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Menka Shivdasani

Television is no longer just entertainment. That more and more viewers are tuning in for financial analysis is evident in the increased coverage that business channels are offering.

Aditi Govitrikar with her daughter at the Hallmark Channel's Mother's Day Special.

If you had to pick and choose your channels and pay for everything you received, what would you ideally look for?

While entertainment channels such as Star Plus would almost certainly be on everyone's list, the fact is that in today's environment, you can't ignore a business channel either.

Like Haresh Chawla, Chief Executive, CNBC India, pointed out when we met a couple of weeks ago, "Today, no one can afford to be closeted. Just to keep your job, you need to be aware of everything around you. Viewers look for fulfilling their information needs; they want to have CEOs talk to them, they want to understand trends in business globally."

Chawla believes that in the last four years, the interest in business news has gone up `phenomenally', because of the pace of change in business.

There was a time, he says, when people would talk about it for six months if, say, Sabeer Bhatia did a $400million deal; today, with so much happening constantly, it would be forgotten by the next day. That's why CNBC has increased its Indian business news coverage to 11 hours a day, and introduced shows such as Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street, (Sundays, 6 p.m.), after Rukeyser broke up with the PBS network after 32 years on his show. CNBC India also offers programmes such as Digital Revolution (Tue 22:30 hrs, Wed 20:30 hrs and Sun 19:30 hrs); Storyboard, (Wed 22:30 hrs, Sat 21:30 hrs and Sun 19:00 hrs) and Managing India, (Saturday 21:00 hrs, Sun 18:30 hrs, Monday 22:30 hrs, Tue 20.30 hrs).

Haresh Chawla, Chief Executive, CNBC India

"We are now increasing the depth of analysis and discussions both on air and off air," says Chawla, "and in the last two years, we have also been adding width." CNBC India has lately been organising several events, such as the Industry Vector; the one on banking and financial services was on May 9.

There is also the Managing India Brainstorm, which is held every quarter; watch out for the next such event being held on June 13 in New Delhi. On air, the target is more perspective and stronger weekend fare. "We are focusing on intellectuals and intellectuals don't stop using their minds on weekends," he says.

For CNBC India, it is also a time for consolidation. "We've achieved quite a lot in two years and we need to grow from that," says Chawla, who joined the company in December 1999. The channel now reaches 11 million homes, he says, and it costs Rs 3.50 a month.

And what does Chawla have to say about the Conditional Access System that will surely impact every pay channel if it is introduced? "Conditional Access is a clearly a step in the right direction. It is the way the television industry has evolved all over the world.

Having said that one needs to carefully navigate through the several challenges of implementing it in an industry that has been largely unregulated and fragmented so far. Thus the crux of the matter lies in the manner in which CAS is phased in and how the interests of both consumers and broadcast are protected through the transition phase."

The future is certainly going to be even more challenging for CNBC India, and for others in the broadcast business.

Mother's Day on Hallmark

It was Mother's Day on May 12, and Laxmi Hariharan, marketing director, Asia, Hallmark invited celebrities to speak about their relationships with their mothers. At the function held in Mumbai the night before, Shaina N.C., the designer called mother Munira Chudasama the `oxygen' of her life, Mrs World Aditi Govitrikar, brought her lovely toddler Kiara and her mother-in-law along; and top model Fleur Xavier told her mom she loved her, but was, quite honestly, embarrassed at having to do so in public. Hallmark also aired some films showcasing star children — you may have been watching them on the channel lately. There is one in which author Shobhaa De says she is the most bullied mother around; and others featuring Pooja Bedi, Kajol, Esha and Abhishek ("I am Abhishek Bachchan because my mother is Jaya Bachchan".)

The most special moment of the evening, however, was when Hallmark paid a tribute, not to a celebrity, but to the relatively unknown Vandana Gupta, a cancer survivor who has set up V Care, a voluntary organisation offering emotional support to cancer patients. Gupta, who was crowned with the Swarovski Hallmark Crown, said, "It is not so much Mother's Day as Sharing Day." It were her children, she added, who had supported her throughout her illness and the setting up of her organisation.

Occasions such as Mother's Day are often no more than excuses for the marketers to rake in the big bucks. Hallmark, however, always does things in style. The evening had its `over the top' moments — such as when compere Aryan Vaid asked everyone present to close their eyes and put their hands on their hearts and think about their mothers — but it was certainly an event to remember.

And Hallmark is perhaps the only channel that has ever taken the trouble to recognise the true achievements of women - not necessarily well known ones. In today's world, that is a welcome change.

The author can be contacted at menkashivdasani@ftnetwork.com

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