Category: Software

NEW DELHI: Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said today that UAS licences linked with spectrum will no longer be awarded and all future licences will be Unified Licences and allocation of spectrum will be delinked from the licence.

Addressing a press meet, he said the Telecom Commission had considered the Recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on ‘Spectrum Management and Licensing Framework’ of 11 May 2010 along with its further recommendations of 8 February 2011, clarifications of 3 May 2011 and response of 3 November 2011.

The Commission had said that spectrum, if required, will have to be obtained separately. A final view on implementation of the Unified License Regime would be taken after receipt of detailed Guidelines and Terms & Conditions from Trai for Unified Licence including migration path for all existing licence(s) to Unified Licence.

The Department of Telecom had recommended that in the event of any auction of spectrum pending finalisation of the Unified Licensing Regime, UAS licence without spectrum may be issued which could be subject to a requirement to migrate to Unified licence as and when the regime is put in place. Detailed guidelines for such UAS licence without spectrum would be finalised after receipt of recommendations of TRAI in this regard.

There will be uniform licence fee across all telecom licenses and service areas which will progressively be made equal to 8 per cent of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) in two yearly steps starting from 2012-13.

The licence fee and spectrum usage charges payable by each such licensee shall be on actual AGR, subject to a minimum presumptive AGR. This minimum figure would be reviewed by Trai every year.

A decision on the recommendation to bring IP-I Service Providers under licencing regime who are currently unlicenced passive infrastructure providers has been deferred for further examination.

A rapid comprehensive techno-economic study will be carried out by DoT to examine issues relating to increase in coverage and tele-density in rural areas while at the same time ensuring sustained quality of service and also to examine the adequacy of USOF mechanism alone to achieve these objectives and the need for augmenting USOF schemes with appropriate direct incentivisation of TSPs for rural rollout.

The validity of existing UAS (& CMTS and Basic services) licences may be extended for another 10 years at one time, as per the provisions of the extant licensing regime with suitable Terms & Conditions so as not to imply automatic continuance of existing license and related conditions including quantum and price of any spectrum allocated.

On extension, the UAS licensee will be required to pay a fee which will be Rs 20 million for Metro and ‘A’ Circles, Rs 10 million for ‘B’ circles and Rs 5 million for ‘C’ circles. This fee does not cover the value of spectrum, which shall be paid for separately. While extending the licence, the licensee shall be assigned spectrum only up to the prescribed limit or the amount of spectrum assigned to it before the extension, whichever is less. Spectrum assigned by the Government to the licensee in excess of the prescribed limit shall be withdrawn.

The need for refarming of spectrum has been accepted in-principle. Further steps will be taken after receipt of Trai’s recommendations in this regard.

The prescribed limit on spectrum assigned to a service provider will be 2X8MHz/ 2X5MHz for GSM/ CDMA technologies respectively for all service areas other than in Delhi and Mumbai where it will be 2X10MHz/ 2X6.25 MHz. However, the licensee can acquire additional spectrum beyond prescribed limits, in the open market, should there be an auction of spectrum subject to the limits prescribed for merger of licences.

Decisions on all matters relating to One Time Spectrum Charge including pricing of spectrum in cases of M&A and Spectrum Sharing will be taken separately.

Spectrum usage charges were revised in 2010 by the Government and the matter is sub-judice. Further action will be taken by DoT after the matter is decided by the court.

The broad guidelines in respect of intra-service area merger of CMTS/UAS licences will include merger up to 35% market share of the resultant entity through a simple, quick procedure. However, there may be a need to consider cases of merger beyond 35% market share in certain circumstances without breaching the 25% cap on GSM spectrum/ 10 MHz for CDMA spectrum holding in any service area. Recommendation of TRAI that such cases will be considered up to a market share of 60% has been taken note of. In order to ensure clarity on the circumstances and extent to which merger above 35% limit would be permissible, detailed transparent criteria will be prescribed/ adopted after receipt of TRAI’s recommendations and after due consultation with the appropriate authorities.

If the total spectrum held by the resultant entity is beyond the limits prescribed after merger, the excess spectrum must be surrendered within one year of the permission being granted. The Government may prescribe the band which will be required to be surrendered in accordance with spectrum refarming policy to be announced separately.

The duration of licence of the resultant entity in the respective service area will be equal to the higher of the two periods on the date of merger. This does not however entitle the resultant entity to retain the entire spectrum till the expiry of licence period.

NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology today invited public views on the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Second Amendment Bill 2011 which seeks to prohibit transmission or re-transmission of unregistered channels and to enhance the punishment provided for contravention of the provisions of the principal Act.

The Bill had been referred to the Standing Committee headed by Rao Inderjit Singh, MP, after its introduction in the Lok Sabha on 15 December 2011.

The views have been sought from individuals/Experts/Organisations/Stakeholders ‘ considering the immense importance of the Bill’, according to a press communiqué today.

The text of the Bill is available at the website: http:/ /loksabha.nic.in

All those interested may send their views/suggestions on the Bill in the form of Memoranda ( two copies either in English or in Hindi) to the Deputy Secretary (IT), Lok Sabha Secretariat, Room No.315, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi-110001 in a sealed cover within two weeks from the date of publication/broadcasting of the Press Release. The memoranda can also be e-mailed at comit@sansad.nic.in or can be faxed at Fax No.011-23015426, 23010756.

Views submitted to the Committee would form part of the records of the Committee and would be treated as ‘confidential’ and should not be printed, circulated or published by anyone, as such an act would constitute a ‘breach of privilege’ of the Committee. Those desirous of giving oral evidence before the Committee, besides sending Memoranda, are requested to intimate the Lok Sabha Secretariat to this effect well in advance.

MUMBAI: Action oriented broadcaster AXN has rolled out the the digital feature �Unlock Mitch McDeere, which will provide users an opportunity to watch the first five minutes online of the highly anticipated AXN Original Series, The Firm.

The series will launch on 19 February across Sony Pictures Television’s global network of channels in 111 territories across the world and reaching over 121 million homes.

‘Unlock Mitch McDeere‘ is an interactive platform to explore aspects of Mitch’s life and the forces throwing it into a constant state of chaos: his family, his brilliant legal mind, his ties to the mob and FBI, and the constant threat of underlying conspiracy.

As users explore the items that represent different facets of Mitch’s life, they discover that by matching correct combinations, they will unlock short video montages that relate to an aspect of Mitch’s character.

Once a user watches all four videos, they will unlock a special five-minute sneak peek of the premiere episode.
SPT is also releasing a portfolio of other exclusive digital features for The Firm, including �The Chronology of Events�, which is an interactive timeline that tracks key moments of the series, and �The Firm Character Quiz.�

John Grisham’s best-selling novel was made into a movie, also called The Firm, in 1993, starring Hollywood heavyweight Tom Cruise. Shot on location in Canada, the TV reincarnation of the book and film picks up 10 years after young hot shot lawyer, Mitch McDeere, brought down a Memphis law firm fronting the Chicago mob.

Mitch and his family attempt to reclaim their lives by moving to DC to start their own firm after leaving the Federal Witness Protection Program.

MUMBAI: Cisco Systems, one of the world‘s largest technology companies, has bought a stake in a digital media start-up owned jointly by Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman.

Cisco has paid Rs 270 million for the stake in Qyuki, according to a report in Economic Times.

With Cisco’s investment in place, Qyuki will allow the co-creation of creative content. For example, lyrics could be posted by one user, another could score the music and a third could be a publisher who packages it and takes it to market. The technology platform would be built in such a way that the content could be distributed through any device.

“Qyuki will not be as inert as Facebook or as passive as You-Tube. We want to shepherd people‘s creativity to create new films and score music collaboratively,” Kapur told ET.

NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting CM Jatua urged for development of new broadcasting technologies ‘at rocket pace’ to keep up with the developments all over the world.

Jatua was speaking at the BES Expo organised by the Broadcast Engineering Society.

Veteran media person B G Verghese added in a special address at the valedictory session that there was dire need for setting up a separate autonomous body for broadcast transmission if the country had to ensure it kept pace with developments all over the world. He said this recommendation had been made when he was member of the first Board of Prasar Bharati after it was notified in 1997. It had also been stated at that time that the Government should only function as a trustee.

He also said that it was important that discussions held in meets such as the three-day Expo should not just remain in record books and should be taken up by the Government for implementation.

Verghese was presented an Honorary Fellowship of the BES by the Minister on the occasion. Two former engineering-in-chief executives of Doordarshan, BK Dey and RK Gupta, received Lifetime Achievement awards. Six other awards were presented on the occasion for excellence in broadcast engineering.

BES President Ashok Lakhanpal said an important subject taken up during the discussions was the role of broadcasting in disaster management.

Around 50 personalities from India and overseas took part in the various sessions held during the Expo which was on the theme of Broadcasting through Multiple Platforms. Other subjects taken up included ‘Digital TV Broadcasting Technologies’, content management, digital radio transmission, and community radio.

Stalls on broadcasting technologies were put up by over a 100 exhibitors from India and overseas. They included Prasar Bharati and Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd.

Speaking at the inauguration on 11 February, MoS for I&B S Jagathrakhskan had said that nations which miss out on the information revolution would be treated as backward nations. He said convergence communication and information technologies were driving new products. Digitisation was expected to bring in major gains for the broadcasting sector and the viewers would get a tool to balance their viewing affordability. This will ensure a level playing field.

I& B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma who had also attended the inauguration said that technological changes were taken place very fast but consumer education was missing about this, and the BES could play a major role in this direction.

NEW DELHI: The Cable Operators Federation of India has rejected the charges of the News Broadcasters Association about stoppage of news television channels, saying that this was being done either by the multi-system operators at their end or under pressure from centre or state governments.

COFI President Roop Sharma told indiantelevision.com that she has written to NBA, pointing out that channels were blacked out by MSOs either on their own or under instructions from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for showing objectionable matter.

Similarly, she said some state governments put pressure on the MSOs or cable operators to black out certain channels.

Sharma is reported to have given specific examples of blacking out of certain channels in some states.

The NBA had yesterday asked the government to take action against erring cable operators, ‘anguished by frequent arbitrary action of cable operators to switch off cable without assigning any reason‘.

The NBA had condemned ‘such illegal and arbitrary actions by cable operators or the powers that be‘. It had described this as a direct attack on the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

MUMBAI: Finnish game and entertainment company Rovio Entertainment’s popular game Angry Birds debuted on Facebook today.

The game is based on the concept of shooting birds from a catapult to destroy pigs placed on different structures based on the level of difficulty. The game is available on mobile phones, i-pads and tablets as a downloadable application.

Marking a first, Angry birds is now available on Facebook as a game. Traditionally it is a single player game but the Facebook version has some changes. People playing the game can compare scores with their friends who also use the application on the social media network.

Rovio Entertainment key account director Bijay Gurung said, “We have also added some power-ups and special features exclusively for the Facebook platform. We have tried to keep it a single player game but give a community feel to it.”

In another announcement from Rovio, Gurung informed that the company has tied up with television set manufacturer Samsung in certain regions. Under this tie up, specific models of TV sets from Samsung will come pre loaded with the Angry Birds game.

NEW DELHI: With Dr J S Sarma retiring in May this year, the process has begun to find a successor to the job of chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

A search-cum-selection committee set up for the purpose today held its first meeting to discuss its modalities.

The meet was held under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee, his advisor on Infrastructure Sam Pitroda, Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar and Personnel Ministry Secretary P K Mishra.

Following the Supreme Court order canceling 122 telecom licences issued in January 2008 under the 2G scheme, Trai under Sarma recently announced a consultation paper for e-auctions for 2G spectrum according to the Court order.

Sarma took over as Trai chairman in May 2009 after retirement of Nripendra Mishra from the post in March that year. Prior to joining Trai, Sarma was member of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) and also served as Secretary at Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in 2005-2006.

Sarma has been involved in various important regulations which include ‘Spectrum Management and Licencing Framework‘, Mobile Number Portability, Regulation to stop pesky calls and SMS, Telecom Consumer Protection Regulations 2012, Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations 2012 and Digitisation of cable network among others.

MUMBAI: Raj Kundra and Sanjay Dutt co-promoted Mixed Martial Arts‘ fighting league, Super Fight League, has reached a deal with video sharing website YouTube to live stream the event on SFL‘s dedicated channel youtube.com/SFL.

Under the terms of the tie-up, Google will have exclusive online and mobile rights for SFL content for three years and both Google and SFL will jointly share revenues from sponsorships and advertising on www.youtube.com/SFL.

Fans will also enjoy special content like Fighter interviews, fight night highlights, knockout of the night, submission of the night, The Bollywood acts, International performers and much more, at their convenience.

SFL Founder Chairman Raj Kundra said, “This unique initiative by SFL to partner YouTube will give the league a global reach on a single platform. This will allow MMA fans anywhere in the world to view the action on-demand as per their convenience, thus making the SFL channel on YouTube the biggest virtual MMA arena in the world.

“Since we are offering this as a free service initially our events will have greater viewership than any other MMA event in the world. This strategic tie up will give SFL the opportunity to give MMA fans worldwide the best fight night events with some of the industry’s best MMA Fighters.”

“We are thrilled to have the SFL as our global partner and bring this exciting Mixed Martial Arts sports content for the YouTube community around the world. The SFL format is super exciting and we’re working with SFL team to provide a unique experience to build greater awareness around the world for the sport”, said YouTube Director, Content Partnership, Asia Pacific Gautam Anand.

He added, “At YouTube we’re committed to bring all the exciting content for our users and this association will help us to build on that promise. Sports and entertainment are a big focus area for us and we’re working with companies to take their content to a global audience and also provide a great opportunity for advertisers to interact with a large number of viewers through interactive video formats.”

MUMBAI: Khabar Bharti, the regional Hindi news channel from Sai Prakash Group, has partnered Harris Corporation for its complete news workflow solutions and is currently on air using Harris digital newsroom and playout solution.

The new channel buildout, coordinated by local dealer Nixon Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd, combines Harris digital newsroom and playout solutions to support file-based workflows that accelerate time-to-air for broadcasters — which the company asserts reduces costs associated with content acquisition, production, distribution and media management.

“We see a huge benefit in working with a single broadcast manufacturer like Harris to complete our entire news workflow, from ingest to playout and everything in-between,” said Creo Communications founder-director and chief technical consultant at the Khabar Bharti channel Neeraj Singh Chauhan.

“This complete, integrated file-based workflow solution provides cost-effective, yet powerful technology across the entire news production workflow chain to support our business needs. The Harris technical support team based in Noida, India, alongside Nixon Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., provided fast and effective implementation to meet our tight on-air dates.”
The Khabar Bharti facility is built around the Harris NewsForce HD/SD news platform. The integrated Harris MOS Playlist Manager offers play-to-air control for news and production, driving Harris NEXIO AMP server channels to play stories to air with speed and efficiency.

“Broadcasters are seeking integrated solutions as they migrate to file-based environments, where all content is stored, processed and transferred as digital data. Khabar Bharti showcases how digital broadcast news facilities can better streamline workflow processes and optimize success,” said Harris Broadcast Communications president Harris Morris.

Launched in November last year, Khabar Bharti is currently available in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, reaching more than 30 million homes.