ITV

Tag: I and B Ministry

  • India has 890 TV channels against 12th Plan target of 1500

    India has 890 TV channels against 12th Plan target of 1500

    NEW DELHI: With the government having cleared a total of 890 television channels including 401 news channels, it appears highly unlikely that the country will achieve the target of 1500 channels by March next year.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to Information and Broadcasting 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.

    However, a recent I and B ministry report said that a total of 890 TV channels had got permission to start their operation as on 31 May. Out of these, twenty channels including seven news channels have been permitted to uplink from India but not downlink within the country, and 96 including 81 general entertainment channels are uplinked from overseas but allowed to downlink into TV homes in the country.

    Meanwhile, the committee was told that the present set up of Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) has developed logging and recording facility for 900 TV channels and is thus fully equipped to start monitoring of all permitted channels available on public domain.

    The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) is configuring all available free to air channels in the content monitoring system of the EMMC.

    However, configuration of pay channels will require broadcasters to provide necessary equipment for downloading and decryption of the content/signal and this is expected to be completed within 4 months’ time.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to Information and Broadcasting observed that the monitoring capacity of EMMC is being augmented in a phased manner to achieve the objective of developing content acquisition facility for 1500 channels by the end of the 12th Plan.

    By the end of Fiscal Year 2014-15, EMMC successfully achieved the Plan target of content acquisition facility of 600 TV channels. Under the 12th Plan, Rs.56.37 crore had been utilized as of 31 March 2016 out of the total outlay of Rs.90 crore.

    The committee was told that the budget estimate for 2016-17 had been reduced to Rs 12 crore as compared to Rs 21 crore in 2015-16, out of which Rs 19.76 had been spent by 3 March 2016.

    During the year 2015-16, EMMC has procured content acquisition hardware for setting up monitoring facility for 300 additional TV channels and installed at the new set up on the eleventh floor of Soochna Bhawan in New Delhi. The channels are being configured.

    The ministry also informed the committee that issues pertaining to monitoring of 600 channels, hardware for which was acquired in FY 2014-15 had been resolved. Hence, EMMC was able to stabilize and regularly monitor 600 TV channels.

    The ministry said its target under the Machinery and Equipment head was to develop content acquisition facility for additional 300 TV channels by the end of FY 2016-17.

    The committee was informed that during the year 2015-16, 11 cases were found where TV channels were in violation of content guidelines (Programme Code and Advertisement Code).

    While there is no provision of pre-censorship of the content telecast on private TV channels, all programmes/ advertisements telecast on such TV channels are required to adhere to the Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the rules framed thereunder. Action is taken whenever any violation of the Codes is noticed or brought to the notice of the ministry.

  • India has 890 TV channels against 12th Plan target of 1500

    India has 890 TV channels against 12th Plan target of 1500

    NEW DELHI: With the government having cleared a total of 890 television channels including 401 news channels, it appears highly unlikely that the country will achieve the target of 1500 channels by March next year.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to Information and Broadcasting 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.

    However, a recent I and B ministry report said that a total of 890 TV channels had got permission to start their operation as on 31 May. Out of these, twenty channels including seven news channels have been permitted to uplink from India but not downlink within the country, and 96 including 81 general entertainment channels are uplinked from overseas but allowed to downlink into TV homes in the country.

    Meanwhile, the committee was told that the present set up of Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) has developed logging and recording facility for 900 TV channels and is thus fully equipped to start monitoring of all permitted channels available on public domain.

    The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) is configuring all available free to air channels in the content monitoring system of the EMMC.

    However, configuration of pay channels will require broadcasters to provide necessary equipment for downloading and decryption of the content/signal and this is expected to be completed within 4 months’ time.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to Information and Broadcasting observed that the monitoring capacity of EMMC is being augmented in a phased manner to achieve the objective of developing content acquisition facility for 1500 channels by the end of the 12th Plan.

    By the end of Fiscal Year 2014-15, EMMC successfully achieved the Plan target of content acquisition facility of 600 TV channels. Under the 12th Plan, Rs.56.37 crore had been utilized as of 31 March 2016 out of the total outlay of Rs.90 crore.

    The committee was told that the budget estimate for 2016-17 had been reduced to Rs 12 crore as compared to Rs 21 crore in 2015-16, out of which Rs 19.76 had been spent by 3 March 2016.

    During the year 2015-16, EMMC has procured content acquisition hardware for setting up monitoring facility for 300 additional TV channels and installed at the new set up on the eleventh floor of Soochna Bhawan in New Delhi. The channels are being configured.

    The ministry also informed the committee that issues pertaining to monitoring of 600 channels, hardware for which was acquired in FY 2014-15 had been resolved. Hence, EMMC was able to stabilize and regularly monitor 600 TV channels.

    The ministry said its target under the Machinery and Equipment head was to develop content acquisition facility for additional 300 TV channels by the end of FY 2016-17.

    The committee was informed that during the year 2015-16, 11 cases were found where TV channels were in violation of content guidelines (Programme Code and Advertisement Code).

    While there is no provision of pre-censorship of the content telecast on private TV channels, all programmes/ advertisements telecast on such TV channels are required to adhere to the Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the rules framed thereunder. Action is taken whenever any violation of the Codes is noticed or brought to the notice of the ministry.

  • Ad cap case put off to 1 August, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    Ad cap case put off to 1 August, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    NEW DELHI: There is clearly no indication to an early resolution to the controversial issue of adcaps on television channels, with yet one more adjournment of the petitions pending before the Delhi High Court, this time to 1 August.

    The matter was put off by chief justice G Rohini and justice Jayant Nath as they did not have time to hear the matter in view of urgent cases.

    When the case comes up next, it is expected to take up an application by intervenor Home Cable Network Pvt Ltd seeking vacation of the order staying action against violating television channels.

    In the hearing on 29 March, a plea was made on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting ministry that a proposal was being contemplated to amend the relevant provision relating to limiting ads to 12 minutes an hour.

    However counsel Vivek Sarin of Home Cable counsel pressed for early hearing of his application for vacation of stay. Thereupon, counsel for Discovery Communications said it wanted to press its application to come in as intervenor. The court had on 11 February agreed to take up the application by Discovery Communications to intervene on the matter.

    Earlier on 27 November last year, the court chaired by the chief justice had said the matter had been pending for some time and therefore it would hear and conclude the case in the next hearing. On that day, the I and B Ministry had informed the Court that it was in talks with the News Broadcasters Association and other stakeholders on the issue of the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour. This was the first time that the ministry had put in an appearance in the petition filed by the News Broadcasters and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and others.

    Home Cable Network Pvt. Ltd had been permitted to intervene on 5 January and the Court had agreed to consider contentions on whether pay channels should be permitted to carry commercials in view of subscription fee charged by them. Home Cable Counsel Vivek Sarin had told the court that the petitioners had not disclosed that broadcasters had given their consent to observe the 10+2 ad cap rule under the Cable Television Network Regulation Rules 1994 and the Act that followed a year later and also under the Uplink and Downlink Guidelines. He also said pay TV broadcasters should not be allowed to take ads as they charged subscription fee.

    The case, filed by News Broadcasters Association and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Union Government, has so far been adjourned from time to time on the plea that the government and the broadcasters are in talks on this issue.

    The court has already directed that the order that TRAI would not take any action against any channel pending the petition would continue. In an earlier hearing, the court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

    Meanwhille, complaints against fifteen broadcasters by TRAI on the ad cap issue are also pending with the chief metropolitan magistrate in Delhi.

  • Ad cap case put off to 1 August, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    Ad cap case put off to 1 August, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    NEW DELHI: There is clearly no indication to an early resolution to the controversial issue of adcaps on television channels, with yet one more adjournment of the petitions pending before the Delhi High Court, this time to 1 August.

    The matter was put off by chief justice G Rohini and justice Jayant Nath as they did not have time to hear the matter in view of urgent cases.

    When the case comes up next, it is expected to take up an application by intervenor Home Cable Network Pvt Ltd seeking vacation of the order staying action against violating television channels.

    In the hearing on 29 March, a plea was made on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting ministry that a proposal was being contemplated to amend the relevant provision relating to limiting ads to 12 minutes an hour.

    However counsel Vivek Sarin of Home Cable counsel pressed for early hearing of his application for vacation of stay. Thereupon, counsel for Discovery Communications said it wanted to press its application to come in as intervenor. The court had on 11 February agreed to take up the application by Discovery Communications to intervene on the matter.

    Earlier on 27 November last year, the court chaired by the chief justice had said the matter had been pending for some time and therefore it would hear and conclude the case in the next hearing. On that day, the I and B Ministry had informed the Court that it was in talks with the News Broadcasters Association and other stakeholders on the issue of the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour. This was the first time that the ministry had put in an appearance in the petition filed by the News Broadcasters and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and others.

    Home Cable Network Pvt. Ltd had been permitted to intervene on 5 January and the Court had agreed to consider contentions on whether pay channels should be permitted to carry commercials in view of subscription fee charged by them. Home Cable Counsel Vivek Sarin had told the court that the petitioners had not disclosed that broadcasters had given their consent to observe the 10+2 ad cap rule under the Cable Television Network Regulation Rules 1994 and the Act that followed a year later and also under the Uplink and Downlink Guidelines. He also said pay TV broadcasters should not be allowed to take ads as they charged subscription fee.

    The case, filed by News Broadcasters Association and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Union Government, has so far been adjourned from time to time on the plea that the government and the broadcasters are in talks on this issue.

    The court has already directed that the order that TRAI would not take any action against any channel pending the petition would continue. In an earlier hearing, the court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

    Meanwhille, complaints against fifteen broadcasters by TRAI on the ad cap issue are also pending with the chief metropolitan magistrate in Delhi.

  • Successful bidders can start FM channels: I and B Ministry

    Successful bidders can start FM channels: I and B Ministry

    NEW DELHI: Operators who have recently won bids successfully for FM Radio stations have been asked to operationalize their channels as early as possible since “time is money and spectrum sold is still unutilized.”

    Information and Broadcasting ministry joint secretary (B-II) Mihir Kumar Singh said this will benefit all stakeholders including the ministry as annual fee realization will also start early.

    However addressing a meeting of the FM operators, Singh said the ministry was agreeable to allowing interim set-up subject to the interim stations being in the same premises from where regular CTI is operating; and payments to Prasar Bharati and Broadcasting Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd is made in full according to mutual consent.

    The meeting on 27 April was at the instance of four FM Radio operators viz. ENIL, HTML, RBNL and MBL for being allowed to operationalise their fresh FM radio channels from interim set-up till the CTI facility is prepared by BECIL. The ten private FM representatives present also included representatives of Mathrubhumi and DB Corp.

    The representatives of the companies were informed that the ministry was cautious in the matter as the operators at Chennai who were earlier given interim set up permission are yet to shift to the CTI facility at Avadi.

    Upon enquiry about BECIL’s timelines to complete the CTI facilities, BECIL CMD George Kuruvila said though the target dates for all the cities is September 2016, BECIL would be able to complete CTI facilities for new FM channels in some cities in July-August.

    It also agreed to provide city-wise timelines which was done.

    All India Radio Resoirces GM (Commercial) AN Sharma said only single dipole, 7/8 inch cable with 3kw transmitter can be allowed for interim set-up. The range of transmission will be 15-20 km.

    The operators should arrange for their power supply as Prasar Bharati will not be able to provide additional power required for interim set-up. The operation of interim set-up should not pose any hurdle for the regular CTI facilities being created for new FM channels.

    Prasar Bharati was requested to give details of tower aperture, land space and rentals that
    it would be willing to share and the pubcaster would so so within two days.

    Kuruvila said since the interim set-up will be in the same premises for which SACFA clearance is available, BECIL will inform the WPC on the interim set-up on behalf of the operators.

    All the operators sought a week’s time for giving their views and so the next meeting is fixed for 6 May.

  • Successful bidders can start FM channels: I and B Ministry

    Successful bidders can start FM channels: I and B Ministry

    NEW DELHI: Operators who have recently won bids successfully for FM Radio stations have been asked to operationalize their channels as early as possible since “time is money and spectrum sold is still unutilized.”

    Information and Broadcasting ministry joint secretary (B-II) Mihir Kumar Singh said this will benefit all stakeholders including the ministry as annual fee realization will also start early.

    However addressing a meeting of the FM operators, Singh said the ministry was agreeable to allowing interim set-up subject to the interim stations being in the same premises from where regular CTI is operating; and payments to Prasar Bharati and Broadcasting Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd is made in full according to mutual consent.

    The meeting on 27 April was at the instance of four FM Radio operators viz. ENIL, HTML, RBNL and MBL for being allowed to operationalise their fresh FM radio channels from interim set-up till the CTI facility is prepared by BECIL. The ten private FM representatives present also included representatives of Mathrubhumi and DB Corp.

    The representatives of the companies were informed that the ministry was cautious in the matter as the operators at Chennai who were earlier given interim set up permission are yet to shift to the CTI facility at Avadi.

    Upon enquiry about BECIL’s timelines to complete the CTI facilities, BECIL CMD George Kuruvila said though the target dates for all the cities is September 2016, BECIL would be able to complete CTI facilities for new FM channels in some cities in July-August.

    It also agreed to provide city-wise timelines which was done.

    All India Radio Resoirces GM (Commercial) AN Sharma said only single dipole, 7/8 inch cable with 3kw transmitter can be allowed for interim set-up. The range of transmission will be 15-20 km.

    The operators should arrange for their power supply as Prasar Bharati will not be able to provide additional power required for interim set-up. The operation of interim set-up should not pose any hurdle for the regular CTI facilities being created for new FM channels.

    Prasar Bharati was requested to give details of tower aperture, land space and rentals that
    it would be willing to share and the pubcaster would so so within two days.

    Kuruvila said since the interim set-up will be in the same premises for which SACFA clearance is available, BECIL will inform the WPC on the interim set-up on behalf of the operators.

    All the operators sought a week’s time for giving their views and so the next meeting is fixed for 6 May.

  • Adcap case put off to 27 April, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    Adcap case put off to 27 April, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    NEW DELHI, 29 March: In a day of swift developments, the Delhi High Court listed the adcap case for 27 April when it will hear an application by intervener Home Cable Network Pvt Ltd seeking vacation of the order staying action against violating television channels.

    Early in the morning, a plea was made in a mention before Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that a proposal was being contemplated to amend the relevant provision relating to limiting ads to 12 minutes an hour. Thereupon, the Court adjourned the matter for 21 July.

    However when the matter came up in the list, counsel Vivek Sarin of Home Cable pressed his application for vacation of stay. Thereupon, counsel for Discovery Communications said it wanted to press its application to come in as intervener.

    After hearing counsel for both sides, the judges agreed on early hearing and pre-poned the matter to 27 April.

    The Court had on 11 February adjourned the hearing to today when it had agreed to take up the application by Discovery Communications to intervene on the matter.

    Earlier on 27 November last year, the Court chaired by the Chief Justice had said the matter had been pending for some time and therefore it will hear and conclude the case in the next hearing.

    On that day, the I and B Ministry had informed the Court that it was in talks with the News Broadcasters Association and other stakeholders on the issue of the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour.

    This was the first time that the Ministry had put in an appearance in the petition filed by the News Broadcasters and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and others.

    Home Cable Network Pvt. Ltd had been permitted to intervene on 5 January and the Court had agreed to consider contentions on whether pay channels should be permitted to carry commercials in view of subscription fee charged by them. Home Cable Counsel Vivek Sarin had told the court that the petitioners had not disclosed that broadcasters had given their consent to observe the 10+2 ad cap rule under the Cable Television Network Regulation Rules 1994 and the Act that followed a year later and also under the Uplink and Downlink Guidelines. He also said pay TV broadcasters should not be allowed to take ads as they charged subscription fee.

    The case, filed by 9x Media, News Broadcasters Association and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Union Government, has so far been adjourned from time to time on the plea that the government and the broadcasters are in talks on this issue.

    (It is learnt by indiantelevision.com that this comes in the wake of a statement made by Minister Arun Jaitley in January last year that there should be no ad cap in the print or electronic media, However, no instructions have been issued in this regard by the Minister so far,).

    The Court has already directed that the order that TRAI will not take any action against any channel pending the petition will continue. In an earlier hearing, the Court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

    Meanwhille, complaints against fifteen broadcasters by TRAI on the adcap issue are also pending with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Delhi.

     

  • Adcap case put off to 27 April, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    Adcap case put off to 27 April, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    NEW DELHI, 29 March: In a day of swift developments, the Delhi High Court listed the adcap case for 27 April when it will hear an application by intervener Home Cable Network Pvt Ltd seeking vacation of the order staying action against violating television channels.

    Early in the morning, a plea was made in a mention before Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that a proposal was being contemplated to amend the relevant provision relating to limiting ads to 12 minutes an hour. Thereupon, the Court adjourned the matter for 21 July.

    However when the matter came up in the list, counsel Vivek Sarin of Home Cable pressed his application for vacation of stay. Thereupon, counsel for Discovery Communications said it wanted to press its application to come in as intervener.

    After hearing counsel for both sides, the judges agreed on early hearing and pre-poned the matter to 27 April.

    The Court had on 11 February adjourned the hearing to today when it had agreed to take up the application by Discovery Communications to intervene on the matter.

    Earlier on 27 November last year, the Court chaired by the Chief Justice had said the matter had been pending for some time and therefore it will hear and conclude the case in the next hearing.

    On that day, the I and B Ministry had informed the Court that it was in talks with the News Broadcasters Association and other stakeholders on the issue of the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour.

    This was the first time that the Ministry had put in an appearance in the petition filed by the News Broadcasters and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and others.

    Home Cable Network Pvt. Ltd had been permitted to intervene on 5 January and the Court had agreed to consider contentions on whether pay channels should be permitted to carry commercials in view of subscription fee charged by them. Home Cable Counsel Vivek Sarin had told the court that the petitioners had not disclosed that broadcasters had given their consent to observe the 10+2 ad cap rule under the Cable Television Network Regulation Rules 1994 and the Act that followed a year later and also under the Uplink and Downlink Guidelines. He also said pay TV broadcasters should not be allowed to take ads as they charged subscription fee.

    The case, filed by 9x Media, News Broadcasters Association and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Union Government, has so far been adjourned from time to time on the plea that the government and the broadcasters are in talks on this issue.

    (It is learnt by indiantelevision.com that this comes in the wake of a statement made by Minister Arun Jaitley in January last year that there should be no ad cap in the print or electronic media, However, no instructions have been issued in this regard by the Minister so far,).

    The Court has already directed that the order that TRAI will not take any action against any channel pending the petition will continue. In an earlier hearing, the Court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

    Meanwhille, complaints against fifteen broadcasters by TRAI on the adcap issue are also pending with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Delhi.

     

  • 2014-15 Interim Budget: Prasar Bharati gets enhanced grants-in-aid

    2014-15 Interim Budget: Prasar Bharati gets enhanced grants-in-aid

    NEW DELHI: The grants-in-aid for Prasar Bharati has been raised marginally to Rs 2,331.58 crore for 2014-15 from the revised estimates of Rs 2,089.56 crore in 2013-14. There is no separate investment by the government in the pubcaster for the second year in a row.

     

    In the interim budget (vote-on-account) for 2014-15 presented in Parliament in view of general elections later this year, the government has made a provision of Rs 200 crore from Internal and Extra-budgetary resources for Prasar Bharati and the total plan outlay for broadcasting of Rs 641.58 crore.

     

    The explanatory memorandum says the grants-in-aid are for meeting the salary and salary-related expenditure of Prasar Bharati. Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com this had been done to meet the extra expenditure on salaries which has fallen on the shoulders of the Government since all Prasar Bharati employees who were in employment as on 5 October 2007 have been given deemed deputation status.

     

    The allocation under ‘Secretariat – Social services’ covering centenary of cinema celebrations and digitisation of cable television among other things has gone up to Rs 129.55 crore from revised estimates of Rs 79.72 crore in the current year. Other subjects under this head include the National Film Heritage Mission, anti-piracy measures, promotion of Indian cinema overseas, production of films and documentaries, and setting up a centre of excellence for animation, gaming and visual effects. The explanatory note says Secretariat – Social services also covers expenses on development of community radio, and development support to the north-east as well as Jammu and Kashmir and ‘other identified areas’.

     

    The total budget of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been raised to Rs 3,216 crore for 2014-15 from the revised budget of Rs 2,855.03 crore (against the initial allocation of Rs 3035.65 crore) for the year 2013-14.

     

    The allocation under the Film Sector has, unlike last year, been increased to Rs 135.81 crore for 2014-15. The budget for the film sector for 2013-14 was Rs 117.17 crore while the revised estimates had put this figure at Rs 116.42 crore. There is an additional outlay of Rs 7.18 crore towards certification of cinematographic films.

     

    For the fifth year in a row, the government has not announced any investment in the National Film Development Corporation.

     

    The allocation for Press Information Services which includes grants to the Press Council of India has been marginally increased to Rs 65.44 crore from last year’s revised estimates of Rs 57.56 crore to meet the expenses for the Press Information Bureau, the Press Council of India, and to the Press Trust of India for running the non-aligned countries news pool.

     

    The allocation to the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre has been increased to Rs 13.75 crore for 2014-15 from the revised estimates of Rs 7.17 crore in 2013-14. The EMMC was set up for monitoring television and radio channels for violation of programme and advertising codes.

     

    The allocation for advertising and visual publicity has been lowered to Rs 227.37 crore against the revised estimates of Rs 241.6 crore and budget allocation of Rs 239.06 crore for 2013-14, covering expenditure incurred by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity for publicity campaigns through advertising and other printed materials, as well as through radio, television, exhibitions and other outdoor campaigns.

     

    Interestingly after several years, the allocation for research and training in mass communication has been doubled to Rs 33.54 crore as against the revised estimates of 15.91 crore and the budgetary allocation of Rs 17.85 crore for 2013-14. This covers the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the Research and Reference Division of the I and B Ministry which collects and collates basic information on subjects of media interest for providing assistance to the Ministry and to its media units, Indian missions overseas, and newspapers and news agencies.

     

    There is a major increase in the lump sum provision for projects/schemes for development of North-eastern areas including Sikkim to Rs 90.5 crore for 2014-15. The budgetary allocation had been the same in the 2013-14 but had come down in the revised estimates to Rs 74 crore.

  • UTV Challenges I and B Ministry’s directive on non-smoking scrolls in films

    UTV Challenges I and B Ministry’s directive on non-smoking scrolls in films

    New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Monday sent notices to the Information and Broadcasting and Health Ministries and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) following a petition by the producers of the Bollywood film Heroine.

    The petition by UTV Software Communication, which has produced the Kareena Kapoor-starrer (slated for release on 21 September), has challenged the I&B Ministry for imposing the mandatory condition of displaying a “static” anti-smoking message during smoking scenes in the film.

    Justice Rajiv Shakdhar sought responses of the respondents by 10 September and directed the CBFC to watch the film and file its report in a sealed cover before the next date of hearing.

    The petitioner sought quashing of the I&B ministry‘s 2 August letter imposing the condition on filmmakers to display the “static” anti-smoking message during smoking scenes.

    The petitioner has urged that the CBFC should issue the certificate for the release of the film without any conditions.

    The filmmaker said that the I&B Ministry has in its letter issued on 2 August requested the CBFC to advise filmmakers to ensure “a 20-second anti-smoking message as approved by the Health Ministry with voice over of the actors who are seen smoking in the film to be displayed at the beginning and in the middle (after interval) of the film.”

    The ministry had issued the letter pursuant to its 27 October 2011 notification in terms of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply) Rules.

    The petitioner alleged that in addition to this, the ministry imposed another condition: that “a static anti-smoking message be displayed for the duration of smoking scene in the film”, and urged the court to get these conditions removed as it will distract the audience from the main script.