A sub-committee of American Business Council (ABC) on broadcasting is scheduled to meet today to finalise its plan of action on the broadcasting bill and its various provisions which the broadcasters feel can hamper the growth of satellite television industry in India.
At todays meeting a draft base paper echoing the concerns of foreign broadcasters on the broadcasting bill, now pending with a select committee of Parliament, will be discussed. The base paper is almost complete and during todays meeting it will be discussed so that a consensus approach can be evolved for effective lobbying at the right quarters, sources in the ABC sub-committee told Business Standard yesterday.
However, sources said the approach of the broadcasters would be a positive one, as only then the foreign phobia can be removed from the minds of most Indians, especially bureaucrats and politicians.
Todays meeting is likely to be attended by representatives of The Discovery Channel, Turner International, News TV India Ltd (STAR TV), Sony Pictures and United International Holdings, which comprise the working committee of the ABC panel on broadcasting.
Other members of the ABC sub-committee on broadcasting are GE International Operations Co Inc (owning CNBC and NBC), MGM Gold, Encore International Inc, MTV, ESPN India, Motion Picture Association of America, satellite operators Pan Am Sat, Innerasia Consulting Group, Space Systems/Loral and Motion Pictures Association.
The ABC subcommittee is slated to come up with suggestions on the broadcasting bill which will be forwarded for the parliamentary select committees considerations. ABC, with about 200 members, looks into the interest of American investors in India and acts as a facilitator. It also has sectoral sub-committees on power, telecom and pharmaceuticals.
A school of thought in ABC is also in favour of broadbasing the formation of the sub-committee to include other broadcasters like Zee TV, Home TV and BBC to dispel the notion that the panel only has the interest of American broadcasters in mind.
Interestingly, the Indian Broadcasters Association has also made it known that it will also prepare a paper on the broadcast bill giving suggestions for the parliamentary committees consideration. The IBA consists of The Hindustan Times, Zee TV, Modi Entertainment Network, BiTV and Sun TV, among others. Zee TV supremo Subhash Chandra is the chairman of the body.
While the IBA has been lobbying with the government for a foreign equity cap in broadcasting joint ventures, the foreign broadcasters, mostly US-based, are apprehensive of the fallout of such a provision in the capital-intensive broadcasting area when they will have to divest their stakes.
Sony Entertainment TV, in which Sony Pictures holds about 60 per cent equity, has gone on record saying that Sony would not want to operate in a country where it would not be allowed to be the majority stake holder in ventures carrying its brandname.
While some of the IBA members favour an uplinking to Indian satellites only, as suggested by the department of space, and making uplinking from India mandatory for everybody, foreign broadcasters see this as a hurdle to further investment. Most of them are committed to long-term agreements for uplinking in places like Singapore and Hong Kong.