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116-492: Network18 Group , is an Indian media conglomerate , based in Mumbai . It is owned by Reliance Industries . Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief of Network18 Group, and Adil Zainulbhai is the chairman of its board of directors. Network18 Group is the holding company of , Web18 , Network18 Publishing and Capital18. Through its subsidiaries and franchise licensing agreements,
232-423: A poison pill (or forced-exchange or conversion features) that is exercised upon a change in control. Some corporations contain provisions in their charters authorizing the issuance of preferred stock whose terms and conditions may be determined by the board of directors when issued. These "blank checks" are often used as a takeover defence; they may be assigned very high liquidation value (which must be redeemed in
348-486: A bond has greater security than the preferred and has a maturity date at which the principal is to be repaid. Like the common, the preferred has less security protection than the bond. However, the potential increase in the market price of the common (and its dividends, paid from future growth of the company) is lacking for the preferred. One advantage of the preferred to its issuer is that the preferred receives better equity credit at rating agencies than straight debt (since it
464-416: A company can defer dividends by going into arrears with a little penalty or risk to its credit rating, however, such action could hurt the company meeting the terms of its financing contract. With traditional debt, payments are required; a missed payment would put the company in default. Occasionally, companies use preferred shares as a means of preventing hostile takeovers , creating preferred shares with
580-575: A conclusion in November 2006. TEIL became a subsidiary of SGA Finance, the promoters gained a majority stake in TEIL, CNBC Awaaz was transferred to TEIL and shareholders of TEIL were accommodated with a stake in SGA Finance. On 20 October 2006, SGA Finance was converted into a public limited company and re-incorporated as Network18 Fincap Limited. During the restructuring process, TEIL had also founded
696-417: A current yield of just over six percent. If, in a few years, 10-year Treasuries were to yield more than 13 percent to maturity (as they did in 1981) these preferreds would yield at least 13 percent; since the rate of dividend is fixed, this would reduce their market price to $ 46, a 54-percent loss. The difference between straight preferreds and Treasuries (or any investment-grade Federal-agency or corporate bond)
812-455: A dividend is not paid in time, it has "passed"; all passed dividends on a cumulative stock make up a dividend in arrears . A stock without this feature is known as a noncumulative, or straight , preferred stock; any dividends passed are lost if not declared. The above list (which includes several customary rights) is not comprehensive; preferred shares (like other legal arrangements) may specify nearly any right conceivable. Preferred shares in
928-495: A drain on the network's finances for years had finished its long germination period and had entered into a period of exponential growth. However, on 16 August 2013, the company carried out an unexpected large scale wage reduction and staff lay-offs which came to be known as "Black Friday" among the employees. In the news branches, the lay-offs included around 300 producers, journalists and other staff, who were fired in no recognisable pattern in terms of salary, seniority or branch. There
1044-512: A journalist who had filed the RTI request had raised questions seeking answers to why the spending was made on television advertisements and not on relief efforts in midst of the pandemic but the Uttar Pradesh government's additional chief secretary of information refused to respond to queries on advertisement spending. Ritu Kapur was the first director of the company after the resignation of
1160-446: A liquidation preference. The preferred shares are typically converted to common shares with the completion of an initial public offering or acquisition. An additional advantage of issuing preferred shares to investors but common shares to employees is the ability to retain a lower 409(a) valuation for common shares and thus a lower strike price for incentive stock options . This allows employees to receive more gains on their stock. In
1276-502: A mass media joint venture between TV18 Broadcast and Paramount Global with 51% and 49% stake respectively. It is parent company of 46 mass media channels in 8 languages which include the franchises of Colors, MTV , Nickelodeon , VH1 and Comedy Central . The Colors network is an umbrella of a number of general entertainment channels in various Indian languages, and includes two Hindi language mass entertainment channels Colors TV and Colors Rishtey . The ETV entertainment channels and
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#17327877043611392-634: A maximum rate of 15% rather than at ordinary-income rates (as with bond interest). Preferred shares represent a significant portion of Canadian capital markets, with over C$ 11.2 billion in new preferred shares issued in 2016. Many Canadian issuers are financial organizations that may count capital raised in the preferred-share market as Tier 1 capital (provided that the shares issued are perpetual). Another class of issuer includes split share corporations . Investors in Canadian preferred shares are generally those who wish to hold fixed-income investments in
1508-453: A possible financial collapse and loss of control for its managing director Raghav Bahl. The group had accumulated an outstanding debt of over ₹ 1,400 crore (equivalent to ₹ 17 billion or US$ 210 million in 2023) by September 2011. Employees were convinced that the company had expanded too aggressively and the market could not support it. In search of assistance in the form of external financing, Bahl decided to begin talks with
1624-593: A press statement that it had gained complete control of the company, R. D. S. Bawa (CFO) and Ritu Kapur (co-promoter and one of the directors) resigned on the same day. The legal general counsel to the company, Kshipra Jatana resigned from her position but stayed on to oversee the transfer of ownership. She was appointed as the manager of the company for the interim period since Bahl had resigned as well. Bahl and Kapur received ₹ 706.96 crore (equivalent to ₹ 879 crore or US$ 110 million in 2023) for RIL to acquire their remaining shares. The net valuation of
1740-428: A senior claim. Individual series of preferred shares may have a senior, pari-passu (equal), or junior relationship with other series issued by the same corporation. Preferred shares are more common in private or pre-public companies, where it is useful to distinguish between the control of and the economic interest in the company. Government regulations and the rules of stock exchanges may either encourage or discourage
1856-514: A subsidiary called Global Broadcast News (GBN). GBN had entered into a franchising partnership with CNN Worldwide to launch the English general news channel CNN IBN in December 2005. Bahl was able to convince several senior professionals working at the leading news broadcaster NDTV including their editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai and the chief financial officer (CFO) Sameer Manchanda to join
1972-648: A sum of ₹ 2,100 crore (equivalent to ₹ 26 billion or US$ 310 million in 2023) without which the net sum would have been for a much smaller amount. The purchase also included two regional broadcasters; Panorama and Prism. The acquisition included most of the television broadcasting properties of the Ramoji Group . The group retained the rights to ETV brand, while Network18 acquired 100% shareholding of 5 general news channels, 50% shareholding of 5 general entertainment channels and 24.5% shareholding in 2 other channels. The entertainment channels were held by
2088-501: A taxable portfolio. Preferential tax treatment of dividend income (as opposed to interest income) may, in many cases, result in a greater after-tax return than might be achieved with bonds . Preferred shares are often used by private corporations to achieve Canadian tax objectives. For instance, the use of preferred shares can allow a business to accomplish an estate freeze . By transferring common shares in exchange for fixed-value preferred shares, business owners can allow future gains in
2204-471: A top ordinary interest marginal tax rate of 40.8%), $ 1 of dividend income taxed at this rate provides the same after-tax income as approximately $ 1.30 in interest income . The size of the preferred stock market in the United States has been estimated as $ 100 billion (as of early 2008 ), compared to $ 9.5 trillion for equities and US$ 4.0 trillion for bonds. The amount of new issuance in
2320-425: Is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock , including properties of both an equity and a debt instrument, and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferred stocks are senior (i.e., higher ranking) to common stock but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim (or rights to their share of the assets of the company, given that such assets are payable to
2436-594: Is a division of Viacom18 that operates the advertisement based OTT platform called Voot and two subscription based OTT platforms, namely the premium edition Voot Select and the children's edition Voot Kids. The joint venture also owns the production studio called Viacom18 Studios which has produced critically acclaimed films such as the Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), Kahaani (2012) and Queen (2013). The studio has an additional digital production division called Tipping Point which produces content for Voot and JioCinema ,
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#17327877043612552-456: Is also owned by Network18. The YouTube channel, CRUX News , is a Network18 product. Moneycontrol suffered a data breach in April 2021, exposing the data of more than 763,000 users, including 63,000 email addresses, geographic locations, phone numbers, genders, dates of birth and plain text passwords. The venture investment division of the company is called Capital18. Its investments include
2668-492: Is convertible into common stock, but its conversion requires approval by a majority vote at the stockholders' meeting. If the vote passes, German law requires consensus with preferred stockholders to convert their stock (which is usually encouraged by offering a one-time premium to preferred stockholders). The firm's intention to do so may arise from its financial policy (i.e. its ranking in a specific index). Industry stock indices usually do not consider preferred stock in determining
2784-641: Is less diversity in news and entertainment and therefore less competition. This can result in the reduction of different points of view as well as vocalization about different issues. There is also a lack of ethnic and gender diversity as a majority of those in media are white, middle-class men. There is a concern that their views are being shared disproportionately more than other groups, such as women and ethnic minorities. Women and minorities also have less ownership of media. Women have less than 7 percent of TV and radio licenses, and minorities have around 7 percent of radio licenses and 3 percent of TV licenses. In
2900-430: Is that the bonds would move up to par as their maturity date approaches; however, the straight preferred (having no maturity date) might remain at these $ 40 levels (or lower) for a long time. Advantages of straight preferreds may include higher yields and—in the U.S. at least—tax advantages; they yield about 2 percent more than 10-year Treasuries, rank ahead of common stock in case of bankruptcy and dividends are taxable at
3016-405: Is the publishing of the group and publishes a number of business directories , and Direct-to-consumer and Business marketing magazines. The division publishes magazines such as Better Interiors and Better Photography and the magazines of Overdrive and Forbes India as part of a licensing agreement with OverDrive, Inc. and Forbes respectively . The digital media division of
3132-411: Is usually perpetual). Also, certain types of preferred stock qualify as Tier 1 capital; this allows financial institutions to satisfy regulatory requirements without diluting common shareholders. Through preferred stock, financial institutions are able to gain leverage while receiving Tier 1 equity credit. If an investor paid par ($ 100) today for a typical straight preferred, such an investment would give
3248-551: The Government of Uttar Pradesh showed that the government's spending on television advertisements was at ₹ 160.31 crore (equivalent to ₹ 180 crore or US$ 22 million in 2023) between April 2020 and May 2021 with Network18 as its biggest beneficiary. Promotion of the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign constituted a major portion of the spending and was made in the initial part of the year. Umashankar Dube,
3364-664: The Indian edition of the Forbes business magazine, while IBN18 Broadcast entered into a joint venture with the Marathi language newspaper Lokmat to launch the Marathi news channel IBN Lokmat , and began a joint venture with Viacom to initiate the group's foray in mass media and general entertainment channels under Viacom18 . Network18 registered losses in the financial years 2008–2009 and 2009–2010. Its investments had outstripped
3480-718: The Internet . The weekly magazine The Nation commented, "Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets around the world." A conglomerate is a large company composed of a number of companies ( subsidiaries ) engaged in generally unrelated businesses. Some media conglomerates use their access in multiple areas to share various kinds of content such as: news, video and music, between users. The media sector's tendency to consolidate has caused formerly diversified companies to appear less diverse to prospective investors in comparison with similar companies that are traded publicly and privately. Therefore,
3596-573: The Krishna Godavari Basin which received national media attention and was reported on by Network18 as well. RIL denied the allegation and reacted by threatening to file a lawsuit against Kejriwal but without any effect. Following which, the energy giant reportedly attempted to pressurise Network18 into censoring any and all coverage of IAC and Kejriwal including in March 2014, in a direct communication between Ambani and Rajdeep Sardesai,
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3712-814: The 2024 Forbes Global 2000 list, Comcast is the world's largest media conglomerate, in terms of revenue, with The Walt Disney Company , Warner Bros. Discovery , & Paramount Global completing the top four. In 1984, fifty independent media companies owned the majority of media interests within the United States. By 2011, 90% of the United States's media was controlled by six media conglomerates: GE/Comcast (NBC, Universal), News Corp (Fox News, Wall Street Journal , New York Post ), Disney (ABC, ESPN, Pixar), Viacom (MTV, BET, Paramount Pictures), Time Warner (CNN, HBO, Warner Bros.), and CBS (Showtime, NFL.com). Between 1941 and 1975, several laws that restricted channel ownership within radio and television were enacted in order to maintain unbiased and diverse media. However under
3828-611: The CEO of Network18, and resigned before the takeover of the company by Reliance. One of the directors at Reliance Industries and the Prime Minister of India 's appointment to the Quality Council of India , Adil Zainulbhai became the chairman of the board of directors of the company following the takeover. Kshipra Jatana was the general counsel at the group and had resigned during the takeover. She remained associated with
3944-487: The Jindals and was followed by Raghav Bahl , who was the managing director of the company between 2003 and 2014. Haresh Chawla is considered to be the founding CEO of the company. He was appointed as the CEO of TV18 in 1999, having formerly worked at Times Music and Amitabh Bachchan Corporation . Chawla became the first CEO of Network18 after it was acquired and converted into the holding company of TV18. He resigned from
4060-559: The MD and CEO of Viacom18, Shudhanshu Vats resigned and Joshi took over his position as an additional charge. The talks with Sony came to a finalised decision for a merger between Viacom18 and Sony Pictures Networks India in July. The merger was scheduled to be completed by the end of August, Sony would obtain 74% stake leaving Viacom18 with 26% stake in the merged entity; Network18 and ViacomCBS would have around 13% in it respectively. The plans for
4176-511: The OTT platform of Jio . Among other divisions of Viacom18 are Integrated Network Solutions (INS) which develops Intellectual property and Viacom18 Consumer Products which manages the licensing business of the venture. AETN18 Media is a joint venture between TV18 Broadcast and A&E Networks , the owner of the History franchise. TV18 and A&E Networks respectively have 51% and 49% stake in
4292-590: The OTT platforms of Voot , the production house Viacom18 Studios , the television networks of Colors TV , Nickelodeon , Comedy Central , VH1 , MTV and the channel History TV18 . Incorporated in 1996 by Geeta and Rakesh Gupta, the company was acquired by Ritu Kapur and Raghav Bahl to be converted into a conglomerate holding company between 2003 and 2006. It oversaw one of the largest collections of media properties in India following its conversion but became encumbered with debt due to aggressive expansions. In 2012,
4408-648: The Reagan administration, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission , then led by FCC Chairman Mark S. Fowler , began a concerted deregulation over the years 1981 and 1985. The number of television stations a single entity can own increased from seven to 12 stations. The industry continued to deregulate with enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 . Signed by President Bill Clinton on 8 February 1996, it
4524-400: The U.S. normally carry a call provision, enabling the issuing corporation to repurchase the share at its (usually limited) discretion. In addition to straight preferred stock, there is diversity in the preferred stock market. Additional types of preferred stock include: Preferred stocks offer a company an alternative form of financing—for example through pension-led funding ; in some cases,
4640-418: The United States there are two types of preferred stocks: straight preferreds and convertible preferreds. Straight preferreds are issued in perpetuity (although some are subject to call by the issuer, under certain conditions) and pay a stipulated dividend rate to the holder. Convertible preferreds—in addition to the foregoing features of a straight preferred—contain a provision by which the holder may convert
4756-401: The United States, the issuance of publicly listed preferred stock is generally limited to financial institutions, REITs and public utilities. Because in the U.S. dividends on preferred stock are not tax-deductible at the corporate level (in contrast to interest expense), the effective cost of capital raised by preferred stock is significantly greater than issuing the equivalent amount of debt at
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4872-404: The United States. See Dividends received deduction . But for individuals , a straight preferred stock, a hybrid between a bond and a stock, bears some disadvantages of each type of securities without enjoying the advantages of either. Like a bond, a straight preferred does not participate in future earnings and dividend growth of the company, or growth in the price of the common stock. However,
4988-462: The acquisition of the entertainment assets of the company, among others. On 28 November, Bloomberg broke the news that Ambani was also in talks with The Times Group to potentially sell off the entire media conglomerate as it was suffering from losses. In response to the report, RIL released a statement describing it as "false and malicious". The Times Group denied it but with an addendum that "[they] will explore all strategic options as they present". In
5104-470: The billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch and The Times Group owned by the Sahu Jain family . The broadband subsidiary of RIL, Infotel signed a memorandum of understanding with the group and gained preferential access to its content. In the form of a passive investor, RIL had indirect control over the company, and authority over its financial decisions. The executives retained operational control of
5220-405: The board. While retaining the position of independent director at RIL and Larsen & Toubro , and being the newly elected Narendra Modi government's appointment to the position of chairman of Quality Council of India (QCI), Zainulbhai was appointed by RIL to the position of chairman of the board. Commentators raised concerns that the editorial integrity of the network may not be preserved under
5336-458: The brand of News18, including the news channels which were acquired by the group from the ETV Network in 2012–2014. The general news channel CNN-News18 (English) is currently operated by Network18 which has a brand and content licensing agreement with CNN Worldwide . Also operates the business news channels of CNBC TV18 (English), CNBC Awaaz (Hindi) and CNBC Bajar (Gujarati) for which
5452-419: The broadband subsidiary of RIL had been reincorporated as Reliance Jio Infocomm and was in the process of launching its data transfer business. It was suggested that the synergy would alleviate stresses posed by unstable market conditions in the news broadcast industry, while Jio would provide exclusive content from Network18 productions to increase traffic towards itself and expand its customer base. The synergy
5568-681: The business news channels along with the information websites Moneycontrol and News Wire . Network18 was converted into a public limited company in 2006, and listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2007. Global Broadcast News (GBN), the subsidiary operating CNN IBN became a publicly traded company in January 2007 and its IPO generated a successful response, similar to that of Television Eighteen India Limited (TEIL). GBN
5684-603: The cable distribution companies DEN Networks and Hathway as two Subsidiary subsidiaries, RIL held the two companies through an earlier acquisition in October 2018. The merger would have converted the Network18 into an integrated media and distribution company. The shareholding of the RIL in Network18 was projected to be reduced to 64% from 75% upon conclusion of the transactions in the merger operations. According to some analysts,
5800-455: The channels of Prism which were acquired by the group are rebranded as channels under the Colors franchise. The Indian editions of VH1 , MTV and Comedy Central , and the children's channels of Nickelodeon (Indian edition), Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon Sonic are managed by Viacom18. The franchise of Coke Studio is owned and operated by the company through MTV . Viacom18 Digital Ventures
5916-466: The company by RIL, the largest conglomerate in India with deep interests in the Energy industry , was considered to be a part of a trend of growing commodification of information, detrimental to the treatment of journalism as a public service . It increased the concentration of cross media ownership in the hands of a small group of large corporate actors in a market that was already Oligopoly and reduced
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#17327877043616032-477: The company entered into a debt agreement with Reliance Industries , through which it was granted a number of channels from the ETV Network . The agreement eventually enabled a takeover of the company in 2014. SGA Finance and Management Services was incorporated on 16 February 1996, as a private limited company by Geeta and Rakesh Gupta and acquired soon afterwards by Vidya Devi and Anil Jindal. The company had remained inactive without any clear prospects until it
6148-470: The company in November 2011 before Network18 entered into a deal with Reliance Industries, publicly stating that he wanted nothing to with the Ambanis . According to Raghav Bahl, the entire credit for enabling Network18 to establish a diverse variety of partnerships with the likes of CNN Worldwide , CNBC , Forbes , Viacom and History Channel belonged to Chawla. The COO, B. Sai Kumar succeeded Chawla as
6264-639: The company through a number of shell companies as part of a complex financial transaction. ₹ 5,400 crore (equivalent to ₹ 67 billion or US$ 800 million in 2023) was transferred to Network18 and TV18 Broadcast, half the amount to each respectively, of which Network18 received a net amount of ₹ 4,000 crore (equivalent to ₹ 50 billion or US$ 600 million in 2023) due to its stake in TV18. The shell companies gained rights to debentures convertible to equity within 10 years. RIL also forced Network18 to buy its stakeholding in ETV Network for
6380-425: The company to oversee the transition, and became the manager in the interim period. A. P. Parigi was appointed as the new CEO of the company after Sai Kumar's exit and held the position until he was moved to an advisory position by Reliance Industries in October 2015. Rahul Joshi, the editorial director at The Economic Times was recruited and appointed as both the CEO and editor-in-chief of the entire group following
6496-405: The company was at ₹ 4,295 crore (equivalent to ₹ 53 billion or US$ 640 million in 2023), whereas the net cash flow for RIL stood at ₹ 1,341 crore (equivalent to ₹ 17 billion or US$ 200 million in 2023) in the multi year transaction between 2011 and 2014 including those related to ETV. RIL had mitigated costs in this period through returns from the investments in
6612-436: The company was merged into it. The digital media and publishing operations were transferred to the parent company Network18 under the divisions of Web18 and Network18 Publishing respectively. In the financial year 2010–2011, Network18 registered a loss of ₹ 43.53 crore (equivalent to ₹ 54 crore or US$ 6.5 million in 2023), which was a considerable decrease from the previous two years and Bahl reportedly told
6728-482: The company. On 12 November 2012, IMT passed a resolution which allowed two senior officials from RIL to be appointed as additional trustees and Bahl lost further control within the trust. IMT held the option of converting the debentures to equity which could turn RIL into the majority shareholder of Network18. In 2013, Network18 had become debt free, and RIL's investment had led to assumptions that it would not initiate any further cost cutting measures. Viacom18 after being
6844-678: The concentration of multiple media enterprises in a few companies. This concentration is an ongoing concern for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission , the Australian Communications and Media Authority , the Philippine National Telecommunications Commission , and New Zealand's Broadcasting Standards Authority . Other countries that have large media conglomerates with impacts on
6960-402: The consolidation would streamline the corporate structure of the company and make it a more attractive option for strategic investors, while others stated that it decreased the likelihood of an agreement with Sony due to its key interest, the entertainment assets of Network18 becoming closely associated with the news operations, where there were restrictions over foreign ownership. In April 2020,
7076-493: The daily trading volume of a company's stock; for example, they do not qualify the company for a listing due to a low trading volume in common stocks. Perpetual non-cumulative preference shares may be included as Tier 1 capital . Perpetual cumulative preferred shares are Upper Tier 2 capital . Dated preferred shares (normally having an original maturity of at least five years) may be included in Lower Tier 2 capital . In
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#17327877043617192-419: The diversity of information disseminating outlets. Control over the news organisation, had strengthened RIL's ability to influence the formation of public opinion and as a result the political economy of the country, and also decreased space for reporting which could be detrimental to the energy giant's interests and public relations. Between 2014 and 2016, Network18 attempted to expand into regional markets of
7308-407: The enterprise before its launch. Haresh Chawla, the CEO of TEIL and Network18 was instrumental in both convincing Sardesai to quit and Bahl to take on NDTV as their competition. Due to the restructuring, Network18 instead of TEIL was allotted the shares of GBN and by the end of the financial year 2006–2007, Network18 held both GBN and TEIL as its subsidiaries; GBN operated CNN IBN and TEIL operating all
7424-436: The equity division has a cumulative 75% stake in the distribution venture. IndiaCast was also in a distribution joint venture with DisneyUTV in which TV18 retained 56% stake. The joint venture with DisneyUTV was called IndiaCast UTV; it was founded in 2013, converted into a distribution deal due to introduction of TRAI regulations in the following year and the distribution deal eventually cancelled in 2015. Network18 Publishing
7540-399: The event of a change of control), or may have great super-voting powers. When a corporation goes bankrupt, there may be enough money to repay holders of preferred issues known as " senior " but not enough money for " junior " issues. Therefore, when preferred shares are first issued, their governing document may contain protective provisions preventing the issuance of new preferred shares with
7656-473: The following period, Network18's business news website Moneycontrol published an article which claimed that the newly founded joint venture, BloombergQuint was on the verge of collapse. The article was published 5 days after Bloomberg's report and was described as a retaliatory piece. In February 2020, RIL announced that it would consolidate its distribution and media businesses. The subsidiary TV18 Broadcast would be merged with Network18, which would acquire
7772-509: The following period. In the months of November–December, the network's coverage of Arvind Kejriwal started to become a source of contention with RIL and Ambani. Kejriwal was the head of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement and had made several allegations against various politicians and businessmen, including Mukesh Ambani. His allegations against Ambani and RIL was over irregularities in pricing of natural gas in
7888-401: The former managing director and CEO of Entertainment Network India Limited ( The Times Group subsidiary operating Radio Mirchi ), was recruited by RIL and appointed as the new CEO of Network18 on 29 January 2015. Parigi resigned as CEO and was moved to an advisory role in the company on 1 October. Rahul Joshi replaced Parigi as the new CEO and was made the editor-in-chief of the group. Joshi
8004-700: The former was managed by Network18 and the latter by the Sun Network. The joint venture was later restricted to Tamil Nadu and replaced by the TV18–Viacom18 distribution joint venture IndiaCast in 2012. The consolidation of assets was completed by 2011 but it alone could not mitigate the financial challenges. Over the past years, the market had changed rapidly, the group was facing increased competition from other broadcasters, and advertising revenue had decreased due to economic downturn. Network18 had made optimistic projections for years but after 2011, it came to face
8120-504: The franchise licensing agreement with Network18, after a period of uncertainty. In May 2018, Cobrapost released a set of footages from a sting operation into several media organisations. Network18 was one of the organisations featured, and the sting displayed positive responses from senior marketing executives of the company to a proposition of entering into an agreement for undisclosed paid news to promote Hindutva political propaganda. The executives included sales and marketing head of
8236-536: The group as well as the sales head of the ETV Network with the latter remarking that they were already pushing the ideology and would increase their efforts by 80–90% following the agreement. The implications of the sting raised questions about media independence in India, and was described as a part of a phenomenon where the separation of editorial and marketing departments of news organisations are increasingly blurred due to advertisement business models. Several of
8352-399: The group has a franchise licensing agreement with NBCUniversal , the owner of CNBC . TV18 provides mass media services and general entertainment channels through two joint ventures, namely Viacom18 and AETN18 Media Limited. The Marathi general news channel News18 Lokmat is also managed through a joint venture with the Marathi language daily newspaper Lokmat . Viacom18 Media is
8468-593: The group is called Web18 . It operates the digital news outlets of Network18 such as the websites of News18.com (formerly IBNLive.com) and Firstpost , and mobile apps and social media assets of News18. News18.com has subdomains including English CNN-News18 (www.news18.com) and the Hindi News18 India (hindi.news18.com). The editorial management of Firstpost is merged with that of the Forbes India magazine. The business news website Moneycontrol.com
8584-405: The group owns and operates the news broadcasting networks of News18, and CNBC channels in India , the magazines of Forbes India and Overdrive , the websites of Firstpost and Moneycontrol , and owns various other assets and investments. The broadcasting subsidiary Network18 Group is the controlling partner in two mass media joint ventures, Viacom18 and AETN18, through which it operates
8700-660: The issuance of publicly traded preferred shares. In many countries, banks are encouraged to issue preferred stock as a source of Tier 1 capital . A company may issue several classes of preferred stock. A company raising venture capital or other funding may undergo several rounds of financing, with each round receiving separate rights and having a separate class of preferred stock. Such a company might have " Series A Preferred", " Series B Preferred", "Series C Preferred", and corresponding shares of common stock. Typically, company founders and employees receive common stock, while venture capital investors receive preferred shares, often with
8816-473: The joint venture of Viacom18. One point of disagreement for Chawla had been in the valuation of ETV at ₹ 3,500 crore (equivalent to ₹ 43 billion or US$ 520 million in 2023) when the company was worth only ₹ 525 crore (equivalent to ₹ 652 crore or US$ 78 million in 2023) in March 2011. The transaction was completed in 2013, and turned Network18 into the largest group of media companies in India, surpassing Star India owned by
8932-472: The joint venture. AETN18 owns and operates the infotainment channel of History TV18 , and formerly operated the lifestyle channels of FYI TV18 which was shut down in 2020. IndiaCast Media, the distribution arm of the Network18 Group is a 50:50 joint venture between Viacom18 Media and TV18 Broadcast, which provides domestic and international distribution services for the company. TV18 as a result of
9048-446: The loan to RIL and get rid of Ambani's influence over the company. Reports have suggested that the network's coverage of Kejriwal became the trigger for the company to initiate a takeover. RIL communicated its intention to Bahl, offering him the option of continuing as managing editor with a ₹ 20 crore (equivalent to ₹ 25 crore or US$ 3.0 million in 2023) annual salary and gave him 3 days to make his decision. He rejected
9164-518: The managing editor of CNN IBN and IBN 7 . In the previous years, one allegation that had come up against Ambani was that he had bailed out Ramoji Rao in the Margdarsai chit fund scandal and in the process gained stake in Rao's ETV Network, the same company which RIL had forced Network18 to buy a stake in. According to an anonymous insider present at a meeting between the executives of Network18 and RIL,
9280-759: The media houses denied the allegation put forth by the sting, Network18 did not respond to it. On 9 July 2018, Joshi was elevated to the position of managing director while retaining the designations of CEO and group editor-in-chief. Kshipra Jatana who had officially held the designation of managing director since Bahl's resignation was removed from the position. In 2019, Network18 initiated heavy cost cutting measures, increments and new hires were frozen while budgets for employing freelancers were greatly reduced. Newsrooms were demoralised as uncertainty grew among employees and outlets such as Firstpost which relied heavily on freelancers were severely affected in their operations. Economic slowdown had reduced advertisement revenues and
9396-546: The merger was abandoned in October. The implementation of the consolidation with the distribution companies was itself delayed and eventually cancelled in April 2021. In October 2020, TV18 Broadcast reported an 148.2% increase in profit margins during the COVID-19 pandemic in India and the company attributed it to "proactive measures on cost-control". In a Right to Information (RTI) request response in June 2021, data released by
9512-421: The merging of entertainment and news ( sensationalism ) at the expense of the coverage of serious issues. They are also accused of being a leading force behind the standardization of culture (see globalization , Americanization ) and are frequently criticized by groups that perceive news organizations as being biased toward special interests of the owners. Because there are fewer independent media, there
9628-454: The multinational energy giant Reliance Industries . In November 2011, the CEO, Haresh Chawla resigned despite having been one of the founders of the media conglomerate. According to company insiders, he was persistently trying to convince Bahl to not enter into a debt agreement with Mukesh Ambani and instead raise funds by divesting part of the group's stake in the subsidiary Viacom18. In a later interview, he had commented that his resignation
9744-496: The nation began to speculate how it might negatively impact society at large. In the case of Minot, North Dakota , the concerns regarding media consolidation is realized. On 18 January 2002, a train containing hazardous chemicals derailed in the middle of the night, exposing countless Minot residents to toxic waste. Upon trying to get out an emergency broadcast, the Minot police were unable to reach anyone. They were instead forwarded to
9860-419: The new management. The channels of the network had stopped all coverage of Kejriwal and the new Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP ) who had levied corruption accusations at RIL. The editor-in-chief of the flagship general news channel CNN IBN, resigned within a week of the takeover with the reason that the management was interfering in editorial decision making and dictating what could or could not be aired. A. P. Parigi,
9976-444: The news broadcasting sector with a spate of new channels, which was seen with apprehension among media observers. The expansion occurred as part of RIL's ₹ 150,000 crore (equivalent to ₹ 1.9 trillion or US$ 22 billion in 2023) investment in the rollout of its 4G data business. RIL had stated during the takeover that the acquisition would help in differentiating their 4G business through corporate synergy . Infotel,
10092-548: The news channel to be launched was called CNBC Awaaz . The guidelines required the Indian promoters to have more than 51% stake in their company to be able to establish a new Telecommunications link for broadcasting. In 2003, SGA Finance was acquired by Ritu Kapur and Raghav Bahl, in to order to launch the channel and Bahl became its managing director. The company raised ₹ 5 crore (equivalent to ₹ 6.2 crore or US$ 740,000 in 2023) through two batches of investments from
10208-455: The offer and on 27 May 2014, announced in midst of a routine meeting with his board of directors that he was going to resign as RIL wanted to takeover and nothing could be done about it. The announcement caused an exodus of employees from the company which included senior journalists and executives. B. Sai Kumar (CEO) and Ajay Chacko (COO) resigned on 28 May 2014. From the following day, a stream of resignations started coming in while RIL released
10324-524: The payment of dividends, but the company must pay the stated dividends on preferred stock before or at the same time as any dividends on common stock. Preferred stock can be cumulative or noncumulative . A cumulative preferred requires that if a company fails to pay a dividend (or pays less than the stated rate), it must make up for it at a later time in order to ever pay common-stock dividends again. Dividends accumulate with each passed dividend period (which may be quarterly, semi-annually or annually). When
10440-432: The preferred into the common stock of the company (or sometimes, into the common stock of an affiliated company) under certain conditions (among which may be the specification of a future date when conversion may begin, a certain number of common shares per preferred share, or a certain price per share for the common stock). There are income-tax advantages generally available to corporations investing in preferred stocks in
10556-410: The profits generated by its operational assets. In addition, the group had existing debt obligations and requirements for providing returns to its investors which resulted in net losses of ₹ 331.64 crore (equivalent to ₹ 412 crore or US$ 49 million in 2023) and ₹ 276.89 crore (equivalent to ₹ 344 crore or US$ 41 million in 2023) respectively. Viacom18 in particular
10672-470: The regional channels of the company had not been successful in their respective markets. The group had registered losses in the financial years of 2016–2017 and 2017–2018. On 21 November 2019, RIL entered into talks with the Japanese multinational media conglomerate Sony for consideration over a number of potential deal structures including merger options, schemes for acquisition of a stake in Network18 or
10788-433: The returnee stock bond) and may have priority over common stock (ordinary shares) in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation . Terms of the preferred stock are described in the issuing company's articles of association or articles of incorporation . Like bonds, preferred stocks are rated by major credit rating agencies . Their ratings are generally lower than those of bonds, because preferred dividends do not carry
10904-645: The right-hand man of Ambani, Manoj Modi had threatened Bahl by stating "You are calling us a dacoit, you are shouting that we are crony capitalists. If that is so, then why did you come to us for money in the first place? Do you think you have a clean record?" Around the same time, the network increasingly began leaning right wing and attempted to publicise Narendra Modi as the prospective prime ministerial candidate with feature pieces and continuous reporting. The network dedicated more hours than any other broadcaster to Modi and disproportionately more compared to other candidates. The executives of Network18 were eager to repay
11020-524: The same automated message, as all the broadcast stations in Minot were single-handedly owned by IHeartMedia . As the FCC reviews media ownership rules, broadcasters continued to petition it for the elimination of all rules, while those who are against this easing would often cite the incident in Minot as how consolidation could be harmful. Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand also experience
11136-552: The same guarantees as interest payments from bonds, and because preferred-stock holders' claims are junior to those of all creditors. Preferred equity has characteristics similar to preferred stock, but the term is typically used for investments in real estate or other private investments where the common stock is not publicly traded, so private equity has no public credit rating. Features usually associated with preferred stock include: In general, preferred stock has preference in dividend payments. The preference does not assure
11252-535: The same interest rate. This has led to the development of TRuPS : debt instruments with the same properties as preferred stock. With the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, TRuPS will be phased out as a vehicle for raising Tier 1 capital by bank holding companies . Outstanding TRuPS issues will be phased out completely by 2015. However, with a qualified dividend tax rate of 23.8% (compared to
11368-562: The shareholders during the presentation of the annual report that "the best times are still ahead of us". In 2010, Network18 had gone on to announce a new joint venture AETN18 with the American media company A&E Networks to launch History TV18 , the Indian edition of History . The company had also entered into a distribution joint venture with the Sun TV Network called Sun18. It had 2 divisions named Sun18 North and Sun18 South,
11484-409: The takeover, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reshuffled the management and board of directors of both Network18 and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast. The nominees of the RIL backed Independent Media Trust (IMT) joined the board of Network18. Deepak Parekh , the chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and Adil Zainulbhai were also inducted into the company as independent directors in
11600-515: The takeover. In 2018, Joshi was elevated to the position of managing director by the board and Jatana resigned from her position. TV18 Broadcast was the broadcasting subsidiary of Network18. The company owned a 51.16% stake in the subsidiary as of 2019, while the rest of the shareholding was divided between various Reliance Industries properties and shareholdings of individual members of the public. It operated 2 national general news channels and 14 regional general news channels in several languages under
11716-704: The term media group may also be applied, however, it has not yet replaced the more traditional term. Critics have accused the large media conglomerates of dominating the media and using unfair practices. During a protest in November 2007, critics such as Jesse Jackson spoke out against consolidation of the media. This can be seen in the news industry, where corporations refuse to publicize information that would be harmful to their interests. Because some corporations do not publish any material that criticizes them or their interests, media conglomerates have been criticized for limiting free speech or not protecting free speech. These practices are also suspected of contributing to
11832-519: The travel bookings website Yatra , the marketing website Webchutney , the movie ticket booking website BookMyShow , the brokerage firm SMC Global and the financial technology company Infibeam . Media conglomerate A media conglomerate , media company , media network , media group , or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music , television , radio , publishing , motion pictures , video games , amusement park , or
11948-411: The two companies and from selling the shares it had acquired in Network18's subsidiaries themselves. It was noted that due to the structure of the transaction, RIL had in effect partly financed its takeover by raising funds from the company's own subsidiaries such as TV18 Broadcast. The takeover process was completed on 7 July 2014; IMT and its sole benefactor RIL became the new promoters group. Following
12064-602: The two promoters in March 2003 and in January 2004, and then incorporated a subsidiary called SGA News. In the meantime, the government introduced a 26% foreign equity cap in the news broadcasting industry. In response to the new regulations the joint venture with CNBC was discarded and the partnership converted into a content branding and franchise agreement. In the financial year 2004–2005, TEIL invested ₹ 25 crore (equivalent to ₹ 31 crore or US$ 3.7 million in 2023) in SGA News for preferences stocks . CNBC Awaaz
12180-821: The value of the business to accrue to others (such as a discretionary trust ). The rights of holders of preference shares in Germany are usually rather similar to those of ordinary shares, except for some dividend preference and no voting right in many topics of shareholders' meetings. Preference shares in German stock exchanges are usually indicated with V , VA , or Vz (short for Vorzugsaktie )—for example, "BMW Vz" —in contrast to St , StA (short for Stammaktie ), or NA (short for Namensaktie ) for standard shares. Preference shares with multiple voting rights (e.g., at RWE or Siemens ) have been abolished. Preferred stock may comprise up to half of total equity. It
12296-992: The world include: Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, China, Mexico and Brazil. Media conglomerates outside of the United States include Fujisankei Communications Group ( Fuji Television ), Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings , Hubert Burda Media , ITV , ProSiebenSat.1 , Mediaset , Axel Springer , JCDecaux , China Central Television , Alibaba Group , ABS-CBN Corporation , GMA Network , MediaQuest Holdings , Radio Philippines Network , Aliw Broadcasting Corporation , Advanced Media Broadcasting System , People's Television Network , Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation , Presidential Broadcast Service , Viva Communications , Prasar Bharati , The Asahi Shimbun , Grupo Televisa , TV Azteca , Grupo Imagen , Grupo Globo , Baidu , GMM Grammy and Bertelsmann . Preferred stock Preferred stock (also called preferred shares , preference shares , or simply preferreds )
12412-414: The year, raising ₹ 2,511 crore (equivalent to ₹ 31 billion or US$ 370 million in 2023) in the process. This decreased the promoters' stake in the company from 75% to 26.11% by 2002 causing complications. The company was in the middle of preparations to launch a Hindi business news channel but could no longer meet regulatory guidelines. TEIL was in a joint venture with CNBC since 1998, and
12528-425: Was a drain on the company's funds. The financial statement of the company in 2009 had reported that it was retiring outstanding debt and raising funds through equity investments. In response to the financial challenges, the group began restructuring and consolidating its assets in the same year. IBN18 Broadcast was renamed to TV18 and Television Eighteen India Limited (TEIL) which operated the business news channels of
12644-402: Was ambiguity over severance packages and compensations and the human resources department was accompanied by executives of the RIL backed IMT in abrupt handing out of termination letters to employees without prior notice, who were then told to leave within 10 minutes. This further led to Job security among employees, many of whom began applying for and were hired by competing news broadcasters in
12760-556: Was an easy decision as he did not want anything to do with the Ambanis. According to a senior editor at the group, the decision to enter the talks was made reluctantly, as "[Bahl] was in a bind about entering a pact with the devil". On 3 January 2012, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Network18 announced a partnership. Reliance Industries set up a body called the Independent Media Trust (IMT) and infused funds into
12876-415: Was considered by the FCC to be the "first major overhaul of telecommunications law in almost 62 years". In the radio industry, the 40-station ownership cap was lifted, leading to an unprecedented amount of consolidation. Since this period, IHeartMedia grew from 40 stations to 1200 stations, in all 50 states, while Viacom grew to owning 180 stations across 41 markets. As media consolidation grew, some in
12992-605: Was however not adopted, according to analysts it was not financially beneficial to restrict content to only Jio customers and that Jio itself could be more profitable by being a content aggregator at competitive rates and still have a cost advantage due to its scale. In 2016, Network18 undertook a rebranding operation, the IBN brand was phased out and replaced with News18, channels such as CNN IBN renamed to CNN-News18 , and IBN7 renamed to News18 India , among others. Earlier in December 2015, CNN Worldwide had finalised its decision to renew
13108-458: Was later acquired by the promoters of Television Eighteen India Limited. The news broadcasting company Television Eighteen (TEIL) founded by Ritu Kapur and Raghav Bahl , became a public limited company in 1999 and its initial public offering (IPO) received an overwhelming response. The investments through the IPO exceeded the target set by the company by a magnitude of over 50 times by the end of
13224-439: Was launched on 13 January 2005. In the financial year 2005–2006, TEIL supplemented its initial investment with an additional ₹ 39.10 crore (equivalent to ₹ 49 crore or US$ 5.8 million in 2023) in SGA News for common stocks . Following this, the boards of both the companies proposed a restructuring which received approval from the shareholders. The companies underwent several rounds of restructuring which came to
13340-404: Was renamed as IBN18 Broadcast, and on 1 December 2007, Network18 Fincap itself was renamed to Network18 Media & Investments. Network18 began diversifying with cross media interests in 2008. It had high liquidity and expanded rapidly, it started the film production house called Indian Film Company (IFC), launched the shopping channel Home Shop18 , and entered into an franchise agreement to launch
13456-503: Was the editorial director of The Economic Times , a financial newspaper published by The Times Group before he had resigned from the company to join Network18 in August 2015. The editorial departments were unified with the operational and commercial divisions of the company, the chairman Zainulbhai stated that Pairigi had helped stabilise the operations and that Joshi would now run the company with an "ownership mindset". The acquisition of
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