Category: Regulators

TDSAT allows news channel Kashish Developers to approach TRAI in Tata Sky target area case

MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has allowed news channel Kashish Developers Ltd to pursue its representation before the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regarding the target area of direct-to-home (DTH) operator Tata Sky.

While the news channel operating mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand has yet not accepted to sign the RIO agreement with Tata Sky as required under the new regulations of 2017, the tribunal contended that there is no challenge to the regulations or to the RIO. According to TDSAT, the main challenge appears to be the wisdom of the TRAI in giving liberty to DTH operators to declare their target areas.

Earlier, Kashish Developers’s learned counsel argued that the target area for the petitioner’s news channels should confine to Bihar and Jharkhand otherwise it may lose on account of lack of pan-India penetration. On the other hand, Tata Sky’s learned counsel submitted that being a DTH platform it has no option but to treat the target area even in respect of the petitioner’s channel as a pan-India channel.

“In the facts of the case, we are of the considered view that the issues relating to wisdom of the policy can be considered effectively only by the regulator,” the latest order by TDSAT read. Kashish Developers Ltd has already approached TRAI with a representation filed on 29 June.

“In the aforesaid facts, the petition along with pending MAs is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to pursue its representation. It will also be at liberty to file further representation, if required, with a copy of this order. TRAI is expected to dispose of the representation expeditiously in accordance with law,” the order added.

August 1, 2019
Dish TV pays Star India Rs 55 crore in line with TDSAT order

MUMBAI: Leading direct-to-home (DTH) operator Dish TV paid Star India Rs 55 crore adhering to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT) order dated 23 July. The tribunal, in its 29 July order, also noted that Star India has admitted and acknowledged the payment.

TDSAT had earlier directed Dish TV to pay Rs 55 crore to the broadcaster by 27 July in order to avoid disconnection of signals. Star India issued a disconnection notice against Dish TV on 3 July and also filed a recovery petition in the TDSAT.

"We had clearly indicated in the last order that further protection to be given to the petitioner against the notice of disconnection will depend upon its commitment to take care of the current outstanding dues of every succeeding month," TDSAT said in its latest order.

Learned senior counsel for Dish TV also submitted that the company is ready to undertake payment of current invoices as per the agreement. It has also been recorded that the invoices for the month of June has already been raised and is payable by 10 August.

“Petitioner should pay against that invoices within time. In a similar fashion, the current dues of every succeeding month shall be paid by the petitioner by the due date if it wants to have the interim protection during the pendency of this petition,” the order read.

While Dish TV wanted to clear the remaining dues of Rs 195 crore in not two but minimum five instalments of Rs 40 crore each, Star India strongly protested against this offer. TDSAT is also of the view that admitted dues should not remain unpaid for such a long time because it is likely to affect the business of the respondent. The tribunal expects the petitioner to clear the outstanding arrears as noted above in approximately equal instalments by the end of this October.

“By the next date petitioner must show its bonafide by paying Rs 65 crore by end of August towards the liquidation of said arrears. This is in addition to the payment for the current dues. If the petitioner fulfils this condition and makes the payment within time, the impugned notice shall not be given effect to till the next date,” the order stated.

TDSAT posted the matter under the same head to 4 October.

August 1, 2019
TDSAT directs Meghbela Cable to supply details to ZEEL for auditing

MUMBAI: Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has directed multi-system operator (MSO) Meghbela Cable And Broadband Services Pvt Ltd to file an affidavit in the audit dispute with Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL). Earlier, ZEEL was allowed to hold a comprehensive audit of respondent’s head-end, SMS and CAS systems without any delay.

TDSAT has noted that the audit is not making progress because historical data for the relevant period, or what the parties understand as baseline data, is not being supplied by the MSO. The tribunal directed the MSO to make adequate arrangements and preparations and extend full cooperation for the required audit.

“For that purpose, the MSO has to file an affidavit disclosing the required details before this tribunal within a week. Affidavit should disclose the number of locations and also other relevant particulars,” the latest order read.

In an earlier hearing, TDSAT directed that the audit should be held by an independent auditor such as KPMG, Ernst and Young where the representatives of both the parties will be entitled to remain present and auditors shall be at liberty to ask for reports from the vendors of the MSO’s systems including SMS and CAS systems. It was also said that the cost of the audit shall be borne by ZEEL.

TDSAT also directed to post the matter for reviewing the further progress of audit on 9 August. It also mentioned that the latest order shall also bind the vendors of the MSO.

July 30, 2019

MIB says pending applications for MSO registration under consideration

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has informed that the issue of pending applications for MSO registration is under consideration.

MIB informed that that the 50th Open House Meeting for the month of July 2019 was held on 22 July with the representatives of the MSO applicants. Representatives of the five MSO applicants participated in the meeting to ascertain the status of their application for grant of registration.

The list of the applicants present in the meeting:

S.No.	Applicant Name	Cable Network Name
1.	Sh. Shiv Prakash Timmarpur	Mls Hira Cable Network
2.	Sh. Aman Rastogi	M Is Sri Sarvana Cable Vision
3.	Sh. Narender Bagri	M Is ALCOA Digital Pvt. Ltd.
4.	Sh. Diwaker Thareja	President Cable Operator Association
5.	Sh. Ramchander	Mls Shiv Cable Network

July 27, 2019

Doordarshan to hire creative head; installs video walls for Rs 10.75 cr

MUMBAI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurated Video Walls in all eight Doordarshan Studios and Earth Station at DD Kendra, Delhi on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, Javadekar highlighted the significance of the video walls in enhancing viewer experience. He said that under the three year Action Plan of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, support has been given to Doordarshan to modernise its infrastructure. Addition of state of art video walls and spectrum efficient satellite equipment, is a step in the direction of revamping the Public Service Broadcaster.

Appreciating the role of Doordarshan, he stated that the channel is synonymous with credibility. He asked the officials present to work towards expanding the spread of DD Free Dish from the current 3.25 crore households to 5 crore households. On this occasion, he also announced that a creative head will soon be brought in for DD to give a further boost to programming and high quality content creation.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting secretary Amit Khare said that the government is committed to support Doordarshan and All India Radio in every possible way to ensure that the public service broadcaster is able to provide services of contemporary industry standards, reaching out to every nook and corner of India.

Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash lauded the efforts of Doordarshan and highlighted that in the recent past a number of impactful and meaningful programmes have been created, which have taken the flagship schemes of the government to the door steps of people.

The state-of-art video walls, installed at a cost of Rs 10.75 crore under the three year Action Plan of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, are at par with those in studio centres of leading international broadcasters. The induction of video walls will save a lot of time in physical erection of sets. Further, it will give greater flexibility through dynamic change of backdrop by introducing live/recorded videos, graphics etc. in studio sets as per program requirement.

The Earth Station, which is based on spectrum efficient technology, will result in increasing capacity to almost double the number of channels in the same bandwidth. The new Earth Station is HD capable and can give all the national channels of DD in HD. This state of art Earth Station will enable DD to save cost on teleport of DD channels and also allow inclusion of new channels in DD bouquet.

The satellite uplink facility of 9 channels of DDK Delhi, also called as Earth Station was commissioned in 2007. The technology available those days was not spectrum efficient and the compression technique used earlier was MPEG-2 in DVB-S format which resulted in spectrum utilisation of approx. 4 MHz per channel.

In order to replace the old outdated and obsolete equipment and also save precious spectrum, the compression chain of the Earth Station is now replaced with state of art new equipment which uses MPEG-4 compression and DVBS-2 standards resulting into reducing bandwidth requirement per channel to half i.e. 2 MHz per channel.This spectrum efficient technology will result in increasing capacity of the Earth Station to almost double the number of channels in the same bandwidth.

July 26, 2019
I&B Ministry asks TV channels to promote Kargil Vijay Diwas coverage

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has made a request to electronic media, especially private TV channels, to telecast and cover activities relating to Kargil. 26 July 2019 is the 20th anniversary of the Kargil War.

The MIB notification said, “Keeping in view the spirit of nationalism and patriotism, all private TV channels are requested to screen documentary on Kargil War and Kargil Tribute song and to telecast and cover events relating to celebration of Kargil Vijay Diwas, as 20th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas so as to spread the message to the farthest corner of the nation.”

It added, “Electronic media has always been in the forefront to carry such message as it is a powerful tool to reach out to the millennia of people.”

The notification also mentioned that the government will engage in commemoration activities as a tribute to the soldiers of Kargil.

July 26, 2019
TRAI recommends no minimum entry net worth for MSO registration

MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that there is no need to fix a minimum entry-level net worth for MSO registration. Moreover, it also added that there is no basis for introducing minimum net worth classification based on the area of operation for MSOs.

TRAI on Monday released its recommendations on "Entry level net-worth requirement of multi system operators (MSOs) in cable TV services". Based on the written submissions of stakeholders and discussions in the open house discussions, recommendations have been framed by the regulatory body.

Other recommendations include:

· As the area-wise minimum net worth classification for registration of MSO is not required, there is no need to prescribe minimum net worth for remote areas of Jammu & Kashmir or North-East region.

· The authority recommends that there is no merit in introducing minimum net worth for registration of MSOs based on network cost criteria.

· The authority recommends that MIB may prescribe a standard proforma for self-declaration of net worth by applicants seeking registration as MSOs.

· The authority recommends that MIB may consider skill development requirement of the sector and take appropriate action so that trained manpower is available to perform specialised tasks.

The regulatory body issued a detailed consultation paper on "Entry Level Net Worth for MSOs in Cable TV Services" on 9 April. Post this, an open house discussion was held in New Delhi in June. The recommendations were finalised after looking at the comments received for the consultation paper and its own analysis.

TRAI also mentioned that with the new regulatory framework in place, small and medium-size MSOs have it better.

Earlier, TRAI also received a reference from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in 2018 seeking recommendations of the former on the appropriate levels for fixation of entry-level net-worth of the multi system operators (MSOs) for operationalising cable TV digitisation across the country.

July 23, 2019
MIB demands confirmation from MSOs regarding carriage of all DD channels

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has sought affidavits from both existing MSOs as well as fresh applicants that they are carrying all 24 DD channels, besides Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV channels, on their TV network.

The ministry has mentioned in the notice that in view of the contribution of Doordarshan towards dissemination of accurate information about policies and programmes of government, acceleration of socio-economic change, promotion of national integration and stimulation of scientific temper, it is mandated that all cable TV networks should carry DD channels.

The ministry has noticed that the mandate is not being followed by several cable operators in contravention of existing rules. The ministry has also asked to submit the affidavit within one month of the issue of notice.

Section 8 of The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 states that cable operators will have to compulsorily include Doordarshan channels notified by the central government in the Official Gazette. The MIB also listed DD Arunprabha as a mandatory DD channel recently.

July 22, 2019
TRAI floats consultation paper on KYC of DTH set top boxes

MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a consultation paper on 'KYC of DTH Set Top Boxes’ in order to finalise a suitable mechanism for the same. The comments of various organisations, industry bodies, DTH operators, standardisation bodies, STB manufacturers, software providers, stakeholders, experts and individuals have been invited by 19 August 2019.

The authority received a reference from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in 2018 wherein TRAI had been requested to give its considered recommendations on desirability or otherwise of KYC for set top boxes in DTH services and, if desirable, a process for the same.

Later, MIB provided information in another letter to TRAI regarding the safeguards that can be applied for restricting smuggling of DTH equipment illegally to other countries.

“Filling of KYC form and verification of AadhaarcCard may be mandatory for any customer purchasing DTH equipment. In order to check the location in accordance with customer ID /Card ID, location-based services need to be made active in DTH set-top-boxes,” the letter read.

One of the suggestions also included that MIB and TRAI may prepare KYC verification process to ensure that STB used by Indian DTH operators are only working in India.

DTH broadcasting service was opened in the country in 2001 and the government issued the 'Guidelines for obtaining license for providing direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting service in the same year. These guidelines prescribe the eligibility criteria, the procedure for obtaining the licence to set up and operate DTH services in the country.

July 22, 2019
Network18 writes to I&B ministry over BARC’s data validation and outlier policy

MUMBAI: News broadcasting network Network18 India has shot off a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (MIB) raising concerns over Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India’s data validation and outlier policy, Indiantelevision.com has learnt.

According to those in the know, the network has brought to the ministry’s attention the subjective nature of BARC’s implementation of outlier policy and its impact on TV ratings of channels with a relatively smaller viewership base.

On its part, BARC has consistently maintained that it cannot identify landing pages. Hence, reliance on manual intervention in weeding out outliers makes the process susceptible to bias is a view held by a section within the industry.

Indiantelevision.com reached out to Network18 for a comment, the network, however, did not confirm this development.

BARC’s treatment of landing pages has raised a furore among broadcasters over its approach post TDSAT’s order on landing pages.

Reacting to stakeholder concerns, the BARC board gave its nod to form a two-member committee to carry out an independent review of BARC’s data validation and outlier policy.

With opinion divided within the industry, some broadcasters have also written letters, highlighting the negative impact of landing pages, to TRAI and BARC’s technical committee.

On 28 May 2019, TDSAT set aside TRAI’s 3 December 2018 direction to rule in favour of landing page placement of channels.

Data for week 22, first since the landing page ruling, saw CNN News 18 upset the English news apple cart to top the chart, followed by Republic TV, Times Now, DD India and India Today Television.

BARC switched back to its previous methodology from week 23 onward claiming it had received multiple representations from stakeholders and the mandate of its board.

BARC’s flip-flop with its outlier policy implementation further fuelled the landing page row.

With the two-member committee now reviewing the policy, industry hopes for a speedy and acceptable resolution.

July 22, 2019