Forced transmission

New guidelines for satellite channels leave wide scope for interpretation

The government has said its new guidelines for the uplinking and downlinking of satellite channels in India, revised after 11 years, have enhanced “ease of compliance” and “ease of doing business” for licence holders. It has, for instance, removed the requirement seeking prior permission to telecast live events, though it is unclear what the government means in requiring “prior registration of events”. It has also done away or relaxed a raft of other prior permissions and extended the time period for some approvals. But these advantages are likely to pale against the requirement that all channels must broadcast daily 30 minutes of content on “themes of national importance and of social relevance”. The guidelines have helpfully set out eight such themes that satellite channels could explore. They cover the usual suspects: Education, health, agriculture, science and technology, women’s welfare, environment, and protection of weaker sections of society. The last theme, however, is less precise: “National integration”. The government note explains that the stipulation is being made because airwaves and frequencies are public properties and need to be used in the best interests of society. Several questions arise in this context.

First, the notion of “public property” is problematic. Though the government’s argument may be conceptually valid in that these resources are theoretically owned by the people of India, the fact is that access to them does not come free. Broadcasters pay a licence fee (plus a processing fee for live events), which, in effect, transfers ownership for the duration of the contract and confers some degree of independence on the broadcaster. That apart, it is unclear why private broadcasters (only sports channels are exempt) must sacrifice half an hour’s revenue every day to cover “themes of national importance” when the government has a large broadcaster at its disposal to do just this. It owns the broadcasting behemoth Doordarshan, with both terrestrial and satellite feeds, plus regional channels that cover pretty much the whole population of India. Should the government feel the need to amp up socially relevant messaging on health, education and so on, it has far better reach than any private satellite channel to do so.

Given this, it is difficult to escape the notion that this requirement is a proxy for the government to impose even greater dominance over private broadcasting content than it currently exercises. This much is clear from the fact that the government has said it will monitor channels to ensure they are broadcasting this content. Non-compliance will require an explanation and steps will be taken against persistent offenders. The fact that there are some 800-odd channels to monitor suggests that a certain degree of cherry picking is inevitable. The biggest problem, however, is that these guidelines are opaque and open for interpretation since “national importance and social relevance” and “national interest” can easily lie in the eyes of the beholder. The sting comes in the clause stating that the government “may issue from time to time general advisory to the channels for telecast of content in national interest”. Further, it leaves no room for manoeuvre when it adds that “channels shall comply” with these recommendations. Such assertions are unlikely to ease operational conditions.