May the Commonwealth Games be a Success

It is sad that Commonwealth Games which could have been the pride of the nation have become a national shame, what with blame of corruption, bad construction, delayed projects, falling bridges and snakes in the rooms. But one important aspect is that we are getting all the news from the news channels and the print media. As usual, is the media creating a negative hype to gain TRPs? The media has no big news these days other than the CW Games. Even some foreign participants have also commented that in every such big event, glitches exist but they are never hyped so much by the media as being done here. 

So far not much has been commented by the media on the broadcasting front. I wish some of the channels had done an in-depth study of the systems in place, particularly when it is the first time that live HD broadcasts will be made by India. Even the ministry does not speak about the event much perhaps, they are aware that hardly anyone in India will see the HD broadcasts. There are very few HD TV households and high cost of the HD STBs prohibit DTH and cable operators to distribute these to the subscribers. I wish the government could have done some thing in this regards to make the Games memorable for the Indian masses too. 

October 2010

1/10/10 -- Fashion TV's FTV HD has selected RRsat Global Communications Network for providing uplink, playout and connectivity services.

Are we on the right track?

Security problem in using Blackberry mobiles is in the news these days. It was surprising that after so many years of its existence in the country, the Government is now wondering ‘who let the Blackberry in’ to do business in India. 

But for our country perhaps, there is nothing surprising in it. Foreign TV Channels entered the country way back in 1992 and it was only in 2006, when we woke-up and registered them to do business in India so that they comply with the Indian laws and the government can have a share in their revenues generated from the country. Similarly, ‘pay’ channels entered in 1994 and only in 2004 we thought of regulating them by using CAS so that there is accountability of revenue collected from the consumers. Its implementation has been held up till date because consumers are our last priority. We are still wondering how to do it without annoying the mighty broadcasters who would lose most of their revenue once system becomes transparent. 

Wish Commonwealth Games, all the best

Only one month is left for the Commonwealth Games to start and we are still wondering if we can do it. Rains in August had demoralized everyone including the government, host broadcaster Doordarshan, Delhi Government and the UPA Government at the centre. Many emergency measures have been taken and the PM himself has intervened to ensure all goes well. Venues and their surrounding areas are still not ready and the host broadcaster as well as the international production team from SIS of UK is yet to take possession of their stands and do practice for the live HD broadcasts which is being done for the first time in the country. Also, this will be the first time the CW Games will be live broadcast in HD (High Definition). We give our readers a detailed preview of the Games in this issue. 

September 2010

1/9/10 -- A Panel under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting recommends amendment to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 to stop piracy in the country.

Create Level-Playing Field

Indian consumers don’t want to shell out more than Rs 200/- per month for a decent TV viewing experience, the fact that was revealed by a Centre for Media Studies (CMS) survey for cable TV services in non-CAS areas. While 90% consumers were ready to pay more in the last survey done, three years back, today the figure has come down to 25%. It was an eye-opener for all of us who always talk about consumer’s interest at each and every stage but we never tried to actually make this happen on ground.

Tariff creates fuzz

TRAI has finally come-up with the new tariff both for addressable (DTH, IPTV, CAS-notified areas) and non-addressable TV distribution systems (non-CAS areas). The regulator although seems to have failed in its endeavour as its “appease all” tactic has not pleased any of the stakeholders in the industry. Cable operators allege that the regulator is favouring the broadcasters by allowing them to increase their rates by 9 percent in lieu with the inflation and at the same time, it reduced the maximum tariff limits from Rs 260 to Rs 250 in non-CAS areas, putting extra pressure on already burdened small operators. The operators argue that if they collect a lesser amount from subscribers how they will be able to pay the hiked rates of pay-channels to the broadcasters. The operators are also barred from choosing channels on a-la-carte basis, an option which is provided to DTH consumers in the latest tariff order. With a-la-carte, they would have selected only the desired channels for their areas of operations.