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Govt holds talks with broadcast industry to streamline business

The government has begun deliberations with different groups and individuals on the shape of the Broadcast Bill for regulating the working of Indian and foreign satellite radio and television channels and bringing them under the country's broadcast codes.

Piyush G Mankad, secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry, has held several rounds of meetings with satellite TV channel operators, cable operators, industrialists, media groups and experts.

Although several governments had been promising comprehensive broadcast legislations from the early part of the decade, the matter assumed urgency following the Supreme Court's observation in the Cricket Association of Bengal case on February nine, 1995, that airwaves were public property and should be regulated by an autonomous authority.

The United Front government introduced the Broadcast Bill in May last year providing for a Broadcast Authority of India for regulating the entry of all satellite radio and TV channels in the country. It provided for a maximum foreign equity of 49 per cent and restricted cross-media participation to a maximum of 20 per cent.

The Cable Operators (Regulation) Act 1995 was also expected to be automatically repealed on the passing of the comprehensive broadcast bill. The bill had been handed over to a parliamentary select committee immediately on introduction, but lapsed with the dissolution of the tenth Lok Sabha.

Divergent views have been expressed at the meetings with Mankad by different people on subjects like foreign equity, cross-media restrictions, direct-to-home TV, accountability to Parliament and complaints redressal as envisaged in 1997 bill introduced by the then I&B minister S Jaipal reddy.

In the meeting held on October 29, a satellite TV channel owner had contended that grant of uplinking facilities to some channels was illegal as these channels had not obtained broadcast licences. It was stated that this may cause problems in case any issue was raised in a court of law. The secretary had agreed to examine this.

In the meeting held yesterday, there was a strong divergence of opinion since it was attended by media personalities as well as those representing the industry. The media experts including Suhas Borker of Jan Prasar and Akhila Sivadas of the Media Advocacy Group felt that the foreign equity should be restricted to less than 25 per cent as it was very easy to convert 49 per cent into a majority shareholding. Several speakers were in favour of restricting cross-media holding to a mere ten per cent.

It was pointed out that there were no clear guidelines in the bill relating to complaints redressal, and some speakers felt that it was necessary to have accountability to Parliament in-built in the legislation. Other experts who attended the meeting yesterday included Rajendra Joshi and Shankar Ghosh.

The deliberations before the select committee had been at the stage of evidence when the Lok Sabha was dissolved and the bill lapsed last year. Before she was asked to take over as the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sushma Swaraj who held the portfolio of information and broadcasting had promised to introduce a revised broadcast bill in the Lok Sabha in the winter session commencing on November 30.

She had said that the evidence collected and the amendments moved by members of the select committee had provided an indication of the thinking of various political parties on the issue. She had herself been a member of the committee.

Meanwhile, Union minister of state for information and broadcasting Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has stated that all decisions relating to foreign investment, in the fields of information, broadcasting and films, would be taken with due precautions, and only after unanimity had been generated at all appropriate levels.

''The issue of foreign investment in these areas is an extremely sensitive issue, and more akin to such investments being made in areas relating to defence and national security, than in areas of infrastructure and core group industriesmm,'' he said last week in Thiruvananthapuram.

UNI

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