Draft Broadcast Bill Approved

The cabinet sub-committee headed by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda yesterday cleared the draft broadcasting bill with some minor changes. The bill seeks to put restrictions on cross-media holdings and allows private broadcasters (with a foreign equity cap of 49 per cent) to uplink from India to any satellite recognised by the government.

It has proposed that private parties be allowed to operate multi-channel microwave distribution systems and franchising of areas to not less than two parties to operate direct-to-home (DTH) services. The bill has also proposed that an independent regulatory authority be set up to look into licensing of satellite channels and uplinking from India.

 

The draft bill, however, was not discussed by the cabinet. A government official said the cabinets clearance may not be needed now since the sub-committee was headed by the Prime Minister.

The sub-committee was set up last month by the full cabinet to study a note prepared by the information and broadcasting ministry on a comprehensive broadcasting legislation to be introduced in Parliament during the budget session.

The draft bill also plans to bring within the Indian jurisdiction satellite channels being beamed into India from a foreign satellite. It says that every satellite channel, Indian or foreign, will have to obtain a licence from the proposed regulatory authority within three months of the notification of the bill in the gazette.

The decision to enact a comprehensive legislation on broadcasting was taken following the Supreme Court judgement of February 2, 1995, that airwaves were public property and a monopoly over broadcasting whether by government or anybody else was inconsistent with the free speech right of citizens.

Media critic Siddharth Ray described the clearance to the draft bill as a positive move which will provide a level-playing field to Indian and foreign broadcasters, and at the same time bring them within the ambit of the India laws. But the bill is expected to hit STAR TV the most as it is likely to scuttle STARs plans to dominate the Indian cable and satellite market and start a DTH service ahead of others, he said.

On cross-media holdings, the draft bill states that no proprietor of a newspaper shall be a participant with more than 20 per cent interest in a body corporate which is the holder of a licence to provide a licenced service under the (proposed) Act.

The seven services outlined by the information and broadcasting ministry, where a person/company shall be allowed to hold licences in only one category are: terrestrial radio broadcast, terrestrial TV broadcast, satellite radio broadcast, domestic satellite TV broadcast, non-domestic satellite TV broadcast, direct-to-home broadcast and local delivery services (cable network including MMDS).

Domestic satellite TV broadcast means use of an Indian satellite by a broadcaster.

The draft bill also has clauses safeguarding Doordarshans interest where the telecast of sports and internationally important events are concerned. It says that no other satellite broadcaster can carry signals of sporting events or other international events unless the public service broadcaster Doordarshan too gets the domestic telecast rights.

In the event of DD failing to secure terrestrial telecast rights, the issue will be referred to the proposed independent regulatory authority. On DTH services, the bill proposes to auction the licence for the entire country with the licence fee (tentatively pegged at Rs 100 crore per annum) to be decided by the regulatory body.

The Indian legislation, modelled on norms prevalent in the US and the UK, limiting cross-media holdings to 20 per cent is likely to scuttle forays of big media houses into the electronic media, thus preventing monopolies. A person running a newspaper has been described as one who is a proprietor of such a newspaper or controls a body which is the proprietor of a newspaper.

The bill also proposes to repeal the Cable Regulation Act, license cable operators to generate additional revenue and disqualify political and religious bodies from running broadcasting services.