TRAI PLANS: Star launches cheaper Sports, English channel packs

Cable and DTH users can now watch Star India’s sports and English channels at 30% lower cost as India’s largest broadcaster has introduced smaller, more affordable channel packs in these two genres. The move is seen as a reaction to the feedback given by the market to the company’s previous line up. Till now, Star […]

Royal Enfield waiting period down to zero as Jawa readies to vroom

Royal Enfield, the country’s largest maker of mid-sized motorcycles, said it has cut down on the waiting period on most of its motorcycle models, and promised to keep the excitement going as it deals with new competitors like Jawa. The comments by Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Eicher Motors comes in the context of the impending […]

SpiceJet starts daily flights from Bhopal, Gorakhpur, Jaipur & Dharamshala

SpiceJet, the most aggressive low-cost airline in India, announced 12 new flights from March 31. The new daily flights connect towns such as Surat, Bhopal, Gorakhpur, Jaipur and Dharamshala to Mumbai and Delhi (see table below). It is also offering promotional fares starting at Rs 2,499 all in between Bhopal and Mumbai, Rs 3,299 on […]

TRAI SCHEME: 85% users have chosen MSO packs – GTPL

85% of the customers who have shifted to tariff packs under TRAI’s new tariff plan have gone with packages created by the cable operator, said Aniruddhasinhji Jadeja, founder and MD of GTPL Hathway, one of India’s largest cable networks. Jadeja said, as of Feb 12, close to 30% of the total subscribers have been moved […]

L&T gets “mega” contract to construct an airport

Larsen & Toubro, India’s biggest construction firm, said it has secured a mega contract for design and construction of a major airport. Mega contracts are defined as those that will generate more than Rs 7,000 cr of revenue for the company. In October, Larsen & Toubro had won a Rs 3,036 cr order to build […]

Harvest TV to be renamed ‘Tiranga TV’ after TDSAT order

Harvest TV, led by journalists like Barkha Dutt and Karan Thapar, has got permission from an industry disputes settlement body to use the name ‘Tiranga TV’. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has overruled the objection by the government of India that Tiranga referred to the Indian flag and can therefore not be used […]

Jawa opens motorcycle showrooms in several cities ahead of launch

Jawa, the retro motorcycle brand from Mahindra & Mahindra, has opened showrooms in many cities, indicating that the launch will happen within one month. Kerala, as the biggest market for such bikes, has seen the opening of several such showrooms in the last few days, including one in Kochi (see above) and another in Trivandrum. […]

BS-VI to hurt sales of diesel cars, boost electric vehicles – M&M

The introduction of BS-VI fuel standard a year from now is expected to make small diesel engines too expensive to be of practical use and push the market for smaller vehicles towards petrol, CNG and electric vehicles, automaker Mahindra & Mahindra said. Managing Director Pawan Goenka said the share of diesel engines in cars has […]

TRAI gives extra time for selecting new packs; creates confusion among cable, DTH operators

The Telecom Regulatory Authority has given time till Mar 30 for those subscribers who have not exercised their choice under new TV channel plans. The cable and DTH providers have been told to move customers who fail to exercise their choice to a ‘best fit plan’ according to their channel choices and plan. It should […]

Akhilesh Yadav tears into Yogi after being blocked from visiting Allahabad University

Akhilesh Yadav has laid into Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath after he was stopped from attending a function at Allahabad University. “Today, I was stopped from boarding a flight to attend a student union program at Allahabad University. I haven’t been given a reason why – but it seems the general impression was that […]

Voltas to set up Rs 500 cr appliance complex in Tirupati

Voltas, India’s largest air-conditioner maker, said it will invest Rs 500 cr to set up a AC and appliance manufacturing complex in Tirupati. The plant will initially manufacture and assemble air conditioners and related cooling products, starting from the second half of next year. It will have a total capacity of more than 1 million […]

TRAI gives OK to multi TV schemes, but price must be uniform

Media regulator TRAI clarified that nothing in the new tariff regime prevents cable and DTH operators from offering discounts on the network charges payable by customers. Accordingly, it said, some of the cable and DTH operators have restarted their discounted multi TV offers. The topic of ‘multi-connections’ — or multiple connections within the same household […]

Delhi HC rejects plea to censor Game of Thrones, other web series

The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition by a lawyer’s organization, Justice For Rights, seeking censoring of online content such as Game of Thrones, Spartacus, Vikings and Sacred Games. The petition, filed late last year, claimed that such videos constituted “unregulated, uncertified, sexually explicit, vulgar, profane, and legally restricted content”. The lawyers wanted the […]

Mobile data prices down 96% under Modi

Prices of mobile data have crashed by 96% under Modi’s tenure, while those of voice services fell by 76%, according to data released by Department of Telecom. On average, 1 GB of mobile data used to cost Rs 254.95 in December 2014, DoT said, while its price has fallen to just Rs 10.91 for the […]

TV BLACKOUT: TRAI issues show-cause notice to DTH operator

Media regulator TRAI said it has issued a show cause notice to a ‘large’ platform operator for showing black screens to its customers during the migration to the new TV channel tariff scheme. It did not give the name of the platform operator, merely noting that it was a large one. TRAI, keen to avoid […]

TRAI disputes CRISIL report, says cable, DTH not more expensive

Media regulator TRAI today issued a clarification on a report by the research wing of credit rating agency CRISIL in which the agency had claimed that the introduction of the regulator’s new TV pricing norms will increase cable and DTH prices. CRISIL had taken the example of the most popular channels to arrive its conclusion […]

BASE PACK CHARGE: TRAI sets up call center for complaints, gives phone no.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued new directions to cable and DTH operators prohibiting them from forcing any channel other than Doordarshan’s on their consumers in the name of ‘base packs’ or ‘basic service tier’, and also set up a call center to deal with such complaints. The move comes in the wake […]