Bajaj takes aim at Royal Enfield, Jawa with Triumph tie-up

Bajaj Auto has just announced its grand entry into the retro-motorcycle market with a new partnership with 118-year-old British brand Triumph. The two companies will jointly develop and market retro-look motorcycles in the Indian market at prices less than Rs 2 lakh — the bread and butter segment for Royal Enfield and Jawa. Until about […]

Cheaper TV channels likely as court gives no stay on TRAI tariff order

The Bombay High Court did not grant any interim stay on the TRAI’s amendments to last year’s tariff order at the second day of hearing on the matter, making it even more likely that broadcasters will be forced to cut their channel prices soon. Instead of issuing a stay, the High Court has posted the […]

Reliance Jio users cut down on data, voice usage after price hike

Users of Reliance Jio’s 4G service have started cutting down on their data and voice usage the company implemented price increases in December, thus limiting the benefits of the price hike from fully flowing through to the company. The average data consumed by a Reliance Jio user fell to 11.1 GB per month during October-December […]

TRAI Tariff Order helps lift Hathway into profit

Hathway Datacom, one of India’s top cable feed providers (MSOs) finally posted a profit after remaining saddled with losses for several years. The company was able to post a profit due to various factors, including a sharp fall in pay channel costs thanks to TRAI’s new tariff order and a reduction in its cable TV […]

Most of your TV channel packs will stop working on Mar 1

Most of the channel packs currently available to cable and DTH customers are likely to disappear on Mar 1, given that broadcasters like Star, Sony and Zee have missed a 45-day window for making them complaint to new rules. This means that consumers who are currently subscribed to packs from Star, Zee, Colors and other […]

No plans to sell news channels: TV18 Broadcast

Rahul Joshi, Managing Director of TV18, today said his company has no plans to sell its news business. “We’ve outrightly denied any such story in news. In news, the group remains absolutely committed to grow the business. “As you’ve seen, we’ve committed so much investments in digital, on television. So there’s no question of getting […]

Viacom18 testing Voot Premium with international content

Viacom18, the entertainment-focused joint venture of TV18 Broadcast and US-based ViacomCBS, will launch a new content app focusing on premium, English language content, CEO Sudhanshu Vats said today. Commenting on his company’s third quarter results, Vats said the app is currently undergoing beta testing. Viacom18 currently has two apps, Voot — which largely offers Indian […]

No stay on TRAI’s Tariff Order from Bombay HC, yet

The Bombay High Court did not issue a stay on the implementation of the amended TV channel tariff order issued by TRAI on News Year’s day, but kept the possibility open when it takes up the case again on January 22. Broadcasters, under the aegis of Indian Broadcasting Foundation, had approached the Bombay High Court […]

TARIFF ORDER: TRAI responds to broadcasters’ concerns

Even as the channel owners today took TRAI to the courts over changes to channel pricing rules, the regulator has issued a statement responding to their concerns. Broadly, it said the latest changes were required to overcome ‘teething problems’ associated with such a radical shift to a choice-oriented television distribution regime, but also criticized some […]

Broadcasters challenge TRAI’s amended tariff order

With just two days remaining for a deadline to file amended TV channel tariffs, a case filed by India’s big broadcasters in the Bombay High Court has been listed for hearing tomorrow in front of Justice SC Dharmadhikari. Broadcasters, including Star India, Zee Entertainment, Sony Networks and others, have come together under the banner of […]

Airtel, Reliance Jio release list of WiFi calling supported mobile handsets

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have released a list of supported mobile phone handsets that can be used with their newly launched ‘WiFi Calling’ feature. While Airtel supports only four brands — Apple, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Samsung, Reliance Jio’s WiFi calling can be activated on phones from 12 brands. Besides three of the four companies […]

Airtel, Jio introduce WiFi calling to get over poor signal problem

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have started enabling WiFi calling — routing the call via the user’s WiFi network even if cellular network is available — across the country on selected handset models. Models for which WiFi calling is being enabled include those from Apple, OnePlus and Samsung. Other models are likely to be supported […]

After Star & Sony, Zee Entertainment adds app to Jio Fiber box

Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ Zee5 has become the latest content app from a major Indian broadcaster to be added to Reliance Jio’s Fiber box, following close on the heels of Star India’s Hotstar and Sony Pictures Networks’ Liv. With this, Jio Fiber now offers apps from nearly all the major entertainment broadcasters of India with the […]

TRAI Tariff Order will hurt broadcasters: Ind-Ra

India Ratings, a unit of Fitch Group, said new tweaks to TRAI’s 2017 tariff order — scheduled to come into effect on March 1 — are likely to reduce revenue for channel owners, be neutral for cable and DTH players and reduce costs for consumers. “India Ratings & Research (Fitch Group) believes that Telecom Regulatory […]

TRAI cuts maximum channel price to Rs 12/month from Rs 19

Media and telecom sector regulator TRAI has amended its 2017 tariff order — which came into effect a year ago — introducing a new price-cap of Rs 12 per pay channel, down from Rs 19 earlier. It also introduced new safeguards and conditions to curtail the practice of forcing unwanted channels upon consumers. However, these […]

TRAI unlikely to recommend floor pricing

Telecom regulator TRAI is unlikely to recommend floor pricing for voice and data services in India due to ideological as well as practical reasons, according to industry officials. The telecom regulator today came out with a consultation paper saying it wants to broad-base the discussion on setting minimum price for data and voice. At present, […]

COMING SOON: Tata Sky Binge+ Android Box; Training manual leaked

Tata Sky’s much awaited Android set-top-box, Tata Sky Binge+, is all set to become available in the coming 2-3 weeks as a dealer has leaked the technician’s reference guide for installing the service. The manual, leaked on social media, confirms what has already been reported — it will be built on top of Android TV […]

Jio cuts validity of 149 pack, remains cheapest under new 4G plans

A day after shocking consumers by increasing plan prices by around 20-40%, Reliance Jio has re-introduced the Rs 149 unlimited plan, but with a shorter validity and lower daily data allowance. The original Rs 149 plan used to offer 1.5 GB of daily data for four weeks (28 days) and was the most affordable monthly […]