ITV

Tag: MIB

  • BARC resolves issue with MIB; Zee gains big in second week ratings

    BARC resolves issue with MIB; Zee gains big in second week ratings

    MUMBAI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has resolved its pending issue with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and has released the second set of television ratings data on schedule.

     

    Early this week, the MIB had sent a letter asking BARC to not release data till it completes its registration formalities.

     

    It may be recalled that BARC released the first set of data on 29 April, 2015 and had scheduled the release of its weekly ratings every Wednesday.

     

    As per the ratings data for Week 17 (25 April – 1 May), there has been no change in the pecking order of the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs)for HSM, 1L+ HHs.

     

    Star Plus strengthened its leadership position with 518 GRPs, up from 490 GRPs last week. Though Colors witnessed a drop in the viewership, the channel continued its stranglehold on the second spot with 413 GRPs, down from 438 GRPs last week. Life OK sustained its healthy position at number three with 374 GRPs, up from 363 GRPs the previous week.

     

    This week, Zee TV was the most watched channel, adding 40 GRPs and fetched 348 GRPs, up from last week 308 GRPs. However, despite being the biggest gainer in terms of viewership this week, the channel continued to occupy the fourth spot.

     

    At number five, Sab recorded 235 GRPs, down from 259 GRPs last week. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) continued to ride at the bottom of the chart with 221 GRPs, down from 234 GRPs. Last but not the least, &TV at number seven, noted 99 GRPs, down from 107 GRPs.

  • Parliamentary Committee pushes for DD Kisan launch during current fiscal

    Parliamentary Committee pushes for DD Kisan launch during current fiscal

    NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee has said that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (MIB) should complete all remaining infrastructural and studio up-gradation work for Doordarshan’s Kisan Channel scheme during the current fiscal itself. The Committee also asked MIB to judiciously spend the Rs 35 crore, which has been earmarked for content.

     

    The Standing Committee on Information Technology, which also examines issues relating to MIB urged the Ministry and Prasar Bharati to focus on areas of advancement of the channel by generation of rich content and ensure active participation of experts in the field of agriculture and agronomy so that the dedicated Kisan Channel proves to be an advancement over the Krishi Darshan Programmes and that the farmers benefit out of it.

     

    The Committee noted that the Scheme of Kisan Channel had been approved during the year 2014-15 with an initial allocation of Rs 100 crore: Rs 90 crore for Doordarshan and Rs 10 crore for All India Radio (AIR).

     

    A Ministry source told Indiantelevision.com that the allocation to AIR was for content generation for the DD Kisan TV channel.

     

    However, the Committee said that the budget estimates allocation was reduced to Rs 26 crore at the revised estimates stage, which was utilized fully during the year 2014-15.

     

    The Ministry informed the Committee that the BE allocation for the Scheme was reduced owing to factors such as gestation period involved in carrying out research for writing script authenticated by Agricultural Scientists and experts preparing rich content.

     

    The Committee stressed the significance of a channel like this in an agrarian country like India where issues like dissemination of real time information on farming techniques, water conservation, organic farming, etc. hold crucial importance to the farmers.

     

    With regard to the targets, the Committee noted that earmarking of a dedicated studio had been made; 51 professionals had joined the channel against 67 posts advertised; and efforts had been made to impart training and orientation of manpower working in Kisan Channel from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). Integrated automated play out system for the channel had been installed and apart from procurement of equipment, the Direct-to-home facility had been upgraded.

     

    During the year 2015-16, the Ministry proposes to spend Rs 10 crore on infrastructure development and Rs 35 crore on generating content for the channel.

     

  • MIB gets BSI’s ISO certification for Quality Management Systems

    MIB gets BSI’s ISO certification for Quality Management Systems

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) has been conferred the certificate of registration by the British Standard Institute (BSI) for the Quality Management System as required under ISO 9001:2008 in respect of various permissions / licenses issued by the Ministry for the broadcasting, print and films sectors.

     

    These include permission / license for satellite television channels, teleports, multi-system operators, community radio stations, direct-to-home services, publication of Indian editions of foreign, technical and scientific foreign magazines of news and current affairs sector and facsimile edition of foreign newspapers and grant of permission for foreign film producers. 

    The Ministry has been taking several initiatives to bring in more transparency and efficiency in the processes relating to grant of various permissions / licenses to the eligible applicants.

     

    The Ministry has put in place a well defined procedure and measures for ensuring quality of services offered to the customers on the basis of ISO 9001:2008. This will ensure delivery of services by the Ministry in a qualitative manner.  

  • MIB sends TV channels’ list to Home Ministry for fresh security clearance

    MIB sends TV channels’ list to Home Ministry for fresh security clearance

    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has forwarded a list of 82 TV channels, teleports and news agencies to the Home Ministry for a fresh round of security clearance as their initial ten-year licenses expire.

     

    Last week, the Home Ministry had also agreed to examine all cases of multi-system operators (MSOs) awaiting security clearance to get licenses for digital addressable system. MIB secretary Bimal Julka told Indiantelevision.com that the initial license was for ten years. Julka will also be meeting concerned officials of the Home Ministry in this regard.

     

    If found suitable, permission will be granted for renewal for an interim period up to 31 December, 2015 or till the final decision on channels’ application for renewal of permission is taken, whichever is earlier.

     

    However, TV channels, teleports, news agencies and MSOs have been asked to furnish an affidavit to the effect that the company will abide by all the provisions of the latest Uplinking/ Downlinking Guidelines and other relevant instructions/ modifications issued from time to time.

     

    All applicants have been asked to send the information to the MIB along with supporting documents within l5 days to enable it to proceed further in the matter.

     

    Prominent names among those whose cases are coming up for renewal include several channels of Bennett, Coleman & Co., Eenadu Television, Panorama Television, Prism TV, Television Eighteen India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Zee Media Corporation (erstwhile Zee News), IBN18 Broadcast and Times Global Broadcasting Company.

     

    Broadcasters may also enclose the details of Board of Directors (BOD) and latest Share Holding Pattern (SHP) including foreign direct investment (FDI) component, if any, duly accompanied by requisite approval of the Foreign Investments Promotion Board (FIPB).

     

    The companies were also asked to ensure submission of the annual renewal fee for both Uplinking and Downlinking at rates as applicable as per Guidelines and for the period that may be due.

     

    For full list of TV channels, Teleports and News Agencies, click here.

     

  • Govt earns about Rs 96,000 crore in telecom spectrum auction; 16% spectrum still available

    Govt earns about Rs 96,000 crore in telecom spectrum auction; 16% spectrum still available

    NEW DELHI: Approximately Rs 96,000 crore has already been committed in the sale of about 84 per cent of the spectrum provisionally allocated to bidders. Around 43 rounds have taken place in the auction of spectrum in 2100 MHz, 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz Bands with six rounds today.

     

    As spectrum is still available, auction recommenced this morning. The bidding is taking place in all bands. Brisk bidding was seen on seventh day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100 per cent.

     

    There is aggressive bidding going on in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands.

     

     A majority of service areas are going at a premium over reserve price. With 100 per cent activity requirement and activity in new service areas, competitive bidding is expected to continue.

     

    The government had initially expected to reap around Rs 49,000 crore from the auction.

  • Delhi HC stays telecast of film on Nirbhaya; MIB asks channels not to show excerpts

    Delhi HC stays telecast of film on Nirbhaya; MIB asks channels not to show excerpts

    NEW DELHI: In a day of speedy action, the Delhi High Court today upheld the stay on telecast of a documentary based on interviews including one with a convict in the 16 December, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. 

    The court also banned telecast of the documentary on the internet too. “Cops can act if the film is aired,” the Delhi high court said on Wednesday. 

    Earlier in the day, in statements in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government will be moving the court, and also informed members that a police complaint was filed against the film, India’s Daughter produced and directed by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin and co-produced by Indian TV journalist Dibang. He said stay orders had been taken from a local court last night itself after he had learnt about the film. (The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for some time in the morning following an uproar by the opposition on the issue.)

     

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry also posted an advisory on its website asking private television channels not to air excerpts from the film as this was violative of the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and the Downlinking Guidelines and was also sub judice as an appeal by the main convicted Mukesh Singh was pending. Mukesh Singh along with three others was convicted and sentenced to death last year.

     

    In Parliament, the Home Minister admitted that the no-objection certificate to shoot the documentary featuring interview of convicted inmates in Tihar jail of cases related to atrocities against women was given by the ministry of home affairs on 24 July, 2013, adding that “in future, no one will be given permission to interview rapists.”

     

    “The government has taken necessary legal action and obtained restraining order from the court on disseminating the contents of the film,” he said. 

    “Our government condemns the incident of 16 December, 2012, in the strongest possible terms and will not allow any attempt by any individual group or organisation to leverage such unfortunate incidents for commercial benefits,” he said. 

    “The respect and dignity of women constitute a core value of our culture and tradition… our government remains fully committed to ensuring safety and dignity of women.” 

    The minister added that he had sought information regarding the conditions under which permission was given for the interview. “If needed, responsibility will be fixed (for granting permission),” Singh said while making the statement in the Lok Sabha. 

    He said permission was given by jail authorities to shoot the documentary, with condition of taking prior approval of jail authorities before publishing the research paper or for releasing documentary film which “is being made for totally social purposes without any commercial interest, as conveyed.”

    Other conditions included that only those inmates will be interviewed who give written consent, and that the complete unedited footage of the shoot in Tihar jail premises will be shown to jail authorities to ensure there was no breach of prison security. 

    “This documentary features one of the accused of the Nirbhaya case. It came to the notice of jail authorities that conditions have been violated. Hence a legal notice was issued to them on April 7, 2014,” the Home Minister said. The minister said the documentary makers were asked to return the unedited footage and also not to show the film as it violates the permission condition.

    “The documentary film was shown to jail authorities where it was noticed that the documentary film depicts the comments of the convict which are highly derogatory to dignity of women,” he said. 

    A physiotherapy student was raped and assaulted with an iron rod after she was tricked into boarding an unregistered private bus to go home after watching a movie with a male friend on December 16, 2013. The girl later died in a hospital in Singapore.

    Mukesh Singh, one of the convicts in the gang-rape case, justified the action in the documentary, saying women who go out at night had only themselves to blame if they attracted the attention of molesters. 

     

    Reacting to the Delhi High Court’s order, producer-dorector Leslee Udwin told indiantelevision.com that she was confident that the film would ultimately be telecast in India after a senior government official sees the film. She also said that due permissions had been obtained and the film has even been shown to the jail authorities. She said that this film however will be shown in other countries. She wondered how anyone could go to court and file a PIL without seeing the film in its entirety and merely based on media reports. 

  • Prasar Bharati eyes wider reach for DD India via international satellites

    Prasar Bharati eyes wider reach for DD India via international satellites

    NEW DELHI: After revamping its other channels and its website, Doordarshan is now working towards not just revamping its international channel DD India, but to increase its reach.

     

    Prasar Bharati sources said that efforts were being made to distribute DD India Channel globally. Doordarshan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Asian Television Network, Canada, for distribution of five DD channels in Canada. Additionally, Doordarshan has granted permission to Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation for distribution of six DD channels in Mauritius.

     

    The pubcaster has also signed an MOU with Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany for distribution of DD India channel through EUTELSAT’s Hotbird 13B satellite on barter basis, which will ensure Doordarshan will become available for the first time in the direct-to-home in a Free-to-Air basic package mode in the whole of Europe and in Arab countries with DD Freedish coming on air on EUTELSAT’s Hotbird 13 B satellite.

     
    DW will provide Prasar Bharati with a satellite capacity of 2 Mbit/s on Hotbird for the transmission of DD India signal. DD India will be available in a basic package and will be without any subscription. It will also provide the signal to DW or any other recipient determined by DW in a form suitable for receipt and transmission. DD will be responsible for the cost of delivery of the signal to DW in Germany and all cost associated with such delivery shall be paid by Prasar Bharati to the DW Licensee in India, Cabsat Channels Pvt. Ltd.

     

    Cabsat is willing to arrange to collect the signal of DD India from the Indian satellite and arrange for the provision of the Signal to DW in Germany, and invoice Prasar Bharati accordingly.

     
    This will help the public broadcaster project India’s viewpoint to the global audience in a cost effective manner. DD will be offered in the basic package of the DTH service, which does not require any individual to either subscribe to it or to pay for viewing the channel.

     
    Prasar Bharati sources said the offer by DW has extremely favourable terms and DD India does not even require a license immediately. The license can be obtained within a period of one year if the experiment is successful.

     
    DD currently has a budget of Rs 2 – 3 crore per year for production of programmes, which has to go up and so other Ministries pool in their resources/content for quality programmes for the viewership abroad. Programming will be mainly accessed from archival material and current programmes, apart from some live and deferred live programmes. The programming, which was mostly in English and Hindi, may have subtitling where necessary.

     
    As of now, Indian satellites carrying DD signals reach around 34 countries.

     
    While the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is coming on board DD Freedish, France was proposing to beam to India via an Indian satellite.

     
    DW beamed to the world in four beams: English, German, Arabic and Spanish. Asia was reached through the Asiasat I satellite.

     
    The five broad regions to be covered are Central Asia, Middle East or West Asia, East Europe, West Europe and North Africa. The programmes would primarily target different cultures, keeping in mind the different languages of the regions like Turki, Persian, Arabic and French, with English being reasonably the lingua franca. The programmes for the target audiences would be decided in consultation with the concerned Ministries who have experience and expertise in the various fields, and assessing the cultural and political sensitivities of the areas.

     
    Programmes of private programmes will continue to be broadcast with their own view point of India. It all depends on their interest about presenting the picture of India. They are promoting the issues of India from the view point and interest of audiences. Programmes palatable to one region may offend sensibilities elsewhere, which would have to be of prime concern while producing them.

     

    Since 1995, Doordarshan has been trying to build bridges of communication with Indians living abroad and also trying to showcase its diverse culture, values and rich heritage to the world by launching its first international channel.

     
    Upon the expansion of this International Channel into 24×7 transmission, Doordarshan signed an agreement with Pan Am SAT (later Intelsat Inc.) for achieving global footprint of its international channel in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America by placing it on ‘C’ & ‘KU’ band of IS-10 , IS-906 and G-13 satellites.

     
    In 2011, the services provided by Intelsat were dispensed with and the contract was terminated.

     
    From March 2011, Doordarshan started availing of the service of ISRO’s INSAT-4B in both KU band & C band. However, the inadequacy of not being able to locate any significant global partners to distribute and connect DD to homes overseas continued.

     
    In the past also DD did make efforts to distribute its international channel in various parts of the world but made little progress in the last mile distribution due to policies, which did not permit large scale spending on carriage fees.

     
    Doordarshan made renewed efforts through Indian Missions to distribute its international channel abroad, but it could make little progress in this last mile distribution due to several reasons. However, significant local partners could not be located to distribute and connect DD to homes overseas continued.

     
    Hotbird-13B is the most chosen satellite by European countries because of its polarity. It has a reach of 120 million homes in the whole of Europe, Northern Africa and the whole of Middle East. It is an extremely popular DTH platform in Europe and this platform was the logical choice for DD India to launch its overseas services afresh.

  • MIB asks broadcasters to apply 15 days in advance for live telecast permission

    MIB asks broadcasters to apply 15 days in advance for live telecast permission

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked non-news television channels, needing temporary permission for uplinking various events, to apply at least 15 days in advance to the proposed event for permission for uplinking.

     

    Reiterating this, the Ministry has warned that it ‘may not be in a position to entertain such requests’ if applications are not filed on time.

     

    Reasonable time is also needed for permission from the WPC Wing of the Communications and Information Technology Ministry after the clearance by the I&B Ministry, it was pointed out.

     

    “Strict compliance to these instructions will ensure smooth functioning at both Ministries in order to process the broadcasters requests well in time,” the I&B Ministry said.

     

  • 142 MSOs get 10 year DAS licence for specified areas, 26 denied permission

    142 MSOs get 10 year DAS licence for specified areas, 26 denied permission

    NEW DELHI: A total of 11 multi-system operators (MSOs) from  all over the country have been granted permanent registration for 10 years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS) during the last two months, bringing the total number of registered MSOs to 142 as compared by 131, as on 7 November.

    Most of these MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier.

    The MSOs who have received permission after the last list released of 7 November are Karuvai Communications for DAS areas in Tamil Nadu, Ajana Cable Network for DAS notified area of phase III in Vaijapur, Aurangabad in Maharashtra, New Peime Network DAS notified in Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Chamoli Garhwal, and Uttarkashi Districts in Uttarakhand; Jai Mata Di Cable Network for DAS notified areas in Mehendergarh, Rewari, Bhiwani & Jhajjar District of Haryana and Alwar & Jhunjhnu Districts of Rajasthan; Onsky Technology for PAN India; Space Television Network for DAS notified area in Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai in phase I and rest of Maharashtra in phase III; Haldwani Digital Services for the State of Uttarakhand; V. R. Cable for the cities of Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Chennai in Tamil Nadu; Satellite Cable Communication for phase II, III, and IV areas in Pune District and Nasik District; R.D Cable Network for DAS notified area in Canacona, Quepem, Sanguem and Salcettte in Goa; the Orugallu Communications for DAS notified areas under Phase II,  III and IV in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana;

    The list of MSOs who have been refused permission has gone up to 26 from the earlier figure of 22 with four MSOs being denied permission. Some of those in the cancelled list applied as early as March 2013.

    MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.

     

  • Jaitley launches mobile app of the GoI calendar 2015 for the first time

    Jaitley launches mobile app of the GoI calendar 2015 for the first time

    MUMBAI: Two of the biggest initiatives taken by the new government since it took charge in June this year have been – Swachch Bharat and Digital India.

    And taking the philosophy forward in the coming years will be the new calendar launched by the government. The calendar was unveiled by Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley.

    The calendar combines the conventional and technological modes of communicating the initiatives of the government. While the theme of ‘Swachh Bharat’ is portrayed visually in the conventional mode, the mobile application of the calendar reiterates the government’s vision of taking the idea of ‘Digital India’ forward.

    Jaitley said, “The digital version of the calendar 2015 reflects the vision of the government in taking forward the benefit of technology in information dissemination as no one could defy the growth and movement of technology. Technology today was operating on a real time basis.”

    The Minister also lauded the efforts of Directorate of Advertisement and Visual Publicity, DAVP, for developing the digital version of the calendar with socially relevant messages which would be accessible on real time basis through mobile phones.

    The mobile app of the calendar provides access to the latest tweets from the PMO, the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the news/updates on PIB website. In addition to being a window for all websites of government of India, this informative application would serve as a planner to the users bringing news updates from AIR and DD News. The app was developed for android platforms initially which would be made available on other mobile platforms also in due course of time.

    The calendar has been developed on the theme of “Clean India Green India” with focus on “Swachhta” and environment issues. For instance, the January page of the calendar displays the launch of the “Swachh Bharat Mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

    Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, and Ministry of I&B secretary  Bimal Julka along with senior officials of the I&B Ministry were also present at the unveiling.