ITV

Tag: Maharashtra

  • CODA postpones agitation on Maharashtra cable TV entertainment tax

    CODA postpones agitation on Maharashtra cable TV entertainment tax

    MUMBAI: The state of Maharashtra was to see a blackout of all news channels- Hindi, English and Marathi- from 15 July by all TV cable operators as a sign of protest in case the entertainment tax levied on them was not reduced. But that has not happened.

    Reason: The Cable Operators and Distributors Association (CODA), which was demanding that it be shaved to Rs 15 per set top box or per subscriber from the Rs 45 charged currently, decided to be patient and hold on.

    Says CODA president Anil Parab: “We sought an appointment from state revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat and he could only give it to us for next week. So we decided to defer our decision on the blackout till we meet him and gauge his response towards our demand.”

    Parab also stated that the assembly is on till 3 August so they have enough time to go ahead with their black out, in case they don‘t get Thorat‘s support.

    The cable TV operator fraternity in Maharashtra say it is unnecessarily being burdened with high taxes even though digitisation has led to greater transparency and tax payouts by them. Delhi‘s entertainment tax is at Rs 20 while in other cities it is at zero to five per cent.

  • ABP Majha celebrates excellence in Maharashtra

    ABP Majha celebrates excellence in Maharashtra

    MUMBAI: “Delhi gave me birth, Mumbai brought me up. This state and this city have made me what I am today,” said superstar Shah Rukh Khan at Majha Sanman Puraskar, ABP Majha’s pioneer initiative which celebrates the contributions of Maharashtrain’s in different fields.

    ABP CEO Ashok Venkatramani says, “We started this for recognising all the achievements that Maharashtrians have won, through excellence in their own fields and in the process have brought glory to the nation. It is a great motivator and it elevates people to greater heights that they deserve. We usually look at the last year or two and pick up stories of success and stories of excellence of Maharashtrians or people from the state of Maharashtra.”

     
    The awardees were selected on the basis of excellence in their respective feilds

     

    In its fourth year, the award function was indeed a memorable evening with union cabinet minister Sharad Pawar as the chief guest and Khan as the star attraction along with the ABP family. What more? The grand trophy is designed by eminent artist – Arzaan Khambatta who beautifully captures the dynamism, alertness, and effort of a Mahrashtrian to move ahead and benefit the society at large.

    ABP Majha recognises the work of Vijaya Mehta in the field of art

    Venkatramani informs,”This is a very well received award. It helps us to bond with our consumers and with our viewers. We are able to bring out unknown stories of excellence which is there all around the state, which otherwise does not get the focus and attention. By rewarding those achievers, we are rewarding not only from ourselves but on behalf of all our audiences.”

    (L-R) Kiran Nagarkar, Sharad Pawar and Aveek Sarkar

    ABP recognised and felicitated 11 living legends of Maharashtra, who have brought excellence in their chosen fields and have added to the pride of Maharashtra through their immense contribution.
    ABP COO Avinash Pandey emphasises: “All the people that we awarded, you wouldn’t find them getting awarded by all sections of the society. These individuals, at their individual level have done extra-ordinary service to the society. And we have recognised their contributions, irrespective of any commercial pressure. We don’t give award to anybody who doesn’t deserve it. And that’s the strength of ABP unlike many other awards which are available in the market.”

    Union cabinet minister Sharad Pawar graces the occasion as the chief guest

    The awardees this year included various personalities from Maharashtra who contributed greatly to the society in fields like art, literature, music, sports, fashion, entertainment and business. The winners are – Sanjay Nahar in Rashtriya Ekta, Rahi Sarnobat in sports, Sneha Khanwalkar in culture, Shri Milind Kamble in Industrialist, Amrishbhai Patel & Suresh Khanapurakar in social service, Dr. Chetan Chitnis in research, Prabhakar Kolte in Art (painting), Shrimati Vijaya Mehta in Art, and Shrimati Kishori Amonkar in music.

    Indeed, this is a wonderful brand property for the network considering that this gives it the opportunity to connect with the Marathi Manus sentiment of ABP Majha’s viewer’s base.

    Delhi gave me birth, Mumbai brought me up. This state and this city have made me what I am today, says Shah Rukh Khan

    Pandey talks about the importance of the awards from the business perspective. “This award function stands for three things. One, it generates extra-ordinary content for Television; Second, it helps as a party of the society as we are representatives of the society. It is our way of giving back to the society. This is our natural responsibility as a business. Third, it helps my advertisers to integrate well with the cause and the content and deliver a remarkable story to the viewers. This is why from year on year we make it better than what we did last year.”

    The evening kicked off with a fabulous performance by Sharbari Dance troop enthralling the audience with traditional Ganesh Vandana. Post this, ABP group chairman Aveek Sarkar shared his vision for ABP Majha and lauded the ceaseless commitment they put towards being a responsible and progressive News channel.

    Majha Sanman Puraskar goes on to add a commendable CSR initiate for the ABP network. What does ABP stand for as a news channel in India? Pandey concludes in his response: “I have worked in news companies all my life. ABP is one such company that it does not do anything, unless it adds immense value to the viewer, advertiser or reader. If it is not valuable information, they will not go for it.”

  • Shootout at Wadala packs a punch at the BO

    Shootout at Wadala packs a punch at the BO

    MUMBAI: Shootout At Wadala has had regional appeal doing its best in Mumbai, CP and Nizam circuits which include parts of Maharashtra. It did generally better in single screens. The film has collected about Rs 230 million in its first weekend. The film‘s screening in East Punjab Circuit has been stalled since Sunday due to a protest by a certain section of the society because of some dialogue in the film they find objectionable.

    Aashiqui2 has gone on to become a hit all over. The film has gone down well with the youth at multiplexes. Having collected Rs 177.5 million, the film added just about as much for the remaining four days of its week one (which is rare in the present day release strategy) to end its first week with Rs 345.5 million and holding strong through its second weekend to collect another Rs 89 million.

    Ek Thi Daayan collected Rs 26 million in its second week and took its two week total to Rs 257 million.

    Nautanki Saala collected Rs 14 million in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 219.5 million.

    Commando – The One Man Army collected Rs six million in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 214.5 million.

    Chashme Baddoor has added Rs 12.5 million for its fourth week taking its four week tally to Rs 422 million.

  • Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: Three weeks after the switch-off of analogue signals in a majority of the 38 cities covered under Phase II, the level of digitisation has touched ninety per cent, according to information& broadcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma.

    The I&B ministry secretary told Indiantelevision.com that a total of fifteen cities have crossed 100 per cent digitisation, while one more city has crossed 98 per cent digitisation mark. Another three cities have crossed a level of 90 per cent, he added.

    He also asserted that there is no shortage of set top boxes (STBs) in the Phase II cities.

    The government, he said, was still in the process of collating all the figures from the nodal officers and would bring a detailed report after its review.

    He also clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the government had said that it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming in on the achievement so far.

    The ministry had announced earlier this month that analogue signals has been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Meanwhile stays continued to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The Karnataka and Gujarat high courts had last week quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to hear tomorrow a special leave petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to quash all pending cases in various high courts and also ensure there is no postponement of the date of digitization.

  • RBNL expands reach in HSM with new carriage deals

    RBNL expands reach in HSM with new carriage deals

    MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has expanded the reach of its multi-lingual international men‘s entertainment channel Big CBS Prime beyond the eight metros to 1 million+ towns across Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM).

    RBNL has inked deals with leading distribution platforms to extend its reach to 30 million households across the markets of Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and top 8 metros.

    BIG CBS Networks Business Head Anand Chakravarthy said, “With the launch of the Hindi language feed, BIG CBS PRIME now expands into 1mn+ HSMs in the country, expanding its audience base. The channel has seen very encouraging results over the last few weeks, since launch of the language feed in metros, and we expect to get an even better response in HSM‘s. We are sure that the channel will build a strong viewer base ensuring better ROI for marketers and advertisers.”

    The channel which is already available on all leading DTH platforms and national MSO‘s in metros has now inked deals with all the regional MSO‘s as well, making Big CBS Prime available to a larger cross-section of male audiences, showcasing the best international content in a dual feed.

  • 88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: The level of digitisation has reached around 88 per cent in the 38 cities covered in fourteen states and one union territory for Phase II of Digital Addressable System (DAS), a top Information & Broadcasting ministry official tells Indiantelevision.com.

    This includes seeding of set top boxes (STBs) done by direct-to-home (DTH) operators.

    I&B ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma reveals that fifteen to sixteen cities have achieved total digitisation.

    However, he cautions that the government was still in the process of collating all the figures and would bring a detailed report after its review. The Secretary said he is personally in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    He clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the Government said it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming being receiving on the achievement so far.

    The Ministry had announced last week that analogue signals had been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Stay continues to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The metropolis of Chennai which was part of Phase I also has a stay order in force.

    The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts had yesterday quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

  • DAS Phase II: Analogue signals switched-off in 5 states

    DAS Phase II: Analogue signals switched-off in 5 states

    NEW DELHI: Analogue signals have been completely switched-off in five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, according to information provided by nodal officers to the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry.

    The ministry said it is in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    However, analogue signal continues un-interrupted in the eight cities of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat that are covered under DAS Phase II as the respective High Courts have passed orders against switching off analogue signals.

    In addition, stay continues in Chennai which was part of the DAS Phase I covering four metros which also included Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

    Sharing the latest figures about DAS implementation in 38 cities covered under Phase II, the ministry claims that over 85 per cent digitisation have been achieved so far.

    Out of the 38 cities, fifteen cities have achieved nearly 100 per cent digitisation, 24 cities in all have achieved more than 75 per cent digitisation, and 34 cities have achieved more than 50 per cent digitisation.

    The review by I&B ministry also reveals that as against a target of 16 million STBs, 13.6 million have already been installed by the MSOs and DTH operators.

    Of these, the total number of installed Cable TV STBs is 9.15 million while DTH operators have installed a total of 4.45 million STBs. In the last one month alone about four million STBs have been installed in the Phase II cities.

    The I&B ministry has meanwhile cautioned multi-system operators (MSOs) to implement digitisation in a ‘sensitive manner‘ so as to avoid causing inconvenience to consumers.

    The ministry stated that the objective of the entire exercise is to implement the process in a seamless, sustained yet sensitive manner that causes least amount of disruption to the consumer.

    Wherever necessary the process has been implemented in a circumspect way so as to ensure that consumers can get access to STBs, I&B ministry said.

    Separately, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also been convening the meeting of broadcasters, MSOs and cable operators to sort out issues pertaining to agreements and service conditions.

    The ministry said that digitisation would usher in a new era in broadcasting sector reforms by bringing more transparency in the subscriber base and would lead to several benefits for stakeholders including government.

    It would bring in enhanced revenue by way of improved tax recovery for government, enhanced TV viewing experience due to digital picture quality and multiple choices of channels to subscribers and improved subscription revenue for broadcasters and cable industry.

    The ministry has also assured cable operators that digital addressable system (DAS) will provide them an opportunity to provide competitive services to their subscribers and help them retain their business in the wake of competition from DTH and other platforms.

  • Discovery Kids unveils interactive contest on Mystery Hunters India

    MUMBAI: Discovery Kids has announced the launch of an interactive contest based on its first India production – Mystery Hunters India.

    The contest aims to ignite the imagination of millions of kids in India as it gives them a chance to explore the intriguing mysteries of the country featured in the new series – Mystery Hunters India.

    The contest starts with immediate effect and will be valid till 31 December.

    Kids can participate in Mystery Hunters India contest by tuning in to Discovery Kids and sending their answers via sms or by logging on to the official website.

    Kids have to answer a simple question which will have multiple choice options. The shortlisted entries will get a chance to win exclusive prizes from Discovery Kids.

    Demystifying intriguing myths, Mystery Hunters India will unearth the answers to the hidden and unexplained mysteries from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi amongst other states.

    Pairing a bright young boy and a girl – Himanshu and Apoorva, Mystery Hunters India will travel the length and breadth of the country to explore and delve into the tales which have bewildered people for ages.

    The inquisitive duo will uncover the truth behind the strange paintings in Madhya Pradesh, to get to the root of the existence of Pygmy elephants in Kerala considered extinct for over 200 years and many more such captivating mysteries.

  • SC asks for explanation over arrest of Facebook users

    SC asks for explanation over arrest of Facebook users

    MUMBAI: The arrest of two girls over Facebook posts following Bal Thackeray‘s death raised a hue and cry. Now the Supreme Court has asked the government to explain why the girls were arrested.

    The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Union government and Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and Puducherry.
    An aspiring Delhi University law student Shreya Singhal filed a PIL before SC stating that Section 66(A) of the IT Act be modified.

    The court has asked Maharashtra to explain the arrest of the girls over Facebook comments on Bal Thackeray.

    The Attorney General, in his response to the petition, told the apex court that the arrest of the girls was unjustified. The Attorney General said the arrests were wrong, but Section 66(A) of the IT Act need not be scrapped.

  • Maharashtra single-screen theatres to go on indefinite strike from 12 Oct

    Maharashtra single-screen theatres to go on indefinite strike from 12 Oct

    MUMBAI: In support of their various demands, around 540 single-screen cinema theatres in Maharashtra will go on an indefinite bandh from 12 October.

    Said Cinema Owners and Exhibitors‘ Association of India (COEA) president R B Vidhani that many demands of cinema owners were not fulfilled by the state government and there seems to be no any remedy to solve this problem. “To draw the attention of government to their problem, all cinema theatres will observe an indefinite bandh from 12 October.”

    Single-screen theatres‘ demands include abolition of entertainment tax as like in many other states and incentive package for survival of single-screen cinemas without any conditions, among others.