Television Shutdown, Journalists’ Unemployment!

Kathmandu: Galaxy4K television, which became one of the reputed television of Nepal in a short period, shut down on Poush 1 (December 17). The journalists of the media, whose 6 months’ salary is still pending, are protesting. The television has been playing songs since its shutdown. Even this does not seem to last long. The television seems to play songs unless the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) cuts the power supply. With this, more than 100s of journalists and officials have gone jobless.

Similarly, ‘Bagmati Television’ is also halting its operation from Poush 29 (January 14). The television was relaunched after shifting the central office to Ratopul six months ago. The television cleared the payment of the officials by giving cheques. The cheques will be cleared only in the next month. The television has asked the officials to search for jobs in another organization.

And the number does not stop here. ‘Nepal Network TV’ also stopped and resumed its broadcasting a few weeks ago. The TV was compelled to shut down after it failed to give salaries to the employees even during the time of the Dashain and Tihar. The office of the television is in the Anamnagar. It cleared the dues amount of the few old employees and resumed broadcasting the news bulletin and songs.

Likewise, the ‘Earth News Television’ also stopped its broadcasting. It was only on Asar 7 (June 22), that the television began its broadcasting with a huge investment. With the shutdown of the Earth news, more than 80 journalists have gone unemployed. The television is preparing to relaunch. Now, television is broadcasting songs.

Also, the television with small investments is closing down. ‘Nice TV’, located in Kalopul, and ‘Gorkha TV” in Jawalakhel also closed down. There were no proper investments and planning in these televisions. With this, dozens of journalists and officials have become unemployed.

On the one hand, Janata Television is also in the phase to stop its broadcasting. The employees and journalists of the media have not received a salary in between the time frame of 18 months to 2 years. The news is only broadcast in the morning and evening. The channel is playing songs during the day. The journalists of the media protested the whole day on Monday.

On the other hand, the management team assured to clear the salary after some time after the officials protested by halting even the 2-3 bulletins and interviews. However, the management team said that it was not able to handle the operating cost of the television and the due salary was also very high. Hence, the management team is in the process of closing down the television.

The continuous closing down of reputed media houses is indicating a huge crisis in the television sector in Nepal. This can be understood as a warning bell.

The number of televisions has crossed dozens till now. And the television which is operating by terminating the employees is also in the phase of shutting down. Those television are somehow operating with the help of the Public Service Announcement (PSA) kind of advertisements, given by the government. There are only a few media left that can withstand the changing scenario. Even their situation is in a delicate phase.

With the closing of the televisions, the unemployment is skyrocketing. And even the television providing employment is not able to provide the salaries on time. Only the government televisions are getting salary on time. And there are hardly two privately owned television providing salaries on time. No other television, except Kantipur and Himalaya, has been able to give the salaries. The rest of the televisions have not been able to provide salaries to the employees for about 7-8 months.

Additionally, the salaries of the employees in ‘Global Television’ are pending for 5 months. The conflict between the partners regarding the investment resulted in the halting of the salary of the journalists. One of the investors complained about not being able to invest alone. This has made the future of television unsustainable.

Prime Time Television, whose Chairperson is Rishi Dhamala, has not been able to give salaries to its employees for the past 4 months. The management said that it was only able to bear the operational cost despite reducing the number of employees.

The ‘Seven Star’ television, located in Tinkune, is also in the same boat. The television started its broadcast at the beginning of this fiscal year. The number of resignations is increasing with the constant pending of the salaries for more than 4 months.

Even the situation of AP1, News 24, Mountain Television, Sagarmatha, and NBC Television is the same. The impact of the Avenues Television was great. It gave birth to many renowned journalists of the nation. But even it cannot save itself from the crisis.

The recently opened television ‘Space 4K’ is optimum till now. The television is trying to meet the heights of the Galaxy 4K. Former DIG Ramesh Kharel is running a program in the ‘Rabi Lamichhane’ style. The program ‘Janata Janardhan’ has already aired 4 episodes.

Television in crisis with the decreasing advertisement scenario

The weakening of the advertisement market led to television on the verge of closing down, said Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN) former president Som Dhital. The annual market for advertising used to be 14 billion rupees. The number has reduced by halved in recent times.

Dhital said that the advertisement was reduced by 65% in Print Media, 50% in radio, 50% in television, and 40% in online media. The advertising market, which reduced after the earthquake in 2072 B.S. (2015), reduced even more in the COVID-19 period. And its huge impact is being visible in television.

‘People are investing in Television without proper study and planning. The current advertisement market cannot withstand all the media. Remaining few televisions might shut down,’ said Dhital.

Dhital said that the economic crisis was affecting the advertisement market and the media. He said that a few media were closing down due to problems in the management. There was a huge investment in the Galaxy 4k. It shut down due to the weakness of the management despite having adequate investment.

Television in the Shadow of Online Media

The analysts claim that social media and online news portals have replaced the advertising quotas of the television. The Advertising agency said that the advertisements were being assigned to social media and news portals rather than to televisions.

One of the agency official said, ‘One needs to invest crores to operate a television. But, online media can be operated in a small budget. But, that medium can be accessible to the audiences. That’s why the advertisement market became disseminated. The advertisement even started exploring online media, Facebook, and YouTube content. With the reduction in number of advertisements, many television failed to withstand the expenditure and got closed.’

Nepali version of the story