ITV

Tag: MIB

  • Supreme Court allows transfer of DTH licence fee petition from Kerala HC

    Supreme Court allows transfer of DTH licence fee petition from Kerala HC

    MUMBAI: Moving one step closer to the long-fought battle on licence fees between direct-to-home (DTH) operators and the government of India, the Supreme Court has allowed the transfer of a related case to the apex court from the Kerala High Court.

    “Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through these transfer petitions filed under Article 139A of the Constitution of India and considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we deem it fit and proper to transfer the matters mentioned in Prayer (a) of the Transfer Petitions from the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam to this Court,” Supreme Court said in an order dated on 23 September.

    The transfer of the petition will help DTH players to pave the way for the long-pending new DTH licenses.

    Last year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had reiterated most of its recommendations in response to back reference received from the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) on the authority’s recommendations related to the new direct to home (DTH) licence. The authority had issued recommendations on ‘Issues related to New DTH Licenses’ on 23 July 2014.

  • MIB’s inter-ministerial committee considers TRAI recommendations on monopoly of cable TV services

    MIB’s inter-ministerial committee considers TRAI recommendations on monopoly of cable TV services

    MUMBAI: In the face of rising dominance of certain multi system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) in several states, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had released recommendations on “Monopoly/Market dominance in Cable TV services” back in 2013. The regulatory body was requested by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to provide its recommendations on this issue. Presently, the recommendations have been considered by MIB.

    Indian National Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari sought a response from MIB about status of the regulatory body’s recommendations, monopoly in cable TV services, reasons behind the government making recommendations to Competitions Commission of India (CCI)and whether this violated the TRAI act and also if the government agrees with TRAI on curbing monopolies.

    One of the TRAI recommendations included Herfindahl– Hirschman Index (HHI) to be used for measuring the level of competition or market concentration in a relevant market. Tewari also asked if the government has an issue with the recommendation while MIB responded that it has also been considered by the committee.

    MIB in its response also said that the acceptance of the recommendations have multi-dimensional implications, which requires consultation with various stakeholders. Moreover, it has also been added that no recommendation has been made to CCI in regards to that.

  • NDTV interim CEO Suparna Singh resigns

    NDTV interim CEO Suparna Singh resigns

    MUMBAI: NDTV interim CEO Suparna Singh has resigned with immediate effect, the media firm informed in its BSE filings.

    “Suparna Singh has informed the company that she will step down from her responsibilities as Interim CEO with immediate effect,” NDTV said in a regulatory filing.

    “Pursuant to a board resolution on December 4, 2017, the board resolved to appoint Suparna Singh as its CEO subject to the receipt of requisite approval from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,” said NDTV.

    The company further said, “This approval was promptly applied for on 12 December 2017, but has not yet been received. Subsequently, Suparna Singh and the company entered into an appointment agreement to appoint Singh as the CEO where the appointment was conditional upon receipt of such approval.”

    NDTV told PTI that the matter will be placed before the board and committee members for consideration.

  • Independent TV’s service remains unavailable due to failure of payment to Antrix

    Independent TV’s service remains unavailable due to failure of payment to Antrix

    MUMBAI: The service of troubled DTH operator Independent TV still remains unavailable as it has neither made the required payment nor furnished the bank guarantee to Antrix Corporation for reconnection of signals.

    The DTH operator’s signals were disconnected by Antrix on 12 June due to non-payment of outstanding dues. While Independent TV had filed an application before the tribunal to direct Antrix to resume supply of signals, TDSAT had directed Independent TV to pay up to Rs 12 crore in order to get signals reconnected by Antrix Corporation.

    The DTH operator was directed by TDSAT to pay Rs 5.83 crore along with a bank guarantee of Rs 6 crore or furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 12 crore valid for at least two months for the restoration of transponder service.

    “Since the petitioner has not been able to make the required payments or furnishing the bank guarantee, as indicated in the last order passed on 2.7.2019, the resumption of supply of signals has not happened. Petitioner should make the payments at the earliest,” TDSAT said in its order on Thursday.

    Moreover, the interim renewal of DTH licence to the operator has been suspended by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the present and would be reconsidered only on the basis of retransmission of channels.

  • MIB suspends interim renewal of licence of Independent TV

    MIB suspends interim renewal of licence of Independent TV

    MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has temporarily suspended the interim renewal of license of DTH operator Independent TV until it resumes transmission. Indiantelevision.com has learnt from sources close to the development that the renewal would be reconsidered only on the basis of retransmission of channels.

    MIB has also directed the troubled DTH operator in a communication to take immediate steps to settle the grievances faced by consumers within a tight time frame and an external audit as well. It has also restricted the soliciting of new customers until retransmission of channels.

    Independent TV abruptly shut its services more than a month ago creating confusion among consumers. As a result of failure of payment to Antrix Corporation directed by Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), the  DTH operator’s service is still unavailable. 

    The DTH operator’s signals were disconnected by Antrix on 12 June due to non-payment of outstanding dues. While Independent TV had filed an application before the tribunal to direct Antrix to resume supply of signals, TDSAT had directed Independent TV to pay up to Rs 12 crore in order to get signals reconnected.

  • MIB says pending applications for MSO registration under consideration

    MIB says pending applications for MSO registration under consideration

    MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has informed that the issue of pending applications for MSO registration is under consideration.

    MIB informed that that the 50th Open House Meeting for the month of July 2019 was held on 22 July with the representatives of the MSO applicants. Representatives of the five MSO  applicants participated in the meeting to ascertain the status of their application  for  grant of registration.

    The list of the applicants present in the meeting:

    S.No.

    Applicant Name

    Cable  Network Name

    1.

    Sh. Shiv Prakash Timmarpur

    Mls Hira Cable Network

    2.

    Sh. Aman Rastogi

    M Is Sri  Sarvana Cable Vision

    3.

    Sh. Narender Bagri

    M Is ALCOA Digital Pvt.  Ltd.

    4.

    Sh. Diwaker Thareja

    President Cable Operator Association

    5.

    Sh. Ramchander

    Mls Shiv Cable Network
  • NBF’s emergence signals turf war in India’s news broadcast business

    NBF’s emergence signals turf war in India’s news broadcast business

    MUMBAI: India’s often noisy and always cut-throat news broadcasting business is headed for interesting times. Current challenges facing the sector aside, Thursday made matters more complex with the birth of a new industry body in the form of News Broadcasters Federation (NBF).

    The NBF claims to be the largest-ever such grouping with over 50 news channels under its umbrella and a true representative of the diversity of news broadcasting in the country.

    In a sense, it is positioning itself as an alternative to the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), which critics describe as an elite club that is mostly receptive to concerns of news broadcasters headquartered in the national capital.

    Following NBF’s announcement, an NBA delegation of chairman Rajat Sharma (India TV), NBA secretary general Annie Joseph, honorary treasurer Anurradha Prasad (News24 Broadcast India), Rahul Joshi (TV18 Broadcast), Avinash Pandey (ABP News Network), Kalli Purie (TV Today Network) and Sonia Singh (NDTV) met the Minister for Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Prakash Javadekar.

    The NBA presently has 27 news and current affairs broadcasters (comprising 70 news and current affairs channels) as its members and describes itself as a unified and credible voice before the government on matters that affect the growing industry.

    The setting up of a parallel body though will have several implications for the ecosystem. For starters, it can deliver a blow to the broadcasting industry’s demand for recognition of the self-regulatory codes of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) and News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) for non-news and news channels respectively. While MIB has expressed satisfaction with the performance of BCCC during several interactions with stakeholders, it has found that NBSA lacks vision and discipline, often not meeting its own standards. With the setting up of NBF, the task of getting the ministry to recognise NBSA code of NBA will only get tougher.

    “The NBF has at least 10 such news channels which do not have licence but have entered into structures with other companies to lease channel licences which is illegal,” said a senior news broadcasting executive who did not wish to be identified.

    This list includes the likes of Living India News, Khabar Fast, IND24, A1 TV, National Voice, and Nirman News among others. Critics of the NBF also highlight the fact that it houses some channels that are part of the non-news category like MK Television, Ayush TV among others.

    Indiantelevision.com reached out to some of the founding members of the NBF. They, however, were not available for comment.

    The NBF is now in the process of accepting new members and will soon interact with relevant industry and regulatory bodies. With Javadekar terming the formation of NBF as a “very positive development”, its next move – forming the governing board – will be closely watched.

  • Doordarshan to hire creative head; installs video walls for Rs 10.75 cr

    Doordarshan to hire creative head; installs video walls for Rs 10.75 cr

    MUMBAI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurated Video Walls in all eight Doordarshan Studios and Earth Station at DD Kendra, Delhi on Thursday.

    Speaking on the occasion,  Javadekar highlighted the significance of the video walls in enhancing viewer experience. He said that under the three year Action Plan of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, support has been given to Doordarshan to modernise its infrastructure.  Addition of state of art video walls and spectrum efficient satellite equipment, is a step in the direction of revamping the Public Service Broadcaster.

    Appreciating the role of Doordarshan, he stated that the channel is synonymous with credibility. He asked the officials present to work towards expanding the spread of DD Free Dish from the current 3.25 crore households to 5 crore households. On this occasion, he also announced that a creative head will soon be brought in for DD to give a further boost to programming and high quality content creation.

    Ministry of Information and Broadcasting secretary Amit Khare said that the government is committed to support Doordarshan and All India Radio in every possible way to ensure that the public service broadcaster is able to provide services of contemporary industry standards, reaching out to every nook and corner of India.

    Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash lauded the efforts of Doordarshan and highlighted that in the recent past a number of impactful and meaningful programmes have been created, which have taken the flagship schemes of the government to the door steps of people.

    The state-of-art video walls, installed at a cost of Rs 10.75 crore under the three year Action Plan of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, are at par with those in studio centres of leading international broadcasters. The induction of video walls will save a lot of time in physical erection of sets. Further, it will give greater flexibility through dynamic change of  backdrop by introducing live/recorded videos, graphics etc. in studio sets as per program requirement.

    The Earth Station, which is based on spectrum efficient technology, will result in increasing capacity to almost double the number of channels in the same bandwidth. The new Earth Station is HD capable and can give all the national channels of DD in HD. This state of art Earth Station will enable DD to save cost on teleport of DD channels and also allow inclusion of new channels in DD bouquet.

    The satellite uplink facility of 9 channels of DDK Delhi, also called as Earth Station was commissioned in 2007. The technology available those days was not spectrum efficient and the compression technique used earlier was MPEG-2 in DVB-S format which resulted in spectrum utilisation of approx. 4 MHz per channel.

    In order to replace the old outdated and obsolete equipment and also save precious spectrum, the compression chain of the Earth Station is now replaced with state of art new equipment which uses MPEG-4 compression and DVBS-2 standards resulting into reducing bandwidth requirement per channel to half i.e. 2 MHz per channel.This spectrum efficient technology will result in increasing capacity of the Earth Station to almost double the number of channels in the same bandwidth.

  • I&B Ministry asks TV channels to promote Kargil Vijay Diwas coverage

    I&B Ministry asks TV channels to promote Kargil Vijay Diwas coverage

    MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has made a request to electronic media, especially private TV channels, to telecast and cover activities relating to Kargil. 26 July 2019 is the 20th anniversary of the Kargil War.

    The MIB notification said, “Keeping in view the spirit of nationalism and patriotism, all private TV channels are requested to screen documentary on Kargil War and Kargil Tribute song and to telecast and cover events relating to celebration of Kargil Vijay Diwas, as 20th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas so as to spread the message to the farthest corner of the nation.”

    It added, “Electronic media has always been in the forefront to carry such message as it is a powerful tool to reach out to the millennia of people.”

    The notification also mentioned that the government will engage in commemoration activities as a tribute to the soldiers of Kargil.

  • TRAI recommends no minimum entry net worth for MSO registration

    TRAI recommends no minimum entry net worth for MSO registration

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that there is no need to fix a minimum entry-level net worth for MSO registration. Moreover, it also added that there is no basis for introducing minimum net worth classification based on the area of operation for MSOs.

    TRAI on Monday released its recommendations on "Entry level net-worth requirement of multi system operators (MSOs) in cable TV services". Based on the written submissions of stakeholders and discussions in the open house discussions, recommendations have been framed by the regulatory body.

    Other recommendations include:

    ·         As the area-wise minimum net worth classification for registration of MSO is not required, there is no need to prescribe minimum net worth for remote areas of Jammu & Kashmir or North-East region.

    ·         The authority recommends that there is no merit in introducing minimum net worth for registration of MSOs based on network cost criteria.

    ·         The authority recommends that MIB may prescribe a standard proforma for self-declaration of net worth by applicants seeking registration as MSOs.

    ·         The authority recommends that MIB may consider skill development requirement of the sector and take appropriate action so that trained manpower is available to perform specialised tasks.

    The regulatory body issued a detailed consultation paper on "Entry Level Net Worth for MSOs in Cable TV Services" on 9 April. Post this, an open house discussion was held in New Delhi in June. The recommendations were finalised after looking at the comments received for the consultation paper and its own analysis.

    TRAI also mentioned that with the new regulatory framework in place, small and medium-size MSOs have it better.

    Earlier, TRAI also received a reference from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in 2018 seeking recommendations of the former on the appropriate levels for fixation of entry-level net-worth of the multi system operators (MSOs) for operationalising cable TV digitisation across the country.