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Tag: Roop Sharma

  • Neo Sports challenges Trai decision on price cut for its sports channels

    Neo Sports challenges Trai decision on price cut for its sports channels

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal today asked Trai to explain by 7 February the basis of its decision to slash the bouquet prices of Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus channels’ from Rs 58.50 to Rs 37.25, on which the channels had filed an appeal.

    The channels’ contentions were on several grounds, especially that “sports” cannot be treated as a “genre” for fixing of price.

    The counsel for the channels argued at TDSAT today, that “sports” cannot be treated as a genre as a method of fixing a channel’s price because there are sports channels and sports channels.

    The channels said that there were huge differentials between the pricing of various sports channels, and that these differentials stem from the rights to cricket properties. Neo Sports channels presented its case saying that it had rights of almost two-third of the assured cricketing properties involving India, till 2010. These properties have a tremendous revenue generating potential and also have to be bought at massive prices, hence the higher prices, the channels argued.

    Trai had argued earlier that fixing of prices for channels of the same “genre”, which is one of the key factors as per the Trai principal Tariff Order’s clause 3, does not allow Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus to fix their prices higher than those fixed for channels of the same genre of sports, like Star Sports and ESPN.

    Based on these arguments Trai last week had ordered a slashing of the prices of the two Nimbus channels to the levels of Star Sports and ESPN, that is, Rs 5 in Cas areas in the three metros, and Rs 37.25 otherwise.

    While Nimbus has questioned the authority of Trai to fix the price, it has also pointed out to the tribunal that the price of sports channels range from Rs 10 for Zee Sports, to Rs 42.50 for ESPN, with Ten Sports at Rs 14 falling in between.

    This shows a 400 per cent difference in pricing for channels of the same genre: sports, which, Nimbus has contended, goes against Trai’s own argument, which is the basis of the decision to slash Nimbus’ pricing.

    MSOs and cable operators refused comment, since the matter has become sub-judice. Roop Sharma, president of Cable Operators Federation of India, which had in the first instance filed the case against Nimbus originally, said they would respond to the notice when the time comes.

  • Trai slashes Nimbus bouquet price by Rs 21.25

    Trai slashes Nimbus bouquet price by Rs 21.25

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed Nimbus Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd to reduce the price of its two channels by Rs 21.25 to Rs 37.25. Nimbus had priced the bouquet at Rs 58.50.

    The regulator has asked Nimbus to furnish a report of compliance within seven days from the date of receipt of this direction. The directive was issued yesterday.

    Reacting to the decision, Nimbus officials have told Indiantelevision.com that they would be filing a challenge to Trai’s directive before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

    Trai ordered this in relation to a complaint filed by Cable Operators’ Federation of India, after reviewing the prices charged by other broadcasters in the the same genre, that is, sport.

    In the Cas (Conditional access system) areas, Nimbus will have to stick to Trai’s tariff order where a la carte channels can be priced at a maximum of Rs 5.

    A clearly jubilant Cable Operators’ Federation of India president Roop Sharma told Indiantelevision.com that “this was a great decision as customers were being fleeced.”

    Trai has held that the decision was based on Clause 3 of its principal Tariff Order relating to charges, and said that Nimbus’ contentions were irrelevant especially because review of the prices charged by channels of the same genre showed that these are much less.

    Nimbus had argued that the prices for its two channels, Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus, were higher than those of other sports channels because their content, composition and structure were different than such other rival sports channels.

    Trai in its decision observed that clause 3 of the principal Tariff Order specifies that the charges, excluding taxes, payable by (a) Cable subscribers to cable operator; (b) Cable Operators to multi system operators / broadcasters (including their authorised distribution agencies); and (c) Multi System operators to broadcasters(including their authorised distribution agencies) prevalent as on the 26th December 2003 shall be the ceiling with respect to both free-to-air and pay channels.

    Tra said that basically, channels of the same genre are required to charge the same price and this is a reasonable basic for fixing of prices.

    But the “thrust of the arguments of Nimbus does not bring out facts, which would justify a higher price being charged by them for its said sports channels as compared with other similar channels of the same genre”, Trai observed.

    The regulator compared the prices charged by Star Sports and ESPN and said that after due consideration, it has decided that Nimbus would have to slash the rate by Rs 21.25.

    Trai said that the argument that the prices charged were based on composition, content and structure of a sports channel did not hold ground.

    “Being business decisions, these may undergo a change in view of changing perception of the market and other perceptions, and such changes will not have a bearing on deciding the similarity of channels, as required under clause 3B, so long as the genre of the channel does not get altered on account of such changes,” Trai said.

    Trai observed that even in the case of Nimbus’ own two channels, Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus, which were different in their respective compositions, contents and structures “both the said sports channels are having the same price”.

    “This shows that the broadcaster has not resorted to differential pricing even where composition, content and structure are different,” Trai observed.

    Commenting on the Trai directive WWIL senior executive vice president Arvind Mohanl said, “This is a seminal order and will go a long way to ease the burden on consumers.”

  • ‘A revolutionary year that was also one of the government’s total failure to control the broadcasters’

    ‘A revolutionary year that was also one of the government’s total failure to control the broadcasters’

    After working for decades on the analogue system, 2007 was a huge learning year. Whether from the regulator or from the ministry’s side, or from the Prime Minister’s Office, this was a revolutionary year.

    The major thing, of course, was the implementation of CAS, though implementation was partial, but this implementation was a slap on the face of people who put in all their efforts to derail it. More than anyone else, even more than the broadcasters, the ones who tried their level best to stop CAS were the distributors of the MSOs.

    Broadcasters and distributors both lose out if CAS comes in, and the broadcasters are hit because they are earning both from subscription as well as advertisement, and now SMS revenue stream.

    One of the ugliest efforts for derailing CAS this year was the press conference and the false survey report shown by a section of the NGO called VOICE. They said 70 per cent of the CAS subscribers wanted to go back to the old ways, but now it is clear that the so-called survey had been sponsored by a broadcaster and everyone knows who that is.

    It is the advertisers who would have gained because as of now they do not know where their money is going and where they should actually put that in, and SMS in CAS regime would tell the real story. This is why various advertiser groups have come in support of Cas.

    From the content side, again this was a very important year. The viewers were very unhappy with news content and the government tried to do something but eventually failed.

    All these news broadcasters are launching channels every day not to inform the people but to have more and more power, sometimes using that power to blackmail politicians and officials. There is an attempt to capture the media and have clout. If they were serious news people, then one broadcaster would not launch two or three news channels. They are also now launching regional news channels because they want to capture power area-wise and rule there. Apart from earning money, they want to control the mindset of the people.

    The government’s attempts to control these news channels failed miserably because the channels formed a strong lobby against the Content Code suggested by the government. This shows that the government is able to control only the farmer or the last mile operator, the cablewallah. Because as per the Cable Act, only the LMO will be targeted, whether it is for programming content that is unacceptable or the advertisements shown, over which last mile has no control.

    The LMOs do not have too much money, so they lose out in courts because they cannot hire top lawyers, and they cannot lobby with the government because they are not always qualified people or have a political clout. That is why they are the least heard, but this year, that is one big thing that has happened: the government, whether in the ministry or Telecom Regulatory Authority have at least started hearing us. I will tell you how.

    One of the most dangerous things that happened in this year is the total vertical integration of companies who have a finger in all the pies, being broadcasters, running MSOs, getting into DTH, IPTV and mobile TV. The government has failed to take steps against this monopolisation. Their officers are trying but the politicians are not allowing this.

    But two very important positives things happened this year, and if we have not started running, we have taken a few right steps. We are trying to control the broadcasters through some NGOs, and the government has started listening to us. They may not be doing much, but they are surely listening.

    One is the Content Code, and the second is digitalisation, which will help people watch more and more channels. The PMO has formed a committee on digitalisation. The other good thing is that the I&B ministry is trying its best to bring down the duties on the equipment, though finance ministry is not in a mood to listen.

  • Demands for channel price ceilings to be extended to non-CAS areas

    Demands for channel price ceilings to be extended to non-CAS areas

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: An immediate fallout of the Trai mandated Rs 5 for all pay channels in CAS areas is that demands have started surfacing from various quarters to regulate prices in non-CAS areas as well.

    “CAS should be beneficial for consumers and we hope that it is extended to other parts of the country soon, rather than being restricted to small areas of Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. This way, cable TV prices can be regulated,” Col SN Aggarwal, head of the Delhi-based consumer organization Voice, said today, while briefing newspersons.

    Aggarwal told Indiantelevision.com that prices of pay channels should be brought down in non-CAS areas as well since both “broadcasters and cable operators are fleecing consumers.”
    As per a Delhi High Court mandated understanding between the government and broadcast industry, CAS is scheduled to be rolled out in the south zones of Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai from the midnight of 31 December 2006.

    Voice, which had been an active participant in the CAS debate, has also demanded that the government should make rules that force pay channels either to air programmes without any advertisement or become free to air.

    Aggarwal’s comments were echoed in a “non-CAS city” like Pune as well. Sudhakar Velankar, president of Grahak Panchayat, a Pune-based consumer forum, welcomed the Trai diktat saying, “We are in active negotiation with the MSOs to voluntarily adopt CAS for the consumers’ benefit.”

    Meanwhile, independent cable operators in non-CAS areas have slowly started realizing that low prices in notified areas would result in disparity in pricing, leading to discontent amongst general consumers.

    Cable Operators’ Federation of India president Roop Sharma today said that a meeting has been scheduled next week with Trai chairman Nripendra Misra, wherein a demand for extending the CAS regime to other areas would be made.

    “Prices in non-CAS areas too, need to be regulated and lowered and this would be our agenda at the meeting with the Trai chairperson,” says Sharma, adding that her organization would speak on the behalf of small cable operators in non-CAS areas.

    That independent cable ops in non-CAS areas are making demands for pay channels to lower their prices is evident from what several broadcasters said today.

    “I have got several calls from cable operators saying that we should shed our channel prices to bring them at par with Trai stated prices for CAS areas,” a broadcaster, controlling several pay entertainment channels, said.

    In Mumbai, Cable Operators & Distributors Association (Coda) president Ganesh Naidu says he wants CAS to be pushed not just in Mumbai but also across India. According to Naidu, “The new rates issued by Trai should be awarded to all consumers, rather than just restricting it only to certain sections of society. Unlike in the past, we are fully in support of CAS now that there is à la carte pricing of pay channels (something the cable fraternity has long been asking for).”

    Simultaneously, a divided broadcasting community is trying to come to terms with the “ridiculously low” prices.

    A sports broadcaster admitted that amongst the several options there is also one that envisages non-supply of its channels in CAS areas if the government refuses to budge on the Rs 5 per subscriber for any ay channel diktat.

    “It’s a fundamental decision to be taken. There is certainly an option to let go of the CAS notified areas and suffer the loss rather than bear the ignominy of investing huge amounts of money in programming and getting paid peanuts as subscription, which would upset the whole business model,” the broadcaster said.

    Still, the regulator feels such threats could only be addressed when it finally becomes a reality. “Trai would address the issue (of blackout of pay channels in CAS areas) when it is brought to it. Till now, no broadcaster has told us that it will switch off channels in CAS areas,” a Trai official told Indiantelevision.com.

    There are valid reasons for the Trai official being so sanguine about the “blackout threat”. According to another broadcast executive Indiantelevision.com spoke to, non-supply of channels “is not an option”. The executive pointed out that the new downlink policy allowed the government enough powers to cancel the broadcast licence of anyone it deemed as being out of line.

    So what are the options before the broadcasters? There are only two, he says. “Accept the Trai diktat or else fight it out in court.” No prizes for guessing the course the channels will be taking.

  • No final solution on CAS rollout; call for channel MRP

    No final solution on CAS rollout; call for channel MRP

    NEW DELHI: CAS or conditional access system is near and still so far.

    While multi system operators (MSOs) and a section of independent cable operators today demanded that broadcasters come out with subscription rates for individual channels, instead of for a bouquet of channels, for smooth implementation of CAS in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, pay broadcasters said they would consider the option.

    At a time when a demand was also made that the government try put a maximum retail price (MRP) on pay channels, the information and broadcasting ministry said that it would wait for detailed feedback before making such a move.

    A day-long interaction to sort out various issues involved with implementation of CAS (as mandated by a Delhi court) saw stakeholders, including MSOs, cable operators, broadcasters, sector regulator Trai and consumer organisations present their stand to the government.

    According to a representative of a stakeholder present during the meeting, which lasted over eight hours, the discussions were “positive”, but marred by “contradictory opinions from the cable industry”.

    Even as a demand from a section of the cable industry that pay broadcasters come out with a la carte prices for smooth rollout of CAS was made, certain last mile cable operators from Mumbai sounded skeptical on addressability.

    Some of the broadcasters raised objections to the demand on a la carte pricing saying TV channels, if priced on individually, would be expensive compared to the bouquet cost.

    And, while most participants in the meeting, called by the government, felt that CAS is inevitability and should be rolled out, some consumer organizations felt that addressability could be introduced as long as it didn’t put additional burden on the consumers.

    Rather, the consumer organisations went to the extent of saying that introduction of CAS should not result in increase of price of cable services from the present, which range anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 500, depending on the type of deals that have been struck with the local cable operators.

    According to some people who attended the meeting, at one point of time the government representative — I&B secretary SK Arora — chastised the cable industry for indulging in double-speak on introduction of CAS vis-à-vis carriage fee.

    However, the government has convened a meeting on Friday again to take stock of the feedback from the industry stakeholders when the sequence of the rollout of CAS is likely to be given a final shape. Provided the government doesn’t go in for an appeal against the Delhi High Court order that is.

    Those who attended the meeting included Trai’s broadcast in-charge Rakesh Kacker, Zee’s Jawahar Goel, Roop Sharma from Cable Operators Federation of India, independent cable ops from Delhi and Mumbai like Vikki Chowdhry and MSO Alliance’s Ashok Mansukhani, apart from representatives from the IBF, Star, Sony and consumer organisations.

    “We also informed the government that CAS was being implemented in the notified areas and we were giving attractive schemes to the consumers for possession of set-top boxes (STBs),” Press Trust of India quoted Roop Sharma as saying. Chowdhry went to the extent of saying that the pay broadcasters were “clearly on the back foot” in the meeting.