Mumbai: Hindi general entertainment channel Colors will pump in another Rs30 crore in the first year of a Rs100 crore three-year deal to broadcast Indian Premier League (IPL)-related events and create its own shows linked to the popular Twenty20 cricket tournament.
The channel hopes to earn profit by selling sponsorship rights and ad spots at higher-than-usual rates. While industry watchers called it a “bold experiment”, some media buyers and rival channels said the marriage of cricket and entertainment may not work.
In the next few months, the Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd-owned channel will spend Rs63 crore on its IPL shows, including the first year payment of Rs33 crore to IPL, said a person familiar with the deal, who declined to be identified.
Colors, the current market leader in Hindi television entertainment, is creating four IPL-related shows—dance and music reality show Rockstar, the IPL Awards Night, IPL Parties on MTV and IPL Khatron Ke Khiladi.
The 13-episode Rockstar will feature winners from earlier talent hunt shows and will be judged by singers Sukhwinder Singh and Kailash Kher. Bollywood celebrities and IPL franchisee owners Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty will take turns to be the third judge, adding to the glamour quotient of the show.
“The focus is on entertaining the lakh-plus live audience that comes to watch the (IPL) match. The show will happen at the stadium. Here the contestants are playing more to the gallery,” said Ashvini Yardi, head of programming at Colors.
Colors will also broadcast the IPL Awards Night honouring cricketers for their performance on the field.
The third show, created around glamourous after-match parties every night, will be telecast by Viacom 18’s youth entertainment channel MTV.
The channel will telecast at least 40 parties and entertainment events such as fashion shows and music concerts organized for IPL franchises.
IPL Khatron Ke Khiladi will feature cricketers performing stunts later in the year.
Colors is selling the title sponsorships of these shows for Rs8-12 crore. Ten-second spot advertisements, ordinarily priced between Rs1 lakh and Rs1.5 lakh, are being valued above Rs2 lakh.
The channel has set an internal target of Rs70-75 crore on IPL programming in the first year.
Media buyers and channel executives said IPL matches generally dent general entertainment channels’ viewership by 8-10%.
But Manoj Malkani, vice-president, Media Planning Group (MPG), a part of Havas Media, said if marketed well, the IPL content on Colors could deliver a rating of 3-4%.
Rockstar will be used to push up weekend ratings. “The rates are steep and there’s 50:50 chance that marketing works and trials are generated,” he said.
Ajit Varghese, managing director, Maxus India, GroupM India Pvt. Ltd, said Colors was experimenting with a bold strategy.
Varghese expects brands and at least 50-60% of IPL watchers to turn up for Colors’s shows.
Not everyone agrees with Varghese though. A media buyer said, on condition of anonymity, that her clients were unlikely to buy advertisement spots on the Colors’s IPL shows.
“The content is around music and dance and Bollywood and there’s nothing new in that. Besides, it’s a risk for advertisers as during the IPL, it’s likely that most viewers wouldn’t be hooked by anything else,” she added.
Joy Chakraborthy, chief revenue officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, reiterated his faith in soaps as viewership drivers on general entertainment channels.
“The media buyer community is more confident about television soaps than anything else and we continue to invest in that. The strategy of any general entertainment channel (during the IPL) ideally ought to be to hold on to existing viewers, rather than try and pull in a whole different set of audiences. Such efforts have backfired in the past,” he said.
Colors was the top-rated general entertainment channel from 14-20 February, with a 22.9% channel share.
Star Plus came in second with 21.5% and Zee TV ranked third with 18%, according to television viewership data given by TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd.
for more details:-
http://www.livemint.com/2010/02/28205348/Colors-charges-premium-on-IPL.html
COUNTER
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Australia Tsunami
Posted by sarada
Australia Tsunami – Latest news – The tsunami warning has been cancelled, and all of the coasts of the country have been informed that the risk of Tsunami is minimal. Good news for all coastal towns and fishery areas.
Australia Tsunami warning UPDATE – Here is the latest update on the Australia Tsunami warning which was issued last night. The 8.8 magnitude quake which hit Chile yesterday created a huge tsunami, which hit Australia’s East cost this morning.
for more details:-
http://www.breakingnewsandsport.com/australia-tsunami/619665/
Australia Tsunami warning UPDATE – Here is the latest update on the Australia Tsunami warning which was issued last night. The 8.8 magnitude quake which hit Chile yesterday created a huge tsunami, which hit Australia’s East cost this morning.
for more details:-
http://www.breakingnewsandsport.com/australia-tsunami/619665/
Europe Storms
Posted by sarada
Europe storms today have battered France, Spain and Portugal leaving 25 dead. Named “Xynthia” the storm arrived overnight and crashed against the French and Spanish coastal areas with most of the fatalities coming from drowning as residents tried to scramble to higher ground. Europe Storms About 800mm was dumped onto France in a matter of hours...
for more details:-
http://www.breakingnewsandsport.com/
for more details:-
http://www.breakingnewsandsport.com/
New Tax queers pitch for IPL
Posted by sarada
Cricket lovers who want to enjoy the atmosphere of an Indian Premier League (IPL) match in the stadiums this season might have to shell out more while buying a ticket, or even team merchandise for that matter. That is because the finance minister has tightened the screws on sporting activities by imposing some stiff clauses.
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According to the Finance Bill 2010, service tax will be levied on “service of permitting commercial use or exploitation of any event organised by a person or organisation”. In another salvo at the tournament, the Bill states: "The exclusion relating to sponsorship pertaining to sports is being removed.” According to Mumbai-based law firm Economic Law Practice, IPL will also have to pay service tax on the broadcasting rights it has sold to various television networks.
Onus is on making money, not losing it
B Vanchi, Delhi Daredevils' advisor on corporate strategy, says: “Bringing IPL into the service tax net will not have any impact on us because, as a team owner, we will pass it on to team sponsors and on the prices of tickets and merchandise.”
Likewise, sources in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) said bringing the team’s earnings into the tax net would mean the economics of the trade would be passed on to other stake holders. “We cannot absorb this cost. So, the additional costs would have to be passed on. Negotiations would make rounds and either the contract value with sponsors will go up or it could come down to accommodate the tax. We do not know for sure as yet,” a KKR source said.
On how the levy of a 10 per cent service tax would affect the revenues of IPL, BCCI’s Finance Committee Chairman Rajiv Shukla said: “We are studying the issue now and would take a call later.”
A Mumbai-based media and entertainment analyst with a leading broking house said: "Service tax is easily passable from the seller to the buyer. So, either the TV network that has bought the rights might be asked to make a higher payout for renewal of the contract in the coming years or IPL might be forced to absorb it in case there aren't enough takers for the rights. Similarly, IPL may charge Rs 550 instead of the Rs 500 (the lowest ticket rate for any IPL match, including the Rs 50 service tax) if it does not absorb the service tax."
A spokesperson of Chennai Superkings told Business Standard: “We are still evaluating. But of course, we will not make losses. We have to look at how to make money every season.”
for more details:-
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/new-tax-queers-pitch-for-ipl/387067/
Also Read
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News Now
- Policyholders in for a double whammy
- Stiff guidelines set for two new IPL franchises
- Bhupesh Bhandari: When innovation acquires new meaning
- IPL catches the Twitter bug
- IPL 3 not moving out of India: Modi
- Bollywood takes on IPL to bat for tv channels
Also Read
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News Now
- Uncertainties curtail Budget rally
- 'Rise in inflation not to put pressure on interest rates'
- RBI norms on pvt sector bank CEOs' salaries soon
- Nuke-liability Bill likely in Parliament session
- Pricing not reason for poor show of NTPC FPO: FinMin
More
According to the Finance Bill 2010, service tax will be levied on “service of permitting commercial use or exploitation of any event organised by a person or organisation”. In another salvo at the tournament, the Bill states: "The exclusion relating to sponsorship pertaining to sports is being removed.” According to Mumbai-based law firm Economic Law Practice, IPL will also have to pay service tax on the broadcasting rights it has sold to various television networks.
Onus is on making money, not losing it
B Vanchi, Delhi Daredevils' advisor on corporate strategy, says: “Bringing IPL into the service tax net will not have any impact on us because, as a team owner, we will pass it on to team sponsors and on the prices of tickets and merchandise.”
Likewise, sources in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) said bringing the team’s earnings into the tax net would mean the economics of the trade would be passed on to other stake holders. “We cannot absorb this cost. So, the additional costs would have to be passed on. Negotiations would make rounds and either the contract value with sponsors will go up or it could come down to accommodate the tax. We do not know for sure as yet,” a KKR source said.
On how the levy of a 10 per cent service tax would affect the revenues of IPL, BCCI’s Finance Committee Chairman Rajiv Shukla said: “We are studying the issue now and would take a call later.”
A Mumbai-based media and entertainment analyst with a leading broking house said: "Service tax is easily passable from the seller to the buyer. So, either the TV network that has bought the rights might be asked to make a higher payout for renewal of the contract in the coming years or IPL might be forced to absorb it in case there aren't enough takers for the rights. Similarly, IPL may charge Rs 550 instead of the Rs 500 (the lowest ticket rate for any IPL match, including the Rs 50 service tax) if it does not absorb the service tax."
A spokesperson of Chennai Superkings told Business Standard: “We are still evaluating. But of course, we will not make losses. We have to look at how to make money every season.”
for more details:-
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/new-tax-queers-pitch-for-ipl/387067/
Terror threats cloud IPL after Pakistan
Posted by sarada
The IPL's snub to Pakistani players for the third edition has reportedly raised fears of terror strike and that has left the Indian cricket authorities extremely concerned.
According to a report in The Independent, the cricket authorities are worried that there could be a terrorist strike from a Pakistan-based outfit al-Qa'ida group against the IPL that starts on 12 March.
"The Indians are concerned about internet comments which have been made by al-Qa'ida groups that the absence of Pakistani players makes this year's IPL an even more legitimate terror target," the report says.
There was furore over the exclusion of Pakistani players from the IPL 3 with some IPL team owners expressing unhappiness about the decision, while some expressed doubts on their availability. This added more bitterness to the relations between the two parties.
However according to the report, Indians would now be prepared to allow Pakistani players back but on condition that the President of Pakistan Asif Zardari sacks PCB chief Ijaz Butt.
"We have approached the Pakistani President and told him that, for the sake of sub-continental cricket, he should exercise his power as patron and sack Butt. Without Butt's removal our two boards cannot work together. In the past, despite political problems between our two countries and even with the armies squaring up to each other, the two cricket boards worked together. But now we cannot because of Butt. In the present situation this could put the IPL under threat," a BCCI official told The Independent.
The relation between BCCI and PCB was always cordial despite the political and diplomatic tensions between the two countries, but it soured last year after the World Cup matches were shifted out of Pakistan following the terror attacks on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. The 14 matches due to be played in Pakistan were reallocated, with India taking a major share.
PCB chief Ijaz Butt had accused India for the move that isolated Pakistan on the cricket map. Pakistan since then have not hosted any team. His remarks definitely did not go too well with the Indians and that perhaps played no small part in keeping the Pakistani players out.
"The Indians have probably calculated that their demands to remove Butt would find favour in Pakistan, where he is hardly the most popular man following the country's dismal recent showing in Australia. Many see this former Pakistani Test cricketer as a political appointee: he is the brother-in-law of the country's defence minister and an important member in Punjab of Zardari's Pakistani Peoples Party. In a land where cricket and politics are inextricably mixed and where both have many factions, Butt has not only faced criticism from former cricketers such as Javed Miandad but also politicians. His b te noire is the Pakistani parliamentarian Jamshed Dasti," the report said.
So it remains to be seen if the IPL doors will open for Pakistan players, in case Ijaz Butt is shown the doors. The Indians are clearly hoping their pressure will see his removal and ease their fears about their precious money-spinning tournament.
for more details:-
http://cricket.ndtv.com/storypage/ndtv/id/spoen20100132891/story26022010_163000.html
According to a report in The Independent, the cricket authorities are worried that there could be a terrorist strike from a Pakistan-based outfit al-Qa'ida group against the IPL that starts on 12 March.
"The Indians are concerned about internet comments which have been made by al-Qa'ida groups that the absence of Pakistani players makes this year's IPL an even more legitimate terror target," the report says.
There was furore over the exclusion of Pakistani players from the IPL 3 with some IPL team owners expressing unhappiness about the decision, while some expressed doubts on their availability. This added more bitterness to the relations between the two parties.
However according to the report, Indians would now be prepared to allow Pakistani players back but on condition that the President of Pakistan Asif Zardari sacks PCB chief Ijaz Butt.
"We have approached the Pakistani President and told him that, for the sake of sub-continental cricket, he should exercise his power as patron and sack Butt. Without Butt's removal our two boards cannot work together. In the past, despite political problems between our two countries and even with the armies squaring up to each other, the two cricket boards worked together. But now we cannot because of Butt. In the present situation this could put the IPL under threat," a BCCI official told The Independent.
The relation between BCCI and PCB was always cordial despite the political and diplomatic tensions between the two countries, but it soured last year after the World Cup matches were shifted out of Pakistan following the terror attacks on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. The 14 matches due to be played in Pakistan were reallocated, with India taking a major share.
PCB chief Ijaz Butt had accused India for the move that isolated Pakistan on the cricket map. Pakistan since then have not hosted any team. His remarks definitely did not go too well with the Indians and that perhaps played no small part in keeping the Pakistani players out.
"The Indians have probably calculated that their demands to remove Butt would find favour in Pakistan, where he is hardly the most popular man following the country's dismal recent showing in Australia. Many see this former Pakistani Test cricketer as a political appointee: he is the brother-in-law of the country's defence minister and an important member in Punjab of Zardari's Pakistani Peoples Party. In a land where cricket and politics are inextricably mixed and where both have many factions, Butt has not only faced criticism from former cricketers such as Javed Miandad but also politicians. His b te noire is the Pakistani parliamentarian Jamshed Dasti," the report said.
So it remains to be seen if the IPL doors will open for Pakistan players, in case Ijaz Butt is shown the doors. The Indians are clearly hoping their pressure will see his removal and ease their fears about their precious money-spinning tournament.
for more details:-
http://cricket.ndtv.com/storypage/ndtv/id/spoen20100132891/story26022010_163000.html
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