ITV

Category: Regulators

  • 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.

  • Hearing of Star – TRAI case begins before MHC chief justice

    NEW DELHI: The case by Star India and Vijay TV challenging the jurisdiction of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the plea that content did not come in the regulator’s ambit commenced today in a bench headed by Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.

    Hearing on the petition, which has had a chequered history with three judges recusing themselves, commenced anew as it had gone before a new bench with the Chief Justice and Justice M Sundar.

    However, the matter was listed for tomorrow after a brief hearing when the Star India counsel commenced speaking as the court had other matters to conclude.

    After counsel for the broadcasters, counsel for TRAI, Union of India, and the intervener All India Digital Cable Federation will be heard.

    Though it was not clear, it appeared that the judges Justice S Nagamuthu, Justice Anita Sumanth and later Justice Govind Rajan had received letters which prompted them to withdraw from the case.

    The petition had been filed by Star India and Vijay TV under the Copyright Act on the ground that TRAI could not give any directive that will affect the content since that did not fall in its purview.

    The fresh petition became necessary as the matter is being heard afresh by the Chief Justice. Star India SVP – Legal and Regulatory – Pulak Bagchi confirmed that while the primary case remained on the grounds of the Copyright Act remained the same, a new petition had been filed because it was coming up before the Chief Justice.  

    Last month, Star India and Vijay TV decided not to press for their pleas for extension of the tariff order following TRAI’s announcement that its tariff regulations which were slated to come into effect on 2 April were being deferred to 2 May 2017. The court had fixed the matter for further hearing on 3 April even as TRAI counsel commenced his arguments following the conclusion of the arguments by the broadcasters over two days commencing last Friday.

    Earlier, on 3 March, the regulator had issued three regulations after getting a directive from the Supreme Court on its appeal against a stay granted by the Madras High Court. While granting the appeal, the apex court also asked the high court to conclude hearing in 60 days.

    Apart from the Tariff order which had originally been issued on 10 October last year, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations which had been issued on 14 October last year, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year. The orders can be seen at:

    http://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Tariff_Order_English_3%20March_20…
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/QOS_Regulation_03_03_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Interconnection_Regulation_03…

    Following these regulations, the broadcasters had filed an amended petition and TRAI had also replied to the same last week. Concluding his arguments for the broadcasters, senior counsel P Chidambaram argued that TRAI’s action of fixing tariff for TV content was in violation of the Copyright Act. He also submitted that TRAI did not have the jurisdiction to fix tariff since the exploitation of IPR was part of the Copyright Act.

    Also Read:

    Chief Justice of MHC to hear Star India case against TRAI under Copyright Act

    Coordinate with registry for mentioning TV tariff matter, says Madras HC CJ

  • 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

  • TRAI to begin groundwork on next spectrum auction, TSPs not too keen yet

    NEW DELHI: Although the Telecom Regulatory Authority will work on the request received from the Department of Telecom for suggesting at a reserve price for 5G spectrum, it is unlikely that the auction would take place over the next six months.

    A TRAI source, confirming that the DoT was keen to auction 3400 to 3600 MHz which is used for 5G apart from the unsold spectrum from the last e-auction, said that telecom companies at present were not too keen to invest in fresh spectrum as they claimed to have incurred huge losses in the third quarter of 2016-17.

    The government is also keen to sell the 700 MHz band, which remained unsold in the last auction due to its high base price of Rs 114.75 billion per unit.

    TRAI has been asked to set the reserve price for airwaves in the 4G bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz, and for spectrum in the 3400 MHz to 3600 MHz bands that are used for 5G services.

    The 5G airwaves are expected to be used for services like machine-to-machine communication, Internet of Things and even connected smart cities.

    Though consultations may be held soon with stakeholders, the Cellular Operators Association of India has said auctions should not be held before 2018.

    Around 2354.55 MHz of spectrum was put on sale in 2016, but the government managed to earn just around Rs 65,789 billion from 965 MHz, mainly in the 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands.

  • Chief Justice of MHC to hear Star India case against TRAI under Copyright Act

    NEW DELHI: The case by Star India and Vijay TV challenging the jurisdiction of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in the matter of tariff orders, which has taken surprising turns with three judges recusing themselves from the hearings, Is now coming up anew for hearing before the Chief Justice Indira Banerjee of the Madras High Court on 24 April.

    The All India Digital Cable Federation has filed its intervention in the case which has been filed as a fresh petition by Star India and Vijay TV and it has been numbered WP MP 11131/2017.

    The fresh petition became necessary as the matter is being heard afresh by the Chief Justice. Star India SVP – Legal and Regulatory – Pulak Bagchi confirmed that while the primary case remained on the grounds of the Copyright Act remained the same, a new petition had been filed because it was coming up before the Chief Justice.  

    The case had taken a surprising turn early this month the two judges — Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice Anita Sumanth –  recused themselves from the case and referred it to the chief justice for being referred to another bench. Another judge — Justice Govind Rajan — also recused himself earlier this week.

    Though it was not clear, it appeared that the two judges had received a letter which prompted them to withdraw from the case.

    The petition had been filed by Star India and Vijay TV under the Copyright Act on the ground that TRAI could not give any directive that will affect the content since that did not fall in its purview.

    Last month, Star India and Vijay TV decided not to press for their pleas for extension of the tariff order following TRAI’s announcement that its tariff regulations which were slated to come into effect on 2 April were being deferred to 2 May 2017. The court had fixed the matter for further hearing on 3 April even as TRAI counsel commenced his arguments following the conclusion of the arguments by the broadcasters over two days commencing last Friday.

    Earlier, on 3 March, the regulator had issued three regulations after getting a directive from the Supreme Court on its appeal against a stay granted by the Madras High Court. While granting the appeal, the apex court also asked the high court to conclude hearing in 60 days.

    Apart from the Tariff order which had originally been issued on 10 October last year, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations which had been issued on 14 October last year, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year. The orders can be seen at:
    http://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Tariff_Order_English_3%20March_20…
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/QOS_Regulation_03_03_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Interconnection_Regulation_03…

    Following these regulations, the broadcasters had filed an amended petition and TRAI had also replied to the same last week. Concluding his arguments for the broadcasters, senior counsel P Chidambaram argued that TRAI’s action of fixing tariff for TV content was in violation of the Copyright Act. He also submitted that TRAI did not have the jurisdiction to fix tariff since the exploitation of IPR was part of the Copyright Act.

    Also Read: 

    Star – TRAI copyright case: In dramatic turn, Madras HC judges withdraw

  • Jio freebies: TDSAT puts off Airtel-Idea hearing to May

    Jio freebies: TDSAT puts off Airtel-Idea hearing to May

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has put off to early next month the petitions by Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular challenging the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to allow Reliance Jio to continue free offers beyond the stipulated ninety days.

    Both operators have alleged anti-competitive practices by Jio that has led to losses of several hundred million rupees. Reliance Jio had created a flurry when it appeared just two months before demonetization with free offers,

    The Tribunal will hear the petitions on 3 May, along with an interim application moved by Airtel objecting to the alleged delays by Jio while withdrawing its three-month complimentary ‘Summer Surprise Offer’. The inaugural free voice and data plans had been launched by Jio in September last year and extended in December till March 2017.

    Airtel and Idea moved the tribunal against the TRAI order that allowed Jio to provide free services beyond the stipulated period. Airtel also objected to the continuation of the scheme’s benefits for those who had already subscribed to the said offer before it was withdrawn. Jio had offered subscribers to continue with concessional rates if they had been on its rolls by 31 March.

    TRAI had on 31 January held that Jio’s free voice calls and data plan were not in violation of the regulatory guidelines. It held that the ‘Happy New Year Offer’ launched by Jio on 4 December 2016 offered different benefits and was therefore not the same as the earlier Offer. Earlier this month, Airtel moved the TDSAT on alleged delay by Jio in withdrawing its ‘Summer Surprise’ offer.

    The interim application pertains to the Summer Surprise plan of Reliance Jio under which it was giving three-month complimentary offer of unlimited data usage and free calls on payment of a minimum Rs 303, which was withdrawn after TRAI said that it was not in accordance with the regulatory framework.

  • SPN India-SITI Networks dispute: TDSAT directs SITI to sign SPN RIO agreement (updated)

    MUMBAI: In a dispute between cable TV MSO SITI Networks and Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India, the Telecom Disputes Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has ruled that the former should sign the existing reference interconnect Offer (RIO) of the latter.

    SITI Networks had approached the arbitrator saying that India’s leading broadcast network was threatening to disconnect its signals from it. And that it was imposing an “unjustified subscription fee hike” to renew its channel carriage agreement with it. This at a time when the nation is under the spell of SPN India’s biggest property the highly popular and most watched Indian Premier League (IPL).

    The MSO’s counsel appealed to the tribunal that SITI should be permitted to avail of the signals of the channels of SPN India on the same terms and conditions of the expired agreement till the latter publishes a new reference interconnect offer (RIO) as per the new TRAI regulations.

    SPN India’s counsel retaliated by saying that the MSO cannot seek an entitlement to the earlier subscription rates of the expired agreement for the former’s channels as its subscriber base had grown and the broadcast network deserved an increase in subscription fees.

    SPN India’s counsel further argued that since there is no valid agreement, the signals to SITI Networks platform should be disconnected unless the MSO executed the existing RIO as per the TRAI regulations.

    The TDSAT then directed SITI Networks to sign the existing SPN RIO within one week of the order (to avoid disconnection of signals) and with a provision to switch to the new RIO once the same is published as per the new TRAI regulations.

    The tribunal also asked both SITI Networks and SPN India to submit their detailed statements of accounts within the next 10 days so that it could help them settle their dispute on outstanding dues.

    Even as SPN India claimed that it had won a favorable order from the tribunal (no official comment was, however, available from it), a SITI Networks official spokesperson responded to indiantelevision.com saying that the “unjustified hike in subscription fees demand has been turned down by TDSAT and the court has directed to sign the agreement on a RIO basis in accordance with the prevailing regulations.”

    In addition to this, SITI Networks also appeared pleased that the tribunal has “asked the parties to submit their statement of accounts and the related invoices in reference to the outstanding issue.”

  • TRAI seeks ideas on ease of doing b’cast business

    NEW DELHI: With the fast changing regulatory framework for the media and entertainment sector, which in India is one of the fastest growing sectors, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has embarked on a major exercise to find out easier ways of doing business and cause least harassment to entrepreneurs. In short, try to examine where all procedural delays can be shaved off and what all could be made redundant.

    It has now issued a pre-consultation paper on the ease of doing business in broadcasting, which comes just a few months after a similar paper on telecoms. In the new era of convergence, the two sectors are expected to complement each other.

    public://tr1.jpg

    TRAI, which has raised questions about all sectors in the electronic media, has asked stakeholders to respond with their comments by 8 May 2017.

    The Authority has on its own decided to go for a pre-consultation with the stakeholders on ease of doing business in the broadcasting sector, taking a cue from PM Modi-led government’s efforts to ease doing businesses in India. It hopes to review various policy issues related to the broadcasting sector with a view to create a conducive and business friendly environment in the sector and identify procedural bottlenecks that affect ease of doing business in the broadcasting sector and recommend measures for simplifying the rules, regulations and bring more transparency and clarity in policies/ framework of the broadcasting sector. 

    public://tr2.jpg

    The aim is also to remove entry barriers by laying down well defined and transparent procedures and processes thereby creating level playing field and competition in the sector and to facilitate innovation and technology adoption for providing better quality of services to the consumers to steer further growth of the sector by attracting investment through investor friendly policies 

    Subjects to be covered in the pre-consultation before a final consultation paper is issued are related to processes and procedures for obtaining permission/license/registration for the following broadcasting services and subsequent compliance connected with these permissions. The fields include:

    (a) Uplinking of TV channels 
    (b) Downlinking of TV channels 
    (c) Teleport services 
    (d) Direct-to-home services 
    (e) Private FM services 
    (f) Headend-in-the sky services 
    (g) Local Cable Operators 
    (h) Multi System Operators 
    (i) Community Radio Stations 

    The consultation will include allocation of broadcasting spectrum; clearance from Department of Space; WPC clearance for broadcasting services; SACFA Clearance Process; and Clearance from Network Operations Control Center (NOCC).

    For DTH, the issues include disaster Recovery Site for DTH Operator; and transmission of radio services over DTH platform.

    public://tr3.jpg

    Other issues are Right of Way for cable operators; Broadband through cable TV; Open sky policy for KU band; Rationalization of FDI policy in broadcasting sector, developing India as a teleport hub, Skilled manpower in broadcasting sector, and Indigenous manufacturing of broadcasting equipment.

    While the broadcasting sector so far has been replete with success, the Authority feels that this sector has immense potential to move on higher trajectory of growth if more conducive business environment could be created by simplifying existing provisions of policy framework related to broadcasting sector. It has also been noted that certain existing provisions may require a re-look in view of the technological changes that have taken place in the broadcasting sector.

    The Authority is of the view that the attractiveness of business proposition  is the prime mover and creates the potential for investments, but ease of doing business enables greater realization of this potential. Therefore, taking a cue from the Government’s efforts towards ease of doing business