NDTV Imagine, owned jointly by NDTV and U.S.-based Turner Broadcasting System Inc, will be closed as poor ratings and losses in recent past. The employees will be provided 3 months salary before they are asked to leave.
Turner had bought a majority stake in the channel from Indian broadcaster NDTV in 2009 for $117 million.
The channel’s India and international feed ‘Imagine Dil Se’, which will be shut with effect from today, failed to achieve consistency in ratings, Siddharth Jain, managing director, South Asia, Turner International India told Reuters on Thursday.
“Imagine TV has not performed and grown as per our expectations,” he said.
Imagine was Turner’s second attempt in the highly competitive general entertainment (GEC) space in India after its GEC Real, a joint venture with Miditech, failed.
Turner currently operates channels such as HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, POGO, WB in India.
The company, however, remains committed to long-term investment in India and will continue to look for investment opportunities in the country, Jain said.
Turner India has been growing at a compunded annual rate of 13 percent in the past five years, the company had earlier told.
The Indian media industry relies heavily on advertising revenues instead of subscriptions for survival.
Global macroeconomic woes and a slowing Indian economy have left most media companies susceptible to volatility in advertising rates and resulted in cash flow problems.
In 2011, the Indian media & entertainment industry registered a growth of 12 percent from a year ago, to reach 728 billion rupees, according to KPMG.
NDTV imagine is one of the best channel compared to Sony/Star Tv as it showed reality shows, interesting programmes and drama which were different and made you think…
I am really confused why the ratings were low..maybe poorly advertised or lack of awareness…
I think it should remain and strategy to increase brand awareness should be revamped.
Dear Mr Jain, we live in London and we all love Chandragupta Maurya, my son is crazy for many other serials also on NDTV. It may be a good decision to close down the channel because none of the business can be run with no profit. But considering all above comments I think we all would request you to please allow other channel to run CGM.
I Used to love NDTV Imagine its a shame that it has to close down.. i watched every episode of the Swayamvar’s: Rakhi ka Swayamvar, Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jagenge and Ratan Ka Rista.. i loved them so much i used to miss Eastenders( bbc 1 Channel 101- Enlgand) my mum used to have NDTV Imagine on in the Kitchen while making the Roti… lol i’m sure they will find a way to keep this on.. and NDTV Imagine you have my wishes with you and i hope u stay… xx
Mr. Jain,
we are from punjab and loved to see chandragupta maurya we request to present that series again may be on some other channel like ‘sony’ I guess that would be better option for sony to take up series like that, rather than soap operas.
plz plz plz dnt shut down imagine channel.i miss chandragupta maurya very very very much.i never missed any episode of that even not for my exams.now my saturdays are so empty.i also miss the serials like baba aisa bar dhundo,kitni mohobbat hain,preeto etc.plz start imagine channel immidiately.i am just waiting for the saturday when again i can watch chandragupta maurya in ndtv imagine.
every asian person i knew and all the asians in uk loved this channel WHY DID THEY HAVE TO FUCKING CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please allow other channel to broadcast Chandra Gupta Maurya. I would kindly request you to do it as it is one of the best inspirational real story about Indian History. Moreover, It is a grate history to proud about I Kindly request to all Indians to appeal about it.
dear sir
I want to inform you i am live Saudi Arabia. Lots of people of other country those who live there for ex.: India, Pakistan,Nepal,and Bangladesh etc these country people watching the NDTV shows.
Mr.Jain kindly requested to restart the channel because all Asian people love this channel
DEAR MR Jain, am payal from ITALY plz plz I Request u 2 plz start NDTV chanel…
i wanted to restat the ndtv imagine because i like chandragupta maurya seria. so please restart this channel ………………
ndtv and its serials was my fevret.bt now i cant watch this……………. i m so nourvos