Business men & their wives...

Its yet another interesting topic in Neeya Naana this week.. its the debate between business men & their wives. So, its about the happiness/quality of personal life before starting business & now. Its true that once a person starts business he will have to dedicate lot of his time to bring it up & cant leave it once it is up ;) they tend to loose focus on their personal life but not really bcos all that they do is for their family. It would be a good talk show today.. lets see.

Tipu & Harini with Anu

Its playback singer couple in koffee with Anu this week.. yeah.. its Tipu & Harini in the show. We have seen Tipu appearing in Airtel Super Singer & Super singer junior.. and now it will be Tipu & his wife Harini sharing their memorable moments with Anu & definitely have koffe ;) From the promos it looks like they give the koffee award to A. R. Rahman.. I will post more after seeing the show..

Western Round..

Its time for some western style in Airtel Super Singer 2008! The fun in Super Singer show has grown multi-fold with excellent performances by the Top 07 contestants, celebrity guests and finally, the announcement of the spot selected.Innovative rounds like Emotions round, singing along with Playback Singer round, disco round, folk round, black and white round, classical round the contestants have got the greatest exposure in meeting some of the legendry singers from the music fraternity.

This week it will be Western round in Airtel Super Singer 2008 and the contestants will adapt to various styles and mannerism in their voice to suit the western style. The contestants - Ravi, Ajeesh, Vijay Narayanan, Prasanna, Renu, Ranjani, Raginishree have put their maximum effort for this round.
They will sing to some popular western numbers from the Tamil film on Monday & Tuesday. Later the contestants will be made to sing to some proper English numbers from the Western musical albums.

Voice therapist, Dr.Ananth Vaithyanathan has been giving voice training for the contestants. The training given by the voice therapist proves to be an excellent exercise for the contestants in improving their voice.
The contestants have sung to some popular tamil western songs like ‘Something Something’, ‘O Maama maama’, ‘Jillendru Oru Kaadhal’, ‘Unakkena naan’, ‘Popularly called as ‘Chandralekha Anu’, playback singer Anupama is the special guest for the Western round. She has sung some fast numbers like ‘Hulla Gulla’ from ‘Bombay’, ‘July maatham vandhal’ from ‘Pudhiya Mugam’.

Discussing about club dancers life

Today in Ippadikku Rose its going to be discussion on the club dancers' life & the problems that they face in their day to day life.. it would be really difficult for them for sure.. I still remember on the show where side actress in film industry & their difficulties in life.. it could be the similar or still worser experience. I noticed only today that the show is rescheduled.. Ippadiku Rose will be available on fridays at 7 PM itself with Chennai Superkings show had started..

Omakuchi Narasimhan passed away

Omakuchi Narasimhan, the famous comedy artist of myriad flicks has passed away today at his residence in Triplicane, Chennai.

He has portrayed some of the best comical sequences sharing screen space with Koundamani, Senthil, Vivek and Vadivelu. His role of a witty contender to Goundamani in Sarath Kumar’s ‘Suriyan’ is still remembered by one and all. In ‘Mudhalvan’, Omakuchi Narasimhan played the role of father-in-law to Vadivelu and he has also enacted beside Vivek in number of comedy tracks.

Omakuchi Narasimhan has worked in different languages including Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Marati. He has also acted in some English films. He has a long history in cinema with several versatile roles and guest appearances to his credit. Even though he’s no more, the uproarious scenes done by him will entertain us for the time to come and make us recall him. The actor aged 71 is survived by his wife Saraswathi, daughters Vijayalakshmi, Nirmala, Sangeetha and son Kameshwaran. The last ritual rites will be held on Saturday with people from filmdom paying their homage to the demised artist.

TRAI introduces service norms for DTH operators

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has amended its regulations for direct-to-home (DTH) operators and prevented them from arbitrarily changing the mix of channels in subscription packages for consumers. TRAI has amended the Direct to Home Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations 2007. It has introduced quality of service (QoS) guidelines that include no charges for repair and maintenance during the warranty period and a prior notice of 15 days before an operator can cut off a connection.

According to the new regulations, DTH operators cannot change the composition of subscription packages for the first six months of subscription or the period for which the package is valid, whichever is longer. If the DTH operator decides to drop a channel from any package, it should reduce the subscription fees for the consumer in proportion. The consumer can also be given the option of choosing another channel of the same genre and language in lieu of the dropped channel.

In addition, if a consumer requests the suspension of the DTH service for up to three months, the service provider has been asked to comply with the request. However, this will be applicable only on completion of the month in which the request is placed. DTH operators have been prohibited from charging any visiting, repair or maintenance fees on their equipment as long as it is under warranty. Earlier, TRAI had consulted the key stakeholders for their comments. Operators were against any regulation on the packaging of channels and said that they should have the freedom to frame their subscription packages and drop channels when required.

The Indian DTH system has grown rapidly, expanding from two DTH operators excluding Doordarshan in 2007 to five operators and 11 million subscribers. The regulator has introduced the new guidelines keeping in view the growing competition and rise in the number of subscribers.

Courtesy - Televisionpoint.com

Get ready Chennai kids

With Chennai Superkings junior auditions have been completed in Trichy & Coimbatore, it would be the turn for the Chennai kids to get ready for the challenge.. Its been scheduled to be held on March 14, 2009 at St. Bede's ground, besides All India Radio, Mylapore. First 1500 will get the entry for the competition. Earlier in Trichy & Coimbatore there were 1000 kids taken for the audition & 1 team selected among them. In Chennai it would 1500 kids with 3 teams to be selected. It will be more competitive here in Chennai.

One-on-One round..

Its one-on-one round in Amul's Ungalil yaar adutha Prabhudeva show.. This will go on for next week even & with the end of 2 weeks episodes there would be one elimination from the top 8 contestants of the show.. now there are 4 men & 4 women left in the show and wat this round specifies is, it would be competition amongst each other which was not there until now in the show... means this is the first time there would be ratings given to each individual and based on the rankings/ratings there would be elimination. Actress Pooja is in the show as the special judge following the path of many other actors.. lets see how this round goes..

Something about Laxman Sivaramakrishnan

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, India (IND)
Batting style - Right-hand bat (RHB)
Bowling type - Right-arm leg break and googly

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (born December 31, 1965, Madras), popularly known as Siva and LS, is a former Indian cricketer. He was a right arm leg-spinner. He is now a commentator.

Sivaramakrishnan's international career lasted barely one season. He first drew attention as a 12 year old claiming 7 for 2 in a Madras inter-schools championship game. At fifteen, he was the youngest member of the Under-19 India squad that toured Sri Lanka under Ravi Shastri in 1980. He started his first class career at the age of 16, Siva made an immediate impression. On his debut against Delhi cricket team in the quarter final of the 1981/82 Ranji Trophy, he took 7 for 28 in the second innings, all the wickets coming in a spell of eleven overs. On the weight of this performance, he was selected in the South Zone side to play the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy. After going wicketless in the first innings, he took five in the second, including the wicket of Sunil Gavaskar who padded up a to a googly.

Siva was immediately noticed and picked for the team to tour Pakistan in 1982/83 and later to the West Indies. He had played only three first class matches till then. Siva made his Test debut at St. John's at the age of 17 years and 118 days. He was the youngest Indian Test cricketer till that point of time. He went wicketless but scored 17 runs in the only innings that he played. In 1984, he toured Zimbabwe with the Young India side under Ravi Shastri . Later that year, he bowled himself back to the Indian side taking of 4 for 27 against the visiting English cricket team for the India Under-25.

Siva's second Test appearance was in the first Test against England at the Bombay. His first wicket was Graeme Fowler who was caught and bowled off a full toss. Many of Siva's wickets came off full-tosses and half volleys. He could make the ball dip sharply late in its flight which often made the dismissed batsman look silly. His 6 for 64 and 6 for 117 helped India to an eight wicket win. It was India's first win in a Test match since 1981. Siva took another six wickets in the next innings at Delhi. He took only five more wickets in the series.

In the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in the same season, he finished as the top wicket taker. It was a time when spinners, especially leg-spinners, were considered a luxury in one day cricket. A memorable dismissal was of Javed Miandad who was stumped off a leg break in the final. Siva did similarly well in the four nations tournament in Sharjah a few weeks later.

His next season saw a sudden drop of form. He played a Test in Sri Lanka and two in Australia with little success. That was the end of his Test career. He made an unexpected comeback to the 1987 World Cup team and played in two matches. The only wicket that he took was that of Zimbabwean John Traicos, caught at midwicket by Gavaskar off a full toss. Siva converted himself into a batsman and continued to play first class cricket on and off for another ten years. He contributed three centuries when Tamil Nadu won the Ranji trophy in 1987/88. There were frequent reports of a comeback to the national team, but they all proved to be rumours. In his last season he played for Baroda. He was one the finest Indian fielders of his time.

He is a regular TV commentator now.

Courtesy - Wikipedia

L. Sivaramakrishnan @ CSK Juniors auditions..

Former Indian cricketer L. Sivaramakrishnan has made his entry in Vijay TV and ofcourse for a cricket programme.. its for Chennai Superkings junior auditions that are taking place.. we have been seeing Sivaramakrishnan recent days quite frequently in many India matches as commentator & pitch reporter. Its good that Vijay TV brings in ppl like him into the show so that it will be informative for viewers & more useful for the kids to ask their doubts to him on ths spot ;)

Scary !!!

These days we could see lots of scary information in kutram.. nadanthathu enna.. few episodes I was literally afraid with the topic itself & for quite sometime almost many are very scary. sterdayeven there was episode about bathrakaaliamman on sivarathiri.. it was quite okay but few earlier I switched off the television even.. how do u guys feel about them ???

Recap ???

Its with the kana kaanum kaalangal last season team the serial had moved from last week.. I have not seen much of last season of the serial & dint had much info on it but I have heard that it was far too better than the current one. With that team coming up again in the show that is extended for 1 hour is quite disappointing for me. I am not watching the show anymore.. but the show contains many of the incidents as flashback but I dont think flashback rather a recap of whole years story ;)... I am waiting for the current team to come bac soon. But, there were symptoms of next season tem also.. so keep your eye on this always..

None Eliminated..

Carnatic round of Airtel Super Singer 2008 got over today.. it was very much expected result of the show.. none of them were eliminated from this round of the competition. Vijay, Prasanna, Ajeesh and Ranjani were in waiting list after their first performance in carnatic round. Today, they performed songs thats not featured in film. Prasanna was no so impressive, reason being his lack on knowledge in classical music. Ajeesh was quite okay, Ranjani gave a professional performance and she had not issue in moving to next round. Vijay was also quite good but not best. I think producers of this show wants Prasanna to be available for further rounds in the show & hence there was no elimination being done from this list of 7 singers.

TRAI sets new quality of service rules for DTH

DTH operators will not be able to charge any fee for visits or repair and maintenance work of the consumer premises equipment during the warranty period in cases where there have been outright purchases. The service providers also can't change the composition of their subscription packages during the first six months of enrolment or the validity period of a prepaid subscription package (whichever is longer), a Trai regulation on the quality of service (QoS) for DTH said today.

If there is any alteration, DTH operators will have to proportionately reduce the subscription charges for a package from which any channel is removed. They could also replace the channel with a channel of the same genre and language. DTH service providers have the option of selecting a channel of the same genre and language which has become unavailable on the DTH platform.

Subscribers will, however, have the option of choosing the package with reduced charges or the package with the replaced channel. In its latest amendment to the QoS regulations, Trai has asked the operators to give a prior notice of 15 days before changing the composition of any subscription package.

Further, DTH operators will have to entertain requests of DTH subscribers for suspension of services. But the suspension period should not exceed three months and not comprise part of a calendar month. In the wake of a rapidly growing DTH industry, Trai felt the need to amend the 2007 DTH Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations.

- Indian Television News.

Comedy genre registers TRP rise in Tamil space

Comedy programming has emerged as the new flavour of Tamil television. Two new comedy channels - Aditya and Siripoli were launched last month, dedicated exclusively to humour by Sun TV Network and Kalaignar Television Network respectively. A spokesperson from Sun TV Network says, "The aim is to provide laughter and fun to millions of viewers across the state. The Aditya programming includes comedy film clips, comedy songs, candid camera and stand up comedy shows."

Sujit Kumar, director, Social Media India, which has the marketing rights for Siripoli, says, "Tamil audience is excited about the humour quotient. We saw the potential for a full-fledged comedy channel and launched it."
In a bid to lure more viewers, most of the Tamil general entertainment channels (GEC) and music channels, have switched over to airing comedy clips from Tamil films between 9.30 pm and 11 pm during the last one year.

All those channels which replaced daily soaps with comedy clips have registered a remarkable rise in their TRPs. In the recent time, all the women-oriented daily soaps have shown a decline in viewership, according to the research data by TAM Media. In the Tamil Nadu market, what sells best is Tamil film comedy clips of Vadivel, Vivekh, Senthil and Goundamani, Nagesh and the golden oldies — N S Krishnan, Thangavelu, M R Radha and Thengai Sreenivasan. The comedy scenes of Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Vijay are also extremely popular among young viewers. Sun TV Network already has a comedy channel, called Comedy Thirai, which operates only for its DTH platform Sun Direct. Meanwhile, both Aditya and Siripoli are available across cable and leading direct-to-home (DTH) platforms.

Star Vijay, are you reading this ???

Content courtesy - Television point

3.43 mn viewers tune in for Oscar Awards

Call it the Slumdog Millionaire effect on the Indian TV audiences. A record 3.43 million viewers tuned in for the live broadcast of the show on Star Movies, which started at 7 am on 23 February, as two Indians, AR Rahman and Resul Pokutty, basked in glory. The repeat telecast at night drew in 2.89 million viewers, according to Tam data c&s 4+, the highest audience in Oscar history.

The uptick in Indian viewership compares favourably with previous years. Last year, only 0.84 million people tuned in to see it live in the morning. The repeat at night fared better with 2.11 million viewers. Of course this year with the suspense around Slumdog Millionaire, people were more keen to catch the event live. In 2007, 1.02 million viewers watched the show live. The repeat telecast was seen by 2.49 million viewers. Slumdog Millionaire also boosted the ratings of the Oscars this time, enjoying a TVR of 0.34 for the live event and 0.15 for the repeat telecast. Last year, it managed a TVR of 0.03 for the live broadcast and 0.04 for the repeat.

Meanwhile, according to Tam data c&s15+ SEC A,B, which remains the core TG for Star Movies that telecast the Oscars, the live event had captured the eyeballs of approximately 1.84 million viewers while the repeat telecast touched at least 1.5 million. As compared to this, about 0.84 million viewers watched the show live in 2008. The repeat telecast was seen by 1.06 million viewers. The show was watched live by 0.38 million viewers in 2007. The repeat telecast was viewed by 1.25 million viewers.

Advertisers lapped up the surge in ratings. IMX Media VP Sejal Shah expresses satisfaction at the RoI achieved by the client Diageo which advertised on the show. She, however, adds that the extra viewers that came in will not likely stick with the channel.

Courtesy - Indian Television

Will Prasanna be out ???

With the Carnatic round getting to final episode, its getting interesting to know who will be out of the contest... with the comments from the judges it looks like Prasanna is the worst performer until now.. and there will be Sudha Raghunathan getting into the show for tomorrow episode. I guess with the songs that had not featured in films, it would be even more difficult for contestants who dont have carnatic music knowledge. It was quite embarassing for Prasanna when Unnikrishnan asked him to repeat few sanghathi.. & when he replied he doesnt have knowledge about them. I felt it was a lil setback for him when compared to other contestants.. Lets see what happens..

Trichy Junior Team...

There were auditions at Trichy for the selection for Chennai Superkings Junior team last week.. the show is set to be telecasted for 2 days a week & in the first episode the under-14 Trichy district cricket team was helping the selectors to pick members for the team.. With 1000 participants flowing in, there were 67 shortlisted & there were further rounds conducted among them..

It was interesting to see bowlers given one stump to hit & given points for the area they bowl. I liked the introduction of the under-14 Trichy district team & when a spinner was introduced.. "ivan baala thooki thooki poduvaan, ellarum yemaanthu out agiduvaanga".. haha.. that was very funny. With all this set, next it would be Coimbatore to get their team & finally with Chennai with 3 teams. There would be round robin matches between them.. that would be very interesting to watch..

Whats happening with Carnatic Round ??

Carnatic round in Airtel Super Singer 2008 will be very difficult round for few contestants.. I mean ppl who dont have carnatic music background will feel very difficult in this round.. The show started with Ravi yesterday singing "oru naal poduma" & to be frank one day is not sufficient to hear his singing.. he was instantly spot selected for next round. Ranjani was the next with "kannodu kaanbathellam" and was quite good in her singing.. Vijay Narayan followed her with his "isayil thodanguthamma" but dint satisfy the judges to select him on the spot...

With 4 contestants left, today's episode started with Ajeesh, his "kadhal kathaiye thevan thanthadhu" was very impressive but not carnatically right ;) Next was Renu with her "kanda naal muthalai".. she was surprisingly spot selected for her performance.. for a moment I thought it was a bad decision.. Raghini Shree was the next n her "ellam inba mayam" got her spot selection. Final contestant of the episode was Prasanna & he disappointed everyone.. his "sangeetha jathimullai" was disastrous and his lack of musical knowledge was pointed out by judges. But, the comments for him was to start learning carnatic/hindustani music which would help in long run.

Its now left with Vijay, Ranjani, Prasanna & Ajeesh to fight for the next spot tomorrow when they will be performing carnatic songs that did not feature in films. looks to be quite interesting...

Something about Sudha Raghunathan..

Sudha Raghunathan's foundation in the world of music was laid at a very young age and it was her mother Smt. Choodamani who groomed her, before the onus to nurture her music fell upon Vidwan Sri. B.V. Lakshman. It seems she initially wanted to become a doctor, but the thought of performing dissections repelled her that she gave up the idea. “It wasn’t that I was a bad student. My dissections were always neat and my diagrams were perfect, but I always found myself fainting at the sight of blood!” She proved her prowess both in academics and in music and now, stood at a juncture where two roads diverged - there was ‘something’ that was needed to push her onto the road less traveled by.

In 1977, Sudha won a Central Government scholarship that gave her the opportunity to come under the wings of this master of a great parampara. From this point on; there was no turning back. Sudha had the golden opportunity to provide vocal support to MLV for about a decade. MLV - Padmavibushan Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. M.L. Vasanthakumari, hailed by many as a musical genius, a doyen of Carnatic music. From 1990, Sudha’s rise was phenomenal, and following her Guru’s demise, she has been considered as MLV’s vaarisu. Sudha is a top ranking artiste for Prasar Bharati, Chennai and performs at important events of All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Music had now taken centre stage but for Sudha it would not be at the cost of her academics. She holds an M.A. in Economics. Being such a vivacious, versatile and highly talented individual, it’s no surprise that Sudha won the award- Outstanding Student of Ethiraj College, for three years in succession- an achievement which for a long time remained unmatched. She was the Treasurer and later the Vice President of the Students Union and won the prestigious ‘Service to the College’ medal. Sudha is a top ranking artiste of the All India Radio and the Doordharshan, besides being the artiste in demand by leading recording companies like AVM, INRECO, VANI and AMUTHAM. With her crystal clear and almost divine voice, Sudha reached out to the discerning music lovers across the world, widening musical communications across the cultural borders. Today, Sudha Ragunathan is known for her beautiful vocal tapestries, soaring solos and unusual timbres. Her creative expression in Carnatic music has no par. And, her music is known to flow straight from the heart, dripping with classical divinity. Sudha also has the unique honor of rendering 'Vande Mataram' at the Central Hall of Parliament, New Delhi on 27th January 2000 to mark the completion of 50 years of the free Indian Republic.

Awards

* Padma Sri award in the field of Carnatic music (vocal) in 2004
* Bharat Jyothi in 1998 from The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New York
* Sangeetha Choodamani in 1997 from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai.
* Sangeetha Kala Sarathy from Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Chennai from His Holiness Shri Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchi Mutt.
* Sangeeta Saraswathi from The Mahasannidanam of Sringeri.
* Gana Kuyil from Valmiki Manram, Chennai.
* Isai Peroli and VST Award for excellence from Karthik Fine Arts, Chennai.
* Kalaimamani award conferred by the Tamilnadu Government (India) in 1993

Technical - What is Uplinking ?

Uplinking refers to the transmission of a signal via a satellite from one terrestrial location to another location and then ultimately the signal can be distributed to the end users.

What is the role of uplinking in the entertainment sector?
In broadcasting, broadcasters use uplinking to beam their programmes to their viewers across countries. Typically, they hire the services of a transponder or a transponder itself that will be used to beam the broadcaster’s programmes to the receiving country.

What is the Indian policy on uplinking?
Till some time ago, there were restrictions on uplinking from India. In July 2000, the government liberalised uplinking and allowed Indian companies to set up their own teleports to uplink directly from India. Television channels were also allowed uplinking facilities. The foreign equity holding of such companies should not exceed 49%.

Courtesy - Television Point

Genes or Environment..

It was Genes Vs Environment.. which makes the person intelligent.. this was the topic in Neeya Naana yesterday. For me it would be both, first the environment should be available for doing any activity & if the environment suits your interest we would be automatically shine in that industry. There were talks first on the studies & later went on to business/education. There were very good points made by both the team & I felt at sometimes the team supporting the genes were speechless.

We have been seeing lot of communities around us doing similar business for ages & tghey would even continue to do so.. its bcos they have got the environment right from their birth and they would stride to do similar king of work. the show had a doctor who said - All of us have potential genes & its the environment that helps us to choose... & finally its with genes you tend to achieve it.

Koffee with Radharavi & Chandrasekar.

It was veteran actors Radharavi & Chandrasekar to have koffee with Anu last week in the show. First it was Radharavi to enter the show & then followed with Chandrasekar. Looks like they are very good friends for long time & they have done some dramas even. In one instance Chandrasekar said that Radharavi had the influence to get into film thru his father's name but it was very difficult for Chandrasekar to get into the industry. But, we have seen both of them in lot of films & I wish to see them for lot more films.

The show had album segment followed by koffee taro, koffee award.. I liked when Radharavi said his experience in working with Super Star Rajinikanth movies & Chandrasekar working with moveis of Visu.. usually where Chandrasekar will be seen as a hard working/very good natured person in all of his movies ;)

Whats up with Black & White Round ??

Black & White round of Airtel Super Singer 2008 got over last week.. I had not posted on it last week.. I was lil busy and dint got time to post :( but now I will do that. This round of the show was quite good.. When the judges were introduced.. they were compared with legendry actors of black n white times.. Srinivas was stated as MGR, Unnikrishanan was stated as Nambiyar & Sujatha as Sarojadevi.. Unnikrishnan brought a gun (I think toy ;) ) & said whomever doesnt perform properly he wil shoot them..

The show started with Prasanna's "ketuukodi oru nimidam" & it was quite okay.. Renu was the next with "oru naal yaro ennai" followed by Ajeesh with his "Avalukenna azhagiya mugam" and he was even quite good. Then it was Vijay Narayan to follow with "Aval illamal naan illai" but not much impressive. Ranjani's "elanthapazham" was the next to follow. Ragini Shree sang "Thamizhuku amuthendru paer".. her performance was ROCKING according to judges.. Ravi was as always very good with his performance.

This episode had P. B. Sreenivas, Manorama for day 1 & Manorama alone for day 2 and finally with L. R. Ishwari for day 3. On final episode of this round, it was tough competition between Prasanna & Vijay Narayan. Prasanna got through to next round and left with Vijay alone. Since Rohit dint turn up for the show & had eliminated himself from the competition, judges had the liberty not to eliminate anyone from the show further for this round. So, Vijay was even selected to next round. So, it stands as 7 In, 1 Out.

Carnatic song round...

Its going to be carnatic song round in Airtel Super Singer 2008 this week..From the promotional videos it looks like the contestants will sing 2 songs, one fully carnatic & other from the film songs. The show would have Malini & Yugendran anchoring the episode, same 3 judges (Srinivas, Unni & Sujatha). The special guest for the show is Sudha Raghunathan...thats really good for this round :).. also looks like Prasanna who doesnt have come through musical trainings or courses given his best on the round & lets see how it goes..

TRAI mulls DTH prices regulation

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought the opinion from various stakeholders, including players and citizen organisations, on whether direct-to-home (DTH) prices should be regulated like the cable and satellite (C&S) industry. The regulator had earlier specified a cap on C&S subscription charges.

Viewers in the Conditional Access System (CAS) areas pay a fixed amount per channel for receiving digital TV signals through a set-top box. The rent of the set-top box is also capped. The regulator has sought the industry's viewpoint on whether a similar cap should be imposed on DTH companies.

In a consultation paper, the regulator has also asked for viewpoints on whether the DTH subscribers should get to choose among individual channels, rather than being offered a bouquet of channels. Another issue is imposition of a ceiling on the carriage fee the broadcasters pay to the DTH operators.

TRAI pointed out that there are no laws currently to govern additional interactive services on the DTH platform, such as movie-on-demand and gaming. It said if these services are recognised as another TV channel, then DTH companies would be contravening regulations.

Therefore, TRAI has sought opinions on how these services should be classified and regulated so that the DTH service providers are not in violation of laws while taking care of subscribers' interest.

Courtesy - Television Point