By Pradyuman Maheshwari

Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t write about an event until we were physically present at an event. But, in India, sadly media entities in the same space are normally not invited by peers (rivals), and so MxMIndia wasn’t present at the annual News Television awards of Anil Wanvari’s IndianTelevision.com. Sad, because we would’ve loved to report on the event. Okay, we would’ve have networked with people, exchanged cards and consumed some alcohol and food, but, heck, by not getting due coverage, the very industry you are trying to promote loses out.

Regardless of this and since I was associated with one edition of the awards, here’s a quick, politicially incorrect report – Mediaah-ishtyle:

Network 18 channels (and website ibnlive.com) bagged maximum honours at the annual News Television (NT) awards presented by IndianTelevision.com in New Delhi on Wednesday.

MCCS channels bagged 24, TV 9 with 15 and NDTV and TV Today with 12 metals awards each. CNN-IBN (and its website ibnlive.com) bagged 17 awards followed by IBN Lokmat in Marathi and TV 9 in Telugu with 14 awards each. MCCS channels Star News and Star Majha (Marathi) bagged 12 awards each.

Some trivia: in general English channels, Headlines Today bagged 7 awards while NDTV 24×7 had 5. Also, ET Now with 5 and Bloomberg UTV with 3 was ahead of CNBC TV18 with 2 in the final tally. CNBC Awaaz was the only Hindi business channel in the awards list with 4 awards. Times Now does not figure in the list of awardees, though ET Now from the stable does.

Note: Since MxMIndia was not invited to the event, this is based on the Indian Television report at link

Full list of winners can be accessed at link.

Important: while reading the tally and list of winners, it is vital to note the number of entries sent by each channel as well as who participated and who didn’t.  Reason: the more you participate, the more you are likely to win. And, an obvious observation, but must be underscored, if you don’t participate, you don’t win.

It’s good to see Star News bag a good number of awards… they’ve been consistent at their work and also playing second-fiddle to Aaj Tak in mass and NDTV India in class. Though I don’t find anyone more mass than Deepak Chaurasia and class as some of the other anchors whose names I forget.

Anant Rangaswami on afaqs

It was nice to read Anant Rangaswami on afaqs.com. He’s a great writer, and having been in the business for a few decades, is on backslapping terms with a host of folks. More importantly, he has a good understanding of advertising and media issues.

The footnote in the afaqs article says he’s a consultant at firstpost.com, but the site notes he’s senior editor, but those aren’t significant issues. I think firstpost.com is picking up well, and I’m beginning to enjoy some of its commentary, even though I don’t agree with some of it.

I had stopped reading Campaign India after Anant quit, but his successor (seasoned theatreperson and Printweek editor) Ramu Ramnathan is a great guy and has managed to set it back on sail. It’s credible, looks good and is still popular… guess that’s what matters.

But lemme not digress any further and get back to Monsieur Rangaswami’s afaqs piece. I was quite surprised to see him believe that regulating ad duration on television is good. Agreed what we have on some of the channels is obnoxious, but that’s because all of them are doing the same. The moment a few channels change their standards, I am sure the rest will follow.

In fact Anant’s very argument that digitization should reduce the pressure on revenues from advertising is what should make things exciting. If the government really want to reap the benefits of a free-for-all, it must watch the fun post digitization. I understand TAM is also getting digitization-ready and the master strategists amongst all broadcasters will be put to test to figure what their revenue policies must be in the wake of viewership data coming in from addressable set-top boxes.

Let the free market prevail, my friend!

The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of MxMIndia.com and the team working with it.