Media - Broadcast

The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study the uplinking policy for television channels proposed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in view of reservations over the provision to allow Doordarshan automatic access to terrestrial rights for sports events of national importance. Though Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, while briefing mediapersons on the Cabinet...

Lintas India Group director Lynn De Souza kicked it off. In a recent magazine article, she said that TAM Media Research data represent just 38 per cent of India's television viewing homes. De Souza later reiterated her point to Business Standard: "The sample is too small as 5,000 Peoplemeters is too little to extrapolate to 83 million TV homes." That statement turned the arc lights on the validity...

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Wednesday that a national workshop would be held in New Delhi on July 5 to evolve a consensus on the issue of ban on scenes showing the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products in cinema and TV serials. Reddy, who was here to release the compact discs (CDs) and audio cassettes on works of M S Subbulakshmi, Alathur Brothers and...

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to grant foreign news channels a licence for Rs 1 lakh a year, freeing them up from having to seek permission to uplink for specific events. Prasar Bharati’s interests are also being protected for the corporation will get terrestrial rights for important sports events whether or not it has bid for them. The Government will continue to determine...

In the first week of its launch, STAR Ananda, the 24 hours Bengali news channel from the STAR and the Ananda Bazar Patrika group, has garnered the maximum share in the Kolkata market. As per TAM Media Research in the first four days of its launch (between June 1- June 4), the channel has gained a market share of 38 per cent, leaving behind NDTV India and Tara Newz with a share of 10 per cent each...

With the expansion of cable television network and the proliferation of TV channels, it has become imperative for broadcasters, agencies and production houses to understand and know the extent of programme reach and audience feedback. Today, clients and agencies need a scientific way to assess which channels and programmes offer the most cost-effective reach. Speed is also of paramount importance...

The business rivalry between two major cable television companies in Agra, which is going on for more than five years, has now taken a serious turn, with Pay TV broadcasters beginning to take sides and the cable companies launching their own private "channels", causing consternation in state government circles. Lately, two large broadcasting companies--Moon Network Pvt Ltd (MNPL) and Sea...

Reuters has bought a stake in an English-language news channel being set up by the Times of India. The news service has bought 26% of the Times of India Global Broadcasting Company, a division of the Indian newspaper group that publishes the world's biggest daily broadsheet in circulation terms, with a readership of some 7.4 million. The English-language channel will go live this year, serving...

The government is working on a comprehensive broadcast bill to regulate television channels. The Cable Television Network Act of 1995 and the programmes and advertising codes prescribed in the cable rules are the only guidelines which entertainment channels have to follow. There is hardly any supervision of what news channels beam. The Shakti Kapoor incident, where a private channel carried out a...

A fresh round of channel wars is in the air. While the Bennett, Coleman & Co-owned Times Television is gearing up to launch a business channel, Television Eighteen India Limited (TV 18) is getting ready to start a general news channel. Bennett is believed to be close to signing a deal with Reuters India Pvt Ltd, which will pick up a 26 per cent stake in Times TV. One media industry source...