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Tag: Sports Broadcasting Signals

  • Against all odds, Prasar Bharati continues to swim upstream : Brigadier V A M Hussain Member (Personnel) Prasar Bharati

    Against all odds, Prasar Bharati continues to swim upstream : Brigadier V A M Hussain Member (Personnel) Prasar Bharati

    An institution that has been the chronicler and mirror of India‘s history is feeling crippled. With a tenacious CEO under a dynamic Minister of Information & Broadcasting, it is striving to reinvent itself to meet the challenges of contemporary media scenario. Many new experiments are on to change the behemoth called Prasar Bharati that cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 150 crore every month. This public service media organisation is one of the oldest statutory bodies with a hoary past. It is under siege and calls for expeditious intervention to revive the glory of the old faithful that is All India Radio. Doordarshan, the audio-visual arm of Prasar Bharati is always in the public eye with viewers asking for more sumptuous and scintillating fare.

    The Organisation is saddled with a disgruntled work force of about 50,000 who did not get a promotion for decades. To make matters worse, there was no attempt to infuse new blood in the system, either. An out-of-the-box solution is inescapable to break shackles of archaic regulation. The definition of autonomy needs to be revisited to meet the upheavals on the audio- visual landscape, in recent years. Section 33 of the Prasar Bharati Act directs prior government approval for all regulations governing conditions of service. Every employee appointed before October 2007 is considered a government servant on deemed deputation and their promotion is in government ambit. Instead of being a nimble, vibrant media organisation driven by merit, seniority and ‘babudom’ rule the roost. Proposal for a Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board as mandated by the Act of Parliament vide Sections 9 and 10 of The Prasar Bharati Act 1990 is gathering dust in files while government persisted in stalling promotions and new recruitments for two decades now. In effect, Prasar Bharati is like a ship caught in the turbulent waters in the mid sea with none to care on the shore for the SOS of the ship-wrecked crew. Merit and flexible structures are essential for a dynamic and extremely competitive media sector. Meeting the content needs of 750 million people through regional and national infra structure and boosting DTH and terrestrial audience are complex challenges, CEO Jawhar Sircar faces, along with ‘Sarkar‘, the real power.

    A recent experiment showed how independence in Prasar Bharati can make an impact. A truly independent team with young professionals in DD News prime time has rattled the industry with ratings showing an upswing.
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    A recent experiment showed how independence in Prasar Bharati can make an impact. A truly independent team with young professionals in DD News prime time has rattled the industry with ratings showing an upswing. Doordarshan launched a big advertising campaign for the revamped time bands of DD News, DD National and DD Urdu. This was the first such campaign in decades. A little more attention and circumspection are needed at AIR too which got maligned unfortunately by recent media reports of alleged harassment of its women Radio Jockeys. It is staring at a PIL now. FM Gold channel, with practically no permanent staff, earns substantial revenue for the entire AIR network while private FM channels are yearning for popularity with smart young professionals even in small towns and villages. The recently appointed Sam Pitroda Committee has set itself tasks suggesting visible changes for reviving Prasar Bharati. There is a wealth of data and content in archives that can propel AIR to the top of the charts. The expert groups are offering many practical suggestions and initiatives on many fronts including technology, content management, financial independence, government relations and human resources. Dr. Pitroda believes that generational change can be brought about by radical thinking instead of mere cosmetic changes.

    The financial situation continues to be precarious for Prasar Bharati with complex legacies. An unprepared bureaucracy opted for accrual system of accounting and enforced income tax while loans in perpetuity and penal interests soared.The government rescued Prasar Bharati by writing off large sums due as segment hiring and space spectrum charges incurred in the course of broadcasting mandated content, non commercial in nature. Income tax claims stand withdrawn while local bodies continue levying the public broadcaster with huge taxes on property of Union of India but Prasar Bharati has just been permitted use of the government emblem. This is a paradox since 50,000 salaried employees of government are using these assets for functions statutorily assigned by an Act of Parliament. Welcome initiatives of the GOM relieved Prasar Bharati from its financial crystal maze for now by converting loans in perpetuity as grants.

    The need of the hour is to professionalise Prasar Bharati with content-driven channels and professional-driven management owing total allegiance to Prasar Bharati to meaningfully accomplish objectives that were originally dreamt and scripted by the authors of an autonomous public service broadcaster. The dream is worth realising.
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    Apprehensions often raised on the need for a government-funded national public broadcaster are ill-founded. We need an unbiased institution to bench mark initiatives on information, education and entertainment. At the same time, the government needs a media window to show case its policies, initiatives and views by running its own video and audio channels. Government staffing of DD News and AIR News Service Division through Indian Information Service is controlled by the Ministry. The easiest course would be to sever the current nebulous association with Prasar Bharati and declare them government channels on the lines of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TVs and leave Prasar Bharati to professionalise with autonomy.

    The efforts of the government to empower through The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007 get breached frequently. Private business houses that own broadcasting rights of World Cricket tours use pre-embedded feeds of commercials and cause losses in hundreds of crore to Doordarshan. Expeditious amendments would help Prasar Bharati and the government. Despite its huge work force, Prasar Bharati has inadequate structure of professionals managing its own security, assets, property, content, new media, revenue and marketing at the highest levels. The need of the hour is to professionalise Prasar Bharati with content-driven channels and professional-driven management owing total allegiance to Prasar Bharati to meaningfully accomplish objectives that were originally dreamt and scripted by the authors of an autonomous public service broadcaster. The dream is worth realising.

    Will the Committee of Sam Pitroda be able to persuade the government to truly empower Prasar Bharati? On thoughts like this, we often remember Baba Amte’s saying “Faith is the promise of tomorrow” while the swimming upstream by Prasar Bharati continues.

  • Provision for penalty for defaulting channels in new telecast ordinance

    Provision for penalty for defaulting channels in new telecast ordinance

    NEW DELHI: Television channels that fail to comply by the ordinance promulgated late last week for compulsory sharing of live feeds with the national broadcaster Prasar Bharati would have to pay a penalty up to Rs 10 million and also face possible revocation or suspension of license.

    The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance 2007 promulgated on February three has retrospective affect from 11 November, 2005 when the government had issued its guidelines for downlinking of TV channels. The Uplinking Guidelines had been issued on December 12, 2005. It has also been stipulated that no action no action of the government would be challenged in any court of law.
    With the Guidelines coming in the ambit of the Ordinance which is expected to be replaced by an Act of Parliament in the ensuing Budget session, the government has taken upon itself the powers to enforce them with retrospective effect. The guidelines are already the subject matter of the petition in the Delhi High Court by Nimbus Communications on the Indo-West Indies series telecast. Nimbus, which owns Neo Sports channel, had expressed apprehensions that the government may resort to coercive methods for share their exclusive.

    The ordinance also provides for a revenue sharing formula between private and public broadcasters. Advertisement sharing between private and the public broadcasters would be in the ratio of 75:25 in case of TV coverage in favour of the rights holder and 50:50 in case of radio coverage.

    Meanwhile, Neo Sports yesterday announced live telecast of the India-Sri Lanka one-day international cricket series for the Hero Honda Cup starting in Kolkata tomorrow with the Hindi feed on Neo Sports Plus. Neo Sports also announced a cricket show called Extra Cover, a pacy pre, mid and post the live match on Neo Sports plus, featuring some of the games’ stalwarts like Javagal Srinath, Dean Jones and Arjuna Ranatunga.

    Of the four match series, the first tie at Kolkata will be telecast from 1 pm to 11:30 pm, while the three other matches at Rajkot on 11 February, at Margao on 14 February and in Vishakhapatnam on 17 February will be telecast live from 7:30 am to 6 pm.

    Neo sports holds the rights to all the international and domestic matches played in India . This is in addition to 67 per cent rights of all confirmed international cricket series featuring the Indian team till March 2010.

    All India Radio will also broadcast live commentary of all the matches alternatively in Hindi and English. The commentary can be heard between 1400 and 2230 hrs for the first ODI in Kolkata, while it would be broadscast between 0830 to 1730 hrs for all the other three matches.

    Earlier this week, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi indicated it was also contemplating action to ensure that private broadcasters gave good quality feed to Doordarshan. When asked what kind of action was contemplated, the Minister said on the sidelines of the Editors Conference on Social Sectors: ”When you do something, do not reveal what you are doing.”

    He denied the charge that private broadcasters were losing in business by sharing sports feed with the Doordarshan.

    The Ordinance was resorted to as Nimbus refused to share live footage of the just concluded India-West Indies cricket series with public broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio. However, Doordarshan was permitted to show a seven-minute deferred telecast and All India Radio was allowed running live commentary following an order by the Delhi High Court.

    After promulgation of the ordinance, Nimbus which holds exclusive rights to broadcast all international matches to be held in India until 2010 will have to share live feeds of all cricket matches to be played in the country with Prasar Bharati, besides sharing advertisement revenue from joint feeds.

    Furthermore, the ordinance will help millions of viewers across the country having the facility of only terrestrial or free-to-air channels to enjoy live sports events of national and international importance.

    Talks between Nimbus, which holds the rights given by the Board for Control of Cricket in India and Prasar Bharati broke down just a day before the India-West Indies cricket series was to begin on January 21. Nimbus had refused to permit the signals to be shown on any DTH platform and said the signals would have to be encrypted.

    Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has already filed an appeal against the order of the single bench of the High Court, and it is expected to come up for hearing late next week.

    The issue of sharing feed with Doordarshan and All India Radio has been controversial from the beginning, with private sports broadcasters arguing that it was unfair to them as it would affect their revenue. They contend that telecast rights are obtained at the expense of large amounts and sharing their signals with DD and AIR would make the business less remunerative.

  • HC questions government reasoning in promulgating ordinance

    HC questions government reasoning in promulgating ordinance

    NEW DELHI: Even as the government today said it would challenge any court order favouring Nimbus on deferred telecast, the Delhi High Court questioned the Centre’s reasoning in promulgating the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance.

    (Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati sources confirmed that talks held yesterday between Nimbus and Prasar Bharati over the issue had failed again. Thus, uncertainty prevailed over whether Doordarshan will get live sports feed of the India-Sri Lanka series despite the Ordinance being in force.)

    When the additional solicitor general PP Malhotra informed the court that the government had notified an ordinance making it mandatory for private channels to share the ‘live feed’ of cricket and other international sports events in India with public broadcasters Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), Justice BD Ahmed sought to know why the government was so swift in bringing an ordinance.

    ”The Rule of Law should not have been subverted,” he said. ”It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, when there is a subversion of judicial process,” the Justice observed, while adjourning the matter till tomorrow for further hearing.

    However, the ordinance notified yesterday was not challenged before the court.

    Malhotra said the petition of Nimbus Communications, which owns Neo Sports, should be dismissed as it had challenged the circular of the government to share the live feed under Article 19 of the Constitution as its Fundamental Right.

    Citing judgments of the Supreme Court, Malhotra said it was the fundamental rights of every citizen to view and listen the cricket match or sports events held in the country.

    After submitting copies of the ordinance, Malhotra read out the relevant portions, saying the private channel would have to share live feed with DD and AIR.

    On 23 January, the High Court had in an interim order allowed Prasar Bharati to download the feed of Nimbus Communications and telecast the India-West Indies ODI series in a delayed transmission of seven minutes on Doordarshan (DD) and permitted live commentary on AIR.

    Senior Counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Nimbus Communications, argued the government could not force any private channel to share its live feed as it was against the fundamental rights enumerated in the Constitution.

    Speaking to newspersons early in the morning before the matter came up before the High Court, I&B joint secretary Baijendranath said, ”If such an order comes from court, we will challenge it in the light of the Ordinance which has been promulgated making it mandatory for private broadcasters to share live feeds of important sports events with the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.”

    He said there was a law of the land in force and if any broadcaster violates that it can be punished by various means including a ban.

    Nobody has challenged the ordinance and no court has passed any order in this respect, so its provisions are binding for all, he said.

    The Ordinance that was cleared by the Union Cabinet on 1 February and given Presidential assent late on 2 February has been promulgated from retrospective effect dating back to 11 November, 2005 when the downlinking guidelines had been issued. These guidelines, along with the uplinking guidelines, have now been given statutory status.

  • Cabinet clears decks for must provide law

    Cabinet clears decks for must provide law

    NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet today approved the promulgation of an ordinance making it compulsory for private broadcasters to share the feed of sporting events of national importance (read cricket) with the public broadcaster.

    The move comes in the wake of the refusal by India cricket rights holder Nimbus to share the live feed of recently held matches with national broadcaster Doordarshan.

    Additionally, a Bill will be introduced in the coming Session of Parliament to replace the ordinance by an Act of Parliament.

    “The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 will make it obligatory on every content right owner and TV and Radio broadcasting service provider to share the live telecast signals without its advertisement, for such sporting events as may be prescribed by the Central Government, with the public service broadcasters on such terms and conditions as may be specified,” a posting on the government’s Press Information Bureau website says.

    “This Ordinance would provide access to the largest number of listeners and viewers, on a free to air basis, of sporting events of national importance whether held in India or abroad,” it adds.

    At a briefing this evening, information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi expressed the hope that the ordinance would be notified before the start of the coming India-Sri Lanka series on 8 February, newswire Press Trust of India has reported.

    Nimbus, while welcoming the approval of the ordinance, has threatened to go to court if it would mean telecasting feed on DD’s DTH platform, PTI adds.

    An expert committee has been set up in the I&B ministry to look into the issue of encryption, an official told indiantelevision.com.

    This will have to be sent to the law ministry and their approval procured so that it becomes water tight and face little legal and political challenge, in the court or in Parliament itself, from opposition benches, the official said.

    The Downlinking Guidelines of the government will form the body of the ordinance, though the words will be framed in the form of a statute.

    Sources said that the wording as such is ready and Dasmunsi, who had been incensed with Nimbus getting away with the live telecast of the current ODI series without sharing its live feed with DD, had been the trigger.

    Dasmunsi, however, had to wait to place this with the cabinet and seek its formal announcement. This is what the cabinet today decided: that now there is no option but to go for the harsh measure of promulgating an ordinance.

    The government’s decision will ensure viewers in non-cable houses and radio listeners would receive live feed of Indian team’s one-day matches, wherever it plays. However, for test matches, the government has said live feed would be required only for those matches played in India and highlights would do for the others.

    As a sop to private broadcasters, Dasmunsi has said a technical committee would look into the matter of encrypting the signals being telecast by Doordarshan, which would ensure that the feed is not pirated by broadcasters outside India.

    Earlier in the day, government officials present at the inauguration of the three-day Broadcast Engineering Society Expo 2007 in the capital had told indiantelevision.com that the ministry had come precariously close even earlier to issuing an ordinance ensuring live feed for cricket events in India involving the national team.

    “I think it is because of the court case and ruling on seven minutes delay that the legal experts suggested we don’t go against the ruling, but bring in the bill and settle the issue for once and all, but the anger in the ministry is huge,” a senior official had revealed at the time, naturally asking not to be quoted.

    Giving a not so subtle threat to “broadcasters for not falling in line”, he suggested that this would mean that the minister and the officials may not make it easy for whoever has been hoping for a less ‘draconian’ broadcasting bill.