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Tag: M Venkaiah Naidu

  • Jharkhand to get DD channel, DD Bihar to show Ranchi feed till then

    NEW DELHI: A separate 24×7 Doordarshan channel is being launched shortly for Jharkhand, the information & broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said.

    The Government is putting up a vision document for the Jharkhand channel for the people of the state and the proposal was included in the three years Action Plan of DD.

    However till the launch of the channel, DD Ranchi programmes would be telecast on DD Bihar. Jharkhand related programmes would be provided a special window in already available 24×7 satellite channel — DD Bihar.

    The Minister was speaking at a review meeting of the programs & initiatives of Ministry held at Ranchi, Jharkhand today. Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das was also present during the review meeting.

    While giving an overview of issues discussed during the review meeting, Naidu said the Jharkhand Government has been requested to provide a dedicated power supply through separate feeders to All India Radio & Doordarshan Stations in the state. He mentioned that action was being taken to cover all shadow areas of Koderma region by December 2018, to ensure 100% coverage of all geographic regions in the state by DD & AIR.

    Naidu also complimented the state government for receiving the Special Mention Award in the Most Film Friendly State Award category at the 64th National Film Awards. He said that such appreciation would encourage state government to establish the profile of the state as the best filming destination.

  • DD may seek mythological serial producers at ‘premium,’ plan to revive epic dramas under way

    MUMBAI: With the direction of the ministry of information and broadcasting ministry for concentrating on quality programmes as reconfirmed by the union minister Venkaiah Naidu in Chennai, Prasar Bharati seems to have fastened its belt.

    Pubcaster Doordarshan, with the aim increasing its TRPs (television rating points), has decided to telecast golden oldies — Mahabharat and Ramayan kind of mega serials. These mega-serials were not telecast in the past several years.

    By airing mega serials based on Indian mythology, Prasar Bharati hopes that Doordarshan will gain significant revenue as there is a ready market for such serials which had been money-spinners for Doordarshan. Although a number of private television channels had been trying to follow the Doordarshan formula of telecasting serials based on Indian mythology, they had been unable to generate the kind of following that the pubcaster had had.

    The national broadcaster may to seek proposals for production of serials based on “Indian mythological” themes, sources said. The Prasar Bharati board meanwhile is planning to increase the commissioning fees of serials. Because, sources said, under the prevailing rates, attracting big production houses for developing content for mega serials is remote.

    Owing to the tremendous popularity of the mega serials on Doordarshan, a number of actors such as Arvind Trivedi, Deepika Chikliya and Nitish Bharadwaj were voted to power by the electorate.

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  • India asks J&K to stop illegal channels, official unavailable

    MUMBAI: The Indian government has asked the administration in Jammu and Kashmir to take stern action against private cable operators airing illegal Pakistani and Saudi Arabian channels. Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has reportedly directed the J&K government to submit a report at the earliest. 

    www.indiantelevision.com could not speak to the director (BP& L) in the information and broadcasting ministry Amit Katoch on the concrete plan of action in spite of several attempts last Friday as his assistant said he was busy.

    Jammu and Kashmir operators reportedly broadcast several channels illegally such as Ary QTV, Saudi Sunnah, Karbala, Saudi Quran, Al Arabia, Paigham, Hidayat, Sehar, Hadi TV, Sehar, Noor, Madani, Bethat, Ahlibat, Falak, Dawn News, Geo News and Ary News. A senior official in New Delhi reportedly said that the Kashmir administration had been asked to file an ATR (action-taken report). 

    While the Pakistani channels show anti-India programmes, those from Saudi preach Wahhabism, a concept of the Sharia law including the banned Peace TV headed by Dr Zakir Naik. A majority of around 5,000 cable operators in the Valley reportedly run these channels. The minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore reportedly said that he had asked the chief secretary Bharat Bhushan Vyas to submit a compliance report. 

    While the government of India has banned these channels, the operators in Kashmir cite the Ranbir Penal Code, a separate law in Kashmir, according to which the ban is not applicable. Reportedly, the I&B ministry meanwhile directed local cable operators (LCOs), multi-system operators (MSOs) and direct-to-home (DTH) platforms to stop the telecast of illegal channels.

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    Kashmir cable TV operators ordered to take off five TV channels

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  • DTH & cable gap being tapped by FTAs like FreeDish, DTT to reach 60 cities: Naidu

    MUMBAI: Minister for Information & Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu has said the Government’s initiatives like Make in India, Skill India and Digital India campaigns were clearly positive signals for new transformation including GST which would prove to be a game-changer for Indian Media and Entertainment sector, especially the Broadcasting sector. The Minister stated this while inaugurating the Two Day seminar organized by Telecom Authority of India on the occasion of completing two decades here today.

    Elaborating further, Naidu mentioned that the broadcasting sector in the country was at the threshold of entering into new era of digital broadcasting, which would open lots of opportunities to use latest technological innovations to not only enhance reach but also enhance the quality of the reach. The revival of radio, the digitisation of cable and the free to air DTH audience growth point to the latent demand for broadcasting in the Indian market at a time when broadcasting in advanced markets in the west is losing out significant space to digital on-demand media platforms. The push towards Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) thus comes at a critical juncture as Doordarshan, the public broadcaster in India looks to expand its DTT footprint from the current 16 cities to another 44. The Minister acknowledged and appreciated TRAI’s recent recommendation on time bound implementation of DTT in India.

    The Minister stated that the government was committed to provide an enabling environment through various policies for the further growth of the Media and Entertainment sector. The Digital India campaign along with the Make in India campaign would strengthen the industries such as video streaming, online music services and gaming in India taking advantage of the increased internet penetration. The Minister also mentioned that indigenous manufacturing of various digital broadcasting equipment had taken roots under the initiative of Make in India and that. He urged all the stake holders to encourage and promote indigenous development of equipments in the country.

    Naidu stated that the gap between the premium Direct To Home (DTH) market and the low quality cable market, lay an opportunity that was currently being tapped by the free to air (FTA) DTH platforms like Doordarshan’s FreeDish. With transparent online auctions allowing for market based discovery of the value of these free to air channels, there was an audience revolution of sorts with rural audiences getting on the FTA DTH bandwagon and contributing for enhanced number of entertainment channels.

    Speaking on the role of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Minister said that the transition to Digital Broadcasting had posed several challenges and the role of TRAI was extremely crucial in this regard for overcoming any hurdles that may put the transition to newer technologies on a slow path. Naidu congratulated TRAI for completing two decades of regulatory services to the nation, which had contributed immensely to the growth of Telecom and Broadcasting sectors while keeping consumer protection in mind.

  • Reflect on constructive and meaningful engagement through cinema: Naidu

    NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee has said that the creation of the Film Promotion Fund would help promote and motivate talented independent filmmakers to promote their work across the globe in various International Film Festivals.

    Mukherjee described the film industry as a microcosm of India which celebrated the diversity of languages, customs, religions and culture.

    Indian Cinema and its diversity convey underlying spirit of brotherhood, tolerance, acceptance and co-existence, he said, adding that the inherent strength of the unity in spite of diversity was the cultural heritage inherited through the ages.

    The President was speaking after giving away the 64th National Film Awards for 2016. Information & Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore were also present on the occasion.

    The National Film Awards were presented on 3 May as it is the day on which the first-ever indigenous feature ‘Raja Harishchandra’ by D G Phalke was released in 1913.

    The President also conferred this year’s Dada Saheb Phalke award to K Viswanath, renowned film director and actor, for his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. A presenter of classical and traditional art, music and dance, K Viswanath has been a guiding force in the Indian film industry.

    Naidu said care and caution should be taken while depicting stories of tragedy and all stakeholders should reflect on the creative, constructive and meaningful engagement through the medium of cinema.

    Indian cinema had remarkably showcased the vast richness of the country’s cultural diversity, beautiful landscapes and languages and had been a great unifying force in promoting national integration, he said.

    While complementing the film industry, he said filmmakers had set their mind on delivering excellence and promoting societal values. The film industry should join hands to facilitate mission the making of developed India as it had strong influence on society and its values.

    He said movies that had won awards focus on a variety of issues and themes ranging from discrimination, love, historical relationships and relevant social challenges. He added that the National Film Awards showcase the capacity to set standards and to recognize the efforts of Indian filmmakers and artists who achieve heights.

    Speaking about the Films as a medium of communication, Naidu said it was the most beautiful form of expression that encompassed a multitude of visual arts such as music, dance and drama. It was also a medium through which contemporary socio- economic, political and cultural issues of individuals and society are showcased. The language of cinema is a universal one. It has been a powerful tool to reach out to people transcending the boundaries in society.

    The Feature Film Central panel was headed by eminent filmmaker Priyadarshan, popularly known for his Malayalam movie Kanchivaram among others. The Chairperson for the Non–Feature Film Jury was Raju Mishra while the Chairperson for Writing on Cinema Jury was Ms. Bhawana Somaaya. The Most Film Friendly State award jury was chaired by Telugu director Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi.

    In feature films, the highest number of awards went to Hindi (11) followed by Marathi (9); Malayalam (7); Tamil (5); Telugu, Bengali and Kannada (4 each); Assamese (3), and one each to Gujarati, Konkani and Manipuri. One award each also went to two languages not in Schedule VIII of the Constitution: Moran and Tulu.

    While the Marathi film ‘Kasaav’ by Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukthankar got the best feature film award, and actor Akshay Kumar for ‘the Hindi film ‘Rustom’ and Surabhi C M for the Malayalam film ‘Minnaminungu–the Firefly’ won the top awards for acting.

    Rajesh Mapuskar for the Marathi film ‘Ventilator’ has been named best director in the Awards for 2016. The state of Uttar Pradesh has been named as the Most Film Friendly state and Jharkhand gets a special mention in this category which was announced for the first time last year.

    ‘Fireflies in the Abyss’ by Chandrashekhar Roy got the best non-feature film award, while G. Dhananjayan was named best film critic and ‘Lata: Sur Gatha’ by Yatindra Mishra was given best book on cinema award.

    The full list of awards can be seen at http://www.dff.nic.in/writereaddata/NFA64PressNote2016.pdf

  • MIB: No DPO request for infra sharing, DTH ops’ transponder demand up

    NEW DELHI: Though there is a committed demand from DTH service providers for 68 more satellite transponders, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) hasn’t yet received any proposal from any players to share amongst themselves satellite capacity or other distribution infrastructure.

    MIB minister M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday informed Parliament that DTH operators were presently using 104 Ku-band transponders, while there were additional needs as, according to Department of Space, demand for transponder capacity for DTH services has gone up with increase in introduction of high definition (HD) TV channels.

    The growth of usage of satellite transponders by DTH service providers in India, as listed out by MIB, over the last five years is as follows: March 2013 — 76; March 2014 — 77; March 2015 — 78; March 2016 — 87 March 2017 — 104.

    The Minister, acknowledging that sector regulator TRAI had given a set of recommendations on sharing of broadcasting infrastructure amongst players on a voluntary basis by tweaking certain rules, added that his ministry had not received any proposal from platform operators for sharing of satellite transponders and/or earth station facilities.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued recommendations on sharing of infrastructure in television broadcasting distribution sector on 29 March 2017. These recommendations are available on TRAI’s website www.trai.gov.in.

    The objectives of these recommendations are to enable a policy environment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector, on a voluntary basis. The sharing of the infrastructure is expected to enhance available distribution network capacities leading to reduction in capital and operative expenditure for the service providers, thereby bringing down the price of broadcasting services to subscribers.

    In addition, it would lower the entry barriers for new service providers and provide more space on broadcasting distribution networks for niche channels.

    India’s six private-sector DTH operators uplink signals of TV channels to different Indian and foreign satellites located at different orbital slots. Majority of the channels transmitted by operators are replicated across multiple platforms. This creates capacity constraints and also is a significant cost for each operator, thus making the service expensive, TRAI had observed while pushing for infrastructure sharing amongst distribution platforms.

    Hong Kong-based media industry advocacy group CASBAA in a report, issued in March 2016, had pointed that the DTH sector in India would grow in coming years as would demand for KU-band transponders and, while ISRO has been doing a commendable job, it’s unlikely to meet the market demands on Indian satellites, which will have to be provided for on foreign satellites.

    In the report, titled `Capacity crunch continues: Assessment of satellite transponders’ capacity for the Indian broadcast and broadband market’, CASBAA, amongst other things, had observed that to keep the vibrancy in the Indian broadcast sector alive, foreign transponder contracts need to be of longer durations (10–15 years) to allow Indian companies to leverage on cost economics and provide cost protection to DTH operators and allowing direct contracting for DTH operators to secure incremental capacity with existing satellite providers already authorized (by ITU and ISRO) to provide them service.

  • Cinema is a powerful medium of communication: Naidu

    NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said that cinema is a powerful communicator and influences the behaviour and societal norms and had the power to bring extraordinary changes in the lives of the people.

    Speaking after receiving the report of the 64th National Film Awards jury headed by the famed filmmaker Priyadarshan, Naidu said National Film Awards provided a platform to showcase the composite and rich culture of India through the medium of Cinema.

    The minister said that National Film Awards had established themselves as the premier film awards in the country while honouring the best talent in the film Industry.

    Taking advantage of this medium, the mMinistry had organised various film festivals targeting various sections of the society like Children Film Bonanza, Patriotic Film Festival amongst others.

    Referring to Regional Cinema, Naidu said it had evolved to the extent of becoming a natural competitor for Bollywood. Movies like Baahubali which had won several accolades had shown the potential of creativity, technology and animation in the Films Sector.

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    Steps to encourage ease of doing film business under way

  • DD Kashir packaging agency tenders floated

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has floated a tender for selecting an agency for channel packaging work for DD Kashir.

    The Description of task, e-tender submission format and procedure is provided in the Bid document available on the DD website and two e-tendering websites. The pre-bid meeting in this connection would be held on 7 April 2017 and the last date of submission is 19 April 2017 afternoon.

    The tenders for technical bids will be opened on 20 April in the afternoon.

    However, Doordarshan sources said that the date of presentation and date of opening of the financial bids of eligible bidders would be announced later.

    DD Kashir programmes are beamed from Srinagar. An official of DD also denied reports that DD Urdu programmes were being used in DD Kashir.

    Earlier this month, Doordarshan invited applications for an agency to undertake the channel packaging work for its new northeast channel, DD Arunprabha. A tender was released today (10 March 2017) and the last bid date is 1 May 2017 evening at 3.00 pm. There will be a pre-bid meeting on 30 March 2017.

    Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu had earlier announced that a new dedicated Doordarshan channel Arunprabha would be launched erly this year. The channel would showcase richness, variety and diversity of local culture and would seamlessly integrate North East with the entire country.

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  • NDTV India ban reversal: Centre wants apology, counsel seeks time from SC

    MUMBAI: The Central Government on Friday told the Supreme Court that the one-day blackout order against New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) India will be reversed only when the channel offers an apology for its coverage of the Pathankot militant attack on 2 January last year.

    Appearing for NDTV India, senior advocate Harish Salve sought a week’s time to inform the court if the NDTV India would tender an apology.

    Earlier, India’s highest court had, on November 6, deferred the hearing in the case to 5 December, citing reason of no urgency for its hearing. Information and broadcasting ministry had asked NDTV India to go off-air on 9 November after the government accused it of airing sensitive information related to the terror attack.

    NDTV had, however, refuted the allegations stating that other channels had also reported the same. Information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu however supported the ban, stating that it was in the interest of India’s security.

    Major media organisations and journalists condemned the ban and protested against it, comparing it with the emergency when the right of the freedom of press was violated.

    NDTV India channel telecast a report on the Pathankot attack disclosing sensitive information well beyond the briefing given by the designated officer while the anti-terrorist operations were still under way. The content was found in violation of Rule 6(1)(p) of the Programme Code. The matter was placed before the IMC on 25 July, 2016, in which representative of the channel was also afforded an opportunity of a personal hearing. It was recommended that the channel may be taken off air for at least one day keeping in view the gravity of the violation and an order issued on 2 November 2016.

  • Photographs with social media become powerful tools for Information: Naidu

    Photographs along with Social Media had been a potent combination in today’s digital world as influential mediums to spread awareness and ensure Good Governance, Information and Broadcasting Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu has said.

    The ‘Selfie with Daughters’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came out to be a powerful instrument of social change. This way of posting photos created a powerful impact on societal behaviour and ingrained cultural traditions.
    The Minister was speaking at the 6th National Photography Awards ceremony here, in the presence of Minister of State for I and B Rajyavardhan Rathore and Ministry secretary Ajay Mittal.

    On the role of fast changing technology in communication domain, Naidu said the Internet had brought out the resurgence of visual image into our everyday communication. Digital cameras and cell phones with integrated cameras have generated an explosion of images into everyone’s lives. Social Media has provided a new platform to people to Share, Communicate and inform through photographs.

    Naidu conferred the Life Time Achievement Award to eminent photographer Raghu Rai, Professional Photographer of the year award to K K Mustafah and Amateur Photographer of the year award to Ravinder Kumar.

    The theme for this year’s awards for Professional category was “Skilled India”, while in the Amateur category the topic was “Swatch Bharat”.