These numbers have been submitted to the regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, by various stakeholders in the cable industry, including broadcasters and multi-system operators. These are based on the information collected from the tax departments of various state governments.
Big TV will be the fourth entrant in the 7-million private DTH subscribers market following Dish TV's launch in 2003, Tata Sky (2006) and Sun Direct (2007). Doordarshan's DD Direct Plus is the fifth player (also launched in 2003) but is a free-to-air service.
Aviation turbine fuel prices increased by 34 per cent whereas fares - on an average across the country - shot up by more than 65 per cent. Since fuel accounts for about 45 per cent of the total costs, the actual impact on airlines, in terms of increase in the cost of operation, would have been around 15 per cent. Airlines also cut capacity by 20 per cent during the period.
Believe it or not, it is viewers like you who influence these snap decisions taken by broadcasters and programme developers. This has been made possible by new software introduced by Mumbai-based overnight ratings agency Audience Measurement and Analytics (aMap) called Dashboard.
The Rs 1,808-crore modernisation and expansion plan for Chennai airport, which was recently cleared by the Public Investment Board and expected to begin this September, may not be sufficient to cope with projected growth in passenger traffic.
Stringent visa procedures, astronomical hotel rates and a scarcity of event tickets have proved a dampener for Indian visitors to the Beijing Olympics, which began today.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is recommending the cancellation of sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports' downlinking licence for non-compliance with the DTH platform's pricing formula.TRAI's proposed action follows its direction and a show cause notice to ESPN Software India in the last two months asking it to fall in line with its DTH pricing formula.
Even as Indian carriers are vying for a piece of the international space for better future gains, national carrier Air India has decided to cut down more than 15 of its international flights to destinations like Los Angeles, London, Osaka and Seoul from next month.Sources close to the development said three weekly flights to Los Angeles from various Indian destinations would be taken off the route network.
Indian carriers, which are still reeling under high jet fuel prices, are now seeing red over airports increasing the space rental fees by 50 to 450 per cent. Airport charges account for 12-15 per cent of an airline's costs.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is studying whether a particular airline has a dominant market share on various routes or city pairs which might lead to anti-competitive practices.
Number of passengers falls 4 per cent in June for the first time in three years.
The National Aviation Company of India (NACIL), the entity that came into being after the merger of national carriers Air India and Indian, has increased its working capital limit to around Rs 9,500 crore (Rs 95 billion) in order to meet the recent hikes in fuel prices.
This follows the show-cause notice that was issued to the company last month by the ministry of informaton and broadcasting and the response given by the company. According to highly placed sources, the letter of suspension of Bharti's DTH licence has been moved within the I&B ministry because it is not satisfied with the response sent by Bharti Telemedia.
It's going to be a field day for the 40-odd news channels in the country as they gear up to cover the UPA Government's trust vote on July 22.
Although a merger with low-cost carrier SpiceJet would have made the Kingfisher-Deccan combine the largest carrier in Indian skies, it would have put a huge burden on the Vijay Mallya-controlled carrier's financials, feel experts. SpiceJet's losses have almost doubled to Rs 133 crore (Rs 1.33 billion) this year -- of which Rs 123 crore (Rs 1.23 billion) were incurred in the March quarter -- as compared with last year.
The government's 2006 directive making it mandatory for private broadcasters to share the feed of sports events of "national importance" with state-owned Doordarshan seems to have backfired.
IPTV and Mobile TV, the new cable distribution platforms that have emerged recently. A clarification issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting recently makes it compulsory for all broadcasters to immediately share their channels with Wire & Wireless India Ltd, the HITS licence holding company of Essel Group.
Even as growth in traffic on chartered flights has fallen 6 to 8 per cent over the past year, rising fuel prices are forcing private charter operators to raise tariffs a substantial 20 per cent from September 1. India has more than 50 non-scheduled operators, which include helicopter operators like Global Vectra, aircraft operators like Ran Air and Taj Air and companies like Deccan Aviation Ltd that fly both helicopters and aircraft.
The health ministry plans to oppose the application from Japan Tobacco International Ltd, the world's third largest tobacco company, to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to raise its stake in its Indian venture from 50 to 74 per cent. The application is slated for consideration in the FIPB meeting on Tuesday.
Domestic airlines will save around Rs 2,500 crore annually if they import aviation turbine fuel directly rather than buy it from state-owned oil marketing companies. This would help them shave off around 14 per cent of their burgeoning fuel bill and cut the industry's projected loss of Rs 8,000 crore for the current financial year by a little less than a third.