ITV

Tag: Arvind Mohan

  • Delhi High Court protects ‘Zee’ trademark

    Delhi High Court protects ‘Zee’ trademark

    NEW DELHI: No other company selling anything or providing any service from now on will be able to use the trade mark “Zee”, the Delhi High Court has ruled last weekend.

    In the order passed on February 5 on a writ petition filed by c., the Court restrained the Registrar of Trade Marks of all branches from processing pending applications pertaining to trade mark “Zee”.
    The Registrar is forbidden also from advertising any further applications that may be filed pertaining to the Trade Mark “Zee” or “deceptively similar mark by any third party”, the court has ruled.

    Arvind Mohan, Executive Vice President of the Essel group told Indiantelevision.com today: “This is a landmark decision and establishes our sole right to use the brad and trade mark that the company has so painstakingly developed over the years.”

    The court has also stayed the order dated 11.9.2000 and 15.9.2000 of Registrar of Trade Mark, Mumbai, by virtue of which the company Shri Venkateshwara Group of Industries obtained the registration of trade mark or logo “Zee” for its products known as Zee Gutkha and Zee Pan Masala.

    Zee Telefilms had filed a writ petition under Article 227 invoking extraordinary jurisdiction of Delhi High Court, challenging acceptance orders directing advertising passed by Registrar of Trade Mark permitting advertisement of at least 100 trade mark applications for registered mark or logo “Zee” or deceptively similar marks filed by Shri Venkateshwara Group of Industries, which is completely violative of the statutory provisions and contrary to the law.

    Various offices of the registrar situated at Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi have also been made respondents in the case, apart from the Union of India through Secretary, Information & Broadcasting and Copyright Board, New Delhi.

    The counsels for Zee, Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayyar and Prathiba M. Singh pointed out that trade mark registrars have permitted advertising of around 100 trade mark applications for registration as “Zee”, or look-alike, deceptive marks and they continue to do so despite the detailed representation made by the Zee Telefilms Ltd.

    The argued also that this is also in complete disregard to the prevailing injunction order dated September 4, 2001 of the Division Bench of Mumbai High Court against the Shri Venkateshwra Group, restraining them to use the mark Zee Gutkha or any other deceptive look-alike mark.

    Zee Telefilms Ltd. had said that they are registered proprietors and lawful owners of the trade mark in India as well as in several other countries abroad., Besides, they also own the Common Law Rights, Statutory Rights as well as Copyrights in the “Zee” logo, written in any manner whatsoever.

    Zee reminded the court that it has several channels with the “Zee” mark, which are watched by 180 million viewers out of which 120 millions are in India. In fact, the broadcaster owns the trade mark since 1992.

    The most significant of the court’s orders are that it said that “before the Registrar of Trademarks proceeds to advertise a mark registration whereof is sought, the Registrar is obliged to cause a research to be made amongst the registered trademarks as also pending applications for purposes of ascertaining, whether there are on record, in respect of same goods or services or similar goods or services, any mark identical with or deceptively similar to the mark sought to be got registered.

    “The principle of the dilution of the trademark has been extended for the mark in question. Yet, in spite thereof, Registrar of Trademarks is admitting for registration, applications by hundreds of individuals who seek registration of the trademark “Zee” for purposes of sale of their goods.”

    In the meanwhile the court restrained all branches of the Registrar of Trademarks from processing pending applications pertaining to registration of the trademark “Zee”.

    “Further injunction is issued restraining Registrar of Trademarks from advertising any further application which may be filed pertaining to the trademark “Zee”, the court ruled.

    The court also stayed the order of the Registrar under which the other respondents had been allowed to use the Zee trade mark.

    Mohan opined that a brand is one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace. “Brand experience develops expectations creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities and characteristics that make it special or unique,” he explained.

    He said also that the court order will help the consumers stay clear of false impressions about the identity of those companies not related to Zee’s activity, that is, providing healthy entertainment on television.

  • Trai warns some MSOs against analogue streaming in Cas areas

    Trai warns some MSOs against analogue streaming in Cas areas

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has warned all the MSOs that strict action would be taken against anyone beaming analogue signals in Cas (conditional access system) areas.

    This was informed to the MSOs at a meeting at Trai office on Friday. Trai said that this would have to be stopped with immediate effect, as it went against the law. Trai advisor Rakesh Kakkar told indiantelevision.com that the the regulator would come down with a heavy hand on anyone beaming analogue signals, as has been happening in some cases.

    Trai took stock of the ground situation regarding the availability of set-top boxes (STBs) and was reportedly convinced that there is no real shortage, but there is some delay in actual deployment due to the last minute placement of orders by subscribers.

    The MSOs also stated their positions about how many STBs have been deployed and how many are being imported. Reportedly, most MSOs are going for airlifting of STBs next week.

    Kakkar said that there was no shortage of STBs, but because of bunching of applications by consumers, there is problem with deployment. He added that there are some technical problems due to lack of stabilisation because of a sudden rush of orders for boxes in a short period.

    There are reports that customers are not getting channels as per the rules, and though the streaming is digital, no bouquet or a ala carte choice is available at the moment. In fact, Kakkar asked: “You must be getting the same channels through the Cas boxes as you did without Cas isn’t it?” That is because of the rush and customers not filling their forms in time, and also because the boxes given out in the initial rush were all preset, he explained. This will change soon, he added.

    MSO sources said also that they assured that there are enough boxes. One representative said that his company’s seeding is already 9,000 boxes a day. Incablenet representative Ashok Mansukhai said: “We have told Trai that our deployment would reach 10,000 boxes per day. We will be airlifting boxes from next week.”

    Wire & Wireless Ltd is also getting in additional boxes. “We have deployed 1.5 lakh boxes across the three metros over the past five days. We are going for airlifting of new boxes. By next week we will have 50,000 more boxes brought in, and by 31 January, we shall have additional 1.5 lakh boxes in position for deployment. This is apart from the 34,000 boxes awaiting clearance at Mumbai airport and another 12,500 boxes at Kolkata airport,” said WWIL executive vice president Arvind Mohan.

  • Cas: MSOs strain to meet demand for boxes

    Cas: MSOs strain to meet demand for boxes

    MUMBAI/DELHI: Multi-system operators (MSOs) are under stress and strain to meet the demand for set-top boxes (STBs) as conditional access system (Cas) has come into effect in the notified areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

    “We are moving 5000-6000 STBs a day in Mumbai,” says IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd. director-in- charge Ravi Mansukhani.

    Wire & Wireless India Ltd CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli says that while he can’t give a number in terms of the number of boxes being seeded, business has been brisk and smooth. “There have not been any technical glitches. The Cas deployments in the notified areas by all the cable operators has so far been much more than what direct-to-home (DTH) has achieved in these pockets.”.

    For those who are taking the boxes, MSOs are providing all the pay channels for a trial period of 15 days. “We want to give them some time before they can decide on the channels that they want to pay for. After this period, they can choose what they want and they will be billed only for what they have decided to take,” says Mansukhani.

    Adds WWIL executive vice president Arvind Mohan: “This is a transition period, so we are giving all the channels to all the STB subscribers. The processing of the forms being filled up takes some time. We are giving the subscribers a free run of all the channels. By 15 January, the entire system will be in place, and billing will be for the month depending on the channels they have selected.”

    So how long does it take once a consumer orders for a STB? With so many people wanting a box at the same time, the maximum time it would take to get the system installed is a day as it has to be fed into the smart card and billing system, says Mansukhani.

    Interestingly, there are indications that at the ground level there is some confusion in terms of pricing. For instance, this writer, residing in the Colaba area of South Mumbai, paid Rs 2000 on 1 January for a box while the MSO had recently announced a reduction in the price to Rs 1500. “There are some confusions still prevailing on the ground about the prices and packages on offer,” admits a local cable operator.

    Speaking on behalf of the broadcasters, Star India’s distribution head Tony D’Silva says that it is too soon to comment on the adoption rate. “We had expected that there would be some confusion. We are adopting a wait and watch policy. In a few days time the situation should be clear.”

    Zee Turner CEO Arun Poddar says that there is certainly a demand and supply mismatch across all the MSOs. He concedes some last mile operators would not be communicating adequately with consumers, thus leading to confusion.

    Despite some confusion, the Cas rollout in South Delhi is happening steadily as there is a rush for the STBs.

    SN Sharma of Hathway denied that there is any shortage of boxes. “This is a continuous process and we are getting consignments from our Korea company on a daily basis. There is a lag of time for getting connected because the local cable operator has a manpower shortage,” he says.

    The time between a request coming in and a box being connected is about an hour, he adds. “The LCOs have about five or six people working, who have to attend to calls for repairs, collect payments and also deploy the boxes. So the connection giving ability is in the same ratio as the staff strength.”

    According to RWA president GS Gulati, most of the residents in Delhi were still waiting and have not subscribed to either cable or DTH operators. “The cable operator has left a box for me at my shop, but I have not got connected, because we do not know what is better, this or DTH.”

    In some areas, people complained about technical glitches. Sometime during the evening of 1 January, Cas boxes in some areas of south Delhi went blank for about 10 minutes first, and then intermittently for shorter durations about three times.

    “This should not be the case, because the boxes are highly efficient. This must be some fault like a loose connection or a person tinkering too much with the remote control, as people do with all new things,” Sharma says.

  • WWIL announces Rs 1800 package for Cas

    WWIL announces Rs 1800 package for Cas

    NEW DELHI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd has come out with a price package that it believes will lure consumers to digital cable under Cas (conditional access system).

    The multi-system operator (MSO) is offering an own-your-own set-top box (STB) plus a year long access to at least 100 channels, a minimum of 25 of them being pay channels, for just Rs 1800. This scheme will be available only for those who are subscribing within 31 January, says WWIL CEO Jagjit Kohli.

    For those willing to settle for just the service of 100 channels, but not own the boxes, the option is to go for the Rs 600 per annum (Rs 50 per month) scheme. Rental on the boxes will be an additional cost.

    Consumers in both the schemes will have to pay taxes and Rs 77 for the free-to-air (FTA) channels.

    The bouquet, however, does not have any of the sports channels. For access to any additional pay channel the subscribers would have to pay the Trai-fixed charge of Rs 5. WWIL executive vice president Arvind Mohan of Siticable told indiantelevision.com that not even Ten Sports would shown as part of the Rs 600 bouquet.

    Asked how many of Star, Set and Zee channels respectively would form the bouquet, Mohan said that the details were being worked out.

    WWIL is also immediately launching its Cas-enabled GalaxZee boxes in non-Cas cities.

    “There is a feeling that the analogue will stay for a long time in India. The popular perception is that India being a poor country and technologically backward, so digital would take a long time to take off. But even we are surprised to see at what massive pace digital is taking off in the country,” Kohli said.

    Bangalore, Hyderabad and other cities are witnessing the highest demand for digital services, he added. In these cities, physical headends would be set up for the box operations even before HITS arrives.

    The special GalaxZee STBs have on offer various facilities, apart from the normal TV services, and updated boxes with facilities matching those offered by any DTH service provider. The updated boxes would cost Rs 1,499, but the customer can exchange the old boxes for the new paying the additional cost of Rs 299.

    GalaxZee is using digital technology of Scopus for its digital headends, encryption technology from Conax and STB from Handan.

    “We are aware that the average Indian user is not tech-savvy, so we told the architects of the boxes to make them user-friendly,” Kohli said.

    It is much cheaper than the DTH boxes, he stressed and added: “Whatever channels DTH operators offer are fixed for across the country. We, however, have the option of adding whatever channels we want to depending on which city we are operating in, especially the popular regional language channels and also the local cable channels. And even the local channels would be digital.”

    Besides, for multiple TV sets in one household, GalaxZee is offering FTA in all the additional sets at no extra cost, “but in DTH system you would have to pay for every additional TV set”.

    The value added boxes, which are likely to come after a few months, will have internet, online games and phone on demand. GalaxZee will also offer DVR (digital video recording).