ITV

Category: Regulators

  • TRAI advises Jio to withdraw free offer, no loss to ‘old’ consumers

    MUMBAI: On 31 March, Jio had announced its JIO Summer Surprise offer. Under the offer all JIO Prime members making their first recharge payment of Rs 303 (or higher) plans got three months complimentary services in addition to the benefits of their purchased plan.

    Today, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has advised Jio to withdraw the three months complimentary benefits of Jio Summer Surprise. Jio has accepted this decision. It is in the process of fully complying with the regulator’s advice, and will be withdrawing the complimentary benefits of the offer as soon as operationally feasible, over the next few days.

    However, all customers who have subscribed to Jio Summer Surprise offer prior to its discontinuation will remain eligible for the offer.

    Reliance Jio, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (“RIL”), has built a world-class all-IP data strong future proof network with latest 4G LTE technology. It is the only network conceived and born as a Mobile Video Network from the ground up and supporting Voice over LTE technology. Jio will bring transformational changes in the Indian digital services space to enable the vision of Digital India for 1.2 billion Indians and propel India into global leadership in digital economy.

  • 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

     

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

    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 took a surprising turn when 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.

    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.

    Meanwhile, counsel opined that, as the pleadings were completed, the new bench will get down to hearing the arguments. Arguments had commenced on behalf of the Union Government until lunch yesterday and the matter was thereafter adjourned to today.

    Last week, 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.

    After TRAI counsel concludes his argument, the court will hear the counsel of All India Digital Cable Federation which was allowed to intervene in the matter. 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…

    Follwing 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:

    TRAI extends tariff regulations execution date, Madras High court arguments to continue

  • 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.

  • Copyright infringement: Kross awarded injunction against ‘Pushpaka Vimana’, hearing on 12 Apr

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has issued an ad-interim injunction restraining further exhibition and distribution of the Kannada film, “Pushpaka Vimana” in any manner or in any medium including cinema theatres, television, CDs/DVDs. 

    Kross Pictures is a cross-border film and television production company with offices in Seoul, Los Angeles, and Mumbai. 

    The order restrains the film-makers from awarding any rights in relation to satellite or telecast rights of the film for its exhibition. The Court further directed defendants to disclose to the court the earnings from the film and all contracts with artists involved with the movie.

    The Bombay High Court stated that the Kannada film prima facie appears to be a copy of the Korean film called “Miracle In Cell No. 7” the rights to which are owned by Kross Pictures India. The original film was released on 23rd January 2013, first in Korean and then on Youtube in English in 2014. Kross Pictures had moved the Bombay High Court claiming copyright infringement against the producers of the Pushpaka Vimana. Dr. Birendra Saraf, instructed by Anirudh Rastogi of TRA and Ankita Singh of A&P Partners, appearing for Kross Pictures drew the court’s attention to at least fifteen instances where producer AR Vikhyat  of Vikhyat Chitra Productions has publicly admitted that he ‘adapted’ the screenplay of the Korean film for Pushpak Vimana.

    Kross acquires high-concept and proven intellectual property to produce localized films in different languages.  Kross’s Indian operation started in 2015, and has produced the 2016 Hindi film “TE3N” which is based on the Korean film “Montage”, and is currently producing “Suspect X” (directed by Sujoy Ghosh) for Amazon India.

    The court order can be seen here:

  • TRAI notifies tariff order implementation from 2 May, RIO in 60 days

    NEW DELHI: In keeping with the letter submitted to the Madras High Court earlier this week, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today issued an amendment to its tariff order extending the date for bringing it into force to 2 May 2017.

    Following the extension letter, both Star India and Vijay TV had not pressed their plea for extension.

    The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order 2017 had been issued on 3 March 2017 to provide the tariff framework applicable to broadcasting services relating to television provided to subscribers, through addressable systems, throughout the territory of India.

    Clause 3 of the principal Tariff Order was required to be implemented after thirty days from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

    TRAI also said that with the notification today, the Regulation 7(1) of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Addressable Systems) Interconnection Regulations, 2017 relating to publishing RIO within 60 days from the date of publication of regulations comes into effect foday.

    TRAI received representations from some stakeholders wherein it is mentioned that section (b) of sub-clause (3) of clause 1 of the principal Tariff Order stipulates that clause 3, which mandates that broadcasters have to declare the nature and MRP of pay channels will come into effect after 30 days from the date of publication of this Order in the Official Gazette.

    Stakeholders also mentioned that it is not clear where will broadcasters declare the nature and rates of channels as RIOs are required to be published within 60 days. They requested the Authority to remove the ambiguity with regards to schedule for declaration of nature and MRP of pay channels; and publishing of RIO.

    TRAI said in order to harmonize the provisions relating to implementation of the clause 3 of the principal Tariff Order and regulation 7(1) of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Addressable Systems) Interconnection Regulations, 2017, the dates of the principal tariff order have been re-determined.

    In addition, Clause 10 has been amended as it mistakenly referred to the tariff order of 2010.

    The regulations issued on 3 March2017 are:

    The orders can be seen at:

    http://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Tariff_Order_English_3%20March_2017.pdf

    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_mar_2917.pdf

    Also Read: TRAI justifies tariff, QoS, interconnect orders, declines comment on jurisdiction

    TRAI extends tariff regulations execution date, Madras High court arguments to continue

  • 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.

  • TRAI advises govt to aid TV infra sharing, ease ‘permissions’

    NEW DELHI: The Central Government should encourage sharing of infrastructure, wherever technically feasible, in TV broadcasting distribution network services, on voluntary basis including sharing of head-end used for cable TV services and transport streams transmitting signals of TV channels, among MSOs.

    In its recommendation to infrastructure sharing in the broadcasting sector, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said the MSO registration condition regarding ‘having an independent digital head-end of his own and provide digital addressable cable services from his head-end’ should be suitably amended so as to enable sharing of head-end.

    The Headend-in-the-sky (HITS) or the MSOs should be allowed to share the HITS platforms on voluntary basis, in flexible ways, for distribution of TV channels. The sharing of transport streams transmitted by HITS platform, between HITS operators and MSOs should be permitted.

    Direct-to-Home operators willing to share DTH platform and transport stream of TV channels, on voluntary basis should be allowed to do so with prior written intimation to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and TRAI to ensure efficient use of scarce satellite resources.

    The distributors of TV channels should be permitted to share the common hardware for their Subscriber Management Systems applications and Conditional Access Systems applications.

    While sharing the infrastructure with another distributor of TV channels, the
    responsibility of compliance to the relevant Acts/ rules/ regulations/ lic·ense/ orders/ directions/ guidelines would continue to be of each distributor of TV channels independently.

    The recommendations are the result of a reference from the Ministry of 29 April 2016. The Ministry had also sought recommendation of the Authority on the amendment that may be required in the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and Rules made thereunder to facilitate the infrastructure sharing.

    The Authority examined the issues in sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector comprehensively for all types of predominant TV broadcasting distribution networks. TRAI undertook a comprehensive consultation with the stakeholders by issuing pre-consultation paper, consultation paper, and conducting an open house discussion with them before finalizing its recommendations on “Sharing of Infrastructure in Television Broadcasting Distribution Sector”.

    At the outset, TRAI said TV broadcasting sector has witnessed tremendous growth in the last decade. There has been an exponential increase in the number of satellite TV channels.

    The objectives of the recommendations are to ease policy environment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector on voluntary basis. The sharing of the infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector would not only help in enhancing available distribution network capacities but also would result in reduced Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operative Expenditure (OPEX) for the service providers thereby bringing down the price of broadcasting services to subscribers.

    In addition, it would lower the entry barrier for new service providers and provide space on broadcasting distribution networks for niche channels- necessary for satisfying the diverse needs of general public – to reach targeted customers. Lowering of entry barriers in the distribution space could propel competition in the market and more choices to consumers due to presence of multiple operators in single territory.

  • TRAI extends tariff regulations execution date, Madras High court arguments to continue

    NEW DELHI: Following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s request that its tariff regulations which were slated to come into effect on 2 April were being deferred to 2 May 2017, Star India and Vijay TV decided not to press for their pleas  in view of the ongoing case in Madras hIgh Court.

    The  regulator In a letter submitted to the court its counsel Richard Wilson and signed by by TRAI Secretary Sudhir Gupta, stated that this was being done in view of certain ambiguities raised by some stakehlolders.

    The Court was told that a formal notice about this would be released in due course.
    The broadcasters had filed the application on the plea of the deadline set by TRAI.

     Meanwhile, the Court 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.

    After TRAI counsel concludes his arguments next week, the Court will hear counsel of All India Digital Cable Federation which been impleaded in the matter.

    Earlier on 3 March, the regulator had issued the 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 sixty days.
    The petition had been filed by Star India and Vijay TV under the Copyright Act on the ground that TRAI could not give any directives that will affect the content since that did not fall in its purview.

    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_2017.pdf
    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_mar_2917.pdf

    Follwing 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-Vijay Copyright case hearing next week, TRAI to file counter