Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Mar 27, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Mar 27, 2003 |
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Radio/TV Government - Policy Industry & Economy - Radio/TV Editorial, management control in Indian hands — News channels uplink norms put in place Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, March 26 APRIL 1, 2003 may finally see an additional half-a-dozen news channels going on air with the Government today finally announcing guidelines for news channels planning to uplink from India. While the Government has capped foreign investment at 26 per cent, it has taken steps to ensure that management and editorial control of such channels remain in the hands of Indians. According to the guidelines announced today by the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, any channel applying for uplinking news must be owned by a company registered in India, majority of board directors be resident Indians as also the CEO or the head of the channel and those exercising editorial control over news content of the channel. Mr Prasad said currently about 100 channels are available, of which 47 were news channels and 16 were 24-hour news channels. Eight more applications by various news channels are pending of which five were round-the-clock channels. Among these are applications from NDTV, BBC and Star News. Explaining the objective of the cap, the Minister said that world over the regimes were restrictive with 20 per cent limit in Australia and 25 per cent in the US. "India's policy is most liberal," he added. Permission for usage of facilities and infrastructure for live news and footage collection and transmission, irrespective of the technology used, will be given to only channels uplinked from India. However, he said for a smooth rollover, content providers and channels currently using VSAT and Satellite Video Phone and similar other infrastructure, which lends itself for use of uplinking and transfer of content, will be allowed a maximum of three months to come within the framework of the guidelines. Also, existing news channels such as Zee, which have over 50 per cent foreign investment, would have to bring down the foreign stake to 26 per cent within one year. When asked specifically on the application put by Star TV, for application for uplinking its 24-hour news channel from India, the Minister said, ``This policy is channel-neutral," and added that Star TV had not approached the Government after last week's decision of the Union Cabinet. However, Star TV has been given a temporary reprieve with three months transitory time to comply with new guidelines. Otherwise, the channel would not have been able to telecast live. He said requests by channels uplinked from outside India for use of equipment for collection of news and current affairs for temporary duration will be entertained on a case-to-case basis in consultation with other Ministries, including Home. In a statement, Ms Ravina Raj Kohli, President, Star News, said, "We welcome the guidelines and will comply with them. Star News will undergo a seamless transition to a 24-hour Hindi news service from March 31, 2003 onwards when the contract with our current supplier comes to an end."
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