Ficci Wants 20% Cap On Cross-Media Holding To Go

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) has urged the Centre to remove a 20 per cent cap on cross-media holding and the 49 per cent limit on foreign capital in broadcasting companies.

A S Kasliwal, its president, in a statement here yesterday said print and broadcast being cognate business, there could not be an artificial ceiling on the stake of newspaper companies in broadcast firms.

This is more ridiculous because the non-newspaper firms have no ceiling on investment in broadcast firm. A firm engaged in making tyres or cosmetics will have the freedom to own 100 per cent stake in a broadcast firm but a newspaper company cannot own beyond 20 per cent.

 

Kasliwal said the restriction imposed on cross-holding of shar- es would go against established newspapers and media setups which have set up these networks when the electronic media was not a lucrative business.

He said the newspaper houses have undertaken pioneering work by making heavy investment without any return for a long time, providing the public entertainment and information. India should not follow the US, UK and other developed countries because situation in those countries were different from India.

Kasliwal said since broadcasting was largely entertainment driven, it seemed ridiculous to have any sort of limit as far as foreign capital was concerned.

Even otherwise, regarding satellite broadcasting, the technology is such that one cannot fight foreign invasion. Under the circumstances, it is better to allow channels with foreign equity to broadcast over India and get them to conform to Indian laws.

To facilitate the functioning of the proposed Broadcast Authority of India (BAI) as a regulator, Kasliwal proposed that government representation in the authority should be reduced. Overwhelming government representation would come in the way of BAI becoming an independent and objective body, he said.

The proposed regulatory body, he suggested, should be accountable to Parliament and not to the cabinet like the RBI, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Election Commission of India.

Kasliwal said the Prasar Bharati Bill and Broadcast Bill should be treated as two distinct entities.