ITV

Category: Regulators

  • Red FM gets HC nod to participate in FM Phase III auctions

    Red FM gets HC nod to participate in FM Phase III auctions

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court, which had earlier permitted Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd, which runs Red FM to take part in the mock e-auction, today (26 July) gave the company permission to take part in the main e-auction for FM Phase III commencing tomorrow (27 July).

     

    Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva pronounced the order on a Sunday in view of the urgency of the matter. 

     

    The court had yesterday heard detailed arguments by Red FM counsel Kapil Sibal for Red FM who said that there was no security issue involved even in the light of the cases against the Maran brothers. He also said this amounted to curbs on the freedom of the media.

     

    Government standing counsel Sanjiv Narula, who had said there was no question of postponement of the e-auctions as that would have a cascading effect.

     

    It had been pointed out by Sibal that the Madras High Court had already permitted three sister companies to take part in the main e-auction. However, Narula said the Madras High Court’s single judge order was not binding upon the division bench of Delhi High Court.

     

    The Court had earlier termed as “incongruent” the denial of security clearance to Red FM to participate in the Stage III FM auction due to its association with the Sun TV Group, while Madras High Court had allowed it to take part. 

     

    The bench said while the Madras HC has allowed the Sun TV Group to participate in the auction, the Centre has denied the same relief to Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd, due to its association with the Maran-run group.

     

    The Madras High Court, while passing orders on 23 July, asked that the results of the auction be kept in a sealed cover till further orders and said that it would be subject to the result of the main writ petition filed by the group, which has sought a direction to quash the order passed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. 

     

    The Ministry had filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court stating that Red FM’s plea for security clearance to participate in stage III of FM auctions was not maintainable as it is seeking judicial review of a ‘policy decision.’

     

    Earlier on 22 July, the Delhi High Court had allowed Red FM to take part in mock auctions for the third phase of e-auctions after Narula told the Court that it was not possible for the Ministry to postpone the main FM auctions. He said the entire process had been lined and any postponement will have a cascading effect.

     

    Red FM is among the prime bidders in the phase III of FM auctions covering 135 radio channels in 69 cities.

     

    The Ministry had last week issued a list of 21 bidders, which did not include the Group’s Red FM, and then sent a formal communication to the Group on 15 July that it had been denied permission.

     

    Red FM has pleaded to the Court that the Centre should permit Sun Group to migrate to the Phase-III regime by allowing it to resubmit the application of 20 March, 2015 to participate in the e-auction.

     

    The petitions also said the company was not involved in any dispute with the nation’s security, nor had it broadcast anything that affected the security of the nation.

     

    Apart from the denial to participate in Phase III FM auctions, the order also implied that the sister companies of the Sun Group would be compelled to close down FM radio stations, totalling 45 across the nation, the petitioners said.

  • Red FM ecstatic at winning legal battle; reiterates commitment to reach smaller cities

    Red FM ecstatic at winning legal battle; reiterates commitment to reach smaller cities

    NEW DELHI: Red FM, which was allowed to participate in the first batch of private FM Phase III auction earlier today by the Delhi High Court, is indeed heaving a sigh of relief, which is slated to commence from 27 July.

     

    Reaffirming faith in the country’s judicial system, Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan said, “We feel that the Delhi High Court has accepted our submission that we have no connection with the reasons for denial of security clearance and rejection of our application.”

     

    Emphasising that the Court had only read out the operative portion and the full judgment was not available yet, Narayanan added, “We will continue with auction according to our plans of bidding for more frequencies. We are one of country’s largest networks of FM stations and hopefully post the final outcome of these auctions we shall retain our leadership status.”

     

    She expressed her pleasure for the permission to participate in the auction of first batch of private FM Radio Phase III channels starting from 27 July.

     

    Expressing joy that the issue had been settled Narayanan said, “From the beginning we had kept a sizeable sim of money to be spent on these auctions (through which government stands to earn with go ahead on our participation). Our inclusion means healthy competition and will benefit the entire FM radio industry and media and entertainment industry at large.”

     

    She said RED FM not only reaches to some of the smaller cities but also gives the local music and entertainment industry a voice. It always believes in being a socially active and relevant entertainment medium, creating employment opportunities for local youth specially women and become a voice of city wherever it operates its station. 

     

    “In Phase III, we also have plans of going ahead with the philosophy of nurturing not only commercially viable bigger metro cities but also reaching out to the last corner of the country,” she noted.

     

    “At the end of Phase II we had the highest number of stations in North East and three-tier and four-tier cities as a network. This is something which we will continue in Phase III also,” she added.

  • ENIL moves HC to postpone FM auctions; case deferred to August

    ENIL moves HC to postpone FM auctions; case deferred to August

    NEW DELHI: Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL) has filed a petition in Madras High Court seeking a direction for postponement of the e-auctions for FM Radio Phase III slated to begin from 27 July. 

     

    The petition was filed in response to an interim order passed by the court allowing Sun TV’s FM channels to participate in the auctions while its petition was awaiting a decision.

     

    ENIL, a subsidiary of Times Infotainment Media, is the holding company promoted by Bennett, Coleman & Company, owns Radio Mirchi. In its application, the company said it had no objection to the participation of Sun TV companies in the auctions, but only to the conditions imposed.

     

    “It is the conditional nature of participation that causes harm to the applicant, not the participation per se,” the company said in the petition. “Auctions scheduled for 27 July 2015 may be postponed enabling this court to hear this matter finally and order auctions to take place without any conditionality,” ENIL pleaded.

     

    The Court adjourned the matter to August, while directing Sun TV to file a counter.

     

    Unless the Information and Broadcasting Ministry extends the permission of broadcasters whose licenses are slated to expire on 30 September, they may be forced to go off-air. “This will be a compounded and useless exercise in case the bidding has to be held all over again if the present writ petitions fail and finally the entire process of auctions shall have to be carried out all over again, thereby resulting in wastage of time and resources of the bidders as well as the Government,” the petition said.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Sun Group was not given security clearance by the Home Ministry, resulting in its companies approaching the Delhi and Madras High Courts for relief.

     

    In Madras, the Court granted an interim relief to Kal Radio’s Suryan FM and South Asian FM and allowed them to participate in the auction, while directing that the result of the auctions may be kept in a sealed cover and produced before the Court. Today, the Delhi High Court reserved its orders for tomorrow (26 July) on a similar petition by Red FM.

     

    ENIL has said that other bidders are likely to face grave and irreparable injury in case the auctions are allowed to be held with a conditional participation of the Sun TV and its companies.

     

    ENIL also explained that in the event, the e-auction process necessarily entails that each broadcaster shall have a separate computer terminal where it can follow its own progress on whether or not it has won the auction for a particular city or not. Hence to the extent the result is already public and no useful purpose would be served by keeping the results in the sealed cover.

     

    At a later date, the petition said, the results of the auction, inasmuch as they pertain to telling all broadcaster bidders of the outcome with regard to be the other bidders, will be kept under wraps and the bidders may get to know about the successful nature of bids much later, second as the bid prices will determine the Non-Refundable One Time Migration Fee for all existing license holders to pay in order to migrate to phase-III of FM radio, such an order would keep the entire migration process in suspended animation, thereby leading to a complete chaos and uncertainty about the future of the present licensees. 

  • Orders on Red FM participation in Phase III e-auction on 26 July; Delhi HC stresses incongruity

    Orders on Red FM participation in Phase III e-auction on 26 July; Delhi HC stresses incongruity

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court, which had earlier permitted Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd that runs Red FM to take part in the mock e-auction, today reserved its orders on the application for taking part in the main e-auction for FM Phase III commencing on 27 July.

     

    In view of the urgency of the matter, Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said they would pronounce the order tomorrow (26 July) at 11.30 am.

     

    Before reserving its orders, the court heard Red FM counsel Kapil Sibal for Red FM and Government standing counsel Sanjiv Narula.

     

    It was pointed out by Sibal that the Madras High Court had already permitted three sister companies to take part in the main e-auction. However, Narula said the Madras High Court’s single judge order was not binding upon the division bench of Delhi High Court.

     

    In a brief hearing yesterday, which could not be concluded as the Red FM counsel was not present in view of the lawyers’ strike, the Court had termed as “incongruent” the denial of security clearance to Red FM to participate in the Stage III FM auction due to its association with the Sun TV Group, while Madras High Court had allowed it to take part. 

     

    The bench said while the Madras HC has allowed the Sun TV Group to participate in the auction, the Centre has denied the same relief to Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd, due to its association with the Maran-run group.  

     

    The Madras High Court while passing orders on 23 July asked that the results of the auction be kept in a sealed cover till further orders and said that it would be subject to the result of the main writ petition filed by the group, which has sought a direction to quash the order passed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     

    The Ministry had filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court stating that Red FM’s plea for security clearance to participate in stage III of FM auctions was not maintainable as it is seeking judicial review of a ‘policy decision.’

     

    Earlier on 22 July, the Delhi High Court had allowed Red FM to take part in mock auctions for the third phase of e-auctions after Narula told the Court that it was not possible for the Ministry to postpone the main FM auctions. He said the entire process had been lined and any postponement will have a cascading effect.

     

    Red FM is among the prime bidders in the phase III of FM auctions covering 135 radio channels in 69 cities.

     

    The Ministry had last week issued a list of 21 bidders, which did not include the Group’s Red FM, and then sent a formal communication to the Group on 15 July that it had been denied permission.

     

    Red FM has pleaded to the Court that the Centre should permit Sun Group to migrate to the Phase-III regime by allowing it to resubmit the application of 20 March 2015 to participate in the e-auction.

     

    The petitions also said the company was not involved in any dispute with the nation’s security, nor had it broadcast anything that affected the security of the nation.

     

    Apart from the denial to participate in Phase III FM auctions, the order also implied that the sister companies of the Sun Group would be compelled to close down FM radio stations, totalling 45 across the nation, the petitioners said. 

  • Delhi media protests Home Ministry order on briefings

    Delhi media protests Home Ministry order on briefings

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has condemned the gag order for journalists covering the Union Home Ministry.

     

    It noted that such curbs are not new and have been in force since 2014, albeit in a not such an overt manner. It said the new thing was that they are now becoming more obvious and blatant.

     

    A report in a Delhi daily in this regard is an ominous indicator of things to come. It has been reported that the practice of journalists meeting senior officers in their chambers virtually comes to an end.

     

    The directive from Joint Secretary Satpal Chouhan said, “The information flow to mediapersons will be arranged in media room no. 9, North Block. Mediapersons will be told by ADG [Media] that they do not have briefing/meeting with officers other than in the media room.”

     

    Chouhan, in his directive, added that MA Ganapathy, joint secretary (Internal Security), being the official spokesperson of the Ministry, will brief the media on a need-to-do basis.

     

    The DUJ, while expressing its strongest disapproval of this order, expressed its solidarity with the protesting journalists.

  • Forensic lab to verify individual’s signatures to decide on MSO-LCO dispute

    Forensic lab to verify individual’s signatures to decide on MSO-LCO dispute

    NEW DELHI: In a rare order, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT) has sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, two samples of the signatures of an individual to verify whether one is forged as alleged.

     

    Even as a case by Manthan Broadband Services for recovery of certain amounts from Rajarhat Cable Broadband Services was at the threshold stage, the latter produced a purported reconciliation statement dated 12 March, 2015 under which it owed Manthan only a sum of Rs 39,16,407. This statement was contested by Manthan, which also said that the signatures of one Sajal Mistry were forged. As proof, it presented the passport of Mistry.

     

    TDSAT chairman Aftab Alam and members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava said they “hoped and expected that the report will be received within one month.”

     

    The matter has now been put up for hearing on 29 September and Manthan has been asked to file its rejoinder to the reply filed by Rajarhat and reply to the counter-claim filed by Rajarhat.

     

    Manthan denied there was any joint reconciliation of accounts. It took the stand that the so-called reconciliation statement was a fake document and the purported signature of Mistry on it was not genuine.

     

    Despite the above statement made on behalf of Manthan, Rajarhat continued to insist that the reconciliation statement was drawn up after a joint exercise and it bore Mistry’s signature working as senior manager with Manthan. 

     

    The Tribunal noted that the two sides were taking diametrically opposite positions on a simple issue of fact and it was clear that one of them is making incorrect statements willfully on oath. 

     

    “In these circumstances, it becomes necessary to find out the genuineness or otherwise of the purported signature of Sajal Mistry on the reconciliation statement dated 12 March, 2015 through a scientific process,” TDSAT said.

     

    Manthan’s counsel produced Mistry’s passport, which “naturally bears his signature that cannot be disputed on any count.”

     

    The Tribunal accordingly decided to have the signatures on the agreement and the passport verified by the CFSL. 

  • Govt. backs Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as FTII chairman

    Govt. backs Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as FTII chairman

    NEW DELHI: The Government has backed the appointment of Mahabharat star Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), saying that the appointment was in accordance with the prescribed guidelines.

     

    “The appointment in the FTII is made as per the prescribed guidelines incorporated in FTII rules,” Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said in the Lok Sabha.

     

    Rathore said he is in touch with the representatives of the students and the alumni, who are on an agitation to protest the appointment of Chauhan.

     

    “The Government had held talks on 3 July with representatives of FTII students and alumni wherein they were told that the appointment of Chauhan was made in accordance with the prescribed rules.” He also said that they were asked to resume their academic activities.

     

    Rathore said the appointment of FTII is governed by the set of provisions of FTII rules. “As per section 3 (1) of the FTII rules, president of the institute is nominated by the Central government. Further, under section 22 of the Rules, president of the institute acts as chairman of the Governing Council,” he added.

     

    FTII students have been agitating for over six weeks to protest the appointment of Chauhan as FTII chairman. 

  • Channels uplinked for beaming overseas have to follow laws of receiving country: Rathore

    Channels uplinked for beaming overseas have to follow laws of receiving country: Rathore

    NEW DELHI: Although the 36 channels uplinked from India and downlinked overseas are not bound by the Programme and Advertising Codes, the Indian government said that the uplinked content should not contain anything, which is against the sovereignty, integrity and national security of India as well as its relations with friendly countries.

     

    The permission to these channels was given under the Uplinking Guidelines of November 2011.

     

    Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told the Lok Sabha today that these channels will be required to ensure compliance of the rules and regulations of the target country for which content is being produced and uplinked.

     

    These channels will be required to preserve the recordings of proceedings for at least six months for monitoring purposes, he said.

     

    A majority of the channels are from the Zee Group targeting different countries including the United States and South Africa, while others include Raj TV and South Asia World TV.

  • Mock auctions extended by a day to accommodate Sun Group FM bidders

    Mock auctions extended by a day to accommodate Sun Group FM bidders

    NEW DELHI: Even as the e-auction for the first batch of bidders for FM Phase III is to commence on 27 July, the Government held three rounds of mock auctions instead of the originally announced two.

     

    The mock auctions while earlier were slated for 22 and 23 July, were extended by one more day to 24 July.

     

    Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com that the mock exercise had been extended in the light of the Delhi High Court order of 22 July with regard to Red FM for taking part in the auctions and the Madras High Court order of 23 July with regard to Kal Radio-run Suryan FM to take part in the e-auctions.

     

    C1 India Pvt. Ltd is serving as the e-auctioneer and auction adviser to the I&B Ministry, who arranged the training of pre-qualified bidders for the first batch of private FM radio Phase III on 17 July, 2015. The training was held in two batches on the same day, at National Media Centre in New Delhi.

     

    A total of 28 applicants had applied for the e-auction of 135 private FM radio channels for the first batch of the Phase III expansion plan. The 28 applicants had cumulatively submitted Rs 316.91 crore as earnest money deposit by 27 March, 2015, which was the deadline for the application process.

     

    Meanwhile the petition related to participation Red FM in the FM Phase III auction will be heard by the Supreme Court on 25 July. 

  • Delhi HC adjourns ad cap case to September due to lawyers’ strike

    Delhi HC adjourns ad cap case to September due to lawyers’ strike

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has adjourned the petition by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and others challenging the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour to 8 September.

     

    The petition challenging the order of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry was put off in view of the strike by lawyers protesting the raising of the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Court from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 crore.

     

    The order that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will not take any action against any channel pending the petition will continue. In an earlier hearing, the Court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

     

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels.

     

    Apart from the NBA, the petition have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

     

    The news and regional broadcasters fear that the capping of commercial airtime will curtail their ad revenues. They also argue that the ad cap must be brought only after the benefits of cable TV digitisation start showing.