For the second time, the noted ZEE 24 Ghantalu channel has been shut down and sources say all this is due to the exorbitant salaries taken by the new staff.
Unwanted salary hikes, unreasonable phone bill payments, high packages all this led to heavy losses for the channel to the tune of 50 lakhs per month, say sources.
Buzz is that even Botsa Satish Babu made it clear he cannot handle it anymore and called it quits.
But the root cause of this seems to be a group of new people who joined.
Just like a game plan, it is heard that the Zee editor, input had appointed one graphics head, one anchor, one editing department head, one from desk and another reporter.
When the Zee folks from Delhi came in, it is heard that the same group was sent for discussions.
It is heard that inside one decision was taken but outside another decision was announced.
In this bargain, the old timers who never got the deserved hike and worked sincerely suffered a big blow.
The entire fund flow was controlled by the new team and they reportedly distributed it amongst themselves in the form of salaries and other perks.
Reports say a crime chief who was getting 18k in another channel was taken in Zee for 50k.
Now, media circles say he has joined ABN for 20k in the same position.
Similarly, those who joined in the crime team were being given 30k in Zee whereas they used to get only 12k -15k in other channels.
Same happened with the desk team who reportedly got 35k-40k in Zee whereas they were getting only 10k elsewhere.
All in all, it is being reported that a group which joined newly in Zee formed a syndicate, roped in their people from other places, ‘fixed’ their salaries and blew out money big time without any norms and finally led the channel to a loss of several lakhs per month and eventually its shutdown.
