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Tag: OTT

  • Planet Marathi founder launches ‘Planet Goem’ for exclusive Konkani content

    Planet Marathi founder launches ‘Planet Goem’ for exclusive Konkani content

    Mumbai: Planet Marathi founder Akshay Bardapurkar has revealed his new venture, Planet Goem, which is an exclusive Konkani content OTT. The entity aims at boosting Goa’s media, entertainment, and cultural economy and was launched by the Goa chief minister Dr. Pramod Sawant. The app’s brand ambassador, renowned actress Sonalee Kulkarni, was also present at the grand unveiling launch.

    Planet Goem, an over-the-top (OTT) service, will offer exclusive Konkani language content in the form of movies, web series, chat shows, plays, short-format videos, music, news, and much more.

    It will be possible to access this over-the-top platform on any Android, iOS, or TV device. Beyond just being an OTT, Planet Goem wants to establish Goa as a top spot for media and entertainment needs. Accordingly, a film institute will be built in the state and affiliated with a reputable international university.

    To educate students for the impending digital era, some courses will be provided in animation, web 3.0 technologies, gaming, and blockchain. To improve the employability of young people and individuals across India, this skill centre will provide diploma, degree, and certificate courses as well as masterclasses from top teachers. To further this along, a partnership with multinational firms like There Digital, Unreal Engine, and Kingdom Technologies will be formed. These firms will be brought to Goa to set up studio services that would entice top-tier performers and filmmakers to work there.

    With an emphasis on talent, education, entertainment, and technology, Akshay now hopes to reform and revitalise Goa’s media and entertainment sector. Akshay Bardapurkar met with the Goa chief minister earlier this year to explore the prospects and potential of the industry, and he has since revealed his vision.

    During the launch, Goa chief minister Dr Pramod Sawant said, “Our state welcomes Planet Goem with open arms. The various offerings, including OTT, the film institute, and the skill centre, are a welcome boost to our economy, which will benefit from being diversified from its dependence on tourism. Our rich cultural heritage and language will now get an organised web platform aimed at increasing the recognition and popularity of our humble Konkani industry. We are confident about Akshay Bardapurkar’s vision for the industry, careers, and facilities and will extend our support towards initiatives meant for the betterment of Goa.”

    Planet Marathi OTT and Planet Goem founder & CEO Akshay Bardapurkar said, “Regional industries are an untapped gold mine of immense potential and power. Planet Marathi OTT has seen a great run in Goa and has earned eager audiences who have given Marathi content so much love. Goa’s entertainment sector remains unexplored, and we wish to put the spotlight on the capabilities of this industry and its talent. Our focus will be to advance opportunities for the state of Goa by creating varied opportunities through web content, learning and training avenues and by creating Goa’s very own film city.”

    Planet Goem aims to take Goa beyond being a tourist destination and entice professionals to the state’s entertainment industry.

  • Odisha’s OTT platform, AAO NXT enchants audiences with exciting and original content

    Odisha’s OTT platform, AAO NXT enchants audiences with exciting and original content

    Mumbai: Kaushik Das’ love for technology inspired him to start his new venture, AAO NXT – the premium and most entertaining Odia platform, which is currently bringing a path-breaking change in the OTT market. 

    The platform is slowly foraying into the Odia OTT market and offering audience ‘originals’ like never before. It is Odisha’s first independent platform that aims at showcasing short films, web series, feature films and documentaries. “So far, the platform has 700 short films from across the globe and a bouquet of classic Odia films from the 60-70s era, which are streaming on the AAO NXT platform. We have 400 odd Telugu and Tamil films in our library,” AAO NXT’s chief financial officer Ram Patnaik tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Having produced some of the most successful and marvelous shows on the streaming platform, Patnaik reveals that the home-grown brand AAO NXT has a diverse mix of content slate that is winning the hearts of the audience. The content portfolio of the platform builds a high level of excitement and entertains consumers in multiple ways with endless experiences and innovations ranging from thrillers, crimes, dramas and many more. Showcasing some interesting content slate like Club 69-a web series, “Ardha Satya”- an action drama film, and “Kokoli”- an award-winning Odia film, “Four” -a first of its kind Anthology, the OTT platform looks to embark on a new process of storytelling that allures viewers. Patnaik expresses the upcoming releases like “Capital Talkies”, “Jajabara 2.0”, Anthony -a web series, “Suka Bhaira Sholay”, Maliput Melodies-a web series, and Mandara: The Hibiscus is likely to provide audiences with some enticing storytelling. These new films and shows are expected by December 2022.  

    AAO NXT means ‘All about originals’”, he says and reveals that the Odia entertainment and media industry has a dearth of original stories, and the objective of AAO NXT is to provide indigenous, exclusive and unique stories that can stimulate and delight the viewers. Patnaik sees a vast opportunity in the Odia market, he has confidence in exhibiting extraordinary storytelling to the audience, which can create wonders in the Odia OTT space. The content library of AAO NXT is exemplary and focuses on original storytelling, and is likely to nudge it further, irrespective of the language.

    The growth prospects

    Since its inception in 2020, AAO NXT has garnered the attention of a lot of viewers, pushing its revenue growth further. The platform is expected to touch a revenue growth of Rs 5 crore in 2022 with a 50,000 subscriber base. Patnaik added, “We are working currently on a complete subscription video on demand (SVOD) model. We expect to reach Rs 15 crore in 2023 in terms of revenue growth.” 

    “We target to double our subscriber base. By December 2023, we expect to reach two lakh subscribers. The model will not only be SVOD, and the platform will explore advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) as well. So we expect considerable and significant growth in advertising revenue in the future,” he adds. 

    To fascinate the advertisers, AAO NXT targets to add more original content, which will build trust and facilitate the growth of the platform. “The advertisers will show interest in advertising on the platform only if we create original content. The idea is to tell original stories in different languages. It is not restricted only to Odia – we are also venturing out into other languages. For instance, we will enter into the Bengali and Assamese markets, and capture them. We have plans to enter the Malayalam market to explore exclusive content. We have started from Odisha but will tell original stories from all across India,” Patnaik tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Stream original content

    Keeping in mind the burgeoning demand of audiences from across the world, AAO NXT is focusing on inspiring the audience with India-based original content. “There is an opportunity to stream Indian-based original content. We are streaming those stories on our platform, which are original, simple and easy to understand. Indian content has been appreciated by audiences from all across the world.”

    His and Kaushik Das’ vision is to make AAO NXT “the Netflix of Southeast Asia,” Patnaik says. “The idea is to scale up the operations and showcase a variety of content from across the world. Netflix is an inspiration because the platform is producing original stories day in and day out, year after year,” he adds further. 

    He highlights that there are 4.5 crore Odia people and amongst this, 3 crore people are Internet savvy. “This is a huge number that we can cater to and showcase our original content pool. If we can cater to 1 crore of this number, we can probably meet the market requirements,” Patnaik adds at length.

    Moreover, AAO NXT is ready for a new journey and bestows a complete entertaining basket to the viewers with its beautiful and contemporary content. The home-grown OTT platform will offer a superior and reimagined experience to the viewers going forward. 

  • FIFS welcomes MIB’s advisories against illegal offshore betting platforms ads

    FIFS welcomes MIB’s advisories against illegal offshore betting platforms ads

    Mumbai: The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), the industry’s self-regulatory body, has welcomed the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) decision not to allow private television channels, digital news publishers, and OTT platforms to broadcast/show advertisements for online betting sites and surrogate ads. The federation lauds the ministry for the move that reiterates FIFS’ stand against this menace. FIFS said that it has previously emphasised the need for identification and prohibition of offshore business activities to ensure consumer interest safeguards.

    FIFS DG Joy Bhattacharjya said, “We thank the ministry of information and broadcasting for this important step. As FIFS, we have been creating awareness about the need for demarcation between the legitimate and illegitimate players in the online gaming ecosystem to ensure unwarranted elements like offshore betting and gambling don’t see a rise and adversely impact consumer interests. This move from the ministry will ensure that Indian citizens are educated about the risks on these platforms and do not get lured or trapped by the same. We are hopeful that this initiative will lead to further stringent action on these players by other arms of the government as well.”

    As a big and positive step towards consumer interest protection, on 3 October 2022, MIB issued an advisory to private television channels, digital news publishers, and OTT platforms to refrain from showing advertisements for online betting sites and surrogate advertisements for such sites.

    In the advisories issued by the government, a clear stand has been taken by MIB against direct and surrogate advertisements of offshore betting platforms, saying that it may also invite penal action for the broadcasters. The advisories also stated that since betting and gambling are illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements for these betting platforms as well as their surrogates are also illegal and should not be shown to Indian consumers.

    The ministry, in its advisory, clearly highlighted that such offshore betting websites use news as a surrogate product to advertise their betting platforms, especially in the digital medium. The advisories mentioned that in these cases, there is a striking resemblance between the logo of the news platform and the betting website. The advisories also clarified that since betting and gambling are illegal in most parts of India, so are their advertisements, direct or surrogate. MIB mentioned the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 and the IT Rules 2021 to issue the advisories.

    FIFS added that it takes consumer interest protection very seriously and recently revised and strengthened its charter in order to promote innovation with responsible growth for the fantasy sports industry. The new charter emphasises the role of the Fantasy Sports Regulatory Authority (FSRA), an independent self-regulatory body committed to promoting standardised best practises in fantasy sports.

  • Zeel’s Ashish Sehgal’s positive ad outlook for Q1’23

    Zeel’s Ashish Sehgal’s positive ad outlook for Q1’23

    Mumbai: Ouch! Speak to any senior advertising or media agency official or even a broadcast sales executive, and they all seem to be yelping in pain, courtesy the evaporation of premium ad spends by innovative and new age digital startups. Forced by investors to tidy up their operations and balance-sheets, the latter have been focusing on consolidation, rather than going berserk spending big on giddying growth through advertising and marketing.

    However, this is not causing broadcast major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chief growth officer of ad sales Ashish Sehgal to have any sleepless nights. A sales veteran, he’s witnessed the ups and downs that the media industry goes through periodically – needless to say, he’s seen it all.

    Sehgal believes that the silver lining of the advertising drought is that the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) category has to an extent, come to the rescue and is cushioning some of the blows. He estimates that TV ad spends during the festive season, which is on currently, will show a growth of seven to eight per cent.

    Those used to the heady growth figures of 10-20 per cent may consider this too low, but one has to remember that this growth is coming in at a time of economic upheaval, crashing of global currencies, high fuel costs and rising inflation.

    “The way things have been while it was good, the festive season could have been better. The absence of new clients has made a difference. E-commerce has also reduced spending a bit. While inventory has been going jam-packed, the premium money has not come in the festive season. This has been made up for by the FMCGs to an extent, and TV will see an ad revenue growth during the festive season. This is a good sign as this category will continue to spend even beyond the festive season.”

    He also notes that the TV industry has gone in for a rate hike across the board, which was long overdue. TV viewership was affected in June and August. But post August, the number of eyeballs glued to TV has grown, which is why the FMCG category is spending a lot more.

    Sehgal highlights that general entertainment channels (GECs) are starting to get the reach that they were delivering earlier. Categories like beauty will count on the festive season heavily with the top five advertisers on TV coming in from FMCGs. He feels that the latter’s contribution to overall TV adex could rise by five per cent this festive season compared to the previous year.

    The scenario for 2023

    Sehgal believes that the situation can only improve going forward in Q1 ’23 with spends going up for television advertising and overall ad expenditure. “Every category may come back,” he reiterates.

    He says there are enough signals emanating from the market. Amongst them, the expected spurt in marketing spends by the automobile sector will fire more in the coming months.  “Demand was high during the festive season but supply was low due to the earlier supply issues. So they did not advertise much,” he declares. “They will spend some money in November and December to sell the remaining inventory. That may be a small burst. But now that production capacity has gone up, they will have new launches in Q1’23. That is when they will spend it.”

    “Also, for some new age categories, D2C companies like ed-tech could have digested their heady growth by then. Of course, the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) category – say companies like Policybazaar – will be strong in Q1’23, so some of the premium money that was missing in the festive season could come in then,” Sehgal asserts.

    Then, the funding tap for startups could once again open and start flowing by January 2023.

    “This year they have been trying to balance out their bottom line. How long will they continue to do that? They will have to look at growth as well. Hopefully, they will start triggering spends in Q1 ’23,” he says.

    According to him, with FMCG input costs going down, companies will be forced to pass on the benefits to customers through price cuts and promotions. “So they will have to advertise more to promote that,” he says. “A lot will hinge on FMCGs implementing price cuts and promotions. Right now, that has not happened, maybe due to a fear of raw material inflation returning.”

    But he says the FMCG companies would benefit immensely if they slash prices. “Consumer sentiment will bounce back. More consumption will happen. Things look good for Q1’23 as long as no adverse issues come from Europe and America.”

    Sehgal discloses that while travel and tourism ad spends have risen now, most of those are going into print and social media. “TV, too, will get some state tourism ad spend money whether it is on news media, GECs or on regional channels,” he says.

    He feels that while ad spend on OTT platforms is growing, it is seen as an add-on to TV – especially in entertainment. “Whenever there is a TV campaign, the same person likes to also advertise on OTT. OTT helps them add on to their TV reach. It is not an either-or situation,” he explains.

    For the industry’s sake and his too, here’s hoping Sehgal’s forecast does come true!

  • MIB advises digital publishers, private channels against broadcast of online betting ads

    MIB advises digital publishers, private channels against broadcast of online betting ads

    Mumbai : The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ( MIB) has advised digital media publishers, OTT platforms and private TV channels to refrain from broadcasting advertisements of online betting platforms and/or their surrogate news websites or any such product/service depicting these platforms in a surrogate manner. 

    The Ministry has observed that promotional content and advertisements of betting platforms are still visible on certain news platforms and OTT platforms. 

    The online advertisement intermediaries have also been advised not to target such advertisements towards the Indian audience. 

    The circular said ,”The advisory had been issued for the reason that betting and gambling is prohibited in most parts of the country, and pose significant financial and socio-economic risk for the consumers, especially youth and children. Accordingly, the promotion of offline or online betting/gambling through advertisements is not advised in larger public interest.”

    The ministry also observed that some online offshore betting platforms have started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise betting platforms on digital media.

    “Betting and gambling is an illegal activity in most parts of India. In accordance with the Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements 2022 under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, it has been 
    observed that since betting and gambling is illegal, advertisements of online offshore betting and gambling platforms are prohibited,” the note said.

    The ministry reminded that according to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021,  advertisements of betting platforms, being an illegal activity, can not be shown on digital media.

    “In respect of the advertisements of the surrogate news websites operated by the online betting platforms, it may be mentioned that the logos of the concerned news websites are strikingly similar to the betting platform”, the note said.

    The concerned betting platforms and the corresponding news websites are also not registered with any legal authority under Indian laws. “Accordingly. the online offshore betting platforms appear to be promoting betting and gambling under the garb of news as surrogate advertising.”

    The Department of Consumer Affairs has also informed that online betting platforms have been advertising themselves as professional sports blogs, sports news websites, etc. while providing an indicative list of online betting platforms which are using news for surrogate advertising. 

    “The provisions of the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading  Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements 2022 under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 read with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, it is informed that advertisements of concerned news websites, which are infact surrogate advertisements for online offshore betting platforms, do not appear to 
    be in strict conformity with these laws,” the ministry said.

  • OTTplay releases a series of TVCs with AI-based personalised recommendations

    OTTplay releases a series of TVCs with AI-based personalised recommendations

    Mumbai: OTTplay has announced the launch of its first-of-its-kind personalised artificial intelligence-based feature that recommends content from a library of over 65,000+ web-series, movies, and shows, in 18+ genres and across many languages.

    The platform has tapped into the latest AI-powered technology and developed the feature in-house to equip audiences with smart recommendations. The platform aspires to democratise content offered across OTT platforms by handing it over, thus empowering the users to discover content they are most likely to enjoy.

    The one-of-its-kind streaming platform is promoting the unique AI-based feature with its all-new digital ad campaign with an all-new tagline “OTTplay se pucho, OTTplay pe hee Dekho aur Majey Karo Multiply!”

    Considering this is an innovative concept introduced in India, the digital ad aims to educate audiences about the benefits of the feature. The 20-second teaser videos are quirky and filmic, making fun of the inherent difficulties in selecting the most crucial piece of content to watch—’Aaj kya dekhun.’

    The three ad films, “Alien,” “Exorcism,” and “Interrogation,” which are each based on different scenarios, are focused on figuring out the solution to this biggest puzzle and cleverly plugging OTTplay in the process.

    With its personalised recommendation feature and the recently launched OTTplay Premium, which offers access to the content of 12 OTTs with a single subscription, OTTplay solves the problems of “OTTplay se poocho and OTTplay pe dekho” giving a glimpse into the OTT ecosystem in India’s future for content discovery.

    Commenting on the latest AI-based feature, OTTPlay co-founder & CEO Avinash Mudaliar said, “As category creators, OTTplay’s latest AI-powered technology has revolutionised content navigation in India’s OTT ecosystem. We are razor focused on providing audiences with the convenience to discover and consume content from across OTT platforms. Our recommendation engine analyses user activity on the platform and aims to showcase curated content based on user preferences, making the content consumption experience seamless.”

  • Indian Performing Right Society targets Rs 60 crore revenue from public performance, says CEO Rakesh Nigam

    Indian Performing Right Society targets Rs 60 crore revenue from public performance, says CEO Rakesh Nigam

    Mumbai: During the past two Covid infected years on-ground events took a severe hit. This had an extremely negative impact on the revenues generated from live events and public performance of music. However, with normalcy returning The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) CEO Rakesh Nigam is optimistic about generating revenue of Rs 60 crore from public performance for the current fiscal. The revenue generated will increase from fiscal 2019-2020 (pre-covid), which was Rs 52 crore. The overall revenues generated at IPRS from across verticals for the fiscal are pegged to be above Rs 300 crore.  

    “IPRS has started engaging with a lot of people. We have taken a proactive stand with the users, who are also coming out of the pandemic. We will consider giving them discounts and ask them to pay for music.  People are now positive about taking licences. We have boosted our on-ground team to meet the growing requirement. We have adopted a 360-degree approach and are trying to motivate people to get licences to play music in public. We also try and give discounts to coerce them to take licences.”

    He adds that there is more advertising taking place on digital platforms like YouTube which will benefit the music industry. There is a revenue share and so there will be income growth. However for subscription-driven OTT platforms or music used for television, there won’t be an impact from ad revenue. The festive season has more of an impact on public performance and on anything that is driven by revenue share. “The festive season for us in public performance is a full six-month period. It starts in October and goes on till March. In the summer, things slow down and during the rainy season not much happens. Apart from this, in October corporate events, general events, parties, etc., all start taking place.

    The mood today is very positive. We expect a growth in consumption, which was on a standstill for the past two years.  As malls have opened, footfalls in theatres have increased. Things are looking bullish across the country. Recently, malls had stopped using music to cut down on costs and save every penny. Now they are willing to spend money and take licences. They use music in the background to create the right ambience.,” Nigam points out further.

    “The fervour is across the country. Everyone is waiting to go out and break the shackles, be free and enjoy. So, retail sales are going up. Malls are quite positive. The mood picked up in August. The festive season is Diwali through Christmas.” IPRS, he says, has started engaging with clients. They had asked for discounts in the previous two years which the IPRS had agreed to help during a very difficult period.

    In terms of the growth in the number of artists and music publishers, the growth has been over 50 per cent, he says. “During the lockdown, we made everything digital. We made the online application process as smooth as possible. Only the signature on the statutory documents has to be done offline. We have also held digital seminars and campaigns to reach out to music creators and publishers to tell them that IPRS is a society to extend support. We also reached out to music authors and composers who felt the brunt of Covid. We gave financial support. This sent out a positive message that we are an organisation that does not just collect royalties. We also help when it is required. As a society, we help the less privileged members. We gave financial relief to a lot of members during the pandemic. As a result of all our initiatives to help and support we have also grown in numbers. From 4,000+ we are now a community of over 9000 songwriters, composers and music publishers from across the country. We have seen this growth in the past three years. During seminars, we focused on the fact of learning and earning. We educated people on the new things that are shaping the music industry and careers of those associated with it. How can they be at par with things happening around beyond music creation? What is happening on platforms like Youtube? What is metadata? And all that is relevant for them to reap the best benefits as a creator and publisher.”

    IPRS also aims to educate music users through our campaign that speaks about fair pay and fair play of music. #LicenseLiyakya? is the message. “Why not pay fairly for the usage of music? This encourages creativity. 90 per cent of people online listen to music. We are bullish. Why not ensure that you subscribe and pay for music? That is how we have come up with the campaign. If there is no music at your event, how will it sound? Please help us serve you better by paying for the music. This will encourage authors and composers to create better music for them.” In terms of IPRS members, he said that they can play their role by letting copyright societies like IPRS know where their music is being played. “They also have to push to see that those places obtain a licence as that will only benefit the music creators and publishers.”

  • One Take Media announces new OTT app Playflix

    One Take Media announces new OTT app Playflix

    Mumbai: The global production & distribution house, One Take Media, is all set to step into the OTT space with its new app, Playflix.

    Playflix is a content-streaming OTT app with a subscription model and is one of the first apps in India to offer international drama content in 11 Indian regional languages.

    Playflix boasts more than 2,000+ premium Korean shows as well as Turkish, Spanish, Russian, Bulgarian, and Chinese dramas—these are available with English subtitles and in the Hindi language, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.

    Playflix assures high quality HD and new content every week.

    One Take founder & CEO Anil Khera said, “Playflix arrives at a perfect time when the Hallyu wave has taken over the Indian subcontinent. These shows have a 40-episode format, have great production quality, award-winning actors, and the production is aesthetically pleasing to a wide audience.”

    Amongst other international dramas, Turkish, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and urban Chinese dramas are getting popular with the young audience, and Playflix is the go-to app for all this content.

    Aside from such handpicked international content, Playflix also has entertainment for children aged two to fourteen. These animation shows and animation movies are award-winning and hand-picked with more than 2500+ episodes available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, and Punjabi languages.

    It is also the only app to showcase Hollywood movies in English, Hindi + 9 regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Bhojpuri.

    The introductory subscription offer for the launch is Rs 99 per year. Playflix is available for download on the Google Play Store for Android users and the Apple Store for iOS users. For those who wish to enjoy a full-screen experience, Playflix is also available on Amazon Fire TV.

  • Delhi HC stays TDSAT order asking broadcasters to provide OTT content information

    Delhi HC stays TDSAT order asking broadcasters to provide OTT content information

    Mumbai: The Delhi High Court has stayed Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order and the proceedings until the next date of hearing. TDSAT issued an order last week requiring broadcasters to provide information on content available on over-the-top (OTT) platforms.

    In past legal processes, Trai has publicly indicated that it does not regulate OTT platforms or the content that is associated with them.

    “Prima facie, the court finds itself unable to sustain the order of 20 September by TDSAT,” said the order dated 28 September by Delhi HC.

    According to the High Court, the TDSAT was not authorised to make the ‘contested decision’ while the main dispute over whether it had the authority to issue the ‘contested direction’ was still being resolved.

    A source informes Indiantelevision.com that the court judge made oral remarks saying “what kind of order is this? Later he also said (in a lighter vein) there seem to be lofty principles in the order.”

    Broadcasters are allegedly breaking Clause 5.6 of the TV channel uplinking and downlinking guidelines by providing linear channel signals to OTT services, claimed Trai.  

    This clause requires broadcasters to make satellite TV signals available to registered cable operators, multi-system operators, direct-to-home players, and internet protocol TV service providers.

    As the clause reads, “The applicant company shall provide satellite TV channel signal reception decoders only to MSOs/cable operators registered under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 or to a DTH operator registered under the DTH guidelines issued by the government of India or to an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service provider duly permitted under their existing telecom licence or authorised by the department of telecommunications or to a HITS operator duly permitted under the policy guidelines for HITS operators issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting to provide such service.”

    While OTT services are exempt from Trai oversight, broadcasters contend that Clause 5.6 has not been violated. They claim that both platforms controlled by broadcast networks and those owned by independent players are covered by this.

    Broadcasters including Sony, Star, and Sun TV had approached TDSAT to challenge Trai’s directive. The networks, on the other hand, had received no relief from the appellate tribunal, with TDSAT ordering them to provide the information to Trai within a week.

    The Court also questioned Trai’s authority to control OTT and make the requests for information that they did. In past legal proceedings, Trai has publicly indicated that it does not regulate OTT platforms or the content that is associated with them.

    When Trai requested certain broadcasters (such as Star India, Sony, and Sun TV) to submit detailed information on the content of TV channels that were available on OTT, the problem began.

    Dissatisfied broadcasters challenged Trai’s decision, which ordered the disclosure of information and architecture in TDSAT, among other things, by questioning Trai’s authority to request such information.

    Notably, the broadcasters asserted that Trai has always maintained in court proceedings that it does not regulate over-the-top (OTT) content.

    The TDSAT had previously provided broadcasters with ad-interim protection against Trai coercion. However, it later directed broadcasters to provide information, which resulted in the current petition before the Delhi High Court.

  • International streaming service Starzplay rebrands as Lionsgate+ in 35 countries

    International streaming service Starzplay rebrands as Lionsgate+ in 35 countries

    Mumbai: Starz has announced that its premium international streaming service, Starzplay, will rebrand as Lionsgate+ in 35 countries. This coincides with a new brand look and graphics package, rolling out globally on 29 September 2022.

    The new brand look, with its graphics package, colour palette, and design elements, will be deployed in the U.S. and begin rolling out in the majority of Starz’s 63 country footprint. Starzplay will rebrand to Lionsgate+ in 35 Starz markets, excluding the US and Canada, where it will remain Starz. Brand names for Starzplay Arabia, along with South and Southeast Asia’s Lionsgate Play, will also remain in place.

    “We recognised the potential of the global OTT market early, and over the last few years we have built an incredible global streaming service, which has become a destination for audiences seeking premium, provocative programming. Operating under Lionsgate+ internationally brings a distinct and differentiated identity in an increasingly crowded international marketplace and builds on the brand equity in the Lionsgate name that our extensive research has proven is strong around the world. Even with the separation of STARZ and the Lionsgate studio business, the Lionsgate brand will continue to be valuable to the ongoing success of our international platform,” said Starz president & CEO Jeffrey Hirsch.

    “Our commitment to delivering bold, curated stories where we push boundaries and defy expectations remains the same. We have built strong relationships with our viewers and look forward to continuing providing them with premium storytelling as Lionsgate+,” said Starz president of international networks Superna Kalle.

    Lionsgate+ subscribers have access to a library of exclusive, premium content, including original series premiering globally on the same day as the United States, such as the political thriller Gaslit; period dramas in its royal collection, such as the upcoming series Dangerous Liaisons; and a series set in the universe of the blockbuster Power franchise. Lionsgate+ is also home to Spanish-language original series such as the drama Señorita 89, sci-fi thriller El Refugio and crime drama Express, and offers first-run series on television, including the genre-bending series The Great, and the action-thriller series Gangs of London, plus a collection of movies added to the platform every month.

    Starz established itself as one of the first US linear channels to enter the global market upon launching its global SVoD service, now Lionsgate+, in 2018, offering audiences access to what it calls bold, curated storytelling. Since its initial launch, coupled with its Starzplay Arabia joint venture, Starz’s global footprint has expanded into 63 countries throughout Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, MENA and Southeast Asia.

    With the rebrand in effect, below is the breakdown of service names across the 63 countries where SVoD has a presence.