Prasar Bharati to make a bank guranatee of Rs. 200mn to ESPN

Source: MM (Media Mughals) Network, By: IndianTelevision.com

Dated: 4^th October, 2012

Prasar Bharati has been asked by The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to make a bank guarantee of RS 200mn to ESPN software. The directive for the payment follows the dispute with regard to the live broadcast of important cricket matches on Doordarshan.

Earlier the public broadcaster had contested ESPN's payment demand about the revenue sharing coming from advertisement when cricket ran simultaneously on Doordarshan and ESPN. Prasar Bharati contested the demand in terms of violating the provisions of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007.

TDSAT has however barred ESPN from making a demand of the payment without their approval.

Prasar Bharati is required to share 75 per cent of the advertisement revenue from live cricket matches telecast by it and the rights for which are held by another broadcaster under the Act. The Tdsat order is, however, not clear on the tournament or matches for whom Prasar Bharati has declined to share its advertising revenue with ESPN.

Defending Prasar Bharati, its solicitor argued that ESPN and International Cricket Council(ICC) have violated Rule 3 of the Act as it (ICC) continues to give its advertisements and its logo.

The Section 3 of the Act provides that no content rights owner or holder and no television or radio broadcasting service provider shall carry a live television broadcast on any cable or direct-to-home (DTH) network or radio commentary broadcast in India of sporting events of national importance, unless it simultaneously shares the live broadcasting signal, without its ads, with Prasar Bharati to enable them to re-transmit the same on its terrestrial and DTH networks in such manner and on such terms and conditions as may be specified.

Link:http://www.mediamughals.com/News/1/1/Article/10795/Prasar_Bharati_to_make_a_bank_guranatee_of__Rs._200mn__to_ESPN.htm

Doordarshan land grabbed: DD official alleges

Source: Business Standard, Press Trust of India / Lucknow

Published on: 4^th October, 2012. 00:05 IST

A Doordarshan official has claimed that some land belonging to the broadcaster here has been grabbed by some persons belonging to land mafia.

"Some land mafia had put their locks in the land of Doordarshan at 9 Lakshmi Bai Marg here on Oct 2. After we informed about this to the local police, they replaced the locks but again in the night the mafias put their locks back", Security Officer, Doordarshan, V K Anil said in a message to the media.

Anil said that when they contacted SHO of Kaiserbagh in whose area the land is located, he suggested that officers be contacted.

Senior officers of the state and the Centre have been informed about the incident.

He alleged that a former DGP and his wife were behind it.

Terming the incident as return of "goondaraj", BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the land of the media organisation should not go in the hands of the land mafia and government should immediately intervene.

Congress spokesman also aired the similar views.

Link:http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/doordarshan-land-grabbed-dd-official-alleges/64108/

The Zee TV story turns 20

Source: livemint, 3^rd October, 2012. 08:52 Pm IST. Wednesday

Published on: 4^th October, 2012

This month is more than the 20th anniversary of Zee; it marks two decades of Indian satellite TV

Subhash Chandra put himself on air during the inaugural transmission of Zee TV to tell his fellow Indians what the channel would do for the country even as it aired clips of people partying at its Bombay launch. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

In October 1992, when we got our first Hindi channel in the Star bouquet we also got our first, instant, home-grown Indian TV baron, with a salt and pepper goatee even then. Subhash Chandra put himself on air during the inaugural transmission of Zee TV to tell his fellow Indians what the channel would do for the country even as it aired clips of people partying at its Bombay launch. Off and on in those early years Chandra would pop up on his channel, sometimes in the audience of an Antakshari show.

Initially, the big achievement was just being on air. Zee was an upbeat clone of Doordarshan, when it was not being a straight movie channel. And, as one discovered, it was even manned by DD! Zee's channel manager in Hong Kong was a DD news producer on leave from his employer. With the advent of Zee, moonlighting, a regular practice for DD employees, had moved to another dimension.

The early transmission was three hours a day, with a movie and reruns of old Doordarshan programmes thrown in. There were days when the new Indian alternative to DD would offer a really old DD serial in the same time slot that the government channel was offering a new serial. But there were also new ideas. Such as Vinod Dua probing middle class mores in a chat show called Chakrvyuha, and taking it beyond what Nalini Singh was doing with Hello Zindagi on Doordarshan. The producer of this programme was none other than Ronnie Screwvala. Pritish Nandy presented a programme called Fiscal Fitness into which he would occasionally sneak in recycled footage from a defunct videomagazine.

Though the media treats this month as a the 20th anniversary of Zee TV, it is more accurately the 20th anniversary of Indian satellite TV. Available talent scrambled on to the new channel, new faces were found, and more Indian satellite channels followed really fast. In 1993, Asianet began transmission in Kerala, uplinking from the Soviet Union; Jain television started beaming in Delhi; and Sun TV in Tamil Nadu. And, responding to competition, Zee began to show films in South Indian languages in the afternoon. It never failed to be quick off the mark.

Zee innovated in other ways as well, quickly putting together a formula of froth, films and political jousts. It began to drop serials with alacrity if they did not pick up ratings really fast. There was also a bikini show on offer. Meanwhile, Rajat Sharma had come on board; there were new shows such as Faisla Aap Ka and Aap ki Adalat; and there was a Helpline programme for consumer complaints. Sharma was useful, he knew politicians, he knew journalists, and he became Subhash Chandra's door to the Delhi power circuit.

Within five months of launch, Zee also began its Sunday morning transmission and began announcing the existence of a trade promotion cell. What this did was to tell Indian advertisers that they could reach West Asian markets by paying Indian rupees, and at rates less than half of what it would have to cost to advertise on DD. It was an angle successfully sold to the media and by early February 1993 Chandra was figuring in double-page spreads in the business press, gesturing expansively.

But by August, Rupert Murdoch bought a majority stake in Star TV and that brought an element of uncertainty to an enterprise that was zipping along nicely. Open confrontation between the homegrown Murdoch and the original one was still in the future. By November 1993, there was evidence that Zee had begun to get rural audiences, and by end 1995 there were three Zee channels, and computer education on satellite TV was being offered.

With the advent of the state elections in the last quarter of 1993, BJP MP J.K. Jain launched his satellite election service, as a precursor to his regular channel. It offered election time advertising packages to candidates, at ten seconds for `6,000. By 1995, Indian politicians had a choice of platforms to appear on. NDTV and Aaj Tak were on Doordarshan, Zee had popular shows featuring politicos. By 1997, BBC had brought on Question Time India.

1995 saw Eenadu TV make its debut in Andhra Pradesh and spearhead the rapid penetration of cable in the state. In Delhi, channels such as the TVI network, Home TV and DD 3 were launched in the following years and eventually fell by the wayside.

Dramatic things happened by late 1996—Star began its own Hindi channel, Doordarshan's former director general Rathikant Basu moved across to Star TV to helm it, and it quickly became a mini Doordarshan. Then Rajat Sharma, already restless, was successfully persuaded to switch sides.

In 1997, Subhash Chandra got his revenge and demonstrated his clout: he scuttled Basu and Star's DTH plans, for which staff had been hired, and did so by ganging up with the then information and broadcasting minister C.M. Ibrahim and Basu's former bureaucrat colleagues. A clause in the Broadcasting Bill made sure no DTH operation could be launched, pending the passing of the Bill. So the coast remained clear till Chandra's own DTH venture Dish TV came in seven or eight years later. By which time the Bill had become history, never passed.

Sevanti Ninan is a media critic, author and editor of the media watch website thehoot.org. She examines the larger issues related to the media in a fortnightly column.

Link: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/JV7xB6PWkkl5q2Glq8tT8K/The-zee-story-turns-20.html

UP: Doordarshan Land Grabbed, Alleges Official

Source: OutlookIndia.com, Lucknow

Dated: 3^rd October, 2012

A Doordarshan official has claimed that some land belonging to the broadcaster here has been grabbed by some persons belonging to land mafia.

"Some land mafia had put their locks in the land of Doordarshan at 9 Lakshmi Bai Marg here on Oct 2. After we informed about this to the local police, they replaced the locks but again in the night the mafias put their locks back", Security Officer, Doordarshan, V K Anil said in a message to the media.

Anil said that when they contacted SHO of Kaiserbagh in whose area the land is located, he suggested that officers be contacted.

Senior officers of the state and the Centre have been informed about the incident.

He alleged that a former DGP and his wife were behind it.

Terming the incident as return of "goondaraj", BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the land of the media organisation should not go in the hands of the land mafia and government should immediately intervene.

Congress spokesman also aired the similar views.

Link: http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=777195

Multiplexes should reserve one screen for Indie cinema, demand filmmakers

Source: http://dearcinema.com 

Dated: 3^rd October, 2012, Wednesday

 

16 Indie filmmakers from across the country (13 of them national award winners) have joined hands to submit a petition to the Information and Broadcasting minister demanding better theatrical exhibition, liberal censor regime and mandatory telecast of national award winning films during primetime on the national broadcaster Doordarshan.

 

The online petition, posted by Onir, whose I AM won the national award for best Hindi film this year, is jointly filed by national award winning filmmakers Aparna Sen, Ashutosh Gowariker, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Goutam Ghosh, Jahnu Barua, Janaki Viswanathan, Nila Madav Panda, Rituparno Ghosh, Sachin Kundalkar, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Umesh Kulkarni, Vinay Shukla, film makers Kaushik Mukherjee(Q), Subhash Kapoor and Oscar Award and National Award winning Sound Engineer Resul Prookutty

 

The petition demands at least one prime time screening of all national award winning films on Doordarshan and also raises the issue of rigid censor regime faced by films when it comes to telecast. "Why are films being discriminated as compared to TV programmers? TV content is not censored and has much wider viewership and is exposed to the viewers indiscriminately. Why is it that serials/reality shows get away with so much regressive content while films face so much censorship when it comes to TV?" ask filmmakers.

 

Filmmakers have also suggested to allocated Rs. 200 crore from the Rs. 600 crore budget meant for centenary celebration of Indian cinema towards building low-cost theatres dedicated for Indie films.

 

Petition argues, "High ticket pricing that is inappropriate for small budget films, less no. of shows and odd show timings further destroy the possibility of Indie cinema (regional and Hindi) to have any proper chance at being viewed. It makes no sense that a 150 crores film and a 1.5 crore film are priced by the multiplexes in the same manner. Onir had raised this issue first in a guest post that he had written for DearCinema.com (Why should the ticket for a 3 crore film and a 150 crore film be priced the same: Onir)

 

Filmmakers have demanded to reserve one screen in multiplexes for Indie cinema in all Indian languages till the time low-cost theatres are set up.

Link:http://dearcinema.com/news/indie-filmmakers-demand-reservation-multiplex/0854

Slice of life

Source: The Hindu, Arts» Radio & TV

Published: 30^th September, 2012, Sunday 16:05 IST

 

Tehreem Hashmi

 

 

The HinduBlinkers off: Suhaib Ilyasi has a new TV series on modern Muslim society. Photo: R.V. Moorthy  - The Hindu

 "Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan", a series on a Muslim woman's struggle for justice, strikes a chord

It is not often these days that viewers get a slice of Urdu-speaking people's life on television. With most of the serials on satellite channels focussing either on music and dance reality shows or middle class families from Gujarat, the space to show Urdu-speaking people has been chopped significantly. Now, however, a new effort has been made with Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan on Doordarshan. The show, garnering good ratings for some time, is now telecast twice a week— Saturday and Sunday evening.

Recently, Suhaib Ilyasi and Tripurari Sharan, Director General of Doordarshan addressed the media about the serial. "It is the only programme in Urdu language" said Suhaib. Talking about the show, he revealed that "it is a complete mixture of drama, action, romance and suspense. It is the only programme showcasing Muslim culture and values."

Suhaib who hit the headlines with India's Most Wanted, is happy to be back in a prime time slot with Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan. "I am presenting another wonderful TV show with a refreshing format. It is not a crime serial but a love story of a progressive Muslim girl." The story revolves around a modern Muslim family. The protagonist is Safia Mirza, an intelligent 22-year-old who derives her strength from the Holy Quran. She stands for her rights whenever she faces injustice from society. "The show is all about empowerment of women in Muslim society," he added.

Talking about the aim of such a show, Suhaib said, "With my show I want to remove misconceptions regarding Islam in the minds of people. It is a common thinking that women don't have rights in Muslim families, they don't get proper education et cetera. But in the light of Hadith and Quran, I want to say that women in Islam have equal rights as men to get educated and to gain knowledge."

He claimed, "The show is very well accepted by the audience. We are getting a huge response on social networking sites."

Asked about choosing Doordarshan for telecasting the show, he said, "It is the only channel which is being seen in every house. Some 24 per cent viewers are poor, they don't have cable network, and they can only see DD. I could not have found a better platform to telecast such a show."

(Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan is shown every Saturday and Sunday at 8.30 pm on DD National)

Link: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/radio-and-tv/slice-of-life/article3948863.ece

Cash-strapped Prasar Bharati to lease out prime space

Source: Hindustan Times, Saubhadra Chatterji, New Delhi
Published on: 2^nd October, 2012 Tuesday

 

Soon, you can walk into the capital's iconic Aakashvani Bhawan for withdrawing money from ATMs. Or drive into a Doordarshan Kendra to refuel your car.
With real estate belonging to Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) stations now under its control, cash-strapped Prasar Bharati (PB) is planning to lease out prime space for making enough revenue to pull itself out of the red.

 

Amid efforts to reduce subsidies and the fiscal deficit, the Centre recently approved a restructuring plan for the public broadcaster, including transfer of all land rights and properties spread over 341 stations and 1,821 transmission tower areas to it.

"There is hardly any major city that doesn't have a PB property at its prime location. We will lease these spaces out for public utility services and billboards. Later, we might develop these properties through joint ventures, but without selling them," PB CEO Jawhar Sircar said.

 

According to an internal valuation, PB's real estate in four top cities is worth R57,071 crore. "The market value of all our properties would easily cross R1.5 lakh crore," said an official.

 

"Finance minister P Chidambaram and I&B minister Ambika Soni has helped us make a fresh beginning. Now, we need to plan on mopping up an additional revenue of R400 crore annually," Sircar said.

 

Though the Centre decided to foot PB's salary-related expenses for the next five years, besides waiving off interests, the broadcaster will still have to meet operational expenses and search for new sources of revenue.

 

Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/938948.aspx

Tdsat asks Doordarshan to furnish Rs 200 mn bank guarantee to ESPN

Source: http://www.indiantelevision.com, Indiantelevision.com Team Dated: 2 October, 2012 3:57 pm
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) has directed public broadcaster Prasar Bharati to submit a bank guarantee to sports broadcaster ESPN Software over a payment dispute with regards to live broadcast of nationally important cricket matches on Doordarshan. In its interim order, Tdsat has, however, prevented ESPN from encashing the guarantee without the its permission. Prasar Bharati has contested a demand by ESPN for payment of its share of advertisement revenue for matches carried live simultaneously on Doordarshan on grounds of violations of the provisions of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007.
The sports broadcaster, which runs ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket channels, has challenged Prasar Bharati's refusal to share the revenue, based on which the Tdsat has asked Prasar Bharati to provide a bank guarantee. Prasar Bharati is required to share 75 per cent of the advertisement revenue from live cricket matches telecast by it and the rights for which are held by another broadcaster under the Act. Tdsat chairman S B Sinha and member P K Rastogi have also decided to hear the ESPN-Prasar Bharati case on a expeditious basis. The tribunal said: "Indisputably in terms of the provisions of the Act and the Rules, the respondent in the fact of the present case (Prasar Bharati) is to share 75 per cent of its bid amount, which amounts to Rs 200 million, with the petitioner ESPN, wherefore it has to furnish a bank guarantee." The Tdsat order is, however, not clear on the tournament or matches for which Prasar Bharati has declined to share its advertising revenue with ESPN.
K Parasaran, Additional Solicitor General appearing for Prasar Bharati, told Tdsat that the petitioner (ESPN) and/or the International Cricket Council (ICC) have violated the spirit of the provisions of the Act and the Rules framed there-under in so far as ICC continues to give its advertisements and its logo which is violative of the underlying spirit of the Act. He pointed out that Rule 3 was clear that "the revenue would not be shared for the revenues that the rights holders – in this case ESPN or ICC - make out of." The Section 3 of the Act provides that no content rights owner or holder and no television or radio broadcasting service provider shall carry a live television broadcast on any cable or direct-to-home (DTH) network or radio commentary broadcast in India of sporting events of national importance, unless it simultaneously shares the live broadcasting signal, without its ads, with Prasar Bharati to enable them to re-transmit the same on its terrestrial and DTH networks in such manner and on such terms and conditions as may be specified. Prasar Bharati has objected to ICC continuing to give its advertisements and its logo in the live feed passed on to Doordarshan for re-transmission, which the public broadcaster says is in violation of the provision of of the act. The act requires that the content rights owner or holder should provide advertisement-free broadcasting signal to the public broadcaster but the provision has been violated with the delivery of ICC advertisements and logo along with the feed for the live cricketing event. The section also provides that the advertisement revenue sharing between the content rights owner or holder and Prasar Bharati shall be in the ratio of not less than 75: 25 in case of television coverage and 50: 50 in case of radio coverage. Rule 4 of the rules framed under the act provide that the party getting the marketing rights shall give a bank guarantee to the other party for an amount equal to the other party's share of guaranteed revenue which shall be valid for a period of six months from the first day of the month succeeding the month in which the sporting event comes to an end.

Link: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/oct/oct20.php

Set Prasar Bharati free to make it an effective state media

Source: DNA / Harini Calamur

Published on: 1^st October, 2012, Monday 10:40 IST

The cornerstone of a free market economy is competition — many suppliers who compete against each other for the attention and custom of the consumer. For the buyer, there is a diversity of products to choose from, and the fact that there are many suppliers ensures that no product will be over priced for too long. Competition is a preferred way of allocating resources, ensuring choice, and enabling consumers of niche products and services to find producers who make those. In the last few decades, the move away from controlled economies and centralised planning has been significant around the world. Market competition has been seen as something as important a mark of a democracy as elections. As Milton Friedman, the famous monetarist economist, pointed out: "Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself."Questioning free market economics, and wondering whether it leads to the best possible outcomes, has become heresy.

One of the areas where theorists have been committing heresy for the best part of two decades is media studies. Leading academics have been postulating whether a free market in the media leads to less choice for the viewers. Media policy world over — in Europe, the USA and now in India – looks at the media market in the same way they look at any other market — more media content providers mean more consumer choice. However, unlike most products and services, media does more than satisfyingthe need for information, entertainment, or education. It also shapes opinion, views and tastes. Also, 'he who pays the piper calls the tune' – and in a media market where media vehicles make profits by selling to advertisers as opposed to the consumers of media content, it is inevitable that advertisers who spend big bucks call the tune. Diversity of content declines, as do diverse views, and what sells is repeated across all channels. Film music, soap operas based around family conflict, talent hunts, and news based on talking heads dominate across the board. Furthermore, whole areas of the country get ignored because the advertiser is not interested in those consumers – they are either not enough in numbers, or are too poor to purchase the products being advertised. This has repercussions on coverage. If the advertiser is not really looking at people from certain geography, will you cover that region in the media? The answer is, more often than not, a resounding no.

This is the reason why most countries have public service broadcasters (PSB), funded either by the tax payer (Europe) or by trusts (the USA). The PSB is supposed to provide diversity in terms of content, give a platform for views and voices that are ignored, support arts and culture and popularise them, instil a sense of belonging to one nation, and stay away from sensationalism and obvious bias. In India, the role of the PSB is played by the Prasar Bharati that runs Doordarshan and AIR. For a decade or more, Prasar Bharati has been struggling in a competitive market, with a bloated work force and an inability to be responsive to consumer needs. Its content, although diverse, looks terribly dated and out of sync with the audience. Needless to say, the organisation has been struggling.

On Big Bang Friday, while the government was announcing a slew of measures, there was one regarding the financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati — Rs1,350 crore of debt waived off, loans converted into grants and accumulated interest excused. Additionally, the government (tax payer) has agreed to pay the salary bill for the next 5 years. Prasar Bharati is only responsible for the operational costs of the channels — i.e., programming. Prasar Bharati has the reach, the network and the infrastructure to deliver – but for some reason, it has not been able to. For Prasar Bharati to be effective, it needs to be more than an autonomous body, it needs to be financially independent. It can still be funded by the tax payer but it needs to learn to work within a budget and deliver.

To achieve its public service broadcasting goals, Prasar Bharati has to be run like a professional broadcast organisation – with very clear goals and targets. These targets may not be financial, but they still need to be achieved. Content is not just about filling half an hour slots – it is also about diversity, shaping views and opinions, and representation of all parts of India. If any broadcaster can deliver the promise of diverse content from all parts of India, aimed at various niches within India – it is Prasar Bharati. But, to do that it must be set free.

 

Link: http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_set-prasar-bharati-free-to-make-it-an-effective-state-media_1747214 

Prasar Bharati's plans for DD and AIR to bridge fiscal deficit

Source: Indiantelevision.com's News Headlines

Date: 27th September 2012 7:52 pm

NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati is striving to bridge the gap between its annual expenditure and revenue amid government pressures to lean less on it for financial support.

While the government has made it clear that it will only fund the capex requirements and expenses towards salaries, the pubcaster has settled on an operational expenditure capped at Rs 20 billion for the fiscal while its income hovers in the region of Rs 16 billion as it competes against private television and radio broadcasters.

So how does Prasar Bharati cut its financial coat to match the cloth that it has? The pubcaster, which has to look after Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR), is banking on generating additional revenue of Rs 4 billion with aggressive marketing to promote its clutch of channels and radio stations.

Link: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/sep/sep283.php

J-K school board employee suspended for working as DD producer

Source: Business Standard, Press Trust of India / Srinagar, September 26, 2012 15:05 IST

Date: 27^th September, 2012, Thursday

 

A woman employee of Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) has been suspended for allegedly violating the service rules by engaging as a private producer with Doordarshan.

 

Academic Officer (English) Naila Neelofar was placed under suspension after a preliminary inquiry into allegations revealed that she had taken up work as a private producer in Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar in violation of the service rules, according to an order passed by the BOSE yesterday.

 

BOSE chairman Sheikh Bashir said Neelofar had initially denied the allegations but admitted to taking up work as private producer before a two-member committee investigating the matter.

 

Link: http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/j-k-school-board-employee-suspended-for-working-as-dd-producer/61067/