NewsX To Get New Brand, On-Air Look; Widespread Cost Cutting Soon

NewsX, the 24-hour news channel that was recently sold by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea (INX Media Pvt Ltd) to Vinay Chhajlani and Jehangir Pocha (Indi Media Co. Pvt Ltd), will sport a new name, Logo and on-air look by June. The rebranding exercise will be handled by TAG, a second agency of Prasoon Joshi-headed McCann Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC). NewsX marketing director Gautam Mukerjea told contentSutra that the account size is Rs13-15 crore. The channel’s existing logo and on-air look was created by UK’s Red Bee Media.

Sources in the company also say that the new branding will have nothing to do with Nai Duniya. Indi Media’s part owner Chhajlani is the promoter of Indore-bsed Hindi daily Nai Duniya and language portal Webduniya.com.

A person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named, said the new promoters were looking at significant and widespread cost cutting. The new promoters have been scrutinizing the channel’s cost structures and soon salaries, vendor and equipment contracts and many other overheads will be renegotiated, the person said. A startup channel with little revenues to speak of having to cut costs is no surprise in an environment where established media companies are forced to do so. Plus, when the channel launched, it poached staff from other broadcasters with very generous terms, way above industry standards. If the new promoters did adequate due diligence before the acquisition, they would also have spotted the opportunity to significantly reduce the cost line. The terms of the deal were never disclosed.

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