Dear Bhadaas4Media team, The recent happenings at Focus News and regional channels have been carried by your website, especially the closure of the regional channels and clouds of uncertainities on the 2 balance channels. The fate of the 2 channels is also heading to a closure in few weeks as the whistle blown by veteran journalist Sandeep bamzai has made agencies like CBI take note of relation between Matang Sinh ji and Naveen Jindal considering the funding of channels of Focus group owned by Matang Sinh Ji on paper.
Sandeep bamzai who joined Focus as Managing Editor for one month at a crore ruppe salary annually left igniting a dispute between him and Naveen jindal. Sandeep bamzai claims that his dues are not cleared on instructions of Jindal whereas people close to Jindal claim that all contractual dues have been paid in full. Once Bamzai Ji realize that he is not going to get full and final settlement as per his calculation, he went live on Twitter exposing funding pattern of Focus Group. Due to Company Law Board order on petition of Manoranjana Sinh, the ownership transfer of Focus Tv Group to Naveen Jindal from Matang Sinh Ji did not materialise. But the money of Rs 150 cr paid to Matang sinh Ji was shown as loan. Later for 2 years, focus tv group got funding from Naveen Jindal of rs 200 cr. bamzai Ji uses sarada scam arrestee in place of Matang sinh Ji and coal scam chargesheeted for Naveen jindal in his tweets, calling attention of CBI to investigate the nexus.
After Bamzai Ji blew the whistle in Lalit Modi style, he is understood to have provided money trail information to agencies for collecting evidence. According to focus colleagues attempts are on to shift the 2 balance channels on a different license for which Focus Group editor Sanjiv Srivastava has been doing rounds of I&B ministry for approvals. This need came after sensing the investigations in progress on ownership and fund trail which can result in cancellation of license to black out Focus Tv group. With Modi Govt against Naveen jindal chances of favourable decision to change Focus channels on a Matang sinh free license is remote.
Recently focus gave pink slips to employees of 4 channels to reduce staff by 700 people and monthly burden by 5 crore. The pink slip gave 4 months salary as golden handshake which further irked Bamzai Ji who claims to have been sent only one month cheque, and thus becoming whistle blower. Only a part of funding thru advertisements can be seen by us as all focus channels were running Jindal group ads in every break. Now suddenly the Jindal group ads have also decreased sensing the upcoming issues which Jindal wants to avoid due to his already long list of problems.
A source says that bamzai Ji has provided details of 80 cr funding that is questionable by law and will put Naveen jindal in problem if investigators catch evidence thru banking transfer. To resolve matters recently former Zee Ceo vijay jindal was brought to oversee focus tv group by Naveen jindal. According to sources, vijay jindal has given advise to close down focus TV group temporarily to avoid issues. Vijay jindal in his report is heard to have brought up the matter of no advertising prospects which will force Naveen jindal to pump 60-65 crore every year in loss making Focus TV group.
The situation inside Focus office at noida is very grim. All colleagues are scared of loosing their jobs. Some bigwigs have been asked to resign and others face salary cuts and delays. The day is not far when Focus National News and Focus Odisha also face voluntary or forced closure, either by Naveen jindal himself or from cancellation of news license. The channel is taken off from Airtel DTH and all cable networks due to funding issues.
Naveen Jindal is also heard to be trying hard to patch up with zee boss Subhash Chandra to end their feud after which focus will have no great relevance to him. If jindal is successful in making peace with BJP top brass, then his need for a mouthpiece will not exist anymore. Either way, focus is headed for closure as jindal firms are hit hard financially and cannot afford to pay crores every month in loss making venture with no possibility of returns. But will the balance employees of focus national news and focus Odisha get 4 months salary with pink slip as closure cost of focus TV group itself is said to be 23 crore. With no TV channel jobs in the market as P7, sahara and news express staff is already waiting for new jobs, getting jobs for focus TV employees will not be easy.
Even top TV channels are looking to cut costs and don’t have vacancies to absorb staff of 4 national news channels and 4 regional channels. The future of focus staff is getting uncertain and bleaker by the day as every experiment tried to make a mark has failed. Only two hopes for many is bamzai Ji who became popular in short time at focus and is likely to be part of a new English channel founding team. And other is Matang Sinh Ji who after getting bail is back with his capability to run the channel at lower cost on his own.
The uncertainty is killing many and needs to be ended as the ones still left at focus are more worried for their futures, as their old colleagues who got pink slips are atleast clear that they have to find alternate jobs soon.
Yours sincerely
Unfocused at Focus
[email protected]
