Friday, June 14, 2013
June 13:
The United Arab Emirates has warned its nationals not to carry any satellite communication devices such as Thuraya and Iridium while travelling to India. Eisa Abdullah Masoud Al Kalbani, Director of the Department of Nationals' Affairs at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, yesterday said that India has banned the use of satellite
communication devices on its soil since 2010.He said anyone found in possession of such devices would be held legally accountable.
"This applies to both holder of the device and recipient if, for example, devices are sent through the postal or similar service. The regulation comes under Section 6 of the Indian Wireless Act and Section 20 of the Indian Telegraph Act. Indian authorities have stated that the ban also applies to Indian waters even if landfall is not made," he said in a statement released on UAE's official news agency Wam.
He said that the warning stems from his duty to provide all necessary advice and warnings to protect UAE nationals from violations, accidental or otherwise, or of being subjected to security accountability or any troubles or hindrances they might encounter abroad. by PTI
Thursday, June 13, 2013
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The Indian television industry currently generates INR 14,000 crore of advertising revenue. Having better addressability and stricter regulatory regime India has also developed a strong subscription market for television with cable TV annual subscription revenues of INR 22,000 crore and annual DTH subscription revenues from five operators estimated at INR 12,000 crore.
It is estimated that about 30-40 percent of a total of INR 34,000 crore subscription revenues goes to the television broadcasters which comes out to be around INR 13,000 crore. According to careful estimates, in total the Indian television broadcaster’s cumulative annual revenue share stands at around INR 28,000 crore.
Compared to India, Pakistan being an emerging television market generated PKR 2,300 crore of advertising revenue during the year ending on 30th June 2012 whereas the share of cable TV or DTH subscription revenue for Television Broadcasters remains non-existent.
Staying ahead on the development curve and setting an example for emerging markets in the region, representative bodies Indian Broadcasters Federation (IBF) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) recently reached a landmark agreement on net billing of advertising revenue. The debate opened up in India between the two bodies when quite a few broadcasters received notices from income tax department in March claiming unpaid tax deducted at source (TDS) on the 15 percent agency commissions mentioned in gross bill amounts that broadcasters usually send to agencies. It is an established industry practice that the television channel bills the advertising agency a gross amount of e.g. Rs100 against which the advertising agency pays out Rs85 to the television channel with the deduction of 15% agency commission.
Whether the new practice will benefit broadcasters or affect the advertising agency business, Anil Wanvari, CEO Indiantelevision.com, commented that there is no winning here; it is just a business practice, which is archaic, legacy. The 15 per cent agency commission is a thing of the past that came into existence when J Walter Thompson set up the first creative ad agency way back in the 1800s.
In most parts of the world the 15 per cent compensation has given way to other forms such as a media fees, creative fees, incentives, lower agency commissions of 2 to 2.25 per cent for agency of record. In India, advertising and media agencies were already operating on the new forms of compensation. But in terms of billings, the practice of putting 15 per cent on bills raised to media continued. The agency was not paid 100 per cent of the bill amount; the client never paid 100 per cent; the broadcaster never paid 15 per cent to the agency. Until the income tax department demanded that broadcasters make back payments of tax deduction at source for the 15 per cent commission, they were supposedly paying agencies. This amounted to more than Rs400-500 crore, which was unpalatable to the broadcasters because they were not paying commissions to anyone; it was only a bill, which said they did.
Wanvari added that television broadcasters in India fought tooth and nail to move over to the net billing system in which the actual money changing hands was stated. So there was no question of anyone paying tax. The agencies meanwhile are still trying to maintain the old structure. They have approached the Central Board of Direct Taxation in India to issue a circular stating that broadcasters are not liable to pay tax on the 15 per cent commission. Agencies say they need to retain the 15 per cent commission structure because around 20 per cent of agencies are still operating at that fee structure.
Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, who is also an IBF Board member, recently announced: “We have an agreement to go in for net billing. A mechanism has been provided for in the invoice and the contract to enable agencies to charge fees separately from advertisers with effect from May 1, 2013.”
The invoices to be raised by television broadcasters to the agencies will have a rider making it clear that the advertiser and agency were free to have a compensation relationship, which was as per accepted industry practice. The agencies would charge the clients their commission on top of the bills.
The broadcaster can now bill the agency Rs85 for Rs100 value TV spot. The agency will then bill the client for an amount not exceeding 1.1765 of the net value of the bill.”
Analysts predict that the net billing will allow broadcasters and advertisers to more accurately measure their investments, performance and returns and make things more transparent at both ends with all calculations being done at actuals without the fictitious 15% commission and taking the actual 2 to 2.25% commission into account when required.
Call it a coincidence or time to for an overhaul, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and a representative committee representing the Indian broadcast fraternity has also finally reached an agreement to implement the 12-minute cap on advertising to the clock hour to be implemented in a phased manner, starting 29 May 2013.
With immediate effect, television broadcasters in India need to restrict advertising to less than 30 minutes to the clock hour. From July 1, news channels need to restrict advertising to less than 20 minute and other channels to 16 minutes per hour respectively. And from October 1, it will be 12-minute cap on all channels.
The implementation of a 12-minute per hour advertising cap will mean very limited inventory of advertising space available, which will inevitably mean higher advertising rates to be charged by TV channels. As an instant reaction to the above, four leading entertainment channels in India — Zee, Colors, Star and Sony — have announced an increase in their advertising rates by 20-30% with an announcement of reevaluating all the current deals to bring them in line with the revised rates and inventory restrictions.
Limited advertising cap will have multiple benefits with television broadcasters extending an enhanced viewing experience resulting into a better proposition for advertisers getting better returns on their investments. It is expected that the advertising inventory on major Indian General Entertainment Channels (GECs) will decrease by 20-30% by October as a result of which and the increased rates, the bottom 20% paying clients will have to go off. This will also mean that with limited advertising available, advertisers will get into the practice of advanced booking of spots which is a standard practice in more developed markets like United States.
Whether or not this will have an industry wide impact across all genres, Rohit Gupta, President MSM, commented: “This move will definitely have its impact especially on music, news and movie channels. But now that we know of it, we need to find a way to protect the interest of every genre and revisit the advertising deals.”
In Pakistan viewers have for long complained of excessive advertising during drama mid-breaks since old PTV days where it was the only television option available for advertising and hence it minted money by airing up to 42 minutes of advertising during primetime. Till date viewers also complain about excessive advertising during live cricket matches run on state-owned and private TV channels. An advertiser commented on the condition of anonymity that the upcoming Champions Trophy with only 15 one-day matches will accommodate almost Rs1 billion worth of advertising and while the international and ICC broadcast guidelines only permit up to 96 minutes of advertising (12 per hour during an 8 hour game) and advertisers not accepting premium rates therefore capping violation by up to 400 percent is the only option left with TV broadcasters to achieve their inflated revenue targets and while the private channel may have their side of the story, with billions of exclusive subscription revenue generated through TV license fee there can be no justification for cluttered broadcast of premium events by the state run channel.
With future challenges including that of digital media knocking at the doors for market expansion and most viewers already getting tuned into second screen option for consuming premium content, it is essential for bodies concerned like PBA and PAS to seriously consider taking the corrections required for a better viewing experience and learn from developments in the region by making processes less complicated for conducting business and providing an enriched consumer experience.
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73% of Pakistani cable TV subscribers are largely not satisfied with the quality of the service offered till date. It was stated by Xposure, a market research firm based in Islamabad. The process of launching DTH in Pakistan is being delayed since around 10 years.According to Xposure, 87% of Cable TV subscribers states that the bad weather adversely affects their cable services and most of the cable networks shuts off. When the cable operators are
reached, their respective contact numbers are busy. Most of the Cable TV users complained that they are unable to register their complaint due to non-availability of proper call centers at cable operators’ end.Pakistan has more than 10 million cable subscribers, but less than 1% are digital so far, according to specialized pay TV research firm Dataxis. A national plan to digitize local cable TV systems was planned to be launched in January 2010 and to be completed by the end of December 2015. Meantime, the expected launch of DTH in Pakistan has been widely discussed by public and the press, but DTH still seems to be neglected by state authorities of the country. However, DTH is now available in Pakistan via illegal Indian DTH broadcast.
The story of Geoffrey Langlands is nothing less than a fairy tale in what has remained of the world today. His unquantifiable contribution to education in Pakistan is almost as old as Pakistan itself 
Politics can be surreal. With democracy being its close but often upset ally, it can give you a glimpse of hope. When hope becomes all-consuming, there is little space for revelry. You become numb to the pain and joy of today in the hope of a better tomorrow. This year has been just that: the hope of elections, the hope of change and the hope in the power of our vote. Thus, the all-consuming hope overshadowed many of those we should and must celebrate.
That, of course, is not the only hitch. Commemorating our heroes has been against our national rhetoric. It becomes even more needless when the heroes originate from religious or ethnic minorities. And it becomes almost pointless when they are not even our citizens. So is the least celebrated yet utterly inspirational story of the 95-year-old Major Geoffrey Langlands, a story that goes back to pre-partition and grows older alongside Pakistan, a story where a British man spent his entire life in doing what he thought was best for Pakistan.
So who is Geoffrey Langlands? Well, for starters, no one that fits the criteria of being cherished in Pakistan! That said, thousands of students from Chitral, a small city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whose lives have been changed forever, thanks to one man’s mission, see him as a living legend.
Born in 1917 in Britain, Langlands lost his father to influenza a year after his birth. At 10, his mother passed away from cancer. With no resources at hand, a group of people pooled in money to send him to an independent public school. Self-determined and ambitious, Langlands completed his schooling only to return the favour. He took up a teaching career at the age of 18, and started shaping young minds, something he seemed to have natural fervour for. Three years into his passion, in September 1939, the UK announced war with Germany and called on all its young men to join in. Soon, Langlands was put to coaching young recruits for the army while climbing the ranks alongside. He then went on to officers’ training school where he volunteered to be in the Indian army. In 1944, he moved to the Indian subcontinent only to witness the partition milestone in 1947. Shortly after Pakistan was born, the British government offered its army men the option to stay for one additional year on either side of the border. Just a few took up the offer and even fewer to move to Pakistan. Langlands was one of them. Instead of one, he ended up staying with Pakistan army for seven years. Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s army chief asked him to stay for another three years but the then government of Pakistan decided otherwise. For Langlands, this worked out well and he found himself a job at Aitchison College. The next 25 years were spent teaching the elite of Pakistan when in the year 1979, he decided to move to Pakistan’s less privileged parts, including North Waziristan, where he served for a decade at the Cadet College Razmak.
After being kidnapped for ransom in the late 1980s by an angry warlord and later being pushed by General Ziaul Haq to leave Pakistan, Langlands, undeterred, moved to Chitral to live his dream. He took charge of a modest school, then known as Sayurj public school, which was to later become Langlands School and College. With 80 students on the roll, Langlands began a journey shaping the lives of many young men and women. Years passed by. Langlands continued silently. He would talk to the locals and to the leaders convincing them to educate the girls. There were ups and downs, highs and lows but his resolve to teach remained unchanged. Engulfed in major financial difficulties, the school took modest fees from students, many of whom would get an exemption due to their inability to pay.
Langlands School and College, that stands today in the remote city of Pakistan has changed the lives of thousands of students mostly coming from surrounding areas. Today, the school, whose motto is, “There is always room for improvement”, has a student population of nearly 1,000 heads. Of these, one-third are girls. Many of the school’s alumni have gone on to study at the leading universities across the world and now include doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers, army officers and businessmen. Some even returned to teach at the school.
For two and a half decades, Langlands continued to build his dream. Through thick and thin, he went on giving quality education to young Pakistanis who otherwise could not have dreamt of such a luxury. In 2012, at the age of 94 and after 70 years of relentless service to education, almost all of it to Pakistan, he announced his retirement. His monthly paycheck before retirement was a meagre 30,000 rupees. All of his lifetime worth of collections and donations are in an endowment fund that helps in running the college but is hardly enough to keep it going.
Amidst tears, emotional speeches, utmost gratitude, standing ovation and Chitrali folk dance, Langlands was given a warm farewell by his students. Standing next to him was the new principal, someone Langlands had been in search of for many years. Her name is Carey Schofield who has been reported as humbly admitting, “It is very hard to take over from the Major. He is quite literally irreplaceable.”
The story of Geoffrey Langlands is nothing less than a fairy tale in what has remained of the world today. The selflessly devoted human species he represents is long extinct. His unquantifiable contribution to education in Pakistan is almost as old as Pakistan itself. His story may be less popular here but he has been written and spoken about back in the UK. In a recent interview to The Telegraph on the eve of his retirement from a 70-year long career, when asked about his final resting place, Langlands was quoted as saying:
“Pakistan definitely! No one in England knows me. They are already choosing me a plot in the Christian cemetery in Lahore. I said that it must be near the main gate because some people would not like to walk through a Christian cemetery.”
Geoffrey Langlands’ words are gratifying, painful and ironic all at the same time. Pakistan’s biggest debt is owed not to the IMF but to the likes of Major Langlands.
The writer is a Chartered Accountant and a graduate of the London School of Economics. He can be reached at Sheharyar.malhi@gmail.com
Published in Daily Times
Nawaz ko vote dene walay bhi pechtanay lagay...GST ma izafay sa mahangia ka tufan agia hi
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اب پچھتائے کیا ہوت جب چڑیاں چک گئیں کھیت
نواز شریف کو ووٹ دیکر اور جعلی مینڈیٹ دیکر جتانے والے سیکیورٹی ادارے اب عوام کی آہوں اور سسکیوں کو سن لیں۔۔۔۔ ان کی بد دعائیں ان سب کو لگ جائیں گی جنہوں نے انہیں جتانے میں کردار ادا کیا ہے۔۔
جنرل سیلز ٹیکس میں اضافے سے مہنگائی کا طوفان آگیا ہے۔۔۔۔۔۔ مہنگائی پہلے عوام کا کمر توڑی ہوئی تھی اب اس تو۔۔۔۔۔۔
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