ITV

Category: I&B Ministry

  • Inquiry ordered into crash of AIR FM tower servicing five private FM operators in Delhi

    Inquiry ordered into crash of AIR FM tower servicing five private FM operators in Delhi

    NEW DELHI: The government has ordered an inquiry into the reported crash during a storm on 30 May of the 149-meter high power FM transmitter of All India Radio in Kingsway Camp in north Delhi.

     

    The services of five private FM operators who were using this transmitter were ‘severely’ disrupted following the crash as the antennae and feeder cable were damaged.

     

    The tower was built by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) out of funds provided by the government.

     

    The inquiry to be completed within 15 days and submitted to Information and Broadcasting Ministry secretary Bimal Julka will be conducted by former AIR chief engineer Mukul Tyagi, former TSL (Allahabad) chief manager A K M Tripathy, Prasar Bharati director (E) P Das, and Telecom Engineering Centre director (Radio) Bal Kishan.

     

    The Committee will go into the circumstances of the crash, and construction of the tower including site selection and awarding of tenders etc. Any expenditure involved in testing samples of the tower will be borne by the government.

  • Delhi HC adjourns ad cap case to 25 September

    Delhi HC adjourns ad cap case to 25 September

    Updated: 03:46 PM

     

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today once again adjourned – this time to 25 September – the final hearing of the bunch of petitions challenging the ad cap sort to be imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as the authority has not finalised its rejoinder.

     

    In any case, Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also noted that the Court did not have sufficient hearing at present for a final hearing in view of the large pendency of other cases.

     

    However, the assurance by TRAI given in an earlier hearing that it will not take any coercive action under the ad-cap regulations will continue.
     
    However, the Court had said the petitioners have to submit a weekly report on the consumption of commercial airtime in a clock hour.

     

    This matter had initially been filed before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) but fresh petitions were filed in the High Court after the Supreme Court ruled that TRAI regulations could not be adjudicated upon by the Tribunal.

     

    During the last hearing on 6 May, TRAI Counsel Saket Singh had said that the Cable TV Networks (Regulations) Rules of 1994 were clear about the ad cap and TRAI had only sought to implement that.
     
    However, Neeraj Krishna Kaul who represented one of the petitioners – News Broadcasters Association – argued that the case involved important constitutional issues as there were cases where the freedom of the press and freedom of speech and expression are involved and the case cannot be decided without having all facts on record.
     
    The case had been first heard in the High Court on 17 December last year and 13 March this year.

     

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels.

     

    Apart from the NBA, the petition have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

     

    The news and regional broadcasters fear that the capping of commercial airtime will curtail their ad revenues. They also argue that the ad cap must be brought only after the benefits of cable TV digitisation start kicking in.

     

    Earlier this year, the Court had also granted interim relief to Hyderabad-based MAA Television Network against the ad cap regulation. However, the court had also observed that the cap on advertisements is a ‘reasonable exercise’.

     

    Four major broadcast networks—Star India, Zee Entertainment, Multi Screen Media and TV18 Group—are following the regulations.

  • Telecast of DD to be made mandatory on all cable and DTH platforms: Javadekar

    Telecast of DD to be made mandatory on all cable and DTH platforms: Javadekar

    NEW DELHI: Telecast of Doordarshan will be made mandatory on every direct to home and cable network, according to Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.

     

    Speaking at a press meet in Ahmedabad, Javadekar said his aim was to make Doordarshan and All India Radio the first choice for viewers.

     

    Javadekar invited suggestions from the public in this regard. “I held a meeting with local officials and asked them to come with ideas to improve the content of DD and AIR,” he said. “To do that, we have decided to invite suggestions from people about what they would like to watch and listen,” he added.

     

    “We are taking steps to make Doordarshan channels available in all cable TV as well as direct to home platforms.”

     

    He stressed on the need to convert the Medium Wave (MW) frequency of Akashvani to FM, “as a majority of radio sets catch only FM signals these days.”

     

  • Steps taken to prevent bullying of children on the internet, claims government

    Steps taken to prevent bullying of children on the internet, claims government

    NEW DELHI: About 18 per cent of children have said that they have been victims of bullying on internet.

     

    This is revealed by a survey report ‘Cyber Crime -2013 – Kids (India),’ published by software company Symantec which covered a sample size of just 203 kids.

     

    Parliament was told this week that a website (secureyourpc.in) for children, home users and elderly is available for safeguarding their computer systems and learning the risks on internet. 

     

    Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there had been some media reports that children are becoming victims of depression because of cyber bullying.

     

    The Home Ministry had issued an Advisory on Preventing & combating Cyber Crime against Children on 4 January 2012, advising States/Union Territories to specifically combat the crimes in the forms of cyber stalking, cyber bullying, child pornography and exposure to sexually explicit material etc. 

     

    The Information Technology Act, 2000 has provision for dealing with cyber crimes targeting children. 

    The government has implemented Information Security Education Awareness (ISEA) programme including the programmes conducted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI) and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) for security awareness and training in the area of information security.

     

    Specific workshops have been conducted for school children on making them aware about risks on internet and adopting safe internet browsing practices. In these programmes around 710 workshops have been organised across the country covering large number of organisations, schools, students and teachers. During the workshops, awareness kits have also been distributed. Security awareness material like posters, DVDs, cartoon/animation videos have also been developed and widely distributed.

     

    A dedicated website for information security awareness (www.infosecawareness.in) has also been developed and content is available in English and Hindi language. 

  • Terrestrial TV to be opened for private participation: Javadekar

    Terrestrial TV to be opened for private participation: Javadekar

    MUMBAI: Is the Modi government likely to pry open terrestrial television to private broadcasters?  Terrestrial TV has been the exclusive turf of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, apart from a short stint where it leased out a programming block to Ozzie broadcaster Kerry Packer around 12-13 years ago.

    It is quite likely to, if one goes by the response of Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar to a question in the Parliament on 9 July. PTI quotes him as saying that Doordarshan is digitising its analogue terrestrial network.

    “Consequently the number of digitised channels would go up. DD would thereafter be in a position to invite private free-to-air TV channels for meaningful business plan in this regard,” he added.

    This was one of the options provided by the Sam Pitroda committee earlier this year.  The committee had recommended two options: one to totally move the pubcaster to satellite transmission via DD Direct. And, two, to upgrade its analogue terrestrial network to DVBT2 to meet its need to deliver content meeting both national and regional coverage needs.

    The report had recommended that DD could opt for selected use of DVB-T2/DVB-NGH terrestrial  technology in partnership with private players if commercially feasible in order to enhance the capacity of each transmitter to eight to 10 channels.

    The committee, however, had cautioned that DD would have to transform itself into two separate companies handling content creation and managing infrastructure to allow private participation. Additionally, it had added that DD would have to provide a subsidy to increase the affordability of DVBT2/DVB-NGH receivers as they are not readily available at affordable prices in India.

    Even the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had in 2005 recommended that terrestrial television should be thrown open to private sector participation as is the case in most countries.

  • Biometric systems to check attendance in I&B Ministry, quotations invited

    Biometric systems to check attendance in I&B Ministry, quotations invited

    NEW DELHI: A few days after Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had forced around 100 officers of the Ministry to take leave for the day for coming late to office, the Ministry has decided to install biometric device for Attendance System.

     

    The Ministry has called for quotations for such systems (through finger print/face detection/ smart card) with in-built time and attendance software in the Ministry in Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi.

     

    The quotations have to be filed by the end of this month and will be opened the same day in the presence of those who bid.

     

    The bid has to be furnished in a two-bid system: technical bid and financial bid. Details of the contents of these bids have been furnished on the website mib.nic.in.

     

    The financial bid of only those firms will be considered which qualify for the technical bid. 

     

  • Apply once for security clearance, not for every new channel: MIB

    Apply once for security clearance, not for every new channel: MIB

    NEW DELHI: The issue of security clearance for directors of TV channels has cropped up once again, this time on a good note. In a notice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has said that applicants for new TV channels whose directors have already received security clearance will not have to apply for fresh security clearance from the Home Ministry (HM).

     

    However, this will apply to those applicants who have filed within the validity period of security clearance.

     

    In doing so, the MIB has restored a practice which was earlier in force but had been changed after the Home Minister, on 10 January this year, said that applications for new channels will require fresh security clearance though their tenure may be co-terminus with the 10 year licence period for the earlier channels owned by the same applicant.

     

    In its note today, the MIB said it had been ‘the experience of this Ministry that the entire process of grant of permission has slowed down considerably.’ The issue had also been raised in open house meetings and other meets, conducted earlier.

     

    Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has also laid great emphasis on reviewing ‘such processes which cause avoidable delays and to streamline the same’.

     

    While the MIB had decided to restore the old practice to avoid delays, it has said that a copy of each cleared application would be sent to the HM for ‘its record and information’.

      

    The whole issue cropped up when the MIB had in June last year written a letter to the HM seeking clarification on the issue. In its reply in October last year, the HM had said that fresh security clearance would have to be sought and this would be valid for three years.   

     

    Later in December, the MIB had written to the HM that the new applications be made co-terminus with the 10 year licence that the original channel had received.

     

    The HM had in January this year agreed on the issue of being co-terminus, but said that fresh security clearance would have to be sought.

  • Three months deadline to channels for responding to clarifications: MIB

    Three months deadline to channels for responding to clarifications: MIB

    NEW DELHI: Even as it said it will not respond to applications of permissions for licences if an applicant has delayed in responding to queries by more than three months, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry today gave a final grace period of 15 days to 73 applications.

     

    The Ministry said in a note today that a stock-taking had shown that in 20 per cent to 40 per cent cases, applicants took anything between three months to one year to reply to the information sought by the Ministry. So, the ministry has said that henceforth, it will close requests where clarification has been due for more than three months.

     

    A final call has been given to all to send in their clarifications that are pending within 15 days.

     

    At the same time, it said that it is committed to granting permissions and other regulatory approvals as soon as clearances and clarifications are obtained in a speedy and transparent manner. It said that no permissions can be “held up intentionally.”

     

    However, the company’s response sometimes becomes crucial to expeditious disposal of such requests.

     

    Failure by the companies to reply, delays the whole process leading to an impression that the permissions are held up by the Ministry.

     

    The Ministry also sent separate emails to the concerned companies.

     

    Applicants include major players like Big RTL Broadcast, INX News, UTV Entertainment, Sarthak Entertainment, Focus group, News Express among others. Some of these have filed applications for more than one channel. 

  • MIB wants you to create an ad for 15 August

    MIB wants you to create an ad for 15 August

    MUMBAI: The new government wants to give the common man an opportunity to bring out the passion for the country and creativity.

     

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s (MIB) directorate of adverting & visual publicity (DAVP) has invited print advertisement creative designs from general public on the occasion of 68th Independence Day. The theme of the advertisement is ‘Sabke Saath Sabka Vikaas.’

     

    The selection committee will shortlist the 10 best advertisement designs. The best advertisement design will be published in newspapers across the country on 15 August as well as the winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 15000 along with a letter of appreciation from the MIB.

     

    The remaining nine shortlisted advertisements will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 3000 each along with a letter of appreciation from the Ministry.

     

    The advertisement of the size of 25×33 cms or 825 sq cms in colour has to be sent in a PDF format on davp-partnership@gmail. com.

     

    The last date for receipt of entries is 15 July.

  • Broadcasters, teleports warned on forex payments without I&B permission

    Broadcasters, teleports warned on forex payments without I&B permission

    NEW DELHI: The government has warned broadcast companies and teleport operators who have obtained permission for services of foreign satellites without prior approval of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for remittance in foreign exchange of hiring charges which is mandatory under a circular of the Finance Ministry of September 2004.

     

    Ministry joint secretary (Broadcasting) Supriya Sahu in an advisory reiterated the need and importance for seeking prior approval of the Ministry for making payments in foreign exchange towards hiring of transponders of foreign satellites and complying with the existing provisions of the Reserve Bank of India in this regard.

     

    She stressed that the I&B Ministry is the administrative Ministry for granting permission to remittance of Forex for hiring charges of transponders on foreign satellites by TV channels/ teleports.

     

    She said that in view of this, all broadcast companies and teleport operators are advised to strictly follow the guidelines under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999. Any proposal seeking approval of the Ministry should be submitted at least 30 days in advance of the date before which the payment is due.

     

    She drew attention of the broadcasters to the Reserve Bank of India Circular of October 2004 wherein authorised dealer banks had been apprised that proposals for remittance of hiring charges of transponders by TV channels would require prior approval of the Ministry. The circular also stressed on the authorised dealer banks to bring the contents of the circular to the notice of their constituents and customers for ensuring compliance of the provision of the FEMA Act.