ITV

Tag: Subhash Chandra

  • Videocon d2h receives shareholder, Competition Commission nod for merger with Dish TV

    BENGALURU: The Saurabh Dhoot led Videocon d2h Limited (Videocon d2h) has informed the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) that its equity shareholders have thought it fit and given consent by the requisite majority to the scheme of arrangement for amalgamation of Videocon d2h with Subhash Chandra’s Dish TV India Limited (Dish TV) and their respective shareholders and creditors. In pursuance to the Order of the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal, dated 22 March, 2017, the meeting of the shareholders was held on 9 May in Mumbai. The company intends to file the company petition with the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal seeking sanction of the scheme.

    Further, Videocon d2h has also informed the SEC thaton 9 May 2017 it has received a letter dated 4 May 2017from the Competition Commission of India, approving the proposed combination of Videocon d2h with Dish TV.

    Videocon d2h is a Nashdaq listed company, while Dish TV is listed on the NSE and BSE in India and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in the form of GDRs’. The merged entity, Dish TV Videocon, will have a joint management structure with Jawahar Goel as its Chairman and MD and a vice-chairman and deputy managing director nominated by Videocon D2H shareholders.

    According to a Dish TV press release, following the closing of the merger transaction, the merged entity will be renamed as Dish TV Videocon Limited (Dish TV Videocon). Dish TV Videocon shall issue 857.791 million (85.7791 crore) shares as consideration for the Scheme and the Vd2h shareholders shall be allotted 2.021 new shares of Dish TV Videocon for every one share held in Vd2h subject to certain adjustments. This would result in Dish TV shareholders owning 1,066.861 million (106.6861 crore) existing shares or 55.4% of Dish TV Videocon, and Vd2h shareholders owning 857.791 million (85.7791 crore) new shares or 44.6% of Dish TV Videocon.

    Dish TV Videocon will be led by Jawahar Lal Goel as Chairman and Managing Director, combining the strength of senior and operating management teams while offering further career growth opportunities for employees of the two merging companies. The Vd2h principals shall have the right to nominate two directors on the Dish TV Videocon Board, one of whom shall be cice chairman and the other a deputy managing director.

    The merger is expected to create a leading cable and satellite distribution platform in India. Dish TV Videocon would serve 27.6 million (2.76 crore) net subscribers in India, as of September 30, 2016 on a pro forma basis, out of a total of 175 million (17.5 crore) TV households in India highlighting significant room for growth.

    At the close of the merger transaction, the current promoters of Dish TV shall continue as promoters of Dish TV Videocon. The Dish TV principals are also in discussion with the Vd2h principals to purchase some of the Vd2h principals’ shares in Dish TV Videocon post the amalgamation, details of which are likely to be finalised soon.

  • Who Am I: Subhash Chandra show comes back in a new avatar

    MUMBAI: After a successful initial run, one of the  India’s popular motivational youth shows, Dr. Subhash Chandra (DSC) Show is returning with a fresh look and format.

    Evolving from a straight-forward chat show, the new episodes will highlight inspirational stories of people from different backgrounds. While it was  Chandra who vehemently tried to motivate and change many lives in the earlier format, going ahead the DSC Show will introduce audiences to the stories of India’s unsung heroes who overcame hurdles in their lives through courage and determination.

    The first episode (on the ground) was held on 18 April at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management, Rohini, in New Delhi during which MP, Rajya Sabha and chairman, Essel Group and ZEE Chandra shared his insights on the topic ‘Who Am I?”. The special guests for this episode were Earth Saviours Foundation founder Ravi Kalra and popularly known as the ‘No Honking Man of India’ and Saachi Roy,India’s youngest woman to have been selected for an expedition to Mount Everest by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and also the first from the country to reach Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak.

    Sharing his views on the topic ‘Who Am I?’, Chandra said, “As we journey through life, we tend to give ourselves different identities such as son, daughter, student or teacher. But we are a son or daughter because we have parents, students because we are studying in a school or college, and teachers because we are imparting knowledge to others. Thus everything that we believe in dependent on something else and is not our true identity. The only thing which is independent of everything else is our ‘Inner Consciousness’ which is the sensation of being alive and aware.”

    Elaborating further, Chandra said, “While our thoughts, emotions and environment change, this Inner Consciousness never changes. By teaching ourselves to be aware of and immersed in this consciousness, we can calm our mind and slow our flow of thoughts, thus utilizing its power more effectively. As we harness this power, we will also experience freedom from anxiety and worry, inner strength, peace of mind and happiness.”

    Catch the curtain-raiser episode of the Dr. Subhash Chandra Show on 6 May followed by the first episode – ‘Who Am I?” on 13 May on the following channels of Zee Media:

    public://su.jpg

  • Amazon Prime global head: Committed quality shows Indians love, partners Kabir for Netaji’s ‘true story”

    MUMBAI: Amazon has announced an Indian original series based on Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army to be directed by one of Bollywood’s top directors and producers, Kabir Khan.

    The Forgotten Army (working title) will mark Kabir’s Khan’s debut in OTT digital video services. The series is scheduled to start production by the end of 2017.

    The Forgotten Army is a war epic, an Indian band of brothers of sorts, which will touch upon several stories, including the contribution of women in the Indian National Army.

    “We had made a commitment to our Indian customers to deliver high-quality, binge-worthy shows that they’ll love to watch, and our association with Kabir Khan greatly reinforces our commitment towards this promise,” said Prime Video global content head Roy Price. “Our aim is to build a compelling lineup of Indian shows, working with the greatest talents from the industry. Our association with Kabir Khan is one of the many such partnerships that India will see. We know our Prime members are going to love the epic war story being brought to life with Kabir Khan helming the project.

    He further added, “Our aim is to build a captivating lineup of Indian shows, working with the greatest talents from the industry.”

    “These are super exciting times for any content creator in India and I am elated to make my debut in the digital space with Amazon Prime Video’s India Original,” said film director and producer Khan. “Amazon Prime Video provides greater access to reach new and vast Indian audiences. They are also bringing in global talent and knowledge to collaborate with Indian scriptwriters and content creators to further hone their skills and know-how. I am excited to make this truly international series which has a scale and reach far greater than any Hindi film.”

    Based on true events, this series is about a war “we were not told about and of soldiers we thought did not exist.” This series is the dynamic true story of the men and women who fought a heroic war for the independence of India as part of the Indian National Army which was forged out of British defeat in Singapore during WWII and led by the charismatic Bose. They fought against all odds and paid the ultimate price but they did not succeed… and against the dazzling success of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement to free India, they soon became the forgotten army.

  • Subhash Chandra hails GST, seeks new tax system & ease of doing biz

    MUMBAI: Essel Group chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Subhash Chandra has welcomed the GST Bill while addressing the Upper House of the Parliament for the first time.

    Dr. Chandra is an independent RS member from Haryana. ZEE, as a brand today, has achieved a global recognition, reaching over a billion viewers in 171 countries.

    A compilation of his tweets on GST:

    Today, I gave my maiden speech in Rajya Sabha and participated in the GST Bill debate. 

    I congratulate the govt, Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji and FM Shri @arunjaitley ji for bringing this historic GST bill. Since independence we’ve been hearing from almost everyone that we need to work for welfare of common man and uplift the poor class, he said.

    2000 years ago, India’s contribution to the world GDP was 32%, which came down to 4.2% in 1950, when India’s share in world manufacturing went to as low as 1.7% & international trade during the British Raj fell from 20% to 1.4%, he added.

    We understand why this happened, because the British wanted to rule us for a longer time and take away our wealth, he said. But, 70 years after their exit, have our economic conditions improved at the same rate as that of global standards?

    GDP in 1950 – 4.2% – was reduced to 3.2% in 1980, and now in 2017 it has reached around 7.5%. Manufacturing in 1950 was 1.7%, 3.2% in 1980, in 2015 it was 4% while global trade was 1.3% = 1950, 0.5% = 1980 & now 1.7%.

    If we compare these statistics with the growth in India’s population, then we see that since 1950, India’s growth has been negative, he added.

    From 2000-2015 India earned income of 2.23 trillion dollars, of which 81% wealth went to 10% of the population & 19% to the rest 90%. Astonishingly, 58% wealth of the 154 lakh crore went to the top one per cent, which clearly shows that poor became poorer, and the rich became richer.

    GST is of course a great measure but it is just the first step, we need to do lot more to eradicate poverty from India.

    We need to reduce the tax structure that will further motivate people in paying the taxes and govt can then do away with penal provisions. 

    Due to lack of Ease of Doing Business in India, there is lot of indirect tax that is borne out of corruption, we should also address it. In the time to come, we need to think beyond GST, start a new taxation system & not just replicate the global ones.

  • Siti subs rev up; one million subs migrate to pre-paid billing

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra-led Siti Networks Limited (Siti) formerly known as Siti Cable Network Limited, reported 40 percent growth in subscription revenue for the nine month period ended 31 December 2016 (9M-19, YTD) which the company says was Rs 408 in its earnings release.

    To further enhance the collections from the ground, Siti says that it is moving to pre-paid billing from current post-paid mode. To achieve this objective pre-paid billing has commenced in select states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh across 60 locations with 1 million subscribers migrated to pre-paid as of now. Siti says that it is looking to roll out pre-paid billing across all geographies in the near future.

    Consolidated Total Income from Operations (TIO) for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) declined 13.2 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 298.46 crore from Rs 344 crore in Q3-16, but increased 3.3 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) from Rs 288.97 crore in Q2-17.

    Consolidated simple EBIDTA without other income for the current quarter declined 42.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 55.02 crore (18.4 percent of TIO, margin) from Rs 95.45 crore (27.7 percent margin), but increased 16.2 percent q-o-q from rs 47.34 crore (16.4 percent margin). The company reported a lower q-o-q net loss in the current quarter at Rs 26.34 crore as compared to a net loss of Rs 46.89 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. Siti had reported a profit after tax (PAT) for Q3-16 of Rs 14.66 crore (4.3 percent margin).

    Company speak in its earnings release

    Siti executive director & CEO, V D Wadhwa said, “Our persistent efforts have resulted in improved monetization in Phase-3 DAS areas as we continue to digitize our subscriber base and expand our footprint. At the same time, commencement of pre-paid billing will simplify our business model and improve collection efficiency.”

    “The expected Tariff Order will provide further impetus to Industry cash flows and aid in rapid growth. Although there were some near term headwinds in Broadband on account of demonetization, we remain confident of retaining the momentum in the coming quarters,” added Wadhwa.

    Siti says that its Broadband internet (Broadband) customer base grew to 2.13 lakh by Q3-17 exit. It has introduced new plans in Delhi and Haryana under both unlimited & limited data category catering to the ever increasing data usage needs of Broadband customers. The company expects to roll out high speed DOCSIS 2 and 3 Broadband Services in 5 locations by Q1-18.

    Siti claims that its continuous focus on HD services has started to yield results, with SITI HD+ customer base up 33 percent over Q2-17 to 1.2 lacs. To further give boost to HD adoption, the company has rolled out an SD to HD STB upgrade offer. The company says that there has been strong adoption being seen in Phase 3 & 4 areas. Siti is offers about 50 HD channels across a wide array of genres across geographies.

    Since the launch of SITI-DITTO OTT services, the company says its OTT customer base has grown strongly to 31,000 subscribers. Siti is aggressively exploring options with other OTT players to harness growth in this fast expanding space.

    Four local channels were launched in Q3-17 on the lines of My Siti channel launched in the earlier quarter.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Siti

    Total Expenditure increased 6.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 305.99 crore (102.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 287.67 crore (83.6 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter and increased 2.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 298.81 crore (103.4 percent of TIO).

    Employee Benefit Expense increased 33.8 percent to Rs 19.07 crore (6.4 percent of TIO) in the current quarter from Rs 14.26 (4.1 percent of TIO) crore in Q3-16 but reduced 7.9 percent from Rs 20.70 crore (7.2 percent of TIO).

    Carriage sharing, pay channel and related costs in Q3-17 declined 2.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 144.40 crore (48.4 percent of TIO) from Rs 148.66 crore (43. 2 percent of TIO) and was almost flat (increased 0.7 percent) q-o-q as compared to Rs 143.141 crore (49.6 percent of TIO).

    Finance costs in the current quarter increased 2.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 35.97 crore (12.1 percent of TIO) from Rs 35.05 crore (10.2 percent of TIO) and increased 28.5 percent q-o-q from Rs 28 crore (9.7 percent of TIO.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Star India goes whole hog on mobile

    MUMBAI: Even as fierce rival Zee Entertainment continues with its ban on the use of mobiles in its corporate headquarters at Marathon Futurex in Mumbai, Star India has taken steps to make its HQ mobile friendly – a stone’s throw away from the Subhash Chandra promoted firm. 2,500 employees, who work in the 32 floor swanky Urmi Estate in central Mumbai,  can  enter the Star India premises using their handsets. Last year, the media conglomerate issued mobile IDs to employees and also installed numerous iCLASS SE readers at doors and gates throughout the building  (apparently 19 or 20 floors of it are occupied by Star India).

    The solution was provided by HID Global, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions  courtesy its HID Mobile Access solution, powered by Seos, “As India’s largest multimedia company, we have extremely high security standards,” says Star India senior vice-president (administration & facilities) Sumir Yadav. “HID Global, known for being the market leader of access control solutions, was able to fulfill all our requirements. With HID Mobile Access, we can now take advantage of the latest technology in this mobile-first age and achieve better security without being intrusive or compromising the user experience.”

    He reveals that the company relied on smart cards for building access in the past. The cards were easily damaged and often misplaced, resulting in costly re-issuance of badges. Another weakness of the card-based access system was its inefficiency. Each new or replacement card had to be provisioned manually, costing Star India time and money as it continued to grow over the years.

    With the popularity of smartphones and other smart devices soaring in India in recent years, Yadav started to look for a new solution that could enable Star India to make use of employees’ smart devices for better physical security. “Mobility has always been rated highly in our offices, so from the get-go we knew the new access control solution had to work with smartphones,” adds Yadav.

    The deployment, from the initial planning to the solution going online, took Star India only 12 weeks, and has been in operation since January 2016.

    Mobile IDs, a core component of HID Mobile Access  were provisioned via the solution’s robust online portal, making it possible for Star India’s IT administrators to issue or revoke mobile IDs quickly, easily and efficiently. Whenever a new employee joins the company, the IT administrators can effortlessly enroll them into the system by simply sending the employee an email invitation. The system-generated email contains directions and an activation code for the recipient to download and use the HID Mobile Access App. Upon entering the code and successfully activating the app, the employee can begin using his or her mobile device to unlock doors and gates at Star India.

    “HID Mobile Access is very intuitive to use and helping to create a mobile-driven and secure workplace is the goal of our mobile access solution,” says HID Global India & SAARC director of sales, physical access control Vishwanath Kulkarni. “We are pleased that both Star India employees and the company’s IT administrators managing the solution are enjoying the experience.”  

    Feedback on HID Mobile Access from Star India employees has been positive, and the company is currently exploring options to deploy it to secure its canteen as well as its collaboration spaces. It is also considering expanding the scope of the solution to cover the management of its visitor and enable secure printing in the future.

    HR managers are all praise for Star India’s initiative but they question how long Zee is going to continue with its mobile fatwa issued a couple of years ago wherein employees were barred from using their mobile phones at their desks; the devices are kept in custody and calls forwarded to their land lines.

    Also Read :

    Star India channels outshone in English entertainment, movies genre

    Star reignites ‘World Cupwali feeling’

  • TRAI gets support from Subhash Chandra on inter-connect guidelines

    TRAI gets support from Subhash Chandra on inter-connect guidelines

    NEW DELHI: Urging all the stakeholders of the Indian broadcast and cable segments to sink their differences and “come together” for the overall benefit  of the industry, Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra supported regulator TRAI’s draft inter-connect guidelines that, amongst other such broadcast regulations, have been put on hold owing to them legally challenged in courts.  

    “I am a strong supporter of (TRAI’s draft) inter-connect regulations,” Chandra, a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from Haryana state, said, adding that in order to reduce litigations amongst stakeholders in the industry it was paramount to “support” such regulations.

    However, Chandra made it clear that though broadcast and cable industry should back TRAI draft guidelines at present — “at least temporarily” — such guidelines should be relaxed over a period of time and jocularly added that rampant litigations financially enriched lawyers only. He was responding to a question from the audience on growing division between broadcasters and distribution platforms, especially the MSOs and LCOs.

    Earlier, delivering the keynote address at the SATCAB meet organized by the All-India Dish Antennae Aavishkaar Sangh, the Zee/Essel Group founder said that there was no reason why the estimated 230,000 (his estimates) local cable operators in the country should not shed allegiance to multiple industry bodies and “unite under one umbrella” to become a force to reckon with so that their voice could be heard more forcefully in the corridors of power.

    Pointing out that not only the MSOs and LCOs should unite, but “all stakeholders” like broadcasters too, Chandra sounded a word of caution, “As an industry we need to be alert to technological evolution.” He added that unless that happens, others, like telcos, “will take a lead over consumer experience”, which will be “our weakness.”

    Chandra said the cable industry had to prepare itself “to catch up with the future” as at present the industry was at “ground level with basic set top boxes”, for example, when technology (like 3D printing) could soon make it possible for viewers to get a different experience in, say, a TV cookery show.

    Referring to various concerns of the LCOs, he said he had ensured that the issue of entertainment tax got subsumed in the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but for him to take up issues relating to the sector stakeholders needed to unite.

    Going back in time to 1992, he dwelt on how the idea of Zee had been drawn up and how when he had given this information to a senior official in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), he had been strongly criticized for the whole idea and was told it would never succeed. “But in just three months of launch”, he said, “Zee had 300,000 television homes subscribing to it.”  

    ALSO READ:

    Top M&E industry honchos see no major benefit from Budget ’17

    MSOs join issues with TRAI tariff plea at Madras HC

    Tariff order: Don’t notify without SC nod, TRAI told; Madras HC case to continue

     

  • Zee set to launch channel in France with dubbed/sub-titled content

    Zee set to launch channel in France with dubbed/sub-titled content

    NEW DELHI: Zee TV, which has among the largest number of Indian channels being telecast in foreign languages in different countries, is shortly launching a channel in France.

    Zee founder and Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) Member of Parliament Subhash Chandra told indiantelevision.com that the group, which had recently launched a channel in Germany, Zee One Germany, is aiming to launch in France to expand reach and target the Indian programme loving French and people of South Asian origin.

    “The French channel could be launched within six months or so,” he added without giving a fixed time frame or outlining whether the channel may also at some point of time carry original French content.

    Zee, which through a plethora of TV channels (some of which are dubbed in local languages in various countries) was already reaching 200 million viewers overseas, aims “to increase that reach to 500 million”. Speaking on the sidelines of the SATCAB meet organized here by the All India Dish Antenna Aavishkaar Sangh here yesterday, Chandra said that France was until now receiving the channel launched by the group for the United Kingdom.

    Zee at present has channels in foreign languages running in UAE/KSA (Arab), Russia, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Africa/Mauritius, the Caribbean, United States, Canada and Brazil.

    According to Chandra, content from Hollywood dominates the world and it earns 65 per cent from overseas markets, while only 35 per cent from within the US market. “India with its content of feature films and appealing television programmes can also make a mark overseas,” he added.

    While pointing out that in the international market, Zee had “successfully” taken popular domestic content in the original as well as repurposed form to focus not just on the South Asian diaspora, but on a wider cross section of global audiences, Zee Entertainment Enterprises MD and Chandra’s elder son Punit Goenka had said in the company’s annual report for FY 2015-16, “This strategy is working for beyond boundaries and being true to our philosophy of `The World is My Family’. Our popular channels in this context like Zee World, Zee Aflam and Zee Magic have witnessed substantial viewership growth in their respective markets. ZEEL expanded its reach to the Asia Pacific region through channels like Zee Bioskop and Zee Nung.”

    Zee Bioskop reaches approximately two million homes in Indonesia and Zee Nung caters to about 2.5 million homes in Thailand.

    Launched in April, 2015 as a GEC pay channel for the local Indonesian audience, Zee Hiburan, for example, is completely dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia and is also available in Hindi. Zee Sine, a 24/7 Bollywood movie channel, customised and packaged for local audiences, was launched in the Philippines in April 2016.

    ALSO READ:

    ZEEL launches new movie channel in Germany

    ZEEL Cignals deal for Filipino channel Zee Sine

    Zee Cinemalu added to US portfolio

  • OTT poses regulatory challenges but govt committed to digitisation

    OTT poses regulatory challenges but govt committed to digitisation

    NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that digital technology platform acted as an equalizer ensuring level playing field and providing equal opportunities for all irrespective of age, region and economic background, but cautioned that techs like OTT posed regulatory challenges too.

    Digital technology apart from providing better services, also ensured transparency that enabled plugging leakages at every levels so that the intended benefits trickle down to every citizen, the Minister said here yesterday at the inaugural ceremony of the 23rd International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting, organised by the Broadcasting Engineering Society (BES) that also is holding the BES Expo 2017.

    Also present on the occasion were TRAI chairman RS Sharma and Member of Parliament and Zee chairman Subash Chandra. The theme of the event is `Hybrid Technologies in Broadcasting’.

    Rathore said that while digital technology offered immense opportunities to reach out to people, it also posed many challenges with regards to content regulation, illegal broadcasts that demanded innovative solutions to address the concerns. The Over the Top (OTT) applications have democratized the reach of content providing a wide range of services especially to young people with smart gadgets.

    However, the OTT applications were a concern for regulatory authority as they were not governed by any law, Rathore said, adding that the government was committed to digitization and the latest Union Budget 2017 had included digital economy as one of the key themes that had allotted Rs 10,000 crore (Rs. 100,000 million) for the Digital India program launched by PM Narendra Modi.

    The Minister, along with Chandra and Sharma, also felicitated the winners of the awards constituted by Broadcast Engineering Society in various categories such as broadcasting, engineering, training and innovation. The life time achievement award was conferred to BB Srivastava for his outstanding contributions to the radio FM industry.

  • OTT poses regulatory challenges but govt committed to digitisation

    OTT poses regulatory challenges but govt committed to digitisation

    NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that digital technology platform acted as an equalizer ensuring level playing field and providing equal opportunities for all irrespective of age, region and economic background, but cautioned that techs like OTT posed regulatory challenges too.

    Digital technology apart from providing better services, also ensured transparency that enabled plugging leakages at every levels so that the intended benefits trickle down to every citizen, the Minister said here yesterday at the inaugural ceremony of the 23rd International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting, organised by the Broadcasting Engineering Society (BES) that also is holding the BES Expo 2017.

    Also present on the occasion were TRAI chairman RS Sharma and Member of Parliament and Zee chairman Subash Chandra. The theme of the event is `Hybrid Technologies in Broadcasting’.

    Rathore said that while digital technology offered immense opportunities to reach out to people, it also posed many challenges with regards to content regulation, illegal broadcasts that demanded innovative solutions to address the concerns. The Over the Top (OTT) applications have democratized the reach of content providing a wide range of services especially to young people with smart gadgets.

    However, the OTT applications were a concern for regulatory authority as they were not governed by any law, Rathore said, adding that the government was committed to digitization and the latest Union Budget 2017 had included digital economy as one of the key themes that had allotted Rs 10,000 crore (Rs. 100,000 million) for the Digital India program launched by PM Narendra Modi.

    The Minister, along with Chandra and Sharma, also felicitated the winners of the awards constituted by Broadcast Engineering Society in various categories such as broadcasting, engineering, training and innovation. The life time achievement award was conferred to BB Srivastava for his outstanding contributions to the radio FM industry.