After Shah Rukh Khan's successful run with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, it is Aamir Khan who is bringing in all the earnings for Bollywood this year with Ghajini raking in Rs 40 crore in the first four days of release.
Chief executive of TAM Media LV Krishnan and and CEO, aMap, Amit Varma, share their concerns on the business of TV ratings in an interview with Ashish Sinha.
A curb on advertising budgets for television by the large companies and economic slowdown have managed to bring down the prime-time (8 pm-11 pm) ad-spot rates of general entertainment channels (GECs) like Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony TV to the levels of 2005-06.
In what is being termed as the biggest hit of 2008, based on its first 10-days box office collection, Shah Rukh Khan starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has managed to collect about Rs 60 crore so far, of which nearly half has come from the overseas markets.
The sector, for long, has been a barometer of economic activity in any country. Demand goes up in a boom as people buy more homes and cars, and businessmen put up more commercial space and factories. Conversely, the demand slumps quickly in a slowdown.
Matter to come before copyright board on January 28.
The cable industry, which reaches over 80 million out of India's 130 million TV-owning homes, is getting ready to strongly oppose the government's move to raise the foreign direct investment limit for direct-to-home service providers from 49 to 74 per cent without doing the same for cable companies.
The index of industrial production data released by the government revealed on Friday that the growth in the Rs 32,000 crore (Rs 320 billion) consumer durables was in the negative -- down 3 per cent as against 9 per cent in October 2007. On the other hand, the durables sector had contributed to the industrial output rebound in the months of July (12.3 per cent ) and September (13.1 per cent).
Nowhere in the world have television viewers been spoilt with so much choice as in India -- there are over 360 television channels on air in the country and applications for another 160 await the government's nod.
The move also follows on the back of the worldwide slowdown and the company's plans to go slow on establishing new Tag Heuer exclusive boutiques. The company wants to develop high-end luxury accessories for exclusive retailing though the Internet.
Both lifestyle and technical publications are allowed up to 100 per cent foreign investments, according to the norms laid out by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Al-Abbas group of the UAE, through its publishing arm, Twenty First Century Publishing, will be the 50:50 joint venture partner of Bangalore-based Connoisseur Publishing.
'There are no formal guidelines for security. The Commonwealth Games Federation, London, oversees the preparations. The idea is to ensure that the games go on smoothly. It should not be a fortress,' says A Vasudevan, additional director general, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.
This means the consumers will have to pay an additional monthly subscription to get these HD channels. Currently, the popular DTH bouquets (80-120 channels) are available at Rs 150-300 a month across most DTH platforms.
It had initially planned to roll-out TAG Heuer phones in the first half of the current year, which it later revised to December 2008. The company now says it will launch the phones by March 2009. TAG Heuer has also revised the starting price of the phone, which was to debut in India for around Rs 2,20,000.
The Hindi news channels have recorded a four-fold jump in their ratings for November 27, beating even those recorded by the English news channels, as millions of anxious viewers remained glued on to their television sets watching every moment of the real-time gunbattle taking place in south Mumbai.
Indeed, where other industries complained of poor demand, festival season sales for consumer electronics grew 30-35 per cent year on year, boosting average growth for the year from 7-8 per cent to 10 per cent. In fact, it was the durable sector which drove industrial growth of 4.8 per cent in September.
If Bollywood's three forthcoming films starring Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in Ghajini, Yuvvraaj, and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, respectively, become commercially hit then 2008 may prove to be a good year for the Hindi film industry, especially at the time of the economic slowdown.
The FWICE says its 35,000 members will resume work immediately if their pay is raised. Of course, there are several other related demands such as a timebound payment of the shift wage, restricting shifts to 8 hours rather than the current 10-12 hours among others, says a senior FWICE executive. Meanwhile, channels are showing re-runs of old episodes. This has resulted in a drop of upto 55 per cent in their prime time viewership ratings, affecting ad revenue.
Hindustan Unilever, GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare, Godrej Consumer Products, Dabur, Nestle and other FMCG companies are lining up initiatives to maximise returns from modern trade channels including hypermarkets and supermarkets.
At least 10 firms, including a few media houses and some of the leading private equity funds, are said to be in the race to acquire a majority stake in Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers, the Indian Premier League cricket team currently owned by the Deccan Chronicle group.
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