ITV

Tag: Trai

  • Bombay HC to hear petitions against TRAI order

    Bombay HC to hear petitions against TRAI order

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court will hear on 26 February a petition filed by the Digital Cable Operators Association of Mumbai (DCOAM) and Maharashtra Cable Operations Foundation (MCOF), challenging the 'arbitrary' rules introduced by the TRAI.

    They challenged before the High Court the network capacity fee (NCF) implemented by TRAI under the NTO-2 regime. The operators’ main contention was with regard to the NCF cap of Rs 160/month fixed by TRAI and additional TV connections and discounts. The petitioners claimed that the NTO would hinder their basic right to do business.

    The court has set aside the matter for hearing for Wednesday.

    Adv Rahul Soman, who appeared for the operators, contended that the TRAI has not fixed an upper limit for extra channels. So, the situation is such that customers can demand any number of channels, which will hamper the cable operators’ business, argued the lawyer.

    A lot of stakeholders, in addition to some individuals, have moved various high courts in the country, challenging the TRAI’s new price regime. They include various broadcasters and bodies like the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF).

    Early this year, TRAI stipulated 200 channels for a NCF of Rs 160. The regulator has also directed the DPOs not to charge more than the stipulated monthly charge of Rs 160 for providing all the available channels.  

  • English news records highest ratings in 2020 during Delhi elections, results week

    English news records highest ratings in 2020 during Delhi elections, results week

    BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Runup to elections and election results announcements are big viewership drivers for news channels in India. Assembly elections on 8 February 2020 and announcement of the election results of the New Delhi legislative assembly in week 6 of 2020 (Saturday, 8 February 2020 to Friday, 14 February 2020, week or period under review) boosted the combined viewership of the Top 5 English News channels by 49.5 percent as compared to the previous week. Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) reported a total of 2.741 million impressions for the top 5 English News channels in the week under review. The combined total of the top 5 channels during the previous week (week 5 of 2020) was 1.835 million weekly impressions.

    Combined impressions of the top 5 English News channels in week 6 of 2020 was the highest ratings to date in 2020. The previous highest combined total of the top 5 English News channels in 2020 was in week 4 at 2.582 million weekly impressions. Further, the average combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English News channels during 41 weeks of the previous calendar year was 2.271 million weekly impressions. It must be remembered that BARC had stopped publication of ratings in the public domain to allow viewership to stablise after the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) New Tariff Order (NTO) for the weeks 6 to 12 of 2019. Hence, average of the remaining 41 weeks of 2019 (weeks 13 to 53 of 2019) or post week 12 of 2019 average has been considered.

    Top 5 English News Channels in week 6 of 2020

    Four of the channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 5 English News channels for week 6 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week. Pub-caster Doordarshan’s English News channel DD India exited the list during the period under review, while the Radhika and Pronnoy Roy headed NDTV 24×7 made a rare appearance into BARC’s weekly list of Top 5 English News channels in week 06 of 2019.

    At its normal numero uno position was the Arnab Goswami headed Republic TV with a phenomenal 74.5 percent lead in ratings in week 6 of 2020 of 1.141 million weekly impressions as compared to the 0.654 million weekly impressions in week 5. Also at its normal second rank was Times Now with 0.664 million weekly impressions in week 6 of 2020 which was 24.3 percent more than the 0.534 million weekly impressions in week 5. Continuing on at its previous week’s third rank was the India Today group’s India Today Television with 0.415 million weekly impressions in week 6 of 2020, a jump of 40 percent from the 0.303 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

    Climbing up to fourth rank in week 6 of 2020 from the previous week’s fifth rank was Network18’s CNN News18 with 0.263 million weekly impressions, which was 61.3 percent more than the 0.163 million weekly impressions in week 5. Entering BARC’s weekly lists of Top 5 English News channels for was NDTV 24×7 with 0.258 million weekly impressions. This was NDTV 24×7 second appearance in BARC’s top 5 English News channels list in 2020. The channel had appeared in the lists earlier in calendar year 2020 in week 1.

  • TRAI directs broadcasters, DPOs to publish updated NTO 2.0 prices

    TRAI directs broadcasters, DPOs to publish updated NTO 2.0 prices

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs) to take necessary steps to ensure a smooth rollout of the amended new tariff order from 1 March. Both broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs)  have also been directed to publish required information on their website to provide consumers sufficient time to exercise their choice of channels and bouquets before the implementation.

    After TRAI came out with the amendments to the new price regime, stakeholders across the industry raised voice against that. There are several petitions pending in the high courts challenging the order. However, the latest directive from TRAI reaffirms that it is firm on rolling out the order.

    The authority also stated that many broadcasters have neither reported nor published the requisite information regarding the changes. It also added that it has been observed from the information available on the websites of many broadcasters that most of the existing bouquets of pay channels are not in compliance with the provisions of the amendments.

    TRAI also pointed out that quite a few DPOs have also not published the required information on their website nor composition of new bouquets compliant to the changes.

    “Further, to ensure that consumers at large are kept fully appraised, all concerned are required to ensure that information about all such existing bouquets which do not conform to the provisions of Tariff Order 2020 and which shall not be available for the consumers on or after 1st March 2020 may be suitably indicated on their website,” TRAI stated.

  • NTO 2.0: Bombay High Court adjourns case to 26 Feb

    NTO 2.0: Bombay High Court adjourns case to 26 Feb

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has adjourned the ongoing case between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and broadcasters on the new tariff order (NTO) to 26 February. During the last hearing , no interim relief had been granted.

    Last time, the advocate for TRAI made a statement at the very beginning that the arguments should be based only on the petition and not on the rejoinder. Countering that, the advocate for Film & TV Producers Guild of India stated that there is nothing new in the rejoinder and everything is available in public domain.

    He also touched upon the point of the newly imposed twin conditions levied in the amendment of new tariff order where one condition is the cap of Rs 12 in a bouquet, the other being the discount on channel bouquets to around 33 per cent.

    Earlier, broadcasters were giving higher discounts pursuant to cross subsidies available by including smaller channels in its bouquets, which was totally in favour of consumers. He argued that if a consumer has to watch the so-called popular/niche channels (terms used by TRAI), he has to pay a higher price and it will increase his monthly bill.

    He also continued that although they do not come under the direct purview of TRAI, the amendments in the tariff order can affect their revenue. As the regulatory body has put a cap of Rs 12 on pay channel that can be included in a bouquet, the broadcaster cannot charge more than Rs 12 for that pay channel in a bouquet.

    The broadcaster has to pay huge amount to acquire content. Due to the regulations, if the broadcaster is not able to include it in a bouquet, it may prefer not to acquire such high priced content. Moreover, if broadcasters can not acquire quality content, the customer will lose.

    While broadcasters have the flexibility to decide the price of its pay channel and the customer should be able to view quality content on his TV, both these conditions are violated by the order.

    Last month, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) along with others has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court against the TRAI order. The petitioners mentioned that the as amendments which has been notified in “consumer interest," will have exactly the opposite effect, leading to crippling of the business of broadcasters and ultimate suffering of the consumer.

  • No plan to levy 10% licence fee on b’casters, cable ops: I&B Min

    No plan to levy 10% licence fee on b’casters, cable ops: I&B Min

    MUMBAI: The Minister Of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar has made it clear in a parliamentary response that the ministry does not intend to add any sort of 10 per cent licence fee on broadcasters and cable operators in India.

    His response came for a question that asked if the minister had an intention to do so on the lines of what it follows for the DTH industry. Currently, DTH operators need to pay 10 per cent of their gross revenue as annual licence fee.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in a recommendation, last year, mentioned that this 10 per cent should be brought down to 8 per cent of adjusted gross revenue rather than gross revenue.

    The minister also mentioned there is no central register that maintains industry-wise information regarding licence fees.

  • Colors continues as most watched pay TV Hindi GEC across genres

    Colors continues as most watched pay TV Hindi GEC across genres

    BENGALURU: Network18/Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors had climbed up to rank 3 in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 3 of 2020 (previous week or period). Colors is a pay TV channel. Enterr10 Television’s free-to-air (FTA) Hindi GEC Dangal had regained top spot after a short hiatus of one week from the Sun Tv Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV in the previous week.The same ranking status continued on in week 4 of 2020 (Saturday, 25 January 2020 to Friday, 31January 2020, week or period under review). Hence Colors was the most watched pay TV Hindi GEC in week 4 of 2020 for the second week in a row.

    As a matter of fact, the first seven ranks during the period under review in BARC’s top 10 channels across genres on all platforms weekly list were the same in rank and file as in the previous week. Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) pay TV flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) pushed up one place to eighth rank in week 4 of 2020 from week 3, while Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) flagship Kannada GEC Zee Kannada dropped a place to ninth rank. Viacom18’s kids channel Nick exited BARC’s weekly across genres on all platforms list in week 4 of 2020 and was replaced by Zeel’s Hindi Movies channel Zee cinema.

    Six Hindi GECs’ and one channel each from the Hindi Movies, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu genres made up BARC’s Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 4 of 2020. There were three channels from Zeel, two channels each from SPN and Star India and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sun Tv Network and Viacom18/Network18 in the list in week 4 of 2020. Nine of the channels were on the pay platform and one channel was FTA.
    The combined ratings of the Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 4 of 2020 were lower than those of the previous week.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020

    Sun TV continued its run as the most watched pay channel in week 4 of 2020. It topped BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. The first six ranks in week 4 of 2020 were the same as in week 3. SET climbed to eighth rank, while Zee Kannada dropped to ninth rank in week 4 of 2020 as compared to the previous period. Viacom18’s Nick was replaced at tenth rank by Zee Cinema during the period under review.

    Five Hindi GECs’, two Telugu GECs’ and one channel each from the Hindi Movies, Kannada and Tamil genres comprised BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. There were three channels from Zeel, two channels each from SPN, Star India and Network18/Viacom18 and one channel from the Sun Tv Network in BARC’s weeklylist of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. The combined ratings of the Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020 were lower than those of the previous week.

    Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020

    The first 4 channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week. Enterr10 TV’s Bhojpuri channel Bhojpuri Cinema jumped up three places to fifth rank during the week under review from its previous week’s eighth position. Zeel’s Music channel Zing entered the list at ninth rank, while pubcasterDoordarshan’s Sports channel DD Sports exited BARC weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. 

    Four Bhojpuri channels, two channels each from the Hindi GEC and Hindi Movies genres and one channel each from the Marathi and Music genres made up BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. From the network’s perspective, there were four channels each from Enterr10 Television and Zeel and two channels from B4U network in the list in week 4 of 2020. Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020.

    Of note was Zeel’snew Bhojpuri channel Zee Biskope – the channel retained its place and rank in its second week since coming under BARC’s ambit.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • English News viewership decline continues in week 3 of 2020

    English News viewership decline continues in week 3 of 2020

    BENGALURU: Viewership of English News channels continued a downward spiral in in week 3 of 2020 (Saturday, 18 January 2020 to Friday, 24 January 2020, week under review). Analysis of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data of 44 weeks between week 13 of 2019 and week 3 of 2020 reveals that the four week combined average viewership of the top 5 English News channels declined 23 percent for week 53 of 2019 and week 3 of 2020  (4 week period under review) to 1.724 million weekly impressions as compared to the average combined viewership of the 44 week period of 2.235 million weekly impressions. Viewership during the period under review declined 15.1 percent from 2.032 million weekly impressions calculated for the immediate trailing 4 week period (week 49 to week 52 of 2019).

    The last few weeks have been reasonably eventful. Among the newsworthy happenings include the fact that the fall out of the Citizenship Amendment Act is still unfolding, not only in India but in other geographies as well. Further, assembly elections for the state of Delhi have been announced, the lawyers of the condemned Nirbhaya rapists managed to delay their executions to the first of February. Please refer to the figure below for the four week average of combined ratings of top 5 English News channels between weeks 13 of 2019 and 3 of 2020.

    It must be noted that BARC had stopped publishing data in the public domain between weeks 6 and 12 of 2019 to allow for ratings to stabilize after the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) New Tariff Order (NTO), hence data between weeks 13 of 2019 and 3 of 2020 has been considered in this paper. Though the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in week 3 of 2020 were slightly higher than those of the immediate trailing week (week 2 of 2020), they were 24 percent lower than the 44 week average.

    The figure below shows that combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels between week 13 of 2019 and week 3 of 2020.

    Week 3 of 2020

    Ranks 1, 2  and were held by the same channels in week 3 of 2020 as in the previous week – Republic TV, Times Now and India Today TV retained places 1, 2 and 3 respectively. DD India pushed its way to fourth rank from fifth rank in week 3 of 2020,  while CNN News18 dropped to fifth place from fourth. Please refer to the figure below: 

    Two channels lost viewership in week 3 of 2020 – CNN News18 and Republic TV as compared to the previous week, while the other 3 made slight gains. Arnab Goswami’sfirst placed Republic TV saw viewership decline by 5 percent to 0.568 million weekly impressions from 0.598 million. At rank two, Times Now saw viewership climb 11 percent to 0.472 million weekly impressions from 0.425 million weekly impressions. Third ranked India Today Television saw  viewership increase 4.3 percent to 0.265 million weekly impressions in week 3 of 2020 from 0.254 million weekly impressions in week 2. At rank 4, DD India saw viewership rise 7.3 percent to 0.207 million weekly impressions in week 3 of 2020 from 0.193 million weekly impressions in the previous week. CNN News18 saw ratings decline 12.3 percent to 0.186 million weekly impressions  in week 3 of 2020 from 0.212 million weekly impressions in week 2.

    Please refer to the figure below:


     

  • NTO 2.0 case: No interim relief granted, to be heard on 12 Feb

    NTO 2.0 case: No interim relief granted, to be heard on 12 Feb

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has listed the next hearing of the ongoing case between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and broadcasters on the new tariff order (NTO) on 12 February. No interim relief has been granted yet which can be argued at the next hearing. It has also been directed to issue a notice to Maharashtra advocate general.

    During Thursday’s hearing, the advocate for TRAI made a statement at the very beginning that the arguments should be based only on the petition and not on the rejoinder. Countering that, the advocate for Film & TV Producers Guild of India stated that there is nothing new in the rejoinder and everything is available in public domain.

    He also touched upon the point of the newly imposed twin conditions levied in the amendment of new tariff order where one condition is the cap of Rs 12 in a bouquet, the other being the discount on channel bouquets to around 33 per cent.

    Earlier, broadcasters were giving higher discounts pursuant to cross subsidies available by including smaller channels in its bouquets, which was totally in favour of consumers. He argued that if a consumer has to watch the so-called popular/niche channels (terms used by TRAI), he has to pay a higher price and it will increase his monthly bill.

    He also continued that although they do not come under the direct purview of TRAI, the amendments in the tariff order can affect their revenue. As the regulatory body has put a cap of Rs 12 on pay channel that can be included in a bouquet,  the broadcaster cannot charge more than Rs 12 for that pay channel in a bouquet.

    The broadcaster has to pay huge amount to acquire content. Due to the regulations, if the broadcaster is not able to include it in a bouquet, it  may prefer not to acquire such high priced content. Moreover, if broadcasters can not acquire quality content, the customer will lose.

    While broadcasters have the flexibility to decide the price of its pay channel and the customer should be able to view quality content on his TV, both these conditions are violated by the order.

    Earlier in the month, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) along with others has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court against the TRAI order. The petitioners mentioned that the as amendments which has been notified in “consumer interest," will have exactly the opposite effect, leading to crippling of the business of broadcasters and ultimate suffering of the consumer.

  • TRAI extends deadline for comments on CP ‘Transparency in Publishing of Tariff Offers’

    TRAI extends deadline for comments on CP ‘Transparency in Publishing of Tariff Offers’

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has further extended the deadline for receiving comments on Consultation Paper on "Transparency in Publishing of Tariff Offers" till 7 February and counter comments till 21 February.

    The authority had issued a Consultation Paper (CP) on "Transparency in Publishing of Tariff Offers" on 27 November 2019. The last date for receiving written comments from the stakeholders was fixed at 26 December 2019 and thereafter counter comments by 9 January 2020.

    Pursuant to the request of stakeholders, TRAI extended the last date for submission of written comments to 23 January 2020 and last date for submission of counter comments to 6 February 2020.

    Now the stakeholders have sought a further extension of time for sending their comments on the Consultation Paper on "Transparency in Publishing of Tariff Offers". The authority has decided to further extend the last date for submission of written comments to 7 February 2020 and for counter comments to 21 February 2020.

    In November, TRAI had sought public views on enhancing transparency in disclosure of phone services rates and mooted an idea of introducing tariff calculator to help customers find the best plans to suit their usage. The move came after TRAI received a significant number of complaints from individual consumers on a lack of transparency in disclosure of tariff information.

  • Sun TV regains most watched channel across genres top spot

    Sun TV regains most watched channel across genres top spot

    BENGALURU: The Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV was ranked first in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 2 of 2020 (Saturday, 11 January 2020 to Friday, 17January 2020, week or period under consideration). This was the first time in 2020 and the first time since week 36 of 2019 that the channel regained what was its regular top spot during earlier periods before the implementation of Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) New Tariff Order (NTO).

    Five Hindi GECs’, two Telugu GECs, and one channel each from the Kannada, Kids and Tamil genres made up BARCs’ weekly list of Top Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 2 of 2020. From the network’s perspective there were three channels from Star India, two channels each fromViacom18/Network18 and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and the Sun Tv Network. Nine of the channels were pay TV and one channel, ranked second – Dangal, was free to air (FTA).

    Dangal, which was ranked first since week 37 of 2019 and even earlier, dropped a place to second rank during the week under review.

    Please refer to the figure below: 

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020

    As has become a norm, the top two pay channels in week 2 of 2020 were not Hindi GECs, they were a Tamil GEC and a Telugu GEC at ranks one and two respectively. Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa replaced its network sibling Hindi GEC Star Plus at rank 2 in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020. 

    Five Hindi GECs’, two Telugu channels and one channel each from the Kannada, Kids and Tamil genres were present in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020. There were three channels from Star India, two channels each from SPN, Viacom18 and Zeel and one channel from the Sun Tv Network in the top 10 list during the period under consideration.

    Please refer to the list below:

    Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020

    Three channels from the Hindi Movies genre, two channels each from the Bhojpuri and Hindi GEC genres and one channel each from the Marathi, Music and Sports genres made BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020.  The nail biting India-Australia T20 cricket series has helped increase viewership of DD Sports, bringinr it into the fold of top 10 FTA channels across genres list during the past few weeks. Four of the channels were  from Enterr 10 Television network, three channels from Zeel, two channels from B4U and channel from pubcaster network Doordarshan in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020. Please refer to the figure below: