Ciao'14 | The If's, But's, Goodbye's and Entrance's in the Broadcasting Industry

The New Year has always been the time for looking back to the past, what we've done from the beginning to end, and gazing forward to the coming year. This year proved to be one of its kinds with the major highs and lows for the entire industry. It also saw the launch of new channels, many new shows taking the Television Industry by a storm, many new appointments taking place and a lot more. Well these were just few to mention. As this year is coming to its end, we decided to take a look at the major events that marked their presence in the entire industry.

Acquisitions and exits-

The biggest acquisition was India’s largest company Reliance Industries takeover the India’s largest media company Network 18. It also was considered to be the reason behind Rajdeep Sardesai quitting IBN18 Network in different news; Radio City 91.1 FM was acquired by Jagran Prakashan; The Huffington Post Media Group and The Times of India Group, India’s largest media corporation, announced the official launch of an Indian edition of The Huffington Post. 

Other major moves were Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish replaced Tata Sky MD and CEO Harit Nagpal. Doordarshan ADG Ranjan Thakur who also headed Freedish moved out due to the expiry of his term. Raghav Bahl too exited Network18. The man credited for Life OK’s success story, Ajit Thakur, also quit after his three year stint with the channel. Indian Broadcasting Foundation’s General Secretary Shailesh Shah also decided to move on. Primetime news anchor and Senior Editor of Times Now, Rupali Mehra resigned after more than nine years with the channel. Times Television Network saw the departure of Omar Qureshi, Editor-in-Chief and Creative Head at zoOm TV.

New Appointments-

In the news about new appointments, we saw RK Arora move on to News Nation Network as CEO after his surprising exit from ITV Network,. Arun Aggrawal joining the ITV Network as the group CFO. Times Television Network appointed Sandeep Bharadwaj as Head of Distribution. Huffington Post India appointed Sruthijith KK as the Editor in Chief.  ZEE Entertainment appointed Anjana Kshetry as the Head of Brand Solutions.

New entrants-

This year, we saw the launch of many new channels such as EPIC, Zindagi, Rishtey, and Sony PAL.  On the other hand, MIB gave license to 12 new channels which included ESPN, ESPN HD, STAR SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS, STAR CRICKET ASIA and GREEN TV. In the news genre, the Times group got new licenses for Times Now 2, Times Now 3 and ET Now 2 and in the regional space Janam, NSN News, ABP Sanjha, etc. received the license. Meanwhile, Sony PIX came up with an innovative idea to entertain its viewers with Pixathon and the PIX School of Bonding.

Shows that dominated –

This year is completely conquered by the Pakistani Dramas. They also introduced a new concept of mini-series which captivated the minds of the viewers and kept them hooked and entertained. This idea received a lot of appreciation from the viewers and they welcomed the concept with open minds. To point out the few shows that struck the cord with the audience were-
Zindagi Gulzar Hai: This Pakistani show aired on Zindagi was appreciated by the audience for its zeal and pleasing theme. The show was launched in June and summed up on a happy note in July.

Humsafar: Another Pakistani show brought to India by Zindagi, this show starred Fawad Khan along with Mahira Khan. The show was started on October 14 and concluded on November 7.
Maat: This show on Zindagi focused on sibling rivalry, where a girl is competing with her own sister. The show was launched in July and was wrapped up in August.
Ajeeb Daastaan Hain Ye: The triangular love story marked the entry of actress Sonali Bendre in the fiction genre on television.
Aunn Zara: Another show from the neighboring country, which was comical in nature, appealed to the masses.

The shows that bid adieu -

In this cut throat competition, the main focus is to be entertaining. The more entertaining and interesting element is provided, the more eyeballs are garnered.  The audience is though limited to the television in the family room; it plays the primary role in the success of any new show. TV ratings are incredibly important. They help networks understand which shows to renew for another season and which to drop. The success of any show is determined by the response from its audience. Here is a look at the show that went off –air after a long time of appealing the audience.
Pavitra Rishta - After ruling the TV industry for almost 5 years, this show saw its last episode airing on October 25, 2014.

Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev: Life OK's top show finally bid adieu to the audience on December 12, 2014.

Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara: Rajshri Productions' Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara was launched in the year 2012 and went off air on November 1, 2014.
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain: The Balaji Telefilms' show on matured love story went off air on July 10, 2014.

Madhubala: Ek Ishq Ek Junoon - This show, starring Vivian Dsena and Drashti Dhami, entertained the audience for two years.

DTH-

The DTH industry in India too saw many changes this year. Three major DTH operators, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Reliance Digital TV were issued notices by The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for not showing the mandatory 24 Doordarshan channels. Later on the Ministry also pulled the entire DTH industry for not paying license fee worth Rs 2066 crore. Although some relieving news was the set top box (STB) manufacturers by reducing the excise duty from 12 per cent to 10 per cent from February to June 2014. However, they continued to fight the entertainment and service tax that was being levied on them since several years while cable operators go without paying it.

The foundation of BARC was laid but it is still in its planning stage as how to bring out the reports. On the TRAI front, the major changes are the recommendations for platform and ground based broadcasters, DAS Tariff, Delinking of licenses of the Virtual Network Operators, MSO’s were not allowed to carry more than 386 TV channels. On the other hand MIB gave permit to broadcast 821 private satellite channels, completing the Digitization process; approval of licenses for 12 Television channels has benefitted the broadcasting industry.

New Government-

Narendra Modi won the elections with the highest margin and taking over the coveted position of the PM of India. Considered to be the Tech Savvy PM, he is majorly active on social media. With the frequent use of twitter to exchange tweets with the general public to popularizing social media in India, he has done it all. He also announced ‘Digital India’ program to reduce paperwork, connect rural areas to high speed internet etc.

Thus 2014 seemed to be an eventful year altogether. With the new developments and a lot of new experiments the television space had an exciting year.