MAM
Nimbus to market DD telecast feed
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today ordered Nimbus Sports to deposit Rs 55 million within a week, even as it gave the marketing rights to the former because it had said it could raise almost five times more than competing public broadcaster Prasar Bharati out of the ongoing India-West Indies match-up and the upcoming One-Day International series involving Sri Lanka.
The court, hearing the issue of marketing rights between Prasar Bharati and Nimbus, was told by the pubcaster that it could raise Rs 42.6 million from marketing the seven cricket ODIs involving India, on their stand-alone DD Sports channel. To this, Nimbus had said that they would raise Rs 220 million if given the marketing rights for the DD Sports channel, and hence was given the rights to market the events, to which they hold rights, on behalf of DD.
“This means DD would actually get much more than it had hoped for. If they had to market their own channel, they would have got Rs 42.6 million, theoretically, and they would have to give away 75 per cent of that to Nimbus Sports, as per their own guidelines and offers made by them. Now they are getting Rs 220 million without a marketing exercise,” sources held.
Meanwhile, the rights to market events on AIR’s 69 channels lies with Prasar Bharati, and the court will decide on the revenue sharing ratio on 10 February, when the rest of the contentious issue would also be taken up. The court, however, held that though Prasar Bharati could stream the matches thorough its DTH platform, it could not allow any private DTH operator to access that and show the matches.
Prasar Bharati spokesperson Manish Desai told indiantelevision.com, “We have no arrangements with any private DTH operators to access our DTH signal, but ours is a free-to-air channel and we have no mechanism to stop this. The court has been informed of this and it has taken note of this too.”
Officials said that DD had quoted a low rate of Rs 42.6 million as they were to market only their own channel, and that too at a seven-minute delayed telecast. Sources also pointed out that they feel that with this not being a prime event for various reasons, and hence marketing it at a high rate could be well nigh impossible.
Among the reasons cited are that this is the fourth quarter of the financial year and most corporates are tightening their purse strings. Secondly, in the coming matches with Sri Lanka involved and some of their prize players not likely to be in the team, like Chaminda Vaas, the attraction level is low, DD officials feel. The third reason is that recent abysmal performance of India in South Africa had dampened viewership substantially.
They pointed out too that even as of date, Nimbus’ Neo Sports is not carrying too many advertisements, with a large volume of them being their own channel advertisements.
In that sense, there was a sense of relief within Prasar Bharati that it would rake in more than it was expecting to.
Brands
Uidai partners with Google to help users locate Aadhaar centres
Verified Aadhaar centres to appear on Maps with services and access info
MUMBAI: Finding an Aadhaar centre may soon be as easy as finding your favourite café. In a move aimed at making public services more accessible, the Unique Identification Authority of India has partnered with Google to display authorised Aadhaar centres on Google Maps. The feature, expected to roll out in the coming months, will allow residents to locate verified centres quickly and confidently.
More than 60,000 Aadhaar centres, including state of the art Aadhaar Seva Kendras, will be mapped. When users search on Google Maps, they will be directed to authorised facilities rather than unverified listings, helping curb misinformation and confusion.
The listings will do more than drop a pin. Users will be able to see the nature of services offered at each centre, whether it is adult enrolment, child enrolment, or limited to address and mobile number updates. Details such as operating hours, parking availability and divyang friendly infrastructure will also be shown wherever applicable.
Uidai CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar, said the collaboration is part of the authority’s continued effort to improve ease of living for Aadhaar holders by making authorised centres simpler and faster to navigate.
The partnership will deepen in its next phase, with Uidai using Google Business Profile to manage information and respond directly to public feedback. Looking ahead, the two organisations are also exploring the option of enabling appointment bookings through the Google Maps interface, potentially allowing residents to plan their visits with greater efficiency.
Google India country head, strategic partnerships Roli Agarwal, said integrating verified Aadhaar centres would help millions access trusted services with confidence, bringing essential government infrastructure closer to the people who need it most.
If all goes to plan, a routine Aadhaar update may soon begin not with a queue, but with a search bar.
