12 more TV channels in pipeline in Nepal

KATHMANDU - Indefinite bandas, chakkajams and curfews have taken a continuous toll on Nepali industry. Figures show that there has been no significant industrial growth as the country is still reeling under unstable political conditions even after the end of the decade-long Maoist insurgency.
However, the media industry, which in itself largely depends on other industries, is booming in Nepal. Newspapers and FM radio stations are already in their thousands and hundreds respectively in the country. Latest statistics show that now it is the television industry's turn and Nepali society is entering the televisual age with a vengeance.
According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC), there are a dozen more satellite TV channels in the pipeline. Many of them are preparing to reach the market within months.
Seven TV channels -- Nepal Television (NTV), NTV-2, Kantipur Television, Image, Channel Nepal, Avenues, and Sagarmatha -- are already in operation. Nepal 1, though not registered in Nepal, is one more channel run for Nepali audiences. Image Channel has bought the license of Shangri-La Satellite Television and has been using it for satellite transmissions.
Almost all the TV channels in operation so far in the country are largely based on news and current affairs.
Media promoters have been concentrating on news-oriented channels as on average over 60 percent of the total revenue comes from advertisements aired during news and current affairs, according to Ranjeet Acharya, Chief Executive Officer of Prisma Advertising.
The situation in India is, however, just the opposite. Indian TV channels earn substantially higher from entertainment programs than from news products, according to Joydeb Chakravarty, Managing Director of Thompson Nepal. A group of media and TV personalities including music director Shambhujit Baskota and film editor Narendra Khadka is preparing to launch NNTV (Namaste Nepali TV) within a couple of months. The channel will focus totally on entertainment, sports, idle-shows and talk-shows.

"Main targets of this channel will be non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) and other Nepali communities spread over several countries," Khadka informed. It also has plans to establish collaboration with Indian or any other international channels.
Similarly, a group of engineers has teamed up to launch Moonlight Television that will mainly focus its programs on development activities, according to Director of Model City and Technology Development, Krishna Prasad Sharma, who is also one of the promoters of the channel. "We will initiate debates, through the channel, over issues like models of development in the days to come," he added. Housing and construction companies and I/NGOs active in the field of development will constitute its target audience and advertisers, according to Sharma. Beginning with six hours at first, the channel will later run round the clock.Sanjay Adhikari of ABC TV, however, said, "Let us do something first before making publicity."
TV channels in Nepal are already walking a tightrope, as there has been no growth of other industries in recent days. "No new product has been launched in the market for the last 10 months," said Acharya. "New channels will have to share the same pie unless they come up with an innovative idea or find some fresh sector."
Unless there is a new revolution in the entertainment sector, there is no possibility of improvement in generation of more revenue from advertisements, according to Acharya.
Expansion of the cable network is not good news either for Nepali channels because foreign channels can reach Nepali kitchens and drawing rooms directly through cable. "Then multinational companies think there is no more a need to provide advertisements to Nepali channels," Acharya said. The increasing trend of using hoarding boards in urban areas is another headache for local channels as advertisers allocate money for that also from the same advertising budget, according to him.
Chakravarty hopes that an increasing number of TV channels would promote competition, quality of service and more scientific costing.
Pointing out shortcomings in Nepali media, he stated that at present Nepali TV channels lack diversity. "Their programs replicate each other," he added.
Presence of very few fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) in the market is a problem for Nepali media. Similarly, the same handful of old advertisers remain the big players in the market, according to Chakravarty.
Transmission charges for television channels seeking a license range from Rs 350,000 for 500 watt capacity to Rs 1.2 million for 10 KW.

The channels have to pay 110 percent of the amount as renewal charges annually. Also, both satellite and terrestrial channels have to pay 5,000 rupees as application charge to the government.