Bharti Airtel on Monday launched its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, becoming the first private player to offer the service in the country.
In what is amongst the first focused fund in the space, India Media Entertainment Fund (IMEF) is raising Rs 500 crore, which will provide both equity as well as instruments like non-convertible debentures (NCD) to companies in the content, distribution platform and services areas. The private equity fund has appointed a high-profile advisory body which includes ad guru Prahlad Kakkar, managing director of Red Chillies Entertainment and cricket team KKR Sports, actress and entrepreneur Raadhika Sarathkumar, who has starred in Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films and runs Radaan Mediaworks. It also includes Ramnath Pradeep, former chairman and managing director of Corporation Bank, and Rajesh Gupta, senior partner of law firm SNG Partners.
The clash between the newly-introduced conditional access system and the still-nascent direct-to-home television has come to India far too late, as many countries have done away with both, and consumers now access TV channels and movies through Net.
In a show-cause notice, the information and broadcasting ministry asked Bharti Telemedia to furnish explanation failing which the government could consider suspending the licence till such time the company obtains necessary approvals from FIPB and meet the eligibility conditions. A Bharti spokesperson said the company has complied to all licence conditions in its DTH venture and the same has been communicated to the government.
Greycells 18 will launch an interactive channel called Topper to assist students in their class 10 and class 12 board exams.
With the Central Government making it mandatory for consumers to switch to CAS in select parts of major metros, Onida is planning to launch LCD televisions that have an embedded technology to encrypt digital signals.
Facing a growing threat from direct-to-home service providers, which are fast acquiring subscribers in non-conditional access system areas, the cable industry wants the implementation of the system in all the areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
The government on Thursday gave its nod to a foreign direct investment of $150 million (Rs 675 crore) in Maran family-run Sun TV's ambitious direct to home service project.
Service was launched in Mumbai in July and it will be expanded across the country in a phased manner
Dish TV and Tata Sky, the two major DTH companies, have sought compensation from the government for the upgrade of the existing DTH set-top boxes due to the mandatory upgrade proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Kamal Haasan has filed a complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association wifor restricting the release of his film Vishwaroopam in theatres last year.
The film will releases both in theatres and digitally, reveals Subhash K Jha.
Essel Group-promoted Dish TV on Wednesday said it was looking for a tie-up with the Indian Railways to implement DTH services in trains, which would enable travelers to watch Live TV while on the move.
Currently, STB of a particular operator cannot be used by a consumer to receive signals of another operator
There are presently around 20 million DTH subscribers in the country and Sun has managed to capture more than 25 per cent of the pie with a customer base of 5.3 million.
Bharti Airtel is rolling out last-mile connectivity with a target of reaching over 20 mn addressable households in 90-100 cities in the next 3 years
China with a growth rate of 25 per cent and India at 18 per cent, are among the fastest growing markets fueling the boom in entertainment
Competitive price will face stiff challenge from incumbents such as DD Free Dish
The ministry is also said that NaMo TV is not a regular channel and it does not figure in the official list of approved channels, a source said.
NDTV operates news channels, including NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India.
Industry sources indicate DD Direct Plus has a subscriber base of around nine million. The DTH operator's reach is second largest after Dish TV, which has a gross subscriber base of 10.9 million.
'It's not a sequel to Wanted, it's just that the character's name is Radhe.'
BCCI secretary Jay Shah spoke on a range of subjects related to Indian cricket, IPL's place in the global cricket calendar, running the cricket establishment in times of COVID-19 and the road ahead for both Indian cricket and IPL.
President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel, Atul Bindal, said unlike DTH, IPTV services would be available only in few major cities. The company had recently introduced DTH service in the country.
The impact of the Union Budget 2012-13 on the Media & Entertainment sector is neutral. The Budget did not address the issues of digitization, as the country shift from analog cable TV to digital. The budget has nothing to say for the Industry in general.
"Every Cricket enthusiast would like to watch the matches in the best quality format. Hence it is obvious that players are hoping for a good sales year. But this will also mean plethora of schemes for the users to chose from," said a market expert.
According to government sources, the ministry is likely to take a line that it is an advertisement channel which does not require a prior permission and it is run on certain DTH channels on payment made by the BJP.
The company, which has filed its documents with the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, is also looking to raise up to Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) by pre-IPO placement of up to 10 million shares.
'It serves the purpose of entertaining the audiences and distracting them from the reality for at least two hours.'
At a time when key economic indicators are pointing to a slowdown, market leaders in three sectors have been raising prices to maintain margins.
Union budget was mildly for cable broadcasting industry and DTH.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to rake in a revenue of about Rs 1,250 crore (Rs 12.5 billion) with the launch of INSAT-4B satellite as transponders are fully booked on the back of booming demand for Direct-To-Home services.
The DTH industry in India is likely to witness a price cut in its services in near future, with the government proposing a cut customs duty to zero per cent from the existing 7.5 per cent on specified parts of set top boxes.
Would you like to go for CAS? Do you think you will end up paying a lot more? Do you think it is worth the price? Will you be rid of the cable wallah? Tell us.
Cable and DTH companies cannot hold more than 20 per cent stake in each other.
Dangal's and Shemaroo's entry shows there is ad-supported gold at the bottom of the Indian consumer pyramid if you can keep the costs low.
The GSAT-31 is a 'high power' communication satellite going to serve and replace some of the satellites that are going to expire soon.
62% of residents in north India look at the change favourably after the implementation of a new tariff order by Trai, finds research report on the migration on consumer TV viewing behaviour.
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