MAM
C&S TV homes see 115 % growth since 1998
The South has experienced the most C&S growth with the figure standing at 54 per cent. In the East and West it is 14 per cent while in the North it is 19 per cent. The South has a 47 per cent share in C&S homes. There are 15.3 million C&S homes in rural India. In Urban India there are 27.9 million homes. In Rural India, television penetration has grown from 18 per cent in 1998 to 28 per cent this year.
The Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research held a forum on the latest findings of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS). A presentation was made on television viewing in villages.
Ten Sports beats ESPN Star Sports on viewership
As far as programming is concerned in the sports genre IRS Yesterday Viewing for the period January 2004 – December 2004 shows that Ten Sports had an All-India viewer per cent share of 0.8. Star Sports had a share of 0.6. ESPN had a share of 0.5. DD Sports had a share of 0.3. The gap becomes more narrow when you look at Rural India. Ten has a share of 0.2 versus 0.1 for DD
Sports.
Aaj Tak, DD neck and neck on news front
In the news channel segment Aaj Tak and DD News are neck and neck with a 3.3 per cent share each all India. At the rural India level while Aaj Tak’s share is 0.5 per cent DD News’ share is 2.2. IRS also did a comparison between DD and mass Hindi C&S channels in rural India. DD has a share of 19.5 per cent followed by Star Plus at 6.9 per cent and Sony at 3 per cent. DD also tops in terms of genres watched. At the all India level any DD channel has a share of 20.7 per cent followed by 13.6 for regional C&S channels and 8.5 per cent for mass Hindi channels.
In rural India in terms of genres watched the share of mass Hindi entertainment channels falls to 1.5 per cent. It is 17.8 per cent for any DD channel and 8.9 per cent for regional C&S channels. News channels enjoy a 2.7 per cent share in rural India. At the all India level their share goes up to seven per cent. Hindi movie channels have a 0.8 per cent share in rural India. At the all India level the share goes up to 4.2 per cent. English movie channels not surprisingly are way below with an all India share of 0.8 per cent.
State wise in Kerala as per IRS Yesterday Vewing Data for January – December 2004 Asianet had a share of 29.3 per cent followed by Surya TV with 27.3 per cent and DD National with 25.2 per cent. In Karnataka Udaya TV leads with a 30.6 share followed by ETV Kannada with 18.6, Ushe with 13.3 and DD1 (National Network) with 13.5 per cent share.
The Sun shines bright in Tamil Nadu with a 51.8 per cent share followed by KTV with a share of 18 per cent and Jaya TV with 11 per cent. In Andhra Pradesh Gemini and ETV are split with a 38.4 per cent share. In rural areas though ETV is slightly ahead with a 34.5 share versus 31.8 for Gemini.
Brands
Apple bites back: the $599 MacBook Neo is the cheapest Mac ever made
The tech giant unveils a budget laptop that packs a punch — and a lot of cheek
CALIFORNIA: Apple has never been shy about charging a premium. So when Cupertino rolls out a MacBook at $599 (approx. Rs 55,000) , it’s worth sitting up straight.
The MacBook Neo, unveiled Tuesday, is Apple’s most affordable laptop to date — undercutting its own MacBook Air and taking a sharp swipe at the budget PC market in one fell swoop. It starts at $499 for students, which, for a machine with Apple silicon inside, is frankly a steal.
At the heart of the Neo is the A18 Pro chip — the same muscle that powers the latest iPhones. Apple claims it is up to 50 per cent faster for everyday tasks than a rival PC running Intel’s Core Ultra 5, and three times quicker on on-device AI workloads. Fanless and featherweight at 2.7 pounds, it runs silently and promises up to 16 hours of battery life. Try doing that on a Chromebook.
The 13-inch liquid retina display clocks in at 2408-by-1506 resolution with 500 nits of brightness and support for billion colours — sharper and brighter, Apple says, than most rivals in this price band. It comes dressed in four colours: blush, indigo, silver, and a zesty new citrus, with matching keyboard shades to boot.
Connectivity is modest — two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6 — but this is a budget machine, not a pro workstation. The 1080p FaceTime camera, dual mics with directional beamforming, and Spatial Audio speakers round out a package that punches well above its weight class.
Apple senior vice-president of hardware engineering John Ternus alled it “a laptop only Apple could create.” That’s the kind of line that makes rivals wince — because, annoyingly, he might be right.
The Neo runs macOS Tahoe, with Apple Intelligence baked in for AI writing tools, live translation, and the sort of on-device smarts that keep user data away from the cloud. It also boasts 60 per cent recycled content — the highest of any Apple product — for those who like their bargains with a side of conscience.
For $599, Apple isn’t just selling a laptop. It’s selling an argument — that good design and real performance needn’t cost the earth. The PC industry had better have a decent comeback ready.
