News Broadcasting
Broadcasters will consider FTA offering apart from premium pay TV channel, says Motilal Oswal
MUMBAI: What will broadcasters do with CAS being implemented? Will the FTA channels go pay? Or will the pay channels go FTA?
Motilal Oswal Securities in partnership with Inquire has tried to answer questions such as these in its latest study on CAS. The Inquire report has claimed that broadcasters are unlikely to lose advertising revenues in a CAS environment because it will first spread through the four metros and the share that the major cities have of the overall C&S market is relatively small.
Ø The four metros account for only 15-17 percent of the total 40 million cable subscribers in India. Since the top three networks do not derive any significant advertising revenues from the Chennai market, the effective share of the three metros in total C&S homes is just 10-12 percent.
However, their implied share of advertising revenues on C&S television would be closer to 20-24 percent. If one assumes only 40 percent penetration of boxes in the four metros in the initial phase, about 12-14 percent of the advertising revenues might come under threat.
Ø Box offtake is likely to be higher than expected, Motilal Oswal points out. An analogy can be drawn with the Indian cellular market where the subscriber numbers are growing at about a million every two months. In fact, the market is expected to add about 10 million subscribers in the next year, the level reached over seven to eight years.
Ø Broadcasters (including Zee) are open to floating a mass general entertainment channel to maintain their presence in the basic tier. A new channel can be packaged, branded and floated (using library content or second run programming from the pay channel) in just about a month at a low cost of about Rs 100 million. This would help avert any loss of advertising revenues because of a drop in reach due to low box penetration.
This would also ensure that the broadcaster has its brand present in the basic tier homes to maintain and build recall and to give viewers a laddering option to graduate to their respective pay offerings when they upgrade to a pay channel. Broadcasters will in all probability run teasers on the FTA chanel to lure them to the pay TV service.
Off the record conversations with television professionals have revealed that most of the entertainment channels are actually looking at creating a FTA channel, which would have second run programming, that is, Zee TV could float a Zee Basic which will air shows that will do the run on Zee Premium first.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
