Posted:
Reruns on TV from next week
Prithwish Ganguly & Soumyadipta Banerjee
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:10 IST
Producers, workers stick to strike plan
MUMBAI: This weekend, it may be a good idea to become a couch potato and
have your fill of your favourite soaps because come Monday, they're
going to go off the air.
In the biggest crisis facing the TV industry, both the workers'
federation and producers have decided to go on a strike.
While the workers have decided to stop work till their demand for
shift-wise payments is met, the producers, left with little option, have
decided to suspend shooting.
With little or no content bank, private TV channels will be hard-pressed
to keep viewers glued to TV sets. Though most are planning re-runs of
old programmes, the National General Entertainment channels, a cluster
of about 350 national and regional channels, announced a blackout of
fresh episodes of all entertainment and infotainment programmes from
Sunday night.
For the past two days, DNA has reported how the stalemate between
producers and workers threatened to snowball into a larger crisis,
affecting viewers.
The problem has its roots in the workers' demand to be paid by the
shift instead of the current practice of monthly payments. This amounts
to a nearly 300% hike, naturally escalating production costs. Producers
tried to solve the crisis by seeking more funds from channels, but they
were turned down.
While producers say they cannot afford to shoot at such low profit
margins, channel honchos say increased production costs in the midst of
the current economic slowdown is something they cannot absorb.
"There is no way out. We will have to re-package old content and air
it. We have already made our stand clear to the producers that we cannot
afford to pay them more. They must understand the crisis we are staring
at during this recessionary phase," said Tarun Mehra, COO of ZEE
network.
Seconding Mehra is Albert Almeida, executive vice-president of Sony
Entertainment Television. "From Monday onwards, we will only air
repeat shows as we don't have any fresh content. Repeat shows will
have huge negative impact on our viewership and advertisement revenues.
We hope this deadlock is resolved soon. At the same time, we cannot give
in to the illogical terms and conditions of the producers'
bodies," he said.
A Star spokesperson too said they would start telecasting old shows from
next week. "We are experimenting with recaps, omnibus episodes,
story so far etc. We are also planning to put repeats of some of our
weekend shows on weekdays," he said.
The impasse between the workers and the producers has been going on from
the first week of October. The situation was defused after producers
agreed to pay hikes. But that never happened.
"A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed three years back
with the producers. But after the agreement ended, the wages have not
revised. We have signed another MoU, but the payment agreed upon was
never implemented. The producers say the channels have not given them
the budget to pay our dues, but it's their fault. They did not take
into account our new wages while signing contracts with the
channels," said Dharmesh Tiwari, president of Federation of Western
India Cine Employees (FWICE), an umbrella body of 22 unions and 1.5 lakh
members.
Channels not ready to relent
Team After Hours
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:25 IST
The channels are in no mood to give in to the producers' demands of
a higher price for their productions. As Friday bore no positive results
for them, they are going ahead with their stand to air old episodes, a
move which will see their ratings and advertisement revenue nosedive.
Though big players like Sony, Colors, Star and Zee may survive the jolt,
but, the small channels fear that they might have to reduce programming
time and in worst case scenario, go for a blackout during the late night
slots.
Sources in different channels are of the opinion that some channels
might even fill up the void by running advertorial programmes or by
airing music videos just to retain 24-hour programming.
Says Anooj Kapoor, business head of SAB TV, "We have to tide over
this crisis by innovating and re-packaging our old programmes. We have
old content to last for two weeks at least. We hope by that time the
crisis would get over."
Albert Almeida, EVP of Sony Entertainment Television, echoed his views.
Now, the channels are just keeping their fingers crossed."This is an
unprecedented situation, we only hope that all the concerned people come
to their senses and stop holding the TV industry to ransom," said a
spokesperson from Star TV India.
Producers stop shooting
Team After Hours
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:24 IST
More than 50% of the TV producers have already stopped shooting because
they can't afford wages demanded by the workers' union.The rest
of the producers have also decided to stall shooting of serials, reality
shows and other programmes starting from Saturday morning.
In a late-evening development, theproducers decided to go on a strike
from Saturday morning. All the producers have been told by their
governing body that Friday would be the last day of work for them.
"Not a single TV producer is going to shoot from Saturday. It was a
unanimous decision taken at the meeting and all the producer-members
supported it when it was mooted by our governing body. The producers who
were still shooting decided to stop work till further notice," said
Tony Singh, who has five high-rated soaps running on different TV
channels.
The producer's bodies say that they did not have any option as they
were caught between the devil and the deep sea.
"I guess there were no options left but to stop work. Anyways, half
of the producers were not shooting and the other half joined ranks as a
show of solidarity," said Ratan Jain, president of AMPTPP
(Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producer of
India).
Fans getting ready to live life without soap operas
DNA Correspondent
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:33 IST
Hindi soaps may soon run out of lather. The ongoing fight between the TV
producers and the workers federation appears to be headed towards a
stalemate. If no agreement can be reached, TV soaps will be pulled from
air starting from November 10, and fans may soon have to search for
alternative ways to keep themselves busy.
Housewives and dedicated serial watchers are going to be hard hit. Rekha
Dave, 45, a housewife, agrees: "I love watching serials and they
help me relax and get entertained at the same time." Her favourite
serials are the child marriage-based Ballika Vadhu, Humari Devrani, and
the hospital romance Dil Mil Gaye. For her, serials are a way to add
some spice to her daily routine.
Heena Khan, 22, a writer, grew up watching soaps with her family, a
routine she continues to this day. A fan of Ballika Vadhu, Baa, Bahu and
Baby and Jasuben Jyantilal Joshi ki Joint Family, she reveals, "As a
child, I would watch these serials after I came home from school or
playing with friends. They were, and are, good timepass."
Priyanka Shetty, 23, a PR consultant, claims she is a serious addict of
Bigg Boss and Ballika Vadhu, and her favourite serials are the older
ones like Dekh Bhai Dekh, Yeh Jo Hain Zindagi, Vagle Ki Duniya.
In the case of her colleague Janhavi Bellare, 21, she is forced to watch
soaps as her mother and grandmother are fans.
She rues: "I have no option if I want to watch TV, it has to be
soaps." There is however, one programme she faithfully watches
because of its lead hero. "I absolutely love Armaan from the show
Dill Mil Gaye," she gushes.
If the soaps go off air, dedicated watchers will soon find themselves
with a lot of time on their hands.
What will they do with their time? Priyanka is quick to add, "I do
have a life beyond serials. The break will help others realise that too.
Listening to music, taking up a hobby, or just chatting with friends is
what I usually do in my free time. Only now, I will get more time to
dedicate to it."
Off the air, or on it, either way, most Mumbaikars will look at this as
an opportunity to rid themselves of their addiction to television and
the world it lives in. It may also mean more time spent with the family.
Prithwish Ganguly & Soumyadipta Banerjee
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:10 IST
Producers, workers stick to strike plan
MUMBAI: This weekend, it may be a good idea to become a couch potato and
have your fill of your favourite soaps because come Monday, they're
going to go off the air.
In the biggest crisis facing the TV industry, both the workers'
federation and producers have decided to go on a strike.
While the workers have decided to stop work till their demand for
shift-wise payments is met, the producers, left with little option, have
decided to suspend shooting.
With little or no content bank, private TV channels will be hard-pressed
to keep viewers glued to TV sets. Though most are planning re-runs of
old programmes, the National General Entertainment channels, a cluster
of about 350 national and regional channels, announced a blackout of
fresh episodes of all entertainment and infotainment programmes from
Sunday night.
For the past two days, DNA has reported how the stalemate between
producers and workers threatened to snowball into a larger crisis,
affecting viewers.
The problem has its roots in the workers' demand to be paid by the
shift instead of the current practice of monthly payments. This amounts
to a nearly 300% hike, naturally escalating production costs. Producers
tried to solve the crisis by seeking more funds from channels, but they
were turned down.
While producers say they cannot afford to shoot at such low profit
margins, channel honchos say increased production costs in the midst of
the current economic slowdown is something they cannot absorb.
"There is no way out. We will have to re-package old content and air
it. We have already made our stand clear to the producers that we cannot
afford to pay them more. They must understand the crisis we are staring
at during this recessionary phase," said Tarun Mehra, COO of ZEE
network.
Seconding Mehra is Albert Almeida, executive vice-president of Sony
Entertainment Television. "From Monday onwards, we will only air
repeat shows as we don't have any fresh content. Repeat shows will
have huge negative impact on our viewership and advertisement revenues.
We hope this deadlock is resolved soon. At the same time, we cannot give
in to the illogical terms and conditions of the producers'
bodies," he said.
A Star spokesperson too said they would start telecasting old shows from
next week. "We are experimenting with recaps, omnibus episodes,
story so far etc. We are also planning to put repeats of some of our
weekend shows on weekdays," he said.
The impasse between the workers and the producers has been going on from
the first week of October. The situation was defused after producers
agreed to pay hikes. But that never happened.
"A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed three years back
with the producers. But after the agreement ended, the wages have not
revised. We have signed another MoU, but the payment agreed upon was
never implemented. The producers say the channels have not given them
the budget to pay our dues, but it's their fault. They did not take
into account our new wages while signing contracts with the
channels," said Dharmesh Tiwari, president of Federation of Western
India Cine Employees (FWICE), an umbrella body of 22 unions and 1.5 lakh
members.
Channels not ready to relent
Team After Hours
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:25 IST
The channels are in no mood to give in to the producers' demands of
a higher price for their productions. As Friday bore no positive results
for them, they are going ahead with their stand to air old episodes, a
move which will see their ratings and advertisement revenue nosedive.
Though big players like Sony, Colors, Star and Zee may survive the jolt,
but, the small channels fear that they might have to reduce programming
time and in worst case scenario, go for a blackout during the late night
slots.
Sources in different channels are of the opinion that some channels
might even fill up the void by running advertorial programmes or by
airing music videos just to retain 24-hour programming.
Says Anooj Kapoor, business head of SAB TV, "We have to tide over
this crisis by innovating and re-packaging our old programmes. We have
old content to last for two weeks at least. We hope by that time the
crisis would get over."
Albert Almeida, EVP of Sony Entertainment Television, echoed his views.
Now, the channels are just keeping their fingers crossed."This is an
unprecedented situation, we only hope that all the concerned people come
to their senses and stop holding the TV industry to ransom," said a
spokesperson from Star TV India.
Producers stop shooting
Team After Hours
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:24 IST
More than 50% of the TV producers have already stopped shooting because
they can't afford wages demanded by the workers' union.The rest
of the producers have also decided to stall shooting of serials, reality
shows and other programmes starting from Saturday morning.
In a late-evening development, theproducers decided to go on a strike
from Saturday morning. All the producers have been told by their
governing body that Friday would be the last day of work for them.
"Not a single TV producer is going to shoot from Saturday. It was a
unanimous decision taken at the meeting and all the producer-members
supported it when it was mooted by our governing body. The producers who
were still shooting decided to stop work till further notice," said
Tony Singh, who has five high-rated soaps running on different TV
channels.
The producer's bodies say that they did not have any option as they
were caught between the devil and the deep sea.
"I guess there were no options left but to stop work. Anyways, half
of the producers were not shooting and the other half joined ranks as a
show of solidarity," said Ratan Jain, president of AMPTPP
(Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producer of
India).
Fans getting ready to live life without soap operas
DNA Correspondent
Saturday, November 08, 2008 03:33 IST
Hindi soaps may soon run out of lather. The ongoing fight between the TV
producers and the workers federation appears to be headed towards a
stalemate. If no agreement can be reached, TV soaps will be pulled from
air starting from November 10, and fans may soon have to search for
alternative ways to keep themselves busy.
Housewives and dedicated serial watchers are going to be hard hit. Rekha
Dave, 45, a housewife, agrees: "I love watching serials and they
help me relax and get entertained at the same time." Her favourite
serials are the child marriage-based Ballika Vadhu, Humari Devrani, and
the hospital romance Dil Mil Gaye. For her, serials are a way to add
some spice to her daily routine.
Heena Khan, 22, a writer, grew up watching soaps with her family, a
routine she continues to this day. A fan of Ballika Vadhu, Baa, Bahu and
Baby and Jasuben Jyantilal Joshi ki Joint Family, she reveals, "As a
child, I would watch these serials after I came home from school or
playing with friends. They were, and are, good timepass."
Priyanka Shetty, 23, a PR consultant, claims she is a serious addict of
Bigg Boss and Ballika Vadhu, and her favourite serials are the older
ones like Dekh Bhai Dekh, Yeh Jo Hain Zindagi, Vagle Ki Duniya.
In the case of her colleague Janhavi Bellare, 21, she is forced to watch
soaps as her mother and grandmother are fans.
She rues: "I have no option if I want to watch TV, it has to be
soaps." There is however, one programme she faithfully watches
because of its lead hero. "I absolutely love Armaan from the show
Dill Mil Gaye," she gushes.
If the soaps go off air, dedicated watchers will soon find themselves
with a lot of time on their hands.
What will they do with their time? Priyanka is quick to add, "I do
have a life beyond serials. The break will help others realise that too.
Listening to music, taking up a hobby, or just chatting with friends is
what I usually do in my free time. Only now, I will get more time to
dedicate to it."
Off the air, or on it, either way, most Mumbaikars will look at this as
an opportunity to rid themselves of their addiction to television and
the world it lives in. It may also mean more time spent with the family.
CID
