NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan said today that community radio stations had empowered the masses and gave them a sense of belonging by effectively facilitating the growth of peoples? empowerment in the far and remote corners of the country.

He said CRS had bridged the digital divide as the aim was to connect the aspirations of the people to the information highway. CRS provides a platform to people to create their individual and collective identities.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the Second National Community Radio Sammelan, which commenced today with the objective of carving out a new roadmap for mainstreaming community radio as an effective outreach tool for community empowerment.

The three day event, organised by the I&B Ministry in association with Commonwealth Educational Media centre for Asia (CEMCA), also saw the presentation of the first National CRS awards.

I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma outlined the roadmap for the growth of the community radio movement in the 12th Five Year plan. It was necessary to target the uncovered areas in the country with a cost effective and operational business model, he said.

The Secretary called upon the participants to avoid delays in operationalising the licences in view of the scarcity and squatting over spectrum. For the movement to reach a sizeable target it was critical to be innovative, encourage out of the box thinking and learn from the best practices. A critical factor determining the growth of the movement was the need to focus on cost effective technology and research.

Varma said the Ministry had submitted a proposal to the planning Commission regarding state funding in the next five year plan. For being an effective dissemination tool it was necessary to position the relevance of the medium in disaster management.

The awards were given in five categories: Thematic, Community Engagement, Promoting Local Culture, Most Creative/Innovative Programme Content, and Sustainability Model Award.

The Ministry has so far issued 363 permissions to set up Community Radio Stations in the country. Out of this, 126 stations have become operational while others are in the pipeline.

The Sammelan has brought together more than 150 stakeholders including Community Radio operators, UN partners, activists, Government departments and experts from various countries like USA, UK, Australia and South Africa.

In the last two years, Ministry has taken several initiatives to strengthen the community radio movement in India. Permission process for the CR applications has been fast tracked through better coordination with stakeholder Ministries. People can also now apply online and track the status of their applications at www.cronlineindia.net. This has brought about transparency and accountability in the system. A Facilitation Centre has also been opened up in the Ministry with a toll-free phone number where people can call up for any information relating to community radio. Due to these initiatives the number of permissions issued by the Ministry for setting up community radio stations has increased from 186 to 363 and number of operational CRS has increased from 64 to 126 in the last two years.

The Ministry has been organising awareness and capacity building Workshops all over the country from 2007 onwards to create awareness about Community Radio Policy. Around 32 Workshops have been organised so far. These Workshops have proved to be useful not only to spread awareness but also build capacities of the NGOs and other organizations to operate Community Radio Stations in an effective manner.

The Ministry has partnered with Ek Duniya Anek Aaawaz (EDAA) which is an audio content exchange platform for community radio stations, to have a separate micro-site on EDAA for the coverage of the 2nd National Community Radio Sammelan on new media platforms.

EDAA is a web based open content exchange platform for community radio broadcasters. The platform enables the CR stations and other content producers to share their audio content and other resources, thus facilitating meaningful utilisation of resources breaking geographical boundaries. This site is operated by OneWorld Asia, an NGO.

MUMBAI: UK pay TV service provider BSkyB has posted a revenue of ?3.4 billion for first half of the fiscal ended 31 December 2011, up six per cent over the earlier year.

BSkyB reported its highest ever first-half adjusted operating profit, up 16 per cent to ?601 million.

Efficiency programmes delivered lower operating costs. Adjusted operating margin was up 160 basis points to 17.9 per cent. Adjusted free cash flow was also up by 12 per cent to ?495 million.

BSkyB experienced continued growth in products and customers in the quarter. Total net product grew to 26.8 million, up 13 per cent. It added 100,000 new households to reach 10.471 million customers.

BSkyB said it had a good response to price freeze; customer loyalty was strong in a tough economic environment with
churn of 9.6 per cent. There was also a continued improvement in product mix with more than three million customers taking all three of TV, broadband and telephony, up by 26 per cent year on year. Customers are responding to innovation with 2.5 million users of Sky Go to date.

Plans for 2012: The company is bringing more content for customers, including home grown comedy and drama and a new channel dedicated to Formula 1.

BSkyB has done agreements to add BBC iPlayer and ITV Player to Anytime+. It is also offering free access to 10,000 WiFi hotspots to Sky Broadband Unlimited customers. Fibre broadband will be available to 30 per cent of UK households from April, offering up to 40Mb broadband speeds and unlimited usage for ?20 a month.

BSkyB will also launch a new Internet based pay TV service aimed at new customers. It will create 1,300 Sky jobs across the UK and Ireland over the next two years.

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said, ?We expect the environment to remain tough in calendar 2012. No consumer business can be immune to these conditions and we will manage any short-term headwinds as they emerge. Staying focused on the long-term opportunity, we?ve got a strong set of plans to keep delivering for customers and shareholders. This will be an outstanding year on screen, including more original British productions and a new channel dedicated to Formula 1, and we have exciting products in the pipeline that will create more ways to access our content and more reasons to join and stay with us.?

The company delivered a strong first half performance with good growth in customers and products and record financial results.

"We saw growth in every product category, with a particularly strong performance in home communications. As a result, customers are now taking an average of 2.6 products, up 13 per cent on last year, and Arpu continues to rise, reaching a new high of ?544," said Darroch.

Outlook: Sky does not expect any material improvement in the macro backdrop in calendar 2012, with strong consumer headwinds anticipated in the early part of the year.

"While remaining cautious in respect of the economic outlook, we continue to expect that the strength and flexibility of our business will deliver further progress. Our growth will stay broadly-based, increasing product penetration and adding new households where it makes sense. We will also continue to invest in core areas for customers and we have a strong set of plans for the year ahead, including more great content, a strong product pipeline and the launch of an entirely new internet based pay TV service aimed at new customers. Alongside that, we will maintain our focus on operating efficiency because this underpins our ability to keep investing for customers," said Darroch.

MUMBAI: Thinkbox has announced that European entertainment network RTL Group and e UK entertainment and communications company Virgin Media have joined the organisation as Associate Members.

RTL Group and Virgin Media are Thinkbox?s first Associate Members, which entails consultation and involvement across Thinkbox activities and with Thinkbox?s working groups. Full shareholder status is currently reserved for TV broadcasters and their sales representatives.

Thinkbox CEO Tess Alps said, ?We?re delighted that both RTL and Virgin Media have decided to support Thinkbox?s mission by becoming our first Associate Members. We?re also grateful for the acknowledgement of the work we are doing and their desire to help us do more to explain the commercial opportunities in TV?s rapidly developing future, be that TV on-demand, addressable advertising or product placement. We look forward to working with them and our shareholders to continue helping advertisers enjoy the unparalleled success that TV advertising, in all its forms, brings.?

VMDS for Virgin Media commercial director Mark Brandon said, ?Virgin Media is pleased to become an Associate Member of Thinkbox. The TV advertising value chain is evolving fast, with next generation TV platforms such as Virgin Media playing an increasingly prominent role in this evolution. We look forward to bringing our content knowledge, on demand expertise and business perspective to Thinkbox.?

Thinkbox?s shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV. Thinkbox represents over 90 per cent of the commercial TV market in the UK through its shareholders? owned and partner channels.
 

MUMBAI: Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers from Operation Elveden in the UK have arrested four current and former employees from The Sun newspaper.

Searches have also taken place at the homes and offices of those arrested.

News Corp. commissioned the Management and Standards Committee (MSC) to undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles.

As a result of that review, which is ongoing, the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today?s arrests.

No comment can be made on the nature of that information to avoid prejudicing the investigation and the rights of individuals.

The MSC gave the MPS every assistance during the searches of News International premises while ensuring that all appropriate steps were taken to protect legal and journalistic privilege. It also provided the option of immediate legal representation to those arrested.

News Corp. said it will continue to give its total support to the continued work of the MSC and to ensure that legitimate journalism is vigorously pursued in both the public interest and in full compliance with the law.

The MSC was established by News Corp. in July 2011 to take
responsibility for all matters in relation to phone hacking at the News of the World, payments to the police and all other related issues at News International.

The MSC structure is independent and autonomous from News International. It is authorised to conduct internal investigations to fulfil its responsibilities in relation to News International?s papers. It has powers to direct News International staff to co-operate fully with all external and internal investigations, and to preserve, obtain and disclose appropriate documents.

These internal investigations are being conducted by the law firm Linklaters, who are the strategic legal advisers to the MSC.