Cochin University of Science and Technology School of Management Studies

Indian Ethos and Business Ethics Assignment

Recent trends in Indian Television media with special reference to Kerala Sector

Submitted by:

Anas AP MBA [FT] Sem 1 Roll No. 04

Submitted to:

Dr. D. Mavooth

Submission date: 10th October, 2012

Recent trends in Indian Television media with special reference to Kerala.

Television Media in India - Introduction Television in India passes fifty years service. The television began in India amazingly. It was an idiot box once. But the scene has changed; it is a most wanted pet in almost all parts of the nation. Both towns and villages keep the box as a special part of their socio cultural life. As all historians point out, television began as a medium for instruction, but, now it is termed for information, entertainment, and infotainment and for commercials. The instructional purpose is minimized and other areas have developed in a large way. In the national level, it was the monopoly of state owned Doordarsan until the ZEE started operations as the first private owned and operated channel. From then there has been a tremendous increase in the number of channels and audience. The fact that Television to every house was a main soap factor in a recent State election underlines the prominence of TV in an Indian home. In India, there are more than 500 Channels operating at National and State levels-of this five hundred, seventy five percent are regional channels, and in them also, the major part goes to news channels. The high initial costs and the huge cost of operating a GEC (General Entertainment Channel) may be a reason for everyone to focus on start News channels or news related channels. This high increase in the number of Channels, in particular news channels have both positive and negative impacts on the society it serves.

Visual media In Kerala - Introduction Kerala, being the most educated and the first cent percent literate state was fast in accepting this so called idiotic box. Sasikumar led Asianet under Asianet communications was the first fully private owned and operated satellite channel of the state. Asianet started operations in the year 1993, second only to Sun network owned Sun TV in South India. Asianet started off as a GEC, due to the fact that Indian government didnt allow private players to transmit news from Indian soil, within a couple of years Asianet started airing news bulletins from their overseas uplinking

terminals at Singapore and Philippines. When the Indian government opened up the Indian skies for private players to uplink from India itself, Asianet moved their operations to Chennai. From then we have seen number of channels coming up in this Malayalam speaking market. Visual Media, Kerala Current status: In the 33 million populated state, its Channel spree now. List of channels in operation and those in test transmission are listed below:

General Entertainment Channels Asianet - GEC from Asianet Communications [JV by Jupiter and STAR Network] Surya TV - GEC From Sun Television Network. Kairali TV - GEC From Malayalam Communications Limited.Kairali Tv Jeevan TV - GEC From Jeevan Telecasting Corporation Ltd.Jeevan Tv Amrita TV - GEC From Amrita Enterprises Pvt Limited. Amrita TV Mazhavil Manorama - GEC from Malayala Manorama (MM)TV Ltd. JaiHind - GEC From Bharath broadcasting Network Pvt Ltd. Darshana TV - GEC From Sathyadhara Communications Pvt Ltd..Darshana Tv Asianet Middle East - GEC from Asianet Communications [JV by Jupiter and STAR Network]

Asianet Movies - Malayalam movie channel from Asianet & STAR TV Surya Action - Malayalam movie channel From Sun Television Network. Malayalam Cinema Plus - Malayalam Movies Channel from Sun Network (For Sun DTH Viewers Only)

Asianet Plus - Youth entertainment channel From Asianet& STAR TV Kiran TV - Youth entertainment channel From Sun Network. WE TV - Youth entertainment channel From Kairali. Yes Indiavision - Youth entertainment channel From Indiavision. Raj Musix malayalam - Malayalam music channel from Raj TV Network.

News Channels Reporter TV - Malayalam news channel From Indo-Asian News channel Pvt Ltd. Asianet News- Malayalam news channel From Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd. Indiavision - Malayalam news channel From Indiavision Satellite Communications. People TV - Malayalam news channel From Kairali. Manorama News - Malayalam news channel From Malayala Manorama. Upcoming Malayalam channels Mathrubhumi News - Test Run Kaumudy TV - Test Run Raj news malayalam - Test Run Raj news Malayalam Kappa Tv - From Mathrubhumi Group - Test Run Media One TV - Test Run Media One Tv

The above list clearly showcases the abundance of channels for a comparatively small state. This high number of media vehicles has resulted in tough competition and blind race ofr TAM/TRP ratings. The ongoing trends and its effect on the general public are explained below.

General Trends: 1. Sensationalisation: The high number of channels has resulted in tough competition among the different channels. To achieve high TAM/TRP ratings, media owners go on for specialized news or for creating sensational news, in many cases, giving no consideration to ethical aspects of the profession. A good example which can be sited in this context is the Love Jihad campaign which was later proved to be fake and false. Prominent media players like Manorama, deepika were on with the campaign in favor of Love Jihad and spent pages and dedicated air times for the story, but when the story was proved and declared to be fake, none of these players were seen apologizing for the fake stories.

2. Cross-Media ownership: It can be noted that, many prominent players in the print are entering to visual media segment now a days and vice versa. Entry of Manorama group to TV Segment, Entry of Matrubhumi into TV, Entry of Madhyamam into TV, The acquisition

of Kannada Prabha [Kannada daily from the Indian Express group 51% stake] and Mangalam daily [49% Stake] by Asianet News Network can be seen as an examples. If one newspaper controls all contents of opinion through cross-media ownership, if one TV group owns both channels and cable distribution, it could pose grave danger. No democracy can survive if you do not have plurality and diversity of opinion, Rahul Khallar TRAI Chief at an ASSOCHAM conference

3. Media Monopolizing: Media barons like Rajiv Chndrasekhar of Asianet News Network are on a move to create media monopolies by acquiring controlling stake in different media powerhouses, his recent acquisition of Kannadaprabha, Mangalam underlines this fact. He now has two regional news channels, tow regional newspapers of his own and is soon to start a full time English news channel. Other examples are SUN Network, Manorama group, Eenadu TV from Ramoji group. 4. Political Parties into Media: To protect their vested interests, all major political parties are starting their own mouth pieces. This move was initiated by the CPI(M) by starting their own GEC Channel Kairali TV under the banner of Malayalam Communications, followed by their news channel and youth entertainment channel. Seeing the success of this move, all major political parties are starting their own channels. 5. Blind race for TAM/TRP Ratings: No channel is an exception to this. Rather than focusing on their primary objective to serve the society, all channels are in a blind run for TAM [Television Audience Measurement] ratings, and unlike in the past, channels now claime and advertise their high TAM ratings so as to attract more advertisements. TAM ratings are often misinterpreted as a measure of their correctness of news and ideas expressed. 6. Quality Crunch Excessive reliance on Page3 news: As an attempt to attract viewers to increase the TAM ratings, media vehicles now days are more into page3/celebrity news. This has resulted in deterioration in quality of the news, and above all much news gets unnoticed. The media owner decides what is to be shown and what not to be shown. Prominent Malayalam daily Malayala Manorama and Times of India is often criticized for this.

7. Corporate houses entering into Media: Corporate giants like Reliance have footprints in media now. Same like politicians and political parties entering into business, corporates are entering into media for protecting their interests and to gain support for their cause. The increasing tendency of monopoly of corporate houses in journalistic world is not a good sign. Along with the freedom of earning more and more money, the newspapers should realize their responsibility towards the society Justice Markandey Katju Press Council Chairman. Impact on Society The ongoing trends mentioned above have a direct bearing on the general public. They can influence the decision making of the people, and its in this context all the trends mentioned are considered to be negative. All political parties, corporate giants, are investing aggressively into media only with this intention in mind.

Conclusion: In general, this era is of media explosion. In many cases it serves as a facilitator for decision making. Even though more and more channels are coming up, the locus of control is getting narrowed in the hands of a few which is not at all advisable. Public, rather than blindly following stories and follow ups by these media conglomerates should critically analyze the news and take the appropriate decision. The viewpoints of the media persons or their heads should not influence the general public. Freedom to form ones own opinion is denied in such monopoly The above said are the words of Mr. Khullar, He drew cautionary lessons from the scenario in the U.K., where the British Parliament has seen a threat in the cross-media ownership of the Rupert Murdoch empire. News Corp. owned by Rupert Murdoch owns and operates a major part of the leading Channels in India including Asianet.

Refernces: Indian media literacy: a critical analysis of television experiences from ITV to IPTV: Ratheesh Kaliyadan. Wikipedia.org Business Today