ITV

Tag: Dayanidhi Maran

  • Raj TV begins non-live telecast of news bulletins

    Raj TV begins non-live telecast of news bulletins

    MUMBAI: With election fever gripping Tamil Nadu media, the Chennai-headquartered Raj Television Network (RTN) has started telecasting news bulletins on its flagship channel Raj TV as non-live.

    Originally the channel is not permitted to telecast news and live programmes, as it is not uplinked from India.
    “Since the last two weeks, Raj TV has been telecasting one-and-a-half hours of news programming — exactly three half-an-hour news bulletins — as deferred live, apart from airing various election-oriented current affairs programmes” says one of the RTN promoters M Ravindran.

    Raj TV had lost the right to telecast news bulletins and live programmes when the information and broadcasting ministry terminated its teleport licence in November 2004. This was preceded by the ministry stopping broadcast of two new RTN channels Vissa TV and Raj Musix for uplinking without the necessary approval.
    Raj TV, along with another RTN channel Raj Digital Plus, were not allowed to uplink from the company’s own facility at Chennai as well as from any alternate commercial uplinking centre in India.

    RTN had no other choice but to move out of the country and uplink from Bangkok late last year. This arrangement, as already mentioned, prevents RTN from broadcasting live programmes and news. Due to this handicap, Raj TV has already lost out on two big events that were drawing in audiences: the Tsunami of 2004 and the controversy over Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi. Now, it seems, the channel is in no mood let another bonanza — the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections — go.

    “Since Raj TV is the only neutral channel in the politics-heavyTamil broadcast arena, our news and current affairs programmes used to rule the ratings before we lost the licence. We enjoy a good support from the advertisers and have decided to charge the best rates in the market. And, elections are something you can’t afford to skip as a broadcaster,” says Ravindran, adding that the channel has been charging advertisers Rs 9,000 per ten seconds for slots in these bulletins.

    The RTN promoters are confident that Raj TV will be able to telecast live news bulletins at the earliest. Having won an approval from the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry in 2005 March to uplink its channels from a commercial teleport in India, RTN is presently waiting for the final green signal for the Wireless Protocol Clearance (WPC) from the telecom ministry, which is headed by Dayanidhi Maran, the elder brother of Sun TV supremo Kalanithi Maran.

  • Trai’s Baijal ends tenure; Misra likely successor

    Trai’s Baijal ends tenure; Misra likely successor

    NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Pradip Baijal retired today from service after an eventful three-year tenure as the chief regulator and a civil services career spanning 40 years.

    During his tenure as the Trai chief, Baijal has been instrumental in bringing various telecom services within the reach of ordinary people as prices fell and tele-density increased.
    Under him, Trai also stood its ground in guarding the price line of cable TV services and did away with premiums to be paid on exclusive content much to the chagrin of pay broadcasters.

    On his last day today, Baijal is said to have told a close associate that he’s going away with a sense of pride for having stood up for consumers’ rights about which much still needs to be done.

    Baijal is likely to be succeeded by former telecommunications secretary Nripendra Misra, who presently heads a Centre for Department of Telematics-Alacatel joint venture as its chairman.

    Misra, according to telecom ministry sources, is the front-runner for the top post at Trai, though last-minute calisthenics could see a surprise candidate being sprung on the telecom and broadcast industries, which are going through changing times and grappling with introduction of new norms and technologies.

    Baijal, a 1966 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was a hand-on person taking personal interest in important issues like changes to the access deficit charge (ADC) that punctured mobile phone bills and proposing a comprehensive rollout plan for the vexed issue of CAS, which, however, is gathering dust at the I&B ministry.

    “Mr. Baijal was a result driven person, taking personal interest in key issues regarding the industry,” an associates of Baijal at Trai told Indiantelevision.com.

    In fact, it was Baijal who is credited with suggesting a reduction in ADC, a fee that private telecom operators pay to the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and its eventual withdrawal by 2009.

    Even towards the end of his inning at Trai, Baijal continued to aggressively support and push for unified licensing under which a licencee can offer telecom, infotech and broadcasting services on a single licence.

    The new chairman’s name is yet to be notified by the government and could take some days. In the interim, the senior-most member-secretary could function as the head of Trai.

    Former secretary of the department of telecom (DoT) Misra is said to be front runner for the top Trai post. The name of GD Gaiha, chairman of Telecommunications Consultant of India LTD (TCIL) is doing the rounds of the media to replace Dr DPS. Seth as a member.

    In recent times, Baijal’s stature had risen so much that its parent, the telecom ministry, had started feeling uncomfortable. The government is likely to get a low profile person as Trai chairman to avoid run-ins with the telecom minister.

    Misra, a 1967 IAS officer, had worked closely with the present communications and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran whose elder brother and family control the South Indian media power house Sun TV group.

  • Madras HC admits PIL against minister Dayanidhi Maran

    Madras HC admits PIL against minister Dayanidhi Maran

    MUMBAI: The Madras HC has admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which accuses the Union minister of communications and information technology Dayanidhi Maran for releasing advertisements worth Rs 100 million to the family-owned Sun TV Network.

    According to a Times of India report, justices M Karpagavinayagam and A R Ramalingam on 9 March admitted a writ petition on the case that would come up for hearing before the chief justice on 13 March. The PIL, filed by J Veparasu, accuses Maran of abusing the office of the Union minister.

    Veparasu, in the PIL, has sought an HC direction for a CBI investigation into all transactions since May 2004, when Maran assumed the office as Union minister. He has also sought an interim injunction restraining Maran’s ministry from releasing any advertisement to Sun TV Group channels and publications till his PIL is disposed.

    The Chennai-headquartered Sun TV group, which has 15 television channels, four print publications and two radio channels, is owned by Maran’s elder brother Kalanithi Maran.

    The crux of the petition is that, though there are many private producers who telecast their programmes on the Sun group channels, Maran has not released even a single advertisement to their programmes. The petitioner alleges that the advertisements went exclusively to programmes telecast and produced by Kalanithi Maran.

    Maran, now under fire for committing breach of oath under Schedule III of the Constitution, has also been accused of neglecting government-owned channels when it came to advertisement support.