Media giants become media victims

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 1: It's the media world's equivalent of being kicked upstairs. Two giants, who even countered each other on Direct-to...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 1: It8217;s the media world8217;s equivalent of being kicked upstairs. Two giants, who even countered each other on Direct-to-Home television in a national newsmagazine on behalf of their bosses, Vijay Jindal and Rathikant Basu, have both got golden handshakes 8212; with an Opel Astra for the former and a Mercedes Benz for the latter, and a company for both. Jindal8217;s is called Zee New Media, in which he has stock option, and Basu8217;s is Broadcast Worldwide Private Limited, in which Star TV is a 5 per cent 8220;supporter8221;.

And as Basu directs the future of his three proposed regional channels Punjabi, Gujarati and Bangla from the Art Deco confines of his Pali Hill home designed by Hafeez Contractor with Satish Gujrals gracing the walls, and Jindal relocates to Bangalore from buzzing Mumbai and dreams of being the next Aziz Premji, there are few to shed tears over their sudden exit.

Many saw it coming. When Basu joined Star TV as CEO in November 1996, he did it in a blaze of publicity, even likening himself to NewsCorp chairman Rupert Murdoch in one interview. His mandate was to convert Star Plus into a locomotive to take on Zee TV and to deliver DTH 8212; his interpretation turned out to be to take Doordarshan8217;s staff with him of which lot Bimla Bhalla, V Basavaraj, Naazish Hussaini and B Guha were to be removed in a ruthless restructuring two years later and convert the Lamington Road office into a Mandi House waiting room. His one triumph, Star News, launched from no less than Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral8217;s home, was too closely identified with Prannoy Roy. And his programming decisions, barring notable exceptions such as Saans for the much-favoured Neena Gupta, turned out to be one long gatha of indulgence.

When Jindal joined Zee Telefilms as CEO in April 1996, his mandate was restructuring. With a firm eye on the bottomline and an obsession with the brand imported from his years as Director, Corporate Affairs, at Bennett amp; Coleman, he went about it in his idiosyncratic fashion 8212; powerful satraps such as Karuna Samtani, Nittin Keni and Meenakshi Madhvani were eased out through a regime of tight expenditure controls and loyalists who believed in his marketing mantra were put in place. Everything was perfect, from the alleged activities of a dirty tricks department to the launching of a politically agile Zee News India.

Too perfect, perhaps, after all he even survived the suspicion of brothers Lakshmi and Jawahar Goel. With Subhash Chandra Goel, Chairman, Zee Network, sorting out his problems with Murdoch and the latter divesting himself of stock in Zee TV, and DTH being a distant possibility, Jindal was clearly not needed any more. As for Basu, with his DTH team headed by Urmila Gupta being steadily pared down, and Star TV Asia CEO Gary Davey quitting, it was clear that old hand Peter Mukerjea, Chief Executive of News Television India, was going to take over that the war between Star and Zee is over is evident from Mukerjea8217;s conciliatory presence at the launch of Zee8217;s TV World at Mumbai8217;s Cricket Club of India.

As for Jindal, after a brief period when he was in bad odour with Subhash Chandra, while the merger talks were underway, with R K Singh being made CEO of Zee Telefilms and in charge of regional expansion, and Deepak Shourie being elevated on Monday from Director and CEO of Zee Publishing to the boss of all news-related products including the still-to-be-launched English news channel, Asia News Network, it is clear that being managing director of Zee Network means little if you8217;re hemmed in by some powerful CEOs.

But then as an analyst puts it, the days of the long-running Tara are over. Now every TV hotshot8217;s life-span is like a TV serial 8212; with a maximum run of 104 episodes, to be renewed after 52 episodes. Subject to TRPs.