Less advertisements on TV channels by October

By October, TV viewers who are annoyed by frequent and long advertisement breaks can expect some relief.

Broadcasting regulator TRAI has now made it clear that there will be a cap of 12 minutes per hour for showing advertisements and promotional clips.

While the implementation of the rule will make TV watching more pleasurable for the general viewers, broadcasters, media planners and advertisers are trying to figure out the changes that the new rule will bring.

Reluctant initially to accept it, broadcasters have now agreed that the 12 minute cap should be enforced in a phased manner.

"Even though the law has been in existence for almost eight years (Advertising Code of the Cable Television Act), it never got enforced as the government apparently felt a new industry needs to develop its roots before such a law can be enforced.

"The Authority (TRAI) apparently feels the roots have grown well and it is now time to enforce the law," said Shailesh Shah, the secretary general of the Indian Broadcasting Federation when asked for his take on the issue.

Shah said the implementation of the rule would hurt advertisers, agencies and channels but it was also be an opportunity for broadcasters to get together to ensure digitisation is done and the elusive subscription revenue kicks in.

When asked about the impact restricting of advertisement limits to 12 minutes would have on their price, Shah said that "advertising rates have always been addressed by market forces, and will most certainly continue to do so."


(PTI)

Pakistan National Assembly to elect Speaker tomorrow

The Pakistan National Assembly will elect its Speaker and Deputy Speaker on Monday, with two senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz nominated for the posts.

Secretary National Assembly has accepted the nomination papers of PML-N candidate Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for the post of Speaker while Murtaza Javed Abbasi for that of Deputy Speaker, media reports said on Sunday.

Mr. Sadiq won National Assembly seat from NA-122 Lahore while Mr. Abbasi from NA-18 Abbottabad.

The National Assembly will elect its Speaker and Deputy Speaker on Sunday, while the leader of the house will be elected on Wednesday.

The main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) fielded Nawab Yousuf as its candidate for the office of the Speaker and Ghulam Rasool for Deputy Speaker.

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has nominated Sheryar Afridi for the post of Speaker and Munazza Hasan for that of Deputy Speaker.

Nomination papers of MQM parliamentarians S.A. Iqbal Qadri and Kishwar Zehra for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively have also been accepted.

The nomination papers of all the candidates were declared valid and subsequently submitted in the National Assembly. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on Sunday and the election for the posts will be held on Monday.

After Monday’s secret ballot, outgoing Speaker Fehmida Mirza will administer the oath to the new Speaker.

On Saturday, Mr. Sharif, the Prime Minister-designate, returned to the Assembly fourteen years after his last stint as a parliamentarian when he took oath with other lawmakers in the first democratic transition of power in the country’s 66-year history.

The election of the premier is scheduled for June 5, 2013 as Mr. Sharif’s election as leader of the House is a foregone conclusion with the PML-N’s over 180 members in the 342-strong National Assembly.

The first session of the 342-member National Assembly on Saturday marked the first phase of transition of power in Islamabad and in the four provinces following the historic May 11, 2013 general election.


(PTI)

Omar Fumes At Bollywood’s ‘Cheating’

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is upset with Ranbir Kapoor starrer Bollywood film “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”.

He has expressed his strong resentment over the attribution of some scenes to tourist destination of Manali when actually they had been shot in Kashmir.

“It is irritating when we roll out the red carpet and facilitate the shoot only to have people believe it’s Manali #YJHD,” Omar wrote on Twitter.

“Those of you planning to visit Manali because of what you saw in #YJHD except for the temple and Span resort it’s all Gulmarg,” Abdullah tweeted.

Last year when the YJHD crew was in Kashmir, Omar had himself paid them a visit at Gulmarg.

He had asked the officials in Gulmarg to extend all possible cooperation to the film unit.

The chief Minister also wanted to know whether producer of the film, Karan Johar had given any credit at all to Kashmir, where parts of the movie were shot.

“If anyone has seen the movie can you tell me whether they have at least mentioned the state in the credits (opening or closing) #YJHD.”


(Free Press Kashmir)

Three Militants Killed At Kashmir Frontier

Three militants have been killed as the army foiled their bid to infiltrate from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A gunfight between the militants and the army broke out in north Kashmir’s Nowgam sector near the Line of Control late on Saturday.

The Army spokesman, Col Naresh Vij told Freepress that the other militants fled the site, back to where they came from.

There have been a series of firing incidents in the past week at the LoC that divides Kashmir between the two countries.

India says Pakistani troops fired at their troops and violated the ceasefire agreement. It says its troops did not retaliate to at least one ‘provocation’.


(Free Press Kashmir)

Rajeev Shukla resigns as IPL chairman

BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has rendered his resignation from the post of IPL chairmanship on Saturday, a day before the emergency meeting of the Cricket Board in Chennai on Sunday.

Shukla said he took the decision due to the fixing scandals in the cash-rich Twenty20 league.

"I took the decision to quit in view of the recent controversies", said Shukla.

Beleaguered president N Srinivasan may also announce his resignation from the post in the BCCI emergency meeting tomorrow.


(Times Of India)

Massive Snow Clearance on Mountainous Amarnath Track in Kashmir

Snow clearance operation on traditional Pahalgam-Amarnath cave shrine route was going on war-footing to make the track ready before the commencement of the annual pilgrimage of self-made Ice-Shivlingam from June 28.

The weather office will issue ‘alerts’ after every three hours during the pilgrimage, for which thousands of quintal of essentials will be stored at all halting stations and seven duty magistrates will be deployed for smooth conduct of the pilgrimage.

As many as 13 medical aid centres, besides six emergency medical centres shall be established for the medicare facilities of the pilgrims.

Official sources said hundreds of labourers and others have been engaged to clear the snow on the traditional route.

Urging officers to adhere to the timeline for the conduct of smooth and successful yatra this year, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Shalender Kumar directed the officers concerned to expedite the clearance of routes via Pahalgam-Chandanwari, Chandanwari-Sheshnag, Sheeshnag-Panjtarni and Panjtarnti to holy cave.

Mr Kumar along with senior officers of divisional administration besides Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) undertook a day long tour yesterday to inspect the route and the camp stations via Pahalgam route.

He directed to put effective refractory mechanism in place to ensure that only those yatries who possessed valid yatra permits were allowed to undertake the yatra on the date and by the route for which they have procured yatra permits.

He also stressed upon the officers concerned for adequate facilities besides infrastructure and un-interrupted power and water supply, sanitation, medicare, Telecom facilities and transport facilities.



(Free Press Kashmir)

‘Informal’ Deal for Ex-Kashmiri Militants’ Surrender Policy

Despite the Liyaqat Shah fiasco underlining the lack of coordination between various agencies on return of ex-militants under the Jammu & Kashmir surrendercum-rehabilitation policy, the agencies are wary of formalizing the Indo-Nepal border check-post as a designated crossing point or making it mandatory for J&K authorities to inform border forces and relevant state jurisdictions of impending surrenders.

The involvement of multiple agencies, it is feared, would heighten the risk of the ex-militant’s identity getting compromised, rendering him vulnerable to retaliatory strikes by his former Pakistani handlers.

There are apprehensions that a rigid system of surrenders by Kashmiri ex-militants may not work on the ground, as those seeking benefits under the policy often return without any prior notice to the J&K authorities.

“An ex-militant virtually risks his life during the journey from Pakistan to J&K.

Though authorities are aware that a particular ex-militant will be returning under the scheme, the exact timing of his return is mostly not known.

Ex-militants randomly turn up at the Indo-Nepal check post and travel to J&K on their own ahead of their surrender,” said an official of the Central security establishment.

It may thus not be practical for J&K authorities to intimate border forces like SSB or the transit states on impending surrenders, the official added.

The agencies, instead, are pitching for continuing with the same informal system for surrenders under the J&K scheme, as it tends to give cover to the prospective surrenderee.

“At the most, the states can be told to check with the J&K authorities, each time a Kashmiri is intercepted at the border, whether he is an applicant under the state’s surrender-cum-rehabilitation scheme,” said an intelligence official.

“If multiple checks and balances are introduced, the ex-militants may become wary of the Pakistani agencies getting alerted.

Too much paperwork and formalities may add to the risk of the prospective surrenderee’s identity getting compromised,” warned a home ministry official.

As many as 260 ex-militants returned to J&K via Nepal under the state’s special policy until April 10 this year.


(Times Of India)

Militant Killed in South Kashmir Gunbattle, Operation Continues

A militant has been killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Shopian town of south Kashmir.

A police statement says a joint team of the Army and local police laid siege to Vandena village after recieving a tip off about the presence of militants.

“Militants fired upon the search party, triggering an encounter.”

One militant, whose identity has not been established so far, has been killed.

The gunfight is still on.

Overall violence involving militants and security forces has considerably declined in Jammu and Kashmir.

But occasional attacks and gunbattles still take place.


(Free Press Kashmir)

Petrol price hiked by 75 paise per litre, diesel by 50 paise

After four consecutive times reduction in petrol prices by cumulative Rs 6.60 a litre since April 1, state owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) have decided to increase the petrol prices by 75 paisa a litre and diesel prices by 50 paisa a litre due to depreciating Indian rupee, which hit 10 month low, making the import of crude oil costlier. Private refiners Reliance Industries (RIL) and Essar Oil are likely to follow the suit.

The management of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp ( HPCL) & Bharat Petroleum Corp ( BPCL) in a meeting in New Delhi decided on the revision in the petrol and diesel prices, which was approved by the oil ministry.

The OMCs had reduced the petrol prices by Rs 3 per litre on May 1, Rs 1.20 per litre on April 16, Re 1 on April 1 and Rs. 2.40 on March 16, 2013.

The government has deregulated the petrol and diesel prices, and now the oil marketing companies are revising the petrol prices according to the international market prices.

"Petrol prices are increased by Rs 1 a litre and diesel by 45 paisa as we had started incurring losses in petrol due to depreciating rupee, which makes the oil imports costlier," said a director on the board of an oil retailer.

The Indian basket of crude oil has fallen to $ 100.27per barrel on May 30, 2013 compared to average price of $ 101.21 during fortnight of May 1-15, 2013. However, in rupee terms, the price has gone up by Rs 146 to Rs 5,625 as on May 30, compared to the last fortnight, thus necessitating the hike. This is because the Indian rupee has weakened to Rs 56.50 against the US dollar, which is Rs 2 lower than the rate of Rs 54.32 during the fortnight of May 1-15, 2013.

The depreciating rupee has widened the loss on sale of diesel to Rs 5 a litre. Diesel price have been hiked four times since the de-regulation, the last being on May 11 when it was raised by Rs 1.02 a litre.


(Times of India)

Kingfisher Airlines posts $380 million loss

Debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, which has not flown since last October, reported yet another quarter of loss, and the resumption of operations is still not in sight as it struggles to win regulatory approvals.

Kingfisher, once India's No.2 carrier, said net loss widened to 21.42 billion rupees ($380 million) for its fiscal fourth quarter ending in March, compared with a net loss of 11.5 billion rupees a year earlier.

The company, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is estimated to owe about $2.5 billion to banks, airports and others and its flying licences expired at the end of last year.

Kingfisher has twice submitted revival plans to the sector regulator in bids to restart the airline, with parent UB Group committing initial funding, but is yet to win approval.

Kingfisher had never made a profit in its eight years of operations.


(Reuters)