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MSOs, broadcasters miss content carriage agreement deadline

Published

14 years ago

August 21, 2012

MUMBAI: The deadline set by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for multi-system operators (MSOs) to sign content carriage agreements with television broadcasters passed on Tuesday with very few deals being inked.

The major cable TV networks have crossed the 21 August deadline carrying the load of inconclusive commercial agreements with broadcasters. Both the parties are engaged in long-drawn bargaining as the settled pricing terms will largely determine the content cost of MSOs and the subscription revenue of broadcasters in digitised India.

A related part of the pact would be carriage fees that the cable TV operators charge from the broadcasters to distribute their channels on their networks.

Crucial for meeting the government‘s deadline of 31 October for ending analogue cable in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the inter-connection agreements would determine the retail price consumers would have to pay for watching these channels.

MSOs have said that the slow offtake of set-top boxes (STBs) is primarily due to the absence of deals with broadcasters as they have been unable to create channel packages and their pricing structures. “When we approach our subscribers, we need to tell them what packages they can take and at what pricing. Consumers should know the products and their costs before they decide to buy. This is the basic rule of purchase behaviour anywhere in the world,” said the CEO of a leading MSO who did not want his name to be revealed.

The low STB penetration had led the government to extend the digitisation deadline by four months. Information and Broadcasting ministry had stated in early August that Mumbai looked the most prepared with 50 per cent of cable TV homes already having digital STB installations. But Delhi and Kolkata seemed to be struggling with the rate of STB installations around 25 per cent while Chennai lagged way behind.

Trai had earlier made it clear that in case of failures, it would have to intervene to decide the tariffs and carriage norms. The broadcast sector regulator had indicated that it would not tolerate further delays in inter-connection agreements.

Sameer Manchanda-promoted Den Networks is, perhaps, the only big MSO to have finalised contracts with a majority of broadcasters. Among those who have signed the commercial agreements are Media Pro which distributes the Star, Zee and Turner group of channels; MSM Discovery that has the channels of Multi Screen Media, Discovery and Neo; ESPN Star Sports; and UTV.

“We are comfortably placed with respect to commercial deals with a majority of content aggregators,” says Den Networks chief operating officer MG Azhar.

The only big broadcasting network not under the web of any deal with the big MSOs is IndiaCast, the company that distributes the TV18 group of channels including Colors. The company also distributes the Disney and Sun channels in the Hindi speaking markets.

IndiaCast was recently formed with TV18 having 75 per cent stake and media conglomerate Viacom holding the remaining 25 per cent.

“We will be announcing a few deals in very short time,” says IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi.

Outside Den, the other big MSOs have yet to stitch their content deals. These include Hathway Cable & Datacom, Digicable and IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL). WWIL, owned by Subhash Chandra‘s Essel Group, earlier said it has signed with Media Pro.

Incidentally, Media Pro is a distribution company floated last year by Star Den Media Services and Zee Turner and has the largest bouquet comprising 70 channels, including flagship Hindi general entertainment channels Star Plus and Zee TV. As both have equal stake in the JV, Zee gets a majority holding. In the old outfits, Star and Den each had 50 per cent stake in Star Den while Zee held 74 per cent and Turner 26 per cent in Zee Turner.

“We are in the last stages of our deals with the broadcasters. We should be able to conclude in the next few days,” says Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO K Jayaraman.

Even IMCL is hopeful of concluding the inter-connection agreements with the broadcasters soon. “We are in deep negotiations. We are hopeful that we would complete them soon,” says IMCL CEO and MD Ravi Mansukhani.

The MSOs and broadcasters are being extra cautious in signing agreements that will decide their business models in the new era of digitisation. “It is important to smell better deals. Commercial agreements are not about speed but about sense,” says the head of a leading MSO on condition of anonymity.

MSM Discovery president Rajesh Kaul is optimistic that there would be no further delays in digitisation. “We have signed up two major cable networks including Den, and a host of other independent operators,” Kaul tells Indiantelevision.com.

Senior executives in Media Pro were not available for comment.

The early trend is to get more into the nature of fixed fee deals, though all kinds are taking place. The sector regulator has not allowed fixed fee commercial agreements between the MSOs and the broadcasters. “There are many kinds of deals taking place. But fixed fee agreements are easier to conclude,” a senior executive said.

Another trend is to conclude deals with the bigger broadcasters first as this will allow the cable networks to bargain with the smaller ones.

MSOs and broadcasters have sent out the details of their progress with the inter-connection agreements to Trai late Tuesday night. It remains to be seen how the sector regulator reacts to the failure by broadcasters and MSOs to meet the 21 August deadline.

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Moltbook, the AI-only social network, sparks hype, doubt and fear

Published

2 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Moltbook, a Reddit-style social platform built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents, has emerged as the latest obsession in Silicon Valley, drawing intense attention for its explosive growth and surreal bot-driven interactions.

The platform hosts more than 100 communities where AI agents post, argue and joke about topics ranging from governance theory to esoteric “crayfish debugging” concepts. Within days of launch, Moltbook recorded tens of thousands of posts, nearly 200,000 comments and more than 1 million human visitors observing the activity.

Yet the numbers and the autonomy are under scrutiny, as per media reports. A security researcher has suggested as many as 500,000 accounts may trace back to a single address, raising doubts about Moltbook’s membership claims. Many posts could also be the result of humans instructing their AI tools to publish content, rather than bots acting independently.

The platform runs on agentic AI, powered by an open-source tool called OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot. Unlike chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, these agents are designed to perform tasks on users’ devices, from sending messages to managing calendars, with minimal human input. Once authorised, they can interact freely on Moltbook.

Some tech figures have hailed the platform as a glimpse of a post-human internet. Head of crypto custody firm BitGo Bill Lees, called it evidence that “we’re in the singularity”.

Academics are less convinced. Petar Radanliev, an AI and cybersecurity expert at the University of Oxford, said the idea of agents acting independently was “misleading”, describing Moltbook instead as automated coordination within human-set constraints. Columbia Business School assistant professor David Holtz, dismissed the spectacle as “thousands of bots yelling into the void and repeating themselves”.

Beyond hype, security worries loom large. ESET global cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore, warned that granting AI agents access to emails, private messages and files risks prioritising efficiency over privacy. Andrew Rogoyski of the University of Surrey said high-level system access could lead to serious damage, from erased data to compromised company accounts.

Even OpenClaw’s founder Peter Steinberger, has felt the darker side of attention, with scammers hijacking his old social media handles after the platform’s rebrand.

For now, Moltbook remains a strange digital zoo: part experiment, part spectacle, where AI agents banter about philosophy, productivity and, occasionally, their fondness for their human operators.

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Apple appoints Avtar Ram Singh as head of international marketing

Published

2 weeks ago

February 2, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Apple has handed a bigger global brief to a long-time insider. Avtar Ram Singh has taken over as head of international marketing for the App Store, Apple Arcade and the Apple Games app, deepening his remit across one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as head of international marketing, App Store, Apple Arcade and Games App at Apple,” Singh said while announcing the move.

The promotion crowns nearly seven years at Apple, where Singh has led services marketing across Southeast Asia and India and previously served as head of marketing for Southeast Asia content and services, business lead for Apple Podcasts in the region and interim marketing lead for the App Store internationally.

His new portfolio spans three pillars of Apple’s services push. The App Store, which Apple positions as a safe and trusted discovery platform, now attracts more than 850 million average weekly users globally. Since 2008, developers have earned over $550 billion on the platform.

Apple Arcade, the company’s gaming subscription service, offers unlimited access to a catalogue ranging from brain teasers to big-name franchises. The recent addition of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition brings a AAA PC title to iPhone, iPad and Mac from 5 February.

Then there is the Apple Games app, unveiled at WWDC as a unified destination for games from the App Store and Arcade. It aggregates titles in one place, surfaces personalised recommendations, tracks events and achievements, and lets users compete with friends or connect controllers for a console-like experience.

Singh arrives with a hybrid background in strategy, data and creativity. His career spans digital and social media marketing, business intelligence, content, editorial and analytics across culturally diverse markets. He has worked on brands including P&G, Accor, Audi, UBS, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, Pizza Hut, HBO and Singapore Airlines-linked businesses such as Scoot.

Before Apple, Singh led strategy at Falcon Agency, focusing on performance marketing and ROI-driven digital frameworks. He earlier ran the social practice at Publicis Singapore, where he oversaw operations, business development and regional social strategy for multinational clients. His career also includes roles at Ogilvy-linked Circus Social, Rocket Internet ventures Lazada and Zalora, and research firm IDC in Bangkok, where he analysed technology markets and won early awards for collaboration and client retention.

At Apple, he has been close to several service launches and expansions, including Apple Fitness+ in Singapore, Apple Creator Studio, global podcast subscriptions and new App Store marketing tools.

The timing is notable. Apple’s services business has posted record years, and gaming is becoming a sharper battleground as platforms chase engagement and recurring revenue. Singh’s brief sits at the intersection of content, community and commerce.

In a market where attention is scarce and loyalty scarcer, Apple is betting that sharper storytelling and smarter marketing can keep users inside its ecosystem. Singh now holds the megaphone. The real test will be how loudly the world listens.

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Cloud nine in the capital Bharathcloud plugs Delhi into its AI plans

Published

3 weeks ago

January 30, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Bharathcloud is bringing its cloud closer to power. The Hyderabad-based sovereign AI cloud services provider has opened its Delhi office, marking its formal entry into North India and setting the stage for its next phase of growth.

The expansion comes as India’s digital transformation fuels rising demand for AI-ready cloud infrastructure, driven by wider adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and data-heavy applications. With the new office, Bharathcloud plans to onboard more than 100 employees in 2026, strengthening its workforce to support customers across government, enterprises, MSMEs and social sectors.

The Delhi presence is expected to sharpen the company’s engagement with organisations seeking secure, scalable and cost-efficient cloud platforms that comply with India’s data sovereignty requirements. It also positions Bharathcloud closer to policy, public sector and enterprise decision-makers in the region.

Founded in Hyderabad, Bharathcloud offers AI-ready cloud infrastructure including Kubernetes-as-a-Service, zero-trust security architecture and multi-level data protection frameworks. Its platform supports AI and ML workloads, blockchain application migration from hyperscalers and distributed data management, with an emphasis on reliability, low latency and operational continuity.

“With the Delhi expansion, we are positioning Bharathcloud to engage more closely with AI-driven enterprises and technology hubs in North India,” said Bharathcloud co-founder Rahul Takallapally. He added that the move would help nurture local cloud and AI talent while accelerating the adoption of secure and resilient AI infrastructure across sectors.

The company currently operates in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai, employing over 200 people and serving more than 1,500 clients across manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, IT and media. Aligned with national initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India, Bharathcloud continues to focus on building indigenous AI-cloud infrastructure to support data localisation and the country’s growing appetite for next-generation digital solutions.

With its Delhi office now live, the company is signalling a clear intent: to make sovereign, AI-ready cloud infrastructure not just an alternative, but a mainstream choice for India’s north as well as its tech capitals.