Madhav Kant Mishra leaves Disha Channel

Founder CEO and chief editor of Disha Channel Mr. Madhav Kant Mishra has opted to move out of Disha for bigger and meaningful global role in broadcast industry. 

Mr. Mishra, a veteran journalist and renowned spiritual broadcaster has more than four decades of experience in print and electronic media, credited with founder of several media ventures. 

Zenga TV appoints Abhishek Joshi as CEO

Mobile television services provider ZengaTV today said it has appointed Mr Abhishek Joshi as its new Chief Executive Officer. 

Prior to this, Mr Joshi was handling the marketing function for Sony Entertainment Television at Sony Entertainment Network and brings with him more than 11 years of experience, ZengaTV said in a statement. 

Exset helps LCOs to monetize Digitalisation

Now cable operators have an excellent opportunity to earn more revenue leveraging their digital last mile thanks to Exset a about solution provider. Exset believes that it has become critical to harness the power of TV and exploit the business opportunity it provides. In line with this thought, Exset has launched its Digital Monetisation System (DMS).

The system makes use of a cable operator’s proximity to their consumers and their capability of providing personalized service so much needed in any retail business.

Sun TV shares spurt over deal with Arasu Cable

Shares of Sun TV Network spurted today after it announced that it has signed a deal with the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation, a Tamil Nadu Government undertaking, to distribute its bouquet of channels.

A company official replying to media queries on TV said the deal would strengthen the reach of the network. But he declined to give the details of the agreement as to the revenue sharing pattern or the expected increase in turnover.

Cable Operator files case against ARASU Cable before CCI, New Delhi

Coimbatore based Cable TV operator Mr. M. Rajendran has approached the Competition Commission of India with a complaint to take action against M/S Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited (Arasu)

Mr. Rajendran has preferred a complaint against Arasu for becoming monopoly in Cable TV services in all the NON-CAS areas (Except Chennai) of Tamil Nadu and abusing its dominant position. In its complaint dated 21-04-2012, Mr. Rajendran has given a picture on the importance of Television viewing in the state of Tamil Nadu and said that Tamil Nadu stands has the second largest cable TV homes in India with a market share of 14%, only next to Andhra Pradesh. The complaint would go to say that about 600 Multi System Operators (MSOs) were operational before the arrival of Arasu.

TDSAT directs Govt to return Etisalat’s bank guarantees

Telecom tribunal TDSAT has directed the Government to return within a week the Performance Bank Guarantees submitted by Etisalat DB at the time of allocation of spectrum for 11 circles.

Etisalat had submitted performance bank guarantees of Rs 160 crore at the time of allocation of licences and airwaves.

Google ready to turn up fibre-based IPTV

After months of building out fibre infrastructure in Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo, Google says that it is ready to turn up Google Fiber's broadband Internet and HDTV service, taking on IPTV rivals AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS. 

However, the company is hedging its bets with a sign-up process that encourages a friends-and-family recommendation scheme on the part of interested customers. 

Sahara set to enter digital cable business

Sahara India is close to acquiring a controlling stake in DigiCable, a cable service provider.

This will mark the entry of Sahara into the digital cable business.

Airtel charged with blocking international calls

Reliance Communications approached telecom tribunal TDSAT on July 27, 2012, accusing Bharti Airtel of blocking international calls originated on its network instead of forwarding them to Intelligent Network -- a services used for toll free numbers.

A TDSAT bench headed by its Chairman Justice S B Sinha has issued the notice to Airtel and Department of Telecommunications asked the company to maintain status quo and ordered that they will not block any call to Intelligent Network (IN) numbers till August 9, the next date of hearing.

Space Jam: Isro indecision blocks DTH expansion

New Delhi: Policy paralysis has hit space. The inability of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to cater to the needs of the fast-growing DTH sector has virtually crippled the expansion plans of six private Indian direct-to-home (DTH) operators.

Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Big TV, Sun Direct and Videocon D2H are struggling to expand their satellite capacity or find a back-up satellite as all such files and requests have hit a dead end in the Isro’s INSAT Coordination Council (ICC).

Cable Operator killed in his Bindapur house

A 35-year-old cable operator died and three of his family members, including his wife, suffered critical injuries after a group of men allegedly barged into their house in southwest Delhi's Bindapur and attacked them with swords and iron rods late on 25 July 2012, Wednesday night. Police said political rivalry between the two parties was the prime motive behind the attack.

According to the police, the incident was reported to them at around 11.30 pm from Nandram Park locality and the deceased was identified as Hari Raj. Sources said the assailants fired bullets in the air and damaged some vehicles while escaping from the area.

WWIL posts 40% growth in operating revenues in Q1 FY 2013

The Board of Directors of Wire and Wireless (India) Limited (WWIL) in its meeting held today, has taken on record the unaudited consolidated financial results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. The consolidated total revenues for the quarter were Rs 1135.0 million and operating profit (EBITDA) was Rs. 277.4 million.

Homeshop18 appoints Rashmi Berry as new CMO S

HomeShop18 – India’s leading on air and online retail brand has appointed Rashmi Berry as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Rashmi is responsible for building and establishing a strong ‘HomeShop18’ brand across the business verticals of TV, web and mobile. 

Ditto TV collaborated with BIG CBS Networks

Ditto TV, an OTT (Over-The-Top TV) distribution platform from the digital support ZEEL, Zee New Media, has added two premium English TV channels to its basket of offerings – BIG CBS Prime, a general entertainment channel and BIG CBS Love, an international women's entertainment channel. 

CCI's clean chit to DTH operators on interoperability challenged

Competition regulator CCI clearing DTH operators including Tata Sky and Reliance Big TV of charges of market dominance abuse in the set-top boxes case has been challenged by a consumer rights group.

The Competition Commission of India's March 2011 order closing proceedings against the Direct-to-Home operators over denial of interoperability to customers by changing Conditional Access Module (CAM) cards has been challenged by Consumer Online Foundation (COF).

Thomson Video Networks Makes another Leap in Efficiency with New Quad-Channel Multistandard ViBE™ EM4000

Thomson Video Networks has launched a new quad-channel multistandard version of its ViBE™ EM4000 MPEG broadcast encoder, delivering another step up in efficiency for broadcasters seeking to deploy more HD and SD channels within bandwidth limits. 

Developed for satellite, terrestrial, cable, and IPTV applications, the ViBE EM4000 provides optimized compression performance and greater flexibility and density. The encoder's capacity for four channels within a single 1RU chassis allows each channel to consume only 70W of energy. Using the latest generation of Thomson's Mustang compression technology, the ViBE EM4000 can deliver efficiency improvement of 15 percent or more when encoding in MPEG-4 AVC, freeing up bandwidth that enables broadcasters to run an extra channel per multiplex or transponder. 

HC rejects petitions of DTH service providers on ent tax

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a bunch of writ petitions filed by leading direct-to-home services providers challenging the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to levy entertainment tax on sale of its equipments as well as on recharge coupons.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Sunil Ambwani and Justice Aditya Nath Mittal on July 20 turned down the petitions filed by the DTH service providers who had moved the court after receiving notices from the state government for payment of entertainment tax.

Khushboo TV, a Hindi music channel launched

Sahib Chopra-promoted Creative Channel Advertising and Marketing has launched a channel in the Hindi music space, christened Khushboo TV. The company also offers the Hindi movie channel, Manoranjan TV.

Initially, Khushboo TV will be available on cable and satellite connections. However, it may be extended to DTH platforms later. The free-to-air channel has been on test run for a few days now and will have an official launch on August 1. The channel is available on IntelSat 10.

UTV co-founder Zarina Mehta quits

Zarina Mehta, the Chief Creative Officer of UTV Group of Channels at Walt Disney India, who led the creation and launch of popular TV brands such as UTV Bindass, UTV Stars and UTV Action has decided to move on from Disney-UTV after a 27-year-long stint. 

She sent a mail to her company’s employees informing them about the decision. She wrote: “After 27 years, I have decided that I need to move on from my beloved UTV. It has given me such joy and fulfillment to create a vibrant, passionate, cutting edge company that believes passionately in creativity at its core. I have loved especially all the wonderful people I have worked with and the TV shows and brands I have helped create.” 

UTV co-founder Zarina Mehta quits

Zarina Mehta, the Chief Creative Officer of UTV Group of Channels at Walt Disney India, who led the creation and launch of popular TV brands such as UTV Bindass, UTV Stars and UTV Action has decided to move on from Disney-UTV after a 27-year-long stint. 

She sent a mail to her company’s employees informing them about the decision. She wrote: “After 27 years, I have decided that I need to move on from my beloved UTV. It has given me such joy and fulfillment to create a vibrant, passionate, cutting edge company that believes passionately in creativity at its core. I have loved especially all the wonderful people I have worked with and the TV shows and brands I have helped create.” 

Nachiket Pantvaidya to head Star Plus

Star India has appointed Nachiket Pantvaidya as General Manager for Star Plus. He will report to Sanjay Gupta, COO of Star India. Earlier, Pantvaidya was EVP and General Manager for Marathi GEC Star Pravah. 

Pantvaidya is replacing Nitin Vaidya, who had quit following his 14 months stint at Star India. 

Vivek Bahl joins to Sony as Chief Creative Director

Vivek Bahl set a record changing his job fifth tune in 18 months. He is set to join Sony Entertainment Television (SET) as Chief Creative Director after short stints at Mahuaa, Turner and Network 18. He moved to Mahuaa from Star India. 

Mr. Bahl, one of the oldest programming executive in the industry, joined Zee TV a few months before it was launched way back in 1992. His last stints was at Viacom18 Network which he had joined in May this year as network advisor (content). 

ABI Research: mobile integration is key to success of smart STBs

Shipments of so-called ‘smart set-top boxes’ available on a retail basis, such as the Apple TV and Roku devices, are expected to reach 57 mn by 2017, but face a challenging future as they attempt to break out of their niche status, according to US firm ABI Research.

Apple TV is believed to lead this particular segment with around 4mn units shipped through 2011 (despite the late Steve Jobs describing the device as a “hobby”), while Roku managed to sell 2.5mn units in 2011. 

Videocon d2h adds Asianet Movies

Videocon d2h, India’s fastest growing DTH service provider now presents Malayalam movie channel Asianet Movies. It is the first 24 hours Malayalam movie channel to be launched. Videocon d2h is set to be the foremost DTH service provider to broadcast this exclusively.

This channel promises to open the world of Malayalam cinema to its viewers and will offer the best movies across genres like classics, superhits and evergreen movies. Videocon d2h adds further to its wide gamut of regional content with this channel. With digitization imminent and the consumers’ fondness for content in regional language; this is certainly going to be a big draw in favour of Videocon d2h in the future.

New guidelines for cable TV operators

media, the Anti Piracy Cell on Saturday summoned the cable TV operators in the city and issued a new set of guidelines.

The representatives of owners of internet cafes and mobile shop/service centres were also summoned to the APC headquarters and handed over the guidelines.

Survey on cable TV connections soon

A detailed survey will be conducted to find out the number of cable television connections in Puducherry and in the adjoining areas as the data provided by cable operators was found to be incorrect, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said in the Assembly on 23 July 2012.

Intervening during question hour, he said operators claimed to have only around 67,000 connections in Puducherry. “We have more than 3 lakh ration card holders in Puducherry and by any estimate, the number provided by the cable operators cannot be true. We are exploring various options to conduct a survey to get the exact number of connections,” he said. Mr. Rangasamy urged the municipal staff to collect tax due to the civic bodies properly.

Jaya TV Sacked Vice President - Admin & Operations

Mr. Ranganathan, Vice President of Jaya TV and two of key personnel was hand caught and thrown out due to sever corruption in every activites of the company. 

Along with Mr. Ranganathan, Mr. T.R.Manjunath, Consultant for Distribution of the channels and Mr. Janardhan, P. A to Ex. Managing Director was involved in Distribution Scam. 

TDSAT stays TRAI order on MNP

In a relief to Sistema Shyam Tele Services and Unitech Wirelss, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has stayed the direction of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) removing 90-day processing period for mobile number portability (MNP) for customers of those operators whose licences the Supreme Court has cancelled. 

A TDSAT bench said TRAI can’t discriminate between the operators whose licences have been cancelled and those who are operating. TDSAT further said TRAI can’t take rights of Uninor and MTS to compete with their rivals till their licences are valid. 

BCCC advisories against vulgarity, children participation and use of animals

At its 15th meeting held on July 13, 2012, the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), the independent self-regulatory body for non-news television channels, approved the issuance of advisories on three issues for the benefit of all member channels of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). The issues are telecast of award functions, participation of children in reality shows and similar programmes, and depiction of animals/wildlife in TV programmes.

Telecast of award functions: On reviewing the complaints relating to the telecast of film award functions and shows, BCCC has found that many of these shows feature vulgar dialogues, double-entendres and smutty puns from the anchors. Sometimes, the content of the so-called jokes is demeaning to women and other communities.

Arasu Cable TV Corporation must offer level playing field

Satellite television broadcasting in Tamil Nadu is entangled in a cobweb of cables. Unlike other States in the country, where cable distribution of TV channels is a commercial operation of competition (healthy or unhealthy), the situation in Tamil Nadu is complicated by the fact that several Tamil satellite channels owe their allegiance to, or are owned by, political parties.

Until last year, there was a private monopoly of cable distribution in the State, making broadcasters dependent on the monopolist. After the change of Government, the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TNACTCL) was revived with a laudable intention of democratising channel feed to all broadcasters.

Lakshmi Sehgal died

Lakshmi Sehgal, who has died aged 97 at a private hospital in Kanpur on 23 July 2012, was a closeally of the Indian nationalist revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose. 

She was born Lakshmi Swaminathan into a well-off family in Madras on October 24 1914. Her father was a lawyer, her mother a social worker and independence activist. Lakshmi studied Medicine at Madras Medical College, and in 1940 left for Singapore, where she established a clinic for poor migrant labourers from India. 

Pranab Mukherjee elected India's 13th President

Its Pranab Dada finally to win the coveted President ship of world’s largest democracy. UPA presidential candidate and former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee got the magic figures (around 5.18 lakh worth of votes) to become new President of India. He got the required number during the ongoing counting of votes at Parliament House in Delhi on 22 July 2012. 

As expected, the UPA constituents and its key supporting parties like SP, BSP, RJD and others had supported Mukherjee. Besides, he also got the support of opposition parties like Shiv Sena and JD(U). 

ZengaTV launches HD mobile TV with India-Srilanka series

ZengaTV the market leader in mobile TV services has now launched HD mobile TV on Android platform. With the India-Srilanka Series, users will be able to watch LIVE tournament with more clarity and comprehensively superior resolution & richness for free on their mobiles. 

Under the agreement with India’s leading sports rights management agency, Sporty Solutionz which has got the rights from TEN sports, ZengaTV will provide exclusive mobile video streaming for the 5 ODI’s and one T20 slated to start on July 21, 2012 in Sri Lanka. ZengaTV has already achieved a phenomenal 421 million video views across different channels compared to less than 150 million video views in 2010 and with this launch it expects to grow exponentially again. 

2G reserve price: EGoM recommends minimum price for airwaves be cut to 14,000-16,000 crore

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by home minister P Chidambaram on 20 July 2012 recommended that the minimum price for airwaves be cut to Rs 14,000-16,000 crore. 

The panel also decided to allow telcos to stagger their payments for spectrum bagged through the bidding process. This was much against the expectation of mobile phone companies who were pitching for an 80% reduction from Rs 18 000 crore proposed by TRAI. 

Google launches Weblab

On 19 July 2012 Google launched a beta version of Web Lab, which will host — physically and virtually — five experiments. They are Universal Orchestra, Data Tracer, Sketchbots, Teleporter and Lab Tax Explorer. 

The five experiments would showcase the latest Web technologies to help you explore a particular theme in computer science. 

TV channels asked to stop reality shows depicting animal abuse

Entertainment channels that feature reality shows depicting scenes like live insects being eaten and animals being abused as an act of courage have been asked by their self-regulatory body on 20 July 2012 to stop airing such programmes.

The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) also noted that several film award shows telecast on TV contained double meaning jokes and adult humour and wanted the channels concerned to screen them only after 11 pm. Noting that several TV programmes were exploiting animals, birds and insects for the sake of entertainment, the Broadcasting Complaints Content Council asked entertainment channels not to air such content that was creating wrong impression among the viewers.

Court directive to Arasu cable TV Corporation

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TNACTVC) to convene a meeting of its Board of Directors and place the minutes of the price negotiation committee (PNC) of April this year for a television channel and take a decision one way or the other by July 31.

Justice V. Ramasubramanian passed the order while disposing of writ petitions by Neelakantan Ramanathan, a shareholder, and Sun TV Network here. The petitioners’ prayed for a direction to the TNACTVC to issue subscription order as per the terms finalised and price fixed for the petitioner’s pay channels by the corporation’s PNC at the meeting on April 3.

Sun Group CEO Tony D’Silva to move on

Tony D’Silva CEO of Sun Group has decided to quit the Chennai-based media-to-aviation conglomerate, according to media sources. 

D’Silva, who joined Sun Group as the COO of its direct-to-home (DTH) business Sun Direct in September 2007, is likely to relocate to Mumbai to explore new opportunities in the distribution space. 

Sun Group CEO Tony D’Silva to move on

Tony D’Silva CEO of Sun Group has decided to quit the Chennai-based media-to-aviation conglomerate, according to media sources. 

D’Silva, who joined Sun Group as the COO of its direct-to-home (DTH) business Sun Direct in September 2007, is likely to relocate to Mumbai to explore new opportunities in the distribution space. 

Nitin Vaidya quits Star India

Star India business head - Hindi channels Nitin Vaidya has put in his papers after a short stint of 14 months. 

He had joined Star India in May 2011 and was heading Hindi TV channels - Star Plus, Star One (which is now discontinued), Star Gold and Star Utsav. 

ZengaTV bags the exclusive rights to stream India Sri-Lanka series

ZengaTV, pioneer and leader in mobile video streaming delivering more than 65 plus million video views a month has bagged the exclusive rights to the upcoming India Srilanka series. Under the contract with India’s leading sports rights management agency, Sporty Solutionz which has got the rights from TEN sports, ZengaTV will provide exclusive mobile video streaming for the 5 ODI’s and one T20 slated to start on July 21, 2012 in Sri Lanka. The rights also provide with the option of showing the highlights and the viewer can either watch the entire match or the summary. This feature of catching up on the match is available to the users for 30 days after the match is played. 

Discovery Channel Tamil now available on Dish TV

Discovery Channel Tamil - the dedicated 24-hour Tamil language channel, announced that it will now also be available on leading DTH platform Dish TV. Already available across all analogue homes, Discovery Channel Tamil is one of the most widely distributed channels in Tamil Nadu reaching over 10 million subscribers. With availability on Dish TV, the channel expands its penetration in India targeting Tamil speaking viewers around the country.

Dish TV, being one of the major DTH platforms will drive Discovery Channel Tamil’s to reach viewers throughout India, especially catering to Tamil population in Northern India. It will be available on channel no. 929 on Dish TV.

Operators from Tamilnadu brief Ms. Ambika Soni

Members of the Tamilnadu Cable TV Service Providers Association met the honorable minister of Information and Broadcasting Ms. Ambika Soni on 19 July 2012 to apprise her of the situation of digitalisation in Tamilnadu state.

Office bearers who were part of the delegation included Shri SPK Goguldoss: State President, Shri S. K. Bhaskar: State General Secretary, Shri D. Dhairiyanathan, State Treasurer and Shri V. Subramanian, Chairman, M/s Akshaya Diginet Cable Vision Pvt. Ltd., Chennai.

Arasu Cable Corporation barred from opening bids

The Madras High Court on 17th July12 ordered that the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation should not open, until further orders, price bids for fixing carriage fee and allotment slots for satellite free-to-air and pay channels in its cable TV service in the State (except Chennai.)

Justice V. Ramasubramanian was passing further interim orders on petitions by various television channels, which had challenged the corporation’s tender of June 28.

Broadcasters move Delhi HC against deadline extension

NEW DELHI: Broadcasters including Star India, Zee News Ltd and Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) have filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on 18 July 2012, challenging the extension of digitisation deadline from to 1 November in the four Metros. The petitioners have contended that the Government did not have mandate to order an extension under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2011.

Hearing the petitioners, the Delhi High Court has issued notice to the government of India and I&B Ministry, seeking responses by 6 August.

Rana to file defamation suit against Sajjad Lone

Srinagar, July 18: Davinder Singh Rana, Political Advisor to Chief Minister, Wednesday threatened to sue Peoples Conference Chairman Sajjad Gani Lone for his alleged statement accusing him of misusing his official position to further his business interests.

In a statement here, Rana expressed his shock and dismay at “the irresponsible and defamatory statement” issued by the Peoples Conference Chairman Sajjad Lone.

Network18 elevates Jatana to group general counsel

Network18 Group has elevated Kshipra Jatana, EVP and head legal, News Networks to group general counsel. 

In her new role, Jatana will oversee legal operations and regulatory matters for all group businesses and joint ventures including A+E Networks- TV18, Viacom18, HomeShop18 and Indiacast. 

Trai's assumption unrealistic in spectrum price analysis: COAI

COAI today said telecom regulator TRAI's assessment of the impact of high spectrum price on tariff "continues to be based on some very tenuous and unrealistic assumptions". 

"TRAI has assured the eGoM that tariffs would remain affordable, industry profitability will increase and the government revenues GSM industry body will grow ...catch however is that the TRAI assessment continues to be based on some very tenuous and unrealistic assumptions," COAI said in a statement. 

TRAI to hold talks with TV channels on ad limits

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) on Tuesday told the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Administrative Tribunal (TDSAT) that it is ready to hold discussions with TV channels to consider amending its directions on limiting advertisement time for their programmes.

The counsel appearing for TRAI said that the regulator is willing to look into various issues raised by the TV broadcasters, who have moved TDSAT against the 12-minute-per-hour ceiling on advertising time for programmes.

Rajesh Khanna (Anand) dies at 69

Bollywood's first superstar Rajesh Khanna breathed his last on July 18 at his residence in Mumbai. He was 69 and is survived by his estranged wife Dimple Kapadia and two daughters Twinkle and Rinke. Film actor Akshay Kumar was his son-in-law. His last rites will be performed on 19th July. 

The veteran actor was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati hospital last week following reports of low blood pressure, but was discharged on 17th July and was at his Mumbai residence since then. 

Joy Chakraborthy to move on from TV Today

Joy Chakraborthy, CEO, TV Today and Radio Today, has decided to resign from his duties at the company. Chakraborthy is serving his notice period and TV Today is still in the process of finding a replacement for the role. 

Sudhir Chaudhary joins Zee News as Business Head & Editor

Sudhir Chaudhary has joined Zee News as Business Head and Editor. Prior to this, he was Editor and CEO of Live India and Mi Marathi. This is his second stint with Zee News, the channel where he began his career. 

According to industry sources, the current Editor Satish K Singh is on his way out. Official announcement on the development is awaited. 

Network18 elevates Kshipra Jatana to Group General Counsel

Network18 Group has elevated Kshipra Jatana, EVP & Head Legal, News Networks to Group General Counsel. In her new role, Jatana will oversee legal operations and regulatory matters for all group businesses and joint ventures including A+E Networks | TV18, Viacom18, HomeShop18 and Indiacast. Earlier, Jatana was General Counsel at Capital18, the group’s investment arm, where she was responsible for deal structuring, legal and compliance for its portfolio investments. 

Commenting on her elevation, Raghav Bahl, Founder & Editor, Network18, said “Kshipra has been instrumental in managing legal and structuring matters for us across the group. While our growth has been led by strong management teams in each of our businesses, the role played by group level talent in driving ‘Network’ synergies cannot be overemphasised.” 

Yahoo! appoints Marissa Mayer as its new President & CEO

Yahoo! has appointed Marissa Mayer as President and Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors effective July 17, 2012. The appointment of Ms. Mayer, a leading consumer internet executive, signals a renewed focus on product innovation to drive user experience and advertising revenue for one of the world’s largest consumer internet brands, whose leading properties include Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Mobile, Yahoo! Mail, and Yahoo! Search.

Vuclip launches India’s first mobile channel for women

Vuclip launched India’s first mobile channel for women. The channel can be accessed from almost any internet-enabled mobile phone. 

Kiran Walia, Women Development Minister for Delhi, said: “Studies show that the mobile phone has helped women feel safer, more independent and connected, and has opened new professional avenues and income sources for women. "I hope that this initiative will help boost mobile adoption among women, and will encourage the creation of more women-oriented mobile content.” A report by the Cherie Blair Foundation and GSMA Development Fund on the mobile phone gender gap in low and middle-income countries had found that mobile penetration among women in India is only about 28% compared with 40% among men. 

Arasu Cable’s Carriage Fee Auction stayed by the High Court

The Madras High Court on 13 July 2012 granted interim stay until further orders of the confirmation of auction by the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV (TAC TV) Corporation Limited, scheduled for July 17, for fixation of carriage fee and allotment slots for satellite free-to-air and pay channels in the corporation’s cable television service in Tamil Nadu (except Chennai).

The court passed the interim order on petitions by various television channels. When the matter came up, the corporation’s counsel took notice.

ASCI upheld the complaint against Tata Sky

The supervisory body of Advertising in India, Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI), has advocated the complaints made against advertisements including Tata Sky's outbrust against cable TV and Marathi newspaper Lokmat's tall circulation claims in Pune.

The ASCI is of the view that Tata Sky's print ad stating 'Cable is just a Dabba' as unfairly denigrating other products. The direct-to-home (DTH) operator was referring to the cable set-top boxes (STBs) as 'dabba' implying that it was of non standard or poor quality box, which is not the fact.

TIAA-CREF Acquires Additional Stake In Den Network

LLC has acquired additional 1% stake in Den Networks, a broadcasting and cable TV Company byacquiring 1.3 Mn shares through open market transaction.

TIAA-CREF now holds around 5.93% stake in Den Networks.

US investment firm ups stake in Den Networks

An existing US-based investing fund has expressed bullish in the shares of Den Networks, upping its stake by one per cent in the multi-system operator (MSO) for around Rs 145 million.

College Retirement Equities Fund has purchased 1.3 million shares, taking its total stake to 5.93 per cent in the Sameer Manchanda-promoted cable network.

Home ministry not in favour of I&B FDI plan

The Union home ministry has opposed the information and broadcasting ministry's proposal to hike foreign direct investment (FDI) to a uniform 74% for all distribution platforms like Direct-to-Home (DTH), cable companies and operators. “The ministry of home affairs has opposed the FDI proposal over security issues. MHA is insistent on security clearances and details of all foreign investors. Among other things, it may also lead to inordinate delays. It may be discouraging for investors keen on India,” confirmed an official source. 

In February, the I&B ministry had circulated a draft bill among ministries in which the MHA had raised security concerns. After incorporating the recommended changes, the reworked draft also has failed to satisfy the MHA requirements,” the source added. 

Dara Singh passes away

Legendary wrestler and actor Dara Singh passed away at his Mumbai home on 12th July 2012. He was 83. Dara Singh, who was admitted to Kokilaben Hospital after a cardiac arrest, was taken back to his home on 11th July night after his condition failed to improve despite continuous medical effort. 

World champion wrestler Dara Singh, who joined the film industry in 1960s, was last seen in 2007 movie 'Jab We Met' alongside Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. 

Impossible for Govt. to meet SC deadline

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has revised the timelines for the upcoming spectrum auctions yet again and has told the panel of ministers on spectrum that the information memorandum containing all details of the sale will only be released on August 22, which leaves the government with a just 8 days to conduct the pre-bid conference, issue clarifications, invite applications for the sale process, check compliance and carry out the bidding process. This will make it impossible for the government to meet the Supreme Court appointed deadline of reissuing these licences through a bidding process by August 31. 

During the third generation spectrum auctions in 2010, the period between release of the information and the completion of the 3G auctions was about four months. 

Launching new Website to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema

The National Film Archive of India is set to launch a website this week to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. 

The new site, www.indiancinema100.com, will showcase the journey of the Indian film industry that began when the first feature film, Raja Harishchandra was exhibited at the Coronation Cinema Hall in Mumbai in 1913 Made by Dadasaheb Phalke, the first filmmaker in India. 

I&B ministry to penalise MSOs for incorrect digitisation data

The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry has come out with new cable rules under which multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) can lose their license if they fail to provide data on digitisation sought by the government.

The ministry on July 7th, 2012 said that this new rule had been framed as the MSOs and LCOs were not providing consistent information about installation of set top boxes (STBs), an aspect crucial for its drive to digitalise the cable sector. “While assessing the preparedness of DAS in four metros, the ministry has come across numerous inconsistencies of data provided by the service providers, particularly MSOs, in regard to inventory position of STB and its deployment,” the I&B ministry said.

ESPN Star Sports launches Facebook app for Olympics

ESPN Star Sports has launched My Country, My Cheer, a Facebook app for Indian sport fans just a few weeks before the London Olympics kick off. 

The app will enable India sports fans to post their encouragement for the nation’s Olympic athletes. It will also provide the detailed schedule of the events to be held during the Games. 

Hathway Scales Up Inventory to Meet Growing Demand for Digital Cable

Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, has decided to procure an additional 10 lakh Set Top Boxes (in addition to the previously planned 20 lakh deployment) to meet the growing demand for digital cable.

Over the next four months, Hathway will scale up availability of Set Top Boxes is in line with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting moved the deadline to November 1, 2012 for the switchover to digital cable TV. By infusing additional Set Top Boxes in the market, Hathway believes it is poised to meet the fresh deadline as well as ensure a smoother transition from analogue to digital for consumers across the four mandated cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

Digicable, DDC approach TDSAT against Trai’s Tariff order.

On 2 July 2012, two petitions were filed in TDSAT, one by DigiCable and the other by a group of independent MSOs of Delhi including Delhi Distribution Company(DDC), Home Cable and other MSO(I) against TRAI’s tariff order.

Earlier, TDSAT had listed for 25 August a petition by IndusInd Media and Communications in this regard, even as it permitted News Broadcaster's Association (NBA) and associate channels - NDTV, Time Global Broadcasting (holding company of Times Now), India TV, TV Today, Total TV, Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), and other broadcasters to be a party to it.

ARASU Floats tender for carriage fee in Analogue systems

Government of Tamilnadu has floated a tender for fixation of carriage fee and allotment of frequency slots for Free-To-Air (FTA) and Pay satellite channels in the state run ARASU cable network, barring Chennai.

The tender is for the existing analogue systems where capacity to carry TV channels is very low, about 100 channels as compared to digital systems in Chennai where more than 200 channels are transmitted. Chennai is in DAS zone and will have to go totally digital by 01 November, the new deadline set by I&B Ministry.

WWIL TO SHARE CARRIAGE FEES WITH CABLE OPERATORS

Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd. (WWIL) / SITI Cable, has announced path breaking initiatives to share carriage revenue with cable operators. But some people are spreading malicious facts about this initiative in the market and trying to mislead the cable operators.

WWIL is committed towards its initiative and is releasing the note in the form of questions & answer, which will clarify all misconceptions.

I&B Ministry to make MSOs accountable for digitisation data Close

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has initiated the process of making amendments in the Cable Rules which will make multi-system operators accountable for the information they provide about the progress made in digitising cable services.

A draft amendment has been sent to the Law Ministry for vetting, following which the Cable Television Networks Rules, 2012 will be amended, according to a senior ministry official.

Digitisation: Multi-system operators expected to submit plans soon

In view of the deadline to complete the first phase of digitalization extended to 01 November 2012, I&B Ministry has asked the Multi system operators (MSOs) to submit their detailed digitisation plans to the Ministry in next couple of days.

MSOs and cable operators will have to give details about timelines in which they will be seeding set-top boxes in television households. This has been done in the wake of a slow progress made in seeding the STBs by the MSOs as against t5heir projected timelines.