The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has released a list of multi-system operators (MSOs) as per the status of their compliance to TRAI's interconnection regulation.

The ministry has advised broadcasters to enter into fresh interconnection or renewal agreements with only those MSOs who have complied with the above.

The interconnection regulation requires TV channel distributors to audit its subscriber management system, conditional access system and other related systems by an auditor in order to verify their monthly subscription reports.

As per a statement issued by MIB, "Many MSOs have failed to get registered on Digial India MIB portal". The MSOs have also not submitted the other required details, it says.

Ahead of IPL 2023, Multi-System Operators DEN Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom and GTPL Hathway have reportedly informed their subscribers that they will be removing Star channels, including Star Sports from their basic packages from April 1.

It has to be noted that Star owns the TV rights to IPL and Reliance Industries’ Viacom18 has the digital rights. RIL also happens to own DEN and Hathway and has a 28% stake in GTPL Hathway.

The development is of significance since Viacom18 will stream the upcoming season of IPL on JioCinema for free.

According to Elara Capital's Karan Taurani, the removal of Star channels from the base package ahead of the IPL season may have a neutral impact in the worst case scenario. The move can also benefit Star if subscribers who want the television experience opts for a la carte or individual channels to watch IPL.

He also noted that post NTO implementation, only 8% of the customers moved to a la carte as India consumers are value centric. "92% of the consumers will still consume bouquet-based offering."

The move to remove Star channels from the basic packages may not have any big negative impact, says Taurani. "This is one genre which has stood out vs others which have reported a decline (especially Hindi GEC and movies) in the post covid era."

Prativa Mohapatra, Vice President & Managing Director at Adobe India, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (enba) jury panel. Mohapatra’s career spans over 25 years in the technology industry. She currently leads Adobe’s India business across Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud, reporting to Simon Tate, Adobe’s president for Asia Pacific (APAC).

Before Adobe, Mohapatra was with tech firm IBM, where she served as Vice President of Digital Sales for APAC. Prior to that, she led sales for IBM India and South Asia where she was responsible for driving revenue for the company’s portfolio of solutions and services. She started her career at the professional services firm PwC India and has a wide range of experience, including leading business transformations, scaling teams to meet hyper growth and evangelising Artificial Intelligence technology with customers.

enba was formulated by the exchange4media group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards honour industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition. The grand jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

WION, World Is One will launch on the UK’s leading platform – Freeview via IP and using the most innovative FAST SSAI on 22^nd March 2023. The channel expanded its global footprint and increased its reach by 15 mn Freeview Connect households in the UK. Viewers in the UK can tune in to the channel on Channel #287 via Freeview, starting March 22, 2023.

Emphasising the global partnership and outreach, Madhu Soman, Chief Business Officer of WION, said, “WION has always been open to exploring new platforms. Taking into consideration the fact that Freeview replaced the old analogue TV service accessibility to a widespread audience in the UK, it is a great opportunity for the channel to present global stories from an Indian perspective. This global move also encourages us to further boost timely and fast-paced news reportage with gripping visuals and strong content, backed by research and investigation.”

Anindya Khare, Marketing Head of Zee Media Corporation Limited, further added, “The United Kingdom television viewing market is expected to flourish because of some major factors like emerging economies' rapid economic development, demand for smart televisions, the growing over-the-top platform market etc. We strongly believe that the UK market has a lot of potential for the channel to introduce new customised programme packaging to the audience, engage stakeholders through strategised communication and build on a high preference ratio.

Through a strategised approach, we also look forward to being consistent in launching interesting programmes on WION in markets like US, India, UK etc. This allows our glocalised viewers and readers to understand the impact of major global events from a uniquely Indian perspective.”

“We are thrilled to launch WION via Freeview Connect and expand Freeview news offering with the leading news channel from India and also being able to monetise it using the Synapse FAST SSAI”, said Tanya Kronfli, Managing Director of Global Distribution Services, specialising on delivery and digital Monetisation of TV content via Freeview Connect.

Gauranga Das Prabhu, an author, spiritual leader & inspirational speaker, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (enba) jury panel. Das, a graduate from IIT Bombay, is a member of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission. He is actively involved in enhancing leadership effectiveness and governance of temples and communities globally.

Owing to his expertise in presenting vedic knowledge in a contemporary and enticing way, he has been a part of TEDx events and corporates like Intel, Salesforce, Google etc. He is the director of ISKCON’s Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), founded by Radhanath Swami Maharaj. The GEV has won several awards, including United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Award in 2017.

He has enabled GEV’s accreditation with multiple United Nation bodies like UNEP, UNCCD, ECOSOC and CBD. On behalf of ISKCON, he is UNEP’s Faith for Earth Counsellor.

enba was formulated by the exchange4media group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards recognise and honour industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition. The jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

In the last editions, the enba jury was led by Harivansh Narayan Singh – Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr Kiran Karnik – Former President – Nasscom, Dr Nasim Zaidi - Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, SY Quraishi – Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, N Ram – Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Former Editor–in-chief The Hindu and Group Newspapers, Sanjay Gupta – Managing Director – Star India.

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has mopped up Rs 1069.60 crore from the e-auction of 65 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish.  The broadcaster's total revenue has seen a 66 per cent jump compared to last year's auction.

On the last day of the auction on Monday, seven slots were sold, with the highest bid of Rs 18.7 crore coming from Bflix. Other channels that secured the slots on the last day were Enterr10 (Rs 17 crore), GNT (Rs 17.9 crore), India TV (Rs 18.65 crore), Bharat 24 (Rs 17.15 crore), ABZY Cool (Rs 16 crore) and Sun Marathi (Rs 18.5 crore). 

This is the first time in the history of DD Free Dish auction that the process went on for eight days. The auction was conducted over the weekend as well. 

The auction saw participation of broadcasters from different genres. However, the big four networks' Hindi general entertainment channels Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Sony Pal and Colors Rishtey stayed out of the auction.

"The revenue could have gone up if these four channels had participated," said industry sources.

The average price per slot this year stands at Rs 16.5 crore. 

In the Bucket A+ category, which comprises Hindi GECs, 11 slots were sold for Rs 189.65 crore.

Last year, there were six slots in this category which were sold for Rs 91.1 crore. The highest bid in this genre was made by The Q India for Rs 17.9 crore. Other channels that bagged the slots were Dangal, Shemaroo TV, Manoranjan Grand, Manoranjan TV, Big Magic, Shemaroo Umang, Nazara, Dangal 2, Ishara TV and Shemaroo Ashirwad. The base price for this category last year was Rs 15 crore. 

Under the Bucket A (movie channels), 19 slots were sold for Rs 329.55 crore this year. The highest bid in this category was made by Zee Anmol Cinema for Rs 24.05 crore. In fact this was the highest price ever paid for a movie channel slot in the history of DD Free Dish auction. Last year, 16 slots were sold for a total of Rs 166.55 crore in this category.

Under Bucket B, which comprises (music Hindi channels, sports, and all channels of Bhojpuri languages), 12 channels were sold for Rs 206.85 crore. The highest bid in this category was by Zee Biskope for Rs 22.1 crore. The lowest bid in the music genre was made by 9XM for Rs 15.2 crore. 

Sources said, “The best bid came from 9XM, a music channel. They strategically waited for their turn and took a slot at Rs 15.2 crore, which is well below the average price paid for the other six music channel slots.”

Under Bucket C (Hindi news channels), 12 channels secured slots for Rs 199.1 crore in this year's auction. News18 India paid the highest price for the first slot at Rs 19.85 crore. Other channels that secured slots were Aaj Tak, TV9 Bharatvarsh, R Bharat, Zee News, ABP News, NDTV India, News Nation, Times Now Navbharat, Bharat 24, India TV and GNT.

In the 2022 e-auction, the pubcaster earned Rs 120 crore from the sale of 14 slots in this category.

Under Bucket D (all other remaining genre of Hindi, devotional channels, all genre of marathi, Punjabi and Urdu channels and news english channels), 10 slots sold out for Rs 144.45 crore. At Rs 18.5 crore, the top bidder in this category was Sun Marathi. Under Bucket R1 only one channel, Popular TV, bagged the slot for Rs 3.05 crore.

Compared to 2023, in 2022, the pubcaster earned Rs 645 crore from the allotment of 59 MPEG-2 slots. 

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has mopped up Rs 1073 crore from the e-auction of 65 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish.  

On the last day of the auction on Monday, seven slots were sold, with the highest bid of Rs 18.7 crore coming from Bflix. Other channels that secured the slots on the last day were Enterr10 (Rs 17 crore), GNT (Rs 17.9 crore), India TV (Rs 18.65 crore), Bharat 24 (Rs 17.15 crore), ABZY Cool (Rs 16 crore) and Sun Marathi (Rs 18.5 crore). 

This is the first time in the history of DD Free Dish auction that the process went on for eight days. In fact, the auction was conducted over the weekend as well.