ITV

Tag: Brai

  • Government not forcing regulator on broadcast media: Swarup

        
    NEW DELHI: Ministry for information and broadcasting secretary Asha Swarup today reiterated the fact that the government had no intention of forcing checks on broadcasters in the country and that the aim of the Broadcast Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAI) was only to set up an independent regulator.

    She also denied reports that there was any proposal under the proposed Bill or Content Code to bar television channels from conducting sting operations. However, the aim was to ensure that there was no violation of the right of privacy of any individual, as had been seen in some sting operations.

    Swarup was delivering the keynote address at the Indian News Television Summit organised by Indiantelevision.com in the capital. The day-long meet culminating with the NT (News Television) Awards in the evening has been endorsed by the ministry.

    The secretary expressed optimism that the Broadcast Bill would be introduced in Parliament during the monsoon session. She said incorrect reports about the Bill in the media only resulted in more delays in finalizing the draft of the legislation.

    She said in reply to a question that the public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati would also be brought under the ambit of the Bill.

    Both the legislation and the Code were being drawn up keeping in view the sensitivities of the Indian viewer, she said. It was therefore in the interest of the industry that there should be a Bill and a Regulator who is independent and impartial.

    She urged private news channels to share the duty of the public service broadcaster by showing some public service programming. There was need for more positive stories which could motivate people. 

    She noted that there were almost 90 to 100 news channels in the country if one counted all regional channels and those that have news bulletins. There had been an annual growth of 18 per cent in the television industry. But all this gave rise to the basic question – what kind of news do Indians deserve?

    She also said that while there was need for news channels to show care and sensitivity while presenting news, she said accuracy and impartiality should also not be given a go-by. She said that there was also need to help in the maintenance of public order. Repetitive telecasts of old clips of violence only sent out wrong messages. 

    Answering a question after her presentation, she said that the Content Code was being shown to representatives of associations of various stakeholders on 20 July and would then be finalised for being put on the ministry site mib.nic.in for eliciting the views of people.

    Earlier, Indiantelevision.com CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari said that the future of the television industry was very bright with more entrepreneurs getting into the industry, both in India and overseas. He announced that indiantelevision.com would be organizing a Digital Summit in October.

    Indiantelevision.com editorial director Thomas Abraham said in a presentation that news channels had earned Rs 9.8 billion as revenue from advertisements during 2006-07. He said that this was expected to go up to Rs 12.5 billion this year. India today had 116 million television homes of which 75 million were connected to cable and satellite.

    Asking if the news broadcasters were being able to reach out to specific genres and segments, he observed that news has to be more interactive and has to find ways to reach out to all communities.

    In a presentation giving the Citizen’s Voice, ICICI Bank executive director V Vaidyanathan said that a total of 51.9 million mobiles were being added every year and one in every Indian today owned a personal computer. And now people were taking to web phones. Growth was no longer an option, it just had to happen. He said that communication methodologies were changing both for the urban and the rural Indian.

  • TV content code to be in place soon

    TV content code to be in place soon

    NEW DELHI: The Indian government is close to finalising the content code for television and films, which is likely to re-write the business of broadcasting vis-à-vis prime time viewing.

    According to a government official in the information and broadcasting minister, the content code is likely to be notified by month-end or early November.

    “We are in the process of finalizing the content code and would like to get it in place as soon as possible,” an official in the I&B ministry said.

    The content code is aimed at having a uniform yardstick for films and television content.

    If the code gets in place, then quite a few popular TV soaps are likely to get re-classified and would have to be aired at timings set by the government.

    The official said that the government is worried about complaints relating to content on TV and would like to regulate the same.

    The content code is likely to classify TV content into categories, including whether it’s fit for unrestricted viewing or not.

    This would be the first time that the Indian government would bring under censor regulations (mainly meant for films) TV content, which has been left out of regulation.

    The Indian film censor board chief and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore had exhorted the government to remove overlaps in the functioning of censor board and a proposed broadcast regulator.

    She also called for “transparency” while forming the proposed Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai), which is supposed to deal with content regulations.

    Regulating content or complaints relating to TV shows is part of the government’s overall aim to address issues on content.

  • IBF, IMG meet I&B secretary Arora on Broadcast Bill

    IBF, IMG meet I&B secretary Arora on Broadcast Bill

    NEW DELHI: The Indian Broadcast Federation (IBF) and the Indian Media Group (IMG) today met the Information & Broadcast secretary S K Arora for an interaction on the Broadcast Bill 2006.

    IBF has opposed the cross-media holding restrictions and the so-called Draconian clauses in the bill. It said, the draft bill should be discussed with the industry, before having taken to the cabinet and Parliament.

    The draft bill has covered four major areas in its ambit, which would call for major corporate restructuring by media companies, foreign and domestic, operating in India. These include content, cross media ownership, subscriptions and live sports feeds (which are already part of the downlink norms).

    The bill introduces restrictions on cross media holdings in all electronic ventures capping it at a maximum 20 per cent. While print media companies have not been included in the ambit of the bill for the present, this could be later extended to them as well.

    IMG also criticised the cross-media holding restrictions, but most importantly, it has argued that, electronic media should be brought under the Press Council of India. It also demanded that the proposed Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) should be free from any government intereference. Making its stance clearer, it said the CEO of Brai should not be a government official or a government nominee.

    Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra, after attending a meeting with Arora on behalf of IMG, said, “We are against cross-media holding restrictions. We also oppose the government’s agenda to interfere on how news should be reported on TV.”

    He added, “The regulatory norms for the electronic media, the print media and the online media should be same and similar without any discriminatory in any one of the media segment.”

  • Draft Broadcast Bill: Big brother wants to do more than just watch

    Draft Broadcast Bill: Big brother wants to do more than just watch

    The draft broadcast regulations that the government is trying to put in place has its merits and demerits, but what is shocking is the way the lawmakers are going about the whole thing, most of which is shrouded in secrecy.

    That the draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill 2006, doing the rounds of ministries for feedback, is restrictive — to put it mildly — and draconian in parts is a story itself. But what is a bigger story is an attempt by the Congress-led coalition government to steamroll legislation through without taking industry stakeholders and others into confidence, thus making a mockery of democratic norms.

    It is a calculated effort to muzzle the media in general and incapacitate the electronic medium, which has its own powers because of the impact of visuals, in particular.
    _____****_____

    The attempt of the information and broadcasting ministry to quietly draft regulations for the Cabinet’s consideration, while denying at the same time that anything of that sort even exists, amplifies that the blustering of I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi is not all gas. It is a calculated effort to muzzle the media in general and incapacitate the electronic medium, which has its own powers because of the impact of visuals, in particular.

    Cross media restrictions, powers bestowed on authorities to take action against the media and TV channels on the flimsiest of grounds, content censorship (which is being drafted separately, but could be made part of this Bill or legislation at a later stage) are all aimed at strangling the media.

    What make things scary is that the proposed autonomous Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) has been given powers that permit it to run amok if interpreted incorrectly by it. Especially when Brai’s chief executive would be a serving government official of additional secretary’s rank, drawing a salary from the government and, naturally, having allegiance to the government.

    The flip side is that not all the clauses in the draft Broadcast Bill 2006 are new. Some of them do exist in some form or other in the Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act and other pieces of media legislation. References to cross media restrictions were made in the Broadcast Bill of 1997 too. And remember that never got past a joint parliamentary committee set up to examine it after being tabled in Parliament.

    The 1997 Bill stated that a person or a company will be allowed to hold licences in only one of the following category of services: Terrestrial Radio Broadcasting, Terrestrial Television Broadcasting, Satellite Television or Radio Broadcasting, DTH Broadcasting, Local Delivery Services and any other category of services, which may be notified by the Central government.

    In 1997, restriction of monopolies was more targeted towards newspaper houses. The Bill then had said that no proprietor of a newspaper will either be a participant with “more than 20 per cent interest in or control a body corporate, which is the holder of a licence to provide a licensed service under this Act.”

    Without criticizing a government’s right to make a law, what needs to be seen in a broader context is the way that right is used in a democratic setup.
    _____****_____

    This time round, the government has allowed interest in various segments of the media business, but capped them so low that effective concentration of power is totally neutralised to the extent of threatening to destroy various business models.

    Without criticizing a government’s right to make a law, what needs to be seen in a broader context is the way that right is used in a democratic setup.

    If we examine the draft of the content regulation, prepared by a sub-panel of a 30-member committee overseen by I&B secretary SK Arora, it hints at stringent content regulation, particularly for news channels. If okayed by lawmakers in its present state, it could well be the end of sting operations and coverage of issues where high profile politicians and personalities are involved.

    Sample this part: “TV channels must not use material relating to a person’s personal or private affairs or which invades an individual’s privacy unless there is an identifiable public interest reason for the material to be broadcast.”

    Who decides what constitutes an individual’s privacy? The government or the regulator? What this means of course is that it’s all up for interpretation.

    It is this scope for interpretation that is the most fearful aspect of this bill. More so since the onus of proving identifiable public interest lies with the TV channel and not the other way round.

    Additionally, the flat-footedness of the media industry and lack of consensus on important issues amongst the various stakeholders is incomprehensible, to say the least. The surprise that the draft Broadcast Bill 2006 — even if it’s an early draft for argument’s sake — has sprung on the TV industry, shows that people have been caught napping. Or, the industry thought the government was just talking gas.

    Either way, Delhi seems to be having the last laugh. Hang on, maybe not yet. There may still be some time left for saner voices in the government to stand up.

    But for that to happen, the media industry needs to project a united stand. Something like what was demonstrated when the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1988 had attempted to bring in a piece of legislation to muzzle the media. It took weeks of concerted opposition from Indian journalists to scupper an initiative to revise the law on defamation. It may be recalled that the government had rushed the Defamation Bill through the lower house of Parliament in August of that year.

    When we last commented on the ramifications of the Broadcast Bill, we expressed the view that there is a feeling of déj? vu that it may be another exercise in futility.

    It could well be in the industry’s collective interest to ensure that the draconian aspects of the Broadcast Bill suffer the same fate as the Defamation Bill of 1988.

    There are several ways of voicing their grievances and making sure that the industry voice reaches the powers-that-be. Indiantelevision.com believes it can function as a forum for debate, and would love to have comments from various constituents of the industry on the Broadcast Bill 2006.

    Send in your mails to editor@indiantelevision.com. And let’s work towards building a more robust television sector – keeping in mind the government, the industry and foremost of all, the consumer.

  • Broadcast Bill still has minefields to clear before becoming law

    Broadcast Bill still has minefields to clear before becoming law

    So the government again renews its long-in-the-trying attempt to get broadcast regulation in place. Is it just us or is this feeling of déj? vu that it may be another exercise in futility shared by the industry as well?

    Still, that doesn’t take away the importance of having a comprehensive legislation for the sector that is estimated to be worth Rs 427 billion in 2010 according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers report presented at this year’s Ficci Frames convention.

    The Broadcasting Bill has been dangling on an uncertain thread for close to a decade now. Several information and broadcasting (I&B) ministers in several governments, who have tried to maneuver it past the corridors of the houses of Parliament and into law, have come and gone. All have failed; none have had the drive to push it through. It has proved to be an untouchable piece of legislation; a hot potato that is dropped every time an effort is made.

    The Bill tries to address the issue of encouraging domestic originating content on TV channels by mandating a 15 per cent share for it.
    _____****_____

    Another attempt is being made to enact the covered-with-dust Bill. A draft has been prepared for the Union Cabinet’s persual and initial indications are that it is going to impact almost everyone in the broadcasting food chain. It is slated to be introduced in Parliament during the Monsoon session by not-even-a-year-in-the-seat I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.

    I&B ministry secretary SK Arora has been working for a long time on putting together the document. Help has been sought from several quarters while drafting the Bill: the US FCC, Casbaa in Hong Kong, other consultants, consumer groups and interested parties.

    The Bill tries to address the issue of encouraging domestic originating content on TV channels by mandating a 15 per cent share for it. Then it caps cross media ownership at 20 per cent, and even share of voice for a TV channel or cable TV network nationally at 15 per cent. A Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) is to be set up (have we not heard this one before?), which will monitor the content on TV channels and oversee the broadcast industry in all its aspects the same way as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India does in the telecom sector.

    No broadcaster or cable TV operator is going to cede power and control they have acquired over the years they have been operating in India.
    _____****_____

    The first piece of legislation is more than welcome and should in the medium to long term give a boost to local TV production and more so animation. Of course, it goes without saying that it is in the interest of local broadcasters to create local content that appeals to audiences and there’s no running away from it if they are seeking to make money out of the market. That they have so largely shied away from doing so, may be part of their business plan. There will be some bickering about this by some of the players.

    Of course, the government will have to specify whether the 15 per cent content cap relates to fresh domestic prime time content or to recycled content. Remember some broadcasters might buy garbage worthy shows dirt cheap and put them on air late at night in order to fulfil the legislative norms.

    Additionally, a transition period will have to be specified so that the domestic production industry gears up to deliver the quality animation and programming that is demanded internationally, so that international broadcasters can – if they want – buy worldwide rights.

    On the whole, over time the 15 per cent imposition could well catapult TV documentary makers and animation studios into the next level. Though some argue that the cap should be higher, it is a good start.

    That is just the soft part of the Bill though. Trying to control share of voice and restricting cross media ownership are two clauses that are arguably going to get the entire Bill stuck in a quagmire; lot of it political. Reason: hectic lobbying is going to commence to do away with them. It is these clauses which in the past have prevented the Bill from becoming a law. And, it is quite likely to do the same once again.

    No broadcaster or cable TV operator is going to cede power and control they have acquired over the years they have been operating in India. Many of their business models are based on this power.

    The setting up of Brai is another moot point. It’s about time a content watchdog was set up. The other option is that the industry kowtows to a xenophobic government’s every content concern and censorship demand.

    Additionally, the draft Bill fails to clearly address broadcasting in a converged era to hand held devices and mobile phones.

    A key question everyone is asking: will the Bill go through this time? It looks unlikely to have an easy ride and, in all probability, will be knocked into another shape and form. Or, it may end up being still born. Its passage will depend on how much pressure the I&B mandarins — and the Congress-led coalition government — are willing to withstand not only from the Opposition, but also allies, some of whose sympathisers have big media dreams in East and South India.