Kids Channels heading for Censorship

No one till now thought of censoring the Kids channels. However with the competition growing in the genre a lot of foreign made content is being added on the kids channels that may not be following the content code of India and channels generally overlook such aspect because self regulation has not yet caught on in the country. Our government is too scared of the powerful broadcasters, particularly the foreign broadcasters, to regulate their content. The Broadcast Content Complaints Council (BCCC) has been constituted by IBF but it represents only a handful of influential broadcasters who may not take its advice so seriously. On 16 May BCCC issued advisory to all kid’s channels in the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) warning them to be more circumspect about the programming they air on their channels. The advisory states that the emphasis should be on the 'best interest of the child'. BCCC is also planning to send the advisory to the I&B Ministry so that the channels follow the advisory.

Curbing Monopolies in Media

At a time when country's GDP is dipping below 5% and government is in a frenzy to find some quick solutions before the general elections next year, some broadcasters, DTH players and MSOs are laughing all the way to the bank raking in the moolah of Digitisation, thanks to the team of I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Verma who managed an excellent report from hurriedly implemented digitalisation in the cable TV industry surpassing all records in the international market for such attempts. 

A death knell for broadcast television

Google Fiber is a project  to build an experimental broadband Internet network. It is being used in the US in Kansas City, Missouri, North Kansas City, Missouri, Austin Texas and Provo, Utah. It is based totally on fibre optic communication. Many communities applied to be first recipient of the technology, over 1,100. Google deployed its network in Kansas its first community. 

Kolkata LCOs Protest unfair dealing by MSOs

LCOs in Kolkata have joined together against the MSOs for their unfair deals in revenue sharing.

This was expected as TRAI very smartly had avoided interconnect regulations on revenue share and left it on negotiated deals between MSOs and LCOs. This was bound to fail as no negotiations in the industry have succeeded since 1994 when pay channels and MSOs entered the market. LCOs always have the fear that big MSOs supported by pay broadcasters will push them out of the industry.

Technologies for all IP Cable Networks

Last month we read about the opportunities for Cable Operators to leverage the IP technology. In the second part of this article we provide different technologies that operators can choose to deliver the context in most efficient way.

Roll out of rural Broadband

Connecting 250000 Panchayats and 4500 Municipalities with Broadband on Cable TV networks.

Introduction

Cable TV industry in India is existing for the last 25 years and has connected 100 million households in the country with 35% households in rural areas, Today there is hardly any inhabited place with electricity where cable operator does not exist. 

Better late than never

Trai issues Tariff Orders for Supply of STBs/CPEs

after Phase-1 & 2 have been completed

The Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI) on 27 May 2013 issued two tariff orders prescribing standard tariff packages for set top boxes (STBs) for digital addressable cable TV systems (DAS) and Consumer Premises Equipments (CPEs) for Direct to Home (DTH) services. The prime objective of these tariff orders, TRAI says, is to ensure effective commercial interoperability.

Cardless Content Security The Smarter Choice for Hybrid Networks

The Internet has irreversibly changed where, when and how viewers want to experience their content. The pay TV industry, from a global perspective, is transforming itself to keep pace with this evolution; operators clearly understand that the age of simply broadcasting linear bouquets of live content to managed set-top boxes (STBs) is passing. 

June 2013

1/6/13 -- Media conglomerate News Corp will cancel its listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) due to low levels of trading volume.

TRAI in Cross Fire of Media Ownership

After completing Phase-1 and 2 ministry has not talked about Phase-3 and 4. The hurry and impatience shown to make first two phases a success is nowhere seen in implementation of Phase 3 and 4.

It confirms my belief that there was a hidden agenda in hurriedly implementing Phase-1 and 2 so that maximum benefit could be given to a particular large media group who has been trying to monopolise the market through its numerous channels, MSO network and DTH. Since all TAM cities have been covered, ministry is taking easy now onwards.