Ajay Mittal to take over as I&B secretary after Sunil Arora’s retires

Suni Arora, Secretary, Information and Broadcasting is retiring on 30th April and passing on the baton to Ajay Mittal a 1982 batch IAS officer from Himachal Pradesh.

[CQ Spreading Spiritualism Indian Spiritual & Religious Website | EN]

FCC lays down conditions for Charter to takeover TWC

The FCC and Justice Department are set to approve Charter Communications’ acquisition of Time Warner Cable following the circulation of an Order by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for an FCC vote to support the deal. Wheeler has imposed conditions that he says “will directly benefit consumers by bringing and protecting competition to the video marketplace and increasing broadband deployment”.
[CQ Spreading Spiritualism Indian Spiritual & Religious Website | EN]

Consumers increasingly taking multiple SVoD services

Findings from Futuresource Consulting suggest that the relationship between SVoD and pay-TV is relatively complementary in most countries, with pay-TV households more likely to take SVoD services than free-to-air only households, although as SVoD becomes more established, this is less apparent.
[CQ Spreading Spiritualism Indian Spiritual & Religious Website | EN]

Shyam Benegal Committee submits its report on Cinematograph Act/ Rules

On 1st January 2016 in sync with the overarching vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Arun Jaitley, to lay down a holistic framework for certification of films, a Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Shri Shyam Benegal to lay down norms for film certification that take note of best practices in various parts of the world and give sufficient and adequate space for artistic and creative expression,  lay down procedures and guidelines for the benefit of the CBFC Board to follow and examine staffing patterns with a view to recommending a framework that would provide efficient and transparent user friendly services.
[CQ Spreading Spiritualism Indian Spiritual & Religious Website | EN]

Videocon d2h ties up with Vodafone m-pesa

Videocon d2h announced that its sub base of over 15 Million can now recharge their d2h service using Vodafone m-pesa. This tie-up with Vodafone allows its customers a simple, convenient and on demand recharge facility using the proven m-pesa platform. In addition, the 1,20,000+ Vodafone m-pesa CashIn points will also accept recharge for Videocon d2h, thus providing additional convenience to customers.

Hathway launches series of Brand New Channels, to create a robust bouquet

Hathway, the country’s leading MSO & broadband service provider, has launched a series of 4 new platform channels today in the music & movie genres create a robust bouquet of channels which will offer Hathway subscribers, the best of entertainment package exclusively. The 4 new channels- DJAY, LAMHE, HOME THEATRE and MARATHI TALKIEShave been designed and packaged in a new vibrant, dynamic and cutting-edge look providing a sophisticated, satellite-like experience to Hathway subscribers, thus, offering them wide array of content with a fresh appeal.

Joy Chakraborthy takes over as President- Revenue at Network 18.

Network18 Group has appointed Joy Chakraborthy as president of revenue at TV18. Joy will be in charge of revenue across all entities within TV18. All sales heads within TV18 (except Viacom18) will report to him. 

Videocon d2h may become second DTH to turn profitable.

The Videocon Group owned DTH company Videocon d2h has the potential of becoming the second DTH operator, after Dish TV to turn profitable at the net level in the first quarter of FY17. Videocon d2h, which hiked its monthly subscription packages by a minimum of Rs 20 early this year, is expected to narrow its net loss in the exit quarter of FY16. In the third quarter ended 31 December 2015, the company reported net loss of Rs 22 crore (Rs 220 million). The impact of the subscription pack hike will be captured in a full quarter for the first time in the April–June period. Media analysts expect Videocon d2h’s average revenue per user (ARPU) to increase by 5–6% as a result of this. The DTH operator’s ARPU in the third quarter of FY16 stood at Rs 211.

Netflix to focus on premium audiences in India

The International OTT player Netflix has no plans to change price points in new markets like India as it is targeting premium audiences, CEO Reed Hastings said. “We really haven’t seen price to be much of an issue. But then today we’re serving English-speaking elites in these countries. So in the model that we’re doing and targeting the high end, the price is fine. We’ll see over the coming years as we expand and we may need some flexibility eventually. But nothing in the short term,” Hastings told media analysts in a conference call.