News Broadcasting
Government expects pay channels to announce prices ‘very soon’
NEW DELHI: The government today expressed optimism that the stakeholders of the industry would come out with solutions to various contentious issues, including the pricing of individual channels, by tomorrow or “very soon” for a smooth transition to the conditional access regime.
“We are facilitators in this process. If the broadcasters had said they would come back (with the pricing strategy), I have to believe them and think that soon all such issues would get resolved,” information and broadcasting ministry secretary Pawan Chopra today told journalists on the sidelines of a function organised by Doordarshan to launch a new series of CDs to mark 100 years of recorded music in India.
Quizzed on issues of distribution margin and as to who’ll fix the price of the pay channels — the broadcasters or the MSOs — Chopra said, “I am not a marketing person, so I cannot speak on these. But I am sure the people who do business in the industry will sort them out.”
Chopra also said that the government would not mind if some sort of a tiering is done so the consumers get choice at a nominal rate.
“I would say rock bottom price,” the government official added when asked whether the government would prefer tiering of channels or each pay channel being priced at a rock bottom price so as to meet the figure of Rs 200, including the price of the basic tier, that the I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had been quoted as saying would be the monthly cable bill.
Asked specifically whether the government would relent on the transitory phase of six months and allow broadcasters to hold on to invitation price and such similar schemes that long, Chopra said, “Those things have to be looked into as they (the industry players) have been doing business in a certain way that cannot be upset suddenly.”
He also expressed the hope that there would be adequate number of set-top boxes available in the market to see through the transition phase to CAS.
As reported by indiantelevision.com earlier, the I&B ministry officials would meet up with the various stakeholders of the industry tomorrow, including independent cable operators, to take stock of the CAS situation.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
