CAS Roll Out – VII Shall We Have Voluntary CAS?

As the first phase of CAS implementation will be soon bid adieu, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as well as the Information and Broadcast Ministry are stepping towards a new phase of voluntary implementation of the technology in new areas. The scope of voluntary CAS was discussed at the 1st Feb. meeting called by TRAI. A fast extension of CAS to other parts of the country is also being worked upon. Issues relating to fiscal price rationalization, encouragement of domestic manufacturing, need for price control, ensuring affordability (by allowing Indian manufacturers in STB production), choice for voluntary implementation of CAS are being discussed. TRAI formed a sub-group in this regard on 5th Feb.07. The group is expected to consider the extension of CAS to other parts of the country. 

IPTV Vs Cable TV

PTV attempts to swap Cable TV. Four months after launch of IPTV service MTNL have just garnered 1500 subscribers. Bharti Airtel plans to start its IPTV service next month, while Reliance Communication expects to ready their IPTV service in the second half of the year. Frost & Sullivan, a research company predicts India will have 4 lakh IPTV customers by 2010. 

MTNL is now increasing their service from 22 channels to 72 in Delhi. In Mumbai they are already running 100 channels. The major constraint in increasing the IPTV services is the availability of content . The broadcasters are reluctant to provide their content to the telcos. Their major concern being that the subscribers will record and redistribute their content. 

Shanghai to Organize 2nd Mobile TV and IPTV World Congreso

China is emerging as the largest market for Mobile TV and IPTV in the world.It  is expected that IPTV users in China will reach 8 million in 2008 and more than 10 million in 2009. The fast growing IPTV market will provide the industry with large market opportunities. IPTV will provide users with entertainment consumption services in addition to characteristics, and its possibilities are very significant. However, the objective of victory of everyone is gaining a lot of attention in all parts. At present, every criteria for Mobile TV and MPTV, is in the process of testing and promoting. CMMB, DVB-H, S-DMB, T-DMB, DMB-TH, T-MMB, Media-Flow and MBMS, all are being tested in different areas of the world or cities in the same country. Atleast one thing is assured that MPTV, an integrated revolution of new media, will bring about tremendous benefits and business opportunities and these will make all new media chain exciting and aspiring. The IPTV & Mobile TV World Congress is organized by China Radio &TV and Telecom operators. The main units include China Mobile Communication Association & China Radio & TV Association etc. 

Spreading the Net Further

TRAI takes a stock of the Internet services in India and explores the ways to speed-up the penetration keeping with International trends. 

No Bouquets for the FM

Broadcasting Industry had a number of hopes from the Budget 2007 but it appears the Finance Minister had many more larger problems in his hand to be dealt with rather than the Industry. Nothing much has been done to improve the existing situation. On the personal front, not much damage has been done that could dampen the mood. Major resentment is for the indigenous manufacturers where the custom duty sops given in 2004 to ease implementation of CAS has been withdrawn this year. This means local manufactured products will be costlier. I feel this aspect could have been considered by the FM keeping in mind the larger interest of 114 million TV owners whom the government wants to push towards digitalisation by 2015. 

March 2007

Thursday, March 1, 2007 -- The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharti) Bill, 2007 was introduced in the Budget session by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister PR Dasmunsi to be considered and passed.