Make Every TV, a Computer ? First Step taken

 

 

Context :

Govt panel: Use STBs to get universal TRP data  / Times of India  /  04 Nov 2021

 

Extract :

 

The four-member committee appointed by the government in November 2020 to review the ‘Guidelines on Television Rating Agencies in India’ year has recommended that it should be made mandatory to universalise collection of viewership information by using the ‘ Return Path Data ’  (RPD) technology.

The report, which was shared with the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) and all broadcaster associations on Monday, acknowledges that there has been a broad consensus among most stakeholders in favour of leveraging RPD capabilities.

The four-member committee appointed by the government in November 2020 to review the ‘Guidelines on Television Rating Agencies in India’ year has recommended that it should be made mandatory to universalise collection of viewership information by using the ‘Return Path Data’ (RPD) technology.

 

Led by Prasar Bharati chief executive Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the committee was appointed in the backdrop of the ‘ TRP Scam ’ unearthed by the Mumbai police in October 2020, which pointed to the “fraudulent” manipulation of Television Rating Points (TRPs) by three channels – Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema.

 

The report, which was shared with the Broadcast Audience Research Council India ( BARC India ) and all broadcaster associations on Monday, acknowledges that there has been a broad consensus among most stakeholders in favour of leveraging RPD capabilities.

 

 Observing that the review of the Television Ratings System in India was undertaken during a period of “immense change within the media sector” and at a juncture “when the integrity of the ratings system has come under critical public scrutiny”, the committee recommended increasing competitiveness in the TV ratings space, putting in place a “specialised regulatory mechanism”, and increasing the base for TV ratings in India in line with global benchmarks.

 

“As a first step, the committee recommends that provision for RPD be made a mandatory capability of all future Set Top Boxes (STBs) deployed by Distributor Platform Operators so that RPD becomes a ubiquitous capability on par with encryption, conditional access and other such mandatory STB level capabilities,” the report said.

 

It added, “Further, all collection of viewership data by DPOs should be governed by privacy norms prescribed by the government/regulator.

 

Additionally, the sale or sharing of such viewership data by the DPOs should be governed by the guidelines for TV rating systems.”

 

Recommending to BARC the integration of existing RPD data within six months, the panel also batted for setting up a joint industry working group comprising stakeholders to “specify the norms for an industry-wide RPD mandate, to codify privacy protection, and to govern the sale/sharing of RPD data in a transparent manner.”

  

“The government may consider temporarily suspending the license to BARC India after suitably amending guidelines and issuing necessary directions to BARC India. The temporary suspension may be limited to the period till BARC India,” the report said.

 

 

MY  TAKE :

 

This is a very good FIRST STEP . I have no doubt, by 2024, this will morph every TV into a Computer, as envisaged in my following e-mail :

 

The Future of TV Viewing ? ………………[ 26 March 2019 ]

 

Extract :

But imagine if each Set Top Box, were to morph into a BAR-O-Meter

By end of 2019, number of households with TV sets , is likely to be close to 200 million  

 

That makes for 200 Million BAR-O-Meters  - as against 40,000 today !

 

And to complete the TV VIEWERSHIP MEASUREMENT revolution, stretch your imagination as follows :

 

#   All of this 200 Million “ Smart Set Top Boxes “ will be tiny Super-computers

     with terabytes of memory

 

 #   All of these will be only “ Pre-paid “ versions enabling instant Online

      Payments from TV Screen / Remote

  

#   These Set Top Boxes will show ALL TV channels, all the time, – eliminating

     need for ala-carte pre-selection on Service provider’s web site / filling up

     channel selection forms of MSO ( TV Cable operators )

   

#   A viewer would be able to view ANY channel, any time

  

#   Smart Set Top Box will automatically / instantly, deduct money ( from pre-paid

     account of the household ), based on “ Per Minute “ tariff for each channel . “

     Credit Balance “ will flash in screen corner , every 10 minutes

      

 

#   Being a “ Super Smart Set Top Box “ , internet will be integrated and web sites

     made available on TV screen ( - why need a separate computer screen ? )

        

 #   Smart Set Top Box will also enable Video – Audio Streaming services like

      Netflix and just announced Apple TV+/ Apple News Plus / Apple Arcade etc

 

       

#   Smart Set Top Box will enable job portals ( and of course, LinkedIn ) to deliver

     “ Suitable / Recommended Job Alerts “, and permit “ Apply Online “, using

      remote

 

#   Solely at his own discretion, a viewer would ,

 

           >  Allow advertisers to display “ Customized Advts “ on his TV screen ,

               based on his TV Channel Viewing History

                

              >  Rent his “ Net Surfing History “ to Social Media Sites for a “ Monthly

                  Rental “ of Rs 1,000

 

 

     *    Set Top Box will be synchronized with Alexa – Google Home – Siri – Cortana

           etc to accept voice commands

 

When 5G – Quantum Computing – DNA based Memory Storage – Li Fi – Face Recognition – AR – VR – AI - Blockchain etc mature, what I have envisaged above, is bound to happen

  

I am a great believer in :

If you can imagine something today , technology will turn it into reality tomorrow !

 

Questions are :

  

#   Will TRAI or some other regulating agency try to stop the advance of

     technology ?

 

#   Will some Start Up come forward to take up this challenge to disrupt the

     Advertising Industry ?

 

TRP : Manipulation can be Eliminated ……………….[ 08 Oct 2020 ]

Extract :

    Every 10 minutes , those 200 million  “ Super Smart Set-top Boxes “ , will automatically upload, the “ Channel wise , Hours Viewed “ data onto a CENTRAL SERVER of BARC ( Server will aggregate data ) .

In this age of IoT { Internet of Things } , where millions of EV cars have become “Computers on Wheels “ and where TV Channels display WEATHER MAPS of 10,000 Cities ( with their latest temperature / humidity ), what I am suggesting is something that TCS-WIPRO – INFOSYS – L&T INFOTECH, can implement within 6 months !

    Software on BARC server will dynamically compute TRP ( for each TV channel ), and display graphically on the “ Home Page “ of BARC website  ( a Bar Chart in descending order , with a “ time stamp “ ) . Everything automatic ( without human intervention ) / up-to-date / transparent / cannot be manipulated by anyone ! Remember , it might be possible to bribe 2000 households in Mumbai, to leave their TV Sets ON ( 24x7 ) , but there is no way anyone can bribe 200 MILLION households, spread all over India

     Clicking on the BAR for any TV Channel , will display its TRP Graph , of last 1 day / 1 week / 1 month etc

Dear Shri Javadekarji,

You are in the position to start this REFORM of “ Social Benefit Consequences “ ( “ Employment “ – by way of just one example ) , which goes far beyond a matter of concern to Companies wanting to advertise on TV channels

 

Dear Shri Shashi Shekhar Vempatiji

 [ ceo@prasarbharati.gov.in ],

 

I urge you to examine whether this ( next version of Super Set Top Boxes ) morphing of 20 crore TV sets can be leveraged for :

Ø  Launch of TV channels by the players of Online Education Industry such as Byju / UnAcademy /  Khan’s Academy ( and the Central + State governments ) etc. This innovation will take education to millions of poor students all over India, who, either cannot afford a Smart Phone or have no access to reasonably priced broadband

Ø  Skiiling / Reskilling of millions of our workers ( who are threatened by job-losses due to mechanization / automation of factory-floor jobs ) , by launch of SKILLING CHANNELS

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com  / 05 Nov 2021

 

Related  Readings :

 

VIDEOCON INTERACTIVE TV PROJECT …………………………..[ 15 June 2001 ]

Redesign of TV remotes………………………………………………….. [ 15 June 2001 ]

Peter’s WEB 3.0……………………………………………………………….. [ 09 Dec 2018 ]

TRAI : Taming of the TV Tycoons ?.............................. [ 27 Jan 2019 ]

Thank You , Shri R S Sharmaji ………………………………………….[ 24 Jan 2019 ]

National Skills University : Virtual is the only way………….. [ 03 Apr 2021 ]

 

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Broadcasting sector requires light-touch regulatory regime, says IBDF president  /  04 Nov 2021

Extract :

The sector is experiencing a crisis as many consumers at the top end of the pay-TV spectrum opt for video streaming services, while those at the bottom move to free-to-air platforms, resulting in a subscription revenue squeeze. Also, advertisement revenues are yet to recover from last year’s Covid disruptions

“The review of up-linking and downlinking guidelines, which is due, is going to further improve the ease of doing business in the sector,” he said. “We saw an opportunity to expand the scope of IBF to include digital and rechristened IBF as IBDF in a challenging year like this,” Madhavan said. “We were the first to launch a self-regulatory organisation with widespread engagement from member companies.”

 

 

DoT forms innovation group for 6G technology  /   04 Nov 2021

Extract :

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has formed a technology innovation group on the next frontier, the sixth generation (6G), hoping to take the lead in the development of the technology globally.

Telecom Secretary, K Rajaraman will head the initiative as chairperson and the forum aims to create vision and objectives as well as develop a roadmap for research and development (R&D), pre-standardisation, development of applications and products, and action plans for 6G technology.

But the government is eyeing higher participation of India in futuristic technological advancements worldwide, and to essentially increase the country’s contribution in the global value chain.

China’s Huawei, and Korea’s Samsung and LG have already started work on 6G technology, which is likely to be much faster than 5G, enabling a massive societal change.

The next generation of technology is expected to make its first commercial move before 2030.

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