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Category: I&B Ministry

  • Visiting filmmakers’ new visa category will boost industry & tourism, says Uday Shankar

    NEW DELHI: The initiative to introduce a new category of visa for film makers to shoot films in India “will bring in multiple benefits as our young artists and technicians will get opportunities to be part of international projects and M&E verticals like studios and animation will get much needed exposure”, FICCI Media and Entertainment Committee Chairman Uday Shankar has said.

    Welcoming the Government’s decision, he said, “This is a right step taken at the right time as it will simplify the visa process and ease the entry of artists and technicians into India.  I am also happy to note that the Film Visa and the Film Facilitation Offices (FFOs) are going to be set up to handle such applications.”

    “More importantly, when these movies are released internationally, it will put India as a great tourist destination and thus promote India’s tourism potential”, Shankar added.

    Minister of state for information & broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore  yesterday said that the new category of visa to foreign filmmakers is a step taken by the Government to ease issues related to their entry into the country for film making and shoots. The step is a positive move to promote  India as an attractive filming  destination to the world.

    Also read

    Film Visa & FFO make India filming destination: Rathore

     

  • Film Visa & FFO make India filming destination: Rathore

    NEW DELHI: The minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore has said the new category of visa to foreign film makers is a step towards easing issues related to their entry into the country.

    Both the Film Visa and the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) aim at promoting India as an attractive filming destination to the world.

    Rathore said this during a meeting with the Russian Delegation led by the vice minister of telecom and mass communication of the Russian Federation Alexey Volin here.

    During the discussions, Rathore apprised the delegation about the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) to be set up in Mumbai by the Ministry. Both the Ministers agreed to explore the possible collaboration between the two countries in the field of animation, graphics and visual content.

    Cooperation between the field of content generation and content delivery mechanisms for different target audiences, specially children and young people was also discussed.

    The Ministers while discussing the role of films as medium of cultural exchange between the countries emphasized on exhibiting films in each other’s country through the medium of Film Festivals.

    A possible collaboration between the National Film Development Corporation and its counterpart from the Russian Federation in the Film Bazaar was also discussed.

    AlsO Read :

    Rs 125 million incurred on Film Heritage Mission this year

    Online film certification starts, 33% rise in ‘shoot’ permission

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

     

  • Copyright Board may become part of Intellectual Property Appellate Board

    NEW DELHI: The Copyright Board may soon be a part of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB).

    Though the move was hardly unexpected in view of representations by creative artists, the modus operandi of making this part of the Finance Bill came as a surprise.

    Although Intellectual Property was shifted from Human Resource Development Ministry to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) early last year, several stakeholders including writers, software producers and singers and musicians felt that copyright should not be part of one single Ministry or Department.

    The Finance Bill 2017 piloted by the finance minister Arun Jaitley and passed in the Lok Sabha earlier this week has proposed this merger

    The Bill proposes an amendment to the Copyright Act so as to transfer the functions of the Copyright Board to IPAB which as of now deals only with matters relating to trademarks, patents and geographical indications.

    There is also a proposal to amend the rules pertaining to qualifications, appointment and other terms of service of the members of IPAB as provided under the Trade Marks Act. It introduces Section 89A to the Act which leaves these matters to be solely governed by Section 179 of the Finance Act 2017 in respect of members appointed after the commencement of this Act. The Central Government will then make rules in this regard.

    Being a money bill, the Finance Bill had to go the Lok Sabha first and then receive assent of the Rajya Sabha, which is only empowered to make suggestions. It will become law after receiving the Presidential assent.

    The Finance Bill also proposed merger of seven other tribunals (including the Competition Law Appellate Tribunal and the Cyber Appellate Tribunal) with other existing tribunals.

    However, the move of including several non-finance/taxation related amendments in a money bill has not gone unnoticed, and some opposition parties see this as a way of by-passing the Rajya Sabha where the Government would otherwise have difficulty in getting controversial legislation through.

    However, Finance Ministry sources said these amendments are related to government expenditure.

    Meanwhile, the ministry of information and broadcasting confirmed to indiantelevision.com that on the applications of several film bodies, it was working on an alternative for overseeing implementation of IPR laws for the entertainment industry.

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

    NEW DELHI: Even as the government said that no definite data was available on losses owing to piracy “if any”, the film industry had said in mid-2016 that the Indian film industry was losing $ 2.7 billion (Rs 180 billion) every year.

    Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told the Parliament that the government ‘is aware that there are instances of piracy of films but these are subject matters of investigation by concerned investigating agencies of the respective state governments based on complaints by the concerned filmmakers’.

    The Copyright Act 1957 as amended in 2012 provides Civil Remedies [Chapter XII (Section 54-62)] as well as Criminal Remedies [Chapter XIII (Section 63-70)] to the Copyright holder and clause (c) of subsection (1) of Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957 read with the Rule 75 of the Copyright Rules, 2013 are the provisions of the Act which deal with piracy of films, he said.

    The loss due to piracy is said to be 35 per cent more than the $2 billion from legitimate sources such as screening at theatres, home videos and TV rights earned by the film industry which is the largest globally with some 1,000 movies produced each year.

    Motion Picture Distributors’ Association (India) MD Uday Singh had said in mid-2016 that content theft or piracy in the film industry originates from ‘camcording’ in cinema halls. Over 90 per cent of new release titles originate from cinemas. He claimed that the Indian film industry loses over 60,000 jobs every year because of piracy.

    The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) also quoted these figures of loss due to piracy quoting noted filmmaker Anurag Basu. While the Indian film industry is, indeed, flourishing, piracy points toward how much more its stakeholders can make, he said.

    Meanwhile, the KPMG in India-FICCI Report on Media and Entertainment presented at the FICCI FRAMES earlier this month said films grew at a crawling pace of three per cent in 2016.

    The segment was impacted by decline in core revenue streams of domestic theatricals and satellite rights, augmented by poor box office performance of Bollywood and Tamil films.

    Expansion of overseas markets, increase of depth in regional content and rise in acquisitions of digital content byover-the-top platforms are expected to be the future growth drivers that would help the segment bounce back at a forecasted CAGR of 7.7 per cent.

    However, factors such as dwindling screen count and inconsistent content quality could prove to be limiting factors.

  • Online film certification starts, 33% rise in ‘shoot’ permission

    NEW DELHI: A total of 41 shooting Permissions were given for foreign films/projects in 2016 which was approximately 33% increase over 2015. Stating this, the information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu said his Ministry has been proactively taking initiatives to promote Ease of Doing Business in the Media & Entertainment Sector.

    The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) established by the Ministry in November 2015 provided a Single window clearance to facilitate film shootings by foreign film makers in India.

    The Annual Renewal process for existing TV channels has been simplified and permitted broadcasters can continue their operations by paying annual fee up to 60 days before the due date for continuation of the channel for a further period of one year. The payment can now be made online through Bharat Kosh Portal since 1 January 2017.

    Launching the Online Film Certification System of the Central Board of Film Certification e-cinepramaan here, Naidu said it would facilitate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Ease of Doing Business and Digital India. The complete automation of the Film Certification Process would enable Good Governance making the entire process transparent and efficient. The objective is to eliminate the need for human interface to the extent possible.

    The new system would be an important step in making the CBFC Office paperless and would enable effective monitoring and real time progress tracking for both CBFC Officials and the applicant (Producers).

    More online initiatives would be introduced in the Ministry as part of the roadmap for transparent Governance.

    Emphasizing on the need to keep pace with paradigm change in technology and current industry trends, Naidu said the Film Industry in India has been growing at a significant pace with a noticeable increase in the number of films getting released every year. The changes in the current processes of CBFC would ensure better facilitation and technological upgradation to match-up with the pace of Indian cinema.

    On the issues of Film Certification, Naidu said the recommendations of the Shyam Benegal and Mudgal Committees were under consideration of the Ministry. Consultations with former Ministers had been held to elicit their views on critical issues of certification. It was also proposed to have further consultations with stakeholders in the film and media sector. Thereafter, necessary changes would be brought about in the certification process.

    Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal Chairman Justice Manmohan Sarin gave an overview of the functioning of FCAT and the measures being taken by the body for facilitating the appeals.Minister of State for I and B Rajyavardhan Rathore, Ministry Secretary Ajay Mittal, CBFC CEO Anurag Srivastava and senior officials from the Ministry were also present on the occasion.

    The online system has integrated the payments made by the producers towards certification fees with the Bharatkosh portal, a Government of India system for all Non-tax revenue receipts. It would be the First Software to fully integrate with the Bharatkosh.

    The Salient features of the online film certification system are as follows:

    · In the e-cinepramaan, the status of each application would be visible online in the dashboard of the producer/concerned CBFC official.
    · In case of short films/promos/trailers less than 10 minutes, even for Examination purposes also, the producer need not visit the Office/Theatre. They can merely submit their creations online.
    · For films longer than 10 minutes, the applicant will only have to show the film at the Examining theatre and will not have to visit the CBFC Offices at all except to collect their certificates.
    · The producer/applicant would be informed by SMS/e-mail of the status of their application and any action needed, beginning from the receipt of application to the certificate collection.
    · The transparency in the system and elimination of middle men would mitigate chances of any corruption and would also avoid allegations of jumping the queue or rigging up of Examination committees.
    · The implementation of QR code on the certificates would eliminate chances of fraudulent certificates.
    · The system envisages a robust MIS system for performance tracking and efficient reporting.
    · The system has inbuilt alerts depending on the pendency of the application to ensure that time limits prescribed by the Rules are not violated.
    · Simultaneously, a new CBFC Website has also been developed bringing in new user friendly features and important information at the click of a button.

  • Notices to several Pak TV channels for ‘violations’

    MUMBAI: Freedom of speech is being curtailed in the sub-continent. Media watchdog Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has issued show-cause notices to nine channels — Waqt TV, Ab Tak TV, Channel 5, 7 News, Aaj TV, Sach TV, Roze TV, News One and Capital TV — for airing ‘fake news’ between 8.00pm and 9.00pm on 22 March about a plane crash in Kallar Syedan near Rawalpindi. The channels have been asked to respond by 31 March.

    PEMRA has also issued a notice to ARY News, a private channel, for airing “hate speech” against the country’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif asking it to respond by the same date. The regulator has the powers to ban the channel’s ‘offensive’ programme, cancel its operating licence and impose a fine of a million rupees.

    Also, PEMRA issued a separate notice to Dawn News TV for failing to comply with its decision to suspend Zara Hat Kay talk show for three days. The host on 9 March had discussed a corruption case against Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui despite a case being sub-judice. This act of violating the Authority’s order is tantamount to willful defiance and the Authority has directed the channel’s management to explain within three days i.e. before or on 27 March before 4.00pm why it defied.

    According to the ‘hate speech’ details, a guest speaker, who appeared on ‘The Reporter’, a programme on ARY on Thursday, termed a recent statement of Sharif as “blasphemous”.

    PEMRA said it was a dangerous trend. The hosts of the programme neither intervened on this occasion nor stopped him from passing such comments, which was a violation of PEMRA Code of Conduct 2015.

    In a separate case, PEMRA had informed the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) on 17 February to amend the advertisement of “Zong 4G” till 20 February before 6 pm;  otherwise, PEMRA under Section 27 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007 shall prohibit the said advertisement forthwith.

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  • No middlemen in film certification process anymore

    NEW DELHI: The Indian Government has said that it has obviated the role for intermediaries/ agents in the existing as well as new online certification system.

    Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore has told the Parliament that the online system is user-friendly, and will be accessible to all the applicants.

    The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certifies films in accordance with Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Rules and the Guidelines made thereunder.

    CBFC is in an advanced stage of setting up the online film certification system which is likely to be made operational very soon.

    (Meanwhile, the government is still studying the two reports on film certification submitted by the Shyam Benegal Committee, a ministry source told indiantelevision.com.)

  • 28 complaints against 12 TV channels about reality shows since 2006

    NEW DELHI: Twelve television channels have faced action from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for 28 complaints relating to reality shows since 2006.

    Parliament was told by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ministry Rajyavardhan Rathore today that in addition to the above, two advisories were issued – one relating to depiction of cruelty to animals, and the other about quiz-based reality shows – to all television channels in 2011.

    Interestingly, there has been no complaint against any TV channel wth regard to violation of Programme or Advertising Codes after January 2015.

    The channels were either warned or issued advisories, asked to run an apology scroll for a fixed period, or shift the programme to after 11.00 pm.

    Colors leads the list with six complaints of which five relate to different seasons of Bigg Boss. The sixth related to Khatron ke Khilari.

    Bindass comes next with four complaints, followed by three complaints each against MTV, Channel (V), and Sony TV. There were two complaints relating to Star One and Zee Telugu, and one each against Star Plus, Real TV, NDTV Imagine and Imagine TV.

  • Automatic renewal of TV channels subject to fee and ten-year validity

    NEW DELHI: The Government, which had said that payment of annual permission fee sixty days before the due date will by itself be sufficient permission for continuation of a channel for a further period of one year, has clarified that all the TV channels and Teleports are likely to benefit from this decision provided the validity of 10-year permission is available.

    Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said that broadcasters which hold valid permission for uplinking and/or downlinking will not be required to obtain annual Renewal Permission from the Ministry in conformity with the policy guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of TV channels.

    He told Parliament that the Ministry had taken initiatives to promote the ease of doing business in view of commitment to the vision of the Government and Prime Minister:

    The Government had also done away with the restrictions imposed under clauses 2.1.4 and 3.1.15 of the Uplinking Guidelines dated 5 December 2011 and clause 1.10 of the Downlinking Guidelines dated 5 December 2011 regarding appointment at top management position with minimum 3 years of prior experience in a media company (media companies) operating News/Non-News and Current Affairs TV Channels. .

    It has also been decided that in view of the exemption mentioned in Master Circular of RBI dated 1 July 2014, regarding the Exchange Earner’s Foreign Currency (EEFC) account holders, the broadcasters and Teleport Operators who have EEFC account, may now make payment in foreign exchange towards availing transponder services on foreign satellite for uplinking of TV channels/Teleports/DSNG Vans, to the Satellite service providers without approval of the Ministry.

  • Eleven TV channels directed to go off air for fixed periods in last three years

    NEW DELHI: Eleven television channels have been asked to suspend transmission for limited period of a minimum one day up to 30 days for violations of Programme or Advertisement Codes since 2014.

    However, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told Parliament today that the orders were kept in abeyance in three cases – DY 365, NDTV Good Times, and TLC.

    Of all the channels, News Time Assam was asked to stop transmission for one day for three different programmes.

    Only one channel – Satlon News – was asked to go off air for as many as thirty days in March 2015.

    The other channels asked to stop transmission for fixed periods were: WB, NTV, Jai Hind, Al Jazeera TV, NDTV India, and Care World.