Govt plans to keep FDI limits in case of platform services

Government plans to keep the composite limits for foreign direct investment (FDI), both direct and indirect, at the prevailing 74 per cent in the case of infrastructure and platform services like telesports, direct-to-home (DTH), Headend in the Sky (HITS) and satellite radio.

"We are of the opinion that the composite limits for FDI... Can be kept at 74 per cent in case of DTH, HITS and satellite radio. No changes are proposed in the 26 per cent limit for news and current affairs channels... But to protect the interests of local cable operators perhaps one can think of retaining the FDI limits at 49 per cent for a local cable operator, while the limit may be raised to 74 per cent for MSOs," Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sushma Singh said here today.

 

The secretary, who was addressing the second ASSOCHAM global summit on entertainment and media, said the ministry is also "actively considering policies on mobile television and satellite radio, while the policy on HITS is also on the anvil".

Focusing on copyright and piracy issues, Singh said that though there are specific acts like Copyright Act to deal with the problem of piracy in cable services, "it is felt that cable laws also need amendments to ensure effective administrative action against errant cable operators... Authorised officers and registering authorities under the Cable Act need to be further empowered to take action administratively".

The ministry, she said, is also extending conditional access system (CAS) areas to the remaining parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Currently, only the southern parts of these cities and the entire city of Chennai have this facility.