Indian broadcasters have landed in a sticky situation as the face off between television show producers and the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) continues. If the problem is not solved soon enough, broadcasters, who have run out of fresh episodes, will have to air repeats.
It?s the broadcasters who are facing the maximum heat, say media planners. First, broadcasters had appealed to both the rating agencies – Television Audience Measurement (TAM) and aMap – not to provide data on ratings if the problem is not resolved, which will force them to air repeats.
Broadcasters fear that ratings of repeats, which will be lower, will affect the advertising revenue drastically. Initially, aMap had given the consent but TAM did not. Seeing that TAM will release the data even if repeats are shown, aMap changed its decision and will now release ratings.
Secondly, if the problem is solved and salaries of workers are increased (that is one of the primary demands), it is likely that production houses will start charging higher sums from broadcasters for content. In order to recover that extra cost of acquisition, broadcasters will have to depend on advertising money. But given the choppy market situation it is extremely difficult for broadcasters to recover the money if content cost goes up.
On Monday evening, all the seven leading general entertainment channels came forward to put up a united front against the ongoing problem. Albert Almeda, senior VP & business head, Sony Entertainment said, ?It is an unfortunate situation we have been put in. This has been forced upon us. We are in discussion with both the concerned parties, as we do not want this problem to linger any further. Earlier, we decided to set a time line and about nine days back we issued a letter to both the parties. But unfortunately there was no resolution.?
The workers went on strike from the first week of October protesting against the low wages being offered to them by the producers of various shows on television. In turn, television producers? association called for a strike and demanded higher prices from the broadcasters.
Shooting was disrupted by worker unions, leading to few hours of new content being shot and telecasted on television. Broadcasters were hoping that the disagreements between the producers and the Federation would be resolved leading to smooth shooting schedules and content supply again before November 9. However, the channels are now gearing for an all-repeat programming beginning Monday.