• India Today's Aaj Tak TV makes debut

    Submitted by ITV Production on Jan 01, 2001

    The India Today group‘s TV Today flagged off its 24 hour Hindi news channel Aaj Tak on 31 December.The channel was launched by Law, Justice and Company Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley at a late night function. The Group has already invested Rs 600 million in the channel on state-of-the-art equipment and 18 bureaus across the country out of a total investment of Rs 800 million. The channel proposes to target the vast 14-15 million Hindi-watching Indian cable TV homes.

    TV Today had a contract with DD till March 2001 to continue supplying it with its daily news and current affairs show Aaj Tak. The group however decided to withdraw from the DD platform much earlier.

    In its new avatar Aaj Tak will extend its particular brand of news coverage to thematic programmes on issues such as health, lifestyle, bollywood, and information technology.

     

  • Qalam 2001 : Vinta Nanda

    Vinta Nanda, best known as the writer behind the marathon serial Tara, spoke of the degeneration of content in televi

  • ?Law and Order? star Jerry Orbach succumbs to cancer

    Submitted by ITV Production on Jan 01, 2001

    MUMBAI: Actor Jerry Orbach who starred in US broadcaster NBC?s courtroom drama Law and Order, has died of prostate cancer.

    He died in Manhattan after several weeks of treatment. In India Law And Order airs on Star World.

     

     

    Orbach had recently left Law and Order after 12 series to work on spin-off Law and Order: Trial by Jury playing the same character, Lennie Briscoe.

    NBC has announced that it will still introduce the new spin off. In a statement NBC Universal, chairman and CEO Bob Wright said, "We are saddened by the passing of the legendary Jerry Orbach, who had an unforgettable presence on stage and screen for more than forty years.

    "He was a man of extraordinary talents and personal grace. Suzanne and I and all of us at NBC Universal will miss him, as will his countless fans. Our hearts go out to Jerry?s wife, Elaine, and to his family and friends on their loss."

    Orbach appeared in the cult 1980?s dance film Dirty Dancing. He also voiced the cheery candelabra Lumiere in 1991?s Oscar-nominated Beauty and the Beast. He also starred in Woody Allen?s film Crimes and Misdemeanors.

    For his work in Law And Order Orbach was once nominated for an Emmy. He was also nominated seven times for the Screen Actors Guild awards as a part of the show?s ensemble.

     
  • Details of DTH notification

    The Union Cabinet opened up Ku-band direct to home television broadcasting today by issuing a notification (executive

  • Interconnect agreements will have to be registered with Trai

    Submitted by ITV Production on Jan 01, 2001

    MUMBAI: Transparency, a dirty word in the cable TV industry, is what the Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is pressing for. Broadcasters and multi-service operators (MSOs) will have to register with the Authority their interconnect agreements, declaring information that they were so protectively guarded about.

     

    The new Register of Interconnect Regulations for the Broadcasting and Cable Services, issued by Trai today (31 December), says broadcasters will have to file all their interconnect agreements with all the distributors - cable operators, MSOs, direct-to-home (DTH) and Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) operators. This regulation shall come into effect from the date of its publication in the official Gazette.

    "All broadcasters are required to register with the Authority interconnect agreements entered into by them as against the provisions in the existing regulations which require the filing of interconnect agreements to which not only the Broadcasters but also multi service operator are parties."

    The changed provision is in line with TRAI‘s recommendation stating that the agreements entered into by MSO and local cable operator (LCO) shall be registered with the authorised officer and agreements entered into between broadcasters, MSOs, DTH operators and HITS operator shall be filed with the Authority.

    Amendments and modifications to the agreements as well as new agreements pertaining to a particular quarter need to be filed within one month of the end of the respective quarter, according to the Trai.

    Interconnect agreements are to be filed in two parts - one containing the standard affiliation agreement /service contract and the other detailing in tabular form individual agreements. This will cover among other things contracting parties, service area and date of entering into contract.

    The "Register of Interconnect Agreement Regulation 1999 (2 of 1999), dated 1 September 1999, was amended on 11 February 2004 to include the Broadcasting and Cable services. According to this, the broadcasters including their authorised distribution agencies and MSOs are required to register with the Authority any interconnect agreement to which they were parties.

    But while processing cases of registration, the regulator found that broadcasters and MSOs were using a standard form of agreements for a particular type of arrangement entered into with a group of subscribers. Besides, there would be too many agreements if the MSOs and broadcasters were to submit agreements individually. Also, most of the MSOs and broadcasters wanted the information furnished (particularly on the number of subscribers, subscription rate, number and details of channels, and discounts schemes) to be kept confidential as they had commercial terms. This is why the Trai felt that the information furnished would not cater to the specific needs of Broadcasting & Cable Services.

    "It is necessary to formulate a separate Register of Interconnect Agreements Regulations for Broadcasting and Cable Services instead of amending the existing principal regulations of 1999," the Trai says.

     

     
  • Media stocks 2000: A roller coaster ride

     

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