Category: Regulators

Give more funds to DAVP for empowering people: Parliamentary Committee

NEW DELHI: Noting that the then Information and Broadcasting ministry secretary had admitted that the budget availability for publicity purpose was not adequate enough, a Parliamentary Committee has recommended that the budgetary allocation for the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity should be enhanced.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to I and B said this will help DAVP to broadbase and increase the outreach of the multimedia campaigns being carried out by it through various means such as television, print, social media or other outreach programmes for the welfare of the society.

Noting that a reduced allocation of Rs 125.60 crore had been made during 2016-17 at the Budget Estimate stage for the ‘People’s Empowerment through Development Communication’ (PEDC) scheme, the Committee felt this amount was‘grossly inadequate to meet the requirement under this important scheme. As a matter of fact, the allocation was about 69 percent of the total outlay for the information sector.

The Committee was told that during the first year of 12th the Plan 2012-13, utilization of funds for PEDC was to the tune of Rs.103.18 crore which was increased to Rs.189 crore in the year 2013-14 and Rs.155.2 crore in the year 2014-15. For the year 2015-16, an allocation of Rs.151 crore had been made at the Revised Estimate stage out of which the actual expenditure as on 30 March 2016 had been Rs.146.34 crore.

The Committee was given to understand that the line ministries and departments carry their ministry-specific campaign for which they have their own budgetary allocations. However, the DAVP’s budget allocation obtained through the Development Communication and Information Dissemination (DCID) programme of I&B ministry is used to run integrated campaigns on all the flagship programmes of the government.

The Committee observed that the government had been launching several initiatives and direct benefit schemes for the welfare of the people, and information regarding these schemes have to be disseminated to the people and the target groups.

To achieve this objective, the scheme of PEDC had an important role to play. In order to facilitate integrated campaign on various flagship programmes of the government, the DAVP needs a much larger budget with matching fund allocation which requires more allocation for the information sector.

The DAVP is the nodal multimedia advertising agency of the government catering to the communication needs of the ministries/departments, autonomous bodies and PSUs. In order to strengthen the publicity of various peoples’ welfare and participation oriented programmes in a holistic manner, and to enable efficient discharge of its services, the DAVP had sought and obtained increased funding for two of its Plan Schemes – PEDC implemented through the DCID scheme and ‘Media Infrastructure Development Programme’.

May 31, 2016
133 news and non-news pay channels violated adcap rule in 1st quarter

NEW DELHI: While the adcap case continues to drag with no sign of an early hearing, a study shows that a total of 133 pay channels including 30 news and current affairs channels continue to violate the regulations for telecasting a maximum of twelve minutes of advertisements and commercials per hour.

The report released today by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for the period from 28 December to 27 March shows that the number of violators has come down marginally from 149 during the three months ending 27 December.

While there has been a very miniscule increase in the violators among news channels from 28 top 30, there is a sharp fall in non-news channels from 121 to 103 as on 27 March.

Average duration per hour of Advertisements (commercial and self promotional) during peak hours (7pm ‐ 10 PM) in Pay News Channels for the period 28 December to 27 March shows that the highest of these was 24.83 minutes by ETV Rajasthan and the lowest was 12.15 minutes by Times Now.

Among pay non-news channels for the same period, the highest was 23.41 minutes by B4U Movies (which had topped the list in December last year as well) and the lowest was 12.04 by Odiosha TV’s Tarang.

There are at least sixteen news and 24 non-news channels clocking more than fifteen minutes per hour.

TRAI has made it clear that ‘the information is based on the data submitted by the broadcasters and TRAI bears no responsibility for correctness of same. As per information available with TRAI, the rest of the Pay News and non-news channels are carrying less than 12 minutes of average duration per hour of advertisements (Commercial & Self promotional) during peak hours (7PM – 10 pm)’.

While asking TRAI not to take any coercive action against any channel pending hearing of the case in the first hearing almost two years earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked all channels and TRAI to keep a record of the advertising time consumed including commercials.

The petition had been filed by the News Broadcasters Association and some channels challenging the TRAI decision to implement the directive of 12 minutes contained in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and TRAI are the respondents in the petition.

After the Information and Broadcasting Ministry told the Court on 27 November that it was discussing the issue with broadcasters, the matter was put off to 11 February and then to 29 March. In the 11 February hearing, Discovery Communications moved for intervention while Home Cable sought early hearing.

In its intervention MSO Home Cable Network (P) Ltd said it wanted to intervene as it was directly affected by the outcome of the present petition. It wanted the NBA petition to be dismissed and added: “The Pay channel broadcasters are profiteering at the expense of subscribers and the DPO’s. There is no justification for changing monthly subscription when commercial advertisements are inserted. The Standards of Quality of Service (Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems) Regulations 2012 (with Amendments thereafter) is justified to the extent they are applicable to Pay Channels. The pay channel broadcasters cannot charge the subscription fee while inserting commercials into the content or in the alternative, the subscribers have to be compensated for the revenue earned on the basis of their being subscribers of the channels.”

Interestingly, I and B Minister Arun Jaitley had in January last year said that he was in favour of any ad cap in the print or electronic media.

In the petition, the news channels have taken the plea that most of them are free to air and therefore do not get any subscription fee from the viewers as the GEC channels do.

May 30, 2016
133 news and non-news pay channels violated adcap rule in 1st quarter

NEW DELHI: While the adcap case continues to drag with no sign of an early hearing, a study shows that a total of 133 pay channels including 30 news and current affairs channels continue to violate the regulations for telecasting a maximum of twelve minutes of advertisements and commercials per hour.

The report released today by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for the period from 28 December to 27 March shows that the number of violators has come down marginally from 149 during the three months ending 27 December.

While there has been a very miniscule increase in the violators among news channels from 28 top 30, there is a sharp fall in non-news channels from 121 to 103 as on 27 March.

Average duration per hour of Advertisements (commercial and self promotional) during peak hours (7pm ‐ 10 PM) in Pay News Channels for the period 28 December to 27 March shows that the highest of these was 24.83 minutes by ETV Rajasthan and the lowest was 12.15 minutes by Times Now.

Among pay non-news channels for the same period, the highest was 23.41 minutes by B4U Movies (which had topped the list in December last year as well) and the lowest was 12.04 by Odiosha TV’s Tarang.

There are at least sixteen news and 24 non-news channels clocking more than fifteen minutes per hour.

TRAI has made it clear that ‘the information is based on the data submitted by the broadcasters and TRAI bears no responsibility for correctness of same. As per information available with TRAI, the rest of the Pay News and non-news channels are carrying less than 12 minutes of average duration per hour of advertisements (Commercial & Self promotional) during peak hours (7PM – 10 pm)’.

While asking TRAI not to take any coercive action against any channel pending hearing of the case in the first hearing almost two years earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked all channels and TRAI to keep a record of the advertising time consumed including commercials.

The petition had been filed by the News Broadcasters Association and some channels challenging the TRAI decision to implement the directive of 12 minutes contained in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and TRAI are the respondents in the petition.

After the Information and Broadcasting Ministry told the Court on 27 November that it was discussing the issue with broadcasters, the matter was put off to 11 February and then to 29 March. In the 11 February hearing, Discovery Communications moved for intervention while Home Cable sought early hearing.

In its intervention MSO Home Cable Network (P) Ltd said it wanted to intervene as it was directly affected by the outcome of the present petition. It wanted the NBA petition to be dismissed and added: “The Pay channel broadcasters are profiteering at the expense of subscribers and the DPO’s. There is no justification for changing monthly subscription when commercial advertisements are inserted. The Standards of Quality of Service (Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems) Regulations 2012 (with Amendments thereafter) is justified to the extent they are applicable to Pay Channels. The pay channel broadcasters cannot charge the subscription fee while inserting commercials into the content or in the alternative, the subscribers have to be compensated for the revenue earned on the basis of their being subscribers of the channels.”

Interestingly, I and B Minister Arun Jaitley had in January last year said that he was in favour of any ad cap in the print or electronic media.

In the petition, the news channels have taken the plea that most of them are free to air and therefore do not get any subscription fee from the viewers as the GEC channels do.

May 30, 2016
Over 180 TV channels asked to provide information to EMMC

NEW DELHI: A total of 182 television channels have been asked by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to provide by 8 June certain details required for monitoring purposes by the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC).

The pay channels have to provide one set of Professionat TRO for each TV channel permitted to them which can give SD-SDI output (in case of HD channels, HD-SDI output) alongwith one spare IRD per bouquet to EMMC.

Alternately, the pay TV broadcaster/ service irovider should provide Viewing Card (VC) with matching CAlvl module for interfacing with demodulators to decrypt and demodulate the channels over IP. TV Channels are also required to provide the technical details as frequency, satellite, location of teleport, etc.

The Free-to-Air (FTA) TV channels whose signals are not encrypted need not provide such equipment. However, they may immediately inform of the frequency being used

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that under Clause 5.14 of Downlinking Guidelines, ‘the applicant company shall provide the necessary monitoring facility at its own cost for monitoring of programmes or content by the representative of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or any other Government agency as and when required’.

A list attached along with the notice published on the site of the Ministry mib.nic.in also gives a list of the 182 channels as well as the officers to whom the information has to be sent.

The list contains all genres of channels – news, general entertainment, business news, and music.

May 28, 2016
Over 180 TV channels asked to provide information to EMMC

NEW DELHI: A total of 182 television channels have been asked by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to provide by 8 June certain details required for monitoring purposes by the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC).

The pay channels have to provide one set of Professionat TRO for each TV channel permitted to them which can give SD-SDI output (in case of HD channels, HD-SDI output) alongwith one spare IRD per bouquet to EMMC.

Alternately, the pay TV broadcaster/ service irovider should provide Viewing Card (VC) with matching CAlvl module for interfacing with demodulators to decrypt and demodulate the channels over IP. TV Channels are also required to provide the technical details as frequency, satellite, location of teleport, etc.

The Free-to-Air (FTA) TV channels whose signals are not encrypted need not provide such equipment. However, they may immediately inform of the frequency being used

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that under Clause 5.14 of Downlinking Guidelines, ‘the applicant company shall provide the necessary monitoring facility at its own cost for monitoring of programmes or content by the representative of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or any other Government agency as and when required’.

A list attached along with the notice published on the site of the Ministry mib.nic.in also gives a list of the 182 channels as well as the officers to whom the information has to be sent.

The list contains all genres of channels – news, general entertainment, business news, and music.

May 28, 2016
SC rejects Star appeal on sharing sports signals with DD

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today upheld the contention by Prasar Bharati that enhancements embedded in the sports feed shared by sports channels with Doordarshan were commercial advertisements.

Rejecting a special leave petition by Star India against a Delhi High Court order which had gone in favour of Prasar Bharati, The apex Court also held that the prohibition in Section 3 of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007 (Sports Act) is not only against advertisements of the broadcast service provider but also those of the content rights owner and holder.

The Court said the word ‘its’ in Section 3 of the Act refers to the the content rights owners, holder and broadcast service provider. Therefore it was immaterial as to who inserted the enhancements. Under the Act the signal to be provided had to be free of advertisements.

The Sports Act is clear that live signals of sporting events of national importance have to be shared by the content rights owners or holders and broadcast service providers with Prasar Bharati without advertisements. Furthermore, a clean feed is to be provided.

Prasar Bharati in its petition in the High Court had claimed that the feed being provided contained commercial enhancements. But Star took the plea that the commercial enhancements were not advertisements and the enhancements were in any case being inserted by International Cricket Council.

Star also said the prohibition in Section 3 of the Sports Act was only against advertisements of the broadcast service provider (Star) and not those of the content rights owner (ICC). It claimed that the word ‘its’ in Section 3 of the Act only referred to the broadcast service provider and not the content rights owner.

While senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi had appeared for Star Sports, Prasar Bharati was represented by Attorney General Mukul Rohatagi.

Taking up the case in Febuary last year, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Prafulla C Pant had said ‘we are of the view that the interim order passed earlier to the effect that the impugned order dated 4 February of the High Court shall remain suspended should continue until further orders.’

The Court had at that time said it was ‘not inclined’ to consider the suggestion made by Star Sports that Doordarshan should set up an extra/special channel which has been contended by Prasar Bharati to be unviable and technically unfeasible within any reasonable period of time.

On the second suggestion about ‘putting up a scroll to the effect that ‘the channel displaying the sports event (concerned ICC World Cup 2015 matches) is meant only for Doordarshan’, the Court said ‘acceptance of the said suggestion would be understanding the provisions of Section 3 of the Sports Act 2007 and Section 8 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 in a particular manner which is not warranted at this stage of the proceedings. We, therefore, decline to accept the said second suggestion advanced on behalf of the respondents.’

Star India had in an additional affidavit at the time said that it was losing around Rs 290 crore every year by sharing its sports signals with Doordarshan and was expecting to lose around Rs 120 crore by sharing the telecast of the World Cup this year. (Under the Sports Act, the rights holder gets 75 per cent of the revenue from the telecast on DD which keeps the balance 25 per cent.)

The Delhi High Court had declined to set aside the must carry clause as well as the Sports Act in its judgment.

May 27, 2016
SC rejects Star appeal on sharing sports signals with DD

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today upheld the contention by Prasar Bharati that enhancements embedded in the sports feed shared by sports channels with Doordarshan were commercial advertisements.

Rejecting a special leave petition by Star India against a Delhi High Court order which had gone in favour of Prasar Bharati, The apex Court also held that the prohibition in Section 3 of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007 (Sports Act) is not only against advertisements of the broadcast service provider but also those of the content rights owner and holder.

The Court said the word ‘its’ in Section 3 of the Act refers to the the content rights owners, holder and broadcast service provider. Therefore it was immaterial as to who inserted the enhancements. Under the Act the signal to be provided had to be free of advertisements.

The Sports Act is clear that live signals of sporting events of national importance have to be shared by the content rights owners or holders and broadcast service providers with Prasar Bharati without advertisements. Furthermore, a clean feed is to be provided.

Prasar Bharati in its petition in the High Court had claimed that the feed being provided contained commercial enhancements. But Star took the plea that the commercial enhancements were not advertisements and the enhancements were in any case being inserted by International Cricket Council.

Star also said the prohibition in Section 3 of the Sports Act was only against advertisements of the broadcast service provider (Star) and not those of the content rights owner (ICC). It claimed that the word ‘its’ in Section 3 of the Act only referred to the broadcast service provider and not the content rights owner.

While senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi had appeared for Star Sports, Prasar Bharati was represented by Attorney General Mukul Rohatagi.

Taking up the case in Febuary last year, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Prafulla C Pant had said ‘we are of the view that the interim order passed earlier to the effect that the impugned order dated 4 February of the High Court shall remain suspended should continue until further orders.’

The Court had at that time said it was ‘not inclined’ to consider the suggestion made by Star Sports that Doordarshan should set up an extra/special channel which has been contended by Prasar Bharati to be unviable and technically unfeasible within any reasonable period of time.

On the second suggestion about ‘putting up a scroll to the effect that ‘the channel displaying the sports event (concerned ICC World Cup 2015 matches) is meant only for Doordarshan’, the Court said ‘acceptance of the said suggestion would be understanding the provisions of Section 3 of the Sports Act 2007 and Section 8 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 in a particular manner which is not warranted at this stage of the proceedings. We, therefore, decline to accept the said second suggestion advanced on behalf of the respondents.’

Star India had in an additional affidavit at the time said that it was losing around Rs 290 crore every year by sharing its sports signals with Doordarshan and was expecting to lose around Rs 120 crore by sharing the telecast of the World Cup this year. (Under the Sports Act, the rights holder gets 75 per cent of the revenue from the telecast on DD which keeps the balance 25 per cent.)

The Delhi High Court had declined to set aside the must carry clause as well as the Sports Act in its judgment.

May 27, 2016
India websites eligible for government advertisements

NEW DELHI: Timing the move with its second anniversary of assumption of office, the government today announced that only websites which are owned and operated by companies that are incorporated in India will be considered for empanelment by Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) for government advertisements.

However, websites owned by foreign companies/origin can still be empanelled if such companies have branch offices which are registered and operating in India for at least one year.

In a move aimed at highlighting the government’s flagship programmes and achievements of the past two years, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has framed guidelines and criteria for Empanelment of suitable agencies and Rate fixation for government advertisements on websites.

The aim of the guidelines is to devise principles and instruments to streamline the release of Government advertisements on websites. The policy stipulates eligibility criteria for websites to get empanelled with DAVP which includes Unique Users (UU) per month data which shall be cross-checked and verified by internationally accepted and credible third party tool that monitors website traffic in India.

The guidelines aim to ensure that the visibility of government advertisements online increased by strategically placing the ads on websites having higher Unique Users per month.

The policy requires that the websites shall run the government ads through a Third Party Ad Server (3-PAS) engaged by DAVP for providing all relevant reports linked with online billing and will be used for verification of bills for payment. The Unique User Data of each empanelled websites will be reviewed in first week of April every year. The guidelines categorises the Unique User per month data of the websites into three categories:

The key features of the policy guidelines include different rates for different ad properties like Standard Banners on Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPTI) basis and a minimum Click-Through Rate (CTR) of 0.30, Video ads per five second videos, Fixed Banner on home page with minimum display size of 300 X 250 pixels in a time frame on six-hour slots (6 am-12 noon, 12 noon to 6 pm, 6 pm to 12 midnight and 12 midnight to 6 am) and Fixed Video ads for 24 hour time slots on home page.

The policy emphasizes that DAVP shall be the nodal agency for all central government ministries / departments for advertising through DAVP empanelled internet websites. However, autonomous bodies/PSUs can directly release advertisements but at DAVP rates and to agencies empanelled with DAVP.

May 26, 2016
India websites eligible for government advertisements

NEW DELHI: Timing the move with its second anniversary of assumption of office, the government today announced that only websites which are owned and operated by companies that are incorporated in India will be considered for empanelment by Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) for government advertisements.

However, websites owned by foreign companies/origin can still be empanelled if such companies have branch offices which are registered and operating in India for at least one year.

In a move aimed at highlighting the government’s flagship programmes and achievements of the past two years, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has framed guidelines and criteria for Empanelment of suitable agencies and Rate fixation for government advertisements on websites.

The aim of the guidelines is to devise principles and instruments to streamline the release of Government advertisements on websites. The policy stipulates eligibility criteria for websites to get empanelled with DAVP which includes Unique Users (UU) per month data which shall be cross-checked and verified by internationally accepted and credible third party tool that monitors website traffic in India.

The guidelines aim to ensure that the visibility of government advertisements online increased by strategically placing the ads on websites having higher Unique Users per month.

The policy requires that the websites shall run the government ads through a Third Party Ad Server (3-PAS) engaged by DAVP for providing all relevant reports linked with online billing and will be used for verification of bills for payment. The Unique User Data of each empanelled websites will be reviewed in first week of April every year. The guidelines categorises the Unique User per month data of the websites into three categories:

The key features of the policy guidelines include different rates for different ad properties like Standard Banners on Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPTI) basis and a minimum Click-Through Rate (CTR) of 0.30, Video ads per five second videos, Fixed Banner on home page with minimum display size of 300 X 250 pixels in a time frame on six-hour slots (6 am-12 noon, 12 noon to 6 pm, 6 pm to 12 midnight and 12 midnight to 6 am) and Fixed Video ads for 24 hour time slots on home page.

The policy emphasizes that DAVP shall be the nodal agency for all central government ministries / departments for advertising through DAVP empanelled internet websites. However, autonomous bodies/PSUs can directly release advertisements but at DAVP rates and to agencies empanelled with DAVP.

May 26, 2016
Panel of experts checks possibility of STB inter-operability: TRAI

NEW DELHI: A panel of 12 experts from institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is working on the challenge of overcoming the problem relating to inter-operability of set top boxes (STB). Even though it has already issued a consultation paper on the subject, broadcast regulator Telecom Reguatory Authority of India has still to find solutions for inter-operability of STBs.

TRAI chairman R S Sharma said inter-operability of STBs was a major programme in the interest of the consumers as this would help consumers get better service from their service providers who would be aware that one can switch to another operator if not satisfied with a service.

He said he was aware that many felt that it is not possible to have a common STB because of security reasons and the need of broadcasters to keep their content encrypted and safe from piracy.

“Because it is essentially a technology issue, we have brought on board professors from IITs and other institutions to look at it from a technology perspective,” Sharma said adding that C-DoT is the technology partner in this venture.

TRAI is attempting to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible, Sharma told a press meet.

The press meet was held to apprise the media about the spate of consultation papers and other decisions taken by TRAI in recent weeks. (Earlier, it is learnt by Indiantelevision.com that some broadcasters also called on Sharma to discuss various issues.)

TRAI officials said while a common STB for cable services may be a bit easier as shown by lab tests, another challenge is bringing STBs which are inter-operable between cable as well DTH operators.

Another major initiative, for which TRAI has initiated a consultation process in the broadcasting sector is ensuring that the broadcasters share infrastructure. Sharma, said that “learning from the Telecom sector” where competitors also share towers, it is being examined if such a practice can be instilled in the broadcasting sector.

Referring to sharing of infrastructure by broadcasters as suggested by the regulator in its latest paper, TRAI officials said different broadcasters are using different satellite system to carry the same channels.

“The idea is whether there is a need to have a different head-end, or different optical fibre network or different satellite system and if we can combine, are we not able to reduce the cost of operations,” a TRAI official said.

The official said that while broadcasters have been initially “closed” to this idea, they were positive that the idea may yield results as seen from the example in the telecom sector.

The TRAI official said that are some licensing conditions which do not allow sharing of infrastructure. After consultations, the regulator would work to see that a proper framework can be provided which allows sharing of infrastructure by broadcasters.

TRAI is also pushing for provision of broadband services through the cable sector, officials added. The regulator is also working to create guidelines for audience measurement for radio and guidelines, officials said.

May 26, 2016