Broadcast Law Okayed, 20% Cap On Media Cross-Holdings

The cabinet yesterday approved a broadcasting law to regulate all aspects of private radio and television broadcasting in the country, including a 20 per cent restriction on cross-media holdings. The proposed law also deals with uplinking from India.

The cabinet, which approved a clutch of other proposals from other sectors too, also approved the amendments to the Prasar Bharti Act, 1990 which recommends the formation of two separate corporations for radio and TV.

With these approvals the cabinet has cleared the way for a broadcasting bill and the Prasar Bharti (Amend) bill to be tabled in parliament, a government spokesperson said yesterday.

The broadcasting law, which has been approved by the cabinet and will now be drafted into a bill, also recommends levying a cess on radio and TV sets as had been suggested by the Nistish Sengupta committee in a report last year.

The broadcasting law, an issue of intense discussion for the last three months, also provides for the creation of an independent broadcasting authority which will be responsible for all broadcasting activities in India.

The broadcasting law, which has also been approved, says that no radio or TV service provider, including direct-to-home and multi-channel microwave distribution system (MMDS), can operate in India without obtaining a licence from the proposed broadcast authority. The legislation, modelled on norms prevalent in countries like the US and UK, may scuttle ambitious forays of print media houses like The Hindustan Times or the Business India group in the electronic media.