Tag: Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation

IBDF board admits new members; gets Kevin Vaz as president

MUMBAI: There’s quite a few new names sitting atop the Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation following its 25th annual general meeting held in New Delhi earlier today.

No surprises for guessing, Kevin Vaz who heads JioStar just below Uday Shankar was elected as the president. He is also the chairman of Ficci’s media and entertainment committee. The AGM also saw some newcomers make their way into the highest echelons of the advocacy body, the IBDF board: Prasar Bharati’s Gaurav Dwivedi, MMTV’s Jayant M. Mathew, TV Today’s Aroon Purie, JioStar’s Sumanto Bose, and Kairali TV’s John Brittas.

Other senior folks such as Culver Max Entertainment’s recently appointed CEO Gaurav Banerjee, R. Mahesh Kumar, along with India TV boss Rajat Sharma were elected as vice-presidents. I. Venkat was elected as the treasurer.

The list of some of the board members includes: Rajat Sharma, India TV, I. Venkat, Eenadu TV, Kevin Vaz, JioStar, R. Mahesh Kumar, Sun Network, Gaurav Banerjee, Culver Max, Nachiket Pantvaidya, Bangla Entertainment, Punit Goenka, Zee Media, Ashish Sehgal, Zee Entertainment, Sumanto Bose, JioStar and John Brittas, Kairali TV.

Rajat Sharma said that the IBDF will continue advocating for a regulatory framework that fosters innovation, supports creators, and ensures fair competition. “Together, we will drive the industry toward a sustainable and prosperous future,” he stated.

Kevin Vaz made his first address as the IBDF president highlighting that Indian content can gain international acclaim, further strengthening India’s soft power globally.

“As we increasingly embrace technology to scale up, it is imperative that we democratize content creation so that it is not demographically or geographically limited. While India consumes content from anywhere, driven by the proliferation of 5G, smartphones, connected TVs and better pay TV infrastructure, we must ensure that opportunities to create professional content from locations beyond the current hotspots is a viable future for the industry,” he emphasised. “The media and entertainment industry has a multiplier effect that extends to sectors like sports, creating significant opportunities for growth at scale. To ensure that this growth can be sustainable we need to look at business models rooted in equitable collaborations that foster value creation for all stakeholders across the ecosystem.”

December 20, 2024
Supreme Court defers NTO 2.0 hearing to 15 February 2022

Mumbai: The Supreme Court bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and Bela Trivedi has deferred hearing in the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 case to 15 February 2022. The matter pertains to a bunch of petitions filed by IBDF and certain broadcasters against the Bombay high court order on the implementation of the NTO 2.0.

In October, the apex court had refused to consider the petitioners’ request for interim relief, and posted the case for final disposal on 30 November.

The NTO 2.0 passed in January 2020 seeks to cap the pay channel price at Rs 12 from the existing Rs 19. After a legal tussle that lasted over a year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had managed to get a green signal from the Bombay high court on its implementation on 30 June.

The division bench of Bombay HC had upheld the constitutional validity of NTO 2.0, but partly struck down the second provision of the twin conditions as “arbitrary.” As per the second provision, the a-la-carte rates of each pay channel (MRP), forming part of a bouquet, shall in no case exceed three times the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet of which such pay channel is a part.

The Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), an umbrella organisation of private TV broadcasters and a couple of other private channels had moved the SC in July against the Bombay high court judgement which had upheld the constitutionality of the NTO 2.0.

Earlier this month, Trai moved the deadline for implementation of NTO 2.0 to 1 April 2022 from 1 December 2021. Distribution platforms like DTH and cable will have to seek subscriber choice till 31 March 2022.

As per Trai, broadcasters will have to publish new reference interconnection offers (RIOs) to Trai by 31 December, and simultaneously publish the required information about channel and bouquet offerings and their MRPs on their websites. Broadcasters who have already submitted their RIOs in compliance with NTO 2.0 can revise it by 31 December, it said.

Several large networks including ETV, Discovery Communications, Sun TV, Times Networks, Zeel, SPNI, and others had come out with their new RIOs in October-November.

November 30, 2021
Supreme Court to hold final hearing in NTO 2.0 case today

Mumbai: The Supreme Court is all set to hold the final hearing in the NTO 2.0 case on Tuesday. The matter pertains to a bunch of petitions filed against the Bombay high court order regarding the implementation of the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 issued by the telecom regulator.

After a legal tussle that lasted over a year, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had managed to get a green signal from the Bombay high court on 30 June on the implementation of the amended NTO 2.0. The division bench of Bombay HC had upheld the constitutional validity of NTO 2.0, but partly struck down the second provision of the twin conditions as “arbitrary”. As per the second provision, the a-la-carte rates of each pay channel (MRP), forming part of a bouquet, shall in no case exceed three times the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet of which such pay channel is a part.

The Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), an umbrella organisation of private TV broadcasters and a couple of other private channels had moved the SC in July against the Bombay high court judgment which had upheld the constitutionality of the NTO 2.0.

The NTO 2.0 passed in January 2020 seeks to cap the pay channel price at Rs 12 from the existing Rs 19.

Earlier this month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) moved the deadline for implementation of NTO 2.0 to 1 April 2022 from 1 December 2021. Distribution platforms like DTH and cable will have to seek subscriber choice till 31 March 2022.

As per Trai, broadcasters will have to publish new reference interconnection offers (RIOs) to Trai by 31 December, and simultaneously publish the required information about channel and bouquet offerings and their MRPs on their websites. Broadcasters who have already submitted their RIOs in compliance with NTO 2.0 can revise it by 31 December, it said.

November 30, 2021