Newshounds-Group A1- Source-Exchange4media.com

   1. MIB panel sets up 11 working groups for Prasar Bharati revamp

        (Ruchika Shrivastava,Feb’06)

           Analysis

• Following problems of Prasar Bharti
• Confronted with a serious issue of manpower shortage.
• According to statistics available with Prasar Bharati, as many as 14,222 posts of programming, news, engineering and administrative staff are lying vacant as there has been no recruitment for the past 15-20 years.
• Low face value among the other channels available.
• Relationship with government
• Solution:
• The seven-member high level expert committee headed by Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Information Infrastructure and Innovation, after committee meet on January 29.
• The panel comprises Jawhar Sircar, CEO, Prasar Bharati; Jitendra Shankar Mathur, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Asha Swarup, former Secretary, MIB; Dr BK Gairola, Mission Director (E-Governance); Shekhar Kapur, Member, Innovation Council; and Prof MP Gupta, IIT Delhi.
• Workings
• The working groups will submit white papers in 30-60 days and the entire exercise undertaken by the panel will take 4-6 months to complete
• To suggest a strategy for creating a network of domestic and overseas business partners ,an exclusive overseas service.
• The most important working group is the one that will review Prasar Bharati’s relationship with the Government. , perceived as a ‘sarkari’ channel.
• It may be recalled that the Narayanamurthy Committee had made a case for making Prasar Bharati independent of the Government and recommending financial and personnel independence. The Sengupta Committee, on the other hand, recommended adopting the BBC model, based on TV licensing fee
• The focus will be on digitisation of information, to create new, socially relevant content and digitise and monetise archival material by making it available to the public.
• Presenters such as Sanjeev Srivastava, Ajay Shukla and Gautam Roy have been recruited .
• Pranjal Sharma has been brought in to spearhead Prasar Bharati’s social media initiative

•  A special advertising budget has been earmarked to promote Doordarshan and its programming through print and online media, besides outdoor.

2.Is Ranchi market getting too cluttered for print players?

           (Kunal Rao, February 6) 

                                                                                              

• With advertisers looking to tap the growing prowess of the Tier II markets, Ranchi has become a preferred destination of brands and media players alike.
• Keeping the town updated on the latest news are no less than five major newspapers – Dainik Jagran, Hindustan, Dainik Bhaskar, Prabhat Khabar and Ranchi Express. Given the size of the market, the competition is understandably cutthroat, keeping these print players on their toes and making them devise different content and marketing strategies as well as customer connect initiatives on a daily basis to grab the readers’ attention.
• The number of existing players in the Ranchi market is more than enough and there is no question of new players entering the city.
• Managing a newspaper is not an easy job, and with people switching to other language papers as well as accessing e-paper editions online, it is difficult for a new player to get a foothold in the market.
• Space needs to be created. Looking at the current scenario, there is no scope and no space for any player, but if a player comes up with some unique marketing strategy and some different connecting activity, it can create a wider readership base.

3.India’s first-ever crowdsourcing National Anthem

(Balaji Kalyanaraman)

1. India’s first ever crowdsourcing of the Anthem, ‘My Nation, My Anthem’
2. Initiative that gives  filmmakers, musicians and singers an opportunity to render their interpretation of the Anthem
3. The shortlisted entries will be supervised by an expert panel in their creation of a new film, set to a new tune and sung by new voices. 
4. Initiative by Talenthouse India, a Reliance Entertainment division in collaboration with PVR, Rising Sun Films and Rampage Motion Pictures.
5. Main aim is to engage with the citizens of the country and give them a sense of ownership of their proud heritage
6. This creative initiative is open to three different categories of budding talent – music composers, film makers and singers.
7. Winning participants across the three categories will be creatively supervised by popular Bollywood director Shoojit Sircar, along with Ronnie Lahiri and Ram Mirchandani, to create a final film of the National Anthem to be showcased at PVR Cinemas before a movie screening.

4.Zee TV to launch 24x7 network in Canada

(Balaji Kalyanaraman)

1. Zee TV has launched Zee TV Canada in partnership with Ethnic Channels Group (ECG), Canada’s largest distributor of third language television services.
2. Zee TV to be  available to Canadian viewers as a 24x7 service for the first time
3. Zee TV Canada will be available on Rogers, Bell and Telus from February 1, 2013.
4. Ethnic Channels Group is privileged to partner with the #1 South Asian channel in the world. Canadian viewers will be enthralled by Zee’s programming repertoire,” said Slava Levin, Co-founder and CEO of Ethnic Channels Group.
5. Zee now has six channels in Canada catering to the diverse group of viewers. ETC Punjabi, Zing, Zee Salaam, Zee Tamizh and Zee Cinema will now be joined by Zee TV Canada as a 24x7 channel.

5.Mars-Wrigley consolidates media biz with MediaCom India

(Anirudh Seshadri,Feb 7th)

·         Mars Incorporated has completed the media pitch process in India that applied to all Mars companies including Mars Foods, Mars Chocolates, Mars Pet Care and Wrigley India.

·         Following this, MediaCom India has been awarded the complete media mandate of Mars businesses in India and Mars officials confirmed this development to exchange4media

·         One of key triggers for the pitch process was to consolidate the media business with one agency.

·         Prior to this, Mars Chocolates was with RK Swamy Media and apart from RK Swamy, MEC India and Starcom MediaVest Group were also contesting in the pitch.

·         Industry sources peg the business in the vicinity of Rs 70 crore to Rs 80 crore.

·         The pitch was led by Niti Kumar, National Director Insights, MediaCom India.