Bai Will Have Powers To Alter Licence Norms

The proposed Broadcast Authority of India (BAI) will have the power to enforce competition and plurality, reiterated information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Jaipal Reddy at a seminar here yesterday, even as eminent speakers felt that too much of restriction, as proposed in the Broadcast Bill, will stymie healthy growth of the broadcast industry in India.

Referring to the BAI as an umpire, Reddy said, The authority will have sufficient discretion to vary the conditions of the licence (for broadcast) depending on the merit of each case.

The seminar Strategies For Development of Entertainment Electronics, Information and Broadcasting, was organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

 

Dwelling on the dilemma being faced by the minority government, Reddy said one of the biggest mistakes that the country had committed was not allowing uplinking from India.

Regarding the criticism of the proposed 49 per cent foreign equity cap, the I&B minister said it is better than not having anything as certain political parties are totally against the entry of foreign players.

But presently by way of default or so, it (foreign participation) is 100 per cent, he added.

Reddy said the government was taking care to ensure public ownership of the Prasar Bharati, as it would control as many as 800 television transmitters and hundreds of radio stations accounting for assets worth an estimated Rs 550 billion.

Later, he also told Business Standard that international and American broadcasters too can make their viewpoints especially those regarding the equity restructuring clear to the joint parliamentary committee which is now looking into the Bill.

Reddys assurances on the Broadcast Bill notwithstanding, former department of telecommunication secretary N Vittal heaped scorn on the proposed Bill saying, You can go on putting restrictions on people saying it is in their interests.

We should not end up with an Act which takes away all the rights that we have at present...Indian citizens should have the freedom to receive and the freedom to broadcast, Vittal said.

Though information and broadcasting secretary N P Nawani defended the Broadcast Bill saying every country has legislation governing broadcasting activities, it was Vittal and others who held sway.

Has anybody given a thought to the fact that investing in dual setups separately like in telephony and cable TV for single purpose will up the size of investment, said United International Holdings (UIH) Raghu Nayyar.

Describing the Bill as a correction of mistake due to which broadcasters had to move out of India, Zee TVs co-promoter, Subhash Chandra, said the issue of cross-media restrictions has little relevance in the Indian context as they defy the global trend of relaxations.

I fear the broadcasting law will get embroiled in litigation...(and) the Bill has sadly been defeated by technology, said Ashok Mansukhani, chief operating officer of Indusind Media Communications (IMC).

The role of the BAI and those manning it also came in for much debate as also the creation of a separate authority to look into broadcasting activities when the existing bodies scope could have been widened.

The TRAI and the BAI should be merged for efficiency, while the existing MRTPC Act can take care of restrictive trade practices, Vittal opined.