TRAI Tariff Order matter listed for Wednesday morning

After getting postponed several times, an application by broadcasting companies such as Zee Entertainment Enterprises against the latest TRAI directive to implement the new tariff order has been listed for hearing tomorrow morning. The application was originally listed before the Bombay High Court for hearing on last Thursday, but there was no hearing on account […]

Broadcasters fail to get a hearing on TRAI tariff order today

Major television channel broadcasters had a disappointing Friday as their application against TRAI’s move to impose the new tariff order could not be heard due to paucity of time, marking the second day the application has been listed and went unheard. Big broadcasters had approached the Bombay High Court earlier this week against TRAI’s Aug […]

TV Today reports better than expected performance

TV Today Network Ltd, the company that operates India Today and Aaj Tak news channels, reported better than expected numbers for the Apr-Jun period, thanks to surprising resilience in its TV channel revenues.. India Today, which depends on advertising for nearly all its top line, saw revenue from its TV broadcasting business fall by about […]

Don’t see TRAI NTO 2.0 implemented this year: Zee CEO

Punit Goenka, the MD and CEO of content maker Zee Entertainment Enterprises, expressed reservations about the possibility of implementing TRAI’s revised tariff order in the current financial year. Responding to an investor query on what impact he saw the implementation of the January 1 tariff order would have on his company’s subscription incomes this year, […]

TRAI directs TV channels to publish new tariff immediately

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said it is abandoning its voluntary restraint in the implementation of new TV channel pricing rules announced on January 1 as channel broadcasters are taking advantage of the same to push through price increases. TRAI has so far not taken any action against those who did not implement its […]

Govt to scrap jail terms for violating Cable TV Act

In keeping with the recently announced move to decriminalize smaller offences — especially those of a technical or financial nature — Government of India today proposed to remove jail terms for violating Cable TV Networks Regulation Act. At present, the violation of the cable TV Act can result in jail terms of up to two […]

Airtel becomes first DTH player to unbundle OTT from hardware

Bharti Airtel has become the first major DTH or cable company to free up its content app, Airtel XStream, from its hardware. All other major cable and DTH companies in India offer their app only on their own device — typically a stick or a set-top-box — and do not allow the software to be […]

Regional Hindi news channels dominate results of 46th DD Free Dish e-auction

Five regional Hindi news channels were among the 15 that found themselves in the results of the 46th e-auction for broadcasting on the DD Free Dish DTH platform. These channels have won the right to transmit their signals on the country’s largest TV channel distribution system for a period of one year from July 1. […]

Sun TV Network’s non-subscription revenue down 41%

Sun TV Network, which operates television channels such as Sun TV, Udaya TV and Gemini TV, saw a 41% fall its revenue from advertising and other non-subscription sources during the three months from January to March 2020. The company, which owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team, was hurt by the impact of Coronavirus on the […]

TV18 to shut down FYI, raise pack prices; Rishtey Cineplex to go pay

FYI TV18, the most watched ‘lifestyle’ channel in India, will shut down on July 8, TV18 group said, while announcing an increase in the prices of several of its channel packages and the conversion of a free channel into pay. FYI SHUT DOWN The move to shut down FYI TV18 makes the channel the latest […]

Star Utsav, Sony Pal, Zee Anmol, Rishtey back on DD Free Dish

Prasar Bharti, India’s public broadcaster which operates DD Free Dish satellite TV service, has given five slots on the DTH platform to major private sector broadcasters such as Star India, Sony Pictures Networks, TV18 Broadcast and Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Two slots have been allocated to Zee Entertainment Enterprises, while one each has been allocated to […]

Cable companies feel the pain of Supreme Court’s AGR judgment

After oil producers, metro rail operators, pipeline operators, power distributors and railways, it is the turn of cable operators to feel the impact of the AGR judgment of a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra last year. In October last year, the bench had ruled that any company that took a license from […]

Colors, Star Plus & Zee TV see sharp fall in ratings after COVID-19 lockdown

Premium Hindi general entertainment channels, including Star Plus, Zee TV and Colors, have seen a sharp decline in their viewership during the COVID-19 lockdown, even as viewership of Doordarshan, movie channels and news channels have seen sharp increases, reveals ratings from BARC, India’s largest TV ratings agency. Even as general TV viewership increased, no category […]

Govt requests cable, DTH players not to disconnect users

Government of India has “requested” cable and DTH operators to not disconnect those subscribers who do not recharge or pay their monthly bill during the COVID-19 lock-down. The request has been made based on two justifications: First, doing so will help keep the people indoors, and second, it will help counter fake news that spreads […]

CORONAVIRUS: DD Free Dish may give channel slots without e-auction

Prasar Bharati has set up a committee to explore an alternative way of allowing private TV channels to use its DD Free Dish DTH service without going through an auction process. Traditionally, private channels have to pay crores of rupees per year if they want to get a slot on the free satellite broadcasting (DTH) […]

Four pay channels likely to go ‘free to air’ from today

Four pay channels — Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Sony Pal — are likely to go ‘free to air’ for two months from today. These channels had earlier been put in a ‘promotional scheme’ while remaining pay channels, with their prices slashed from Rs 1-2/month to Rs 0. This was intended to increase […]