Gyaan Sutra On entrepreneurship and technology

Starting yesterday, NDTV has made it’s streaming videos freely available on it’s website. They had been charging about Rs 250/month for the service. Following in the footsteps of the ex-employee’s CNN-IBN, which already provides their videos free of cost on the internet.

Even though the videos still cannot be embedded into blogs or other such media, this is a great move from NDTV. However, without allowing it’s distribution channels to spread on the internet, NDTV has put itself to a inherent disadvantage becuase CNN-IBN is already doing it. Their website has also introduced blogs, specials, forums, and hot debates etc.

Though it still seems to me that NDTV is a little scared of this new medium, and is trying to play by the old rules. Ten years ago, Prannoy Roy was the most popular face on the English News Media and it seemed he would mould NDTV to evolve as the market leader in the Enlish news segment. However, CNN-IBN has, in recent times, beaten NDTV on most fronts.

Prannoy Roy rose to fame with his program ‘The World This Week’ and his election commentries with Vinod Dua. (He is also a cousin of the booker prize winner and activist Arundhati Roy). He launched NDTV in 1988. 10 years later, he collaborated with Rupert Mudroch’s Star TV to start India’s first 24 hour news channel. IN 2003, they separated and NDTV launched it’s own channels called NDTV 24×7 (English News) and NDTV India (Hindi News). STAR retained the STAR News brand, but the channel continued in Hindi.

CNN-IBN, NDTV’s biggest competitor, was started in 2005 by Rajdeep Sardesai, who was the host of the award winning talk show ‘The Big Fight’ on NDTV 24×7. Sardesai became famous for his coverage and commentries on the Gujrat riots.

Sardesai quit NDTV to start his own company GBN (Global Broadcast News) in collaboration with America’ CNN and Raghav Bahl’s TV18 (of CNBC-TV18 and CNBC-Awaaz). Sardesai became Editor-in-chief of the channel which was then called CNN-IBN. It was launched on December 17, 2005.

Rajdeep Sardesai is the son of former test cricketer Dilip Sardesai ( the only Goa-born Indian cricket player). He had been called the ‘renaissance man of Indian cricket’ by Vijay Merchant, the chairman of Selectors in 1971 when he led India to victory by a superb performance against the then world champions West Indies. The famous performances in the series included a 150 after India was down 70/6. During his successful 1970-71 tour there, Sardesai was asked at the airport whether he had anything to declare. ‘I have come here with runs’, he replied, ‘and I’ll go back with more’.

He is now the CEO of CNN-IBN.

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