GECs
UTV to beef up non fiction software production
MUMBAI: After fiction and animation, software major UTV has now trained its sights on the non fiction segment.
Keen to tap into the huge potential for this segment both in the burgeoning domestic market as well as among overseas broadcasters, UTV plans to float a team of ideators who will be primarily responsible for coming up with original ideas that can be converted into viable series, both here and abroad. Heading the team is old UTV hand Jyotirmoy Saha, the general manager, animation. Saha, who has extensive experience in networking with meeting with buyers for UTV’s animation software in international markets, has been given the additional charge of non fiction. Saha also has the mandate for constituting the team of five ideators, responsible for generating the content. The talent pool will be the only addition in terms of investment to the UTV team for building up the non fiction segment, says Saha.
With growing demand, no genre within the non fiction segment is taboo, believes Saha, except perhaps for natural history, which he believes may not be the company’s core competency. That apart, Saha is keen to try game show formats, biography formats, current world issues, documentaries for the young…the list can go on.
For starters, UTV has bagged a deal in Washington for an one hour documentary for the National Geographic Channel, details of which Saha is loath to reveal at this point. BBC World’s show Back To The Floor is produced by UTV, the first run of which ends on 14 February. It was last year that UTV got seriously down to the business of making non fiction software with the co-production of a 26 episode ‘cuisine tourism’ show Pan Asia that was aired in five countries including Canada. Pan Asia currently airs on Star World in India.
The non fiction team within UTV will however not restrict itself to domestic channels, as Saha puts it, “Thinking only India cuts off 85 per cent of my market.” So, while the team would operate out of India, UTV will actively look at international markets.
UTV also has the growing brood of news channels in its focus. It has produced a series Back To School on the different ways in which children in different parts of the country go to school, including Kashmiri kids whose school is housed in a houseboat, and Kutchi kids in Gujarat whose school is located in the salt pans of the westernmost tip of the country. It has also pitched two shows for the proposed UTV channel for the young, says Saha, the theme for which will be ‘kids, learning and adventure’.
GECs
Sebi sends show-cause notice to Zee over fund diversion, company responds
Regulator questions 2018 letter of comfort and governance lapses; company vows robust legal response
MUMBAI: India’s markets watchdog has reignited its long-running scrutiny of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, issuing a sweeping show-cause notice that drags the broadcaster and 84 others into a widening governance storm.
The notice, dated February 12, has been served by the Securities and Exchange Board of India to Zee, chairman emeritus Subhash Chandra and managing director and chief executive Punit Goenka, among others. At its heart: allegations that company funds were indirectly routed to settle liabilities of entities linked to the Essel Group.
The regulator’s probe traces its roots to November 2019, when two independent directors resigned from Zee’s board, flagging concerns over the alleged appropriation of fixed deposits by Yes Bank. The deposits were reportedly adjusted against loans extended to Essel Group entities, triggering questions about related-party dealings and board oversight.
A key flashpoint is a letter of comfort dated September 4, 2018, issued by Subhash Chandra in his dual capacity as chairman of Zee and the Essel Group. The document, linked to credit facilities availed by certain group companies from Yes Bank, was allegedly known only to select members of management and not disclosed to the full board—an omission SEBI believes raises red flags over transparency and governance controls.
Zee has pushed back hard. In a statement, the company said it “strongly refutes” the allegations against it and its board members and will file a detailed response. It expressed confidence that SEBI would conduct a fair review and signalled readiness to pursue all legal remedies to protect shareholder interests.
The notice marks the latest twist in a saga that has shadowed the broadcaster since 2019. What began as boardroom unease has morphed into a full-blown regulatory confrontation. The final reckoning now rests with SEBI—but the reputational stakes for Zee, and the message for India Inc on governance discipline, could scarcely be higher.
