ITV

Tag: CCB

  • GoM shelves Convergence Bill plan

    NEW DELHI: India today dumped onto the backburner its attempt to have an over-arching law for the convergence era (telecom, broadcasting and infotech) with a high-powered group of ministers (GoM) today deciding against pursuing the Convergence Communications Bill (CCB) as broadcasting issues cannot be covered entirely under it.

    The GoM on telecom also recommended that the 49 per cent cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign institutional investors (FII) be hiked to 74 per cent in the telecom sector, but the management control should remain with the Indian operator. However, the panel did not deliberate whether a similar foreign investment cap in cable ventures should also be raised.

    The GoM is of the view that since content and other broadcasting relating issues is being unable to be brought under the CCB, the law “is not being pursued” at the moment, communications minister Arun Shourie told reporters after the first week of GoM, which is headed by finance minister Jaswant Singh. 

    According to Shourie, the GoM felt that the fast developments in the broadcast sector needs a separate regulatory body and cannot wait for the CCB to be enacted into a law after looking into the amendments suggested by a parliamentary panel. 

    With this move, the proposal to have a separate regulatory body for broadcast sector gets a major fillip.

    Though information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tried to play down this victory of sorts, sources in the ministry indicated that now work on a broadcast regulatory authority would be speeded up.

    In principle, Prasad has been in favour of a separate broadcasting regulatory authority or a commission to oversee issues related to the sector like CAS, surrogate advertising, direct-to-home(DTH) television service and content on TV channels that did not adhere to the programming code of India. 

    Ministry sources said that the proposed broadcast authority would be more or less in line with a similar framework that had been outlined in the Broadcast Bill, 1997 introduced in Parliament by the then United Front government. The Bill could not be pursued as the government was voted out of power at the Center

    Contacted by indiantelevision.com, a senior executive of a foreign-owned media company said that a separate broadcast regulatory framework is a positive step. 

    Meanwhile, the FDI cap will stay at 49 per cent for the telecom sector, while FIIs would be allowed to go for another 25 per cent stake, taking the total foreign investment limit to 74 per cent, Shourie explained. 

    The GoM has also finalised its recommendations on six of the eight issues referred to it, and the remaining two issues would be taken up at the next meeting on October four, he said.

  • Govt mulls setting up C&S TV regulator

    NEW DELHI: The Indian government is studying whether a regulatory body for the broadcasting and cable sector can be put together ahead of a super-regulator for the convergence era, as envisaged in the Communications Convergence Bill 2001 (CCB), which is still awaiting an okay from Parliament.
    “A regulatory authority can be formed outside the ambit of the Convergence Bill, though no firm opinion has been formed on the issue yet,” a senior government official said today.
    Though the government official gave no time-frame for setting up a regulatory body, the need for which is been increasingly impressed upon by many in the light of introduction of addressability in Indian cable homes from 1 September, he did admit that some sort of a draft has been prepared on it in the information and broadcasting ministry. The cry for a regulatory body is also echoing in Parliament with a question on it slated to be answered by I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tomorrow in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha) when media-related issues are discussed by policy makers there.
    However, replying to a question on the same issue in the Upper House of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) earlier this week, Prasad had maintained that the government is looking into the issue of a regulatory body, but has no time frame for its formation.
    The minister had gone on to add that the CCB actually addresses the issue of a regulatory authority for the sectors of IT, telecom and broadcasting, but the Bill was pending Parliament’s okay as a parliamentary panel, mandated to examine various aspects, had suggested last year over 70 changes in the Bill.
    CCB aims at enacting into law a set-up for the convergence era and if the Indian government okays such a law, it would only be the second country after Malaysia in the world to do so.

  • Govt looks to cutting equipment import duties; pushing TV software exports

    NEW DELHI: The Indian government is looking at giving a major fillip to exports of TV software and films from India this year and also get some concessions to the media and entertainment industry by having the various duties on import of equipment rationalised or lowered.
    According to government sources, the information and broadcasting secretary Pawan Chopra is slated to meet the representatives of the hardware and software sector early next week to discuss the issues in this regard as a part of a pre-Budget meeting.
    The sources indicated that Chopra’s thrust would be to elicit response from the industry as to what all should and can be done to give a major fillip to exports of TV software and films, an area which the government feels has great potential as a revenue earner.
    Information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj recently had told indiantelevision.com that this financial year film exports especially had crossed Rs 9 billion.
    One of the concerns of the broadcasting industry has been a high duty regime and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation had also petitioned the I&B ministry to influence the finance ministry to rationalise duties on import of equipment.
    Broadcasting Council formation
    A senior official of the I&B ministry indicated that work has started on formulating a paper on the formation of a broadcasting council, ahead of the enactment into a law of the Convergence Communication Bill (CCB).
    The proposed Broadcasting council, to monitor content on TV channels, would be equivalent to the content bureau as envisaged in the CCB which has run into problems with a parliamentary committee, after collating feedback from various section, had observed that the time may not be ripe yet to have an all-encompassing convergence law.
    A bill has to be moved in the Indian Parliament if Swaraj wants to push ahead with the broadcasting council which, anyway, would not have any regulatory powers.