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The government has planned a series of initiatives to shield the conventional media from the disruptions expected due to rapid digitisation in the sector. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said the government plans to remove the regulatory overhang in the radio industry and Television Rating Point (TRP) reforms. "The government is working to remove regulatory barriers wherever they exist," the minister said in an informal interaction with reporters here. Vaishnaw said the ministry is exploring ways to improve the television rating system to ensure fair revenue to television channels from government advertisements. "Television Rating Point (TRP) guidelines are being formulated. The first round of consultation is complete, feedback has been received, and a second consultation paper will be published soon," the minister said. The government is also considering increasing the advertisement rates for print and television media. Vaishnaw said the
Tata Play, formerly known as Tata Sky, has reported widening of consolidated loss to Rs 529.43 crore for FY25, as it competes with other DTH operators including DishTV, Airtel Digital TV, and DD Free Dish. The company had incurred a net loss of Rs 353.88 crore in FY24. Revenue from operations declined 5.15 per cent to Rs 4,082.5 crore in FY25. Reasons for the company's widening loss could not be immediately known. Total income, which includes other income, was also down 5.03 per cent to Rs 4,109.3 crore in last financial year, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. Tata Play's advertising promotional expenses were down 29.2 per cent to Rs 124.28 crore in FY25, as against Rs 175.54 crore a year before. Total expenses were 3 per cent lower at Rs 4,619.22 crore. However, the company reduced its net debt to Rs 3,445.60 crore in FY25 from Rs 4,010.21 crore a year ago. As of March 31, 2025, Tata Sons is the largest shareholder in the company with
Mobile phone industry body ICEA has opposed incorporation of a new standard for providing direct television service on handsets in absence of its acceptance in global standards. State-run Telecommunications Engineering Centre (TEC) had floated a consultation paper for television broadcasting directly on mobile handheld devices or Direct to Mobile Broadcasting technology. In the process, TEC has sought industry views on incorporating a video standard, ATSC 3.0 in the national standard. According to India Cellular and Electronics Association, whose members include Apple, Nokia, Lava, Foxconn, Dixon etc, India is aggressively pushing for mobile manufacturing in the country and all the major brands are producing and exporting phones from India. "The design and manufacture of mobile phones to incorporate ATSC 3.0 will adversely impact mobile manufacturing efforts. The inclusion of any technology which is not proven and globally acceptable goes against the market forces and will derail t
India's smart TV shipments are expected to decline 7 per cent in 2023 on account of factors such as inflation and other macroeconomic headwinds in the country, said a Counterpoint Research report on Tuesday. In the first half of 2023, the India Smart TV Shipments have already declined 5 per cent, the report said. However, the report also added that TV manufacturing is increasing in India with new investments by OEMs in creating manufacturing capacity. Newer OEMs are also entering the market and partnering with leading brands to make their TVs, it said. "We estimate that India's smart TV market will see a decline of 7 per cent YoY in 2023. The second half of the year will see an increase in smart TV shipments compared to the first half due to the festive season," said the latest report from Counterpoint's IoT Service. The report also added despite a slowdown, the TV market continued to witness premiumisation as demand for bigger screen size smart TVs, which are 55 inches and above,
Asserting that there is no statutory vacuum, the central government has told the Supreme Court there exists a robust mechanism for regulation of content of private television channels. In an affidavit filed before the top court, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said the Union of India has always protected journalistic freedom and encouraged the policy of promoting self-restraint and self-regulation in the field of journalism. The government said this was meant to ensure that media houses and journalists acknowledge their vital role and responsibilities towards the society and elevate their standards of practice though self-devised methods. This, it said, ensures there is minimum interference by government authorities in the functioning of media. It is only in cases involving national security that the government's statutory mechanism kicks in, the affidavit said. "There is no statutory vacuum, in so far as regulation of the broadcast of irresponsible reporting and
The Supreme Court on Monday found fault with the existing self-regulatory mechanism to monitor TV news channels and sought the Centre's response, saying it wants to make it "more effective". Making it clear that it does not want to impose any censorship on media, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud stressed on the need for having an effective self-regulatory mechanism and said some channels went "berserk" during the coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case. The top court asked the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), which is now known as News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) and has a self-regulatory mechanism, to take inputs from the chairperson of News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority, Justice (retd) A K Sikri, and its former chief Justice (retd) R V Raveendran, both former Supreme Court judges. It noted that the self-regulatory mechanism can be strengthened after taking note of all existing material, including the inputs of former ap