As Vodafone Idea unveils a new brand identity, the financial troubles facing the company has as thrown into question the very future of the Indian telecom operator. There has been speculation that American telco Verizon or online retail giant Amazon may infuse money into the operator, but such rumors have been quashed by the Indian […]
The Direct to Home (DTH) satellite broadcasting service has emerged as perhaps the only segment that has seen a clear benefit from the COVID-19 lock-down, with all three listed players seeing an increase in their customer revenue during the lock-down. The biggest jump in revenue was reported by Airtel Digital, which saw its revenue jump […]
When Mukesh Ambani announced the tariff plans of Reliance Jio Fiber a year ago, most of the people who were eagerly waiting for the commercial services to launch were disappointed as there was nothing special about the company’s tariff card. However, its rivals were relieved, because their fears about a mega disruption in the market […]
Reliance Jio, which started wired broadband operations in September last year, has started speeding up the roll-out of its Jio Fiber service after an initial slow-down. The company started the service with around 8 lakh connections as of October end, most of which were converts from its trial service. Over the next two months, it […]
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 […]
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 […]
Bombay High Court will tomorrow hear a plea filed by various channel broadcasters against TRAI’s direction two weeks ago asking them to publish new channel and pack prices in line new rules issued on Jan 1 this year. UPDATE: Hearing on the matter has been pushed to Friday, Aug 7. On January 1, TRAI had […]
Bharti Airtel, which announced a program to partner with cable operators after Reliance Jio acquired Den and Hathway, said it has cracked the best model for the partnership and is planning to rapidly expand the program in the next 6-12 months. Airtel announced its cable operator collaborative program in late 2018, and has been trying […]
Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, hinted that his company may follow suit after Sony Pictures Networks shut down some channels due to evolving market conditions. “We constantly re-evaluate our portfolio of content offering that’s out there, whether in linear form or digital form. And we have taken certain decisions in the […]
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, […]
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 […]
GTPL Hathway, the country’s second biggest cable feed provider, has been forced to postpone the launch of its hybrid Android set-top-box for the second time after the COVID-19 pandemic hit its supply line. The company had originally planned to launch a new Android-based set-top-box, similar Tata Sky Binge+ and Airtel XStream, on April 1, but […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 — 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 […]
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar today refused to intervene in the alleged blocking of news channels critical of the state government of Andhra Pradesh. The unofficial ban on two news Telugu news channels — TV5 and ABN Andhra Jyothi — in the coastal state, allegedly for being critical of the YSRCP government — has […]
Dish TV, the oldest Direct-To-Home satellite transmission service in India, is preparing to improve its line-up on channels in a bid to retain market share in the face in rising competition. The company, which has two separate beams — one for South India and one for the rest of the country — has started removing […]
