Broadcast policy raises industry's bar and ire

New broadcasting policy: largely, a force of good.

The new policy on broadcasting is, largely, a force of good.

‘You will be slapped on the hand five times. This is your warning. After that you will be thrown out.’ That, in essence, is what one of the many changes made to the policy for broadcasting television channels in India last week, says. Most of the other changes — such as increasing the net worth for new entrants and prolonging the licence period— are positive. They will, with any luck, help nurture the news broadcast industry back to financial health. They will also bring some sanity to the Rs 32,000 crore, hyper-competitive, Indian television business.

Unfortunately, it is the ‘five slaps’ clause which has got all the attention. It links the renewal of a broadcaster’s licence to his having committed five or more violations of the programming and advertising code.

THE FIVE SLAPS POLICY
Not surprisingly this has raised the hackles of news broadcasters. “We already have a self-regulatory mechanism in place with the IBF (Indian Broadcasting Federation) and NBA (News Broadcasters Association). Then why fall back to this?” asks one broadcaster. “The government of India has unnecessarily created a controversy where none existed,” says Sunil Lulla, managing director and CEO, Times Television Network.

Lulla is right. There was no need for this. Every one of the 650 odd channels in India are subject to the Cable Television Networks Act of 1995 and to the uplinking and downlinking policy of 2005. Both state unequivocally that any violation of the programming code could result in shut down or suspension of a channel. That is how Fashion TV was yanked off air twice, in 2007 and 2010. It is a lever the government used, before self regulation came into force two years back. “So far the government has completely supported the industry moves towards self-regulation, so what persuaded them to bring in this?” wonders Ashok Mansukhani, president of the MSO Alliance.

“Given that there are now self regulatory mechanisms in place for general entertainment channels and news channels, it would be good if the ministry seeks their views before taking the drastic step of either cancellation or non-renewal of licence,” says Deepak Jacob, executive vice president and general counsel, Star India. “This will go a long way in restoring broadcasters’ confidence in the ministry's initiative. It will also make any decision on cancellation of licence less susceptible to judicial challenge,” he adds.

Though ministry officials have reportedly said that it is the self regulatory bodies that will decide what constitutes a violation and not some bureaucrat, most broadcasters, especially in news, are jittery. The timing is suspect. This is a government reeling from corruption scams, many amplified by the media. It seems like a very crude way of reminding news broadcasters of who’s in charge.

And, that is the bigger issue. As far as media policy goes, no one really is in charge. Too much depends on the minister and party in power. The need for an ‘independent-of-the-government media regulator’ who would have a long-term, holistic approach has been steadfastly ignored by both, the industry and the government. The industry likes the resulting ad-hocness of policy making because it can influence it more easily. The government likes it because it can always create new levers for control.

THE CREATION OF NEW ENTRY BARRIERS
To be fair though, this round of change came about because the industry lobbied hard for it, especially news broadcasters. There are 130 news channels in the country, the highest anywhere in the world. Roughly one-third belong to politicians and local builders who are more interested in using it as a power tool than as media to disseminate news. So you have a bunch of serious news broadcasters wanting to make money, fighting a not-so-serious bunch burning capital. The resultant mess pushed broadcasters to seek changes in the uplink and downlink policies making it tougher for non-serious guys to come in. The whole consultation process with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the ministry has been going on now for two years.

Many of these changes to the uplink/downlink policy essentially try to erect higher and stronger entry barriers into the news broadcast business. The most important one states that the net worth of new entrants wanting a news licence should be Rs 20 crore for the first channel and Rs 5 crore for every additional channel, up from Rs 3 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively. It forces out the people who do not intend to run news as a business.

Eventually this will mean less undercutting of airtime rates, better margins and a healthier television business. In the long run most of these changes are bound to bring joy to the beleaguered industry. Maybe it is time to relax a bit.