The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Wednesday reserved its order on the plea of Punit Goenka against the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) decision to ban him from holding key managerial positions in the company and the merged Zee-Sony entity.

On September 8, SAT refused to give interim relief to Goenka in the matter.

While reserving the order in the matter, the tribunal gave one week’s time to the parties to file written submissions, if any.

SEBI had earlier said that it would complete the inquiry in a span of eight months. Goenka had on August 26 moved SAT against the SEBI order.

“It is a stage of allegation and investigation. Hence it should only focus on being preventive. The public's interest will be in it being preventive. SEBI’s approach is not preventive, but it is punitive. SAT should bring this approach back to being preventive,” argued the counsel appearing for Goenka.

SEBI had earlier said that it would complete the inquiry in a span of eight months. Goenka had on August 26 moved SAT against the SEBI order.

During the arguments, the tribunal was told that the eight months’ time sought by SEBI is merely the beginning of a long-lasting investigation.

According to sources, the counsel for ZEEL said “This is a balanceable situation” and there was no need to pass a “draconian order”.

“Please allow the CFO of the merged company to report to the board directly, if needed. What else can we further do to protect shareholder interest? The board of the merged company will comprise of esteemed members.

The tribunal was told that it was not a fair basis to prosecute Goenka with a ban and that all transactions are different in nature and each are absolutely legitimate against business considerations.

“Punit Goenka’s involvement is based merely on conjectures, presumptions and hypothesis; right from the start of the investigation,” his counsel told SAT.

The tribunal was also told that Goenka does not have any control on other Essel Group Companies and that “the decisions taken by other companies, cannot result in an order which penalises him.”

“If this order is not set aside there will be huge repercussions,” the counsel for ZEEL submitted.

In its confirmatory order, SEBI had restricted Goenka and Subhash Chandra from holding any directorship or other key managerial positions in the company and any other organisations.

The exchange4media Group is excited to host the exclusive e4m-Samsung Ads CTV Roundtable in Gurugram today, September 27. In today's competitive marketplace, it is important for advertisers and marketers to understand how to maximize TV budgets and prepare for a larger addressable CTV universe. Marketers now have to consider how incremental reach can help capture viewers across OTT and CTV campaigns and level up their game to stand out from the rest.

At the roundtable, industry heads, digital marketing experts and top leaders from the advertising and marketing world will come together to share insights on the theme ‘How to Leverage the Power of Screen’. The experts will explore the evolving TV landscape, discuss the rise of ad-supported services, and explore how brands are leaning into the power of the screen to create deeper engagement with audiences.

The seasoned professionals will discuss the challenges that agencies and media owners are facing in their business, industry, and market at large. The roundtable will also include discussions on several key topics like what advertisers and marketers expect from CTV in the coming years, how to leverage the power of the screen to curate and tailor their strategies to resonate with the changing trends, measuring business impact in CTV, the challenges in investing more in CTV and more.

Our speakers include Anupam Tripathi, Media Head, Lenskart; Anusha Srinivasan, Digital Media Activations Manager, Reckitt Health, Reckitt India; Archana Aggarwal, VP – Media, Airtel; Bhawna Sikka, Category Head; Oral Health Care, Haleon; Kunal Dhrangadharia, Global Brand Lead, Royal Enfield; Monika Mishra, Director – Marketing, Mobikwik; Sahil Rawal, Vice President - Brand Product Platforms Marketing, Max Life Insurance; Samir Sethi, VP and Head of Brand Marketing, Policybazaar.com; Siya Wadhawan, Senior Brand Manager, boAt Lifestyle and Syed Sibtain Imam, Media Head, Honasa Consumer Ltd (Mamaearth). The discussion will be moderated by Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director, Samsung Ads while Abbhishek Chadha, Executive Vice President, North & East, Interactive Avenues will be the co-moderator.

New Delhi Television Ltd. (NDTV) has been granted permission from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to launch three high-definition (HD) channels.

According to the company's disclosure under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, it said, "This is to inform you that in reference to the application filed by the Company before the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), the Company has received a letter dated September 25, 2023 from MIB conveying its intention to grant permission to the Company to uplink and downlink three (3) news and current affairs channels in High Definition namely ‘NDTV 24x7 HD’, ‘NDTV India HD’ and ‘NDTV Profit HD.'

NDTV added that it will inform the stock exchanges of the launch of the said HD channels.

Disney Star, the official broadcaster of ICC Cricket World Cup for both TV and digital, has bagged two more sponsorships from IndusInd and Emirates for television.

Highly placed sources have confirmed the news to e4m. According to the sources, over 50 advertisers have signed up for the upcoming marquee tournament and the broadcaster is still in talks with other advertisers.

PhonePe, Mahindra Auto, Coke, MasterCard and Hindustan Unilever are the other big brands that have come on board as sponsors for the tournament.

As earlier reported by exchange4media, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 118-120 crore for co-presenting sponsorships and Rs 80-90 crore for the associate sponsorship. For co-presenting opportunities on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster has set a price tag of Rs 150 crore. Brands eager to get high visibility as "Powered by" sponsors will need to invest Rs 75 crore, while those opting for associate sponsorship will have to allocate Rs 40 crore.

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup kicks off on October 5 with a repeat of the 2019 final as England faces New Zealand in Ahmedabad. Across 10 world-class venues, 48 matches will be played in 46 days culminating in the Men’s Cricket World Cup Final on November 19.

News broadcaster Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) has decided to register back for BARC data, starting in the week of October 12, according to sources. 

Emphasizing the significance of this collaboration, Abhay Ojha, CEO of Zee Media Corporation Limited, said, "We, at ZMCL, have always valued the integrity and transparency of data. Our decision to rejoin forces with BARC reflects our firm belief in BARC's commitment towards robust data mechanisms and our anticipation of a productive partnership ahead. We remain committed to delivering trustworthy news and content to our viewers and advertisers."

e4m has reached out for an official confirmation but BARC CEO Nakul Chopra wasn’t available to comment on the development at the time of filing this story.

Earlier in September 2022, the news broadcaster pulled out of the TV audience measurement system, citing the landing page issue as a reason for taking such a drastic step.

ZMCL had then said that it had been consistently requesting BARC India to take corrective measures with regard to the landing page issue. The news broadcaster had said that the landing page data should not be included in the final viewership and the duration for counting viewership be increased to 2 minutes.  

ZMCL was the second TV news network after NDTV to pull out channels from BARC.

The media company owns and operates 14 TV news channels apart from 5 digital channels and 17 digital brands.

Star Parivaar Awards 2023 has onboarded advertisers like Dabur, ITC, Emami, Apple, Amazon, Berger Paints and Xiaomi.

The awards have attracted 14 advertisers spanning a wide array of categories, including FMCG, Banking, E-commerce, Technology, Mobile Handsets, Insurance, Paints, and Pharma.

“This presents an unparalleled opportunity for brands to connect with their target audience on linear TV and beyond. The event offers a diverse range of in-content integration opportunities, emphasizing its massive associative value," said an industry observer.

The award show is set to be telecast on 1st October, starting 7 PM, on Star Plus and Disney+ Hotstar.