Date-wise News

Money talks, and now promotes as well: Dollar bills are the medium being used by two independent media specialty companies to reach viewers for new TV shows. New York-based Media Kitchen affixed 50,000 one-dollar bills with peel-off stickers stamped with the air date, time and channel of Traffic: the Miniseries to promote the three-part cable special for its client, USA Network. The bills went into circulation Jan. 8 at bars in New York and Los Angeles.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:52 AM

Tourism in Kerala is poised to scale new heights with tourist flows into the state this year marking a 30 per cent increase. While there was a steady growth in arrivals to the state since 2002, the increase in tourist inflows is expected to be nearly 30 per cent this year, according to the state economic review. It was more heartening that there was a boom in ‘quality tourism’ during the period, it said.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:51 AM

After WalMart, $38 billion JC Penney Company Inc, United States’ largest catalogue merchant and among the biggest departmental stores, is coming to India with a $120-130 million shopping list. Peter McGrath, in charge of product development and sourcing at JC Penney, will be in the Capital with his team to meet Indian textile majors including Arvind Mills, Vardhaman and Madura Garments, to place orders for his textile and apparel requirement.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:50 AM

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd expects to add another 10-15 lakh cellular subscribers, taking its total cellular base in the country to about 62 lakh by March 31, 2004 from the existing 48 lakh. BSNL's current fixed line subscriber base is pegged at 3.51 crore, while in the case of WLL it is about 7.35 lakh.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:50 AM

In a bid to eradicate bottlenecks such as low penetration levels and poor purchasing power of consumer electronics, the Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association (Cetma) is planning to take concrete steps and plead with the government to reduce sales tax on colour televisions (CTVs) from 17 per cent to 12 per cent in the western region.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:49 AM

Electrolux will enter the Indian air-conditioner market by the end of February. The company will introduce its range of products for all the segments. At present, the company’s share in the Indian refrigerators market stands at 14 per cent. It is only 2.5 per cent in the washing machine segment. The company has sold more than 6.84 lakh units of refrigerators and washing machines in the country in the last financial year and targets to sell more than 15 million of it products in India by 2007 end.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:48 AM

The upward swing in gold prices has affected jewellery sales in the traditional jewellery market. On the other hand, branded players such as Tanishq and Oyzterbay, which offer lightweight and gem set jewellery are seeing a spurt in sales. While retail prices of plain gold jewellery had gone up in line with the increase in gold prices, diamond and other gem set jewellery have remained around the same levels. Forty five per cent of Tanishq’s sales come from diamond and gemsets form a ‘big part’ of Oyzterbay’s collection.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:47 AM

After lending his magic touch to many brands, Amitabh Bachchan has now cast his spell on the Rs 250-crore chyawanprash category by rejuvenating the segment which has been witnessing a flat growth in recent years. According to the ORG-Marg retail audit data for the period ended November 2003, the category which was showing a negative growth till October 2003 has for the first time turned around to show positive trend: the category has recorded a growth of 3.8 per cent in November 2003, up from -18.7 per cent recorded during October 2003.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:46 AM

The popular but cash-strapped FM radio companies may not benefit from the huge advertisement budgets of various political parties during the national elections. The information and broadcasting ministry has rejected an appeal by the private FM radio stations to allow airing advertisements of political parties during the elections.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:46 AM

Ahmedabad Cable Operator Association (ACOA), which has been agitating against the increase in pay channel rates, has demanded immediate introduction of the conditional access system (CAS) in Gujarat. Cable operators of the city held a protest rally on Friday, demanding an immediate check on increase of pay channel rates and introduction of CAS in Gujarat.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:45 AM

Over the last few weeks, AdEx India, have been coming out with stories on Front Page advertising in Newspapers. On comparing the ratio of Front Page advertising to that on other positions across various languages, we found that Gujarati Newspapers come out on top.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:45 AM

Broadcasting regulator TRAI on Monday said it will issue a final consultation paper early next month and follow it up with presentations by interested parties and discussions with experts for finalising the norms for regulating cable and broadcasting services. Also, to keep up with its increased work load, the regulator has decided to hire 10 more officials, including experts in broadcasting and cable industry, and these posts are expected to be filled up soon.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:44 AM

LG Electronics has decided to change its media AoR, Initiative. The result is another pitch, and two agencies, Universal and MindShare being in contention. But the story did not quite end there. As per industry sources, following internal debates and discussions, the company decided to look for another agency to handle its media responsibilities. The decision between Universal and MindShare will be taken in a week.

exchange4media Staff Jan 27, 2004 5:43 AM