ITV

Category: I&B Ministry

  • Govt defers Datawind & Vodafone FDI proposals

    NEW DELHI: The Government has rejected a proposal by Limpkin Telecom Private Limited to bring in 100% foreign investment by Jorden Elizabeth, a UK citizen.

    Following the advice of the Foreign Investments Promotions Board, the Finance Ministry has deferred a decision on a proposal by M/s Datawind Innovations Private Limited, an existing foreign owned company, presently engaged in the activity of internet delivery platform and manufacturing and trading of computer tablets and smartphones, to diversify into additional line of business of providing telecom services.

    It has also deferred the proposal by Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited  for the exit of the resident shareholders and transfer of their holdings to the existing foreign shareholders – Sistema Joint Stock Financial Corporation, Russia and Federal Agency for the State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) – thereby increasing the foreign shareholding in the company from existing 73.95% to 100% and also consequently increasing the foreign shareholding in its downstream company, Shyam Internet Services Limited to 100%.

    Two proposals by M/s Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, a 100% foreign owned Indian company, have also been deferred. One was for post-facto approval for the scheme of amalgamation among Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Digilink Limited, Vodafone South Limited, Vodafone East Limited and Vodafone Cellular Limited. The other was for post-facto approval for the scheme of amalgamation among Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Spacetel Limited and Vodafone West Limited.

    Decision has also been deferred on a proposal for foreign direct investment by Ubiquity S. R. L, by way of acquisition of 100% shares of M/s Solutions Infini Technologies (India) Private Limited, a company operating in telecom sector, in four tranches.

    The Finance Ministry approved a proposal by M/s Entrepreneur India Media Private Limited for undertaking the additional business of publishing scientific and technical magazines. This will entail a foreign direct investment of Rs 80 million.

    Also Read:

    You Broadband-Vodafone proposal accepted, Atria & Netmagic FDI cleared 

    Idea, Star Den among Rs-1200 cr FDI proposals approved; latter to switch to investing biz

    Star Den, Flag Telecom, You & Idea FDI meet on 28 Dec

  • Govt admits centralised content monitoring of TV and Radio ‘non-workable’

    NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee has said that it is “unable to comprehend whether the proposal of centralized content monitoring of television and radio is really a non-workable proposition as claimed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry” or because it failed to get tenders.

    In fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry has implied that the Ministry has come to this conclusion as the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd (BECIL) which is handling the project “did not receive any valid response to their tenders.

    The Ministry has admitted to the Committee that “real time transition of content from FM and community radio stations to a centralized monitoring facility is challenging in terms of technology and IT infrastructure.”

    The Ministry is therefore in the process of formalizing the complaints redressal mechanism by giving it a statutory status according to the Supreme Court Order of 12 January 2017 which has acknowledged self-regulatory mechanism in addition to complaint based processes.

    BECIL, which is handling the project on turnkey basis, had invited tenders for the setting up of monitoring facility for private FM and CRS which did not receive any valid response. Real time transmission of content from FM and CRS stations across the length and breadth of the country to a centralized monitoring facility is challenging in terms of technology and IT infrastructure in remote areas. The Ministry admitted that the efficacy of such a system is “doubtful due to the information overload”.

    In view of the fact that the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) has so far configured 729 TV channels though it has content acquisition facility for 900 channels. On being asked about the physical targets set under the Scheme for the year 2016-17, the Ministry stated that EMMC aims to configure the remaining 78 TV channels in the existing software set up. The configuration requires technical parameters for Free to Air (FTA) channels while in case of Pay channels it requires broadcasters to provide necessary equipments for downloading and decryption of the content/signal.

    The Committee has been informed that the EMMC and BECIL are coordinating with the industry to obtain technical parameters for configuration of remaining channels.

    The Ministry have said that though the initial target was to achieve monitoring of 1500 channels since 892 channels had been given license till 31st December 2016, the monitoring facility at EMMC is in tune with the number of channels which have been granted permission and the facility would be scaled up if required.

    The Committee note that the budgetary allocation for the Scheme of Strengthening of EMMC was Rs 120 million which was marginally reduced to Rs 116 million at revised estimates stage during the year 2016-17, out of which the Ministry have been able to expend only Rs 74.2 million.

    Explaining this shortfall, the Ministry stated that in order to stagger the deployment of resources commensurate with the likely additional channels that may be approved for uplinking/downlinking, an amount of Rs 20 million was being surrendered.

    While the Committee left “the matter to the wisdom of the Ministry:, it desired that necessary steps are taken in the right direction so that the content monitoring for FM channels and CRS does not suffer and Rs 120 million allocated for the purpose for the financial year 2017-18 is utilized judiciously.

  • Big FM appoints Dheeraj Goel & Rahul Saini, promotes Divya singh as national sales head

    MUMBAI: Big FM has strengthened its core leadership team as it enters a new financial year, triggering a fresh era of growth for the company.

    Continuing her stint with Big FM, Divya Singh has been elevated from her previous position and will take charge as the national sales head for key vertical, which includes auto, consumer durables and telecom sectors respectively.

    Dheeraj Goel, with over 19 years of experience in regional sales, marketing, and operations joins Big FM as regional business head, north and Rajasthan.

    Rahul Saini, having over 14 years of work experience with the ability to formulate and implement regional level business strategies, has joined Big FM as the regional business — head west. The new appointees will drive new strategic initiatives as part of their respective new roles in the organisation.

    Divya Singh is known for driving excellent revenue in highly competitive markets. She is a creative and business savvy sales professional with over 17 years of intensive experience in Radio, Television and Print Media industry. She says, “Big FM is home for me and it is truly gratifying to have been promoted to my new role at the organisation. I hope to contribute towards my new journey in the organisation by managing the sales, and also by discovering various innovative ways in generating revenue, which will help to fuel the growth of the company.

    Dheeraj Goel with over two decades of work experience in the marketing and sales domain, will manage and look after the sales and marketing of the assigned areas, and bring excellent customer service to the table. On the other hand, Rahul Saini with his fruitful stints at marquee organizations such as Pidilite, Pepsico and Marico among others has a wholesome experience of over 14 years in the sales domain, which will further help the organisation thrive in terms of sales and revenue along with brilliant customer service.

    Dheeraj, on his new role at Big FM, says “I look forward to this opportunity given to me at BIG FM as it would enable me to tap into my fullest potential. At BIG FM, my aim is to utilize the skills effectively and drive key business initiatives in the North & Rajasthan region.”

    On his new appointment Saini commented saying, “Having been passionate about the media industry, I feel elated to join the Big FM family, and I look forward to add more value to the firm with my abilities in managing large scale business operations with a high operational complexity.”

    Commenting on the same,Big FM CEO Tarun Katial said, “I warmly welcome Dheeraj and Rahul to the BIG FM family, and congratulate Divya on her new role. I am confident that the new developments will effectively bolster our core sales leadership team, and fuel our growth story in the new financial year.”

  • EC finds Times Now & ABP News violating MCD poll rules, explanation sought

    NEW DELHI: Two television news channels – ABP News and Times Now – have been asked by the Delhi State Election Commission to explain telecast of survey results ahead of the polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi held on Sunday. 

    Srivastava told mediapersons at a news conference that the Commission had demanded an explanation from the channels for the survey as it was a breach of the Model Code of Conduct. The results of the survey telecast on Saturday evening had led the Congress to raise the matter.

    Even as the state election commissioner S.K. Srivastava said action had been taken suo moto, it became clear that the Congress party had complained as both channels had forecast a major win for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ironically, the exit polls had also forecast a major BJP win with Aam Admi Party and Congress way behind in second and third place, respectively. Srivastava asked the two channels not to broadcast the survey news again. 

    The Delhi unit of the Congress had approached the Commission against Times Now yesterday, and sought action for violating the procedures and Standard Operating Procedure of the Election Commission. Under the Procedure, no survey can be announced or published 48 hours before the closing of the elections. This particularly applies for elections held in a single phase.

    An application by Congress leaders Sharmistha Mukherjee and Aman Panwar said that this “grossly violates the concept of a free and fair elections which the foundation of our democracy.”

    Last month, the Election Commission, noting violation by media houses of its fiat, had recommended them to keep away from publicising exit polls till a particular period during assembly elections in five states. EC asked the media not to air or publish such programmes in future so as to ensure fair polls.

    In a letter to the News Broadcasters Association secretary-general and the Press Council of India secretary, the EC asked the print and electronic media to keep away from publicising exit polls or predictions about future poll triumphs.

    The poll watchdog pointed to Section 126 A of the Representation of the People Act which states that “no person shall conduct any exit poll and publish or publicise by means of the print and electronic media or disseminate in any other manner, whatsoever, the result of any exit poll during such period as may be notified by the Election Commission…”

    Also Read:

    Media houses warned against publicising exit polls

  • Parliamentary panel pans DD, AIR for recurring lapses

    NEW DELHI: Expressing disappointment that both, All-India Radio and Doordarshan, failed to use the amounts allocated under the budget for 2016-17, a Parliamentary Committee stated: “Concrete steps may be taken to resolve all longstanding administrative issues.”

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which also examines issues relating to the information and broadcasting ministry, recommended that Doordarshan and All-India Radio need to make sincere and sustained efforts in creating high-quality content that can connect with people coupled with strong marketing strategy.

    Need to address recurring structural and procedural issues

    Keeping in view the financial performance of AIR and DD during 2016-17, the Committee stated that it was inclined to conclude that the under-utilisation of funds could have been avoided had the Ministry addressed the recurring structural and procedural issues.

    The Committee felt that this has reflected poorly on the overall performance of Prasar Bharati which is also evident from the reduced fund allocation for both, AIR and DD in 2017-18.

    To boost the performance of AIR and Doordarshan, the administrative problems as well as implementation related issues need to be resolved on priority. The Committee are of the firm opinion that unless these administrative and implementation related issues are addressed on priority, there is bleak scope for desired performance in the spheres of AIR and Doordarshan.

    Emphasis on promotion of DD/AIR Archives

    It noted that both AIR and DD have rich archives including biographies and old speeches of eminent persons which should be made use for qualitative content.

    Apart from generating revenue for Prasar Bharati, this will motivate young generation and expose them to the rich heritage of the country.

    AIR financial and physical performance

    The Committee noted that All India Radio had has been able to spend Rs 1.0827 billion which was only 61.17% of the allocated fund of Rs 1.77 billion at Budgetary Estimates and Revised Estimates stage for the year 2016-17.

    The Committee noted that for the year 2017-18, the budgetary allocation for AIR has been reduced from Rs 1.77 billion to Rs 1.54 billion

    The Ministry attributed improper response against major tenders, delay in delivery of a major imported consignment and some other administrative reasons for this under-utilisation. The Ministry said there had been acute shortage of staff in AIR at all levels particularly at middle and lower professional levels; and the transition from Government organization to corporate sector has witnessed almost a complete halt on recruitments, training and promotions.

    As far as acquisition of land for new setups is concerned, the Ministry proposes taking up the matter with respective state Governments for speedy disposal of the issues. The Ministry have also apprised that some Schemes are not implemented in time due to local issues including law and order particularly in the north east regions and border areas.

    However, AIR has increased the total number of transmitters from 432 (MW-148, SW-48, FM-236) as on 31 March 2012 to 610 (MW-143, SW-48, FM-419) which include 195 100 W FM Transmitters as on 10 February 2017.

    DD financial and physical performance

    Similarly, Doordarshan has spent only Rs 1.7655 billion which is only 65% of the allocated fund of Rs. 2.73 billion at BE and RE stage for 2016-17.

    As a result, the allocation for Doordarshan has been reduced from Rs 2.21 billion to Rs 2.13 billion

    The Ministry has cited cancellation of tenders due to administrative/technical issues to be the reasons for this under-utilisation.

    Doordarshan during 2016-17 completed technical facility for launch of the new TV Channel “DD Arun Prabha”; placed orders for implementation of Indian CAS (iCAS); for its DTH platform Free Dish; the Multichannel Automated Playback facility set up and installation of Multi Camera Studio Production facility in HDTV format are in progress at Central Production Centre in Delhi; the old ageing HPT replaced by new 10 KW HPT at one location; and completed all towers of Prasar Bharati House. (In fact, Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan are now housed in the same premises.)

  • Reducing targets no solution, Prasar Bharati needs to lead

    NEW DELHI: The utilisation of Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources for New Content Development Scheme of Prasar Bharati generated by Prasar Bharati during the entire 12th Five Year Plan shows that the expenditure made was more than the revenue generated during 2014-15 and 2015-16, a Parliamentary Committee has noted.

    The Committee noted that the expenditure made during 2015-16 through IEBR has exceeded the net revenue generated by Prasar Bharati on account of lower revenue generation. The net revenue generated by Prasar Bharati had declined from Rs 12.6712 billion in 2015-16 to Rs 8.5733 billion in 2016-17.

    Gross Budgetary Support may replace IEBR for content development

    Noting that this is mainly on account of increasing expenditure on Other Administrative Expenditure (OAE) head, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry noted that the Government is considering a proposal for earmarking Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for this scheme.

    The IEBR for the Scheme was approved by erstwhile Planning Commission for the Twelfth Plan Period (2012-2017) only, the Committee was informed.

    It was also told that the Ministry had made sincere efforts to reduce the OAE expenditure which had declined during 2016-17.

    But the Committee took “serious note” of the fact that the Ministry was not able to achieve the gross revenue projections during the entire 12th Five Year Plan and had reduced its gross revenue projection in 2016-17 citing reasons that falling short of achieving the set target was affecting the morale of the sales/marketing teams and therefore proving counter-productive.

    AIR shows growth trend, DD shows decline in commercial revenues

    When the Committee asked why the net revenue generation by Prasar Bharati had been declining since 2014-15, it was informed by the Ministry that the trend of Commercial revenue earnings of All India Radio is indicating growth whereas the revenue earnings from sharing of its Resources mainly with private radio operators are marginally declining.

    This shortfall of revenue took place in 2016-17 due to shifting of rotation of issuing of invoices to financial year 2017-18 for 84 private FM Channels due to the process adopted in getting technical/site clearances for 84 channels and handing over the same to M/s BECIL/Private FM Broadcasters.

    However in Doordarshan, the main factors of decline in revenue are stated to be tremendous increase in competition in advertisement with private entertainment channels, development of new media platforms etc.

    Some formidable steps have been taken by Prasar Bharati to improve its revenue like auctioning of time slots on DD-National channel; strengthening of sales and marketing teams of AIR and Doordarshan, including induction of sales/marketing professionals; tie-ups with e-commerce sites for better monetisation of AIR/DD archive products etc.

    IEBR not going towards salary

    The Committee also noted that Prasar Bharati was not spending its IEBR on excess paid for salary and excess paid for Plan Schemes since 2015-16. This is because the Cabinet decision of 14 September 2012 had said that the Government is to provide support to Prasar Bharati for meeting 100% expenses towards salary and salary related expenses. In addition to this, the Cabinet decided that the Government would provide funds in the form of Grant-in-Aid to Prasar Bharati for creation of Capital Assets.

    MIB asked to strengthen marketing to compete with private channels

    The Committee was of the opinion that considering the broad mandate of the Ministry, “reducing gross revenue projections will not solve the purpose and the Ministry needs to raise the bar of its sales and marketing teams so that the public broadcaster can sustain vis-à-vis private channels.”

    In the light of the challenges faced by AIR and DD in the fast changing media developments, the Committee recommended that Prasar Bharati continue with their efforts of revenue generation and also frame a strategy to lead the competition as a public broadcaster.

    The Committee also recommended that steps be taken by Prasar Bharati to digitalise the vast archives of AIR and DD and generate revenue by making use of the rich archives. Efforts should also be made towards making these archives more accessible to the public. The Committee said it would like to be informed about the decision taken in respect of financing New Content Development Scheme of Prasar Bharati.

  • MIB: No DPO request for infra sharing, DTH ops’ transponder demand up

    NEW DELHI: Though there is a committed demand from DTH service providers for 68 more satellite transponders, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) hasn’t yet received any proposal from any players to share amongst themselves satellite capacity or other distribution infrastructure.

    MIB minister M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday informed Parliament that DTH operators were presently using 104 Ku-band transponders, while there were additional needs as, according to Department of Space, demand for transponder capacity for DTH services has gone up with increase in introduction of high definition (HD) TV channels.

    The growth of usage of satellite transponders by DTH service providers in India, as listed out by MIB, over the last five years is as follows: March 2013 — 76; March 2014 — 77; March 2015 — 78; March 2016 — 87 March 2017 — 104.

    The Minister, acknowledging that sector regulator TRAI had given a set of recommendations on sharing of broadcasting infrastructure amongst players on a voluntary basis by tweaking certain rules, added that his ministry had not received any proposal from platform operators for sharing of satellite transponders and/or earth station facilities.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued recommendations on sharing of infrastructure in television broadcasting distribution sector on 29 March 2017. These recommendations are available on TRAI’s website www.trai.gov.in.

    The objectives of these recommendations are to enable a policy environment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector, on a voluntary basis. The sharing of the infrastructure is expected to enhance available distribution network capacities leading to reduction in capital and operative expenditure for the service providers, thereby bringing down the price of broadcasting services to subscribers.

    In addition, it would lower the entry barriers for new service providers and provide more space on broadcasting distribution networks for niche channels.

    India’s six private-sector DTH operators uplink signals of TV channels to different Indian and foreign satellites located at different orbital slots. Majority of the channels transmitted by operators are replicated across multiple platforms. This creates capacity constraints and also is a significant cost for each operator, thus making the service expensive, TRAI had observed while pushing for infrastructure sharing amongst distribution platforms.

    Hong Kong-based media industry advocacy group CASBAA in a report, issued in March 2016, had pointed that the DTH sector in India would grow in coming years as would demand for KU-band transponders and, while ISRO has been doing a commendable job, it’s unlikely to meet the market demands on Indian satellites, which will have to be provided for on foreign satellites.

    In the report, titled `Capacity crunch continues: Assessment of satellite transponders’ capacity for the Indian broadcast and broadband market’, CASBAA, amongst other things, had observed that to keep the vibrancy in the Indian broadcast sector alive, foreign transponder contracts need to be of longer durations (10–15 years) to allow Indian companies to leverage on cost economics and provide cost protection to DTH operators and allowing direct contracting for DTH operators to secure incremental capacity with existing satellite providers already authorized (by ITU and ISRO) to provide them service.

  • Govt’s digital channel to tell ‘India story’, Rs 75 cr investment planned

    MUMBAI: The Modi government is reportedly planning to launch a digital platform which will report on international news to a global digital audience with an India perspective. It will “challenge the anti-India narrative” and present “India’s perspective on global events.”

    The concept, approved by the Prasar Bharati Board, was discussed by a committee that included Prasar Bharati board members Sunil Alagh and Shashi Shekar Vempati, and Prasar Bharati interim CEO Rajeev Singh.

    The 24×7 operational digital platform, with an investment of Rs 75 crore, will have correspondents across the globe. Targeted at English-speaking audience, the Indian diaspora and the global opinion makers, the channel will change the narrative that presents India as a “constant point of conflict between Hindu nationalists and so-called secularism.”

    If the information and broadcasting ministry agrees to a proposal by Prasar Bharti, the country will soon have a digital channel to tell the “India story”.

    Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash said that the idea was discussed by the United Progressive Alliance government.

    The objective of this digital channel over the next three years will be to reach 10 million to 100 million page views a month, a million mobile app downloads and YouTube subscribers each.

  • Cinema is a powerful medium of communication: Naidu

    NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said that cinema is a powerful communicator and influences the behaviour and societal norms and had the power to bring extraordinary changes in the lives of the people.

    Speaking after receiving the report of the 64th National Film Awards jury headed by the famed filmmaker Priyadarshan, Naidu said National Film Awards provided a platform to showcase the composite and rich culture of India through the medium of Cinema.

    The minister said that National Film Awards had established themselves as the premier film awards in the country while honouring the best talent in the film Industry.

    Taking advantage of this medium, the mMinistry had organised various film festivals targeting various sections of the society like Children Film Bonanza, Patriotic Film Festival amongst others.

    Referring to Regional Cinema, Naidu said it had evolved to the extent of becoming a natural competitor for Bollywood. Movies like Baahubali which had won several accolades had shown the potential of creativity, technology and animation in the Films Sector.

    Also Read :

    Film piracy: Govt has no ‘losses’ figure, industry estimates Rs 180 bn a yr

    Steps to encourage ease of doing film business under way

  • Govt. again rules out IMC reconstitution, says checks adequate

    NEW DELHI: The Government has once again ruled out any reconstitution of the Inter-Ministerial Committee which examines complaints against television channels.

    The minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told the Parliament this week that the IMC “already includes representatives from various Ministries concerned and the industry.”

    He also said that the existing provisions contained in the Programme & Advertising Codes and the existing mechanism are considered adequate to regulate content of private satellite TV channels. “No shortcomings have been found in the functioning of the IMC”, he added.

    Similar questions have been asked in this and previous sessions and the government has repeatedly said there is no proposal to reconstitute IMC.

    Content telecast on private satellite TV channels and transmitted/re-transmitted through the Cable TV network is regulated in terms of the Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and Cable Television Network Rules 1994 framed thereunder.

    The Act does not provide for pre-censorship of any programme or advertisement telecast on such TV channels. However, all programmes and advertisements are required to be in conformity with the said Programme and Advertising Codes.

    The IMC functions under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary (I&B) and comprises officers drawn from Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, External Affairs, Law, Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare, Consumer Affairs, Information & Broadcasting and a representative from the industry in Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) to take cognizance suo-motu or look into specific complaints regarding violation of the Programme and Advertising Codes.

    He said the IMC functions in a ‘recommendatory’ capacity. The final decision regarding penalties and its quantum is taken by the Ministry on the basis of the IMC recommendations.