NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has expressed fears that the entire available reserves of Prasar Bharati would be wiped out if the trend of mounting deficits continues, resulting in immense financial stress.

The Ministry told the Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology that "after assessing the non-Plan budgetary support provided by the Government during 2009-10, 2010-11 and projections for the year 2011-12 as also 10 per cent growth in revenue during 2011-12, Prasar Bharati has estimated a deficit to the tune of Rs 8.04 billion for these three years."

According to the Ministry, however, the revenue of Prasar Bharati has not increased according to earlier projections while the cost, particularly under the salary head, has gone beyond the projections.

The Committee wants the Government to bear the gap between the working expenses and the earnings of Prasar Bharati by budgetary support till Prasar Bharati is able to generate the mandated revenue to attain self sufficiency.

At the same time, Prasar Bharati was exhorted by the Committee to take all the required initiatives to increase the revenue. Besides, all the economic measures should be taken to reduce the working expenses of Prasar Bharati.

Since Prasar Bharati is unable to bear 50 per cent of the annual expenses from its Internal Extra Budgetary Resources as recommended by the Group of Ministers, it has now proposed a new funding pattern for re-fixation of Government support to meet its financial obligations. (The GoM had earlier recommended that 50 per cent of the annual operating expenses of Prasar Bharati should be borne by Prasar Bharati from its IEBR and the remaining 50 per cent will be met from non-Plan grants-in-aid from the Government.)

While expressing serious concern over the increasing gaps between the revenue projections and revenue receipts and appreciating that Prasar Bharati is a public service broadcaster and not principally guided by commercial consideration, the Standing Committee said it was "of the firm opinion that its mandate does not restrict it from generating adequate revenue to meet its operational cost."

In fact it noted that in the Outcome Budget 2011-12, there was specific mention that All India Radio can generate revenue through Public Private Participation (PPP) during the next 10 to 15 years through schemes like sharing of Prasar Bharati infrastructure such as towers etc., building and land with private broadcasters, mobile service providers on licence basis; providing value added service such as IVRS and SMS based service to the listeners; rationalization of rate structure of the rental resources; turnkey solutions for establishing 50/100 watt community radio stations to Universities/Colleges/residential schools etc and through Data Audio Channel service.

The Committee said: ?It is inexplicable as to why Prasar Bharati has not been able to implement the above schemes which in their own admission can generate revenue through Public Private Participation for the next 10 to 15 years. The Committee are of the firm opinion that Prasar Bharati by taking the desired initiatives as mentioned in the Outcome Budget as well as by adopting suitable marketing strategies, content improvement and introduction of DTH services can reasonably enhance its revenue.?

The Committee?s examination of budgetary documents has revealed that the revenue receipts of Prasar Bharati have been gradually declining and the gap between the revenue receipts and expenditure has been steeply increasing.

As against the revenue projections of Rs 12.47 billion during 2009-10, the revenue receipts were Rs 11.76 billion and the expenditure was Rs 29.49 billion thus leaving a gap of Rs 17.73 billion.

The revenue projections for 2010-11 were Rs 15.62 billion against which the revenue receipts were Rs 9.69 billion and the expenditure was Rs 25.06 billion.

MUMBAI: Travel and lifestyle channel, Fox Traveller, will start a 24-hour Bengali language feed starting 15 January next year.

Presently the Bangla feed is available for four hours during primetime (8-12 pm). The channel believes that with this development Fox Traveller will be able to reinforce connect with Bengali speaking audiences.

Fox International Channels VP - marketing Debarpita Banerjee said, "Bengalis love the good life- full of food, music, art, travel, and we have plenty of glimpses of this kind of a lifestyle on Fox Traveller. The channel believes that only showcasing destinations are pass? and unfolds stories that make a journey beautiful and fun. And now the bangla feed will enable us to capture the lyricism of this language and build it into our content, bringing it closer to the audience."

The channel will now be available in Bengali feed along with Hindi, English and Tamil across all DTH platforms and through and cable network operators.

MUMBAI: Travel and lifestyle channel, Fox Traveller, will start a 24-hour Bengali language feed starting 15 January next year.

Presently the Bangla feed is available for four hours during primetime (8-12 pm). The channel believes that with this development Fox Traveller will be able to reinforce connect with Bengali speaking audiences.

Fox International Channels VP - marketing Debarpita Banerjee said, "Bengalis love the good life- full of food, music, art, travel, and we have plenty of glimpses of this kind of a lifestyle on Fox Traveller. The channel believes that only showcasing destinations are pass? and unfolds stories that make a journey beautiful and fun. And now the bangla feed will enable us to capture the lyricism of this language and build it into our content, bringing it closer to the audience."

The channel will now be available in Bengali feed along with Hindi, English and Tamil across all DTH platforms and through and cable network operators.

MUMBAI: The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is expected to be in excess of $25 billion in the next four years, predicts Ernst & Young?s (E&Y) report - ?Spotlight on India?s Entertainment Economy?.

As per the report, the industry registered revenues of $16.3 billion in 2010.

India?s growing digital media consumption and favourable demographics are key drivers for the media and entertainment industry?s future growth, it said.

Enticed by economic liberalisation, near double-digit annual growth, a fast-growing middle class and a huge volume of demand for leisure and entertainment, there has been a surge in investment by global media companies in India.

The Indian M&E now finds itself at a new turning point ? digital media. A surge in mass broadband adoption is expected, led by the launch of 3G and 4G services. By 2015, 90 per cent of India?s projected 187 million broadband subscribers will access the net through wireless devices. This presents global M&E companies with exciting opportunities to develop ?anytime, anywhere? content that caters to a new generation of Indian digital consumers.

?The M&E industry in India has been, and will continue to be, one of the biggest beneficiaries of India?s favourable demographics,? E&Y media and entertainment leader for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa Farokh Balsara said. ?Having one of the world?s youngest populations, high volumes of content consumption, a favourable regulatory framework and growing digital adoption, makes India an attractive investment destination for global media and entertainment companies.?

The study shows that India?s increasing per capita income, growing middle class and working population are generating huge domestic demand for leisure and entertainment. The country has more than 600 television channels, 100 million pay-television households, 70,000 newspapers and produces more than 1,000 films annually.

India has diverse regional markets with distinct cultures, languages and content preferences. These markets provide global media and entertainment companies with a variety of opportunities to deliver localized content.

India?s favourable regulations and reforms are creating investment opportunities for global media and entertainment companies.

The newspaper industry, which is facing declining readership in many international markets, continues to thrive in India, driven by increasing literacy rates, consumer spending and the growth of regional markets and specialty newspapers. Newspapers account for 42 per cent of all advertising spend in India, the most of any medium.

The mandatory digitisation of India?s television distribution infrastructure is driving growth of digital cable and DTH and creating a need for these companies to fund expansion.

The third phase of radio license auctions, expected soon, will see radio networks expanding their reach to add around 700 radio stations across the country.

?The growth strategies in most companies in the US and Western Europe are linked to India and other emerging markets,? E&Y global media and entertainment leader John Nendick said. ?However, to succeed in India, global media and entertainment companies need to navigate unique challenges in the areas of content localisation, distribution and pricing, regulations and piracy.?

According to the report, the two greatest challenges faced by media and entertainment companies doing business in India are low ARPUs (average revenue per user) and piracy. ARPU are lowest in India and piracy accounts for in excess of $4 billion per year.

NEW DELHI: Even as Nimbus remains adamant about sharing broadcasting rights with All India Radio, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take immediate action to ensure that the commentary of the on-going one-dayers between England and India should be given live to AIR.

The Ministry has said that the rights for AIR should not be clubbed with the rights given to Doordarshan under the Sports Broadcasting (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act.

In a letter to BCCI, the Ministry said the demand by Nimbus for 50 per cent of the revenues from the radio commentary ?appears to be an effort to arm twist Prasar Bharati?.

The Ministry has suggested that radio rights ?should be made available directly to AIR at a negotiated price as far as India is concerned?.

According to Nimbus Communications, AIR has refused to follow the 50:50 sharing of advertising revenues, which has been mandated by the Sports Broadcasting (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act.

According to the letter by the Ministry to BCCI, the provisions of the Sports Act apply only if the rights holder for TV telecast broadcasts the match either on television, cable, DTH, or the radio broadcast rights holder actually broadcasts the commentary over the respective medium in India.

?As regards radio, no private broadcaster is allowed to carry the commentary of sporting events of national level in India. The provisions of Sports Act relating to sharing of the signal do not apply to radio coverage,? the letter said.