MSM's Rs 5.45 bn FDI proposal to buyout Indian promoters gets government nod

MSM's Rs 5.45 bn FDI proposal to buyout Indian promoters gets government nod

Insearchindia.com Team

(28 February 2013 9:10 am)

MUMBAI: For the seven Indian promoters who had joined hands with Sony Pictures to set up Sony Entertainment Television India (now Multi Screen Media) in 1995, it is party time. The government has approved Multi Screen Media's (MSM) Rs 5.45 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal to buy out the stake of its Indian promoters.

The payment was to be made in stages, with $145 million coming at the closing of the acquisition by December-end 2012. The balance $126 million would be paid in three equal annual installments starting from the fiscal year ending 31 March 2014.

Sony Pictures Television (SPT), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment and also the parent company of MSM, had last year bought out the stake of the Indian shareholders in MSM for an agreed amount of $271 million.

Sudesh Mani Iyer, Sushil Shergil, Rakesh Agarwal, Jayesh Parikh, Raman Maroo, BR Sule and film actor Jackie Shroff are the seven Indian promoters who held almost 32 per cent stake in MSM through Grandway Global Holdings and Atlas Equifin.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) gave its approval to MSM's proposal.

Sony’s stake in MSM is a little over 94 per cent with the balance being with private equity firm Capital International.

TAM to release news channels' data from 9 January

Insearchindia.com Team

(26 December 2012 8:16 pm)

MUMBAI: Viewership data for individual news channels from 7 October 2012 will be available on 9 January when TAM Media Research, the television ratings service provider, begins releasing ratings data as it used to before digitisation in the four metros.

The decision was made Monday as the industry bodies - Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) - came to an agreement on this. Earlier, as reported in Indiantelevision.com, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) had agreed for a release of TAM data on viewership of their individual channels for the suspended period from 7 October on 9 January.

Meanwhile, TAM today released data for weeks 41-50 but without individual ratings for news channels. The news genre viewership data was clubbed with the 'Others' category, which includes genres like shopping and religious.

TAM will release data for week 51 on 27 December and for week 52 on 3 January, again without ratings for individual news channels. The news genre will continue to come under the 'Others' category till 9 October.

TAM had suspended data release from 7 October as was agreed by IBF, AAAI and ISA, as digitisation was under way in the metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Chennai.

TAM had to delay release of ratings data for the suspended period on 19 December on a request from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the NBA, in concurrence with IBF, AAAI and ISA. NBA wanted temporary suppression of viewership data for individual news channels.

The decision by TAM to release ratings for individual news channels on 9 January is in accordance with the decision of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) on Friday.

TAM said the suppression of ratings data on news channels "is purely a temporary request from the industry." The retrospective data for the period (weeks 41-52), for all the news channels, will be de-suppressed and released normally (individually) on 9 January with the data release of week 1 of the year 2013.

TAM has released data for weeks 41-52 for digital homes in the three cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, where digitisation has nearly happened. Chennai, which was the fourth city mandated to have gone digital from 1 November, is not included. Digitisation in Chennai, according to a TAM survey, is stuck at around 26 per cent, with the Madras High Court hearing a petition by cable operators against digitisation.

Digitisation across India to proceed on schedule: I&B minister

Insearchindia.com Team

(5 November 2012 9:05 pm)

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari has said the cable television digitisation programme will proceed according to the schedule laid down by the Government.

Speaking to the media at Panaji in Goa, he said that the process had been started by his predecessor and he will ensure it is implemented according to the time frame laid down for the four phases, the first of which had already been implemented.

The government has mandated 31 December 2014 as the sunset date for analogue cable across the country. The first phase of digitisation in the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata kicked off on 1 November while Chennai got deferred till 5 November by the Madras High Court. The fate of digitisation in Chennai will be known today by the court.

Mumbai and Delhi have had a high degree of success in digitisation while the Mamata Baenerjee-led West Bengal government has allowed TV signals to run on analogue cable TV till Diwali festival gets over.

Tewari also said the Centre will work towards making the forthcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa a self sustainable event.

I&B Minister Ambika Soni resigns

Insearchindia.com Team

(28 October 2012 2.23 pm)

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni submitted her resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, a day before the cabinet reshuffle. Soni's resignation comes just four days before the sunset date for analogue cable television in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Cable TV delivery in the four metros will mandatorily have to be via digital set-top boxes (STBs) from 1 November. The Congress party has decided to utilise the servies of Soni in preparing the party for the 2014 general elections. Soni felt privileged to have been asked to work to strengthen the party cadres just over a year before the next general elections. Soni, who will turn 70 on 13 November, is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. She became I and B Minister on 22 May 2009, and was tourism minister prior to that from 29 January 2006. She has served as Indian Youth Congress president during emergency in 1975, and became a member of the Rajya Sabha for the first time in March 1976. She also served as general secretary of the Congress from 1999 to 2006.

Cable ops seek digitisation extension, Bombay HC to hear plea on 29 Oct

Insearchindia.com Team

(28 October 2012 2:20 pm)

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Just three days before the four metros move towards digital cable, a clutch of cable operators will have their petition heard in the Bombay High Court on 29 October seeking extension on the ground that they need more time to get their networks up and running.

They will argue that digital set-top boxes (STBs) have not reached a large number of consumer homes and they are yet to get the channels from broadcasters for carrying on their cable networks for their subscribers to watch.

“We will seek for more time as 1 November is too short a period to sort out a myriad of issues. The STB penetration is not what the government is stating. We haven’t got the decoders from broadcasters. How can we run our businesses? There should be an extension of the digitisation deadline,” said Kuldeep Puri, a promoter of Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom.

Among the petitioners are the Puri brothers and Paresh Thakkar, both associated with Hathway Cable & Datacom. The operators are from the eastern suburbs of Mumbai like Chembur, Ghatkopar and Govandi.

“We have signed with IndiaCast and have finalised terms with OneAlliance and Media Pro Enterprise India. But the decoders have not reached us,” said Kuldeep Puri.

The petitioners want time so that new entrants would be given a fair opportunity to set up their independent ventures.

The Puri brothers are planning to set up an independent operation outside their joint venture with Hathway Cable & Datacom. They will have Ericsson as their digital head-end while Sumavision Technologies will provide the encryption solution and Skywalk be the STB supplier. They own 12 per cent stake in Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom, according to data available till 30 September 2012.

“Our joint venture arrangement continues. Hathway has also agreed that we can go ahead and independently run our operations to tap other subscribers,” said Kuldeep Puri.

The government has claimed that the average percentage in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai had touched 85 per cent and goes up to 90 per cent if direct-to-home (DTH) is taken into consideration. Mumbai, according to the government, has achieved nearly 100 per cent digitisation. These figures have been hotly contested by the cable operators. Other stakeholders also find it difficult to believe the government figures, though they are not open about it.

Thakkar has said that television sets going blank from 1 November may result in a law and order problem and also create a hazard for the operators.

The petition also says that there is still no clear picture on the monthly subscription bill of cable TV subscribers after the switch over to digital reception of cable television.

The government has mandated compulsory switch over to digital delivery of cable television from 1 November in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.

Sony, PwC to discuss future of media & entertainment at Mipcom

Insearchindia.com Team

(14 September 2012 00:46 am)

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television will join PricewaterhouseCoopers at the television trade event Mipcom 2012 to discuss the future of media, entertainment and broadcasting.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) global leader entertainment, media practice Marcel Fenez will present the annual PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook at Mipcom on 8 October, outlining forecasts in the media and leisure industries. This industry report will be followed by interviews conducted by Fenez with Sony Pictures Television president of International Production and Sony Pictures Entertainment president of international Andrea Wong.

In her Mipcom keynote interview, Wong will discuss the PwC Outlook findings and how they are reflected in the production activity that SPT International Production undertakes around the world, as well as international production and commissioning trends.

Wong heads the studio's international television production business, overseeing the creative teams outside the US as well as the 18 owned and joint venture international production companies around the world.

Organised by Reed Midem, Mipcom will take place in Cannes, France from 8-11 October.