Global Brief
The latest news from the international broadcasting industry
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BBC in trouble in Azerbaijan
In May, Baku expressed serious concern
about BBC World Service correspondent
Steve Eke visiting Nagornyy Karabakh
without notifying Azerbaijan. The
Azerbaijani embassy in Great Britain asked
the BBC for an explanation over its
correspondent’s visit to the territory of
Nagornyy Karabakh without permission of
the Azerbaijani government and over
‘prejudiced reports’ prepared from there. In
response, the head of the BBC’s Eurasia
section, Behrouz Afagh, said that the visit
to Nagornyy Karabakh was made through
the territory of Armenia only for pragmatic
reasons and that the reports prepared from
Nagornyy Karabakh must have been
translated incorrectly. The head of the
Azerbaijani state television and radio
company sent an official warning to the BBC,
saying that if another such incident occurs,
BBC broadcasts on the Azerbaijani state radio
channel Araz will be suspended (currently
broadcast one hour in Azeri and 30 minutes
each in Russian and English). Indeed on
1st June the relays were stopped.
Azeri MPs rebuked the BBC for its “pro-
Armenian” stance and called on Azerbaijani
radio stations not to provide air for the BBC’s
Central Asia and Caucasus Service. After the
ruling NewAzerbaijan Party’s secretariat sent
a letter to the BBC World Service, the ruling
party said it was content with the BBC’s
response. It said anti-Azerbaijani
programmes had stopped but that it would
continue to monitor the programmes.
RFI protests Cote d’Ivoire suspension;
gains in Cambodia
Radio France Internationale (RFI)
announced that it was going to respond
officially to the Ivorian authorities
concerning the suspension of its
programmes. “RFI is going to respond with
a very official reaction to reassert the
freedom of the independent media,” said
the press department on 14 May. The day
before, the Ivorian National Broadcasting
Communications Council confirmed the
24-hour suspension of Radio France
Internationale’s FM programmes for having
broadcast, prior to its publication, a UN
report on violence in Abidjan at the end
of March. RFI’s programmes on the FM
band in Cote d’Ivoire were suspended for
24 hours on 15 May.
RFI has introduced two new frequencies
in Cambodia. After Phnom Penh, Siem
Reap and Sihanoukville, RFI is now
broadcasting 24 hours a day in French
on 94.5 FM in Kompong Cham and in
Battambang. The introduction of these
two new frequencies brings to 120 the
number of FM relays of RFI worldwide.
India’s number 1 news channel explores newmarkets
New Delhi-based broadcaster TV Today Group has brought India’s number one news
channel, Aaj Tak, to North America and West Asia. Aaj Tak, which launched in India
in 2000 and is free-to-air, is being offered as a pay-channel in these new markets. The
company is planning to introduce the channel also in Europe, initially in the UK.
Star unveils new channel in India
Star Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corporation, launched Star Utsav,
a new Hindi general entertainment channel, in India on 7 June. The free-to-air, 24-
hour service will reach audiences across the whole country.
The new channel features some of Star Plus’ most popular shows and will also show
a range of comedies, thrillers, cookery, kids, mythological and game shows, as well
as classic Hindi films.
Sameer Nair, COO, Star India, said: “With Star Utsav we hope to populate the growing
cable and satellite universe in India. As a free-to-air channel, Star Utsav will bring the
best of Hindi programming to a larger number of people and enable them to experience
shows that have redefined entertainment in India and changed the way people see
television in the country.” The Star network reaches over 65 million viewers every week.
Autonomy for Indian state broadcasters
The new Indian Information and Broadcasting Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said in an
interview on Doordarshan DDTV news channel that he wants to work towards
genuine autonomy for the Indian state broadcasters which, in his view, must be a
public service that offers everything the private channels offer and more. It must
look at the taste of viewers but also their needs, including those of the ordinary
“man in the street”.
Reddy (right), who held this post before in 1997, wants to take forward earlier
initiatives – to operationalize the Prasar Bharati Act envisaging an autonomous
Doordarshan and All India Radio and to introduce in parliament a broadcast
bill aimed at setting up a full-time independent regulatory authority for the sector.
(Currently, some of the functions are being performed by the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) on a temporary basis.) He has not specified a time frame
for setting up this body, and stressed that no hasty implemenation of CAS is warranted.
Prasar Bharati offers DTH
State-run Prasar Bharati is set to commence its direct-to-home service at the end of
June, starting with 40 channels. Prasar Bharati will be the second company to offer
DTH service in India, after ASC Enterprise Dish TV. Initially, the service is planned
for areas where there is no availability of terrestrial or cable television services.
Besides the state-owned Doordarshan network, the DTH service is expected to include
all news channels plus entertainment channels Zee TV and Sahara Manoranjan among
other genres. Prasar Bharati has hired Ku-band transponders from the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO).
New free-to-air Hindi TV news channel
India TV went on air on 20 May as a free-to-air Hindi news channel, promising to
be a “channel with a difference”. TV journalist Rajat Sharma and his wife Ritu
Dhawan hold 74 per cent stake in the new venture while the rest is with other Indian
promoters. The company, which has four studios at its headquarters in Noida and
two in New Delhi, has a 350-strong journalistic team.
Sharma said: “We aim to change the way broadcast news reporting is conducted in the country.
India TV will set new benchmarks by maintaining international standards of responsible and
crediblenewsreporting.Wewillstayawayfromgraphicdepictionsofviolenceandsensationalism
of news. We will uphold the viewer’s right to correct information and their right to truth and
verity. India TV is not just a news channel, it is a movement.” The programming on India TV
incorporates in-depth analysis andminute-to-minute coverage of relevant issues. Twenty-minute
news bulletins are supported by ten-minute analyses of key events, every half hour.
Initially, India TV is focusing on the Hindi-speaking belt but plans to spread to South
India at a later stage. In a first for India, the network of reporters at India TV uses fibre
optic links for video transmission. These fibre optic links connect 110 stations to the
broadcast centre to facilitate real time transmission of news. The newsgathering network
also uses mobile satellite vans and suitcase dish antennas for sending video dispatches
from remote locations. The free-to-air news channel is beamed from the PAS 10 satellite.
