ITV

Tag: Prasar Bharati

  • SC adjourns Doordarshan’s telecast of WC 2015 case to 19 Feb

    SC adjourns Doordarshan’s telecast of WC 2015 case to 19 Feb

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati was asked today by the Supreme Court to examine the feasibility of starting a new Doordarshan channel exclusively to telecast 2015 World Cup cricket matches without the compulsion of the must-carry clause.

     

    The bench sought this view on a suggestion made by Star and ESPN who had won a case in Delhi High Court to the effect that Doordarshan should not share the World Cup Cricket telecasts with cable operators.

     

    During the hearing of the appeal by Prasar Bharati which was adjourned to 19 February, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose asked Prasar Bharati to examine the technical feasibility and otherwise of starting a new channel, subscription of which could be regulated for the cable operators.

     

    The Court meanwhile extended the interim order allowing DD to telecast all matches till the next hearing.

     

    The bench also asked Star, ESPN and the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to give an estimate of losses they were likely to suffer in case DD was permitted to beam matches after sharing live feeds with cable operators.

     

    During the hearing, the bench observed that it wanted people to enjoy cricket matches without any hurdles and that the revenue dispute should be resolved amicably between the parties.

     

    The Court also accepted an intervention by multi-system operator Home Cable through Vikki Choudhary and asked him to file an additional affidavit on the formula suggested by ESPN and Star Sports.

      

    While admitting the case last week, the Apex Court had said in its interim order: “This arrangement of DD showing free feed has been there for the last seven years. Let it continue.” 

     

    In its judgment, the High Court had refused to strike down the must carry clause of 2000 under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan, and also the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of BCCI, ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

  • Rathore promises inquiry into AIR re-tweets on Indo-Pak match

    Rathore promises inquiry into AIR re-tweets on Indo-Pak match

    NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has promised to look into the case of All India Radio’s (AIR) Twitter handle on Sunday re-tweeting obnoxious anti-Pakistan tweets by some of its followers after India beat Pakistan in their opening World Cup cricket match.

     

    In its response, the Twitter handle of News Service division of AIR has denied there was anything obnoxious in its re-tweets but said it is open to any inquiry.  

     

    AIR invited tweets wishing team India the best when the India-Pakistan World Cup match was under way in the Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon.

     

    “Give your best wishes to #TeamIndia for #CricketWorldCup using #WCFirSe. Best will get re-tweet from us,” said a tweet.

     

    “This is within the scope of Prasar Bharati. Whoever is handling the Twitter account must have done it in excitement. People tend to get excited, but a certain grace must be maintained,” Rathore said.

     

    “India’s explosive win over Pakistan at #AdelaideOval. Hindustan decides Pakistan’s #GharWapsi #WCFirSe,” a tweet originally in Hindi, which was re-tweeted by the AIR News’ verified account @airnewsalerts read. The handle is the “Official account of News Services Division, All India Radio.” 

  • DD Freedish revenue from e-auctions to reach Rs 120 crore by March

    DD Freedish revenue from e-auctions to reach Rs 120 crore by March

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s free-to-air direct-to-home Freedish platform, which was telecasting 59 channels until recently has added two more channels to its kitty. What’s more, the platform is further looking at adding three more channels to its offerings soon, taking the total number of channels to 64.

     

    In fact, another channel will come on board the platform before the end of the month, according to deputy director general C K Jain.

     

    Clarifying the situation, Jain told Indiantlevision.com that 61 channels had been allotted and another three would be allotted shortly. The last two channels to be allotted were Sony Pal and Dillagi, which is still to go on air.

     

    A total of 20 e-auctions have been held so far, the latest being earlier this week. DD expects to reach a target of Rs 120 crore through these auctions by the end of March this year.

     

    Doordarshan had set a reserve price of Rs 3.7 crore per slot for the 20th online e-auction, though Indiantelevision.com learnt that the bid amount went up to Rs 4.2 crore in the 17th e-auction held on 12 November.

     

    The attempt is to touch the target of 112 television channels in the next few months, Jain said. He said that the delay had been partly due to some technical problems, which were being sorted.

     

    Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had said recently that the future of Doordarshan was in Freedish and digitisation. He had added that this may mean that some channels would have to be attracted to Freedish by means other than e-auction.

     

    DD sources also said that while Freedish may be encrypted to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, it would however remain free-to-air.

     

    As all these channels are on MPEG2. Freedish, which uses Insat 4B, is migrating from its old platform to a new upgraded platform with MPEG4 in an attempt to increase its capacity. The migration would result in increase of TV channels from 59 to 64 and radio channels from 22 to 24.

     

    Sircar had said in November that while most were coming through e-auctions, some popular channels may have to be ‘attracted’ to join Freedish since satellite television was the future.  

     

    To access the upgraded platform, the viewers need to edit the transponder parameter by changing only the symbol rate from 27500Ksps to 28500 Ksps in four transponders and retune/rescan their Set Top Box (STB) to receive the upgraded TV and radio channels.

     

    Viewers/subscribers who do not rescan their STB will continue to get ten channels for a period of seven days only from the date of upgradation. Out of these ten channels, one channel is an informative channel, which will show detailed procedure for re-tuning the STBs. 

  • DD can share World Cup signals with cable operators: Supreme Court

    DD can share World Cup signals with cable operators: Supreme Court

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has stayed the order of the Delhi High Court barring Doordarshan from sharing the signals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 with cable operators.

     

    The leave petition will meanwhile be heard on 17 February by when ESPN and Star Sports will submit their replies.

     

    In its judgment, the High Court had refused to strike down the must carry clause under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan nor the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

     

    In its order, the Court refused to strike down a 2000 notification issued by Prasar Bharati, which made it mandatory for cable operators to carry DD National and DD News channels. Simultaneously, the court also rejected the additional prayers by ESPN Star to strike down Section 3 of the Sports Act, which makes it mandatory for them to share with Prasar Bharati the live feed of sporting events of national importance.

     

    DD officials said the Mandatory Sharing Act was clear that matches would have to be shared with DD on its terrestrial network and via its direct-to-home Freedish. An official said the directive by the Court appeared to be a precautionary measure aimed at warning cable operators who pirate the signals and not Doordarshan.

     

    In the order, the High Court had said, “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/Star by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court had also observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

     

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications Ltd and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the High Court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

  • Prasar Bharati moves SC against Delhi HC judgment on World Cup telecasts

    Prasar Bharati moves SC against Delhi HC judgment on World Cup telecasts

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati today filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court (SC) to appeal against the judgment of the Delhi High Court (HC) barring it from sharing signals of the ICC World Cup Cricket 2015 with cable operators.

     

    The leave petition presented by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi is expected to come up for hearing on 10 February.

     

    In its judgment, the HC had refused to strike down the must carry clause under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

     

    In its order, the Court refused to strike down a 2000 notification issued by Prasar Bharati, which made it mandatory for cable operators to carry DD National and DD News channels. Simultaneously, the court also rejected the additional prayers by ESPN Star to strike down Section 3 of the Sports Act, which makes it mandatory for them to share with Prasar Bharati the live feed of sporting events of national importance.

     

    DD officials said the Mandatory Sharing Act was clear that matches would have to be shared with DD on its terrestrial network and via its direct-to-home Freedish. An official said the directive by the Court appeared to be a precautionary measure aimed at warning cable operators who pirate the signals and not Doordarshan.

     

    In the order, the Court had said, “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/Star by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court had observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

     

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the high court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

  • MSOs write to Govt. on WC telecast issue as Prasar Bharati gets ready to file appeal in SC

    MSOs write to Govt. on WC telecast issue as Prasar Bharati gets ready to file appeal in SC

    NEW DELHI: Even as Prasar Bharati sources confirmed that instructions had been issued to their legal representatives to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, multi-system operators (MSOs) have urged Information and Broadcasting Ministry secretary Bimal Julka that the Delhi High Court order relating to the World Cup telecast will have ‘grave consequences with millions of Cable TV homes in the country being forced to subscribe to the ESPN Star Sports channels.’

                                                                                         

    In a letter sent to Julka with copies to I&B Minister Arun Jaitley and officials of Prasar Bharati and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Vikki Choudhary on behalf of the smaller MSOs and LCOs said, “The move will force cable TV customers to subscribe to all the Star Sports channels even under the Digital Access System (DAS) regime.”

     

    Describing the judgment as a ‘big shock’, Choudhary of Home Cable in his letter to the Ministry has described the court order as ‘vague’ on the re-transmission of Doordarshan feed of the Cricket World Cup 2015 matches. “We are under a mandatory ‘must carry’ clause of the DD Channels on our DAS cable distribution platform,” the letter read.  

     

    DD legal experts have on the other hand said that an appeal would be filed in the Supreme Court since the directive of the High Court militates against the must-carry clause and the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007. Several multi-system operators in the capital also confirmed to indiantelevision.com that they were planning to either file an independent appeal or intervene in the appeal to be filed by Doordarshan or Prasar Bharati.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on 4 February on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

  • DD to appeal against Delhi HC’s order barring sharing of 2015 WC feed with cable ops

    DD to appeal against Delhi HC’s order barring sharing of 2015 WC feed with cable ops

    NEW DELHI: The countdown to the 2015 Cricket World Cup has begun, and even as teams gear to battle it out on ground, back home, public broadcaster Doordarshan is up for another challenge. This, after the Delhi High Court on 4 February came out with its order which barred Doordarshan from sharing the live feed of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, of which ESPN and Star have the exclusive broadcasting rights, with cable operators.

     

    While this seems like a good news for broadcaster Star India, which could now be hoping for renewing all its distribution deals with multi system operators (MSOs) for its sports channels after its decision of moving to Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) deals; the pubcaster is all set to appeal against this order in the Supreme Court.

     

    As per DD legal experts, an appeal will be filed in the Supreme Court since the directive of the High Court militates against the must-carry clause and the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

     

    A Prasar Bharati official confirmed that the matter had been discussed with the legal consultant Rajeev Sharma this morning and the appeal would be filed shortly.  

     

    Several MSOs in the capital also confirmed to indiantelevision.com that they were planning to either file an independent appeal or intervene in the appeal to be filed by Doordarshan or Prasar Bharati.    

     

    A MSO on condition of anonymity said, “The order has come out only yesterday, we are yet to get a copy of the order. Once that happens, we will read it thoroughly and decide on our next move.”

     

    He further added, “As per the law, we have to carry 24 Doordarshan channels, but we do not control the content that is being aired on its channels. We will meet the Ministry to get a clear understanding of what the next move should be.”

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

     

    Another MSO said, “Since we are under a mandatory obligation of must- carry of DD channels, it is surprising that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry did not intervene in the matter in the Delhi High Court.”

     

    MSOs and LCOs said that this also violated their fundamental right to do business. MSO and LCO representatives told indiantelevision.com that they feared that they may be forced to shut DD channels at the time of the matches on the ground of technical fault as had often been done previously.

     

    In its order, the Court refused to strike down a 2000 notification issued by Prasar Bharati which made it mandatory for cable operators to carry DD National and DD News channels. Simultaneously, the court also rejected the additional prayers by ESPN Star to strike down section 3 of the Sports Act, which makes it mandatory for them to share with Prasar Bharati the live feed of sporting events of national importance.

     

    DD officials said the Mandatory Sharing Act was clear that matches would have to be shared with DD on its terrestrial network and via its direct-to-home Freedish. An official said the directive by the Court appeared to be a precautionary measure aimed at warning cable operators who pirate the signals and not Doordarshan.

     

    In the order, the Court had said, “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/STAR by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court had observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

     

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the High Court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

     

    Broadcaster Star on its part is currently reading the judgment in detail and internal discussions are on. “We need to understand the nuances of the High Court order and then come up with a strategy which is both under law and our business practices,” said a source from Star.

  • Delhi HC bars DD from sharing 2015 World Cup feed with cable ops

    Delhi HC bars DD from sharing 2015 World Cup feed with cable ops

    NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court has barred public broadcaster Doordarshan from sharing the live feed of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, of which ESPN and Star have the exclusive broadcasting rights, with cable operators.

     

    A bench of Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

     

    The Court however refused to grant relief of striking down a 2000 notification issued by Prasar Bharati which made it mandatory for cable operators to carry DD National and DD News channels. Simultaneously, the Court also rejected the additional prayers by ESPN Star to strike down section 3 of the Sports Act, which makes it mandatory for them to share with Prasar Bharati the live feed of sporting events of national importance.

     

    A DD official who did not want to be named told indiantelevision.com that under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007, DD could show the matches only on its terrestrial network and via its direct-to-home platform, Freedish. “The directive by the Court appeared to be a precautionary measure aimed at warning cable operators who pirate the signals and not Doordarshan,” the official said.

     

    A legal expert dealing with broadcasting laws told indiantelevision.com that since the ‘must-carry clause’ had not been struck down, it would be very difficult to prevent the local cable operators from showing the matches. The expert indicated that DD may need to approach the Court to seek clarity on the order.

     

    In the order, the Court said: “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/STAR by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the High Court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

  • Prasar Bharati expresses helplessness in regularising contractual employees

    Prasar Bharati expresses helplessness in regularising contractual employees

    NEW DELHI: Despite major shortage of staff, Prasar Bharati has informed the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that it is not feasible to regularize services of contractual employees in All India Radio and Doordarshan.

     

    Ministry source told indiantelevision.com that the pubcaster had said that recruitment has to be done according to the Recruitment Rules and the contractuals of Prasar Bharati had not been engaged by following the Recruitment Rules concerned as most of them do not fulfill the prescribed educational and other qualifications.

     

    In view of this, their regularisation would be in violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of State of Karnataka Vs Uma Devi. 

    Further, Prasar Bharati has said that as some of the casuals/contractuals are booked for a maximum of six days in a month, their numbers in panels far exceed the number of posts for any particular job. 

     

    Prasar Bharati has informed that Doordarshan has engaged the following type of contractuals: 

     

    i.             Special Assignees –              18

    ii.            Contractual Engagees-         63

    iii.           Ex-BECIL Engagee –              166

    iv.           Retired Engagees –              211

    Moreover, 306 contractuals are engaged in DD News headquarters and 41 contractuals are working in the Regional News Units of Doordarshan Kendras. 

    Prasar Bharati has also informed that All India Radio (AIR) has engaged 125 retired officials, on short term contract basis. Moreover, AIR headquarters has engaged 116 Data Entry Operators and 38 casual workers through outsourcing agency. 

    Casual presenters/ announcers are being booked by AIR stations as talent on assignment basis. The number of such casual announcers varies from station to station as per their requirement. Since this is an ongoing process, there is no fixed number of casual presenters/ announcers. 

  • DD Kisan set for launch on Baisakhi

    DD Kisan set for launch on Baisakhi

    NEW DELHI: The launch of the 24-hour channel devoted to farmers and rural India – DD Kisan – has been pushed back by three months to Baisakhi Day on 14 April as Doordarshan has still to complete all the formalities relating to staff and programme. 

     

    The channel was earlier slated to launch on Makar Sankranti on 14 January but Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley has now been assured that all arrangements would be completed by mid-April. 

     

    As per information available with Indiantelevision.com, the assurance was given in Jaitley’s customary morning meeting with senior officials of his Ministry as well as Prasar Bharati. 

     

    Jaitley sought full details of the work done on the channel, for which he had set aside Rs 100 crore in the Budget in his capacity as Finance Minister. However, the budget for I&B Ministry shows an allocation of Rs 90 crore for the same in the year 2014-15.

     

    DD sources told Indiantelevision.com that the Minister had been assured that all preparations would be completed by mid-April. It was also stated that 14 April is a very important day for farmers as it marks the start of the sowing season.

     

    Apart from Jaitley and Miniser of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, I&B secretary Bimal Julka, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar and senior DD officials were present in the meeting held earlier this week. 

     

    Noting that the proposed Doordarshan Kisan is a dedicated channel for the farmers to give them information targeted to address the wholesome edutainment needs of a farmer to adopt and adapt to modern scenario, the national broadcaster had in early December invited proposals for programmes under the Self Financing Commissioned (SFC) Scheme. 

     

    DD sources said that the content expected for DD Kisan will primarily address the developmental needs of the farmer addressing ‘Core Agriculture’, ‘Critical Support’ and ‘Essential Ancillary’ areas, keeping in mind the varied Agro-Economic Zones, Climatic Areas, Different Crops and the need to address the target audience spread across various states but will have to be entertaining and engaging. 

     

    The content on DD Kisan will be in Hindi with regional dubbing. 

     

    The genres for which it invited proposals were: Documentaries/Features (Field Based); Magazines/Docu Dramas (Field Based); Cookery Shows/Biographies; Daily Soap/Fiction Serials/Family Serials/Thrillers; film song based programmes; Reality Shows/Game Shows; and Mandi Bhav/Bazar Bhav/Agro Based Bulletins.

     

    In addition, DD Kisan will have a new segment for iconic characters plus content packaging where animation characters will convey the agricultural themes and desired messaging. It is expected that the participants under this category will also provide layouts of the channel’s packaging. 

     

    The channel will also have a segment for edited feature films where the entire film is expected to be capsuled with anchor based presentation for 60 minutes. 

     

    In the Bazar Bhav/ Mandi Bhav segments, updates from the mandis including the template will be required to be provided, which will give the core audiences suitable direction and help in the agricultural activity. 

     

    Ministry sources highlighted Prasar Bharati’s plan to take inputs from different Agricultural Universities and Institutes to develop rich content for the channel. 

     

    DD is hoping to engage people in the fields of production as well as marketing in positions ranging from senior to mid to junior level. 

     

    There are a total of 67 vacant posts of post production professionals, visual graphics designer, record keeper, senior videographer, junior videographer, senior production executive, production executive, senior creative editor, creative editor, senior presenter, presenter, copy editor–cum-writer, programme trainees, head- sales & marketing, and senior sales & marketing executive.

     

    Other steps being taken by Prasar Bharati for this channel include: production of in-house and outsourced content; liason with relevant ministries to get inputs for channel content and for which advertisements will be issued; calculation of budget and expenditure for the channel; crowd sourcing for channel name, logo, jingles etc; issue of advertisement for channel packaging and branding along with look and feel and montage.

     

    A consultation meeting has been held with various educational institutes for a rich content and to create a ‘Resource Persons Group’ and this would be a continuous process.

     

    Meanwhile, the Krishi Darshan programmes of Doordarshan are being telecast under the “Mass Media Support to Agriculture Extension” funded by the Agriculture Ministry focusing on dissemination of modern agricultural techniques by involving experts from various fields like insurance, banking, credit for farmers, State Government schemes on agriculture/ fisheries/veterinary science/water and soil conservation/social forestry etc.

     

    In addition, a programme Mera Gaon Connection telecast at prime time on DD National also introduces modern agricultural techniques to the viewers.  

     

    The mass media support to agricultural extension and focused publicity campaigns has been strengthened to reach out to all farmers including small and marginal.