Prasar Bharati has invited global tenders from Internet facility providers to upgrade the AIR Internet service to a multi-channel multi-lingual Internet radio station providing streaming audio.

The planning and development unit of the pubcaster has publicly invited commercial offers for the overhaul of All India Radio, so far a public service broadcaster focussed on educational and entertainment programmes.

With the private sector poised to invade the airwaves via FM, the government seems to be gearing up for the challenge by providing multi-lingual streaming audio.

The tender documents are available at Akashwani Bhavan, New Delhi from 11 March. An earnest money deposit of Rs 50,000 accompanies the tender documents, the deadline for which is 12 pm on 16 April.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has imposed special margins on 33 scrips, including four media shares.

The media firms included in the list of companies on which the margins were imposed are Padmalaya Telefilms, Pritish Nandy Communications, Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd and Tips Industries Ltd. The trading margins imposed on the four scrips are at 25 per cent.

Similar trading margins had been imposed on 11 February on three of the scrips in this list - Padmalaya, PNC and Sri Adhikari.

The rates of special margins have been revised keeping in view the closing price of the scrip on the last day of the settlement, a BSE release says.

Margin money is like a security deposit that is paid - which is held until a deal is complete and all monies are settled. The aim of margin money is to minimise the risk of default by either counter-party (buyer or seller). The payment of margin ensures that the risk is limited to the previous day‘s price movement on each outstanding position. Such measures are normally taken by the exchange to check excessive speculative trading.

Sony Entertainment Television suffered a setback today after the courts ruled against it in a copyright violations case.
According to the court ruling, Taal Communications, promoters of the weekly matchmaking show Swayamvar, which is slated for launch on national broadcaster Doordarshan, have been given a lead time before Sony can launch its own blockbuster marriage reality show Shubh Vivaah.

As per information available, the ruling states that if Taal launches Swayamvar on or before 30 June, Sony will have to wait at least two months before it can launch Shubh Vivaah. However, if Swayamvar is not launched within this period, Sony is free to launch its own show immediately.

Madhuri Dixit: Matchmaking will have to wait

Taal, promoted by Anil Gupta, a former consultant with Zee, and actor politician Vinod Khanna had originally planned to kick off Swayamvar on DD1 last November.

Taal, according to industry sources had asked for a private settlement, to get the issue resolved at the earliest, which Dasgupta was not willing to accede to. Sources indicate Sony was willing to pay Rs 10 million as a settlement but Taal wanted Rs 150 million. At the time of writing, indiantelevision.com could not ascertain whether any compensation had been demanded by Taal for delays in the launch of Swayamvar as damages. Also, it was unclear whether demands had additionally been made for damage to Taal‘s and co-promoter Vinod Khanna‘s reputation.

Keeping the dispute between Sony and Taal aside, the ruling could well prove to be a landmark as far as IPR is concerned.