Lamba sa Tag..

Tagged by Pri. So here goes my list..

1)LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE?
I don't seem to remember.. its been a long time back.. been getting DVDs of late!

2)WHAT BOOK ARE U READING??
SCR's Secunderabad Division Working Time -table

3)FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?
No prizes for guessing... Scrabble

4)FAVOURITE MAGAZINE
Sportstar. Been so for so long I can't remember. And RD too.

5)FAVOURITE SMELLS
The smell of a diesel loco smoking
Freshly cooked dal tadka

6)FAVOURITE SOUNDS
The chugging of a train and the whistling of a loco. The notches of a WDM-2 drive me crazy!

7)WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD
Being unable to get sleep. Means u have something thats worrying u. :(

8)WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?
Oops.. why is it again the time to get up?

9)FAVOURITE FASTFOOD PLACE
Haryana Chat Bhandar.. a roadside pani-puri stall behind AP High Court, Hyderabad. Serves the most chatak-patak gupchups in the world!

10)FUTURE CHILDS NAME
Will let u know..

11)FINISH THIS STATEMENT---IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D
Not be wasting time doing this questionnaire...

12)DO U DRIVE FAST?
I guess I do. But if u still have doubts, how about joining me for a drive?

13)DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
I do stuff my wife with lots of junk food n fruits, and she does become wild sometimes... esp at night!

14)STORMS--COOL OR SCARY?
Depends.. if its the weather, its cool. If its the wife, its scary!

15)WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Premier Padmini Deluxe BE 1984 model

16)FAVOURITE DRINK?
Nimbu Soda

17)FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD
Do up my website much better.

18)DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Please decode.

19)IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Tan

20)NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?
Hyderabad ( Home shed)
Bangalore (For abt 5 years)
Tripoli (For a year when I was an infant.. cant remember a minute I sprent there)

21)FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Formula 1
Cricket
Tennis
Hockey

22)ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
All docs are good people.

23)WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?
Wanna come and settle there?

24)WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN??
Oh Yes..

25)MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?
Neither. Prefer sleeping at all times.

26)OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Whats that now?

27)FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX?
My gaddi with the TV in front and biwi beside.

28)FAVOURITE PIE?
My cutie-pie wifey!

29)FAVOURITE ICECREAM FLAVOUR?
Mango ( Gaffooria's mould Ice-cream in Chowk near Charminar)

30)OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
I wish I was Nostradamus!

I tag..

Lemme tag the Cs
Chaks
Chandni
Curious
Cinderella

Should there be pay channels ?

I have always wanted to ask this to our broadcast regulators. Unfortunately, there was no response when I put this question up in the feedback section of TRAI's website.

Lets talk economics (actually, arithmatics). Take one channel Neo Sports for example. This channel has been in the news for quite sometime what with it being off-air to most viewers because it charges a mind boggling Rs 37 / subscriber /month. If my cable operator has 5000 connections, he portrays only 3000 to Neo . Thats about 60%. Or maybe we should look at it another way. India's population is 100 crore. There might be about 4 persons per connection(family) on an average. So lets say 25 crore family units. About 10 crore might not be interested in Neo Sports altogether. So, basically, Neo has about 15 crore families watching cricket matches. Due to the extreme pricing policy, about 5 crore families might not be receiving Neo Sports, or are using DTH. Leaves us with a maximum 10 crore families. As I mentioned earlier, cable operator discloses only 60% of his clientele to the channel. So effectively, Neo provides signal to 6crore TV sets. At Rs 37, it nets in a cool 222crore per month by way of channel subscription.

Now that means that if Neo can earn 222 crore rupees a month in some other way, it can effectively make its channel free-to-air.

From unofficial sources, it has come to my understanding that Neo's ad rates are approximately Rs 30,000/second. For major matches, it can go upto even Rs 50,000/second, which are because quite some revenue goes to DD. At the premium rate, if Neo has to earn 222 crore extra, it has to show advertisements for 44,000 seconds or 740 mins or 12 hours. That means an approx 30 mins a day on match days, considering that all days are not match days. That would mean 20 seconds extra in between each over in a test match, or 10 between overs for a ODI or T20. Plus extra advertising during pre and post match shows.

If Neo becomes a free-to-air channel, its viewership might go up from 6 crore TV sets to atleast 10 crore, if not 15 crore. Thats a cool 150% hike. Ad revenues might also go up to Rs 50,000 and Rs75,000 for the base/premium rates. That means they have to advertise for 490 extra minutes only over a period of a month. 17 minutes a day maximum. This can not only be achieved by advertisements between overs and sessions, during pre and post-match shows, but also in-between-balls-flash ads. In fact, Neo can earn much more just because the ad rates for the existing ads would also increase due to higher penetration of the channel.

If Neo becomes available to every cable home in the country, then advertisers would move from DD to Neo, which can also help Neo generate more moolah. DD might then let go of its feed sharing clause if all TV homes get to see the channel.

A similar analogy can be used for all mass-viewing channels and even news channels. This may not be applicable to a lot of niche channels like Discovery, History, NGC, etc , as production costs of most programmes itself is quite high.

So, why are the channels not going free ?

Organisational Rape ?

Two news items caught my imagination in the papers today. Incidently, both were on the Business page. And further more, both were very similar in generality.

News Item One spoke of the much maligned takeover of Yahoo Inc by the big giant Microsoft. MS has quoted 41 billion green bucks for Yahoo. Till now, Yahoo has kept MS away. Today's news item spoke of two things. One that Yahoo is not averse to a deal if its get a better price. Fine enough. Second was the fact that in case Yahoo does not agree, then MS might go in for a hostile takeover of Yahoo, which may not be in the best interests of Yahoo's shareholders.

News Item Two spoke of our own desi pharmaceutical house Orchid Pharma being linked to a takeover by pharma major Ranbaxy. Again the disturbing fact was the statement that Orchid will try to resist a hostile takeover. The story has been rich fodder for CNBC-TV18 and NDTV Profit is what I learn now.

All I wanted to ask Microsoft and Ranbaxy is if they consider Yahoo and Orchid respectively to be their 'baap ki jaagir' ? Why else would you talk of hostile takeovers if the other party isn't game to being taken over or being bought out? Does it not amount to something akin to an organisational rape ?

Can anyone enlighten me regarding this, considering that even small financial matters - not to speak of major takeovers - hostile or otherwise - are nothing less than Joel 'Big Bird' Garner's bouncers to me.

I am waiting....

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Follow live cricket commentary and animation at http://www.vrijilesh.com/

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The Why of Boring Movies

Do movie makers ever watch their produce before throwing the dice in front of unsuspecting audience?

I got this thought after reading/hearing reviews of the latest headbuster One, Two, Three. Rajeev Masand told me (well, actually he told everyone on his TV show) that he would not see the movie even if the producer pays him to do so. Check out another rant at Pri's place.

That brings me to thought above? Don't these moviemakers ever watch what they have made? Do they have previews to see if what has turned up is worth watching? Or if the money spent on the stars would be recovered? I just do not get it at all. Forget making a movie, I do check each of my blog posts before posting if its come up right and even after its been posted, I do the same. Now it does not cost me megabucks to put up a blog post, but it does for those bozo moviemakers. Plus its their reputation at stake. Its okay if there is a message to convey to the public much like the Doordarshan documentries. Or if only some people do not like a movie much (my father was not that enamoured by Chak De..) then its ok. But when every person you meet asks you to avoid a movie like plague, then there is something clinically wrong in the movie and the moviemaker.

Mangal Pandey was a super flop commercially, but it did win a lot of acclaim for the story, performances, etc. Paheli was probably the most boring movie I ever saw (I have stayed away from 123 as yet!), but it did win a lot of acclaim for the story and potrayal which even I appreciated. I hated Hey Baby even though much of the audience lapped it up. But what about such movies as 123, which no one wants to see?

Forget the actors and the director, why can't the producer take the director to task for making a complete hash of precious moolah? I'd rather save those crores in a Fixed Deposit and get 8.5 % interest. I bet even the dwindling share bazaar would not have made enuf mincemeat of the money as such a movie did.

Maybe our producers need a lesson or two in sensible investments.

Bezwada Magic !

I am currently having a good time at Vijayawada spending my extended weekend holidays!

We reached here yesterday afternoon after a fine railfanning session aboard the 2706 Secunderabad - Guntur Intercity Express. I had fun with the trains we crossed, overtook or those which overtook us on the way. Noted down most of the sightings much to the dismay of wifey dear.

Today morning was abruptly awoken from my slumber by wifey to witness a beautiful sunrise from behind the hill. It has been raining here since morning and the weather is perfect!

Saturday night an overnight rail fanning session has been planned at the station here, and I am looking ahead eagerly to that.

Cheers!

Where do I get Mishti Dhoi ???

 

 

 

Where the hell do I get Mishti Dhoi in Hyderabad ?

 

 

Wifey dear ordered for it and I searched a few places where I thought it should be available. But was disappointed. Can u believe it that I could not get it in a Bengali Sweet Shop like Madhuban???

 

 

So, obviously, Tiwari Brothers, Almond House, Balaji Ratanlal, Sri Krishna, Agrawala, Delhi Wala and Pulla Reddy did not have it for sure! Someone told me Dadu's might have it, but I've lost interest. And moreover, in a day or two, wifey will forget about it !!!