Malaysia's Astro All Asia Networks will pick up 20 per cent in the Maran family-run Sun TV's DTH operator -- Sun Direct TV -- for Rs 747 crore ($166 million).
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.
The direct-to-home television service of Zee TV will be operational in India in the second half of next month, Subhash Chandra, chairman, Zee Network has said.
Preliminary industry numbers show that against a demand for 200,000 cable boxes in the three cities so far, operators have only been able to service a little over half the demand.
In the battle between the conditional access system and the direct-to-home services, the latter seems to be edging ahead.
Cable operators body has demanded an equal footing with the DTH players.
In an apparent initiative to curtail the monopoly of cable operators, Prasar Bharati will launch its Direct to Home facility from August enabling viewers to get 40 free channels, including 23 private ones, under one platform, Information and Broadcas
As competition hots up in the direct-to-home (DTH) space, operators, including Dish TV and Sun Direct, are now turning to foreign language channels to build their content bouquet in a bid to take themselves ahead of other players.
To rationalise the entertainment tax levied on the direct-to-home (DTH) companies and the cable operators by the state governments and also to encourage the cable industry to switch to the use of advanced optical fibre cable instead of the copper wire cables, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has set up two sub-committees.
The Bharti group has applied to the government for a licence to operate direct-to-home television services.
With the addition of 2 lakh subscribers every month, private direct-to-home (DTH) service operators Dish TV and Tata Sky may cross Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion) in revenues for financial year 2007-08, a three-fold increase from 2006-07. The revenues of private DTH operators may cross the Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) mark in 2008-09 with a total subscriber-base of 8 million. Private DTH operators have to pay 10% of their revenues as the licence fees to operate the services.
Paytm app users will continue to use all services like mobile and DTH recharges except for Paytm Payments Bank's offerings including wallet funds, Fastag and bank accounts, according to the company hit by RBI restrictions. Paytm Payments Bank users will not be able to add any funds to their wallet and bank accounts but will be able to use the balance until it is exhausted, according to the RBI order. "The RBI has issued a directive restricting Paytm Payments Bank account/wallet from accepting new deposits or allowing credit transactions after March 15, 2024.
Reliance Communications is planning to hive off its direct-to-home and Internet protocol TV businesses into a separate company titled Reliance Digital Works.
Cable operators in Mumbai continued to block all television channels for the second day on Tuesday and have asked the Maharashtra government to come out with clear regulations for telecasting movies on channels.\n\n
After conditional access system, direct-to-home television may finally become a reality with the government clearing a Zee promoted company's letter of intent for setting up the services in the country.
Trai Chairman Pradip Baijal on Wednesday dismissed as "nothing exceptional" the protest by Reliance Infocomm against the regulator's recommendations to allow direct-to-home and VSAT operators to offer broadband services.
Dierct-to-home operator TataSky objected on Monday to a plea by broadcaster Turner International (India) to excuse it from a case involving its partner Zee and the Tata-Star joint venture.
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.
Since both are addressing the same consumer, the proposal has inter se equity as a plus point. And the business of capping the CAS/DTH bill to the TV-watching home has a certain populist appeal. The problem is that the basic proposal on CAS was unfair to channel owners and removed the incentive for channels to produce superior/differentiated programming that might cost more money and/or which commands greater audience pull.
Differences on pricing of channels persisted between south India-based broadcaster Sun Group and DTH operator TataSky, which feels that rates quoted by Sun were fit for international channels but not regional.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended that the government ensure and expedite availability of more Ku band transponders (which can be used for TV as well as data transmission) so that DTH companies can also offer broadband services.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday allowed Nimbus to undertake marketing of the India-West Indies cricket telecast on Doordarshan, while ordering the public broadcaster not to sell the feed to private DTH operators.
Movie clips, songs, comedy scenes and other Tamil film content would be offered to the telecom subscribers.
Tata Group had hinted at combining its enterprise business with Tata Communications and its fixed-line and broadband businesses with Tata Sky.
For years it has been evident that fibre and DTH would give tough competition to cable in India where regulatory overload has mutilated an already warped industry structure. OTT added fuel to the fire. From Rs 27,000 crore in 2010, cable's share of subscription revenues is now estimated at Rs 13,000 crore.
Trai said, the operators should ensure that payout per month of the 'best fit plan' generally does not exceed the payout per month of existing tariff plan of the subscriber.
Laying fibre to home is a cumbersome and a slow process as every building has to be physically wired.
The way video is being watched and monetised is changing. This is the first thing that stands out as the penetration of smart TVs continues to rise.
The move comes a few days after billionaire businessman Elon Musk tweeted that his Starlink internet services would be available in India as soon as it gets regulatory approvals next year. Musk's Starlink, which plans to have a constellation of 40,000 low-orbit satellites, recently started offering high-speed internet in the US as part of its beta launch phase.
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has awarded a 5-year outsourcing contract to a Delhi-based call centre, Caretel Infotech, a part of Dalmiya group, for about Rs 300 crore.
The film will releases both in theatres and digitally, reveals Subhash K Jha.
The EC said any political content has to be permitted by the local media certification committee
The service will initially offer digital content from, Hotstar, Sun NXT, Eros NOW, Hungama Play via a single subscription fee of Rs 249 a month
Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced a new corporate structure to sharpen the company's focus on rapidly unfolding digital opportunities while enabling it to unlock value. The move comes at a time when digital is turning out to be a compelling proposition for players in the Indian market, where the use of smartphones and better broadband connectivity has spurred the adoption of a new range of services. Players are positioning themselves beyond the core telephony offerings, as they enhance digital engagement, build future streams of revenue and create brand differentiation, besides redefining themselves as a larger platform of digital services, say market watchers.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 91.5 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,588 crore for the three months ended December 2022, helped by competitive growth across businesses. Total revenue rose nearly 20 per cent to Rs 35,804 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year "backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio", the company said in a statement. Its consolidated net income (after exceptional items) stood at Rs 1,588 crore for the just ended quarter, translating into an increase of 91.5 per cent year-on-year.
It has made everything public in the name of 10 lakh comments it got on draft net neutrality proposals.
'If after 3-9 weeks we don't have fresh content, then there is a problem.'
Bharti Airtel delivered encouraging results for the January-March quarter of the 2022-23 financial year (Q4FY23) as telecom and associated services moved into the 5G zone. In India, Airtel's mobile Q4 revenue and Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) were Rs 19,550 crore (up 1 per cent quarter-on-quarter or QoQ) and Rs 10,530 crore (up 1.1 per cent QoQ), respectively. The Ebitda margin was flat at 52.2 per cent.
It is fine as long as there is no reference to the candidate or constituency going to poll in that particular phase.
The 3,357-kg satellite is slated to blast off from the Ariane Launch Complex at Kourou, a French territory located along the northeastern coast of South America, at 02:35 hrs IST. "GSAT-30 is to serve as a replacement to INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage", ISRO said.
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