Direct to Home (DTH) operators could be asked to provide inter-operable set-top boxes to their customers with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) seeing prima facie merit in a complaint filed by a consumer organisation that it is in violation of competition laws.
This is significant because the ministry of information and broadcasting is actively looking at making a policy announcement for the third-phase roll out of FM radio as part of its action plan for the first 100-days of the United Progressive Alliance government. A final recommendation to this effect has already been made by the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
At least a dozen advertisers, including Reliance Communications, Nokia, Pepsi, Hero Honda, Maruti and Visa among others, and host broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports may find themselves on a sticky wicket with India's exit from the current world Twenty20 cricket tournament.
Even as Bollywood copes with its worst financial turmoil, with no film having been released for over two months, its award shows are raking in big moolah.
It will be the second FM radio operator to have listed on the BSE, after Entertainment Networks India Ltd that operates its radio business under the Radio Mirchi brand.
Ambika Soni, the new I&B minister, called for a full-presentation on Tuesday on both these issues from senior I&B officials, a day after she took charge of the ministry.
Channels like STAR Plus, Zee TV, Colors, NDTV Imagine and 9X, among others, hope to generate Rs 250 crore of advertising revenue from these shows over the next three months. Together, the broadcasters will churn out over 170 hours of fresh TV content in the form of soaps, reality shows, comedy shows and other genres. The average cost per episode of these 25 new shows is pegged at Rs 2.5-3 lakh.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to see a 30 to 40 per cent jump in revenues from the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament over the first edition held in India last year. Profits, however, are expected to increase marginally.
A slew of pending policy initiatives and important directions for the cable, radio and broadcast sector awaits the new Information and Broadcasting minister, likely to be announced early next week.
It is bonanza time for international travellers yet again, with foreign carriers like Singapore Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific cutting fares almost 50 per cent.
A near-decisive victory for the United Progessive Alliance (UPA) in the 15th Lok Sabha may have been unexpected for everyone, but not so the viewer turnout for television channels on May 16, the day the results were declared.
From June onwards, millions of Bollywood buffs may now have to watch the new Hindi films at the 8,000-plus single-screen theatres across the country and not in multiplexes. This is because the talks between Bollywood producers and multiplex owners have broken down over sharp differences in the terms and conditions of the proposed revenue sharing agreements.
After initial hiccups, viewership of the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL-2) has picked up pace with the cricket carnival having reached midway.
To expand its services in the five-player private direct-to-home market, Reliance Big TV Ltd, the promoter of Big TV DTH services of the Reliance ADA Group, plans to sell up to 49 per cent to foreign private equity companies and global DTH players.
The airline, which was formed through a merger of international carrier Air India and domestic carrier Indian Airlines announced in 2007, has accumulated losses of Rs 4,334 crore till March 31, of which fiscal 2008-09 will account for almost Rs 3,000 crore.
With Arvind Jadhav, principal secretary, in the department of infrastructure development of the Karnataka government, emerging as the frontrunner in the race to replace Raghu Menon as the chairman and managing director of the state-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs Air India, informed sources said Menon lost the coveted job because of his opposition to the airline's proposed joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).
Contrary to perception that TV viewership of IPL's second season (IPL-2) has been less than the inaugural season in 2008 (IPL1), SET Max got at least 2 million more viewers for the first eight matches (seven were played, one was rained out) of IPL-2 this year, compared with last year.
Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines said they found it unnecessary to shell out an extra Rs 10 crore for the new terminal, especially since they would have to shift to the new integrated terminal -- T3 -- in less than a year. T3, when it begins functioning in March 2010, will be an integrated terminal for all operators. Kingfisher, Kingfisher Red and IndiGo have already started operations from the new T1D terminal, while Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet are yet to shift.
After failing to get bids for over half of its highway projects last year, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to put up 19 highway projects worth Rs 23,805 crore for rebidding next month through a new short-listing process.
The latest Media Partners Asia analysis on India says TV advertising will grow only 6.5 per cent in 2009, as against 15.6 per cent in 2008. However, MPA expects TV advertising to rebound to 8.7 per cent growth in 2010. Of the Rs 20,000 crore-plus advertising industry, television advertising alone accounts for 45-47 per cent. Overall, MPA predicts that advertising growth may drop to 5.4 per cent in 2009, after a 20 per cent-plus growth in 2006 and 2007.
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