The rest of the stake is reportedly held byTemasek Holdings, New Silk Route, New Vernon Private Equity Fund, Kotak Mahindra Capital and SREI. What’s interesting is that Peter and Indrani Mukerjea will continue to hold stake in INX Ltd, which runs the channels 9X and 9XM. Are they next? Remember that news and non-news operations usually operate separately in India because the amount of foreign investment allowed in news media companies is 26%. NewsX has a news site, while 

Over the past month or so, INX has been reported to be in talks with Rajeev Chandrasekhar, founder of Jupiter Capital, as well as the Dainik Bhaskar group, though both were denied. More on this deal as we have it. We’re reliably told that Jehangir Pocha is about to reach the NewsX office to give a little speech.

(My recommendations in italics)

1. Times of India Group To Lay Off Around 5% Staff Across Businesses
2. Italian VAS Co Dada S.p.A Launches Services With Airtel
3. Interview With CEO of Times Private Treaties
4. The Economic Times Launches Hindi Site; Business Standard-Gujarati; Jagran.com
5. Why Webaroo Would Need As Much As $10 Million In Funding
6. 3G In India: BSNLs EVDO Services Already Operational; Rs. 750/Month For 2mbps
7. Google News Launches Malayalam Channel
8. Malayalam Newspaper Mathrubhumi Goes Mobile
9. Services On Airtel DTH: Indiatimes Shopping, MMT, WorldSpace, MapUnity
10. Loop Telecom Hires Head Honcho; In Talks With Telenor, Zain
11. TRAI Open House Discussion On Mobile VAS
12. Google Gets Into The Push SMS Business In India
13. Q109: Quarterly India Internet & Mobile Numers; A Wireless Internet Story
14. Expedia Not Acquiring TravelGuru
15. IRCTC Does $102 Million In Online Transactions In August; Payment Trends
16. Mint Launches Mobile Site
17. India’s Information Technology (Amendment) Bill Passed By Lok Sabha
18. On Reliance GSM And Mobile Number Portability
19. Rediff CEO On Current Advertising Scenario, In.com, Paid Services, Apps, Content Deals
20. Chandamama Launches Hindi, Tamil And Telugu Portals; Archives Inaccessible
21. Live: Nokia To Launch Music Store In India
22. Manorama Group Launches Matrimonial Site
23. Digital Today Launches Aajtak Website In Beta
24. Airtel Mobile VAS Revenues At Rs. 235 crores; Non SMS Is 57% of VAS
25. iProperty Group Enters India By Acquiring RealAcres.com

– Interception of messages from mobile phones, computers and other communication devices
– Blocking of websites in the interest of national security
– Measures to tackle cyber crime: fraud, phishing, terrorism, pornography
– The setting up of a Cyber Appellate Tribunal

We’re trying to locate an updated version of the bill; here’s a copy of the THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2006 (via PRS India), and a copy of the Standing Committee report on the IT (Amendment)  Bill, 2006.

We’ll update with more on the specifics of the IT Act; we’re looking, in particular, for the following:
– Interception of person-to-person communication, and the situations under which the government may be allowed to do the same
– Incorporation of a “Safe Harbor” provision, like the one that exists in the DMCA. This will free platform service providers like YouTube from the liability that accrues from users who upload infringing content.
– Liability in case of copyrighted transfer of data via P2P - with the person downloading, uploading or both?
– Provisions for blocking of websites: The Indian government did try to block access to certain websites two years ago. My views on the same: How Can A Few People Decide What We View Online? and Uncert-in Reasoning.

Note: the Rajya Sabha is going to take up the bill today, and if passed, it will be made into a law.

Disclosure: I own shares of Info Edge and Network18

One97 also plans to launch voice based alert services; perhaps the economics don’t quite work out for the rural population, but Voice Alerts, wherein a user receives an incoming call with the info, instead of an SMS are an interesting option for such a service. In the past One97 has powered Voice Alert services for other media companies like Zee News. In Bihar and Jharkhand, they’ve also tied up with media publication Prabhat Khabar for news and entertainment alerts.

Another interesting point to note is the focus on subscription based paid services. The trend through the last couple of years has been the launch of free SMS services like those from MyToday and SMS GupShup, and monetizing that with advertising. There is greater risk in the latter business model, and I wonder if the burn is worth it.

Related:

– Malayalam Newspaper Mathrubhumi Goes Mobile
– Reuters Market Light To Expand To Haryana In Jan; 9 States By 2009 End
– Vodafone Launches Kirusa’s Voice SMS; Some Thoughts On Voice SMS

Do bear in mind that Global Cricket Ventures had not paid any Minimum Guarantee (MG) to the BCCI or the IPL for the tournament, and the revenue was to be split evenly between GCV and The Champions League. Still, the cancellation of this years event does mean a significant loss of opportunity for GCV…the next opportunity for revenues from the IPL will be during its second season, which is tentatively scheduled to be held from April 10 to May 29, 2009. 

Live Current Media was also expected to receive a tranch of investment by around the first week of December; there’s no update from the company on that yet.

Note: Live Current Media President Jonathan Ehrlich and Chief Revenue Officer Alex Chamberlain were among the survivors from the terrorist attack on the Taj in Mumbai. Read about Ehrlichs escape here or watch the video here. An interview with Chamberlain here. 

Related: In Dire Straits, Live Current Media Raises $2 Million; No MG for CLT20

While we enourage an healthy debate on the layoffs, please ensure that you don’t make any personal remarks against any individuals or slanderous remarks about the organization. We already have removed some comments, and may have to remove others. You may question certain policies and decisions, but please ensure that you don’t say anything slanderous. Please be civil.

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Original story: High level sources from Bennett, Coleman and Co, Ltd. (BCCL/Times of India Group) have indicated that the group plans to lay off approximately 5 percent of its staff. The layoffs will be across businesses, including print, radio, Television and Internet, and across functions - whether editorial, finance, marketing or IT. In case of print, Times of India alone employs around 1000 people, so around 45-50 will be laid off. Indiatimes also employs around 900 people. Since morning we’ve heard rumours of between 600-1500 in all being laid off…doesn’t appear to be as bad as rumoured.

The layoffs haven’t begun yet, but pink slips will be handed out soon. We haven’t been able to ascertain what kind of a deal they’ll be getting. 

From a digital media perspective, it’s important to note that both Times Internet Ltd (Indiatimes) and Times Business Solutions Ltd (TBSL) will be impacted. 

We have not been able to confirm whether BCCLs latest television initiative, Economic Times TV (ET-TV) will be put off due to high costs.

The Times of India group is the largest media house in India, with publications including the Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Mumbai Mirror, Maharashtra Times, Bangalore Mirror, radio channels Radio Mirchi, TV channels Zoom nd Times Now, and magazines including Femina and Filmfare. Their online portfolio includes Indiatimes, online remittance business Times of Money, and classifieds businesses Times Jobs, Simply Marry, Magic Bricks. Earlier this year, the Times Group had bought Virgin Radio, which was rebranded as Absolute Radio.

Update: More inputs coming in - from what we’re told, Times Business Solutions Ltd (TBSL), which employs over 1000 people, is among the worst hit by the downturn; there’s a list that’s been prepared for layoffs at Times Jobs, and the number is expected to be upwards of 150.

Eventually, the company took some content outside the paid subscription wall, and made some available for advertising supported free streaming. Remember that earlier this year, niche TV content site Jump TV had decided change focus from regional content to sports content.

The shutting down of TinselVision should also serve as a warning for other content streaming sites like Saavn, Big Flicks, Rajshri Media, Erosondem, Rediff iShare, among others. Most content owners may be giving them content for free, though some may be accepting a minimum guarantee, but bandwidth is a significant cost. Monetization via advertising hasn’t yet quite arrived, despite claims of significant paid downloads, and some projections for video advertising networks. The launch of video advertising networks like Jivox and VDOPIA should help, but given the current advertising market scenario, are advertisers biting?

Users are forever willing to view free content, but growth in viewership should be supported by the growth in revenues. Saying that the world will figure out a business model doesn’t really inspire confidence.

More on Tinselvision:

Executives: We just checked on LinkedIn, and it appears that the site shut down at the end of September - in November, former Tinselvision Chairman and CEO Chase Weir founded EarthShot Corporation; Christopher Remus, COO and VP Operations has also moved on to BrainBox Digital as VP of operations.
Websites: The homepage of TinselCinema.com is faceless, while access to TinselVision.com is forbidden.
YouTube: The Tinselvision Channel is still live on YouTube; no one has signed into the account for four months now, which was when the last video was uploaded.
Blip.tv: Some of their own content - a show called Inside Tinsel - is availabe at Blip.tv

Timeline:
Jun 20th 2007: Raises $3 million led by Innovative Entertainment Ltd, a Geneva based subsidiary of Innovative Energy Group 
Jun 2007: Signs up ZEE TV
Sep 2007: Signs up STAR India
Oct 2007: Signs up Yash Raj Films
Nov 19th 2007: Raises “More than $3 million” from Innovative Entertainment Ltd with “pre-launch, post-money valuation at nearly $20 million”
Nov 25th 2007: Signs up Shemaroo, B4U
Apr 15 2008: Expands content licenses to include India
May 17 2008: Adds UTV Content
Sep/Nov 2008: Shuts Down