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Tag: IBF

  • Commercial TV subscriber tariffs: Broadcasters, Star take battle to courts

    Commercial TV subscriber tariffs: Broadcasters, Star take battle to courts

    MUMBAI: It’s the battle of the bill – the commercial cable TV bill, that is. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 16 July 2014 issued an amendment to its earlier 2004 broadcasting and cable TV tariff order. The amendment brought in new customer categories such as commercial establishments and commercial subscribers. And it also stated that as far as cable TV rates are concerned, there shouldn’t be any differentiation on an ordinary and commercial subscriber and charges for both should be on a per TV set basis.

     

    That amendment has not gone down well with the Indian broadcast community as they have been lobbying for differential rates for commercial subscribers for a long time and the global practice is that commercial establishment and subscribers pay more than common subscribers.

     

    Its representative body, the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) decided to challenge the tariff order for non-digital addressable areas (DAS) in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). And industry leader Star India decided to file a writ petition against the TRAI challenging the order for both non DAS and DAS and other addressable systems in the Delhi High Court.

     

    Coincidentally both the cases came up for hearing on the same day. While the HC declined to give a stay order on the 16 July 2014 tariff order amendment, it has served notices to both the TRAI and the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI).

     

    The matter has been posted for a full-fledged hearing on 26 September. Till then, the order is maintainable. Meanwhile, the TDSAT has said that it will wait till the HC decides on the case to take any further action.

     

    What Star India has challenged in the HC is that the 16 July 2014 amendment order denies broadcasters the right to directly deal with the hotels. Star India has also appealed that it will have to unnecessarily depend on distribution platform operators DPOs to strike content deals as for commercial establishments, which might be treated as ordinary subscribers unless they specifically charge customers for cable TV subscribers. The broadcaster can only give a differentiated rate to those hotels that categorically mention TV as one of the services, thereby being deeming it fit to be called a commercial subscriber.

     

    The TRAI and FHRAI have been asked to respond to notices by the next hearing.

     

    Click here for the High Court order

  • Will work closely with IBF and ISA to meet BARC deadlines: Ambi

    Will work closely with IBF and ISA to meet BARC deadlines: Ambi

    An advertising person constantly strives to connect market research data to insights to come up with a winning campaign and who better to understand it than MG Parameswaran aka Ambi. The brain behind the transformation of Ulka Advertising into Draftfcb Ulka Group (now FCB Ulka), the former IIT-ian with a sharp wit and a way with words knows his subject at the back of his hand.

     

    The man, who has seven books to his credit in which he has penned down insights from his 35 year long working career in advertising, is the new president of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

     

    The newly elected executive council will meet in next 10 days and as he takes charge for the year 2014-2015, Indiantelevision.com’s Meghna Sharma speaks to him on the key focus areas, awards and much more…

     

    Excerpts…

     

    What are the five things you will focus on as the new AAAI president?

     

    The new elected executive council will meet to deliberate on what should be the key initiatives, but from the top of my head, I think we need to move on the following points with speed:

     

    – AAAI will literally move to its new office in the next six months; this is a spacious office located mid-town. We will create facilities for our member agencies to use (for outstation agency members it can be a big boon).

     

    – AAAI will endeavour to work closely with IBF and ISA to ensure that the BARC deadlines are met and we have a world-class television measurement system in place soon.

     

    – AAAI will try to help member agencies face the challenges of the future; targeted seminars and workshop on the business of advertising will be a priority going forward; but first we will ascertain the demand for such programs.

     

    – Talent development at the grassroot level will be a priority; we will see if we can leverage the online medium to help reach top class training to smaller cities and towns of our country.

     

    – AAAI has played a vital role in the development of sister organisations; we will endeavour to build strong bridges to all the other industry organisations including ISA, IBF, INS, Ad Club, IAA, IMAI, Outdoor Association, Radio Association, Cinema Association etc.

     

    To sum it up, we will ensure that AAAI serves the purpose of all its member agencies, big and small, in big cities and in small cities and help them stay vibrant and profitable, play a more meaningful role in helping their clients and the society at large.

     

    In the next year, what will be the focus area – seminars or awards – for the organisation?

     

    Awards were never the be-all and end-all of the AAAI. Unfortunately, that gets the maximum media coverage. Many things that AAAI does, like helping member agencies collect outstanding amounts from clients or helping media organisations collect their rightful dues are not as exciting to write and read about. Further, many of these are really in the private domain. AAAI is an industry body set up the help ad agencies do their business better, serve clients better and do well. Towards this end AAAI has held workshops, created forums and also hosted award shows. We will continue to do all that.

     

    In the recent past, many objections have been raised regarding obscenity in advertisements. Do you think there is a need for stricter rules?

     

     All ads have to follow the norms laid down by society. AAAI was one of the founding partners of ASCI and I think ASCI, in the last few years has made its process a lot more efficient and effective. All the big advertisers have signed off that ASCI will have the last word. Similarly all media organisations have agreed to abide by the ASCI rulings.

     

    Obscenity can come at you from any category, undergarments, perfumes etc. If readers feel any specific ad needs to be pulled off they should complain to ASCI. The process is well laid out on its website.

     

     Having said that, let me reiterate, an ad has to be measured against what is prevalent in society at large. At one time no Hindi movie showed a man and a woman kissing. That has become a norm today, and some heroes / heroines are vying to set new records. The society is also changing rapidly enabled by the rampant spread of digital medium. So our standards for measuring ads should also become more flexible. What was obscene 10 years ago may not be seen as obscene today. One needs to factor in the variable that consumers are not morons; they do see ads with a tinted pair of spectacles, especially ads that promise miraculous results, like deos.

     

    Finally, it is ASCI’s turf to decide what they think is permissible and what is not.

     

    Also, how do you plan to get back the lost glory of Indian awards?

     

    Awards play a useful purpose to motivate young people to stay engaged in the advertising industry. There is nothing to beat the joy of receiving an award in front of your industry peers. AAAI will work closely with Ad Club to ensure that we have a transparent mechanism in the jury process. Efforts will be made to ensure all the key agencies participate in the Awards. Please remember the Abby Awards belongs to Ad Club and has a wonderful history backing it. That will not be allowed to fade away.

  • LMOs unite to form pan-India platform

    LMOs unite to form pan-India platform

    MUMBAI: The last mile owners (LMOs) will no longer be a fragmented body. This arm of the cable TV chain has decided to finally form a pan-India platform. The move comes after the national multi-system operators (MSO) formed the MSO Alliance, the direct to home (DTH) players got together to form DTH Operators Association of India and the broadcasters formed the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF).

     

    No formal name has still been shortlisted; however, it will be during the upcoming cable TV exhibition in Hyderabad that the LMO association from across the country will meet to decide the name and the board members of the pan-India platform.

     

    The name would be kept under wraps until the body gets a confirmation from society registrar.

     

    Currently, six state cable TV associations from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have come together to be a part of this pan-India platform. More state associations are expected to join the platform in the upcoming exhibition, which will be attended by LMO associations from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra amongst others.

     

    “LMOs at the grass root level have never been taken into consideration. A pan-India platform will give us proper representation and power. It will also help us take our views to the government,” says Maharashtra Cable Operators Federation (MCOF) president Arvind Prabhoo.

     

    “It is in Hyderabad that we will decide on the functional constitution body of this platform,” he adds.

     

    So why come up with this association now? Answers Prabhoo, “We learn from our mistakes. In the past 20 years we have never had one voice. While even the domestic servants have an association, LMOs have never had a strong pan-India association, but individual voices. With digitisation, operators have understood what is in store for them, and so also understood that an united voice was much needed.”

  • Ministry seeks data on impact of digitisation from IBF, NBA

    Ministry seeks data on impact of digitisation from IBF, NBA

    NEW DELHI: Digitisation of cable TV in the top four metros has resulted in 20-25 per cent fall in carriage fees paid and a 200-300 per cent rise in subscription charges earned by broadcasters, said Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) joint secretary-broadcasting, Supriya Sahu.

     

    Sahu said the impact of phase I digitisation on the revenues of broadcasters was based on a report submitted by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) for 10 news broadcasters.

     

    But, Sahu was quick to also add, that while the broadcasters have given the report for phase I, they have expressed that the result in phase II of digitisation in 38 cities has not been too good.

     

    “We have asked both the IBF (Indian Broadcasters Foundation) and the NBA to give us reports for phase II. Broadcasters need to share their data with the ministry to help us understand if the carriage fees have gone down or not,” said Sahu.”And to assess better the effectiveness of our digitisation programme.”

     

    Sahu was addressing CASBAA India Forum 2014,  in New Delhi, an annual event to explore the Indian cable and broadcasting markets in the context of the global economy and challenging regulatory regime. She emphasised that everyone involved in the TV value chain has gained – broadcasters, MSOs, local cable operators, and even state governments – thanks to the digitisation drive the government has enforced over the past 18-24 months.

     

    Making an extremely detailed presentation replete with statistics and numbers, she pointed out that the tax collected by the Delhi government from phase I digitisation areas was three-times the pre-digitisation level. “While in August 2012 the tax revenue collected by government was Rs 55 lakh, in August 2013, the revenue collected is close to Rs 3 crore,” informed Sahu.

     

    According to data received by the ministry from one of the national multi-system operator, the carriage fee received by it per channel from broadcasters in Delhi has fallen to Rs 3.79 lakh after digitization from Rs 12.33 lakh in the pre-digitisation era. In Mumbai, the carriage fee per channel has fallen to Rs 2.16 lakh from Rs 6.51 lakh in pre-digitisation ear.

     

    Similarly, the subscription fee paid to broadcasters by the MSO in Delhi has gone up to Rs 597.06 lakh from Rs 438.57 lakh before digitisation. In Mumbai, the subscription fee paid to broadcasters by the MSO rose to Rs 183.13 lakh from Rs 116.79 lakh before digitisation.

    She pointed out that only 10 broadcasters have come forward o share data about the impact of digitisation on their business and beseeched more of them to do so.

     

    Summarising the total number of cable TV homes, Sahu said, “As per 2011 census, the total number of cable TV homes is 11.65 crore. The total number of set top boxes required, after adding 20 per cent for multiple TVs in houses and TVs in offices and shops, a total of 14 crore STBs are needed. While a total of 3 crore STBs have been seeded in phase I and II collectively, more 11 crore STBs are needed for phase III and phase IV.”

     

    Sahu acknowledged that there could be tough times in digitisation of cable TV homes in phase III and phase IV markets. “77 per cent of the phase III and phase IV falls in 10 states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, UP, Maharashtra, Kerala, etc. The MIB will initially focus on these 10 states. If this is achieved, achieving the deadline for digitising phase III and phase IV will be easy,” she said. “There are a lot of learnings we have got from the first two phases; there are roadblocks we have understood we need to overcome. All our learnings wlll be put to practical use as we move into phase III and phase IV in a serious manner.”

     

    The ministry is also looking at conducting an impact assessment survey to study the how digitisation has affected the local cable operators. “We will start this in the next couple of months,” concluded Sahu.

  • Justice Mukul Mudgal appointed Chairperson of BCCC

    Justice Mukul Mudgal appointed Chairperson of BCCC

    MUMBAI: The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) has got a new Chairperson in Justice (Retd.) Mukul Mudgal, the former Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court and former Judge of the Delhi High court. The Board of Directors of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has approved Mudgal’s appointment for the self-regulatory body of the IBF.

     

    Justice Mudgal succeeds Justice (Retd.) Ajit Prakash Shah, who demitted office as the Chairperson of BCCC after being appointed the Chairperson of the Twentieth Law Commission of India in November, 2013.

     

    Justice Mudgal will chair the 32nd Meeting of BCCC towards the end of this month.

     

    A BSc (Hons) graduate from Delhi University’s Hindu College and LLB from Law Faculty, DU, Justice Mudgal has a lot of interest in classical music, sports and reading. He was appointed the Judge of Delhi High Court on Delhi on 2 March, 1998 and elevated as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court on 5 December, 2009 from where he retired on 3 January, 2011.

     

    After retirement, he chaired a committee set up by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to propose changes in the Cinematograph Act, 1952. He also chaired a committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India to inquire into the allegations of match-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

  • Why the NBA joined the respondents battling Kantar in the courts

    Why the NBA joined the respondents battling Kantar in the courts

    MUMBAI: When Kantar Market Research Services, a shareholder of TAM media research, decided to go to court to legally oppose one of the guidelines that had been recently approved by the cabinet committee on economic affairs, it raised some eyebrows though the move was not unexpected. And even though Kantar was not given a stay  on the legality of the cross holding  legislation that it has been seeking, what came as a surprise on day two of the hearing was when the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) was made a party to the case.

     

    What made the biggest news broadcasting representative body in the country decide to intervene in the case and be subsequently made a part of it? Contrary to what many may believe, the NBA is not against Kantar but rather it is in favour of the guidelines. “We went as interveners to show our support to the approved guidelines and the court decided that we should be a part of it,” says a senior official from the NBA.

     

    The news organisation has always been vocal on the alleged  irregularities and kinks in TAM’s rating system. “We had decided a while ago that we would make a mention of our support in court. Change in the way the ratings are delivered has been pending for several years and finally the moment of truth has arrived  and so we don’t need it to be stalled again,” informed the official.

     

    In mid-2013, several news channels members of the NBA had decided to boycott TAM claiming that its TV ratings data was rigged. Voices in support of the upcoming agency the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) grew overwhelmingly. The NBA now feels that there could be no better time than now for the guidelines to come into effect.

     

    The case which is ongoing in the Delhi High Court is now being fought by the petitioner Kantar  against the government of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the NBA. In media interviews Kantar has stated that it won’t go down so easily and that the cross holding guideline it has challenged will make its life and existence a misery.

     

    In the hearing on 29 January, the HC decided not to give a stay order to Kantar since the regulation was promulgated  by a statutory body – the TRAI. On the same day, the NBA pointed out that TAM operates on a small sample size of just 8,000 people. The case will next be heard on 11 February.

     

    All the three respondents have a week’s time to file their respective affidavits to the court.

     

    In October last year when the ad cap case was ongoing in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), three broadcasters namely Star, Zee and Viacom18 had tried to become  interveners in support of the 12 minute ad cap regulation but they had been barred from doing so since their representative body – the Indian Broadcasting Foundation – had decided to withdraw the appeal against the ad cap. However, the NBA claims it has consistently been vocal about its views on TV viewership ratings, hence its candidature as an intervener has validity.

     

    The key questions now are whether the HC will offer a lifeline to TAM  by imposing a stay on implementation of the cross holding guideline or whether will it cut off its oxygen supply?

  • MIB: Now on to DAS phase III & IV

    MIB: Now on to DAS phase III & IV

    MUMBAI: Within days of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) giving out its fact sheet on how digital addressable system (DAS) phase I and II have progressed, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) directed all the stakeholders also known as  ‘the task force of digitisation’ to assess its progress and chart out a road map for the coming year.

     

    The meeting saw minister Manish Tewari, secretary Bimal Julka, additional secretary Supriya Sahu, leading MSOs such as Den CEO S N Sharma, The One Alliance president Rajesh Kaul, LCOs, News Broadcasting Association (NBA) secretary Annie Joseph, Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) secretary Shailesh Shah and Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal. After speaking to everyone about the issues faced in DAS phases I and II and Sahu’s presentation on the value that digitisation was creating in the country, Tewari gave the go ahead to implement the next two phases.

     

    However this time it won’t be with two deadlines but rather a one stretch implementation across the remaining parts of the country with just one deadline of 31 December 2014. Although the ministry was of the opinion that two deadlines should exist, the TRAI had voiced its opinion in 2011 that phase III and IV could be achieved simultaneously.

     

    All the stakeholders brought out the issues they had faced in the first two phases to which the minister warned them to sort out their own problems internally or this would lead to a postponement of complete national digitisation – which would not bode well for the industry.  He also told everyone to keep working in coordination even now – and iron out any wrinkles or resolve all problems so that digitisation can progress further.

     

    Tewari said that the upcoming elections may slow down the process but digitisation is here for good and there’s no stopping it now.  The IBF and NBA have been asked to once again air promos highlighting the importance of digitisation.

     

    Now that the green signal has been given, all stakeholders can now attack the rest of the country without having any boundaries. But this is the toughest part as the issues they will face in the interiors will be much higher  and more difficult to resolve than metros and towns. Phase I and II saw nearly 25 million set top boxes being seeded while phase III and IV will see about 75 million more boxes being put in place.

     

    The minister has also assured support saying that the issues in the previous phases will be addressed as they move towards the next ones. 

  • Man Jit Singh likely to continue as IBF president

    Man Jit Singh likely to continue as IBF president

    MUMBAI: It was in early January of this year, that a major announcement emerged from MultiScreen Media (MSM – Sony Entertainment) wherein NP Singh was announced as CEO of the network, replacing Man Jit Singh. 

     

    The industry hadn’t digested the news when another one broke which stated that  Man Jit Singh was being moved into a global position as president of  Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, replacing David Bishop who will depart in March when his contract expires.

     

    What this elevation means is that Man Jit Singh will now be located in Los Angeles (LA). 

     

    So what does it mean for Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) of which he is the president?

     

    Last year in September, the IBF re-elected Singh as its president at its 14th annual general meeting. But with him spending more time in LA, will IBF look for someone else to take his place? 

     

    No, comes the unanimous response from highly placed industry sources. An IBF representative states that:  “Man Jit Singh will continue to preside over the body as the president. For us, things are working smoothly and we don’t expect to see any changes.”

     

    Another source from the industry who is in agreement adds, “There is a board meeting to discuss the issue on 16 of this month but we see status quo being maintained.”

     

    When we called up Man Jit Singh to get his view on the same, he was unreachable. However, sources reveal he will be jetting to and fro between India and the US even now like he used to earlier. “He is used to the travel and has been doing it for ages now, so we don’t think distance is going to change anything.”

  • What now for TV ratings and TAM

    What now for TV ratings and TAM

    MUMBAI: When the cabinet committee on economic affairs announced that it had approved the Telecom Regulatory of India (TRAI) recommendations on TV ratings guidelines in the first week of  2014 the first question that struck everyone was – what will TAM do now?

     

    The fracas between angry broadcasters and TAM has been brewing for  several years and finally came to its boiling point last year when seven TV networks announced that they were clicking on the TAM TV rating unsubscribe button. This put a big question mark over TAM’s very existence but it managed to get out of the corner it was in by hammering out a solution which was acceptable to most subscribers. 

     

    As far as the current threat to TAM’s continuance is concerned, the Cabinet’s go ahead to the proposed regulatory framework has now to be notified. When that will happen no one knows, though speculation is that it could be sooner than later. However, what is sure is that TAM will have 30 days from notification date to comply with its guidelines and then seek a licence from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).  From all angles it looks like a pressure cooker-like situation that the TV ratings provider has landed itself in. 

     

    Broadcasters seem to be the happiest of the lot. NDTV group CEO Vikram Chandra – whose company sued TAM in a New York court two years ago – is cock-a-hoop with delight that the government has affirmed what industry has been voicing since nearly six to seven years: that TAM and the ratings process in India needs to be spruced up.

     

    “The introduction of firm guidelines is a positive step as everything is clear now. It shows that we should never be hesitant to change something that isn’t right,” says Chandra.

     

    Whether TAM will manage to find the capital to ramp up its peoplemeter sample to 20,000 within a month or two is something that is concerning industry. What is also a big question mark is how the MIB will view the WPP group’s 50 per cent equity in TAM (through Kantar Media Research 20 per cent, and Cavendish Square Holdings 30 per cent), as mentioned in the NDTV suit with the supreme court in New York.

     

    “Kantar and Cavendish will have to exit since their parent is WPP. TAM has been worrisome and everyone has realised it. So now it has just two options, either shape up or ship out,” says a senior news broadcaster from the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).

     

    However, a source from the IBF presents another option. “We are a democratic country so the government cannot force things on anybody. TAM has the freedom to go to the court and appeal against the guidelines,” says the source.

     

     If TAM decides to oppose the guidelines and go to court and gets a stay order, then we might see some delays in the roll out of the guidelines. This will allow it to continue to operate until a final decision is given by the court, thus buying it some time. Additionally, the industry-backed Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) will also get some time to get its act together with the minimum 20,000 meters.

     

    Media agencies and advertisers aren’t too happy with the way the cabinet has thrust the deadline on TAM.

     

    Says a senior media professional:  “In the beginning of cable and satellite TV in India in the nineties, we had TAM and INTAM. The latter could not sustain itself and TAM continued. Then we had TAM and aMap in the mid of the previous decade. aMap too found the going tough without full industry support and folded up. The fact is TAM has started from scratch and survived so many upheavals. It is a sad situation to be destroying something that has been existing and running for so long. ”

     

    However, she is clutching on to a thin sliver of hope that TAM and BARC could co-exist for a while until things smooth out on the ratings front. 

     

    “The time given to follow and make all the changes as per the guidelines is impractical,” says Madison World chairman & MD Sam Balsara. “It is obvious that TAM will not be able to handle it all at such a short notice.”

     

    The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) chairman Hemant Bakshi says that he is discussing the consequences of the cabinet’s clearance to the new ratings guidelines with major advertisers and other players to gauge the possible impact on their businesses.

     

    One scenario that everyone is dreading is that TAM fails to comply with all the requirements within the time period it is given, and the courts dismiss its appeal, if it makes one. Will it then be forced to cease operations immediately and lead to a ratings-less period for the Indian television business? This is extremely alarming for all concerned.

     

    IPG Mediabrands CEO Shashi Sinha who is also in the technical committee of BARC feels that the management of the new proposed ratings system needs to pull their socks up, and accelerate the rollout of people meters. But even then he says that “we are hoping to be on our feet and start functioning only by September/October.”

     

    That seems a long, long time away, going by how things are moving. Madison’s Balsara is quite clear on the way forward. Says he: “As an industry we need ratings, all the time! Therefore, till BARC comes up, we need an alternate. As an industry we should appeal to the ministry to relax the deadline for the implementation.”

     

    Hence, it is imperative for all concerned – whether it is the MIB led by Manish Tewari, the government, TAM, the ISA, advertising agencies, broadcasters and BARC – to choose their next steps wisely.

     

  • NBSA hauls up CNN-IBN, Aaj Tak and Sakshi TV for breach of guidelines

    NBSA hauls up CNN-IBN, Aaj Tak and Sakshi TV for breach of guidelines

    MUMBAI: Broadcasters in India have always been under pressure for not following ethical norms and standards and depicting anything they wish to. However, there are certain organisatons like the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), Indian Broadcasters Foundation (IBF) which have framed regulatory policies for their members.

     

    The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) has come out with a series of orders regarding allegations against its member news channels. Channels Aaj Tak, CNN IBN and Sakshi TV unlike ABP News have been found to be in breach of the NBSA code of ethics.

     

    CNN-IBN

     

    Two cases were lodged against CNN-IBN regarding two separate incidences. The first complaint was filed by Mallige Medical Centre administrator R K Lal about a show titled ‘Bangalore woman incapacitated after botched surgery’ which was according to the complainant, a one sided story . The broadcaster was found to not have followed the guidelines and had failed to make adequate efforts to contact the hospital. The NBA has warned CNN-IBN and has asked it to tender an apology by airing it once on 10 January stating “CNN-IBN regrets and apologises for airing the programme titled ‘Bangalore woman incapacitated after botched surgery’ without ascertaining the version of Mallige Medical Centre on 29 to 30 March 2013 and 1 April, 6 April and 7 April 2013.” It has also ordered it to remove the video from its website and submit a proof of telecast of the apology to the NBA within seven days of telecast.

     

    The second case against the English news channel was filed by Hariharan S regarding a child rape victim’s father being identified by one of the channel’s journalists while covering the protest at India Gate on 23 December 2012. Since it was a live coverage, the channel claimed that it didn’t think of covering his face and was only thinking of public interest but it could have been more careful. They also stated that no provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act were violated by revealing the father’s name. The NBSA found it to be in breach and asked it to remove the video from its website.

     

    Aaj Tak

     

    The Hindi broadcaster from the TV Today stable also had two complaints against its programmes. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) general manager Pradip Kundu was the first complainant that its sting operation ‘Dalal Junction’ was biased as it had not tried to contact IRCTC and had carried the news piece without verifying facts. The channel was found to be in breach and was directed to tender an apology for five consecutive days from 13 January to 17 January at 6:00 pm by running an apology scroll on full screen in large font size with a voice over in slow speed. The video if uploaded on its website shall be pulled down.

     

    The second complainant was Seema Mittal for a show titled ‘Vardat’ on 7 November 2012 with repeat telecasts where she alleged that the channel had carried a news piece with incorrect details. The channel has been directed to carry the unedited version of the complainant prominently for three minutes preceded by an apology scroll similarly done as the one above. In this case Aaj Tak has been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh to the NBA within seven days because this was a second such willful violation in family/matrimonial matters.

     

    Sakshi TV

     

    Four students of NALSAR had approached the NBSA regarding the airing of a programme titled ‘drunken girls hulchul midnight’ that involved a fight between students and journalists claiming that the channel had portrayed them in a derogatory manner. The manner in which Sakshi TV’s cameraman thrust the camera in the car to capture footage of the girls along with the complainants and airing the footage without their version was highly objectionable. Sakshi TV has been asked to cough up Rs 1 lakh along with an apology for the days 15, 16 and 17 January 2014 in both English and Telugu.

     

    The only channel that wasn’t found to be in breach of its guidelines was ABP News though a complaint was filed against it by Atul Jain regarding a programme it aired called ‘Bura Na Mano’ claiming that the channel had tried to show then railway minister Pawan Bansal as guilty in a matter under investigation by the CBI.