12 more TV channels in pipeline

Published in The Kathmandu Post

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
KATHMANDU, Feb 28

Indefinite bandas, chakkajams and curfews have taken a continuous toll on Nepali industry. Figures show that there has been no significant industrial growth as the country is still reeling under unstable political conditions even after the end of the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

However, the media industry, which in itself largely depends on other industries, is booming in Nepal.

Newspapers and FM radio stations are already in their thousands and hundreds respectively in the country. Latest statistics show that now it is the television industry's turn and Nepali society is entering the televisual age with a vengeance.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC), there are a dozen more satellite TV channels in the pipeline. Many of them are preparing to reach the market within months.
Seven TV channels -- Nepal Television (NTV), NTV-2, Kantipur Television, Image, Channel Nepal, Avenues, and Sagarmatha -- are already in operation. Nepal 1, though not registered in Nepal, is one more channel run for Nepali audiences. Image Channel has bought the license of Shangri-La Satellite Television and has been using it for satellite transmissions.

Almost all the TV channels in operation so far in the country are largely based on news and current affairs.

Media promoters have been concentrating on news-oriented channels as on average over 60 percent of the total revenue comes from advertisements aired during news and current affairs, according to Ranjeet Acharya, Chief Executive Officer of Prisma Advertising.

The situation in India is, however, just the opposite. Indian TV channels earn substantially higher from entertainment programs than from news products, according to Joydeb Chakravarty, Managing Director of Thompson Nepal.

A group of media and TV personalities including music director Shambhujit Baskota and film editor Narendra Khadka is preparing to launch NNTV (Namaste Nepali TV) within a couple of months. The channel will focus totally on entertainment, sports, idle-shows and talk-shows. "Main targets of this channel will be non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) and other Nepali communities spread over several countries," Khadka informed. It also has plans to establish collaboration with Indian or any other international channels.

Similarly, a group of engineers has teamed up to launch Moonlight Television that will mainly focus its programs on development activities, according to Director of Model City and Technology Development, Krishna Prasad Sharma, who is also one of the promoters of the channel. "We will initiate debates, through the channel, over issues like models of development in the days to come," he added. Housing and construction companies and I/NGOs active in the field of development will constitute its target audience and advertisers, according to Sharma. Beginning with six hours at first, the channel will later run round the clock.

Sanjay Adhikari of ABC TV, however, said, "Let us do something first before making publicity."
TV channels in Nepal are already walking a tightrope, as there has been no growth of other industries in recent days. "No new product has been launched in the market for the last 10 months," said Acharya. "New channels will have to share the same pie unless they come up with an innovative idea or find some fresh sector."

Unless there is a new revolution in the entertainment sector, there is no possibility of improvement in generation of more revenue from advertisements, according to Acharya.

Expansion of the cable network is not good news either for Nepali channels because foreign channels can reach Nepali kitchens and drawing rooms directly through cable. "Then multinational companies think there is no more a need to provide advertisements to Nepali channels," Acharya said. The increasing trend of using hoarding boards in urban areas is another headache for local channels as advertisers allocate money for that also from the same advertising budget, according to him.

Chakravarty hopes that an increasing number of TV channels would promote competition, quality of service and more scientific costing.

Pointing out shortcomings in Nepali media, he stated that at present Nepali TV channels lack diversity. "Their programs replicate each other," he added.

Presence of very few fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) in the market is a problem for Nepali media. Similarly, the same handful of old advertisers remain the big players in the market, according to Chakravarty.

Transmission charges for television channels seeking a license range from Rs 350,000 for 500 watt capacity to Rs 1.2 million for 10 KW.

The channels have to pay 110 percent of the amount as renewal charges annually. Also, both satellite and terrestrial channels have to pay 5,000 rupees as application charge to the government.

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New satellite channels in pipeline
================================

• Newsline Pvt Ltd, Kathmandu,National TV Network, Kathmandu
• Uplink International, Kathmandu
  
• Everest TV Network, Kathmandu
  
• Bodhigram, Kathmandu
  
• SK TV, Lalitpur
  
• Nobel Broadcasting, Kathmandu
  
• Citizen TV, Kathmandu
  
• Moonlight TV, Kathmandu
  
• Tarai Media Network, Birgunj
  
• ABC TV, Kathmandu
  
• Namaste Nepali TV Network, Kathmandu

Balaju, Darchula incidents, ominous indication

E-Zine REPORT
BALAJU, FEB 6

Despite the Tarai region becoming a hotbed of violent activities in the recent days, people in the rest of the parts of the country were taking a sigh of relief for couple of months.

But, the latest developments give some ominous indication-- the peace is not going to last for long. Police and Maoist youth wing the Young Communist League (YCL) cadres Wednesday once again started their past course—muscle-flexing right in the capital city.

Police today evening raided office of the Maoist youth-front, Young Communist League, in the capital Wednesday evening.

Following the police intervention, the YCL cadres have obstructed major streets in the capital by burning tyres and demonstration in protest following the raid at their office located inside the Balaju Industrial Estate in Kathmandu.

YCL leader "Sagar", talking to a TV channel late night, informed that the situation at Balaju is returning to normalcy as police backtracked from their camps.

Meanwhile, the YCL cadres had abducted three Nobel Academy students from their hostel in the capital this afternoon.

Bidhan Chunara, Bipin Khatri and Suman Shrestha were abducted from the hostel.
Issuing a statement, Nepali Congress has condemned the abduction and demanded safe release of the three.

Meanwhile, 17 persons including Nepali Congress lawmaker Dilendra Prasad Badu and a dozen policemen, who were injured in Maoist attack, were airlifted to the capital Wednesday for treatment.
The NC activists were injured in a clash that ensued after the Maoist cadres tried to foil the NC’s election campaign at Latinath VDC in Darchula district on Tuesday.

The injured were airlifted from Gokule, six-hour walk away from the incident site, to the capital this morning in a chopper.

Besides Badu, the injured activists have been identified as Narendra Dhami, Sher Shingh Dhami, Hemanta Bista and Harak Singh Dhami and are admitted at TU Teaching hospital in Maharajgunj.

According to doctors attending the injured, NC leader Badu has received critical injuries in lower parts of his body and other activists have been severely injured in the heads and legs.
12 police personnel who were injured in the confrontation were also airlifted to the capital for treatment.
The team of NC activists had reached Reel village for to campaign for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
The Maoist cadres picketed the house of a local NC activist, Mohan Singh Dhami, where the NC team were having launch and pounced on them, said Darchula Chief District Officer Yagy Raj Bohara.

Two Maoist cadres were also reportedly injured when the police fired to contain the violent mob.
The situation of five police men mobilised for Badu’s security and few NC activists are still unknown.
During the scuffle, the Maoists torched 12 houses of the villages including Dhami’s apart from looting a rifle, a pistol and a communication set from the police, said police Inspector Amar Bahadur Bom.

Highest bridge in offing, raises safety concerns

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
KATHMANDU, Jan 4

Parbat district in the western region is likely to have the highest bridge -- and second longest at that -- of its type in the country. However, record-setting has also raised safety concerns.

The bridge will connect Kusma bazaar, district headquarters of Parbat to Katuwachaupari VDC.
The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) is to start work on the bridge while the District Development Committee (DDC) Parbat has already done some preliminary work for it.

The suspension (trail) bridge to be built over the Madi river has its 116.67 meter free board height (that is the height from the level of water to the bridge's lowest level).

"This is the first suspension bridge (with no tower) with this much free board ever built in Nepal," said Engineer Badri Prasad Dhungel of Suspension Bridge Division under MoLD.

The length of the bridge is 344 meters, second only to the 350-meter-long Buwajor bridge that connects Khotang and Udaypur districts -- the longest in the country.

Senior experts and engineers have questioned its safety and utility given its height and length.
A senior engineer working with MoLD, preferring anonymity, said, "The relevance of its use may be questioned once it is constructed."

According to the expert, due to the height of the bridge, people may get dizzy and frightened.
Also, Dr Narendra Lal Joshi, a top expert in the sector, said that it might be problematic for some people. "Some may be frightened," he said.

However, engineer Dhungel claimed that it should not be a problem for locals in hilly areas. "We can see Nepali people crossing big rivers on cables by tying a rope on their waists. So, why can't people walk along a well-built bridge?," Dhungel argued.

Although the engineers interviewed about the bridge differed over the issue of utility, they agreed at least on one point: that making a bridge longer or higher does not itself imply that it becomes technically weak. "It can be equally sound in technical aspects if there is no defect in its design, materials, and construction process," Joshi said. Other engineers agreed.

The division has already undertaken designing of the bridge and is set to invite bids for construction.
The DDC -- which had previously tried to construct the bridge on its own -- requested the ministry to undertake the task only after it realized its complexity, officials said. The ministry is at the last stage of reaching agreement with a construction company.

Dhungel claimed that in view of the perilous location, the division has done good groundwork. "Five main cables of 40 mm diameter will be used on both the sides (5+5 cables) as that is a better arrangement to withstand heavy weight for such bridges," he said. "Likewise, 11 meter-long anchorage blocks will be at both ends," he added. Life-span of such a bridge is 50 years.

The location was chosen as it can directly connect district headquarters Kusma to villages including Katuwachaupari, Pipaltari, Arthur, Thulipokhari, Khaula, Shankarpokhari, Thapathana, Karkineta, Bicharichautara and other adjoining villages far from a road head, according to the division. The estimated budget for its construction is 7.2 million rupees, which is funded by the government itself.

Published in: The Kathmandu Post

Nepalis lose Rs 1 billion worth cell phones a year!

Published in THE KATHMANDU POST

By Thira L Bhusal
KATHMANDU, Feb 2

Cell phone users in Nepal lose about one billion rupees worth of mobile sets every year!
Sounds implausible? Here is the calculation.
"We receive, on average, 300 applications a day for retrieving old registered numbers and sim cards," said Ravindra Jha, manager at the Mobile Service Directorate of Nepal Telecom (NT). He said a roughly four-month observation conducted by NT suggested that it receives about 9,000 such applications a month.
Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd, which operates Mero Mobile services, claims that it receives, on average, 200 applications a day from its centers across the country seeking recovery of old registered numbers and sim cards. Sanat Sharma, brand manager of the company, said, "We have not studied the data thoroughly. But we estimate the number of such applications is 200 a day."
If these figures are true, Nepalis lose 500 mobiles a day. This may appear too large a number but considering that NT and Mero Mobile have a combined mobile subscriber base of over 2 million, it is just 0.025 percent of the mobile phone user
population.
Wholesale and retail mobile businesses in the capital say the price of mobile sets range from Rs 2,000 to Rs 65,000 in Nepal. What is the price of a mobile set that an average Nepali carries? It's hard to pinpoint the average price. But a general consensus among businesses is around Rs 6,000.
At this price, Nepalis lose Rs 3 million worth of mobile sets a day and well above Rs 1 billion a year! None of the insurance companies in Nepal offer insurance coverage for mobile phones lost.
Though mobile users suffer a financial loss, it offers mobile operators and the government additional revenue.
Each NT customer needs to pay Rs 565 to retrieve an old number while Mero Mobile charges Rs 283 for the same service. This means Nepal Telecom earns over Rs 61 million a year from customers who opt to retrieve their old numbers and sim cards. Likewise, Mero Mobile earns Rs 20 million a year in the same fashion. Plus those who find their lost mobile sets often obtain new sim cards either for themselves or for family members, providing additional revenue to the mobile operators. The government receives 13 percent VAT on each service purchase.
Jha, however, claims that NT also loses when customers lose mobile sets as such customers do not make phone calls for a couple of days.
Interestingly, the number of applications to retrieve old numbers is high on Sundays. "This is partly due to NT's day off on Saturday. But our informal study shows that many people lose their mobile sets Friday evening while they are in a more relaxed frame of mind and enjoying their weekend," Jha said.
Both NT and Mero Mobile receive applications for such services at two centers each in the capital. Telecom provides the services from its Jawalakhel and Tripureshwor offices while Mero Mobile receives such applications at Krishna Towers at New Baneshwor and at its Pulchowk branch. Both the companies also collect such applications from major towns and zonal or regional centers across the country.