Reality Bites on India TV... Ouch!

Reality bites!! The word ‘Reality’ seems to carry a different meaning to the producers of some Hindi News channels. Have u seen IndiaTV?? Can u tell me if it is a news channel or a general entertainment channel. If u have not seen this channel on ur television, I give u a chance to give me the answer. Look at the pictures below:

Story : Abduction of Cows by aliens from outer space

UFO has abducted a cow. (Cotton County?? May be a location where they milk the cows  )

Until now there have been no clues of the cows. (Ask, Torque for ‘No scar(e)s’ )

India TV asks, ” Where has the cow gone?” (Yeah, advertise in this ’space’ ship )

Do Aliens Drink Cows Milk, Another one not posted says, do aliens worship cows like us?

(Do u want to be there too? Forms available at bank of baroda :D)

Real photo of the light falling on the cows from the alien ship. (Use Chinese mobiles for better light )

Are Indian Cows also on their hit list? (Did u look at the crystal undergarments ad, Yeah, I love Crystal ke underwear!!  What a waste of bandwidth)

There were many other pictures, I did not want to waste the bandwidth, unlike IndiaTv who prefers wasting important media footage time on some non sense.

Well, I don’t blame the producers for news like this, Use of negative marketing at its best.

Ad’s are made with the same mindset, either they have to be the best or the worst to be remembered.

This is no joke, this channel is under the news channel category. And if this is meant to be news, then i’d prefer being on the alien ship. IndiaTV, Is this is what real indian news.. Pheww, give me a break!

This channel is being broadcasted around the world, with the ’same name’. What are we trying to show as news from India?? Cows being abducted?? even a 5 year old would not believe news like that. Not just this news story, there were stories about how people in villages still followed primitive ways to solving a problem. Horror stories on how the popular Himesh Reshamiya song ‘ Ek baar aaja’ invited ghosts. As a educated person in  India should know, these stories may be true but they apply only to a small percentage of the population. Whatever may be the case, do we want to broadcast news like this under the name of ‘India’.

I would definitely not leave out the other hindi news channels, who give importance and footage to news that would be of no meaning if not telecasted. There are various other things happening in the country that are more important than ‘ Vidya balan’ hot expose for a well known men’s magazine. I salute Barkha Dutt for the coverage of the Kargil war, bought into light the pain that the jawans were taking so that we could sleep without fear. I salute all such people who make India Proud, Dr. APJ Kalam is one such person. I’m glad that he resigned from the president’s post as i feel he has more to contribute to science and technology than be a part of the dirty political group.

We print the photos of an American who showed terrific performance in the Olympics, while the Indian who won the country a bronze medal gets the last page. Cricket takes the center stage, while the national game, Hockey, slowly starts to fade into the distance. Does the Media have a role to play in it?? Yes they do. I don’t see one single news channel that lays importance on a person who could have earned Rs.100 had there not been a bandh called by a stupid political party for even stupid political reasons. The media is more interested in what brand is Shahrukh khan taking up. What is Sachin Tendulkar doing when he is Injured, even for that matter ‘Where are Aishwariya and Abhishek going for HoneyMoon??’, What the Hell.

India Tv has been broadcasting similar kind of stories for while now. I wonder if the Broadcasting ministry is even talking a look at it. Actually speaking, are so many news channels required? I remember the days when my father waited for the 9′o clock news to begin on the national channel. Then came some 24 hr news channels, where breaking news seemed like something really important. Now is time where channels like India TV make ‘ Amitabh bachan ko film shooting ke dauran zukaam hua’ as an important news story, for that matter a ‘Breaking news’. India Tv has made such a bad reputation in my mind that, i have put it under parental lock, so that i don’t watch the channel even by mistake. I hope channels like these vanish soon, and DDnews stays forever.

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Kunal

Reality Bites on India TV... Ouch!

Reality bites!! The word ‘Reality’ seems to carry a different meaning to the producers of some Hindi News channels. Have u seen IndiaTV?? Can u tell me if it is a news channel or a general entertainment channel. If u have not seen this channel on ur television, I give u a chance to give me the answer. Look at the pictures below:

Story : Abduction of Cows by aliens from outer space

UFO has abducted a cow. (Cotton County?? May be a location where they milk the cows  )

Until now there have been no clues of the cows. (Ask, Torque for ‘No scar(e)s’ )

India TV asks, ” Where has the cow gone?” (Yeah, advertise in this ’space’ ship )

Do Aliens Drink Cows Milk, Another one not posted says, do aliens worship cows like us?

(Do u want to be there too? Forms available at bank of baroda :D)

Real photo of the light falling on the cows from the alien ship. (Use Chinese mobiles for better light )

Are Indian Cows also on their hit list? (Did u look at the crystal undergarments ad, Yeah, I love Crystal ke underwear!!  What a waste of bandwidth)

There were many other pictures, I did not want to waste the bandwidth, unlike IndiaTv who prefers wasting important media footage time on some non sense.

Well, I don’t blame the producers for news like this, Use of negative marketing at its best.

Ad’s are made with the same mindset, either they have to be the best or the worst to be remembered.

This is no joke, this channel is under the news channel category. And if this is meant to be news, then i’d prefer being on the alien ship. IndiaTV, Is this is what real indian news.. Pheww, give me a break!

This channel is being broadcasted around the world, with the ’same name’. What are we trying to show as news from India?? Cows being abducted?? even a 5 year old would not believe news like that. Not just this news story, there were stories about how people in villages still followed primitive ways to solving a problem. Horror stories on how the popular Himesh Reshamiya song ‘ Ek baar aaja’ invited ghosts. As a educated person in  India should know, these stories may be true but they apply only to a small percentage of the population. Whatever may be the case, do we want to broadcast news like this under the name of ‘India’.

I would definitely not leave out the other hindi news channels, who give importance and footage to news that would be of no meaning if not telecasted. There are various other things happening in the country that are more important than ‘ Vidya balan’ hot expose for a well known men’s magazine. I salute Barkha Dutt for the coverage of the Kargil war, bought into light the pain that the jawans were taking so that we could sleep without fear. I salute all such people who make India Proud, Dr. APJ Kalam is one such person. I’m glad that he resigned from the president’s post as i feel he has more to contribute to science and technology than be a part of the dirty political group.

We print the photos of an American who showed terrific performance in the Olympics, while the Indian who won the country a bronze medal gets the last page. Cricket takes the center stage, while the national game, Hockey, slowly starts to fade into the distance. Does the Media have a role to play in it?? Yes they do. I don’t see one single news channel that lays importance on a person who could have earned Rs.100 had there not been a bandh called by a stupid political party for even stupid political reasons. The media is more interested in what brand is Shahrukh khan taking up. What is Sachin Tendulkar doing when he is Injured, even for that matter ‘Where are Aishwariya and Abhishek going for HoneyMoon??’, What the Hell.

India Tv has been broadcasting similar kind of stories for while now. I wonder if the Broadcasting ministry is even talking a look at it. Actually speaking, are so many news channels required? I remember the days when my father waited for the 9′o clock news to begin on the national channel. Then came some 24 hr news channels, where breaking news seemed like something really important. Now is time where channels like India TV make ‘ Amitabh bachan ko film shooting ke dauran zukaam hua’ as an important news story, for that matter a ‘Breaking news’. India Tv has made such a bad reputation in my mind that, i have put it under parental lock, so that i don’t watch the channel even by mistake. I hope channels like these vanish soon, and DDnews stays forever.

Comments Welcome, Atleast one 

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Rate this Blog? Click here!.

Kunal

Colors Launches.. Time to earn money, says TataSky

Colors - A new general entertainment channel was officially launched all over the world on 21st July 2008. Khatron Ke Khiladi - A new fear factor show, hosted by Action King Akshay Kumar gathered all the attention before the launch.

TataSky never misses out on any money making opportunities, and here was one that it wanted to cash in on. They were sure that at least 50% of their subscribers would want to watch the new channel at any cost. The channel, moved straight into the Life Style Gold Pack. Prices increased from Rs.30 to Rs.45. The announcement came in only a day before the actual launch, not allowing customers any opportunity to think. As expected, lot of people including me subscribed to the pack.
[The show is boring, so is the channel. Read the 'First Look at Colors'. Rs.45 down the drain,  I wish I could go back and change it  ]

TataSky however is enjoying this. Assuming 1 million (50%) subscribed to the pack, TataSky grows Rs.1.5 Crore richer over the month. TataSky also earns some extra amount of money as people are forced to buy the entire pack. Packaged with channels that mean no entertainment leave alone general entertainment, People had to buy it to watch the new show.
[ Mann! Their marketing team is one of the best in the world! ]

Unhappy with my decision to have bought the pack, who do i blame?
Rs.45 has been deducted from my account, blaming somebody is going to be of no help. I leave a query about the pricing on the ‘My Query’ section. Replies that they give are generally stupid. This time was no different either. I received a call from their customer care, as expected they had a standard reply ready. “Sir, The prices have been hiked because of the new channel ‘Colors’ which could later be converted to a-le-carte”. Didn’t I know that??

I did not want to discuss anything else as i was sure of the replies i might get. Yet, decided to carry on with the conversation. Only reason being that they would be charged STD for having called me from bangalore. 

Simple mathematics over the package pricing says Tata has earned more with the change than before it. Here is how it works.

Package rates before 1st June 2008
Rs.350 (South Jumbo) + Rs.30 (LS Gold) + 199/12 (Sports Gold, Only available annually) = Rs. 396.60

Package rates w.e.f 1st June 2008:
Rs. 310 (South Jumbo) + Rs.40 (Sports Pack) + Rs.15 (Ten sports, a-le-carte) + Rs.45 (LS Gold) + Rs.30 (Sports Gold) = Rs.440

Excess Cost paid by the customer : Rs.440- Rs.396.6 = Rs.43.40 per subscriber

Total Earnings pm for 2 million subscribers = Rs. 8,68,00,000 (Rs. 8 crores and 68 Lakhs)
Total Earnings Per Annum =  Rs. 1,04,16,00,000 (Rs. 104 Crores and 16 Lakhs)

TataSky earnings over an year : Rs. 105 Crores approx, Customer benefits : NIL.

Not to forget, most of the favorite channels are still not on. The controversy with ESS has blind folded customers about the increase in the package cost of sports gold, It has almost doubled (Rs.16 to Rs.30). These calculations of course were made assuming all 2 million customers buy the packs, which may not be the case. Even if 50% was assumed, TataSky would make more than 50 Crores, Customers still get no benefits.

Apart from the name, there is nothing good about TataSky. Luckily I got vouchers for half the price using Giftmate, I’m shielded from this change, I pity for people who still have to bear it. The blog would mean no sense to anybody, But when ur family or friends decide to buy Tatasky, redirect them here.

More Links about TataSky on the Blog:

• Another Bad Experience With TataSky - No More Cheers
• TataSky - My Experience
• Conspiracy Called TataSky
• India BroadBand Forum -TataSky DTH

Google for many more links.

I feel cheated, Must be the same with the remaining customers. SOS!

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Giftmate.. Saving Subscription

My 4th Essential TV, Subscriptions at half the price.

How? Thanks to a service called Giftmate.
A latest offering on most of the E-Commerce websites, Giftmate, also called as Paymate is just another payment option. It is mainly a pay-by-sms service. Linked to a unique mobile number, A user can recharge the account using credit card or internet banking.  A user can buy any product from the 3000+ sites associated to Giftmate. Once an order is placed, the users can then select paymate as their payment option and confirm the order by a simple sms. Using such accounts, u expose ur credit card information to only one publisher, In this case, Paymate. How did i use this to my advantage?

More info about ‘how to use‘ and ‘where to use‘.

I was introduced to Giftmate by one of the members of India Broadband Forum(IBF), In the TataSky section (Most active). He had posted information on how he used an offer from Giftmate to his advantage and recharge his TataSky connection for half the price. As Giftmate had only come into existence at that time, It had a lot of freebies to offer. The offer was about receiving 100% cash back for purchases made before a certain date using Giftmate.  I registered my mobile number by assigning a Rs.200 Voucher to it using the my online banking account. It was immediately activated and i used it to buy a TataSky voucher from IndiaPlaza. After about a  weeks time i received a free voucher worth Rs.200 from giftmate, Used it for recharging the TataSky connection again. Effectively paying only half the price.

One month into using Giftmate, The company decided to offer vouchers to all users at half the price, That is u pay 500 and get a voucher worth 1000, Cool eh..  I used it with two mobile numbers, recharged TataSky again. Half the price this time too.

Lately Giftmate in association with Zapak ran a contest, The Zapak Cash League Contest. The contest required users to play games for free, and earn points. Based on the no. of points earned, users were awarded a certain amount of gift voucher from giftmate. All it required was 20 minutes of my time (I won Rs.100 Vouchers with 2 id’s on a daily basis). The prize money being offered dropped by almost 50% half way through the contest. By the time i had made a substantial amount of vouchers. People who wished to buy games from zapak, could add more points to their daily tally and win some vouchers against the purchase. I bought 2 games worth Rs.99 each and received Rs.350 vouchers from giftmate. 5 minutes is all that it took. I bought more games than play and kept adding vouchers to my account, Some free, some paid.
To receive the vouchers, I needed to register unique mobile numbers. I have only 3 in my house, Therefore I could register 3. The rest i used some of my friend’s mobile numbers. Some agreed instantly, while i had a tough time convincing the others. I’m sure one of them is fuming reading this blog. He wants less spam on his mobile phone. All i can say to him is that Giftmate does not sell any contacts and if u have been receiving any spam lately, its probably the mobile company.

Moving on. When i logged into the giftmate site to check my earnings (yeah, Earnings :D) on these registered mobile numbers, I saw another free offering from giftmate. Any US resident could send Rs.250 Voucher to any registered mobile no. in India for free. It required answering 5 survey questions.

How was i to get a US number?

Google!

Since i decided to not use somebody else’s number for my advantage, I decided to fake the no (Just trying my luck). I knew it had to be a 10 digit no. I answered all the questions and then registered it to send the voucher to my mobile number. Next second, I receive a 250 voucher. I used all the other registered numbers for this freebie. Only this time, I did have no time to tell anything to my friends. By lunch, while i discuss the offer with my friends and decide to give them free vouchers too, All i can see is that Giftmate in the meantime had withdrawn the offer.

This time i also put a thread on the forum for other agonized TataSky subscribers like me to enjoy some free TV time. Luck has it, Most of them had made use of it.

I have been enjoying all this for a while now, while saving a lot of Subscription cost. If u r using Tatasky or have been a regular online shopper across the sites linked to Giftmate, Go ahead and Giftmate.

I wish Giftmate now has a tie up with the oil manufacturing companies, It will then allow me to pick petrol for free :p

PS: I once read in a blog that giftmate offered vouchers worth Rs.250 for casting a vote on a reality show. People who think this is one reason to buy a TataSky connection, Think again. Read all my previous blogs related to TataSky and come to a conclusion. Luckily, I have been able to make use of such offers, i wonder for how long will these offers be available.

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