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» What’s Coming In 2012: The Content Industry Strikes Back
» What’s Coming In 2012: Internet TVs Out-Box The Boxes
» What’s Coming In 2012: Book Publishing
» What’s Coming In 2012: A New Era For Apple
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Walter Isaacson, Jobs’s official biographer, says Jobs was livid in January 2010 when Taiwan’s HTC introduced an Android phone with many of the popular features of the iPhone. He launched into an expletive-laden tirade in which he said Google’s actions amounted to “grand theft”.
By that time Eric Schmidt, then Google’s chief executive and still its chairman, had left the board of Apple where he had served between 2006 and 2009 – crucially, covering the period during which the first iPhone was launched and which enabled Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to negotiate a deal to provide search, maps and its YouTube video service on the phones.
“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40bn in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs told Isaacson. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
In a subsequent meeting with Schmidt at a cafe in Palo Alto, California, Jobs told Schmidt he wasn’t interested in settling the lawsuit, the book says. “I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5bn, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want.” The meeting, Isaacson wrote, resolved nothing.
The meeting may be that which occurred at the end of March 2010, when the duo were spotted having coffees outside a cafe in Palo Alto and which was discussed widely on the web. Jobs and Schmidt appeared to be on friendly terms – though the content of the discussion was unclear. At the time Jobs was heard to say, “They’re going to see it all eventually so who cares how they get it” but then added “Let’s go discuss this somewhere more private”.
By that time Apple had begun a lawsuit against HTC, alleging that it infringed 20 patents belonging to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). In the press release, Jobs was quoted as saying: “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
The lawsuit has still not been resolved: HTC has counter-sued Apple, and the tit-for-tat battle has continued.
Apple’s patent claims against HTC would be applicable against all Android smartphone handsets if they succeed, suggests Florian Müller, an independent consultant on patents. In July, the US International Trade Commission ruled that HTC had infringed one of Apple’s patents and that this could mean that a US import ban might be applicable. HTC has appealed against the decision.
The decision rests on a key patent filed by Apple in 1996, which is valid until 2016. Known as “647”, it turns phone numbers or addresses into clickable links.
After Google launched its Android operating system at the end of 2008, and the first phones appeared in 2009, the rivalry between the two companies became more and more intense – especially after Google began to tailor Android to use more of the ideas introduced by the iPhone, such as touch-screen control to control a range of icons and the “pinch-to shrink” system for resizing images.
Isaacson’s biography of Jobs is being officially published on Monday.
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]]>Google has said that after Bangalore, it plans to map all major cities in India – the 27th country in which the firm plans to launch Street View. As well as cars, Google had been using some tricycles with Street View’s chunky camera equipment attached.
Local police were concerned that Bangalore has several military institutions, and a statement given by Google to the AFP confirmed that Google had suspended the operation following a letter from Bangalore’s police commissioner.
Street View concerns in developing countries are significantly different to obstacles Google has hit recently in Germany and Switzerland, which were about privacy and data retention. Street View Brazil reportedly snapped dead bodies, while in India there are also sensitivities in the wake of the Mumbai attacks and from several bombings in Bangalore itself.
]]>If the deal is approved by federal regulators—which could take up to a year—AT&T will become the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., leapfrogging over rival Verizon by adding T-Mobile’s 33.7 million subscribers to reach nearly 130 million wireless subscribers. Verizon currently has about 101 million subscribers.
—AT&T’s next steps: It’s been an open secret in the wireless world for a few months now that T-Mobile’s parent company was considering ways to offload the carrier, but most expected T-Mobile to eventually wind up with Sprint despite network integration issues that could have been messy. By hooking up with AT&T, T-Mobile now plans to pursue the LTE path to the so-called 4G wireless networking era, the companies said in the press release.
In addition to the 33.7 million customers, AT&T will also gain access to T-Mobile’s network of cell sites that could help AT&T improve the coverage of its notoriously flaky network. It will have to do the work to eventually upgrade those sites to the LTE standard, as T-Mobile had declared plans as recently as January’s Consumer Electronics Show to pursue a slightly different path to faster wireless speeds based on the HSPA+ technology. But those plans will now be scrapped, it would appear.
AT&T and T-Mobile’s existing networks are both based on the same standards, and both are in the midst of deploying HSPA+ networks. But AT&T also plans to start rolling out LTE-based networks in the middle of this year, which is also the same standard that Verizon and many other wireless carriers around the world are heading toward. If the world coalesced around LTE, and T-Mobile was unable to build such a network on its own, it might have faced trouble down the road in getting access to the latest and greatest smartphones that would probably debut for the largest volume network technology.
—Solving the spectrum problem: Beyond the alphabet soup that characterizes the wireless industry, however, both companies were also facing potential problems with owning enough wireless spectrum to carry their data traffic over the airwaves. In its press release, AT&T said that based on current growth rates, it was going to exhaust the capacity of its existing spectrum before federal regulators opened up new spectrum to carriers. Buying T-Mobile gives it a way to expand those spectrum holdings in the near-term.
AT&T is clearly already worried about the prospect of having to shepherd the deal through government roadblocks, devoting a sizable portion of its press release to addressing concerns about competitiveness in the wireless market and arguing that the deal will allow the company to bring fast wireless data connections to 95 percent of America. It even cited the plan to merge the two companies as important to achieve President Obama’s recent talk about narrowing the digital divide, which likely had eyes rolling from coast to coast on a Sunday afternoon.
Make no mistake: the ripple effects of this deal will be felt in nearly every corner of the mobile market, should it come to pass. While AT&T claimed in its press release that the wireless market has lots of providers from consumers to chose among, in reality, the best phones and best networks only arrive at the current four major carriers, although Metro PCS and U.S. Cellular are becoming much stronger. With that number now being reduced, competition for the latest and greatest phones—and the seemingly requisite two-year contracts that come along with carrier subsidies—seems likely to increase.
—Who’s the biggest loser? Perhaps the biggest loser from the deal will be Sprint, which now faces an uncertain future as its proposed path to 4G networking—WiMax—is extremely rocky. Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR), one of Sprint’s major partners on WiMax technology, is in turmoil after several years of losses and a recent shakeup of its executive roster.
With Sprint and Verizon sharing a common 3G network technology, speculation is now likely to turn toward talks of a merger between those two companies. While that would likely meet with as much regulatory resistance as AT&T and T-Mobile’s proposal, it would give Sprint a path out of its 4G conundrum and allow Verizon to add Sprint’s 50 million customers to once again become the nation’s largest carrier.
Much attention will also be paid to how the deal affects prices for wireless service. T-Mobile had been known for a low-price approach to wireless service combined with strong customer support, two areas in which AT&T is not exactly considered a leader. AT&T tried to get out ahead of this potential issue as well in its release, noting that smaller carriers are competing on price and that even with several large mergers over the last decade of the wireless industry, prices declined 50 percent. As they say, however, past performance doesn’t necessarily indicate future results, and AT&T will have to find a way to keep T-Mobile’s cost-conscious customers on board to avoid losing customers to other carriers.
The deal’s announcement comes just days before the CEOs of all four wireless carriers in the U.S.—Ralph De La Vega of AT&T, Dan Hesse of Sprint, Philip Humm of T-Mobile USA, and Dan Mead of Verizon—are scheduled to participate in a panel at the CTIA Wireless conference in Orlando. Tuesday’s discussion (which we will cover) is likely to be much more interesting now given the proposed merger.
Update: Ina Fried reports that T-Mobile has canceled, citing extenuating work demands.”
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]]>But there are plenty of reasons why the FTC should approve the deal. Mobile advertising is in its infancy, and was barely considered a vibrant market until Google (NSDQ: GOOG) agreed to buy AdMob. Apple’s subsequent acquisition of Quattro Wireless helped generate additional momentum. In other words, the merger is a chance to make mobile advertising exciting after years of the wait-and-see game.
]]>But there are plenty of reasons why the FTC should approve the deal. Mobile advertising is in its infancy, and was barely considered a vibrant market until Google (NSDQ: GOOG) agreed to buy AdMob. Apple’s subsequent acquisition of Quattro Wireless helped generate additional momentum. In other words, the merger is a chance to make mobile advertising exciting after years of the wait-and-see game.
It has been exactly four years since I wrote my first substantial story about the mobile-advertising industry. At the time, I was at The Seattle Times, and a mobile banner ad was almost unheard of. Early experiments were only starting to crop up. It was that same year that AdMob was founded.
In the following years, AdMob became the largest mobile ad network. While that sounds impressive, it has been estimated that at the time of its acquisition, AdMob was registering a mere $25 million in annual revenues on a global basis and was unprofitable. Surely, Quattro Wireless was nipping at its heals when Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) bought them, and yet another independent mobile ad network, Millennial Media, couldn’t be too far behind. So there’s no question of a competitive landscape.
Despite Google and Apple throwing millions of dollars at the market, this year eMarketer estimates that mobile advertising revenues in the U.S. will not even come close to breaking $1 billion. Try $593 million. For this market to finally take off, it needs leadership, and enough scale to spur confidence in the advertising and publishing industries.
Apple is assuming that role now. Left completely alone by regulators, it was able to buy a mobile ad network, integrate it, and launch a product before Google even knew the fate of its purchase. Apple is trying to establish minimum annual ad buys on its iAd network of $1 million. (And, as we wrote earlier today, marketers could wind up spending much more than $1 million a year with iAd when it’s all said and done.)
If Apple goes unchecked, mobile ad serving could easily turn into a one-sided story. If Apple and Google are able to go head-to-head, maybe the competition of the two will motivate others, like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) or even the wireless carriers, to take action. (There’s still plenty of other scrappy start-ups ad networks available for purchase.)
AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher says they saw AdMob’s founder and CEO Omar Hamoui on a recent flight from Washington, D.C., where he was undoubtedly meeting with government officials. In her words, Hamoui was looking “a lot more haggard than usual.”
But even if the FTC shoots down the deal, you probably don’t need to shed any tears for Hamoui. BusinessWeek reported that Google CEO Eric Schmidt was so intent on buying AdMob he agreed to pay a “kill fee” of around $700 million if the deal failed to close for some reason, including antitrust concerns. That’s just $50 million shy of Google’s full offer.
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HITS will likely provide an impetus to digitization through market-based incentives—a cheaper service that provides better picture quality driving adoption—as opposed to policy-mandated digitization, or Conditional Access System. Over a period of time and if it attracts a large number of consumers, HITS might also have a cooling effect on carriage fees, as the wide digital bandwidth of the service will allow greater channel capacity.
The policy guidelines issued today lays down a framework for HITS operators, the equivalent of Multi-System Operators in the cable ecosystem. The service will be allowed in both C-band and Ku band. ‘C’ band is used by traditional cable, while Ku band is used by DTH. Ku band has the disadvantage that it’s not suited for a tropical country like India with high rainfall—signal attenuation aften results in poor service during rains for DTH customers.
Total direct and indirect foreign investment upto 74% will be allowed in HITS companies. However, prior approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board will be required if foreign direct investment in the company exceeds 49%.
Existing permission holders—two so far, including Essel Group—will have to migrate to the new policy regime within three months.
]]>1) India is underadvertised. The country’s ad spends to GDP ratio is 0.55, while the global average is 0.86 and in the US, it’s 1.18 (Source: FICCI-KPMG media report 2009). WPP Group’s country manager Ranjan Kapur attributed such low ad spends to the domination of the services sector in India’s GDP. “About 53% of the GDP is now from the services sector, which is notorious for not needing advertising,” Kapur said, adding, “the good news is that manufacturing is growing”.
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1) India is underadvertised. The country’s ad spends to GDP ratio is 0.55, while the global average is 0.86 and in the US, it’s 1.18 (Source: FICCI-KPMG media report 2009). WPP Group’s country manager Ranjan Kapur attributed such low ad spends to the domination of the services sector in India’s GDP. “About 53% of the GDP is now from the services sector, which is notorious for not needing advertising,” Kapur said, adding, “the good news is that manufacturing is growing”.
2) The biggest challenge before the industry is to monetize the content it produces. In television, only a small fraction of pay TV revenues come back to content creators and broadcasters due to underdeclaration by cable operators and other leakages. “There are inequities in splitting these revenues,” Kapur said. Star India CEO Uday Shankar emphasised the point that we can see better content on television only if there can be a better way of monetizing it. Shankar also said that in India the TV and print revolutions are still ahead of us.
Pearson (NYSE: PSO) Plc’s deputy chairman in India, Khozem Merchant, spoke about the success his firm has had in monetizing its content on FT.com, Financial Times’ online edition. “In the age of Twitter and crowdsourcing, people want a credible, authoritative news source,” he said. “Invest in quality content, make it exclusive” was his prescription for monetizing content online.
3) Business Standard editor Sanjaya Baru argued that media in India has gone through a quantitative growth but the qualitative growth is yet to happen. He said he expects a phase of consolidation now and argued that this must be allowed to happen “before we are allowed to be swept off our feet” by deep-pocketed foreign companies that now see India as a lucrative media market. Baru said he was not a protectionist but that made little difference to other panelists who thought a consolidation need not be a “nationalist consolidation”.
4) Fossil media Vs new media: The media industry in India is “at a special spot today that will not last forever,” said Dave Senay, CEO of Fleishman-Hillard Inc. Due to its demographic underpinnings, “the traditional media bubble will continue for sometime,” Senay said. Digital allows companies to market down to a unit of one. India should use this time “to learn from the mistakes of others to prepare the digital platforms of the future,” he said.
When panel chair and The Indian Express editor-in-chief, Shekhar Gupta asked Business Standard‘s Sanjaya Baru is they could be called fossil media, the latter protested. “Print is not fossil in India. It is going to grow. I’m an optimist for print,” Baru said.
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“We want to allow FM players to be able to broadcast some news, weather and sports updates and other relevant information. News will have to be sourced from Akashavani,” the minister said. The ministry is also proposing a revenue share between music royalty owners and FM stations, she added. Currently, some royalty owners insist on a flat fee irrespective of the size of the station. “We want a system where a small station can also afford the music by paying a percentage of its revenues,” the minister said.
At the Summit, which saw a spirited discussion on the future of the media and entertainment sector and the desired policy paradigm, Soni said the country needed a more robust ratings system. “Ratings have a direct impact on programming. It goads on production houses to create more competitive content, and there’s a lot of concern about how some lines are being crossed as a result. We get a lot of complaints about some of the programming on our channels and we need a system where the tastes of the whole country, including the rural areas, are being captured,” the minister said. She repeatedly asserted that the government was not looking at regulating content and said she was against any system of licensing or greater control by the state.
The unreal proliferation of channels in the country—over 500 at last count—came up for discussion at the Summit. While the simple math that the annual television revenues of $2 billion cannot support so many channels was pointed out, Soni said on the sidelines that there was concern over the profile of people who were launching these channels. “People are hired and then they lose their jobs overnight. They feel cheated and they come to me. What do I do?” she said, adding that the ministry is considering a more rigorous vetting process before granting licenses to TV channels. “It’s not a licensing process. We just want to ask more questions. Who is the CEO? Does he have any credentials in the media business?” she added.
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“Though the Act of 1867 has been amended on earlier occasions also, there is a need to drastically amend it, and I admit it should have been done some time ago, as its provisions currently are inadequate,” PTI quoted the minister as saying. The changes are apparently meant to prevent publications of a ‘frivolous’ and ‘non-serious’ nature from coming up.
Currently, the changes are being vetted by the law ministry, the minister said. This suggests that the process is at a fairly advanced stage. The new act will be known as the Press and Registration of Publications Act 2009. Parts dealing with the registration of books are not being changed.
Provisions for FDI, facsimile editions of foreign publications as well as Indian editions of foreign publications will be made in the new Act. A seperate definition for magazines and related provisions for them, will be made under the new Act. In the current form, the Act does not differentiate between a newspaper and a magazine.
Soni also said the ministry is being urged to increase the foreign investment cap in print media to 49% but there is a section within the industry that is opposed to it.
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The country’s intelligence agencies have been asking the government to ban or regulate VoIP services such as Skype as conversations over these networks cannot be monitored and this is perceived to be a security threat. The story says the government has decided to ban the service in India, but hasn’t decided on a date for it.
]]>The country’s intelligence agencies have been asking the government to ban or regulate VoIP services such as Skype as conversations over these networks cannot be monitored and this is perceived to be a security threat. The story says the government has decided to ban the service in India, but hasn’t decided on a date for it.
The situation is reminiscent of a long standoff last year between the government and Research In Motion, Inc., the Canadian maker of the Blackberry smartphones. The government http://www.rediff.com///money/2008/may/30black.htm” title=“had demanded access”>had demanded access to the encryption key to be able to intercept emails sent between two Blackberry phones.
]]>“The business was causing some discomfort within the company and the board, and hence it was discontinued,” our source said.
]]>“The business was causing some discomfort within the company and the board, and hence it was discontinued,” our source said.
The firm will continue to do barter deals, a practice that has become common among media companies, under which ad inventory is traded for products and services such as real estate, cars, airline tickets, etc.
Several media companies, including HT Media Ltd, Jagran Prakashan Ltd and Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd did ads-for-equities deals in the market boom days and holds significant equity portfolios in public and privately held companies. The practice has been a lightning rod for criticism due to the inherent conflict of interest when a media outlet is covering a company in which the publisher/broadcaster has a financial interest in. Media firms have usually defended the practice, saying there is a chinese wall between the editorial and business sides and positive editorial coverage is not promised when such deals are struck.
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The offending story—Two ITBP Jawans Injured In China Border Firing—ran on the front page of India’s most read English newspaper on 15 September. The report, by Nirmalya Banerjee in Kolkata and Prabin Kalita in Guwahati, said this was the “first incident where bullets have been fired since the landmark 1996 Sino-India agreement in which both sides pledged not to open fire, no matter what the provocation…,” and attributed the information to “a highly placed intelligence source”. “ITBP officials at its headquarters in New Delhi declined to confirm the incident,” the story said.
]]>The offending story—Two ITBP Jawans Injured In China Border Firing—ran on the front page of India’s most read English newspaper on 15 September. The report, by Nirmalya Banerjee in Kolkata and Prabin Kalita in Guwahati, said this was the “first incident where bullets have been fired since the landmark 1996 Sino-India agreement in which both sides pledged not to open fire, no matter what the provocation…,” and attributed the information to “a highly placed intelligence source”. “ITBP officials at its headquarters in New Delhi declined to confirm the incident,” the story said.
A ministry of external affairs spokesperson termed the report “factually incorrect” the same day. TOI carried a clarification the next day on page 17, as part of a package of related stories.
The TOI story was among a stream of reports and analyses in newspapers and television channels over the past month or so, about “Chinese incursions” into Indian territory. “If you’ve tuned into one of the more hawkish Indian television channels or are reading the views of the many experts on India and China, it might seem like the two countries are at each other’s throats,” the BBC noted.
During the past week, the Prime Minister, the national security adviser as well as the highest-ranking general of the Indian Army have made statements to the effect that the reports are exaggerated and there is no unusual activity on the Indo-China border.
It’s unclear what charges, if at all, the government will press against the reporters. According to PTI, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police against the reporters. A spokesperson at the home ministry was unavailable for comment as were other government officials, due to a public holiday.
“We do not give comments on news items as a practice and I have nothing to say on this issue,” wrote Amit Rai, director, legal, at Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, publisher of The Times of India, responding to an email asking for comment about the story that appeared in The Hindu. A spokesperson for BCCL did not respond to an email requesting comment.
If the matter does go to court, it might reach a stage where a court could ask the reporters to reveal their sources. “If there is a criminal charge against you, you have to defend yourself. You can refuse to reveal your sources, but then you should be prepared to go to jail,” said Prashant Bhushan, a well-known public interest lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.
Bhushan said it was high time the media was held accountable for irresponsible reporting that buys into plants by motivated sections of the society and affects national security or disrupts communal harmony. “A lot of what has been passing for journalism in this country amounts to criminal offense,” Bhushan said. “If an intelligence agency has planted this story, let the source be revealed,” he added.
B.G. Verghese, a former editor and a member of the press council, said that it would be foolish for the state to press charges. He added that while a lot of reporting on the border situation has been equally foolish and irresponsible, there were other ways to deal with the situation. “This is a political problem. It’s not wise to seek a legal solution to a political problem.” He suggested that peer pressure works well to restrain media and the government could also complain to professional associations such as the Editors’ Guild or the Press Council of India.
“My suggestion is that a reporter can be asked to reveal to a judge, privately in his chambers and not in the courtroom, what the source is. If the judge is convinced that it is a reliable source and the reporter indeed got the story from there, he or she can then decide to let the matter rest,” Verghese said.
]]>The defendants in the case are Star Plus and producer Sidhartha Basu of Big Synergy.
Opposition MPs have demanded a discussion on the show in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament.
]]>The defendants in the case are Star Plus and producer Sidhartha Basu of Big Synergy.
Opposition MPs have demanded a discussion on the show in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament.
]]>She would not like to impose a content regulator on the industry, but welcomed the delegates to tell the ministry if they would like an independent quasi-government regulator or they would rather evolve self censorship mechanisms and agencies. Industry delegates have committed to evolve a consensus and keep the ministry informed on their preferences regarding the matter.
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She would not like to impose a content regulator on the industry, but welcomed the delegates to tell the ministry if they would like an independent quasi-government regulator or they would rather evolve self censorship mechanisms and agencies. Industry delegates have committed to evolve a consensus and keep the ministry informed on their preferences regarding the matter.
Industry delegates were pleased by the minister’s transparent approach to the problem, our source said, adding that she seemed to be under no political pressure to regulate content.
Content regulation has become a hot topic of discussion after some MPs demanded a discussion on reality shows saying they were crossing the boundaries of acceptable standards. The government has agreed to a discussion on a future date. Subsequent to the discussion, the I&B ministry had issued a show cause notice to Star Plus channel over their show Sach Ka Saamna.
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This is no laughing matter even if you are a foreign national. The country will seek Interpol assistance in deporting foreign offenders, according to the IANS story.
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The project—Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems—will help make criminal and conviction records available to law enforcement agencies anywhere in the country and will also help prevent criminals from fleeing the country. The project will also facilitate better planning to counter crime by linking the National Crime Records Bureau with state bureaus, TOI says. The project is expected to be completed by 2010-11.
The government had approved the project last month. A press statement then lays out further details of the project.
]]>contentSutra first reported that Menon’s appointment was in the pipeline.
In Menon, I&B ministry gets an official who has a great deal of experience and familiarity with issues in the media and entertainment domain. Menon had earlier served as joint secretary for five years and then as additional secretary for a year at I&B ministry. Menon’s last appointment was as CMD of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Air India).
]]>contentSutra first reported that Menon’s appointment was in the pipeline.
In Menon, I&B ministry gets an official who has a great deal of experience and familiarity with issues in the media and entertainment domain. Menon had earlier served as joint secretary for five years and then as additional secretary for a year at I&B ministry. Menon’s last appointment was as CMD of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Air India).
]]>1) Fringe Benefit Tax abolished: This was a key demand from many players in contentSutra’s Wishlist For The New I&B Minister. Many key overheads for media houses, such as travel, come under Fringe Benefit Tax. The proposed introduction of a Goods and Services Taxes (GST) regime is seen as a positive for all media companies.
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1) Fringe Benefit Tax abolished: This was a key demand from many players in contentSutra’s Wishlist For The New I&B Minister. Many key overheads for media houses, such as travel, come under Fringe Benefit Tax. The proposed introduction of a Goods and Services Taxes (GST) regime is seen as a positive for all media companies.
2) Excise duty of 5% on Set Top Boxes (STBs) reintroduced: The government had exempted STBs from duty last year to encourage digitization. Most of the STBs used by the DTH and digital cable industry are imported from China and Korea.
3) Increased DAVP rates to stay: During the height of economic slowdown and ahead of general elections, the government had increased discounted ad rates paid by various government agencies by 10%, in addition to discontinuing a 15% agency commission. These waivers will stay for another six months.
Reactions:
Anjan Mitra, Executive Director-India, Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA):
“Any additional tax imposed on (import of) set-top boxes (STBs) is like taking a step back. Imposition of an additional 5% duty on STBs will hit the spread and process of digitalization in India, which had been flagged by TRAI, MIB and the PMO as a priority area. With boxes becoming likely to become costlier, the consumer ultimately will have to shell out more.”
Salil Kumar, COO, Dish TV India Ltd:
“The additional burden of 5% tax on STB will hinder the growth and will discourage the DTH industry from expanding business; this tax hike will be passed on the customers. Although we do welcome the removal of FBT (NYSE: BT) and introduction of GST (Goods & services tax), which will provide some relief to DTH industry from multiple taxes from Centre & the states.”
Anand Shah, analyst, Angel Broking:
“THE Budget is overall positive for the Media industry, particularly Print Media and marginally negative for Distribution companies. The six month extension of stimuli package for Print Media (10% hike in DAVP rates and waiver of 15% agency commission) is positive for Print Media companies. However, a 5% hike in customs duty on Set Top Boxes comes as a marginal negative for Distribution companies (Dish TV, WWIL). Finally, a complete exemption from FBT, currently at 20%, and confirmation of implementation of GST by April 2010 will be of a great boost for both Print and Broadcasting sector, apart from the Film Industry.”
Amit Kumar, analyst, Kotak Securities:
“Negative for TV distribution. The basic customs duty rate on digital STBs was set at 5%. We note that nearly the entire consumption of STBs in India is imported. This would be negative for companies such as DITV (LSE: ITV), WWIL, HVL given (1) pass through of higher STB cost to consumers will result in lower volumes and (2) absorption of incremental STB cost will impact already stretched financials.”
]]>The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), a government agency under the Department of Information Technology, is the agency that is entrusted under the IT Act to block websites. N. Vijayaditya, of the CCA, confirmed the development. “There were several complaints against the site. We have taken action under the relevant sections of the IT Act and blocked the site,” he said. When asked if the agency will give a chance to the owners of the site to defend themselves, he said nobody has come forward so far with such a request. He said he could not say if the agency will pursue legal action against the operators of the website.
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The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), a government agency under the Department of Information Technology, is the agency that is entrusted under the IT Act to block websites. N. Vijayaditya, of the CCA, confirmed the development. “There were several complaints against the site. We have taken action under the relevant sections of the IT Act and blocked the site,” he said. When asked if the agency will give a chance to the owners of the site to defend themselves, he said nobody has come forward so far with such a request. He said he could not say if the agency will pursue legal action against the operators of the website.
There has been mounting concern over upcoming amendments to the IT Act that gives the government absolute powers to block any website without a hearing or assigning any reasons. In a recent column in The Hindu, media critic Sevanti Ninan laid down several concerns arising from the absolutist rules that will soon have the power of law. “What about a right to be heard before the blocking? There is none,” she wrote.
Launched in March 2008, Savitabhabhi.com is an adult cartoon strip featuring a married Indian woman’s sexual adventures. Bhabhi is Hindi for sister-in-law. It quickly acquired a cult following with its funny plot lines and the uniqueness of having an Indian setting in a porn strip. The strip received much press last year, from Indian (Mint, Tehelka) and international (The Telegraph, The Independent) media outlets. According to Alexa.com, Savitabhabhi is the 82nd-most-visited Indian website, attracting more visitors than Bseindia.com, the website of the Bombay Stock Exchange. In February, when Mint interviewed the anonymous creator of the strip, the site ranked 45th in India.
The site’s popularity did not come without its perils. The portrayal of a married Indian woman as wildly promiscuous raised the hackles of many in a largely conservative nation. One of them, Bangalore-based N. Vijayashankar, who describes himself as a “techno-legal information security consultant”, waged a sustained campaign against Savitabhabhi, complaining to the government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) as well as the Director General of Police in Karnataka in October last year. “Cartoons are a more participative medium. Videos don’t do as much damage. When a child is watching a cartoon, he imagines himself as the character. This has a deeply corrupting influence on our youngsters. This, apart from the fact that an Indian name was being used in such an obscene cartoon, is what led me to make the complaint,” Vijayashankar said. “A child will see a Savitabhabhi among his relatives.” When asked if there was any scientific basis to his thesis that pornographic cartoons did more damage to young people than pornographic videos, he said that was his own psychological interpretation. (Vijayashankar has no training in psychology.)
The law could come to Savitabhabhi’s rescue, according to Pawan Duggal, cyber law expert and an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. “Under Section 67 of the IT Act of 2000, publishing or transmitting obscene electronic information is punishable with up to five years’ imprisonment and Rs1 lakh in fine. The creators of Savitabhabhi can challenge the ban, arguing that it is an expression of their thoughts and what is expressed is not lascivious. When there is so many explicit pornographic content easily available, why should they be singled out?
“It is a cultural cum legal issue. The courts will have to decide whether Savitabhabhi is a lascivious site or not. Kamasutra and the sculptures of Khajuraho are far more explicit but not considered obscene. So they do have an argument,” Duggal said.
The creators of Savitabhabhi are known only by their screen names. In an email interview with contentSutra, the main brain behind the site, who goes by the handle Deshmukh, said they were exploring legal options. “We are talking to our lawyers and trying to figure out our options. The initial reaction is since the site does not pose any threat to India’s national security and is not illegal, it must be against some international treaty to block it. However, we are still working on the legal angle.” Deshmukh said the creators of Savitabhabhi were based in the European Union and had not received any communication about their site getting banned. The domain is registered in the US, Deshmukh said. The site used to get more than a million visitors every week before the ban, he added.
“Wow, India has now joined the elite club of China, Iran, North Korea and suchlike in the area of Internet censorship,” said graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee. Efforts to reverse the ban have already sprung up on the Internet. A website, Savesavita.com, attempts to channelize support and action against censorship.
]]>As we reported earlier, the title ‘Financial Times’ is owned in India by The Times of India publisher Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Early last year, shortly after it emerged that Financial Times was in talks with the Network18 Group to launch a daily in India, a BCCL subsidiary, Times Publishing House Ltd, registered several titles, such as Asian Financial Times, Financial Times Asia, Daily Financial Times, Emerging Financial Times, Financial Times of Asia. FT, FT Asia, FT Network, FT South Asia, FT World, FT Worlwide, WFT, World Financial Times and Worldwide Financial Times, according to the information on the RNI website. Financial Times India has approached the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, a government body that settles disputes over trade marks, to obtain rights to its globally recognized title. The case is next scheduled for a July hearing.
FT has also received clearances from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to make the necessary investments. Final clearances from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting may be the only remaining procedure required before the paper can hit the stands.
FT’s global competitor, The Wall Street Journal, launched a facsimile version of its Asian edition last month.
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