ITV

Tag: Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd

  • India’s TV distributors scramble to meet year-end audit deadline

    India’s TV distributors scramble to meet year-end audit deadline

    NEW DELHI: India’s television distribution platforms will have to race against the clock. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has fired a warning shot at cable, DTH and IPTV operators who haven’t completed their mandatory annual audits for 2025—and the deadline is looming.

    In a notice dated 31 October, joint adviser Sapna Sharma laid down the law: get audited by 31 December or face financial penalties. The warning follows a regulatory review that found many distribution platform operators have simply skipped their legally required system audits this year.

    The interconnection regulations, first notified in March 2017 and amended six times since, are crystal clear. Every TV distributor must audit their systems once per calendar year using an empanelled auditor or the state-run Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. Miss that deadline and the financial disincentives kick in automatically.

    The regulator’s patience appears to be wearing thin. Multi-system operators, IPTV platforms, direct-to-home services and headend-in-the-sky operators have just two months to sort themselves out. The audit process isn’t quick either—it must include a final report from the auditor, meaning operators who dawdle now risk running out of time altogether.

    The message from TRAI is unambiguous: comply or pay up. With 2025 ticking away, India’s TV distributors have nowhere left to hide.

  • July: 2 Viacom & 3 south channels among 9 permitted, far short of MIB’s March target

    NEW DELHI: With nine more television channels getting clearance, the total number of permitted private television channels has risen to 890 by the end of July 2017, still far short of the claim made last year that the country will have 1500 channels by the end of March this year.

    The master list issued by the government of 883 includes nine channels the permission of which was “cancelled by the ministry of information and broadcasting due to security denial by the home ministry. However, a stay order (has been granted) by (the) court.”

    The number of total channels had grown from 869 in February-end 2016 to 892 in February-end this year but had fallen by 10 since then. In fact, the number had risen to 899 by the end of December 2016 when the total cancellations were 155. By January-end this year, the number had fallen to 889 of which 12 banned channels had received stay orders from courts.

    Channels permitted in July include two news channels: Cauvery News in Tamil owned by Cauvery Power Trading Chennai Pvt. Ltd and TVS Kannada owned by Shreya Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd.

    Other channels permitted in July this year are: ATR owned by Lex Sportel Vision Pvt. Ltd; V6 ENT in Telugu owned by VIL Media Pvt. Ltd, Travelxp owned by Media Worldwide Limited; My Cam and The Office, both owned by Viacom 18 Media Private Limited; Pitaara owned by Paul E-Commerce Private Limited; and Shop 5 owned by Shopping Zone India TV Pvt. Ltd.

    The list of the channels permitted as on 30 July 2017 along with their area and language of operation and the names of owning companies has been placed on the MIB site.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to information and broadcasting had last year noted that the State Finance Commission, while drafting its proposals for the 12th Plan (2012-17), had assumed that the number of permitted TV channels would rise to 1500.

  • Govt admits centralised content monitoring of TV and Radio ‘non-workable’

    NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee has said that it is “unable to comprehend whether the proposal of centralized content monitoring of television and radio is really a non-workable proposition as claimed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry” or because it failed to get tenders.

    In fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry has implied that the Ministry has come to this conclusion as the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd (BECIL) which is handling the project “did not receive any valid response to their tenders.

    The Ministry has admitted to the Committee that “real time transition of content from FM and community radio stations to a centralized monitoring facility is challenging in terms of technology and IT infrastructure.”

    The Ministry is therefore in the process of formalizing the complaints redressal mechanism by giving it a statutory status according to the Supreme Court Order of 12 January 2017 which has acknowledged self-regulatory mechanism in addition to complaint based processes.

    BECIL, which is handling the project on turnkey basis, had invited tenders for the setting up of monitoring facility for private FM and CRS which did not receive any valid response. Real time transmission of content from FM and CRS stations across the length and breadth of the country to a centralized monitoring facility is challenging in terms of technology and IT infrastructure in remote areas. The Ministry admitted that the efficacy of such a system is “doubtful due to the information overload”.

    In view of the fact that the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) has so far configured 729 TV channels though it has content acquisition facility for 900 channels. On being asked about the physical targets set under the Scheme for the year 2016-17, the Ministry stated that EMMC aims to configure the remaining 78 TV channels in the existing software set up. The configuration requires technical parameters for Free to Air (FTA) channels while in case of Pay channels it requires broadcasters to provide necessary equipments for downloading and decryption of the content/signal.

    The Committee has been informed that the EMMC and BECIL are coordinating with the industry to obtain technical parameters for configuration of remaining channels.

    The Ministry have said that though the initial target was to achieve monitoring of 1500 channels since 892 channels had been given license till 31st December 2016, the monitoring facility at EMMC is in tune with the number of channels which have been granted permission and the facility would be scaled up if required.

    The Committee note that the budgetary allocation for the Scheme of Strengthening of EMMC was Rs 120 million which was marginally reduced to Rs 116 million at revised estimates stage during the year 2016-17, out of which the Ministry have been able to expend only Rs 74.2 million.

    Explaining this shortfall, the Ministry stated that in order to stagger the deployment of resources commensurate with the likely additional channels that may be approved for uplinking/downlinking, an amount of Rs 20 million was being surrendered.

    While the Committee left “the matter to the wisdom of the Ministry:, it desired that necessary steps are taken in the right direction so that the content monitoring for FM channels and CRS does not suffer and Rs 120 million allocated for the purpose for the financial year 2017-18 is utilized judiciously.

  • Govt seeks professional help for DD revival

    Govt seeks professional help for DD revival

    NEW DELHI: Fazed by private sector television channels’ stridency in terms of revenues and viewership in an increasingly digital India, the government is seeking outside professional help in “transformation of Doordarshan.”

    A tender has been issued by an organisation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to look for a consultant to revamp Doordarshan into a leading public broadcaster that becomes a highly successful medium of mass communication.

    Amongst the objectives listed in the tender documents by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) a stated aim is to engage a consulting firm to support Doordarshan in achieving this “transformation goal by undertaking a comprehensive view on the projects and initiatives to be executed” by the Indian pubcaster.

    Pointing out that in the last couple of decades after introduction of cable television and technological changes in a country that’s now openly flirting with digital consumption of video and audio on multiple platforms, the government admitted DD’s monopoly days are over and it is not the target media for a large swathe of Indian population. “Given the potential television has, not just commercially but also as a means for socio-economic transformation, it’s critical to revitalize Doordarshan and develop it into a powerful and commercially successful organization of mass communication,” BECIL said in a note enumerating the objectives for the project.

    The consultant would have to undertake a comprehensive view on the projects and initiatives to be executed by Doordarshan, engage all stakeholders to arrive at trouble-spots and prepare a solution map for addressing those difficulties. The government is hoping that the consultant will identify in medium term goals for “quick wins” and further help Doordarshan develop a long-term strategic roadmap.

    The interested bidders are expected to send in their queries by 2 November 2016 and get responses in a pre-bid meeting on 4 November. The technical bids will be opened on 15 November at 1530 hours. Dates for presentations by bidders and opening of financial bids will be intimated later by BECIL.

    Interestingly, Minister of State for MIB Rajyavardhan Rathore few days back had admitted at a media conference that Prasar Bharati, DD’s parent, lacked adequate programming and marketing capabilities and was open to seeking help from private players.

    Doordarshan is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of studios and infrastructure and claims to cover 90 per cent of the total Indian population — a claim that, however, doesn’t aptly reflect in audience measurement data. DD, which offers 23 TV channels in various Indian languages, provides television, radio, online and app-based mobile services throughout India and overseas.

    ALSO READ:

    Prasar Bharati lacks content & marketing; open to tie-ups: MIB Minister

     

  • Govt seeks professional help for DD revival

    Govt seeks professional help for DD revival

    NEW DELHI: Fazed by private sector television channels’ stridency in terms of revenues and viewership in an increasingly digital India, the government is seeking outside professional help in “transformation of Doordarshan.”

    A tender has been issued by an organisation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to look for a consultant to revamp Doordarshan into a leading public broadcaster that becomes a highly successful medium of mass communication.

    Amongst the objectives listed in the tender documents by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) a stated aim is to engage a consulting firm to support Doordarshan in achieving this “transformation goal by undertaking a comprehensive view on the projects and initiatives to be executed” by the Indian pubcaster.

    Pointing out that in the last couple of decades after introduction of cable television and technological changes in a country that’s now openly flirting with digital consumption of video and audio on multiple platforms, the government admitted DD’s monopoly days are over and it is not the target media for a large swathe of Indian population. “Given the potential television has, not just commercially but also as a means for socio-economic transformation, it’s critical to revitalize Doordarshan and develop it into a powerful and commercially successful organization of mass communication,” BECIL said in a note enumerating the objectives for the project.

    The consultant would have to undertake a comprehensive view on the projects and initiatives to be executed by Doordarshan, engage all stakeholders to arrive at trouble-spots and prepare a solution map for addressing those difficulties. The government is hoping that the consultant will identify in medium term goals for “quick wins” and further help Doordarshan develop a long-term strategic roadmap.

    The interested bidders are expected to send in their queries by 2 November 2016 and get responses in a pre-bid meeting on 4 November. The technical bids will be opened on 15 November at 1530 hours. Dates for presentations by bidders and opening of financial bids will be intimated later by BECIL.

    Interestingly, Minister of State for MIB Rajyavardhan Rathore few days back had admitted at a media conference that Prasar Bharati, DD’s parent, lacked adequate programming and marketing capabilities and was open to seeking help from private players.

    Doordarshan is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of studios and infrastructure and claims to cover 90 per cent of the total Indian population — a claim that, however, doesn’t aptly reflect in audience measurement data. DD, which offers 23 TV channels in various Indian languages, provides television, radio, online and app-based mobile services throughout India and overseas.

    ALSO READ:

    Prasar Bharati lacks content & marketing; open to tie-ups: MIB Minister