Marathi News channel Star Majha’s new generation agriculture-based programme, ‘Saat Barachya Batyama’, has recently been bestowed the Sheti Mitra award by the Maharashtra Government.
The second season of T-10 Gully Cricket, ‘Ab Har Koi Khelega’, a cricket talent hunt-cum-tournament announced on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, is scheduled to begin from August 15 and continue till November 15. The three-month long tournament will see 896 players from 64 teams in 16 cities play against each other.
Nokia India Ltd and Out of Home Media (India) Pvt Ltd have come together to promote the latest E75 Nokia phone. As part of this promotion exercise, OOH Media screens at selected premium locations have been fabricated and converted into Nokia E75 phones.
The Board of Public Relations Organisation International (PROI) has reappointed Sharif D Rangnekar, Director & CEO, Integral PR, as Vice President for the Asia Pacific region for another one-year term. Rangnekar has been involved with the PROI at a Board level since 2006.
Pradeep Kashyap, CEO, MART, has been elected President of Rural Marketing Association of India for the year 2009-10 at the 4th AGM of the Association held in Delhi. He takes over from RV Rajan, the founder President of the Association who held the office for four years since its inception.
Mudra group on July 7, 2009 launched a new agency, christened Ignite Mudra, which will focus on the needs of entrepreneurs. Chandan Nath is the President & Head of this new agency, which is based in Ahmedabad. With the launch of Ignite Mudra, Mudra Ahmedabad ceases to exist.
Navabharat, the Hindi daily from Madhya Pradesh Paper Ltd, has further expanded its presence in Western India with the launch of its Pune edition on July 2, 2009. Priced at Rs 3, the Pune edition is the 11th edition of Navabharat in the country and the 3rd in Maharashtra, where it already present in Mumbai and Nagpur.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has given its nod to the Indian edition of British magazine ‘Spectator’ under title ‘Spectator India’. The 181-year-old magazine, owned by the publishers of The Daily Telegraph, will be launched in India by the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group.
Raghu Menon has taken charge as the new Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) from July 6, 2009. Menon, a 1974 batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre, takes charge from Tourism Secretary Jawahar Sircar, who had been holding additional charge of MIB.
GECs in Hindi speaking markets have always been the cynosure of all media watchers. Their ratings and various ways to bolster the ratings never fail to make news. However, GECs in the Southern markets have not been idle all the while. New appointments and channel revamps have been undertaken with much gusto. So are these just routine activities or there is more to what meets the eye?
Advertising was hit by recession badly. We have cut down our advertising budget from Rs 100 crore last year to Rs 50 crore. We are not compromising on our below-the-line (BTL) activities, it remains the same as last year but our above-the-line (ATL) activities have been impacted. We have spent almost Rs 1 crore in the online medium; print and outdoor there is some activity but we have completely cut down television.