ITV

Tag: Dish TV

  • ShortsTV celebrates one year of bringing the best short films to India

    ShortsTV celebrates one year of bringing the best short films to India

    MUMBAI: ShortsTV, a leading next-generation content platform delivering high quality short entertainment to global audiences, celebrated its one-year anniversary of bringing award-winning short films from across the globe to India with a reception at the British High Commissioner’s residence in New Delhi. Present at the celebration were the British High Commissioner, Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, and ShortsTV  chief executive Carter Pilcher. The celebration began with a congratulatory speech from the British High Commissioner and was followed by a screening of the Academy Award winning British short film Stutterer.

    Debuting in India in 2018 exclusively on Tata Sky, ShortsTV has been one of their fastest growing services in its first year of operations in India. It is now available across most of India’s major DTH platforms, including Dish TV, d2h and Airtel Digital TV, reaching over 60 million households, which represents 85% of the country’s satellite TV market. 

    Speaking on the one-year anniversary in India, Pilcher,  said, “We are thrilled to celebrate our first year of bringing ShortsTV to India. We couldn’t have done it without our great partners Tata Sky, who helped us to get launched, and Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films for their support in getting great movies out. I’d also like to thank our new partners where we launched last month – Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV and d2h. Our mission is to bring to the world the highest quality short entertainment on the face of the earth. India is our most important market and we launched with 30% of our catalogue being made in India. By next year 50% of short films aired on ShortsTV will be Indian made. That is 400-500 hours of Indian short films that we will be launching on television.”

    Commenting on the success of ShortsTV in India, British High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, said, “We see a lot of traffic back and forth between the UK and India across business, investment and technology, but the creative collaboration is sometimes less visible. Within a year of launching in India, UK-based ShortsTV has brought short films by Oscar nominees and winners to over 60 million households here. I look forward to seeing how their ambition to increase collaboration with Indian filmmakers opens up new opportunities for Indian-made short films at the Oscars.”

    ShortsTV is pioneering a new type of entertainment in India: highest quality, entertaining movies from leading Indian and international talent in short form, and audiences have taken note.  ShortsTV’s depth of films is unrivalled, drawing from a growing catalogue of more than 13,000 Indian and international short movies. Top of the list are award-winners from all the biggest international award franchises: Oscars, BAFTAs and Cannes and the biggest Hollywood and Bollywood stars: Benedict Cumberbatch to Jackie Shroff and Judi Dench to Radhika Apte. Furthermore, the ShortsTV India catalogue brings the  best of Indian short films from leading producers, including Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, Terribly Tiny Tales, Whistling Woods and Humara Movies.

    The ShortsTV service is available ad-free on Dish TV and d2h as ‘ShortsTV Active’ (channel 135), on Airtel Digital TV as ‘Airtel ShortsTV’ (channel 259) and on Tata Sky as ‘Tata Sky ShortsTV’ (HD channel 112 and SD channel 113).

    In addition, ShortsTV is the exclusive distributor of the annual Oscar Nominated Short Films theatrical release, bringing them to Indian cinemas for the first time this year with PVR Cinemas. They also founded the Best of India Short Film Festival, which received over 3000 entries and aims to qualify more Indian short films for Oscar consideration.

  • Zeel issues clarification regarding resignation of 3 directors

    Zeel issues clarification regarding resignation of 3 directors

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) announced on Monday that independent directors Neharika Vora and Sunil Sharma along with non-independent director Subodh Kumar resigned and three new independent directors – R Gopalan, Surendra Singh and Aparajita Jain have been appointed. On the request of the Bombay Stock exchange (BSE) Zeel disclosed the reasons for the resignation.

    Irregularities in CSR spending, film advances worth Rs 2,200 crore, appropriation of Zee Entertainment's fixed deposits worth Rs 200 crore by a bank have been cited as reasons for the resignation of two of the directors along with others.

    “The board of directors have noted that all of the issues raised by the resigning directors have been duly discussed, deliberated and acted upon from time to time in the previous committee/ board meetings in which the said directors were also present,” ZEEL said in a statement.

    The company said Sunil Sharma (Independent Director) in his resignation letter dated 24 November has informed that subsequent to sale of shares by the promoter group, and reconstitution of the board, he tendered his resignation. But at the same time, Subodh Kumar and Neharika Vora flagged several issues.

    Here are the reasons and Zeel’s comment on the issue.

    Film advances given in 2018-19 to the tune of Rs 2200 crores have been cited as the first reason. Zeel commented that the information has already been disclosed annual Report and clarified in various investor interactions.

    Lack of legal action by management when a scheduled bank had appropriated Rs 200 crore of the company's fixed deposits towards promoter loans has been cited as another reason. “Issues pertaining to the wrongful revocation of the bank guarantee stand resolved with the Company having being secured by the promoter companies and appropriate legal notices were sent to the bank at the relevant time,” Zeel commented on the issue.

    Another reason was alleged laxity in spending CSR funds given to a related party foundation or trust. Zeel clarified that the CSR funds have been allocated in compliance with the law and necessary certification has been obtained.

    The directors also raised the issue that the scheduled bank wrote to all directors in October 2019 that a subsidiary of Zeel had guaranteed the repayment of certain loan given to a related party.  “The company has a legal opinion to state that the Company is not liable and in any event there has been no enforcement of the 'guarantee' by the bank, other than to write letters, including to all the directors,” Zeel commented on the issue.

    “A letter received from a PMS entity holding preference shares of the company raising questions regarding build up of related party balances and advances for content acquisition”- has been cited as one of the reasons. According to Zeel, audit of the issues pertaining to related party transactions and advances is underway by auditors.

    The issue of non implementation of certain decision of the board meeting held on 17 October relating to treasury operations has also been flagged by the directors. Against this concern, Zeel said that the company is exploring options to withdraw these deposits in a phased manner without effecting the long term relationship with these banks.No action on large outstanding from DTH operator Dish TV and MSO Siti Cable for the content supplied by Zeel has been mentioned as one of the reasons for resignation. As per Zeel’s filing in the exchange, the same has been secured by a definitive plan and the situation is being strictly monitored as instructed by the board.

  • Dish TV pays Star India 2nd instalment towards outstanding arrears

    Dish TV pays Star India 2nd instalment towards outstanding arrears

    MUMBAI: Dish TV has paid the invoice for the month of September to Star India amid the ongoing payment dispute between the leading direct-to-home (DTH) operator and the broadcaster. Along with the current invoice, the second instalment towards the outstanding arrears has been paid as stated in a daily order of the Telecom Disputes Settlements and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) dated 21 November.

    Earlier, TDSAT ruled that Dish TV should pay the admitted dues to Star India by the end of November 2019 in three equal instalments by the end of September, October and November 2019.

    The latest order says that senior counsel for the DTH platform hinted that the petitioner is entitled to certain incentives in terms of the agreement enunciated and the circular of the respondent dated 27 September.  He also submitted that the invoices for the incentives have already been raised and submitted.  According to him, an early resolution of the demand for incentive would ease the burden upon them in making further payments.

    At the same time, the counsel for Star India submitted that these invoices have been raised simultaneously for several months and, therefore, verification is taking some time.  However, he assured that the task shall be completed and a suitable reply will be given to the petitioner informing whatever is found admissible by way of incentives. 

    Dish TV filed a petition in TDSAT against a disconnection notice issued by star India in July. Star India supplied a chart supplied to the TDSAT explaining Dish TV’s liabilities which mentioned a balance outstanding of Rs 83,70,895 on 22 July in respect of billing till January 2019. The tribunal noted that for the month of February to May 2019, the DTH operator has been billed for a further amount of Rs 284 crore including the earlier outstanding balance. Star India also mentioned that it has not included the interest component.

    “Having considered the earlier order and the stand of the parties, we are of the view that in addition to the liability to clear the current invoice as indicated above, the petitioner should liquidate the entire arrears to the extent admitted and already noted by end of November 2019 and for this petitioner shall pay the remaining outstanding dues towards the arrears in three equal instalments by end of September, October and November 2019,” TDSAT had said in its order.

    The matter has been posted under the same head to 11 December. 

  • DishTV’s OTT app Watcho arrives on Amazon Fire TV

    DishTV’s OTT app Watcho arrives on Amazon Fire TV

    MUMBAI: With an aim to offer engaging and differentiated content catering to young audiences across the country, Dish TV India Ltd, the world’s largest single-country DTH company, has expanded distribution of its OTT app Watcho to Amazon Fire TV Stick. Effective immediately, Amazon Fire TV Stick customers can access Watcho app to discover original web shows, short films, more than 100 Live TV channels and various other regional shows and movies.

    Watcho provides access to a large VOD content library of originals, movies and popular shows along with linear TV service. It is also the first OTT service to feature user generated content allowing users to create and upload their own content to Watcho. The flexible service was designed to address the large base of over 23 million subscribers of DishTV and d2h and is also open to new users.

    “We are excited to bring Watcho to the wide audience base on Amazon Fire TV Stick. Watcho, since launch, has received a good reception and there has been demand to host it across platforms. The OTT market is continuously evolving and the consumption is growing on TV and mobile. We are confident that users will be delighted with the seamless experience of watching new-age and bite-sized video content of Watcho on the Amazon Fire TV Stick,” Dish TV India Ltd executive director and group CEO Anil Dua said.

    Watcho offers 1000+ hours of library content including movies and short films and can now be installed directly from the Amazon App Store. At present it has around 20 original shows in Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. As an introductory offer, the service is available free of cost.

  • DTH operators against imposition of further regulation on platform services

    DTH operators against imposition of further regulation on platform services

    MUMBAI: Major direct-to-home (DTH) operators spoke against the imposition of any registration fee or annual fee for the platform services (PS) offered by them. Tata Sky, Dish TV, Bharti Telemedia the holding company of Airtel Digital TV are of the view that as DTH operators already pay license fee and furnish bank guarantee, there should not be any requirement of any additional payment for PS. The companies have also delivered their views against capping the number of PS channels.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a consultation paper (CP) on issues related to PS aimed at a proper regulatory framework for the services in late August. Before the CP was floated, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), in a letter dated 2 July  2019, sought the recommendations of TRAI on various issues related to PS with reference to DTH guidelines. TRAI also mentioned in the consultation paper that unlike private satellite TV channels which are permitted and regulated under the uplinking and downlinking guidelines of MIB, PS is not subject to any specific regulations or guidelines as of now.

    As TRAI invited comments on the consultation paper from the stakeholders Tata Sky, Dish TV, Bharti Telemedia submitted their comments on the issue:

    “Platform Services (PS) are programs transmitted by distribution platform operators (DPOs) exclusively to their own subscribers and does not include Doordarshan channels and registered TV channels. PS shall not include foreign TV channels that are not registered in India,” TRAI defined PS in its Recommendations on Regulatory Framework for Platform Services dated 19 November 2014.

    Here are the important questions raised in the CP and the comments by the mentioned companies:

    What should be the Registration fee/Annual fee for PS per channel? And how it is to be estimated?

    All three players have commented that there should not be any requirement of any additional payment by DTH operators applicable for a PS channel as the DTH operators are required to pay entry fee, license fee and also furnish bank guarantee. They also mentioned in the submission that other distribution platform operators like MSOs, LCOs, HITS are not paying such fees which already creates a non-level playing field. Dish TV also mentioned that the requirement for payment annual fee can be imposed on cable platforms who are not required to pay any kind of entry or license fee to the government.

    The maximum number of PS channels that can be offered by DTH operators:

    According to the submissions made by the DTH players, there should not be any cap on the number of PS channels offered by the service providers. One of the reasons that has been highlighted is that DTH operators provide pan-India service and need to cater to customers of varied tastes and languages. Moreover, at a time when the broadcasters are having their own over-the-top platforms, limiting the number of PS would harm DTH operators in the competition.  

    “If the authority still feels that a limit is required, then it should be sufficient for us to grow further beyond the number of channels that we already have, and the limit should also be flexible going forward so that we may not be required to approach MIB and TRAI for cap enhancement. Additionally, for maintaining parity, similar caps should also be placed on MSOs/ LCOs,”  Tata Sky commented.

    Is there a need to revisit/review the earlier recommendations of the Authority dated 11th November, 2014, relating to keeping recording of all PS channel programs for a period of 90 days and maintaining a written log/ register of such program for a period of 1 year by the DPO from the date of broadcast and the role of Authorised Officer and the State/ District Monitoring Committee and MIB as monitoring authorities:

    Article 8 of the DTH license condition mandates DTH operators to maintain the recoding of the programs carried on the platform for a period of at least 90 days at its own cost which is also applicable on PS carried by the operators. In addition to that, all the content transmitted by DTH operators are monitored by the Electronic Media Monitor Center which is entrusted with the responsibility to check the compliance of the ‘Programme and Advertisement Code’ under the Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act, 1995. Hence, they are of the view that there is no requirement for prescription of any additional compliance maintaining a written log/ register of such program for a period of one year by the DPO. 

  • Dish TV’s OTT Platform Watcho launches two new original series

    Dish TV’s OTT Platform Watcho launches two new original series

    MUMBAI: In line with its commitment to provide unique and engaging content to the viewers, Dish TV India Limited announced the launch of two new content series on its OTT platform ‘Watcho’. A paranormal investigation series ‘Dark Destination’ premiered on 13th September, 2019 and a wild comedy tale ‘The Senti Mentals’ is slated to premier on  27 September, 2019.

    The new web series Dark Destination is a fast paced mini-series covering two episodes of gripping paranormal investigation in the most haunted places of country such as Lambi Dehar Mines in Mussoorie and Kuldhara in Jaisalmer, known for their mystery and horrifying tales.  The series is conceptualized and directed by Jay Alani, a well know paranormal investigator and producer of ‘The Paranormal Company’.

    The new original comedy series The Senti Mentals available from 27 September, is a hilarious combination of cross connecting events that take place over time full of trial and errors. The Senti Mentals is written, directed and edited by the multi-talented Vikram Munjal, staring famous actors such as Saif Ansari, Varun Sobti, Mohit, Rashika Pradhan, Samar Manhotra, Tijo Thomas, Ratnesh Singh and Supriti Batra.

     “We are excited to launch the two new series this month on Watcho, with an aim to offer unique new age content to our customers. Our new show The Dark Destination is a series that is inspired by true incidents and The Senti Mentals on the other hand is a fiction comedy series. The breadth of stories with its local settings and complex characters is incredible and we can’t wait for our audience to enjoy them. At Watcho, our intent is to capture the fastest-growing segment on the Indian internet and aiming to launch few more exciting original web series in the coming months,” Dish TV India OTT strategy head Akash Tyagi said.

  • Dish TV to introduce Android set top box

    Dish TV to introduce Android set top box

    MUMBAI:

    "We are monitoring new technology developments and are responding to these. In the next few weeks, we are going to introduce connected boxes (android boxes) for the customers who seek new age media entertainment. We also have smart stick at Rs 599," Dish TV India corporate head (marketing) Sukhpreet Singh said, as quoted by PTI.

    Singh also added that the company expects to upgrade 20 per cent of its customers to online streaming services with the connected devices in the next 18-24 months. However, the price of the proposed set top boxes have not been revealed.

    While the DTH platform has also launched an over-the-top platform Watcho recently, it will also help in consumer engagement and customer acquisition, according to Singh. "Currently, Watcho is free for six months. But it will attract rentals as we also offer exclusive content," he added.

  • Dish TV India launches ‘Shorts TV Active’ on DishTV and d2h platforms

    Dish TV India launches ‘Shorts TV Active’ on DishTV and d2h platforms

    MUMBAI: Keeping up the promise of providing unique content and quality entertainment to its subscribers, Dish TV India Limited, world’s largest single-country DTH Company recently announced the launch of a new value added service ‘Shorts TV Active’ in partnership with ShortsTV, the world’s only TV channel dedicated to short movies. With the launch of this new service, customers can now enjoy an uncluttered ad-free HD films packed with 10000+ premium movie titles. The service is available at a nominal subscription price of Rs.59+ taxes per month.

    With the focus on leveraging short films to expand reach among Indian viewers, the Shorts TV Active’ service will offer upto 7000 short films, including 600 renowned, award winning Indian movies to all its subscribers. Under the new service, the subscribers can access some of the spectacular award-winning and Oscar nominated short films like Adnyat, The School bag, Dark Brew, Juice, Skin, Late afternoon and many more. The service will feature short content across different genres like animation, fiction, comedy, drama etc.  The international library includes Oscar shorts, Cannes shorts, Bafta shorts, Sundance shorts etc and similarly the Indian library includes Large Short Films, Pocket Films, Terribly Tiny Tales, Whistling Woods and Humara movies.

     “We are delighted to launch the unique short content service ‘Shorts TV Active’ which will offer award winning & international short movies on DishTV & d2h platforms. We, at Dish TV, have always aimed at continuously bringing new engaging content for our audiences. Going further on that route, we have partnered with Shorts TV to offer this unique valued added service. This service is meant for the segment of our viewer base that prefers to consume entertainment in small format. We hope to continue on our path to provide the best of entertainment to our customers,” Dish TV India Limited executive director and group CEO Anil dua commented.

     “ShortsTV is pioneering a new type of entertainment in India – highest quality movies from leading Indian and international talent but in short form. Indian audiences and filmmakers are consuming and producing short films like never before and we’re thrilled to be bringing the world’s best short entertainment to the Dish TV and d2h platforms. Subscribers are in for a real treat – from side-splitting comedies to heart-wrenching romance, hair-raising thrillers and award-winners from around the world, we’ve got it all!,” ShortsTV chief executive Carter Pilcher said.

  • DTH companies against changes to KYC norms for STBs

    DTH companies against changes to KYC norms for STBs

    MUMBAI: DTH operators believe that there is no need to change the KYC process for set top boxes (STBs) as the current process is well-equipped to meet the requirements and the DTH industry is already adhering to a comprehensive KYC process, which has been working effectively till date.

    The DTH operators have commented on TRAI’s consultation paper on ‘KYC and e-KYC of DTH Set Top Boxes’. Dish TV commented, “We are of the strong opinion that initial KYC done by the company is adequate enough and no further KYC is required thereafter.”

    “Broadcasting of channels through DTH involves unidirectional communication only i.e. broadcast through satellites and does not involve any inherent risk or misuse by the customers. In view of the same, introducing any additional measures for KYC other than what is being currently followed, would only aggravate the financial stress on the industry and will consequently lead to higher prices for the consumer, without yielding any benefits,” Bharti Telemedia commented.

    It further explained that during the provisioning of a new connection, a CAF is filled by the customer which captures details like registered telephone number of the subscriber, Name And Address for installation etc. These details are then entered into the systems. Only after these processes are completed, an engineer is assigned, who visits the customer premises for installation and demonstration. Thus, in any case, the present system already meets the KYC requirement of capturing the customer’s identity and address.

    One of the objectives stated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in its reference to TRAI, is to stop the illegal smuggling of set top boxes to other countries. The operators believe that even this objective cannot be met by introducing additional KYC requirements.

    “Collecting proof of identity (Pol) and Proof Of  address (PoA) documents, as an alternate to Aadhaar, will add to the inconvenience and cost  of approximately 100 million subscribers (includes  private DTH and DD Free Dish) and  potentially another 100 million future subscribers. Conducting such a massive exercise for weeding out a miniscule set of smuggled boxes would be an unfair burden for all stakeholders,” said Tata Sky.

    On the question of whether location-based services (LBS) needs to be incorporated in the DTH set top boxes to track its location, Dish TV replied, “This issue has been dealt at length and for the stated reason we strongly oppose this suggestion.”

    “We submit that there is no need to introduce the LBS requirement for the DTH set top boxes. To the best of our knowledge, there is no such implementation of LBS for DTH services anywhere in the world,” opined Bharti Telemedia.

    Tata Sky believes that location-based services (LBS) – developing and deploying STBs fitted with a LBS solution would make the box expensive and would add to the cost borne by the subscriber. “Also, there would be several cases of non-receipt of signals on account of equipment malfunction or other reasons and not necessarily  due  to the STB having been smuggled out,” the company said.

    Replying to TRAI’s question on whether one-time KYC is enough at the time of installation or verification is required to be done on periodic basis to ensure its actual location? Bharti Telemedia commented, “We firmly believe that the current one-time KYC at the time of installation is more than adequate as it duly meets the essence of any KYC process. Therefore, there is no need to introduce a system of re-verification.”

    Further it said, “At the cost of repetition, periodic verification in case of DTH industry has no relevance as the services provided over DTH platforms pose no threats or risks as these services are unidirectional and are made available transparently to the customer. When the verification activity yields no productive outcome, there is no rationale in terms of mandating a periodic re-verification exercise as the same will simply translate into a sizeable financial burden on the DTH industry as well as wastage of resources for a non-productive exercise.”

    According to Bharti Telemedia, re-verification will be a daunting and insurmountable task due to the complexities involved in taking customer consent and appointment or unavailability of customer due to various reasons. “It should be considered that it will cause huge inconvenience to users and may raise their apprehensions about the services. Therefore, we recommend that there should not be any change in the existing processes and the system of re-verification should not be introduced,” the company said. 

  • Dish TV brings unique value added service for Telugu viewers, launches ‘Telugu Active’ on DishTV & d2h platforms

    Dish TV brings unique value added service for Telugu viewers, launches ‘Telugu Active’ on DishTV & d2h platforms

    Hyderabad: Continuing to strengthen its value added service offerings, Dish TV India Limited, world’s largest single-country DTH Company has launched ‘Telugu Active’ VAS service – a one stop ad-free destination for the best of Telugu films & shows. The Telugu Active service is launched in partnership with Shemaroo & Mango Mass Media and and available on both its brands; DishTV & d2h.

    In order to bring unique and engaging content for Telugu subscribers, the Telugu Active service will give customers an access to 10 hours of fresh content every day and showcase two premier movies every week. To further connect with customers, the complete entertainment package will offer the finest Telugu movies of renowned actors like Nayantara, Atharva, Sai Dharam Tej, Niharika etc. Additionally, it will air chat shows of top celebrities, behind-the-scene of new movies, action scenes and comedy scenes of various movies.

    Announcing the new service, Mr. Anil Dua, Executive Director & Group CEO, Dish TV India Limited, said, “Our focus has always been on engaging content, best value proposition and unique entertainment initiatives. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are very rich in content and have very high TV viewership with high affinity towards Telugu content. Dish TV India with its new ‘Telugu Active’ service will cater to the needs of our Telugu audience for wholesome and varied family content. We are glad to partner with Shemaroo to launch this new ad-free service on both DishTV and d2h platforms.”

    Mr. Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited, said, “We are delighted to partner with Dish TV and offer our extensive Telugu service to a varied set of audiences through the launch of ‘Telugu Active’ with Dish TV India. As content leaders, over the years we have seen that the engagement is much higher when content is served in preferred language and through preferred medium. We are sure this partnership will entertain a massive set of audience across India.”

    Telugu Active service is available on channel number 710 on at a nominal subscription price of INR 40 plus taxes per month post applicable free preview period. To subscribe the new service, a customer can give a missed call to 1800-315-0710 from registered mobile number to activate the service.