Now they are saying they will do telugu also. Tatasky not getting good business in Karnataka?

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I think non-availability of famous cartoon programme/ kids specific programme in kannada is one of the reason why the current generation are becoming fluent in non-kannada language so early in age... not sure though.

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I am not sure of this is related but I remember that there is an issue involved in dubbing TV programs and films into Kannada. There was a protest lead by Dr.Raj et al when they tried to dub Sanjay Khan's 'The sword of Tipu Sultan' into Kannada. I guess the then Govt yielded to pressure and passed a law banning such dubbing. That is the reason you do not see any film or TV serial dubbed into Kannada. The argument from DR.Raj's camp was that dubbing would reduce the opportunities or local acting/production/technical talent. -Shastri

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I only know of the law against dubbing which was made back in the 1960s, when people were afraid that Kannadiga actors, singers, and technical workers would lose jobs to film industries in other states.. but other than that dubbing programs to Kannada is no harm. The Rs.200crore Kannada advertising market is not bereft of any revenue yielding capcity if programs got dubbed to Kannada.

to take on big, why not grow big. Instead of taking on Sun concentrate on Karnataka instead. moreover, Tatasky viewers have to bear the brunt of the bitter rivalry between Rupert Murdoch and Zee's Subhash Chandra. Murdoch's & Reliance are starting Kannada lang channel aswell and when thr is DTH interoperability be introduced, we can choose the operator. if Tatasky does not have Kannada version, change to Big,sun,Dish or anyother which does have.  I dialled tatasky on ph:6000 6633 and just selected Kannada option but an english rep answered. the stategizers there are definitely not serious.

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Could not found the link to the law banning dubbing..but many media discussion blog have raised this point many timnes. 

"The Kannada entertainment and television industry has its peculiarities too – Kannada dubbing of any serial or film and broadcasting is banned, and hold your breath, this resolution was passed by the entertainment industry way back in 1970, long before the advent of television."

source--

http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/may/may392.php

Vasanth, Cable is not an answer as they dont telecast kannada customised packages.

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I say this is business. And what Tata sky has done is an unfortunate reflection of the picture that is projected in the market. From the options listed above, it is very clear that Tata Sky thinks Hindi is the option for most of North India, and Tamil the one for most of South India.

The reason why Tata sky thinks like that stands on long standing Hindi imposition in this country that has perhaps masked several such business establishments' brains to make them think Hindi means this country! And since Tamil stands its long standing opponent from south, Tamil it is, for them in South. So Hindi and Tamil are but immediate tools in their hands to "COVER" the entire market, the entire India.

So if we Kannadigas want something for ourselves in Kannada on Tata sky, we need to make Tata Sky realise our presence, make them recognize us, speak to them in Kannada (ONLY), demand service in Kannada no matter where their call ends up in. Kannadiga customers need to make Tata sky realise the extent of market present in Kannada. They also need to understand that Kannada language holds the key to tapping this market.

-Nijavaada

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I dont think its practical/feasible for tatasky to provide options in 22 indian languages. I would better want them to have option based on channel-plan chosen. If i have selected for kannada packets, I should have options in kannada. Not sure if we have provision in our law which allow dubbing of TV programmes. I don't think tatasky is at fault for not providing kannada dubbed programmes as there job is to transmit what is there in the market. If kannada version ofsome tv programme is not there, how can we expect them to dubb it for us and give an option to choose the language. Having said that, I still feel the reason for having tamil is that they are now competing with Tamil DTH (SUN) and want to have some presence in Tamil market. Not sure if Big TV ,SUn DTH and DISH have Hindi/Kannada as options. Some time I really wish if we have some big media houses like Tamil and Telugu folks have, this problem would not have come and instead of Tatasky competing with Tamil DTH, they would have been competing with Kannada DTH in south. Anyway, regional market is very big market now and we have already seen national media houses like Star , ZEE and ETV  having good presence in Marathi, Gujrati, Bengali, Punjabi segments. We have already seen ZEE here, STAR is planing to start a kannada channels..so we have good market.

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Spry,

You're indeed right in saying that it is in the economics of the whole affair that a tata-sky like guy provide to people what is available. But everything here is based upon demand-supply, and excuse me, law cannot come between these two. That would be disruptive polity, and unwelcome! Soon that'll be gone.

In the meanwhile it is going to be the efforts Tata sky puts in searching for multilingual content which is going to tell whether they survive in this market or not. In this light it is true indeed that Tata sky need not break its head over generating content in Kannada, but the task cut out for the people of Karnataka, is to pose demands for content in Kannada.

Now I am not exactly saying demand for Star Utsav in Kannada! Hardly a necessity! Instead I might ask for Star Sports, Ten Sports, ESPN, DD Sports and the likes, or lets say HBO, Star Movies etc. in Kannada. Makes me recollect how sad it sounded when there were two guys giving running commentary of the Beijing olympics telecast - in English and Hindi - what image does DD want to project here? It can hire a guy who can speak Hindi, but not people who speak other languages? So much for a national channel, eh!?

If you see carefully, the content that all these cable-channels telecast are customized to each country/region. The essence of the demand we need to make here is tomorrow, we need all these channels to further customize their content to each language present in India, and not just divide the entire nation as Hindi and Tamil! And what I said was if we dont demand this today, we'll get only that divide tomorrow. And since Tata sky is your distributor, they're who you can/should ask. Period.

-Nijavaada

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I have argued with their customer support on the way they have structured their "South" packages. The way they have clubbed all their South Indian (and then North Indian as well) channels into one package, I am reminded of how most folks in the North/East and West called and may still club all South Indians as Madrasis!

Why do I need Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi - all language channels bundled into one package!? If thats Tatasky's idea of national integration, its a flawed one. In my personal case, my home wants Kannada, Hindi and English channels. Thats it. Don't push things on me please, unless you are giving them free :)

Is tatasky's "South Jumbo" package backed by market research, or are they just forcing all to pay more by restricting options?

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One more point I missed in my last post is that since our state law does not allow dubbing of TV programmes in Kannada, we see cartoon programmes dubbed in other regional language except kannada. For many kids Micky Mouse and many other famous cartoon characters are bigger super star than Ganesha/Upendra and when they find that their famous cartoon characters can not speak their language but can speak in Hindi/Tamil/Telugu/English, there is bound to have some alienation for kannada in their adolescent mind. Need of the hour is to change the state law and make all these programms dubbed in kannada for our younger generation.

Nothing need to be said about DD commentry as even Hindi population does not listen to them. We can't expect better things from lethargic governemt setup. Better they dont start commentry in Kannada as it will do more harm than anything else.

I don't agree that ESPN, Start Sports programmes should be dubbed in Kannada, better have an option for kannada commentry as there are large population which likes things in originality. I don't appreciate if Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavasker's commentry are dubbed and telecasted for us instead of their original english commentry. May be we can promote kanndiga commentry by kannada circketers like Srinath n Kumble but even they would love their voice to be heard by bigger audiences so they might prefer english over kannada.

South package for DTH is nothing but a legacy which comes from cable distribution company where they have single plan for all the south indian channels. You pay Rs 200-300 and have all the channels in all the language. May be once they feel the need and their market research suggets that Kannada population does not watch telugu/tamil/hindi channels, may be they can come up with kannada specific packages. My feeling is that here people love to watch telugu/tamil/hindi channels apart from regular kannada channels. Would love be proved wrong here.

Thanks,

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Silkboard's thoughts about the south and about the way it has been conceived in the entertainment industry is very true and valid.

If there's a law in our state prohibiting any such dubbing of TV content into Kannada, I am surprised. But it'd add value if Spry could share any such data here.

But coming to the other half of people's preference - I agree people will have preferences.. but that is as long as there're choices! Without compromising with quality, choices need to be provided, but at the same time a system needs to be in place to ensure content in the state's language gets far more reception in the state than in any other language. (BTW, this also needs viewers to respond/demand, and not run away to non-kannada channels!) And I surely didnt intend to say ESPN should stream only Kannada audio programs into Karnataka. I too talked about a language switch.

If tata sky wants to follow legacy business techniques, it is going to its own nemesis, one day! So if Tata is here to stay, it'll stop following lines of stray cable network business models!

BTW Swamy, this matter is very important, and thanks for bringing it up here.

-Nijavaada

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I saw digital cable in few homes. It is an add on box which can be bought for 500 rupees. Quality is good with stereo sound, same interface like Tata Sky with menus. All the channels offered by cable operator comes in the quality of tata sky.

There is no headache to maintain the dish on top of home and do a seperate wiring for the dish. Cable operator doesn't charge anything extra. We can buy this digital box anywhere like SP Road.

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Spray,

The radio audio measuring system is giving a clear edge to Kannada radio stations in bangalore.  The FM stations in bangalore are thriving to make their presence felt amongst the Kannada population.  UTVi focusses on one such radio station here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4vvfLJo7As

I believe that a similar TV viewership surveys will be conducted by every tv channel and am curious if someone gets hold on such report... DD Chandana used to show the viewership survey very frequently, when I used to watch it.  Once we have the viewership data , then all big service providers in the tv segment will also start competing for dubbing programs in Kannada.  But the biggest hurdle would still be our state governments dubbing law itself.

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Ayyo raama. Didn't know only that this no-dubbing law is behind all this. Swalpa stupid, alva?

Many people want to see Telugu/Hindi programs but not everybody. South Jumbo package beda.

Why no dubbing for cricket commentary and all? Pay me some money, I will do sakkat kannada commentary on DD. People will listen, How many of 5 crore kannadigas know english or hindi? Look at Bangalore FM radio. Everyone listens to everything. Tumba choice. Kannada, Hindi, one full english radio station also. Give me choice for cricket commentary also. Why assume? Just give choice and see, ashtay.

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Firstly, I think this discussion has no place on Praja - here one is essentially discussing issues relating to Bangalore infrastructure and governance - not what languages some private TV channel decides to broadcast in. Second - would any of this fuss have been made if the only choice was Hindi and English. I suppose the main bone of contention is that they also offer Tamil and not Kannada. The good think about Karnataka and Kannada people is that they were never as linguistically chauvinistic as people in Tamil Nadu - which is why living in Bangalore is so much more pleasant than Chennai - its not merely the weather. Till recently you could speak to an auto driver in several languages - Kannada, Tamil, Telegu, Hindi or English for starters - and he didnt mind. Now this is changing for the worse. The point is that, as is evident from the fact that FM channels have changed to Kannada to get market share, under no circumstances is Kannada under any threat. Let the market decide these things. If there is sufficient interest in getting programmes in Kannada on Tata Sky - they will do it. I dont think they care about which languages they offer - they just see what the people want. To me it seems better that people dont have the choices - then people will be forced to learn a new language - and that is only a good thing. I think a lot of people picked up Hindi and English as till recently those were the only other languages possible - but this was never at the cost of the vernacular - it was only in addition to. This added choice is bad as it makes people more insular.

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Rs, I agree with above comment. "Praja" is consumer of services, most of the from the government, and many from businesses. Services offered by business, in many cases, depend on the rules and impositions from the government. Like in this case, I too didn't know that there was a dubbing related law in the picture here, which arguably may not be helping kannada's cause. I hope tatasky lets it consumers know why they don't carry kannad audio tracks, otherwise many may think they are ignoring kannada!

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RS,

At least some others who have taken interest in commenting upon this matter here in Praja thought Kannada is a necessity in this community and services offered in other languages, and not offered in Kannada inside Bengaluru (and Karnataka as a whole) is the same as absence of a vital infrastructure in essence.

Now you're the one talking about imposition of a select few languages upon a people - that apparently dont speak these languages. On the other hand, but in the same pitch, the opinion that should arise out of this whole discussion is - that language has to be Kannada - the one and only one that can bind the entire of Bengaluru, and retain it with the rest of Karnataka. Bringing/Enforcing any policy (of your fancied nature) in Bengaluru could as well jeopardize the link between Bengaluru and the rest of Karnataka. Because the entire state (built on linguistic grounds) behaves and lives in one way, and Bengaluru (as imagined by a certain people living in it) will tread a different route! This shouldnt happen - and I guess Praja can play a valuable role in making sure this doesnt happen. Being called Praja, many here feel it has to play this role.

-Nijavaada

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