ITV

Tag: STB

  • Delay in Phase III monetisation likely to disturb profitability of MSOs: ICRA

    Delay in Phase III monetisation likely to disturb profitability of MSOs: ICRA

    MUMBAI: In the cable TV space, in the current fiscal the revenue growth of multiple system operators (MSOs) will remain sensitive to regulatory changes, says ICRA. While lifting of stay orders and consequent discontinuation of analog signals in Phase III markets will remain a key subscription revenue growth driver, any extension with respect to Phase IV deadline (beyond December 31, 2016) will impact the activation revenues.

    With an estimated population of over 60 million households in Phase IV markets, cable TV players do not anticipate any extension in Phase IV deadline. However, the implementation is expected to be along the experience of Phase III, with analog signals being discontinued in a phased manner. Of the analog population in Phase III and Phase IV markets, residual analog subscriber base amongst the top three MSOs stood at ~9.5 million subscribers only (as on March 31, 2016), against a total analog population of over 6 0 million in the country, indicating healthy growth opportunities for DTH operators and regional MSOs. In this direction, DTH operators have introduced lower priced vanilla STBs and channel packages to tap the opportunity in Phase IV markets; however, DD Free Dish is also expected to emerge as a key player in Phase IV, given the price sensitive nature of subscribers.

    “Over the last few years, market leaders in the cable TV space have adopted an inorganic growth strategy for entering new geographies and increasing their subscriber universe, consolidation in the cable TV space is expected to continue as MSOs look at further strengthening their market position in their respective geographies,” says ICRA Ratings SR GVP Subrata Ray.

    While the overall placement revenues are expected to remain buoyant, driven by new channel launches and the inclusion of tier II and tier III markets in audience measurement metrics; some correction on account of the change in the nature of content deals (net of placement revenues) with larger broadcasting networks is anticipated. While the subject of discontinuation of analog signals in Phase III markets remains under litigation, monetisation of the Phase III markets is expected to get deferred by nearly a year before the benefits of the healthy STB seeding, achieved in Phase III markets, start percolating.

    “In view of the potential delays in Phase III monetisation, ability of the MSOs to improve cost efficiencies and ARPUs from Phase I and Phase II markets remains crucial to support the profitability metrics in the current fiscal,” says Ray.

    During this transition phase, the cash accruals of MSOs are expected to improve gradually as incremental capex requirements are likely to remain low.

    “The capex outlay of MSOs over the medium term will be driven towards achieving higher broadband penetration in identified markets; investments in LCO management and improving penetration of value-added services such as HD channels and Video-on-Demand in digitised markets. In addition, replacement capex for STBs seeded in Phase I and Phase II markets will also drive the investment requirements of MSOs over the medium term,” adds Ray.

  • Panel of experts checks possibility of STB inter-operability: TRAI

    Panel of experts checks possibility of STB inter-operability: TRAI

    NEW DELHI: A panel of 12 experts from institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is working on the challenge of overcoming the problem relating to inter-operability of set top boxes (STB). Even though it has already issued a consultation paper on the subject, broadcast regulator Telecom Reguatory Authority of India has still to find solutions for inter-operability of STBs.

    TRAI chairman R S Sharma said inter-operability of STBs was a major programme in the interest of the consumers as this would help consumers get better service from their service providers who would be aware that one can switch to another operator if not satisfied with a service.

    He said he was aware that many felt that it is not possible to have a common STB because of security reasons and the need of broadcasters to keep their content encrypted and safe from piracy.

    “Because it is essentially a technology issue, we have brought on board professors from IITs and other institutions to look at it from a technology perspective,” Sharma said adding that C-DoT is the technology partner in this venture.

    TRAI is attempting to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible, Sharma told a press meet.

    The press meet was held to apprise the media about the spate of consultation papers and other decisions taken by TRAI in recent weeks.  (Earlier, it is learnt by Indiantelevision.com that some broadcasters also called on Sharma to discuss various issues.)

    TRAI officials said while a common STB for cable services may be a bit easier as shown by lab tests, another challenge is bringing STBs which are inter-operable between cable as well DTH operators.

    Another major initiative, for which TRAI has initiated a consultation process in the broadcasting sector is ensuring that the broadcasters share infrastructure. Sharma, said that “learning from the Telecom sector” where competitors also share towers, it is being examined if such a practice can be instilled in the broadcasting sector.

    Referring to sharing of infrastructure by broadcasters as suggested by the regulator in its latest paper, TRAI officials said different broadcasters are using different satellite system to carry the same channels.

    “The idea is whether there is a need to have a different head-end, or different optical fibre network or different satellite system and if we can combine, are we not able to reduce the cost of operations,” a TRAI official said.

    The official said that while broadcasters have been initially “closed” to this idea, they were positive that the idea may yield results as seen from the example in the telecom sector.

    The TRAI official said that are some licensing conditions which do not allow sharing of infrastructure. After consultations, the regulator would work to see that a proper framework can be provided which allows sharing of infrastructure by broadcasters.

    TRAI is also pushing for provision of broadband services through the cable sector, officials added. The regulator is also working to create guidelines for audience measurement for radio and guidelines, officials said.

     

  • Panel of experts checks possibility of STB inter-operability: TRAI

    Panel of experts checks possibility of STB inter-operability: TRAI

    NEW DELHI: A panel of 12 experts from institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is working on the challenge of overcoming the problem relating to inter-operability of set top boxes (STB). Even though it has already issued a consultation paper on the subject, broadcast regulator Telecom Reguatory Authority of India has still to find solutions for inter-operability of STBs.

    TRAI chairman R S Sharma said inter-operability of STBs was a major programme in the interest of the consumers as this would help consumers get better service from their service providers who would be aware that one can switch to another operator if not satisfied with a service.

    He said he was aware that many felt that it is not possible to have a common STB because of security reasons and the need of broadcasters to keep their content encrypted and safe from piracy.

    “Because it is essentially a technology issue, we have brought on board professors from IITs and other institutions to look at it from a technology perspective,” Sharma said adding that C-DoT is the technology partner in this venture.

    TRAI is attempting to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible, Sharma told a press meet.

    The press meet was held to apprise the media about the spate of consultation papers and other decisions taken by TRAI in recent weeks.  (Earlier, it is learnt by Indiantelevision.com that some broadcasters also called on Sharma to discuss various issues.)

    TRAI officials said while a common STB for cable services may be a bit easier as shown by lab tests, another challenge is bringing STBs which are inter-operable between cable as well DTH operators.

    Another major initiative, for which TRAI has initiated a consultation process in the broadcasting sector is ensuring that the broadcasters share infrastructure. Sharma, said that “learning from the Telecom sector” where competitors also share towers, it is being examined if such a practice can be instilled in the broadcasting sector.

    Referring to sharing of infrastructure by broadcasters as suggested by the regulator in its latest paper, TRAI officials said different broadcasters are using different satellite system to carry the same channels.

    “The idea is whether there is a need to have a different head-end, or different optical fibre network or different satellite system and if we can combine, are we not able to reduce the cost of operations,” a TRAI official said.

    The official said that while broadcasters have been initially “closed” to this idea, they were positive that the idea may yield results as seen from the example in the telecom sector.

    The TRAI official said that are some licensing conditions which do not allow sharing of infrastructure. After consultations, the regulator would work to see that a proper framework can be provided which allows sharing of infrastructure by broadcasters.

    TRAI is also pushing for provision of broadband services through the cable sector, officials added. The regulator is also working to create guidelines for audience measurement for radio and guidelines, officials said.

     

  • Govt moots long-term financing for Indian STB manufacturers

    Govt moots long-term financing for Indian STB manufacturers

    NEW DELHI: The government is working on a plan for long-term financing to Indian manufacturers of set top boxes to accelerate digitization of cable television. This information was given by the Information and Broadcasting ministry to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which examines issues relating to I and B.

    The Committee expressed the hope that the ministry will be able to meet the targets of cable TV digitization and recommend that the issues of long term financial support to domestic manufacturers to negate easy procurement of Chinese made STBs need to be looked into and addressed suitably by the Ministry.

    While informing the Committee that just around nineteen manufacturers were manufacturing indigenous STBs, the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) said it can scale up the capacity if there is a demand but for that there is need of government support in creating a level playing field for domestic STB manufacturers to compete with the Chinese imported STBs.

    The Committee was given to understand that as of now there is easy facility for obtaining long-term credit to procure the Chinese STBs and this option is not available in the Indian banking system.

    The ministry claimed that it had declared STBs as part of the telecommunications network equipment and reduction of Value Added Tax on domestically manufactured STBs. An indigenous Conditional Access System (CAS) had been developed which will give further impetus to the domestic STB manufacturers to produce and supply the indigenously manufactured STBs.

    However, the Committee said the ministry may also think in terms of increasing the allocation for Mission Digitization which at present is merely taking care of procedural requirement to support the needs of domestic manufacturers.

    This will not only give a further boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government but also help in employment generation in a big way, the Committee said.

    Noting that digitization of the Cable TV sector in the country is one of the thrust areas of the ministry of I&B during the 12th Five Year Plan, the Committee said a look at the budgetary allocation and utilization of funds during 2015-16 under the Scheme of Mission Digitization showed that the ministry had spent Rs 1.25 crore out of Rs 1.30 crore made available at the Revised Estimate stage. Another Rs 5 crore had been allocated at the Budget Estimate stage for the year 2016-17. 

  • Govt moots long-term financing for Indian STB manufacturers

    Govt moots long-term financing for Indian STB manufacturers

    NEW DELHI: The government is working on a plan for long-term financing to Indian manufacturers of set top boxes to accelerate digitization of cable television. This information was given by the Information and Broadcasting ministry to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which examines issues relating to I and B.

    The Committee expressed the hope that the ministry will be able to meet the targets of cable TV digitization and recommend that the issues of long term financial support to domestic manufacturers to negate easy procurement of Chinese made STBs need to be looked into and addressed suitably by the Ministry.

    While informing the Committee that just around nineteen manufacturers were manufacturing indigenous STBs, the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) said it can scale up the capacity if there is a demand but for that there is need of government support in creating a level playing field for domestic STB manufacturers to compete with the Chinese imported STBs.

    The Committee was given to understand that as of now there is easy facility for obtaining long-term credit to procure the Chinese STBs and this option is not available in the Indian banking system.

    The ministry claimed that it had declared STBs as part of the telecommunications network equipment and reduction of Value Added Tax on domestically manufactured STBs. An indigenous Conditional Access System (CAS) had been developed which will give further impetus to the domestic STB manufacturers to produce and supply the indigenously manufactured STBs.

    However, the Committee said the ministry may also think in terms of increasing the allocation for Mission Digitization which at present is merely taking care of procedural requirement to support the needs of domestic manufacturers.

    This will not only give a further boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government but also help in employment generation in a big way, the Committee said.

    Noting that digitization of the Cable TV sector in the country is one of the thrust areas of the ministry of I&B during the 12th Five Year Plan, the Committee said a look at the budgetary allocation and utilization of funds during 2015-16 under the Scheme of Mission Digitization showed that the ministry had spent Rs 1.25 crore out of Rs 1.30 crore made available at the Revised Estimate stage. Another Rs 5 crore had been allocated at the Budget Estimate stage for the year 2016-17. 

  • Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    NEW DELHI: The biggest challenges for the bureaucrats in the country can be summed up in just a few words: being unprepared, and forced to make compromises.

    Thus, a person taking charge as the head of the bureaucracy in any ministry has to put aside his or her own personal views and get down to translating the decisions of the government and the minister/ministers into action, apart from the fact that he or she may be completely new to the field. And this task becomes even more onerous when there are deadlines to be met in short periods of time.

    Ajay Mittal is taking over the reins of the administrative machinery in the Information and Broadcasting ministry from Sunil Arora who had barely eight months to grapple with problems. Arora joined the Ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio.

    Mittal, is a senior Indian administrative service (IAS) officer of the 1982 batch from the Himachal Pradesh cadre. Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has a Masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the information and public relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary at Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Shimla.

    Now, Mittal has to deal with not only the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country by December-end, but bringing the government out of the morass of legal cases which stayed the implementation of DAS Phase III in many states and have now been transferred to the Delhi high court.

    DAS Phase III

    Even though the deadlines for the last two phases of DAS were changed, the stakeholders were clearly unprepared as they all claimed shortage of compatible set top boxes – a claim which even the ministry could not deny. Expectedly, several high courts stayed implementation for varying periods  
    And although the ministry has succeeded in getting all the cases transferred to the Delhi high court, the fact remains that the ministry had itself admitted in a letter to its counsel in Chandigarh that it understood the stay to be pan-India, until the Supreme Court said nothing in the directive of the Bombay high court implied this.

    With the shortage of compatible set top boxes and little headway despite the incentives offered under the Make in India scheme, the ministry has to find ways to encourage indigenous production. Even at present, a large number of LCOs work with poor quality STBs made in China or other countries.

    Added to that is the fact that a large number of broadcasters, multi system operators, and local cable operators have still to work out their agreements – an issue further complicated by the directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal which wants the tariffs to looked at anew.
     
    In fact, many MSOs or LCOs have also not been able to get the Consumer Application Forms from their clients despite major publicity by the broadcasters.

    It is also a fact that analogue transmission continues in many parts of cities and towns that have gone digital and the government has failed to get the stay of DAS in Chennai vacated.

    The Home ministry had many months earlier made it clear that it was prepared to do away with security clearance for Indian-owned multi-system operators, the I and B Ministry has not yet got the go-ahead, with the result that MSOs are only getting provisional licences and the number of those with ten-year permanent licences remains at 231. The new secretary will have to push the Home ministry if he wants DAS to succeed.

    TRAI

    Although these are issues that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is dealing with, all decisions relating to the broadcasting sector can only be effective if there is proper coordination between the regulator and the ministry. This effectively means there has to be a quick response to any issues that either of the two raises to the other, if deadlines have to be met.

    Other issues pending before TRAI relating to broadcasting include the need to reconsider the foreign direct investment norms for media, shortage of spectrum, a growing demand by states seeking permissions to start their own television channels despite the TRAI having opined against it twice since 2008, and the imperative to work on the tariff issues for commercial and non-commercial set-ups following directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.

    Although broadcasting duties were handed over to TRAI just over a decade earlier, it is also clear that the ministry will have to consider whether there is need to form a broadcasting-specific body since TRAI is primarily a body set up for the telecom sector. If the Government decides to continue with TRAI handling both portfolios, the regulator will be under pressure from the I and B Ministry to strengthen its broadcasting team and also ensure greater coordination among officers in both broadcasting and telecom.    

    With convergence of technologies becoming a reality, and with issues of spectrum already bringing telecom and broadcasting together, the National Democratic Alliance Government has again begun to talk about convergence and this is bound to gather pace over the next two years.

    Spectrum

    The Defence Ministry has in principle agreed to hand over some spectrum and swap some other spectrum, and TRAI has also worked on the process of auctioning the available spectrum and given out reserve prices, the whole process is caught up in bureaucratic wrangles as it involves the Telecom ministry. If the I and B ministry wants to continue with its policy of ensuring there are no caps on the number of television, FM radio channels, or direct-to-home (DTH) Headed in the sky (HITS) platforms in the country, the issue of spectrum will need early solution.

    FM Radio Auctions

    When the last secretary Sunil Arora took over, the government was in the midst of the first stage of auctions of the FM Radio e-auction which only covered cities which already have FM but there were some vacancies. Learning from the experiences where there were no bids in 13 of the 69 cities, the government has now decided to revise the guidelines for the e-auction. The new secretary may have to find ways of either lowering the reserve price for those cities or finding other incentives before the next stage of e-auction.

    The fact that the cumulative winnings from the channels auctioned so far has exceeded the reserve price by more 100 per cent is undoubtedly a matter of great satisfaction, but some cities failing to attract bidders is an irritant.

    Ad Cap

    The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 was clear that the advertising cap should be twelve minutes an hour, but television channels went to court because many – particularly the news channels most of which are free to air – said they had no other source of income unlike the pay channels. But the ministry is already doing a rethink as admitted by the ministry as well as the News Broadcasters Association.

    This rethink is probably because the I and B minister had said early this last year that he was opposed to ad caps on the print or electronic media, and because the free-to-air channels (most of which are news channels) have already expressed their opposition to this. TRAI had failed to get permission to take action against television channels violating its diktat of a total of 12 minutes of commercial and promotional advertisements every hour, though all broadcasters were asked to keep records of this by the Delhi High Court.

    Spread of FM Radio vs DRM

    The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium feels that All India Radio has done the most in terms of digitization of radio. AIR has in fact spent crores of rupees on the digitized Digital Radio Mondiale. But Prasar Bharati feels that Frequency Modulation which is an analogue technology should be promoted until the nation is ready for digital radio sets.

    The ministry can resolve this issue only if it can ensure adequate manufacture at affordable process of DRM sets under the Make in India programme. Until then, this continues to be a thorn in the already dicey relations between the public service broadcaster and the ministry. The fact remains that there are just one or two manufacturers of DRM sets and these have also been successfully demonstrated in moving cars, but they remain unaffordable.

    Community Radio

    More than a decade has elapsed since the introduction of community radio, but the number of operational stations is still very low. To boost this sector, the government introduced a new scheme last year for funding community radio and has also been giving away awards, but bureaucratic wrangles continue to hold up the smooth implementation of this scheme.

    Prasar Bharati and the Ministry

    On paper, the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 is clear that the pubcaster is autonomous. However, in reality this appears to the contrary.

    On the one hand, a group of ministers had decided as a measure to help the pubcaster that persons employed as on 5 October 2007 will get the salary and pension from government funds. For employees who joined after that date, Prasar Bharati was left to fend for itself.

    In any case, Prasar Bharati is listed as an autonomous company under the ministry.

    This means – and it appears so even from the manner in which questions relating to the pubcaster are answered in parliament – that there is dispute on what real autonomy is. Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar – a former bureaucrat himself – feels the government does not give him full freedom and there is interference at every level and has said so either in speeches or in articles by him or others in the pubcaster.

    Journalists on the parliamentary beat are often flabbergasted by the fact that when it suits the government, a reply will say that the pubcaster is an autonomous body, and yet there has been the intervention of the government even in appointments in Prasar Bharati.

    While there is generally full autonomy as far as content goes, there are allegedly checks and balances placed by the government in administrative matters.

    In a new development that has in principle been accepted by the government, Prasar Bharati, which has been losing revenue and viewership, has decided to auction prime time slots – perhaps inspired by the success of the e-auctions of slots on the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform DD Freedish, or the FM auctions.

    Freedish

    Even though the auctions have been extremely successful and the pubcaster not only got two or three times the reserve price per slot, but even managed to get at least two pay channels to come as FTA, it has still not been able to switch over from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to enable it to increase the number to 112 as promised over the last three to four years.

    Foreign Direct Investment

    The TRAI had given its recommendations for an increased FDI in many sectors of the media in a report in July 2013. Although there was some change by the government earlier this year, it has still not implemented the FDI report of TRAI in full.

    Security Clearance

    While the Home ministry has decided it is doing away with security clearance for MSOs, it has not taken a decision as far television channels are concerned. And while the issue relating to foreign ownership can be understood, the denial of security clearance to Sun TV and its affiliated MSOs continues to flummox everyone in the media. It is generally felt that an accused is not guilty till proved, but the Home ministry – and the I and B ministry – appear to have decided that the Maran brothers should be denied security clearance despite the fact that the cases against them have no relation to the security of the country, and are in fact an incursion n the freedom of the media. Even the Supreme Court while permitting Sun group companies to take part in the FM auction said so.

    Paid News

    It is now almost five years since the issue of paid news became the talk of the town. The Press Council of India set up a committee which even gave recommendations, and a Parliamentary Panel and the Election Commission also wanted some steps to be taken to stop this. But there has been no tangible action so far.

    Film Industry

    The film industry has been raising similar issues year after year. As far as taxation issues were concerned, it was hoped that the Goods and Services Tax when implemented will help. But the way the matter is stuck in parliament forces the industry to just wait and watch.

    Entertainment tax is another issue on which there has been no unanimity and states have different taxes. A proposal about a decade earlier for bringing cinema into the Concurrent List of the Constitution might have solved the problem, but most states opposed the idea. Perhaps the only positive move has been that service tax or cess on entertainment tax has been done away with.

    In a country producing around one thousand feature films every year apart from the large number of films from overseas, the country still suffers from an acute shortage of theatres, with the number less than 11,000. With the high rates of ticketing charged by the multiplexes, the average cinegoer is denied of the pleasure of seeing a film in a cinema hall.

    All attempts to curb video piracy appear to have failed because the film industry and the government have failed to work together to curb the menace, which means huge losses for the makers of bold films unless there are big stars to lure the audiences.

    The Film Museum has been in the planning and making for more than a decade, but it does not appear that the Museum planned for 2013 to coincide with a centenary of cinema will seek the light of day for at least a couple of more years.

    The Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects

    For almost ten years, minister after minister has promised to set up a Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects, and Hyderabad and Bangalore have even claimed that they have the right ambience for such a centre.

    But indications are coming that it will be established in the Film City in Goregaon in Mumbai, a decision that may not be digestible to studios of animation and VFX in cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore.

    Clearly, the new secretary has a difficult task ahead, moving on a road that is not without political or bureaucratic potholes that can hold up even his best intentions.

     

  • Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    NEW DELHI: The biggest challenges for the bureaucrats in the country can be summed up in just a few words: being unprepared, and forced to make compromises.

    Thus, a person taking charge as the head of the bureaucracy in any ministry has to put aside his or her own personal views and get down to translating the decisions of the government and the minister/ministers into action, apart from the fact that he or she may be completely new to the field. And this task becomes even more onerous when there are deadlines to be met in short periods of time.

    Ajay Mittal is taking over the reins of the administrative machinery in the Information and Broadcasting ministry from Sunil Arora who had barely eight months to grapple with problems. Arora joined the Ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio.

    Mittal, is a senior Indian administrative service (IAS) officer of the 1982 batch from the Himachal Pradesh cadre. Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has a Masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the information and public relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary at Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Shimla.

    Now, Mittal has to deal with not only the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country by December-end, but bringing the government out of the morass of legal cases which stayed the implementation of DAS Phase III in many states and have now been transferred to the Delhi high court.

    DAS Phase III

    Even though the deadlines for the last two phases of DAS were changed, the stakeholders were clearly unprepared as they all claimed shortage of compatible set top boxes – a claim which even the ministry could not deny. Expectedly, several high courts stayed implementation for varying periods  
    And although the ministry has succeeded in getting all the cases transferred to the Delhi high court, the fact remains that the ministry had itself admitted in a letter to its counsel in Chandigarh that it understood the stay to be pan-India, until the Supreme Court said nothing in the directive of the Bombay high court implied this.

    With the shortage of compatible set top boxes and little headway despite the incentives offered under the Make in India scheme, the ministry has to find ways to encourage indigenous production. Even at present, a large number of LCOs work with poor quality STBs made in China or other countries.

    Added to that is the fact that a large number of broadcasters, multi system operators, and local cable operators have still to work out their agreements – an issue further complicated by the directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal which wants the tariffs to looked at anew.
     
    In fact, many MSOs or LCOs have also not been able to get the Consumer Application Forms from their clients despite major publicity by the broadcasters.

    It is also a fact that analogue transmission continues in many parts of cities and towns that have gone digital and the government has failed to get the stay of DAS in Chennai vacated.

    The Home ministry had many months earlier made it clear that it was prepared to do away with security clearance for Indian-owned multi-system operators, the I and B Ministry has not yet got the go-ahead, with the result that MSOs are only getting provisional licences and the number of those with ten-year permanent licences remains at 231. The new secretary will have to push the Home ministry if he wants DAS to succeed.

    TRAI

    Although these are issues that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is dealing with, all decisions relating to the broadcasting sector can only be effective if there is proper coordination between the regulator and the ministry. This effectively means there has to be a quick response to any issues that either of the two raises to the other, if deadlines have to be met.

    Other issues pending before TRAI relating to broadcasting include the need to reconsider the foreign direct investment norms for media, shortage of spectrum, a growing demand by states seeking permissions to start their own television channels despite the TRAI having opined against it twice since 2008, and the imperative to work on the tariff issues for commercial and non-commercial set-ups following directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.

    Although broadcasting duties were handed over to TRAI just over a decade earlier, it is also clear that the ministry will have to consider whether there is need to form a broadcasting-specific body since TRAI is primarily a body set up for the telecom sector. If the Government decides to continue with TRAI handling both portfolios, the regulator will be under pressure from the I and B Ministry to strengthen its broadcasting team and also ensure greater coordination among officers in both broadcasting and telecom.    

    With convergence of technologies becoming a reality, and with issues of spectrum already bringing telecom and broadcasting together, the National Democratic Alliance Government has again begun to talk about convergence and this is bound to gather pace over the next two years.

    Spectrum

    The Defence Ministry has in principle agreed to hand over some spectrum and swap some other spectrum, and TRAI has also worked on the process of auctioning the available spectrum and given out reserve prices, the whole process is caught up in bureaucratic wrangles as it involves the Telecom ministry. If the I and B ministry wants to continue with its policy of ensuring there are no caps on the number of television, FM radio channels, or direct-to-home (DTH) Headed in the sky (HITS) platforms in the country, the issue of spectrum will need early solution.

    FM Radio Auctions

    When the last secretary Sunil Arora took over, the government was in the midst of the first stage of auctions of the FM Radio e-auction which only covered cities which already have FM but there were some vacancies. Learning from the experiences where there were no bids in 13 of the 69 cities, the government has now decided to revise the guidelines for the e-auction. The new secretary may have to find ways of either lowering the reserve price for those cities or finding other incentives before the next stage of e-auction.

    The fact that the cumulative winnings from the channels auctioned so far has exceeded the reserve price by more 100 per cent is undoubtedly a matter of great satisfaction, but some cities failing to attract bidders is an irritant.

    Ad Cap

    The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 was clear that the advertising cap should be twelve minutes an hour, but television channels went to court because many – particularly the news channels most of which are free to air – said they had no other source of income unlike the pay channels. But the ministry is already doing a rethink as admitted by the ministry as well as the News Broadcasters Association.

    This rethink is probably because the I and B minister had said early this last year that he was opposed to ad caps on the print or electronic media, and because the free-to-air channels (most of which are news channels) have already expressed their opposition to this. TRAI had failed to get permission to take action against television channels violating its diktat of a total of 12 minutes of commercial and promotional advertisements every hour, though all broadcasters were asked to keep records of this by the Delhi High Court.

    Spread of FM Radio vs DRM

    The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium feels that All India Radio has done the most in terms of digitization of radio. AIR has in fact spent crores of rupees on the digitized Digital Radio Mondiale. But Prasar Bharati feels that Frequency Modulation which is an analogue technology should be promoted until the nation is ready for digital radio sets.

    The ministry can resolve this issue only if it can ensure adequate manufacture at affordable process of DRM sets under the Make in India programme. Until then, this continues to be a thorn in the already dicey relations between the public service broadcaster and the ministry. The fact remains that there are just one or two manufacturers of DRM sets and these have also been successfully demonstrated in moving cars, but they remain unaffordable.

    Community Radio

    More than a decade has elapsed since the introduction of community radio, but the number of operational stations is still very low. To boost this sector, the government introduced a new scheme last year for funding community radio and has also been giving away awards, but bureaucratic wrangles continue to hold up the smooth implementation of this scheme.

    Prasar Bharati and the Ministry

    On paper, the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 is clear that the pubcaster is autonomous. However, in reality this appears to the contrary.

    On the one hand, a group of ministers had decided as a measure to help the pubcaster that persons employed as on 5 October 2007 will get the salary and pension from government funds. For employees who joined after that date, Prasar Bharati was left to fend for itself.

    In any case, Prasar Bharati is listed as an autonomous company under the ministry.

    This means – and it appears so even from the manner in which questions relating to the pubcaster are answered in parliament – that there is dispute on what real autonomy is. Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar – a former bureaucrat himself – feels the government does not give him full freedom and there is interference at every level and has said so either in speeches or in articles by him or others in the pubcaster.

    Journalists on the parliamentary beat are often flabbergasted by the fact that when it suits the government, a reply will say that the pubcaster is an autonomous body, and yet there has been the intervention of the government even in appointments in Prasar Bharati.

    While there is generally full autonomy as far as content goes, there are allegedly checks and balances placed by the government in administrative matters.

    In a new development that has in principle been accepted by the government, Prasar Bharati, which has been losing revenue and viewership, has decided to auction prime time slots – perhaps inspired by the success of the e-auctions of slots on the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform DD Freedish, or the FM auctions.

    Freedish

    Even though the auctions have been extremely successful and the pubcaster not only got two or three times the reserve price per slot, but even managed to get at least two pay channels to come as FTA, it has still not been able to switch over from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to enable it to increase the number to 112 as promised over the last three to four years.

    Foreign Direct Investment

    The TRAI had given its recommendations for an increased FDI in many sectors of the media in a report in July 2013. Although there was some change by the government earlier this year, it has still not implemented the FDI report of TRAI in full.

    Security Clearance

    While the Home ministry has decided it is doing away with security clearance for MSOs, it has not taken a decision as far television channels are concerned. And while the issue relating to foreign ownership can be understood, the denial of security clearance to Sun TV and its affiliated MSOs continues to flummox everyone in the media. It is generally felt that an accused is not guilty till proved, but the Home ministry – and the I and B ministry – appear to have decided that the Maran brothers should be denied security clearance despite the fact that the cases against them have no relation to the security of the country, and are in fact an incursion n the freedom of the media. Even the Supreme Court while permitting Sun group companies to take part in the FM auction said so.

    Paid News

    It is now almost five years since the issue of paid news became the talk of the town. The Press Council of India set up a committee which even gave recommendations, and a Parliamentary Panel and the Election Commission also wanted some steps to be taken to stop this. But there has been no tangible action so far.

    Film Industry

    The film industry has been raising similar issues year after year. As far as taxation issues were concerned, it was hoped that the Goods and Services Tax when implemented will help. But the way the matter is stuck in parliament forces the industry to just wait and watch.

    Entertainment tax is another issue on which there has been no unanimity and states have different taxes. A proposal about a decade earlier for bringing cinema into the Concurrent List of the Constitution might have solved the problem, but most states opposed the idea. Perhaps the only positive move has been that service tax or cess on entertainment tax has been done away with.

    In a country producing around one thousand feature films every year apart from the large number of films from overseas, the country still suffers from an acute shortage of theatres, with the number less than 11,000. With the high rates of ticketing charged by the multiplexes, the average cinegoer is denied of the pleasure of seeing a film in a cinema hall.

    All attempts to curb video piracy appear to have failed because the film industry and the government have failed to work together to curb the menace, which means huge losses for the makers of bold films unless there are big stars to lure the audiences.

    The Film Museum has been in the planning and making for more than a decade, but it does not appear that the Museum planned for 2013 to coincide with a centenary of cinema will seek the light of day for at least a couple of more years.

    The Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects

    For almost ten years, minister after minister has promised to set up a Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects, and Hyderabad and Bangalore have even claimed that they have the right ambience for such a centre.

    But indications are coming that it will be established in the Film City in Goregaon in Mumbai, a decision that may not be digestible to studios of animation and VFX in cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore.

    Clearly, the new secretary has a difficult task ahead, moving on a road that is not without political or bureaucratic potholes that can hold up even his best intentions.

     

  • TRAI commences exercise at inter-operaability of STBs, isses pre-Consultation Paper

    TRAI commences exercise at inter-operaability of STBs, isses pre-Consultation Paper

    New Delhi: Noting the need for inter-operability of set top boxes as the country races towards completion of the final phase of digital addressable systems, the Telecom Regulatory Authority asked stakeholders for their opinion on the best methods for such inter-operability.

    In a scenario where the government itself admits that Indian-made STBs are a mere ten per cent, it is even more imperative to find ways of smoother inter-operability since most of the STBs will be of foreign make.

    In a pre-consultation paper on set top box interoperability issued today, TRAI has related the methods of inter-operability followed in Europe, Asia and the United States and asked the stakeholders to give their views by 29 April. Views have been invited from various organizations, industry bodies, standardization bodies,
    STB manufacturers, chip vendors, conditional access system providers, software providers, stakeholders, experts, individuals etc

    Answers have been sought to just three questions: what are the concerns that should be takencare of at the time of development of framework of interoperable of STBs; what are the techno-commercial reasons for non-interoperability of STBs; and the plausible solutions for technical interoperability of STBs and their impact on the sector’s growth.

    After giving examples from around the world, the paper said there can be various possible solutions. But the views of stakeholders are necessary before starting any discussion on the possible solutions and to arrive at a common minimum agreement ofadoption of any specific standards and the way forward.

    The paper also says stakeholders are free to give any relevant feedback for thedevelopment of technical inter-operability both within specific segment (cable TV and DTH) and across the segments (among cable TV and DTH operators).

    The paper also lists the steps already taken by TRAI.

    Based on the recommendations of TRAI for technical interoperability of STBs, theGovernment has mandated the provision of CI slot in the STBs deployed by DTH serviceproviders. The CI slot exists in the already deployed DTH STBs.

    However TRAI said this effort has not been fruitful in meeting the objective of interoperabilityin India due to various reasons. These are: the availability of CI slot alone is not sufficient toachieve effective technical interoperability as other modules of STB like tuner, middleware, operating system; EPG etc. also require updation on change of service provider; DTHoperators are following different versions of standards for compression, and transmission; most of the DTH operators have not offered to customers the option of CAM card in place ofSTB; and the cost of CAM card is more or less equal to the new STB. It may be due to non-availability of economies of scale.

    TRAI said it has notified tariff order prescribing standard tariff package for STBs, which provide an easy exit option to the consumers, who want to change their service providers due to one reason or the other. But the tariff order applicable for DTH is sub-judice as it is pending adjudication.

    The paper says broadcasting of TV signals over distribution networks involves various steps like compression, encryption, transmission etc. For each purpose, different technologies andtheir versions have evolved over a period of time. The rules and regulations prescribed bythe government and the regulator provide freedom of choosing technology to serviceproviders. Accordingly, according to their business plans, individual service provider havechosen and implemented different technologies and their versions. The adoption of different versions of technical standards by service providers is one of the reasons for non–interoperability of STBs.

    The issue relating to technical interoperability mainly hover around the question ofinteroperability of STBs, between two platforms viz DTH and cable; and question of inter-operability of STBs within the same platform i.e. with in cable or DTH systems. Further, withina platform, there could be a question of inter-operability of STBs across the different serviceproviders using the same make of CAS. Presently, STB inter-operability is not functional atany level.

    The main technical reasons of STB non inter-operability are: different methods of EMM andECM encryption: ECM and EMM messages are carried in an encrypted form. Whereas DVBhas standardized the scrambling algorithm for scrambling of a channel (DVB-CSA), algorithms used for ECM/ EMM encryption are not standardized.

    Different Modulation standards: using DVB-C standard whereas the signal is modulatedusing DVB-S standard in DTH. For a STB to be able to receive signal both from DTH andcable, there will be a requirement of switchable demodulator unit. Further, efficient versions namely DVB-C2 and DVB-S2 have been deployed by the operators. While the later versionsare backward compatible, earlier versions are not forward compatible. Therefore, it restrictsthe STB interoperability across the platforms as well as within the same platform using differentversions of standards.

    In digital TV transmission, compression plays a very important role. There are two prominent compression standards in use today. In India, most of the operators have used, either MPEG2or MPEG4 standard for compression. In cable TV sector, due to cost advantage andavailability of sufficient bandwidth in the network, most of the STBs deployed till now are ofMPEG2 standard. While the MPEG4 standard is backward compatible, MPEG2 standard is not forward compatible. Therefore, MPEG2 compliant STBs cannot work in the MPEG4 networks.

    Operating system/ middleware and EPG (Electronic Program Guide) boot loaders are specificto chip vendors and it allows the updating of STB software by specific operators afterproper verification. There is no standard operating system for STBs. DVB hasdeveloped multimedia home platform (MHP) as a standard for middleware. However the sameis not popular. Proprietary middleware, with non-standard APIs, are in use. It ensures that, theapplication software can be updated by specific operators only. Special end user applicationslike EPG installed over middleware are also unique for each operator.

    The pay TV service providers are concerned about the piracy of content. They have expressedtheir apprehension about fake STBs that may be used to capture information from a validsmart card and that information may be misused to produce fake/clone smart cards. Further,the stakeholders have raised their concern about the common scrambling algorithm (DVB-CSA) which is a 48 bit scrambling mechanism, and can be broken with the help of highcapacity processors.

    Therefore, the service providers are reluctant to use DVB-CSA. Operators due to theconcerns of piracy make the STB tightly coupled by integrating the Conditional Access Sub System into the chip.

    All these become an impediment when a subscriber wishes to migrate to a different serviceprovider while attempting to use the same STB, and leads to concerns relating to technical inter operability.

  • TRAI commences exercise at inter-operaability of STBs, isses pre-Consultation Paper

    TRAI commences exercise at inter-operaability of STBs, isses pre-Consultation Paper

    New Delhi: Noting the need for inter-operability of set top boxes as the country races towards completion of the final phase of digital addressable systems, the Telecom Regulatory Authority asked stakeholders for their opinion on the best methods for such inter-operability.

    In a scenario where the government itself admits that Indian-made STBs are a mere ten per cent, it is even more imperative to find ways of smoother inter-operability since most of the STBs will be of foreign make.

    In a pre-consultation paper on set top box interoperability issued today, TRAI has related the methods of inter-operability followed in Europe, Asia and the United States and asked the stakeholders to give their views by 29 April. Views have been invited from various organizations, industry bodies, standardization bodies,
    STB manufacturers, chip vendors, conditional access system providers, software providers, stakeholders, experts, individuals etc

    Answers have been sought to just three questions: what are the concerns that should be takencare of at the time of development of framework of interoperable of STBs; what are the techno-commercial reasons for non-interoperability of STBs; and the plausible solutions for technical interoperability of STBs and their impact on the sector’s growth.

    After giving examples from around the world, the paper said there can be various possible solutions. But the views of stakeholders are necessary before starting any discussion on the possible solutions and to arrive at a common minimum agreement ofadoption of any specific standards and the way forward.

    The paper also says stakeholders are free to give any relevant feedback for thedevelopment of technical inter-operability both within specific segment (cable TV and DTH) and across the segments (among cable TV and DTH operators).

    The paper also lists the steps already taken by TRAI.

    Based on the recommendations of TRAI for technical interoperability of STBs, theGovernment has mandated the provision of CI slot in the STBs deployed by DTH serviceproviders. The CI slot exists in the already deployed DTH STBs.

    However TRAI said this effort has not been fruitful in meeting the objective of interoperabilityin India due to various reasons. These are: the availability of CI slot alone is not sufficient toachieve effective technical interoperability as other modules of STB like tuner, middleware, operating system; EPG etc. also require updation on change of service provider; DTHoperators are following different versions of standards for compression, and transmission; most of the DTH operators have not offered to customers the option of CAM card in place ofSTB; and the cost of CAM card is more or less equal to the new STB. It may be due to non-availability of economies of scale.

    TRAI said it has notified tariff order prescribing standard tariff package for STBs, which provide an easy exit option to the consumers, who want to change their service providers due to one reason or the other. But the tariff order applicable for DTH is sub-judice as it is pending adjudication.

    The paper says broadcasting of TV signals over distribution networks involves various steps like compression, encryption, transmission etc. For each purpose, different technologies andtheir versions have evolved over a period of time. The rules and regulations prescribed bythe government and the regulator provide freedom of choosing technology to serviceproviders. Accordingly, according to their business plans, individual service provider havechosen and implemented different technologies and their versions. The adoption of different versions of technical standards by service providers is one of the reasons for non–interoperability of STBs.

    The issue relating to technical interoperability mainly hover around the question ofinteroperability of STBs, between two platforms viz DTH and cable; and question of inter-operability of STBs within the same platform i.e. with in cable or DTH systems. Further, withina platform, there could be a question of inter-operability of STBs across the different serviceproviders using the same make of CAS. Presently, STB inter-operability is not functional atany level.

    The main technical reasons of STB non inter-operability are: different methods of EMM andECM encryption: ECM and EMM messages are carried in an encrypted form. Whereas DVBhas standardized the scrambling algorithm for scrambling of a channel (DVB-CSA), algorithms used for ECM/ EMM encryption are not standardized.

    Different Modulation standards: using DVB-C standard whereas the signal is modulatedusing DVB-S standard in DTH. For a STB to be able to receive signal both from DTH andcable, there will be a requirement of switchable demodulator unit. Further, efficient versions namely DVB-C2 and DVB-S2 have been deployed by the operators. While the later versionsare backward compatible, earlier versions are not forward compatible. Therefore, it restrictsthe STB interoperability across the platforms as well as within the same platform using differentversions of standards.

    In digital TV transmission, compression plays a very important role. There are two prominent compression standards in use today. In India, most of the operators have used, either MPEG2or MPEG4 standard for compression. In cable TV sector, due to cost advantage andavailability of sufficient bandwidth in the network, most of the STBs deployed till now are ofMPEG2 standard. While the MPEG4 standard is backward compatible, MPEG2 standard is not forward compatible. Therefore, MPEG2 compliant STBs cannot work in the MPEG4 networks.

    Operating system/ middleware and EPG (Electronic Program Guide) boot loaders are specificto chip vendors and it allows the updating of STB software by specific operators afterproper verification. There is no standard operating system for STBs. DVB hasdeveloped multimedia home platform (MHP) as a standard for middleware. However the sameis not popular. Proprietary middleware, with non-standard APIs, are in use. It ensures that, theapplication software can be updated by specific operators only. Special end user applicationslike EPG installed over middleware are also unique for each operator.

    The pay TV service providers are concerned about the piracy of content. They have expressedtheir apprehension about fake STBs that may be used to capture information from a validsmart card and that information may be misused to produce fake/clone smart cards. Further,the stakeholders have raised their concern about the common scrambling algorithm (DVB-CSA) which is a 48 bit scrambling mechanism, and can be broken with the help of highcapacity processors.

    Therefore, the service providers are reluctant to use DVB-CSA. Operators due to theconcerns of piracy make the STB tightly coupled by integrating the Conditional Access Sub System into the chip.

    All these become an impediment when a subscriber wishes to migrate to a different serviceprovider while attempting to use the same STB, and leads to concerns relating to technical inter operability.

  • Govt admits low production of STBs, urges more players to manufacture under Make in India Initiative

    Govt admits low production of STBs, urges more players to manufacture under Make in India Initiative

    MUMBAI: The government today admitted that less than 10 per cent set top boxes being used in India were Indian made. However, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sunil Arora said the government and his ministry were completely committed to the digitization programme.

    Arora said, “We want the industry to look at this opportunity under the Make In India initiative and produce more STBs in India under the Electronics Manufacturing scheme”.

    The ministry remained committed to promoting ease of doing business in the media and entertainment sector, Arora said in a dialogue with Star India CEO Uday Shankar and veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy at FICCI Frames 2016.

    He said the Ministry was also guided by the ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ philosophy. “One of our primary objectives is to bring down the number of visitors to Shastri Bhavan to a trickle. We want to move towards less regulation and facilitate India to become the hub of media and entertainment industry.”

    Arora claimed that clearance for new TV channels had been expedited over the last six months under a liberalized regime. He said the home ministry had agreed to most of the suggestions made by the I&B ministry about liberalizing several conditions. Arora stressed that the ministry intends to play a role of a facilitator for the media and entertainment industry to flourish in the country.

    He said a decision had been taken to set up the National Centre of Excellence in Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects in Mumbai.  The Maharashtra Government is providing a 25 acre land near the Film City in Goregaon for the institute.

    The secretary also said the government had approved the Rs 598 crore National Film Heritage Mission to preserve and promote India’s rich film and cultural heritage. He also referred to the National Museum of Indian Cinema coming up in Films Division Complex on Peddar Road in Mumbai with several interactive exhibits. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a keen interest in this museum which is being curated by the National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata.”

    Focusing on ease of doing business, Arora said a Film Facilitation Office had opened in the National Film Development Corporation to function as a single window service for film related clearances. The secretary said an award had been instituted as part of the National Film Awards from this year to honour the states that are most film friendly. In 2016, Gujarat has been adjudged the most film friendly state, followed by UP and Kerala.

    Participating in the discussion, Shankar, who is also FICCI Entertainment Panel Chairman expressed concern over the viability of stand-alone news channels. He also said the entry of fringe elements in the news broadcasting field for ‘ancillary facilities’ was affecting credibility. Sippy expressed concern over low theatre density in India.