Monday, February 26, 2007

Advertisers pulling out of Channel One MTV

Anyone viewing Channel One MTV would have noticed that they are facing a commercials drought. One would sometimes think that it is a commercial free channel mainly running their own trailers. For the last few weeks the sponsors of "24" have simply vanished and only a few trailers are being broadcast during the programme. In fact even Maharaja group companies like S-Lon, Ole are not advertising on it anymore. The most advertisements are during News 1st at 9pm since it is also being broadcast on Shakthi TV which means that the management are well aware of the problems with coverage.

This is due to the foolish nature of Channel One management to allocate a frequency that has very limited coverage to Channel One MTV and not improving broadcasting power. It is commendable that Channel One MTV was made a separate channel instead of being given step motherly treatment on a frequency mainly occupied by Shakthi TV. So Shakthi TV and Channel One MTV have more breathing space and the respective viewers have more entertainment but the commendation ends there. Even though Channel One has more breathing space it seems to be running out of oxygen.

Channel One MTV programmes are enjoyed by many specially ones like "24" so now there are many who are missing the last few episodes of the "24" season due to the short sightedness of the present heads of the channel. This is further compounded by the fact that the heads of MTV/MBC are refusing to allow their channels to come aboard DTH pay television operator "Dialog TV" and are unable to see the fact that DTH will be the norm in Sri Lanka in the future and provides a way for them to improve their coverage.

It should be noted that a MTV/MBC head once laughed at the idea of pay television in Sri Lanka when questioned by a reporter and it seems that they lack the knowledge and are unable to envision the future of broadcasting in Sri Lanka.

Unless the coverage of Channel One MTV is improved then it will die a natural death and unless MTV/MBC are willing to accept the future of broadcasting in Sri Lanka the only viewers that MTV/MBC will have left are the animals in the Jurrasic Park movies.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

no surprises as to why no ads are there cause the viewership is next to nothing with the coverage.

maybe when Channel one goes in to red then some flags will be raised.then they maybe too late to get space on transponder 3 of DTV and would have to wait at least another year for another transponder and by that time DTV will have covered about 200,000 connections.

of course as a alternate they can buy a powerful transmitter.maybe they want to spend money rather than get a free coverage through DTV.

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with admin's views. Mano Wikramanayake seems to be living in small world of his own. Soon most people will be turning to Dialog TV for both local and satellite TV broadcasts. Only time will tell how MTV will fare.

Anonymous said...

There are announcements on Yes FM asking people with poor or no reception of Channel One MTV to call their engineering customer care division on 4718864 and inform them.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Channel One MTV has just signed up long-term deals with almost all leading advertisers, and edged out its competitors the smart way. Of course there are transmission problems...thats not the channels problem. The government allocates frequencies. However, the channel has invested in the best possible programming, and DIALOGTV should try and match it if possible AND QUIT USING THESE AMATURE METHODS OF GAINING A CHEAP POINT. Channel One MTV,in its Feb sales made more than all the other English channels put together so perhaps this blog needs to get the figures straight. MORE ADS DOESNT MEAN LES SALES, and it would benefit the author of the article above, to perhaps elucidate him/herself on the media industry and its business model, before attempting to tackle topics which seem obviously too hot to handle.

Anonymous said...

Me and my friends stopped watching MTV after they started subtitling English movies. I am Sinhalese and those subtitles get read automatically however much you don't want to. It is very irritating. What is the point in having an Engilsh channel with subtitles. If their taget is the english speaking public they should stop this before everbody moves to DialogTv or something. Why can't they repeat the same thing with subtitles on Sirasa & Shakthi. Subtitling I believe is the dumbest they did. (Ofcourse next to changing the frequency)

TG's Blog Owner said...

The 4th comment is probably written by a some MTV or Sirasa fellow. Remember that they were planning a Sat network, but gave up because of the licensing problem and competition. They are furious with Dialog. This comment also means that MTV and Sirasa are not willing to listen to this blog.

I don't think its much use talking about Maharaja MTV/Sirasa on this blog because they only listen to themselves. Has anyone noticed that nothing has been done to more the broadcast cetre and give a clearer reception for MTV (if anyone was watching it at anyrate).

Once Dialog gets the Star channels (in April or May), CH1 MTV won't stand a chance. Why? Because all MTV's programmming and 10 times more will be shown on DTV with much less (or no) advertisements.

Anonymous said...

The 4th commentor is non other than Mano Wikramanayake himself. I really cannot fathom why they do not wish to join Dialog TV and widen their territory..it is to their advantage and their advertisers will love it.. but Mano says "NO". I guess only time will tell.

Anonymous said...

If there is a "transmission" problem, then signing up various advertsisng contracts does not mean anything if viewers are unable to get the signal... even a bad one.