News Broadcasting
Southern Spice fine tunes its act
MUMBAI: The only indigenous music channel south of the Vindhyas is sharpening its claws and getting ready for the fight that will break out in the genre later this year.
Barely three years old, Southern Spice is currently gloating over its march over national leader MTV, in prime time channel shares in Andhra Pradesh (Southern Spice is 34 per cent to MTV’s 25 per cent), in the second week of January 2004.
The only channel that clubs in all the four South Indian languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, as well as English sees itself notching a 50 per cent increase in ad revenue over last year this fiscal.
Thanks to the increasing presence of national as well as local brands on the channel in the last one year, Southern Spice has taken another radical step recently – save a half hour show, all the hourly lottery draws that were telecast live on the channel (Southern Spice promoters have their origins in the lottery business) have been taken off. This, according to programming head Bryan Peppin, has helped ‘clean up’ the channel’s image, not to mention open up advertising inventory.
While the channel claims a lead over available rivals (none of MTV, Channel V, etc or Zee Music are south India oriented channels) since the last month in Kerala, it is see sawing between the number one and two positions in the other states as well. Except for Karnataka, where cosmopolitan Bangalore is still in favour of more national channels.
Interestingly, Karnataka callers are not requesting Kannada songs on SS, but opt for other languages, says Peppin. Thus, while Karnataka remains high on the agenda of Southern Spice, the channel has also aggressively begun to tackle markets out of the South, says ad sales head Nischal Kumtakar.
Mumbai and Delhi have already been probed and found potential markets for both viewership and advertising. The channel has set up seven national offices in cities including Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Coimbatore.
While the 2004 focus will be ground events, including a huge talent hunt to commence in March that will also convert into a televised event for nearly four months on the channel, Peppin says three new shows have also been lined up for the next quarter. One of these, High Five, based on a game show format will launch on 14 February. Other shows include a technology driven show and a ‘countdown show with a twist’, says Peppin, all of which are designed are keep viewers glued to a half hour show. This is pertinent as viewers could drop off when a song in another language comes up in a show. However, as actors often cross over to other Southern language films, this does not pose as big a problem, contends Peppin.
Armed with a song library of nearly 4000 regional songs and 4000 to 5000 English songs, Southern Spice currently boasts a cumulative reach of 10.55 per cent against MTV’s 13.35 per cent in the South (as per TAM figures for the week ended 17 January 2004). This again represents a see saw, as SS Music in December 2003 shot ahead of MTV with a cumulative reach of 11.31 per cent against MTV’s 9.13 per cent.
With advertisers like Britannia’s, Cadbury’s, Castrol and Zandu having acknowledged the strength of the SS Music brand, it was but a matter of time that broadcasters would look to fill the need for a direct competitor for SS Music. Till that materialises, SS Music is ensuring it gets its act together.
News Broadcasting
Rising Bharat Summit 2026 spotlights India’s global ascent
PM Modi keynotes two-day event with ministers, diplomats and icons in New Delhi.
MUMBAI: India didn’t just host a summit, it threw a coming-out party for a nation ready to own the global stage. The News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2026, held on 27–28 February in New Delhi, emerged as a high-octane platform for ideas, vision and strategic dialogue, uniting national leadership, global policymakers, industry titans, defence strategists and cultural icons under the theme “Strength Within”.
Prime minister Narendra Modi set the tone with a keynote that framed India’s resurgence as a reclaiming of lost potential built over generations. “In previous industrial revolutions, India and the Global South were merely followers,” he said. “But in the era of Artificial Intelligence, India is a partner in decisions and shaping them.” He highlighted the country’s thriving AI startup ecosystem and the recent AI Impact Summit attended by over 100 nations.
Union minister Piyush Goyal (Commerce & Industry) stressed India’s readiness to scale exports and deepen manufacturing, while Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways, I&B, Electronics & IT) positioned technology and infrastructure as twin engines of growth, especially in AI and digital trust. Jyotiraditya Scindia (Communications & North East Development) revealed India’s ambition to lead in 6G through the Bharat 6G Alliance and partnerships with over 30 countries.
Global voices added depth: former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo called India’s development “self-sustaining” and strategically vital; ex-UK Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter asserted India deserves a seat at the great powers’ table; and former US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez joined ambassadors from Norway, Germany and Sweden in discussions on geopolitical realignment, sustainability and defence preparedness.
Other speakers included veteran investor Ramesh Damani, World Gold Council CEO David Tait, Vianai Systems founder Dr Vishal Sikka, DeepTech Bharat Foundation co-founder Shashi Shekhar Vempati, defence experts Rajesh Kumar Singh, Sunil Ambekar, Patrick McGee, Tom Cooper and Adrian Fontanellaz, plus cultural and sporting icons Kangana Ranaut, Saina Nehwal, PR Sreejesh, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mithali Raj, Anil Kapoor and Yami Gautam.
The summit was supported by Jio Financial Services (Presenting Partner), Phonepe and DS Group (Co-Presenting Partners), Pernod Ricard India and Kia Seltos (Powered By & Driven By), state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand (State Partners), and associate partners including NSE, M3M Foundation and Reliance Industries.
Broadcast live across News18 Network, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, the event reinforced India’s image as a confident democracy and emerging global power proving that when strength comes from within, the world can’t help but watch.
