(17 March 2008 2:30 pm)

NEW DELHI: The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) today demanded the government usher in a more forward-looking and proactive regulatory environment.

Such an environment, according to Casbaa, will help unleash the tremendous energy that the TV industry has and enable it to make a higher contribution to the economy of the country.

Casbaa, in particular, demanded that rate caps on pay-TV channels be rationalised, must provide provision that exists for the DTH be removed, and FDI cap for the broadcasting sector be raised to the level of what is allowed for the telecos.

Unveiling the Casbaa report "Digital Vision: India in 2012," Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies said, "With 71 million homes wired, digital television and broadband networks are set to play a vital role in India's economic development, just as they did in the case of Japan, Europe, the US and elsewhere."

However, this depends on a non-restrictive regulatory regime, which, Davies said, does not exist as of now in the country, and the Casbaa report shows that the huge advantage is "at risk of being eroded by overtly intrusive regulation."

Addressing the media ahead of a major government-industry interface slated for later in the day, Casbaa deputy CEO John Medeiros said, "China has an even more restrictive regulatory environment, but it is not right that a model set up by a communist party-run state be made applicable in India."

Medeiros said that India has the infrastructure in place and in an unregulated environment, the economy has the ability to raise huge private capital, which had shocked many observers.

On a conservative estimate, Medeiros said, the country needs something like $15 billion to migrate from the present analogue to digital mode, but that money can be raised if the regulatory approach is "even handed," but the country does not have a supportive environment.

Comparative studies show that India has a more restrictive environment than many other Asian countries, Medeiros held.

For that to happen, Indian officialdom "needs to have a digital vision," he held.

On the content front, Medeiros said that Casbaa firmly believes that there is need for some regulation on content, especially in synch with the realities of Indian culture, but the government ought to accept an independent and media modelled content regulation.