of acquisition, the face value of the same shares now is Rs2. INM also received dividends all these years from the profit-making JPL. The Jagran scrip closed at Rs71.15, down 3.46% on the Bombay stock Exchange. The benchmark Sensex closed marginally up.

“This sale represents approximately 7.3% of the issued share capital of JPL and reduces INM’s holding in JPL to 13.5% (previously 20.8%). Having originally invested €28.5 million to acquire its stake in 2005, following this share sale, INM’s remaining holding in JPL is worth c. €42 million at current market price,” INM said in a statement. “The gross proceeds from this share sale is approximately €22 million, which will be used to pay down debt and enhance the liquidity of the Company…,” it added.

Agarwal said there would be no change in the relationship between the two partners following the dilution. “They have some difficulties, they wanted to dilute and we agreed,” Agarwal said. INM’s financial difficulties have been known for a while now and at least one Irish Newspaper reported late last month that the company was facing bankruptcy.

Agarwal said there would be no change in the number of board seats enjoyed by INM. Currently the JPL board consists of 18 members, of which, two are from INM, seven from the Gupta family and nine independent directors. “We won’t ask them to vacate a seat. Their contribution is too valuable,” he said.

“The Company is happy to confirm that it intends to remain a long-term investor in JPL and will not be disposing of any further shares,” INM said. 

Menon is an officer from the Nagaland cadre, and worked briefly as a journalist before joining the civil services, according to his profile at the National Aviation Company of India Ltd, where he has been chairman and managing director.

Menon has, in the past, worked at the I&B ministry, variously as joint secretary and additional secretary. An announcement to this effect is expected soon and Menon may take charge as early as Monday, according to our sources. Menon declined to comment. 

While the churn among the top three has lost all competitive significance (historical milestones notwithstanding), what is becoming increasingly clear is that the opportunities in the GEC space is closed for any new entrant. The top three players—Colors, Zee and Star Plus—have cornered some 66% of market share. Include NDTV Imagine, and that figure becomes 73% (according to TAM data for the month of April). The last of the new entrants—Real—is languishing at the very bottom, with a 1% market share, lower than 9X, even though the latter barely has any fresh programming.

Reality Boom

The GEC segment is also set to see a wave of new reality shows. Rakhi Ka Swayamvar has already opened on NDTV Imagine to mixed reviews. India’s Got Talent, the local version of the Got Talent series that is best known for the Susan Boyle phenomenon on its British version, launched on Colors last week. Sony (NYSE: SNE), currently at No.5, will soon launch I’m a Celebrity; Get Me Out Of Here, while Star Plus will soon launch Sach Ka Saamna, the Indian version of the controversial show The Moment of Truth.

ET Now

This was the first full week when ET Now was on air and the channel has effortlessly beaten UTVi, the business news channel from the UTV Group. For the week ended 27 June, ET Now had a market share of 8% in metros and 6% in the ‘All India’ segment. In Metros, CNBC TV18 had a 67% share and NDTV Profit had 20%. UTVi had 6% (view slideshow). ET Now is still expanding its distribution footprint. “Distribution is a complex operation, and necessarily gets ramped up over time. Cable is now pretty much in place in Mumbai, Delhi and Gujarat, and increasingly available in other markets. DTH is not on yet,” said Chintamani Rao, chief executive of Times Global Broadcasting, which broadcasts Times Now and ET Now. 

Prabhu is considered a crack digital media executive, with some 18 years of experience at companies such as Times Internet Ltd, Rediff.com, The Hindu and Cyber Media. Prior to joining UTV, he was director, The Walt Disney Internet Group (NYSE: DIS). Prabhu is best known for pioneering short codes in India and he is credited with the success of the 8888 short code of Indiatimes. 

UTV New Media handles the mobile and Internet businesses of the UTV Group. Medianama first reported that Manish Agarwal was being hired by UTV.

Here are some interesting numbers and findings from the study:

1) Only 82% of the top 500 marketers spend any money online. Together, the top 500 marketers in India spent Rs5,163.26 crore in 2008-09. Of this, only 5.4% (about Rs278 crore) was spent on the Internet. The study estimates that this amounts to 64% of total Internet ad spends—this means the total money spent advertising on the Internet is about Rs435 crore.

2) Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, a sector that accounts for 17% of ad spends among the top 500 marketers, accounts for 23% of all online ad spends. Big spending sectors such as FMCG, consumer durables, and consumer services and utilities, which together account for some 70% of total ad spends, however, account for only 30% of ad spends online.

3) ‘Increase awareness’ ranked as the biggest brand objective among marketers, with 60% of respondents identifying that as the top priority. Only 9% thought ‘consumer satisfaction/engagement’ to be a top priority. This alignment of priorities doesn’t augur well for the Internet as a medium—reaching just 4% of the population. While reach is Internet’s weakest point in India, consumer engagement might be its strongest. ‘Reaching the target audience’ or ‘building awareness’ is also the biggest driver of budget allocation.

4) Those who spend money on the Internet, thinks the medium is the most effective in Lead Generation/quick response/conversion. “It is evident that the medium is popularly perceived and is being used as ‘a direct marketing platform’ rather than a medium of marketing communication,” the report, which terms this perception as a ‘blinkered vision’, says.

5) An interesting perception map shows how marketers from nearly all verticals (except consumer durables) move away from thinking on Internet as the ‘most engaging medium’ or ‘most measurable medium’. (Click on image to watch a slideshow.)

6) Outlook for FY10: Overall ad spends will fall 10%, but thanks partly to a low base, online ad spends will grow 44%. Total ad spends by top 500 marketers projected to slow to Rs4,653 crore from Rs5,136 crore. Total online ad spends likely to grow to Rs625 crore.

WebChutney co-founder and CEO Sidharth Rao said the study shows the gulf between perception and reality when it comes to advertising on the Internet. “The study suggests marketers believe the Internet is not the most measurable medium, it comes as a surprise since as an industry we thought we had done enough parading around the fact that we are the most measurable medium. CPM, CPC, CPL, CPA, CPT and what not. Whats clear is that we are not on the same page as the average advertisers.

“Dotcoms and early adopters fuelled the digital media spend growth till about last year, and those numbers have plateaued for an year now. For the story to start moving from here on, its obvious the traditional advertisers who constitute 2/3rd of the spends across media, need to understand digital media and its benefits better. And that in fact comes back to all of us in the digital industry ecosystem to evangelize—the agencies, the publishers, networks and the likes,” Rao said.

The full report is available here.

Do you think marketers are obsessed with reach and don’t harness the power of the Internet adequately? Let us know in the comments field.

“Sidin, a staff writer at Lounge, has written extensively on a range of subjects including technology, authors one of Livemint’s most popular blogs—Playthings—and also writes a column for the edit pages,” Mint managing editor R. Sukumar wrote in a memo to staffers earlier today. 

Livemint.com is the online edition of Mint, a business daily published by HT Media Ltd. Lounge is Mint‘s weekend supplement.

Vadukut is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and also holds an engineering degree from NIT, Trichy.

“Sidin will report to me and work closely with Mint’s senior editors Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Anil Padmanabhan, Priya Ramani, Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Manas Chakravarty and Mint TV’s S. Srinivasan and Jasbir Ladi, as we work towards building a truly integrated newsroom,” Sukumar wrote. 

Among Essel Group companies, Dish TV already has an Esop programme that was introduced when the company went public in 2007.

According to highly placed Essel Group sources, Esops will also be introduced at Zee News Ltd, the company that broadcasts news channels such as Zee News and Zee Business. The details of the plan will be known only after the AGM. 
ZEEL is under taking several talent management initiatives including greater “vertical and lateral movement” of employees and also nominating staffers for advanced management programmes at leading universities around the world, the company said in a statement.

Mobhani came to the Hungama fold when the latter acquired IndiaFM.com (now Bollywood Hungama) in 2000. He was named chief operating officer in April 2006. Mobhani has also worked at Development Credit Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

In March, as part of an organizational restructuring, Airtel said “New business verticals such as M-commerce and M-entertainment etc. are being created to generate new revenue streams”. 

NewsX effected company-wide salary cuts in March and in a letter to employees, Pocha said the channel’s cost structure was “out of sync with reality”, in what many saw as an indication that drastic changes might be needed in months ahead. Three months’ salary was paid as severence to the retrenched employees. The channel still employs more than 300 people, a senior editor, who asked not to be named, said.

“When NewsX was purchased by IndiMedia in January this year, it was carrying the infrastructure and resources that were originally created to enable the launch of multiple channels. Since the acquisition, the new management has decided to focus on NewsX and streamline and strengthen its operations. All previous plans to launch multiple channels have been put on hold. This has made it imperative for NewsX to prune and right size its operations, both in terms of infrastructure and people,” a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed response.

NewsX is expected to relaunch soon with a new brand and on-air look. The channel has steadfastly remained at the bottom of the ratings chart under both promoters. 

Livemint.com is the online edition of HT Media Ltd’s business daily Mint, which has an exclusive content sharing agreement with The Wall Street Journal in India. WSJ publishes a facsimile edition of its Asian edition in India. In February, it launched a dedicated India website.

Raghunath joined Mint in February 2007, prior to which, she worked in marketing planning at Harper Collins in New York. She holds an MBA from Indian School of Business. 

The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), a government agency under the Department of Information Technology, is the agency that is entrusted under the IT Act to block websites. N. Vijayaditya, of the CCA, confirmed the development. “There were several complaints against the site. We have taken action under the relevant sections of the IT Act and blocked the site,” he said. When asked if the agency will give a chance to the owners of the site to defend themselves, he said nobody has come forward so far with such a request. He said he could not say if the agency will pursue legal action against the operators of the website.

There has been mounting concern over upcoming amendments to the IT Act that gives the government absolute powers to block any website without a hearing or assigning any reasons. In a recent column in The Hindu, media critic Sevanti Ninan laid down several concerns arising from the absolutist rules that will soon have the power of law. “What about a right to be heard before the blocking? There is none,” she wrote.

Launched in March 2008, Savitabhabhi.com is an adult cartoon strip featuring a married Indian woman’s sexual adventures. Bhabhi is Hindi for sister-in-law. It quickly acquired a cult following with its funny plot lines and the uniqueness of having an Indian setting in a porn strip. The strip received much press last year, from Indian (Mint, Tehelka) and international (The Telegraph, The Independent) media outlets. According to Alexa.com, Savitabhabhi is the 82nd-most-visited Indian website, attracting more visitors than Bseindia.com, the website of the Bombay Stock Exchange. In February, when Mint interviewed the anonymous creator of the strip, the site ranked 45th in India.

The site’s popularity did not come without its perils. The portrayal of a married Indian woman as wildly promiscuous raised the hackles of many in a largely conservative nation. One of them, Bangalore-based N. Vijayashankar, who describes himself as a “techno-legal information security consultant”, waged a sustained campaign against Savitabhabhi, complaining to the government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) as well as the Director General of Police in Karnataka in October last year. “Cartoons are a more participative medium. Videos don’t do as much damage. When a child is watching a cartoon, he imagines himself as the character. This has a deeply corrupting influence on our youngsters. This, apart from the fact that an Indian name was being used in such an obscene cartoon, is what led me to make the complaint,” Vijayashankar said. “A child will see a Savitabhabhi among his relatives.” When asked if there was any scientific basis to his thesis that pornographic cartoons did more damage to young people than pornographic videos, he said that was his own psychological interpretation. (Vijayashankar has no training in psychology.)

The law could come to Savitabhabhi’s rescue, according to Pawan Duggal, cyber law expert and an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. “Under Section 67 of the IT Act of 2000, publishing or transmitting obscene electronic information is punishable with up to five years’ imprisonment and Rs1 lakh in fine. The creators of Savitabhabhi can challenge the ban, arguing that it is an expression of their thoughts and what is expressed is not lascivious. When there is so many explicit pornographic content easily available, why should they be singled out?

“It is a cultural cum legal issue. The courts will have to decide whether Savitabhabhi is a lascivious site or not. Kamasutra and the sculptures of Khajuraho are far more explicit but not considered obscene. So they do have an argument,” Duggal said.

The creators of Savitabhabhi are known only by their screen names. In an email interview with contentSutra, the main brain behind the site, who goes by the handle Deshmukh, said they were exploring legal options. “We are talking to our lawyers and trying to figure out our options. The initial reaction is since the site does not pose any threat to India’s national security and is not illegal, it must be against some international treaty to block it. However, we are still working on the legal angle.” Deshmukh said the creators of Savitabhabhi were based in the European Union and had not received any communication about their site getting banned. The domain is registered in the US, Deshmukh said. The site used to get more than a million visitors every week before the ban, he added.

“Wow, India has now joined the elite club of China, Iran, North Korea and suchlike in the area of Internet censorship,” said graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee. Efforts to reverse the ban have already sprung up on the Internet. A website, Savesavita.com, attempts to channelize support and action against censorship.

The group also runs amusement parks and is a joint venture partner in Mumbai-based Diligent Media Corp., which publishes Daily News and Analysis. The Indian Cricket League, the rebel 20-over cricket league that took off before the official Indian Premier League, is also an Essel Group property.

Prior to joining Essel Group, Sinh was director, HR, at Videocon Industries Ltd. He has also worked at JK Synthetics, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd. He holds a post graduate degree in psychology and an MBA. “I had an excellent time at Essel. We did a lot of work, we had a lot of freedom and I think the company is poised to benefit from some of the changes that have been implemented,” Sinh said. He did not say which company he was joining next.

The Graduate School of Journalism of the City University of New York (CUNY) is providing curriculum support. An Indian thinktank—Society for Policy Studies—is the local partner of ICJF for the school. Little is known about SPS’s activities, except that it publishes the online journal South Asia Monitor. Tarun Basu, the president of SPS, is also the editor-in-chief of Indo-Asian News Service, an independent news agency. IANS will also provide assistance and facilities to IMII, ICFJ said in a statement.

David Bloss, a former editor at the The Providence Journal newspaper in Rhode Island, USA, and a Knight International Journalism fellow, is the academic director of the institute. Sunil Saxena, a former dean at the Asian College of Journalism, is the dean at the upcoming institute.

The institute’s advisory board includes H.K. Dua, editor-in-chief, The Tribune, Nikhil Deogun, deputy managing editor, The Wall Street Journal, Manjeet Kripalani, BusinessWeek India bureau chief and Raju Narisetti, managing editor, The Washington Post, among others.

Tata Teleservices Ltd today launched its Photon-branded mobile broadband services in New Delhi. The company said subscribers can enjoy speeds upto 3.1 Mbps. The company offers two access devices—a router for enterprise users and USB modem for individual users. Prices begin at Rs3,500. Competitor Reliance Communications already offers datacards with speeds upto 3.1 Mbps. GSM players such as Idea and Airtel also offers datacards, albeit at much slower transfer rates. The EV-DO (evolution data optimized) technology, compatible with the CDMA platform that both Reliance and Tata Indicom are on, enables much faster mobile broadband access compared with rival GSM standard.

“The awareness and demand for wireless Internet connectivity is increasing rapidly and with laptop and PC sales showing exponential growth, there is a huge demand for wireless high-speed Internet access,” Vineet Bhatia, COO for Delhi and NCR at Tata Teleservices, said in a statement.

The company said it added 2.09 million subscribers during the fiscal under review. The total subscriber base was 5.07 million as on 31 March. The company claimed a 42% share of the DTH market.

“In the present environment, Dish TV has delivered a strong performance in terms of revenue growth and has further consolidated its leadership position in a much more competitive scenario,” chairman Subhash Chandra said in a statement.

Pearson also said it has acquired a 17.2% stake in TutorVista, the Bangalore-based online tutoring and test prep company, becoming its largest shareholder. Pearson will appoint Peter Cohen, CEO of Pearson Education’s US School Curriculum Group, to the board of TutorVista. Pearson’s investment is part of third-round funding for the company and existing investors Manipal Education and Medical Group and Lightspeed Venture Partners have also participated in this round, the company said in a statement. VCCircle reported that Pearson has paid $12.5 million for the stake, valuing TutorVista at $72.6 million. Launched in November 2005, TutorVista has already raised $18 million in venture capital funding. Pearson said it sees opportunities to offer online tutoring services as a companion for its many technology-based learning products. TutorVista’s core market is the US, where it provides K-12, college and grad-school level training in subjects such as English, Math, Physics and Science. It also has presence in the UK and a small unit in South Korea.

“We have great respect for the expertise, capabilities and innovation that Educomp and TutorVista have brought to the education market. We are enthusiastic about being their partners, because we see India not only as a big growth market in itself, but also as a place for us to build businesses that will be relevant across the world,” Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino said in a statement.

Indian consumers spend an estimated $50 billion every year on private educational institutions and services, Pearson said, outlining the opportunity the company was gearing up to tap. This is in addition to the $30 billion invested by the government each year in the education sector. 

TIL is in talks with potential CEO candidates, including Rishi Khiani, who recently left Web18 as COO, according to a company official.

Rajshekhar, a Times Group veteran who has spent some 25 years at the group in various stints, was seen to be driving efficiencies at TIL. His departure will likely precipitate a leadership crisis at TIL, which might be plugged to an extent if a strong CEO is brought in. The BCCL management finds itself in the unenviable position of finding two C-level replacements at a time when digital media executives with experience in helming a large operation such as Indiatimes are hard to come by. Indiatimes has some 600 employees. Rajshekhar joined TIL in July 2008, prior to which he was heading the Private Treaties business of the group.

CFO Sogani was replaced by Rajesh Kunnath, the CFO at group company Times Business Solutions Ltd, who was given additional charge of TIL. 

A senior editor at the organization said all journalists at ET Now have signed the code and is in the process of disclosing their investments to a company-appointed external auditor, while the same procedure is being introduced among journalists at ET. “This is a very important exercise in the new 24x7 breaking news environment we find ourselves in. We take this very seriously,” the editor, who asked not to be named, said.

The code tackles the issue of Private Treaties—an ad-for-equities program run by publisher Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd that has been a lightning rod for criticism in recent years for its perceived influence on editorial content. “Our reporting and analysis is entirely independent of our advertising and investment departments (Response / Sales and Private Treaties). We do not give preferential treatment to advertisers / treaty partners nor do we entertain requests from the business departments of BCCL to do so. We observe the “Chinese wall” between editorial and business,” the code says.

The code has a detailed sub section on financial conduct that attempts to eliminate any potential conflict of interest and the ability to profit from privileged information. It also comes down heavily on plagiarism, saying the practise is a sackable offense at ET. Failure to abide by the code can result in “disciplinary action, ranging from admonishment to dismissal, depending on the gravity of the infraction”.

Here’s Mint‘s code of conduct. 

ET Now’s biggest ally in this battle will be its access to the newsroom of The Economic Times, which is the foremost business news brand in India and also a formidable act to beat when it comes to access and breaking news. What will make this segment interesting is that CNBC TV18 is just as formidable when it comes to business news on TV. Ahead of the ET Now launch, CNBC TV18 forged a content alliance with HT Media’s business daily Mint.

The company was not forthcoming on the project—BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal said he could comment only once the channel is fully rolled out. Times Global Broadcasting CEO Chintamani Rao said is an emailed response to a questionnaire: “As its advertising says, ET NOW is The Economic Times advantage on television! The Economic Times is India’s premier source of news for and about business, and now it’s on television.”

The business news segment attracts advertising spends of Rs350 crore annually, said Nandini Dias, COO, Lodestar Universal, a media buying agency. She estimates that of this, CNBC TV18 corners about Rs250 crore. The entrance of ET Now will expand this market, she said. “There is definitely scope for ET to expand its equity on TV, I’m sure the channel will do extremely well. It will expand the market rather than cannibalising the competition.” She doesn’t expect a rapid viewer migration, however. “CNBC TV18 has been around for a long time. Media consumption habits don’t change very quickly.”

ET Now Day One Review:

The channel looks slick, the promos, the packaging and graphics are top notch and there were relatively few glitches for a newly on-air channel. Cuts to the ET newsroom and live press conferences, co-anchoring from multiple broadcasting centres—all worked smoothly. The production quality of the feature programming on the evening band was good, if not spectacular. During the crucial market hours, the channel was very competitive, even though, for better or for worse, it didn’t have the range of external commentators TV18 features regularly. It will also be a while before the anchors assume the same level of confidence as the veterans on TV18.

What pleased us the most: The integrated newsroom is more than a buzz word for the channel. The degree of integration was impressive, with ET reporters coming on through the day. At least on day one, it seemed like the ET Newsroom was available on call. It remains to be seen how sustainable this is. If an ET reporter comes on air many times in a day on a developing story, she will be squeezed for time for the print duties and also to do the actual, time consuming reporting. If anybody can pull off an integrated TV-print newsroom, however, it will be ET, with more reporters than its competitors by a huge margin. And if there’s anything TV18 must worry about immediately, it will be this—the combined might of ET and ET Now, in news gathering as well as advertising offers. TV18’s plans for a business daily may be revived sooner than later.

There were minor glitches—anchors looking into the wrong camera, gesturing without realizing they are on air, wrong visuals with some stories and a two-second-too-long lag when Mumbai and Delhi broadcasting centres were communicating with each other. But we were impressed with how much went right, compared with the little that went wrong.

In all, a competitive news channel has been delivered. Is the offering compelling enough for you to switch from TV18 during market hours? Not as of today, but it’s too early to pass that judgment. If the channel consistently breaks stories in real time while serving up competitive market hours coverage, that might soon become a serious question.