NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today juggled criticism and defence admirably. Especially when it came to the Opposition criticism of the government allowing Star News to continue uplinking despite doubts being raised over the company’s funding process.
Prasad admitted that “a prime concern” of the government has been to ensure that ownership and editorial control of television channels telecasting news and current affairs is in Indian hands without any proxy.
However in the same breath, he also said that the government cannot suddenly “switch off” an existing channel (read Star News) even while investigations are on about its antecedents.
(Till the time of writing this piece late in the evening there was no confrimation from the government whether Star News had been given another uplinking extension as the deadline expires midnight).
Pointing out that when Star News filed an application it was simple one, the minister said now a lot of queries — mostly by the I&B ministry — have been raised and details obtained after asking 46 questions. “Since it’s under consideration, it would not be fair for me to comment now,” the minister said amidst a chorus of protest from Opposition members.
The minister was replying to calling attention motion in Rajya Sabha (Upper House) on CAS and uplinking.
An inter-ministerial group has been formed that is looking into various issues of Star News case, the minister said, asking, “Should I stop them (Star News) midway? After all I have to be fair.” Dwelling on the genesis of the guidelines for foreign investment in TV news channels, the minister said that the case of print and electronic medium cannot be termed the same.
When the foreign direct investment guidelines for print was reviewed, no foreign investment was allowed — it was a “closed” regime — but in the electronic medium, many things has been allowed (it’s an “open” regime), the minister said , adding the comparison of two should not be done at this point. Still, striking a conciliatory note Prasad said, “If some more tightening (of laws for the electronic medium) is needed, we are open to it.”
The government came for severe flak from its ally Shiv Sena and main opposition Congress for its uplinking policy that demanded any foreign channel violating norms should not be given uplinking facility.
Congress member Kapil Sibal told the Rajya Sabha that “uplinking policy should be non-discriminatory and any party, which violates norms, should not be given uplinking facility.”
Shiv Sena member Sanjay Nirupam said the FDI policy for foreign channels should be on the lines of one pursued for print media that makes it mandatory for 51 per cent equity for Indian partners, besides the editorial control.
Others who also spoke on the issue included Samajwadi Party member Amar Singh and Congress’ Falerio.
According to Prasad the guidelines, issued on 26 March laid down the following eligibility criteria for a company uplinking news and current affairs channels, including the following: to be registered/incorporated in India under the Companies Act and management control of TV channels are vested in Indian hands; foreign equity holding in the applicant company not to exceed 26 per cent of the total paid up capital; majority of its board of directors to be resident Indians; CEO of the applicant company, known by any designation, and or head of the channel to be resident Indian; and News Editor(s) or authority(ies) exercising editorial control over news and current affairs programmes of the channels to be resident Indians.
Further, by an order of 15 July , an inter-ministerial group has been set up to examine the foreign exchange norms and guidelines, particularly, relating to uplinking of news and current affairs channels. The case of one of the application (Star News), seeking uplinking, as per extant guidelines is under examination, the minister informed the House.
Tag: RS
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Prasad defends govt. handling of Star News case in RS
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Prasad extols CAS advantages in RS
NEW DELHI: “Conditional access system will bring a smile on the face of every consumer.”
This is how information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad described addressability in cable homes and its benefits to Elders in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
Defending the government’s stand on CAS and its imminent introduction in a phased manner in four metros of the country — for which the Opposition and some allies attacked it — Prasad hailed CAS as a “march of technology.” Pleading his case, he said, “Allow this to go on, I request the Elders.”
In a statement in the Rajya Sabha in reply to a calling-attention notice from the Congress Party’s Suresh Pachouri, government ally Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Nirupam and others, the minister detailed the genesis of CAS and its implementation.
The minister denied that there is any confusion in the implementation of CAS for viewing pay channels for which a set-top box would be needed.
CAS is being sought to be implemented area-wise in the cities of Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi from 1 September. Earlier, according to a notification the rollout was to have happened from 14 July, a deadline that could be adhered to because confusion over availability of boxes and the pricing of pay channels.
Referring to CAS, Prasad said the government has been in constant dialogue with the various stakeholders in the industry and out of a concern for the consumers an earlier deadline of CAS rollout was postponed.
He also dismissed the claims made by Opposition members, Pachouri and Nirupam on outflow of forex from the country owing to import of boxes and creation of monopolies. Pointing out that CAS would lead to a “great electronic revolution in the country”, Prasad said that tax sops extended to local manufacturers would see boxes being manufactured here “from Chandni Chowk (in Delhi) to Ludhiana (in Punjab).”
“Once CAS starts rolling a lot of initiatives will come in,” the minister said, adding that Indian entrepreneurs first assess a situation before jumping onto the bandwagon.
Enumerating the names of established global companies (NDS, Scientific Atlanta, Conax, Nagravision, etc) that are supplying CAS technology to India, the I&B minister clarified that interoperability is something that has not worked elsewhere in the world and is also unlikely to work here in India. In Europe interoperability (of the smart card needed for CAS) was tried out in a limited way, but it did not work, Prasad said, adding, “In India, interoperable set-top boxes (are) commercially not available.”
The minister, who gained in confidence once he started speaking after several hours of debate in Rajya Sabha on CAS and Star News issues, went on to say that CAS may be the prescription for many an ill like under-declaration of subscriber base by cable ops, lack of quality service and the cleavage that exists between the various stakeholders in the industry.
“CAS will bring a smile on the face of every consumer,” he triumphantly said, even as Opposition members in the House continued to rile the government on the arguments being put forward in defence of CAS.
Earlier, the government came under severe attack from its ally Shiv Sena and main opposition Congress for its uplinking policy that demanded that any foreign channel violating norms should not be given uplinking facility and the chaos on CAS.
Both Pachouri and Nirupam criticised the CAS policy saying it had only created “confusion and anarchy” and sought to know how the government was going to ensure that the consumers would not have to shell out more than what they were paying to cable operators now.
Nirupam wondered what was the need for introduction of CAS when the government had already decided to move on to DTH system. He feared that 15 lakh persons employed in cable TV industry would become jobless resulting in social unrest. -
CAS Bill not listed for tabling in RS this week
NEW DELHI: The much-awaited Cable Networks (Regulations) Amendment Bill 2002, which aims at facilitating addressability in Indian cable homes through conditional access system (CAS), has not been listed in the agenda of business of the Indian Parliament’s Upper House (Rajya Sabha) for this week.
Parliament, which reconvened today for the Winter Session, saw discussions on elections in the the strife-torn Gujarat state dominate the proceedings in the Lower House (Lok Sabha). The Rajya Sabha was adjourned as obituaries were read out, including that relating to media baron and Hindi-language newspaper Jagaran owner Narendra Mohan (a vocal supporter of FDI in the print medium) who died recently and was a sitting rajya Sabha MP.
Government officials told indiantelevision.com today that CAS, a matter that could not get RS’ approval during the last session of Parliament due to its controversial nature, is not likely to be moved this week by the information and broadcasting ministry. Every ministry has a pre-determined day when issues relating to it are discussed in the two Houses of the Parliament. I&B ministry’s day in RS happens to be Monday.
Will CAS be listed in RS next week? “We are not sure. It depends on I&B ministry and minister Sushma Swaraj,” was the vague reply given by a government official when quizzed on the issue.
While the Lok Sabha has okayed the amendments to the Act facilitating CAS, RS members have shown more resilience and have refused to give a green signal before a proper discussion on the issue. Swaraj, who had earlier claimed some consensus on the matter, these days is noncommittal. “Let us say there is a broad agreement (on CAS),” she had said during an interaction with journalists last month on the occasion of the completion of three years (out of the mandated five) of the government.
When indiantelevision.com spoke to some RS members of Parliament from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress — two main opponents to the smooth passage of the CAS — last week, they opined, in private, that left to themselves, they ideally would like to have some discussion on CAS before okaying it.
During the last session of Parliament, CAS was listed on the agenda of the RS and later, because of apparent opposition from the Opposition members, had to be delisted in a bid to arrive at an out-of-Parliament consensus.
Moreover, the issue of pricing of the basic tier of cable service, consisting of all free-to-air channels, is yet to be sorted out. At a recent meeting of the costing committee for CAS, which includes government as well as industry representatives, there was no unanimity on the price of the basic tier.
The cable operators have been lobbying for the price to be in the range of Rs 125-150 per month per subscriber, but have indicated that an Rs 100 figure is something they can live with. This, of course, includes the Rs 30 flat service charge the government will extract per subscriber. The government (read the finance ministry), however, appears to have settled for an Rs 70 to 80 rate as being reasonable. Subtract the Rs 30 tax and what the cable ops have in hand per subscriber will be Rs 40 to 50. The viewers, of course, think that both the government and the industry are taking them for a ride.
At a seminar on pay channels and CAS, organised by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) in Delhi last week, the response from some residents welfare associations (RWAs) was lukewarm – over 400 were invited and some 40 turned up – and those who did came down heavily on cable operators “for raising prices every three-four months.”
When it was told to RWA representatives that CAS would solve much of their problems, the counter poser was it did not make sense for an average cable consumer to invest in the set-top boxes no matter how cheap they came. “Why should we (invest in STBs)?” was the question that reverberated throughout the seminar.
Global hardware manufacturers like Philips and Thomson too, are not much enthused. A senior executive of Philips said, “The way (the) government is going, CAS may just end up as a bad piece of legislation leaving everybody unhappy.” He also pointed out that hardware manufacturers like Philips don’t see enough volumes being generated even if CAS is implemented for them to start manufacturing in India resulting in a fall in STB costs.
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CAS still stuck as RS adjourned sine die, govt. examining ordinance route
NEW DELHI: As expected, the gridlock in Parliament put paid to information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj’s hopes of getting the amendments to the Cable TV Networks Amendment Bill 2002, which will pave the way for conditional access systems (CAS), passed by the Rajya sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament). The RS was adjourned sine die two days ahead of its scheduled close of 14 August today without transacting any business.
According to I&B officials, the government was again examining whether it was feasible to go in for a special ordinance. If the government does insist on getting CAS, then it would have recommend the President promulgating an ordinance, an executive order which is resorted to when the issue is of national importance.
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CATV Act amendment not discussed as RS adjourned, to be tabled again tomorrow
NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) adjourned today without the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002, failing to come up for discussion yet again.
As reported earlier, the CAS bill will continue to be listed every day till it is passed, government sources aver. “The okay may come through sometime this week,” a senior I&B ministry official told indiantelevision on Tuesday in the forenoon, adding, “Unless some members (of the Rajya Sabha) insist on a lengthy debate on the issue.”
The amendments to the Act were passed in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) on 15 May through a voice vote.