'There are no formal guidelines for security. The Commonwealth Games Federation, London, oversees the preparations. The idea is to ensure that the games go on smoothly. It should not be a fortress,' says A Vasudevan, additional director general, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.
This means the consumers will have to pay an additional monthly subscription to get these HD channels. Currently, the popular DTH bouquets (80-120 channels) are available at Rs 150-300 a month across most DTH platforms.
The Hindi news channels have recorded a four-fold jump in their ratings for November 27, beating even those recorded by the English news channels, as millions of anxious viewers remained glued on to their television sets watching every moment of the real-time gunbattle taking place in south Mumbai.
If Bollywood's three forthcoming films starring Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in Ghajini, Yuvvraaj, and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, respectively, become commercially hit then 2008 may prove to be a good year for the Hindi film industry, especially at the time of the economic slowdown.
The FWICE says its 35,000 members will resume work immediately if their pay is raised. Of course, there are several other related demands such as a timebound payment of the shift wage, restricting shifts to 8 hours rather than the current 10-12 hours among others, says a senior FWICE executive. Meanwhile, channels are showing re-runs of old episodes. This has resulted in a drop of upto 55 per cent in their prime time viewership ratings, affecting ad revenue.
Days after NTT DoCoMo of Japan announced that it will buy 26 per cent in Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion, NRI businessman C Sivasankaran has decided to put on the block his eight per cent stake in the company.
After 11 years of hanging like a sword on PepsiCo India Holdings Ltd, the government's condition that the company must dilute its equity in fully-owned downstream ventures is close to being waived.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has rejected a proposal by Tata Investment Corporation (TIC) to issue zero coupon convertible bonds (ZCCBs) with detachable warrants to its shareholders.
The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on measures that include relaxing norms for Non-Performing Assets (sticky loans) and prudential lending to kick-start key infrastructure projects.
At least 10 firms, including a few media houses and some of the leading private equity funds, are said to be in the race to acquire a majority stake in Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers, the Indian Premier League cricket team currently owned by the Deccan Chronicle group.
This means once a DTH consumer buys a set-top box, he will be able to access the service of any service provider with technical changes in the box. The ministry of information and broadcasting has asked the Bureau of Indian Standards to draft norms for advanced DTH set-top box technology, including related to interoperability of the boxes.
The government is discussing a number of policy measures to insulate India from the impact of the global financial crisis including further banking reform, industrial de-control, auctioning all loss-making public sector units, foreign investment in retail, amending labour laws and notifying important pending legislation like the Delhi Rent Control Act.
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) is all set to begin a price war in the direct-to-home market by offering its connection about 43 per cent lower than any of the existing players. Big TV will offer its DTH service for Rs 1,490, while the lowest-priced connection is currently being offered by Dish TV at Rs 2,190, followed by Tata Sky at Rs 2,400.
All those who joined Prasar Bharati before October 5, 2007, will be treated as government employees on "deemed deputation". At present, the status of these employees is not clear as they are treated as on "deemed deputation" and don't get the benefits of a government job like regular promotions, government housing and bonuses.
Encouraged by the success of direct-to-home services in India, Pakistan Television Corporation Ltd, that country's national broadcaster, has invited national and international firms to help it set up its own DTH service with 100 channels. Once operational, this will be the first DTH service in Pakistan.
Trai has submitted 26 recommendations to the government and released 30 consultation papers so far this year, up from seven and 20, respectively, in 2007. Few of its recommendations are actually accepted by the govt.
Singur divided between those who want Tata back and those who just want their land.
The regulator has suggested that all spectrum will be auctioned as opposed to the current policy of bundling it with a 2G licence. A beginning has been made with the auctioning of spectrum for 3G services, which is due later this year. Trai has also suggested that licences for any telecom service should be auctioned as opposed to the current policy, where it is given on a first-come-first-served basis. The new policy is expected to be ready by the end of December this year.
HITS is a new cable-distribution platform that is similar to the direct-to-home service. It allows distribution of digital-quality cable channels via satellite to cable operators at one go. For consumers, it means access to quality cable channels via a set-top box at reduced monthly rates, while for the cable industry, it means faster and cost-effective digitalisation.
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