MUMBAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday extended the last date for receipt of written feedback on its consultation paper titled "Review of the Regulatory framework for Interconnection".

According to a notification from the regulator, the last date for receipt of written comments has been modified to 4 July and counter-comments, if any to 18 July.

The regulator’s decision came after a request from some of the stakeholders. However, it has been decided that no request for any further extension of time will be entertained.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT) decision to allow landing page placement for TV channels has created a clear divide in the industry. Some networks are opposing the decision, stating it would end fair-play, while several other distributors and networks have welcomed it.

Quite a few broadcasters and marketers said that with this decision, the industry is regressing to the analogue era where a network that pays more will get the reach. They pointed out that content will also be affected as now the focus will be more on buying reach than on content. Marketers also raised a concern about losing the premiumness of English news channels due to their availability on the landing page.

When it comes to advertising and marketing, Netflix never fails to impress. The digital streaming platform has often taken the traditional billboard route in a big way to reach out to its consumers. Roads of Mumbai and Delhi are full of gigantic hoardings featuring Netflix shows such as Leila and Sacred Games, and highlight what’s new on the streaming platform.

MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has asked broadcaster Star India restore signal supply to multi system operator (MSO) Raj Cable Network if the latter makes a payment of Rs. 3,20,651.

The MSO is aggrieved by the impugned notice for disconnection dated 17th May wherein it has been clearly mentioned that as per records of the broadcaster, there is an outstanding of Rs. 3,20,651 for the period up to 31st March. It has been further alleged in the notice that the MSO has defaulted in the submission of subscriber reports for the month of April 2019.

Learned counsel for the MSO has referred to averments in the petition to support the claim of the petitioner that subscriber reports for the months of April and May 2019 have already been submitted through e-mails dated 20th May and 7th June respectively.

MUMBAI: Sanjeev Kapoor-promoted Turmeric Vision’s FoodFood channel is all set to go free to air (FTA) from 11th July. The channel wants to increase its reach by going FTA.

“We are going FTA from 11th July as we want to increase our reach and target more viewers,” Sanjeev Kapoor told TelevisionPost.com.

Kapoor stated that distribution is the biggest challenge for niche broadcasters like FoodFood. He also noted that food is a popular category whose growth is getting stifled due to distribution related challenges.

“In terms of viewership, the food category is doing pretty well. The viewership, however, is concentrated in metros. The category will grow if the distribution related issues get sorted,” Kapoor.

 

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) recently cancelled the licences of STV Enterprises’ four channels Punjab Today, STV Haryana News, STV Jammu-Kashmir News and STV UP News (STV-Rajasthan) that were mentioned under the news category.

A while ago, it had also cancelled the licence of V6 ENT channel from VIL Media that was earlier called Nikit Investment Pvt Ltd and was mentioned under the news category.  

During the month of January 2019, cancellation of licences to two MSOs Digi Cable Network and SCOD 18 Networking was upheld by the Supreme Court on security grounds. Before moving the apex court, the petitioners had approached the Bombay High Court where their pleas challenging the cancellation order by the MIB were dismissed.

BENGALURU: Enterr 10 TV’s Hindi GEC Dangal regained first place in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels in week 24 of 2019  (Saturday, 8 June 2019 to Friday, 14 June 2019, week or period under review) after a short hiatus. The channel had been placed second in the list in the previous week. Star India’s sports channel Star Sports 1 Hindi also climbed a place to second rank on the back of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Tourney 2019 in England and Wales. Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV dropped a couple of ranks to third place. All the channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in the week under review were the same as in the previous week, but with a shuffling of ranks.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has again batted for the policy of forbearance for the fullest potential growth of the OTT industry. The broadcaster has also strongly advocated that OTTs providing content/media cannot be brought within the ambit of substitutability with broadcasting service.

SPN is of the view that since OTT distribution platforms are not granted permission/licence by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), they are not comparable with broadcasters. According to the broadcaster, the licensing/regulatory provision applicable to broadcasters cannot be applied to OTT distribution platforms. It explained that OTT services also do not use spectrum for providing their services but ride on the top of data services provided by licensed telcos unlike broadcasters who require uplink/downlink spectrum for transmission of signals.

New Delhi: RS Sharma, Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in his statement to the Economic Times confirmed that the industry regulatoris initiating a process to ‘fine-tune’ the new cable TV tariff regime, which came into effect earlier this year, to take care of any ‘aberrations’.

This move comes into consideration after consumers have shown their dissatisfaction with the new cable TV pricing regime that was issued last December, and implemented earlier this year.

Despite the new tariff regime paved way for subscribers to only pay for the channels they want to see, by getting channels priced individually, the Network Capacity Fee (NCF) component added to the subscription bills, increasing the cost of TV subscription for users.