In fact, there is talk that new players in the TV space, which have spent huge budgets and are yet to recover investments will end up shutting shop. Speculations are rife that 9X which has failed to deliver high GRPs is facing tough times as the investors have tightened the money flow. The channel is now looking for second round of investors. However, Indrani Mukerjea, CEO, 9X laughs off rumours of closing down. “This is the first time I am hearing about it. We are looking for fund-raisers, and a month-and-half ago had mandated Kotak for it. We are cognizant of the fact that you can have a new investor or a set of investors come in any time from 12 weeks to 12 months. ”

NDTV Imagine, which is just a year old claims to have a large client base comparable to most of the established GECs. “The client mix is extremely healthy in terms of revenue dependence, client category, region split etc. This will ensure we can withstand a slowdown if at all,” points out Juhi Ravindranath, EVP, Advertising Sales, NDTV Imagine.

Also, with companies cutting on costs, the first casualty is advertising. TV industry which is largely ad-driven is directly hit. Agrees Mehra, “There have been some cuts by the advertisers however it is too early to comment.” With the workers striking for higher wages, and broadcasters halting production activity, the industry is incurring huge losses.

According to a producer, if he doesn’t shoot for a month, he stands to lose Rs 25 lakhs, which means around 8-9 lakhs per week. If he has 3-4 shows on air, the losses are multiplied. A producer gets in the range of Rs 4 - 11 lakhs per episode depending on the star cast, production values, production house, writer, director, the channel on which it is aired, its time-slot etc. Says Asit Modi who’s producing Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashmah on SAB, “I am producing Taarak Mehta... at a competitve budget though it is the No.1 show on SAB.” He adds that with no production activity, they continue to incur standing costs on infrastructures and studio. Agrees Dheeraj Kumar of Creative Eye who has a couple of shows Maayka and Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan on air, “Not only the studio but one has to pay staff which is on a monthly roll like the creative director, supervising and line producer etc. If the deadlock continues the losses will run into crores.”

The immediate fallout of the strike is the delay in the launch of many new shows. Angad and Ramlal, which were to air on 9X have been postponed, NDTV Imagine’s Bali Umar Ko Salaam and Oye It’s Friday with Farhan Akhtar has been put on hold, promos of four shows Chhote Miya, Dancing Queen, Utaran, Jaane Kya Baat Huyi, were being aired on Colors, Star Plus’ Aap Ki Kacheri with Kiran Bedi was scheduled for a November 10 launch, the very day production activity was halted. Sahara One had even slotted two shows Pankh Hoti To Ud Jaati Re and Jo Ishq Ki Marzi, Wohi Rab Ki Marzi on the 8 pm and 8.30 pm bands, but couldn’t take off. Sony had just launched Meet Mila De Rabba and its Indian Idol was set to enter its gala round, which is an important phase of the contest that brings ratings. Zee has had to postpone its two daily soaps, Shree and Chhoti Bahu.

In the meantime, channels are re-running old episodes. To what extent this has affected its viewership will be determined only this week when TAM gives out its rating chart. To a query on whether advertisers have cut rates or pulled back, Ravindranath says, “So far the advertisers have not indicated any timelines and since they are in agreement with the fundamental issue we anticipate their support for a while.” GEC's have started airing re-runs from November 10 and reports suggests that the Advertising Council will review the situation after 10 days i.e. after November 20.

Thanks to re-runs, other genres of entertainment like sports and movie channels have got a fillip. Neo Sports which is airing the India-England series has been a direct beneficiary. Says Abhishek Varma, Marketing Head, Neo Sports, “It is a combination of GEC’s problems as well as increased interest in the sport with India playing so well. The ratings of India-Australia series, specially the third Test was higher than the shows on Star Plus, Zee and Colors which increased the advertiser’s confidence in the consistent delivery mechanism of cricket. I wouldn’t say we have a huge difference in the growth of advertisers but the value has definitely gone up. For India-Australia matches, we sold ad spots at the rate of 1 lakh per ten seconds and for the series against England, we are selling it at 2.5 - 2.75 lakhs per 10 secs.”