ITV

Tag: Reddy

  • Reliance DTH application in order: I&B ministry

    Reliance DTH application in order: I&B ministry

    NEW DELHI: The Reliance magic is working on the DTH front. A clearance is expected soon, according to the government.

    A DTH proposal from the Anil Ambani group is being processed, which will make it the third licence to be handed out by this government, information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy told the Economic Editors Conference here today.
     
    Reddy, who dubbed DTH as a technology with untold potentials,said his ministry has been working to remove bottlenecks in this segment of the broadcasting industry. Contrary to the Tata Star joint venture, which got a green signal from the government for a DTH service after a long delay, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprise (ADAE)s proposal seems to be sailing smoothly.

    A senior I&B ministry official admitted today that the ministry has scanned the application from the Ambani company and has found it to be in order.

    The I&B ministry is awaiting routine clearances from other government agencies, including the home ministry, before it hands out a letter of intent, signalling the start of a lengthy procedure of handing out the actual licence for a DTH service.

    In the DTH company, which would start a service under the brand name Bluemagic, absence of any foreign investment or partner has simplified matters, government officials pointed out.

    Anil Ambani, whos awaiting completion of formalities relating to division of the Reliance empire amongst the children of Dhirubhai Ambani, recently changed the name of the DTH venture to Reliance Bluemagic from Reliance Skymagic, following objections by the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp to the word ‘Sky.’

    ADAE has indicated to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that it wants to start the service towards the second half of 2006 with six transponders on the Insat-4 series, which it plans to ramp up over a period of time.

    Interestingly, government officials claimed that contrary to media reports, government controlled oil company BPCL is yet to apply for a DTH licence.

    At least I havent seen any application from BPCL,a senior I&B ministry official said.

    At present, DD Direct+ and Dishtv are the two existing players in the DTH space, while the Tata-Star combine and Sun TV group’s Sun Direct TV have been given a green signal by the government to start their services.

    Reliance Bluemagic will be the fifth player in the market, which is expected to be approximately 15 per cent of the total TV market in India over a period of five to eight years.

  • Prasar Bharati: Government mulls capital restructuring

    Prasar Bharati: Government mulls capital restructuring

    NEW DELHI: The government is studying various options, including holding equity against asset, which will facilitate a capital restructuring of the financially beleaguered pubcaster Prasar Bharati or Broadcasting Corporation of India.

    A committee is looking into the matter that will go a long way in making Prasar Bharati a truly autonomous organisation on the lines of the BBC, information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy today said on the sidelines of the two-day Economic Editors Conference being held here.

    Though Reddy did not hand out much details on the financial rejig of the pubcaster, a senior official of his ministry pointed out that the committee would look at options keeping in mind the financial projections that have been made by the pubcaster for a period of 10 years.

    At the outset, a balance sheet (of Prasar Bharati) is to be prepared that will tell us how a restructuring can be done and the options that could be exercised by the government,the official explained, pointing out a step in that direction has been taken already.

    Earlier this year, for the first time Prasar Bharati came out with a profit and loss account on the lines of annual reports of companies, detailing its activities and businesses.

    The government funds Prasar Bharati by extending annual grant-in-aid. A proposal to revive levying a one-time licence fee on radio and TV sets, as done in the UK to aid the BBC, hasnt found many backers.

    According to the I&B ministry official, after a stock taking is done of Prasar Bharati, including its human and other assets (excluding software), the options for a restructuring could include transferring of real estate assets to the pubcaster in a cashless deal.

    It has to be seen which is the best option for a financial restructuring. This could include transferring of assets to Prasar Bharati on long-term lease or permanently, the official said, pointing out that loans, equity and subsidies could also be options.

    But these are things that have to be considered after Prasar Bharatis assets are valued and then contrasted against projections made by the organisation,the official added.

    Though there are various estimates of the value of real estate on which offices and facilities of Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) sit around the country — some of them on prime land — the Nitish Sengupta Committee had put a figure of Rs. 55 billion on it in the late 1990s at the then market rate. Since then land prices have gone up several notches.

    The committee looking into the financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati is expected to submit its report to the government by next month.

    Reddy, however, has ruled out repealing of the Prasar Bharati Act as demanded by a section of employees of the organisation in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a couple of months back

    Earlier, while listing the I&B ministrys achievements at the Economic Editors Conference, Reddy termed various initiatives, including the newly announced downlinking norms, in the direction of liberalisation and globalisation.

    Speaking on mandatory sports content sharing with the Indian pubcaster by telecast rights holders, which has raised the heckles of many a private broadcaster, Reddy said, Its a milestone (decision).

    Still, when Indiantelevision.com pointed out that such mandatory content sharing elsewhere, including the UK and Australia, dont get implemented with a retrospective effect (as done by the Indian government), Reddy preferred to keep quiet.

    Asked what was the rationale behind restricting foreign news channels (like the BCC and CNN) landing rights in India if they aired content and advertising targeted at Indians, Reddy said a reason was to bring about uniformity in print and electronic media guidelines.

    But he did not deny or confirm when it was pointed out to him that this was a measure that was more aimed at having control over foreign news media.

    According to the minister, his department does not have a single static media policy.

    Each media unit is functioning on two governing principles — to provide access to information to both the government and private-owned media, while ensuring that socially accepted standards of decency and ethics are maintained.

    Dwelling on an initiative relating to piracy, officials informed that I&B ministry had commissioned the Public Service Broadcasting Trust to produce a film regarding the effects of piracy in the film sector. The film, Fight Piracy Today, will be aired on Doordarshan soon.

  • No differences on content sharing: Reddy

    NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy today said that the uplink and the proposed downlink laws will be taken to the Union Cabinet for fresh review “in a few weeks time.”

    Addressing a news conference here today, Reddy said, “The group of ministers’ (GoM) report has been finalised and it will be taken to the Cabinet for an approval in a few weeks time.”
     
     
     

    Earlier, when the same proposals, framed by the I&B ministry, had been taken up by the Union Cabinet for discussion in July, certain clauses on sports content sharing on a mandatory basis with the Indian pubcaster had raised a stink.

    Subsequently, the proposed legislation was referred for review to a GoM, headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee.
     
     
     

    Interestingly, an interaction between some of the members of the GoM and the industry, under the aegis of an apex chamber of commerce, is scheduled tomorrow.

    Though Reddy was cagey about detailing anything, he, however, denied differences within the GoM on any issue.

    Asked by Indiantelevision.com whether the clause relating to content sharing has been diluted, on the insistence of other ministers, Reddy said, “It should suffice that there are no differences.”

    Still, some media reports, including Indiantelevision.com, had stated earlier that sports content would have to be shared with Doordarshan, but for events that are signed up by private broadcasters after the law comes into force. Indiantelevision.com’s report was based on conversation with a
    member of the GoM after a meeting of the group earlier this month.

    A clause in the proposed downlink law and the to-be-amended uplink guidelines states that all listed sports events, held within and outside the country, would have to be shared with DD for all its services, terrestrial and DTH, on a mandatory basis by private broadcasters if they have the telecast rights.

    While pushing for such a law, the government and DD had argued that similar legislation exist in the UK and Australia too.

    Still, it would be interesting for the GoM to note that the British
    newspaper, The Guardian, on 14 September reported the UK government will review listed (sports) events, which are guaranteed to be shown on free-to-air terrestrial channels, around 2008-09 only. Rupert Murdoch-controlled Sky’s exclusive ?220m cricket deal, which begins next year, expires in 2009.

    The Guardian quoted British culture secretary Tessa Jowell as saying, “It is important to be absolutely clear that Sky won that competition in a completely proper and transparent way.”

    The last review of the listed events in the UK was carried out in 1998, when cricket was moved to a B-list, which guaranteed only terrestrial highlights.

  • Government not opposed to FDI in media: Reddy

    NEW DELHI: The government today said that it was not opposed to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the media, including print and electronic.

    Speaking at a special session on ‘The Future of Newspapers in the World’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here today, minister for information and broadcasting Jaipal Reddy said, “The recent Union Budget has lowered customs duties on printing equipment. There is no restriction on accessing technology, and we also welcome FDI in the media -print and electronic.”
     

    Giving another positive indication,the minister, answering a query, said that the government was “taking a close look” at allowing facsimile edition of newspapers in India. According to him, “Our mind is not closed as it was earlier.”
     
     

    The minister, however, cautioned that laws in India have not kept pace with the technological changes that the sector was going through. He said, “I am not advocating amendment of laws. As a staunch liberal, I will not propose stringent laws. Rather, I would like to see the industry self regulating itself.”

    This, according to Reddy, was important as no law could keep pace with changing technologies. “I am sure that the print and electronic media will take upon themselves to exercise this discipline,” he added.

    He assured that government would be happy to be engaged in regular dialogue with the print and electronic media on industry concerns, difficulties and issues.

    Dwelling on the much talked about TV `sting’ operations, Reddy maintained that he was not opposed to investigative journalism- sting or otherwise.

    Still, he said, ‘sting’ operations were acceptable as long as they maintained decency and did not venture into ‘porno journalism.’

    On the never ending debate on the future of newspapers at the back of technological advancements, the minister said that he was optimistic about the future of newspapers across the world.

    “I am an unabashed partisan of newspapers,” he said and, on a lighter note, commented his loyalty lay with newspapers, while “I owe my debt to television.”

    Expressing hope, Reddy remarked that there was no reason why there could not be growth and expansion of existing newspapers in India, as also of new entrants.

    “I say this because technology of news gathering and production is offering innovation to the newspaper industry and to the readers,” he reasoned.

    Speaking on the occasion, the visiting CEO of the Financial Times Group, Olivier Fleurot, observed that there was future for newspapers even at the back of fast technological developments, provided the print medium showed some flexibility and enriched its content.

    He said that since there were more options available with the readers, they have become demanding, which is why it would be “important to innovate” to survive the competition from electronic media and the Internet.

    In his remarks, CII president Sunil Kant Munjal said that newspapers had the ability to carry the message in more detail, thus being very helpful to companies and their business.

  • Govt. rules out expansion plans for terrestrial network DD

    Govt. rules out expansion plans for terrestrial network DD

    NEW DELHI: In what may be an indication to the slow digitalisation process being set in motion, the government today ruled out further expansion of terrestrial network of pubcaster Doordarshan.

    Instead, the KU-band route would be preferred to increase coverage to cover 100 per cent of the population.

    New terrestrial transmitters (of DD) are not envisaged to be set up for expansion of television coverage,information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy informed Lok Sabha (Lower House) today in reply to a question whether the government is planning to phase out terrestrial expansion of the pubcasters network.

    In this whole plan, the only exception would be the northeastern regions and island territories like Andaman & Nicobar.

    At the moment, DDs networks cover slightly over 90 per cent of the Indian population through 25 channels, 1,402 high and low-powered transmitters and putting out 1,485 hours of programming a week.

    However, the minister allayed fears that terrestrial transmission of DD would be stopped altogether, which may deprive a vast population of the country from a cheap source of entertainment and information.

    The government also expects that the prices of hardware needed for accessing KU-band transmissions would fall from the present Rs. 3,000, which is the price for the equipment to receive DDs direct-to-home television service, DD Direct Plus.

    With increase in demand for KU-band systems, the price of these sets is expected to come down further, Reddy informed Lok Sabha, making it clear that there was no compulsion for people to buy DTH hardware as they could continue receiving DD fare via cable and terrestrially too. One of the reasons for the previous Bharatiya JanataParty-led government clearing DDs KU-band project in 2003 was that calculations showed terrestrial expansion of DDs networks would be more costly than taking the KU-band route.

    Reddy also informed Parliament that DDs KU-band project was approved at a total cost of Rs. 1,640 million and an expenditure of approximately Rs. 330 million had been incurred till October 2004.
     

  • Rumours abound that Reddy may be relieved of I&B portfolio

    Rumours abound that Reddy may be relieved of I&B portfolio

    NEW DELHI: Is information & broadcasting and culture minister Jaipal Reddy being relieved of one of his portfolios, notably I&B?

    The Capital is abuzz with rumours that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to undertake a reshuffle of his Union Cabinet this week and Reddy may be eased out of the I&B ministry, which has compelled the minister to cancel his US trip, that was to begin tomorrow, at the last moment.

    Having lined up ministerial level meetings with some of the top media companies and organisations in the US like Disney, Sony and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and which significantly excluded Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, Reddy’s backtracking has taken all the fizz out of the five-day “high-powered” working trip.

    The official reason for Reddy cancelling his visit — handed out very unofficially by his ministry — is that the minister has been struck with an eye infection. The unofficial reason, being cited by political sources in Delhi, is that Reddy may be replaced at the I&B ministry by Prithviraj Singh, a minister of state with the Prime Minister’s Office.

    It now transpires that a relatively junior official of the I&B ministry, joint secretary (films), would attend the meetings lined up for Reddy in the US. How the American media companies and organisations react to the replacement remains to be seen?

    Why the removal of Reddy from the I&B ministry, if at all it comes through?

    Various theories abound.

    First, Reddy himself had never wanted the I&B portfolio from the beginning, admitting in private that he is too senior a politician for the I&B portfolio. A second explanation could be that the present government’s conscience keepers — Left-oriented political parties who support the Congress-led government from the outside — have never been comfortable with Reddy’s liberal approach to issues like de-toxifying the government and bureaucracy of people appointed by the previous regime.

    In this regard, Censor Board chief Anupam Kher’s example is given. It is said that though the Left parties wanted him removed, as also Children Films’ Society of India chief actress Raveena Tandon, Reddy refused to summarily dismiss these people, letting events take their own twists and turns. The Left parties also allege that Reddy’s `inefficiency is reflected in his inaction against right-wing sympathiser and senior journalist MV Kamath, who also happens to be the chairman of Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati.

    Reddy’s US trip, comprising some senior officials and media and entertainment industry representatives, had a packed schedule, beginning with a meeting with top Disney bosses in LA the same evening Reddy arrived from Mumbai on Thursday.

    On 5 November, Reddy and party were scheduled to meet representatives from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Columbia Tri-Star and Sony to discuss various issues relating to development of the films market and piracy of entertainment products. Issues related to the TV industry would have also cropped up as some top Hollywood studios, members of MPAA, spend billions of dollars on products aired on cable and DTH TV networks.

    Interestingly, MPAA has some radical views on various industry-related issues, including cable TV and pricing of channels on an a la carte basis. In a note prepared earlier this year for the Federal Communications Commission (US cable TV regulator), MPAA came out strongly against pricing of TV channels on an a la carte basis, stating that in an a la carte world, the cable networks would have to charge higher subscription revenues and that the a la carte concept is a solution in search of a problem.

    The Reddy schedule certainly did indicate the Indian government was attempting to woo big time investors in the field of media and entertainment. But missing from the list of high-profile meetings was Rupert Murdoch, who should have been anxious to discuss the apparent lack of progress on the Tata-Star DTH licence matter. Or, is it that Murdoch knows something that many Indians do not?

  • GoM to review print sector vis-a-vis FIIs

    GoM to review print sector vis-a-vis FIIs

    NEW DELHI: Giving away a fact that there must have been some internal differences on the matter, the Indian government, today said that a ministerial group will review the whole print medium sector vis-?-vis foreign investments (FII).

    “A group of ministers (GoM) would review the entire print medium sector vis-a-vis publications of foreign journals and newspapers in India and the foreign investment allowed at present,” information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy today told journalists during a briefing of a Cabinet meeting. The I&B ministry had taken some media-related issues to the Union Cabinet, including amendments to an antiquated Press Registration Bureau Act, in the light of the fact that The International Herald Tribune has started publication from India in what the government feels is a breach of the letter and spirit of existing guidelines on the issue.

    Though Reddy made it clear that the proposed GoM is unlikely to have a say in foreign investment norms for the television sector, he did not rule out over turning of the previous government’s decision allowing up to 26 per cent foreign investment in the news category of the print medium and up to 74 per cent in the technical journal category.

    “How can I predict what view the GoM would take? One of the options could be to make the present guidelines (on foreign investment in print medium) more stringent,” he cautiously said.

    The changes in the foreign investment norms in the print medium was brought about in 2002, after hectic lobbying by a section of media companies, by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government. That there were some differences within the Union Cabinet on the issue of amendment in the PRB Act and the IHT case could be seen from the fact the compromise formula was the suggestion on formation of a GoM, rather than okay an I&B ministry proposal, envisaging a slew of changes.

    The GoM, which does not have any time frame for its recommendations at the moment, would look at the print medium sector, violations of guidelines occurring therein and what could be done keeping in mind the changing national and global scenario.

  • Piracy has cost entertainment industry Rs 4 mn

    Piracy has cost entertainment industry Rs 4 mn

    NEW DELHI: Rampant piracy in the entertainment industry has leads to an estimated loss of Rs 4 million annually for the Indian film industry.

    Pointing out that these figures have been provided by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy told Upper House of Parliament yesterday that under the Copyright Act, 1957, which falls under the purview of the ministry of human resource development, infringement of copyright is a cognisable offence.

    The government, from time to time, receives representations from the film industry, regarding the need for strict action against piracy.

    The responsibility of dealing with offences the Copyright Act rests with the police authorities of the state government and the Union Territory administration. Copyright Enforcement Cells have been set up in most of the states/Union Territories headed by a senior police officer to deal with such offences. No data is maintained centrally by the government regarding the number of video piracy cases reported, the minister said.

    Film industry to grow at 18 per cent:

    In reply to another question, quoting Ficci figures, Reddy said that the film industry in India is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 18 per cent to gross Rs 101million by the year 2008.

    Gross industry revenues over a period of 1999 to 2001 have also recorded an increase. The industry recorded a loss in 2002. However, the total revenues of the industry increased to Rs 45 million in 2003. According to the Ficci report, the minister said, Indian diaspora across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and North America is conservatively estimated at 20 million. The underlying potential of the film industry to earn foreign exchange is linked to the effective reach of Indian films to these viewers, as also its visibility in global markets.

    According to information received from the Film Federation of India (FFI), year-wise break-up of foreign exchange earned by the film industry during the last three years is as follows:

    Year Amount
    2000-2001 Rs 4.5 billion
    2001-2002 Rs 9 billion
    2002-2003 Rs 10.4 billion
  • Broadcasters discuss investment caps with Reddy

    Broadcasters discuss investment caps with Reddy

    NEW DELHI: The present Congress-led coalition Indian government has an “open mind” on news on FM radio and foreign investment cap in news and DTH ventures. However, it is not in a hurry to revisit any existing guidelines on these issues.

    This was the broad message that information and broadcasting minister S Jaipal Reddy conveyed to the members of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), an apex body of broadcasting companies operating in India, during an informal interaction over dinner here yesterday.

    Though the issue of foreign investment cap in direct-to-home (DTH) and news ventures were brought up by some members of the IBF, which is a divided house on these two matters, at least, Reddy made it clear that in matters relating to media laws, India need not be guided by examples of any particular country.

    “We have an open mind (on issues relating to foreign investment caps in media). However, if someone has any particular suggestion in this regard, he is welcome to submit them to the ministry,” Reddy is said to have conveyed to IBF members.

    The minister, according to some of those present during the dinner, also directed one of his bureaucrats to compile – how many times such an exercise would be undertaken? – media ownership and cross-service laws of various countries like the UK, US, Australia and Japan so that India can have the best of the world.

    Those who were present at the dinner included I&B ministry officials, senior representatives of Doordarshan, All India Radio, Sahara TV, Star India, Zee Telefilms, Enadu and IBF executives. Interestingly, Star News president Ravina Raj Kohli, who is said to have put in her papers, according to
    reports in a certain section of the media, was also in attendance.

    Another issue that was brought up by IBF members during the interaction with the I&B minister, who still seems to be in a “learning” mode, was that of service tax and how a certain leading FMCG company has been steadfastly resisting inclusion of service tax in the release order for advertisements.

    Reddy’s intervention was also sought in the matter of high customs duty on import of broadcast equipment, which, according to some, adds to the high investment levels in the broadcast and cable industry.

    It was also pointed out to the minister that the difference in customs duties in the telecom and broadcast sectors was sizeable and that both the sectors should be brought at par. Especially when broadcast and cable services have been redesignated as telecom services after a notification to this effect was issued by the previous government while making Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) the sector regulator.

    At present, while imports of telecom equipment attract customs duty of around 5 per cent, those for the broadcasting sector range between 20-30 per cent.

    Reddy did not make promises, but said he would discuss these taxation issues with his “friend (PC) Chidambaram,” the finance minister.

  • Ambani, Jain and Purie to meet Reddy

    Ambani, Jain and Purie to meet Reddy

    NEW DELHI: Is it action time in the media? If the meetings that have been lined up for information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy today are any indication, then it seems things are warming up in the media cup.

    From an hour from now, Reddy is meeting a delegation of media barons, including Bennett, Coleman & Co. MD Vineet Jain and The India Today Group’s chief editor and promoter Aroon Purie.

    Later in the evening, around 5.30 pm, Reddy is scheduled to meet Reliance group chairman Mukesh Ambani.

    Though ministry officials are tight-lipped about these two particular meetings, terming them as “courtesy calls”, it is expected that Jain, Purie and others would be discussing the issue of licence fee for private radio FM players with Reddy.

    The I&B ministry has demanded payment of the annual licence fee from the private FM radio operators, which became payable on 30 April. The deadline has been now extended.

    With a Reliance company, Reliance Infocomm, becoming aggressive on the broadband sector, which would also involve the I&B ministry, apart from the department of telecommunications, it would be interesting what the Ambani scion has to discuss with Reddy.