Monday, January 5, 2009

Sastry resigns from Sakshi TV

Mr. Sastry, Chief of Sakshi TV has resigned this evening. Though it looks like a sudden development, insiders say that the trouble has been brewing up for more than a month. There are too many Heads in the channel and everybody was trying to dethrone the other and gain an upperhand. Disgusted with such developments, Ms. Geetha left the organisation. There are also allegations against some Heads that there was misappropriation of funds in procurement of machinery. Though Mr. Sastry cannot be directly linked to the scam, he is said to be responsible for bringing in a certain group and giving postings of their choice at the cost of others and this led to dissatisfaction among the staff, particularly the district staff reporters. Mr. Nemani Bhaskar, who quit NTV and joined Sakshi TV was given more powers and this is also said to be one of the reasons for Sastry's decision to quit. Observers say that Mr. Jagan could successfully keep the newspaper in the safe hands of Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy but the choice for the channel, Mr. Sai Reddy is a wrong one. There were internal sqabbles from day one but all of them started coming up even before the launch of the channel. News is also that the other Head Mr. Srinivasa Reddy has also resigned. One version says that Mr. Srinivasa Reddy resigned on the day when he was sent to the construction site and Mr. Sastry put in his papers when he was asked to restrict himself to the city bureau. Both the resignations are accepted today.

On the other hand, Mr. Murthy, Mr. Ramachandra Rao and Mr. Ramakrishna have met Mr. Chowdary today to express their dissatisfaction on knowing that Mr. Satish Babu is likely to heat NTV. There are rumours that the trio is joining Sakshi TV. However, there is no confirmation. The dissatisfaction of these three is due to the management's decision to induct Mr. Satish Babu into NTV as its head. Mr. Satish Babu, though is in a comfortable position in Asianet, wants to move to a channel already on air since he doesnt want to sit idle during the hectic election time. At one stage, Mr. Siva Prasad's ( Earlier in NTV as Output Editor and now Executive Editor in Andhra Jyothi's proposed channel ) name was also considered by the management but somehow it didnt work out. Some people say that Mr. Siva Prasad's condition was that the three ( Murthy, Ramachandra and Ramakrishna ) be removed and now that they are likely to quit, he may come back again.

Interestingly, Mr. Nemani Bhaskar who recently left NTV to join Sakshi has started calling all the district reporters over phone to mobilise solidarity for his leadership on one hand and to identify Mr. Sastry's men on the other. The situation is yet to ripen and the journalists are eagerly waiting to know all the minute details. If he is really serious about Mr. Sastry, he may lead a movement for Sastry but the chances are remote.
At the end, staff at sakshi started thinking that the management of SakshiTV is not interested in bringing out the channel and as such started sending people out !!!!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

HMTV Vs iNews

Two news channels have been launched on the same day, the New Year day. Its time we compare both of them before comparing with the other news channels.
 
HMTV started its operations in 2007 and hence it took more than one year to bring out its channel. After spending more than 4 crores on unproductive work so far, the management seemed to have decded to pressurise the staff to being out the channel at any cost even though the staff is not confident. But such hard work is not seen on the screen. May be too many peoples' ambition to be seen on the screen led to this situation. Graphics are very poor, leave alone the fonts and the updation. There is a terrible failure on the  inputs front and hence most of the news items are National and International - proving that dependency on the Reuters is more than its own bureau. Coordination among the reporters and the studio is missing. Live is confined to Hyderabad and it is learnt that there are certian issues relating to licensing for using their live vans (DSNGs ). As a viewer, we can see the old age people wearing blazers and trying to look younger. But their thinking is not modern and we can see usage of words like Sikhara Vaarta for Headline News. The average age of staff is more than any other channel in AP. The discussions are very poor. People are more interested in wearing blazers rather than preparing well for the discussions. Those who cannot utter words audibly are also trying to appear on screen at the cost of the management's money. Let us see how far people receive such people's on screen presence.
 
iNews is in fact a surprise as many were thinking that it might take some more time. Inside information is that only on knowing that hmtv is going for a test run on 1st at 5.17 ( comrade Ramachandramurthy boasts himself of being an ahthiest !!! ), iNews suddenly decided to advance its date from 5th. By evening, everybody started comparing both the channels. While the graphics are impressive, the colours are cool. Some of the promos are interesting and the news bulletins are yet to be aired. Many senior journalists who observed both the channels started rating them and iNews is leading. The sample yearenders and the entertainment programmes showed how perfectly the planning was. The script is also tight and the visual editing is also very apt. Even though it is too early to make comments, the first impression is that iNews is being run on a professional way. The professionalism of the young team is clearly visible in their promos. By the way, the average age of the staff in iNews is considered the lowest in the state, less than 30. Old may be gold but young is platinum.