At least three major broadcasting companies have held discussions on forming a combine, the first of its kind, to counter the might of media buying houses in dictating commercial air-time rates.
Estimates and bid amounts available in the public domain show that ESPN Star Sports is now sitting on nearly 1,400 days of international cricket matches over the next ten years for which it has paid nearly Rs 9,380 crore. In other words, the broadcaster will offer viewers roughly 140 days of cricket every year. And it has acquired each match-day at an average cost of Rs 7 crore, which the industry says is cost-effective.
According to sources, the proposal regarding 'grant of approval to the transfer of shares by the FM radio company for the purpose of demerging the radio business has been submitted to the Cabinet for its consideration. Over a dozen private FM radio operators, including Reliance ADAG's Big FM, will stand to benefit from this move, experts say.
Also plan to charge a premium on advertising.
India will be one of the key centres for design and development of the A350 aircraft, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus' answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
It is not clear, however, whether the two players are considering a majority stake or would be content as investors with 26 per cent.
In what would be a significant boost to the domestic entertainment industry, the United States has been roped in as the partner country for the 2009 Ficci Frames - the annual global convention on the entertainment and media industry that is partly sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It will be the tenth year of Ficci Frames next year.
To add to company's 'three-screen' strategy of mobile phones, IPTV and broadband.
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.
However, operators said the chief beneficiary would be the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, which have already been given the spectrum for 3G services, as well as Reliance Communications, which is still to roll out its 2G GSM network.
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 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.
DoT identifies more spectrum, to expand auctions from earlier estimate of five in each service area.
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.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has mooted a proposal under which operators will pay a one-time fee for all spectrum allotments beyond 6.2 MHz.
The Department of Telecommunications is examining a proposal to auction around nine licences for 3G -- or third generation -- services among incumbents and new players in place of an earlier proposal to allow five players in this space.
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.
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