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NEW DELHI: A meeting on the draft Broadcast Bill 2006, which
has been tormenting the media industry over the draconian
clauses it contains, has decided that a core committee should
be formed to examine legal implications of the proposed legislation.
Organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (Ficci) here today, representatives of media
organizations were unanimous on one issue: the draft Bill
should be opposed; either partially or fully.
Indiantelevision.com
learns after talking to various participants that Ficci would
join issue with other apex media organizations to frame a representation
to the government on issues bothering the media industry.
For example, while a representative of one media organisation
opined that instead of opposing the Bill in its entirety only
certain sections should be opposed, others felt that the whole
Bill ought to be junked.
However, after sifting through various opinion it seems that
participants were more worried over two issues --- cross media
restrictions and government’s powers to crack down on TV
channels, including news, for reports that it thinks are 'biased'
and 'against' national interest.
Additionally, there were some discussions on the proposed mandating
of 15 per cent of a week’s total programming to locally
sourced content on TV channels and its merits and whether it
makes sense for private broadcasters to air or fund a certain
quantum of content categorized as public service broadcasting.
In the absence of any official communication --- the meeting
was not open to general media reporters though the issues related
to media in general --- it is also learnt that some cable operators
did support the Bill partially, pointing out that the Indian
broadcasting industry cannot do without any regulation and legislation.
Those who attended the meeting included Reliance’s Amit
Khanna, Discovery India EVP and MD Deepak Shourie, Sony Entertainment
Television India CEO Kunal Dasgupta, Zee Group’s Jawahar
Goel, cable industry reps Rakesh Dutta and Roop Sharma, Moving
Pictures’ chief Ramesh Sharma, a couple of media corporate
lawyers and executives of ESPN Star Sports, Star India and the
Times of India Group.
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bill ready; scheduled to be tabled in Monsoon Session of Parliament |
