Netherlands-based TERN teams up with iTV Network for UHD Channel

Netherlands-based Television Entertainment Reality Network (TERN) has teamed up with Kartikeya Sharma’s iTV Network to launch an ultra-high definition (UHD) factual entertainment channel called Insight in India.

As part of the partnership, iTV Network will operate the channel in India on behalf of TERN. It will hold the licence for the channel. It will also oversee transmission, distribution and ad sales of the channel.

TERN will provide the content. It has co-created 200 hours of exclusive content for the channel alongside industry-leading production houses including Zodiak Media, KIEM and Strix.

The channel, which went live today in Europe, will be launched in India as and when a deal is inked with a distribution platform.

TERN is owned by a UK-based company called General Satellite, which provides technology solutions to pay TV platforms.

“We are launching a UHD factual entertainment channel in Europe today. In India, we have partnered with iTV Network as our local partner for playout and broadcasting the channel. Content is owned by us, iTV will run the channel on our behalf. They also have the licence for the channel,” TERN CFO Andrew Spriggs told TelevisionPost.com.

“We are relying on them as our technical partner for playout and satellite broadcast in India. We are working with them on a revenue basis as a distributor to position ourselves with our bouquet of channels into the main pay TV platform and then extract advertising revenue out of it,” he added.

The partnership is limited to linear platforms. For non-linear platforms, TERN will chart an independent strategy.

Without ruling out the JV route in future, Spriggs clarified that there is as of now no joint venture or equity component in the partnership.

“At the moment, there is no JV or equity partnership. We are working closely with them, and downstream our conversation might move down that direction, but I can’t comment on that any further at this point,” he stated.

The tie-up is part of iTV Network’s expansion plans, which include venturing into regional entertainment besides adding to the existing fleet of news channels. It already owns and operates seven news channels including NewsX in English and India News in Hindi.

Spriggs revealed that the Indian partner is in negotiations with leading multi-system operators (MSOs) and direct-to-home (DTH) platforms to distribute the channel.

Read Also:

• India News: a 24-hour Hindi news television channel in India.
• NewsX: a 24-hour English News television channel in India.

India News banks on regional channels

India News believes that the future lies with regional channels. In line with this belief, it has extensive expansion plans. By December 2012, the channel plans to take its network coverage to 65 per cent of the country. The channel will expand to southern states in 2013.

In an exclusive conversation with exchange4media, Kartikeya Sharma Founder of India News and President, Association of Regional TV Broadcasters of India (ARTBI) shared, “We will have entertainment and news coverage in languages such as Bangla, Oriya, Marathi and Gujarati. We will also foray into North-Eastern states by the end of the year.”

Sharma further said, “We will be repositioning our national channels in six to eight months and will cater to a new target audience. Regional channels are more profitable and the economy of scale is helpful for a group entity to be viable in the long run.”

Regional channels can compete not just with other regional channels in that region, but with national channels as well. Today, audience expectations from regional channels are high and they want them to be of the same calibre as national channels. Hence, it is important to have similar packaging, presentation, look and feel, he shared.

His optimism is further buoyed by the recent announcement made by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), waiving off 0.02 per cent on all India channel share for empanelment, while 40 per cent of the ad budget has been exclusively earmarked for regional channels. According to Sharma, the new policy means three things:

• Everyone will be empanelled
• The government has announced it will take bottom-up approach 
• This will give a fresh lease of life to regional channels that have been struggling to survive

When asked to share his thoughts on digitisation, Mr. Kartikeya Sharma remarked that it is the best thing to happen to the industry if one looked at the long-term perspective. According to him, the problem is that the industry is disorganised and certain cities such as Mumbai and Delhi are less prepared. Considering these ground realities, the digitisation process will take longer than what the government has envisaged.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) diktat of limiting ad time to 12 minutes per hour of programming would affect broadcasters’ bottom and top line. “It would make inventory limited for everyone, though it will not affect India News much as we are already selling 12 minutes of ad time,” Sharma divulged.

Kartikeya Sharma, speaks on the occasion of ENBA Award 2014

Speaking on the occasion, Kartikeya Sharma, Managing Director - iTV Network which owns and runs NewsX said “Over the last few months, NewsX has become the home of breaking news, in-depth coverage, analysis and hardcore news reporting from the ground and this is a significant new phase to build our growth story.”

India News flexes muscles with revamp

India News, the 24x7 Hindi news channel from the ITV Network, has undergone a major revamp and unveiled its new look on February 14, 2013. With Deepak Chaurasia on board, India News has a fortified editorial team comprising Yashwant Rana, Manish Awasthi, Sheetal Rajput, and Tanya Dave.

The revamp involves a new state-of-the-art studio, along with new channel ID, packaging, presentation, and a refreshed line-up of programmes and presenters.

Commenting on the revamp, Deepak Chaurasia, Group Editor-in-Chief, India News said, “Speed, accuracy, credibility and accountability will be key to our news gathering. With more than 100 brilliant manpower at work, we will start a new chapter in television news industry. I will make sure that you will find our channel accountable to the aam aadmi. Our approach to news will be to provide answers to all the questions arising in a viewer’s mind.”

ITV Network’s bouquet of channels includes national channel India News and five regional channels – India News Bihar & Jharkhand, India News Rajasthan, India News UP & Uttarakhand, India News Haryana, and India News MP & Chhattisgarh. The Group is investing heavily in additional newsgathering capacity. Having fortified its presence in the Hindi speaking markets, India News is planning to expand its base and become a dominant player in the news channel segment across India.

 “Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come,” Kartikeya Sharma Founder ITV Network said, adding, “Definitely the time has come for India News to herald a new era in the Indian media industry and become a dominant player through content expansion, extensive marketing, distribution and enhanced market share to cater to a new target audience.”

NewsX receives the prestigious India Business Roundtable Awards in Maryland

News Broadcasters Welcome Hike in FDI Limit

The government announced an increase in the FDI limit (foreign direct investment) of news and current affair channels, DTH and Cable Operators. The government announced that foreign investment will be relaxed in 15 sectors. While 100% FDI has been allowed in DTH and Cable Networks (MSOs and LCOs), the foreign investment in the up linking of news and current affairs TV channels has been raised to 49% from 26% earlier.

Commenting on the move, Kartikeya Sharma Founder of iTV Media Network said, “I welcome this move from the government and appreciate this. The industry is going through a tough phase and this move will definitely help in operating in media space.”

Sharma also praised the automatic route that has been initiated by the government. “It’ll help in the entire domain such as news, non news, radio or DTH. He said, it is the right step in right direction, they should have done it long time ago but now they have done it and I am happy,” he added.

Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of ZEEL said, “As long as the control lies with the Indian counterpart and the editors are of Indian nationality there is no problem. It’ll help in funding as well. Goenka also highlighted one important point why government has not cleared FDI in print. I don’t understand why are they distinguishing between print and broadcasting and not treating both at par.”

The government has also raised the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)’s monetary limit to Rs.5,000 crore from Rs.3,000 crore for the approving of FDI proposals.

All the leading broadcasters are in favour of FDI in news media. In an earlier interaction with exchange4media last month, Executive Vice Chairperson, NDTV Group, KVL Narayan Rao, DD Purkayastha and Anurradha Prasad expressed their support for hike in FDI limit.

Narayan Rao said he only see benefits with FDI coming. He said, I have always supported an FDI increase in news media to 49%. It will help news broadcasters get funding that is most necessary at this moment. And yet, all stipulations of the up linking guidelines, largest Indian shareholder owning 51%, editor being an Indian etc, can continue to be followed. Most importantly, there will be Indian editorial control. So where is the problem? I only see benefits.”

Agreeing with Rao, Anurradha Agarwal, Chairperson and MD, BAG Network also welcomed the move she said, “We are only hearing about this, its welcome move I think govt should do it.”

DD Purkayastha, MD& CEO of ABP Group said, “Regarding higher FDI in news ABP has always be in favour and our stand continues.”

iTV Network, Tern To Launch UHD Channel in India

iTV Network and Television Entertainment Reality Network (TERN) have partnered for a factual entertainment channel called Insight.

The new, ultra-high-definition channel will be launched in India, with iTV managing the day-to-day operations on behalf of TERN. Content for Insight will be provided by Netherlands-based media company, TERN. Insight is expected to carry around 200 hours of exclusive content, reports Television Post.

We are launching a UHD factual entertainment channel in Europe today. In India, we have partnered with iTV Network as our local partner for playout and broadcasting the channel. Content is owned by us, iTV will run the channel on our behalf. They also have the licence for the channel,” TERN CFO Andrew Spriggs told TelevisionPost.com.

Kartikeya Sharma’s iTV is planning on exploring the regional entertainment market. The company already runs Hindi channel called India News and an English channel called NewsX. Spriggs said that the company is in negotiations with leading direct-to-home platforms as well as multi-system operators for channel distribution.