Indian Broadcasting Foundation has appealed to government to ensure a level playing field for broadcast services in the proposed GST regime and categorise them as item of mass consumption having a GST rate of 5 per cent.
The IBF statement urging the government to "treat TV and radio services on par with the print industry" in the new GST regime came a day after I&B Minister M Venakaih Naidu asked top officials to look into problems faced by the latter.
The apex body of the broadcasters in the country said that to say business in all categories have been impacted by the Prime Minister's demonetization scheme "would still be an understatement".
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"Heroic, revolutionary, failed and poorly implemented have been the different terms to attribute the success or failure of this November 8 announcement depending on which side of the political spectrum one has been but there is no denying the fact that businesses across various sector have taken a substantial hit," it said.
Just like the print media, which has been clamouring for a zero rating of newspapers under the new GST regime, fuming under mass retrenchment and closing down of various editions, the electronic medium and the radio though bleeding under cancellations of advertisements over 2,000 crore have requested the government to treat them on par with the print counterpart, it said.
Channels cater to imparting of not only news, entertainment but also help educate the masses, the IBF said.
"It is important that government recognises TV service which has evolved over the years as product/service of mass consumption to be classified and categorized under the item of mass consumption having a GST rate of 5 per cent so that it becomes affordable to masses," IBF President Punit Goenka said.
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The IBF said that as on December 31, 2016, there are 899 channels in the country out of which 399 are news and current affairs channels and the rest are non-news channels.
"Some news channels shutting down precipitously or handing over pink slips on a mass scale is not something unheard of. However, little does it find mention in the inks of newspapers or the air time of the channels.
"Combine this with overcrowding of channels for the same advertising pie which itself has squeezed following demonetisation and the rising infrastructure and content cost. It seems that many licenses would either get cancelled or submitted voluntarily by stakeholders," the IBF said.
The broadcasters said DAVP advertisements that all broadcasters have to mandatorily carry on their networks have compounded the woes as their rates have not been revised since 2010.
"The rock-bottom rates are not at all in keeping with the existing market rates and allow little flexibility for manoeuvrability to carry out businesses," Rohit Gupta, President, Network Sales and International Business of Sony Pictures Networks, said.
"We urge the government to free the media, print, television and radio from the obsolete taxation squeezes and attacks on revenue streams as the vitality of this industry is essential to protect the fibre of the country, both socially and economically," A Mohan, President (Legal and Regulatory), Zee Network, said.
Girish Srivastava, Secretary-General of IBF, said the electronic medium and radio, just like the print media, shape public discourse and any fragmentation due to incidence of indirect taxes going up would therefore lead to weakening of public conversation in particular and democracy in general by putting thousands if not lakhs at risk of losing jobs.
"The GST seeks to maintain or reduce the tax burden. It is high time that the government treats the fourth pillar of democracy at par as the sector is unprepared to take a tax hike under the new GST regime," he said.
