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Government bans direct-to-home TV service

Communication ministry sources said that a gazette notification, issued on Wednesday banning the setting up and maintenance of direct-to-home satellite television service which was later withheld, was given the green signal on Thursday without any change.

The notification had earlier been issued on Wednesday, July 16, afternoon and later released to the press. However, senior communication ministry officials had asked the press to withdraw the news about the notification within minutes of issuing it.

Communication ministry sources said on Thursday morning that there had been some ''rethinking'' on the issue, but it had been decided to go ahead with the ban.

By the notification, the government has banned the installation and maintenance of direct-to-home (DTH) television service by any person in the country to ensure regulation of the nature and content of programmes and prevent undesirable and objectionable broadcasts.

The notification from the communications ministry said: ''No person shall establish, maintain, work, possess, or deal in special antenna, including dish antenna, satellite decoders and associated front-end converter used or capable of being used for reception of transient images of fixed and moving objects direct from satellites operating in broadcasting satellite service or fixed satellite service in frequency bands 4800 mhz and above.''

The notification simultaneously says that no licence shall be required by any person to establish, maintain, work, possess or deal in radio, television, and video cassette recorders and special antenna for frequencies bands below 4800 mhz (direct-to-home transmission is generally done on a frequency of 4800 mhz, also known as the KU band. All TV transmission at present is in the 'C' band).

The government had on December 19 last year issued a notification requiring that any DTH transmission will need a special licence. Following this, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Star TV network established the Indian Sky Broadcasting (I Sky B) on the lines of his British Sky Broadcasting (B Sky B) and demonstrated its capacity to start a DTH service as soon as it could obtained a licence, causing the government to think in terms of the ban, which came on Thursday.

The notification has been issued in exercise of powers conferred by Sections 4 and 7 of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and Sections 4 and 10 of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, and in Supersession of the Radio, Television, and Video Cassette Recorder Sets (Exemption from Licensing) Rules 1985. The new rules will be known as the 'Radio, Television and Video Cassette Recorder Sets (Exemption from Licensing Requirements) Rules 1997'.

The explanatory memorandum says that DTH is a new technology, enabling a satellite broadcaster to use digital compression and KU band transponders, and transmitting signals in frequencies above 4800 mhz, which is ''on the threshold of entry into India.''

The memorandum notes that at present, the transmission at frequencies below 4800 mhz (C band) is done through cable operators, and so ''regulation of any undesirable and objectionable programme is feasible.'' But under the new technology, a broadcaster can beam his programmes directly into Indian homes with the help of a very small sized dish antenna, ''which even defies detection if and when required and without the involvement of any intermediary like cable operators, thus establishing a direct link with households without any possibility of regulation by any intermediary or any regulatory authority. In a nutshell, the new technology would enable any broadcaster in or outside India to telecast or beam any programme of his choice directly to houses and bedrooms of the general public.''

''It is apprehended that any broadcaster who decides to start a DTH service for reception in India could include a foreign entity uplinking his signals from outside the Indian soil without any control over either the nature or content of the programme,'' the memorandum states, concluding that it had therefore become necessary to ensure that no person should be allowed to start a DTH service in India.

The chief executive officer of Star TV in India, Rathikant Basu, accompanied by Urmila Gupta, who is in charge of DTH operations in the Hong Kong-based network, had on Tuesday evening met Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy, ministry secretary N P Nawani and Doordarshan Director General K Sarma and made a lengthy presentation on how DTH will work. They had also urged the minister to reconsider the decision to ban this communication technology.

Star TV sources contended that no technology could be banned by a mere notification and only the legislature (Parliament) had the power to do this. It was likely therefore that the new notification will be challenged in a court of law, they added.

After Star TV's announcement at a press meet on March 26 about the proposed launch of DTH whenever the licence is issued and the setting up of consumer service centres in some cities to gauge public opinion, the then information and broadcasting minister C M Ibrahim had issued a warning to Star TV not to start the service pending introduction and passing of the broadcasting bill, which was then in its final stages of consideration. (The bill has since been introduced and referred to a joint selection committee of Parliament headed by Sharad Pawar).

The new bill states that the government will allow a minimum of two DTH operators in the country, as part of its attempt to prevent monopolies and give a ''level playing field'' to Indian operators.

Under the I Sky B plan, it had booked six digital KU transponders on the American satellite PAS4, thus making it possible for it to beam up to 36 channels into Indian homes. Since the Star TV's own channels number less than 10, this would have meant that it could gain a monopoly of broadcast over Indian skies by permitting other private channels to broadcast via its DTH network. Furthermore, most of these channels would become encrypted (pay) channels, thus permitting the broadcasters to hike the subscription from consumers.

Doordarshan had attempted to set up its own DTH service in the country, and had even signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian satellite company Measat in 1995.

However, although this MoU expired in August 1996, it was not renewed despite a specific recommendation to this effect by Doordarshan, which had already done some preliminary work in this field in collaboration with Measat.

Cable operators welcome government notification

UNI