NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday called for views from stakeholders on various restrictions put forth on ownership of media, including on powers to the government to prevent any entity from entering the media sector in public interest.

In its second consultation paper on media ownership, Trai has also asked stakeholders to give their views if there are any entities which need to be precluded from owning media enterprises, in addition to political parties, religious bodies, government or government-aided bodies which have already been recommended by the regulator to be disqualified from entry into the broadcasting and distribution sectors.

The discussion paper has listed out 32 issues on which it wants stakeholders to give their views, including on ownership rules for vertical integration between broadcasting and distribution entities.

The paper has also sought views on what should be the rules/restrictions in case of mergers and acquisitions in the media sector, and media ownership rules within and across media segments.

The paper has been placed on the TRAI website and written comments invited from stakeholders by 8 March and counter-comments if any by 15 March.

It has also sought views on what methodology to be adopted to measure ownership or control of an entity over a media outlet, identification of genres to be considered while framing media ownership rules, and prescribing norms for mandatory disclosures by media entities.

Trai also wants discussion on issues relating to identification of media segments wherein media ownership rules are to be prescribed, and identification of relevant markets for evaluating various parameters to be used for devising ownership rules and the methodology for measuring these parameters.

The paper had been issued at the request of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry made last year following a report of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.

Trai said it was felt that reasonable restrictions may need to be put in place on ownership in the media sector, to ensure media pluralism and to counter the ills of monopolies. It pointed out that such restrictions do exist in many international markets.

However, media ownership rules, Trai said, should be so designed to strike a balance between ensuring a degree of plurality of media sources and content, and a level playing field for companies operating in the media sector, and providing freedom to companies to expand, innovate and invest.

Trai had prepared a similar paper in 2008, but the Ministry felt that the situation had undergone a sea-change since then.

MUMBAI: Sun TV Network has appointed Sun Direct chief financial officer Sundaram Shanmugam as the CEO of its Hyderabad IPL franchise, Sun Risers. Sun Direct is the direct-to-home arm of Sun Group.

Sun TV unveiled the brand identity of its team Sun Risers. It recently awarded the creative duties of its IPL team to JWT India.

Tom Moody will be the team coach and Kris Srikanth the team mentor.

The Sun Risers logo depicts an eagle soaring high, looking into the core of a rising sun, absorbing the colors of the bright star to become ?one with the sun?.

The new identity encapsulates the valour, chivalry, endurance, independence and fearlessness of the eagle synthesising with energy and radiance obtained from sun.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Sun Risers CEO Sundaram Shanmugam said, ?It is a moment of great pleasure for us to present the identity of the Hyderabad IPL team to all cricket enthusiasts across the world. Being in the business of media and entertainment, we are extremely happy to be a part of Cricket family to provide maximum entertainment to all cricket buffs.?

He also added that Sun Risers is a wonderful value creation opportunity for the Sun Group. This franchisee will help the Sun Group conglomerate to attain the perfect synergy among their varied interests.

Sun had retained 20 players in their initial squad for the 2013 season which included six overseas players. It had spent $5 million on retaining players out of its purse of $7 million.

Sun TV had in October bought the Hyderabad IPL team for Rs 4.25 billion for a period of five years till 2017. From 2018, Sun will own the franchise in perpetuity and will pay 20 per cent of the franchise revenue every year as fee to the BCCI.

MUMBAI: The Indian government has approved The Walt Disney Company South East Asia?s foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal to induct Rs 10 billion in The Walt Disney Company India.

The company wanted to induct foreign equity for business expansion and making downstream investment in other companies and subsidiaries of the company, including broadcasting companies.

Besides Disney?s proposal, the government also approved nine other FDI proposals amounting to Rs 2.59 billion approximately.

UK-based Packt Publishing has also received government approval to induct foreign equity amounting Rs 700,000 to carry out the business of publication books.

In February, The Walt Disney Company had increased its ownership stake in UTV Software Communications to 93 per cent from 50 per cent by buying out promoters stake for $377 million in line with the company?s strategic priority of increasing its brand presence and reach in key international markets.

The company had also assumed approximately $300 million of UTV?s borrowings.

Additionally, the company has paid $63 million to acquire an incremental six per cent stake for Rs 1,100 per share bringing its ownership percentage to 99 per cent.

Upon consolidation, the company recognised a non-cash gain of $184 million ($116 million after tax) as a result of adjusting the carrying value of the company?s 50 per cent equity investment to its estimated fair value of $405 million.

Subsequently, UTV was delisted from the Bombay Stock Exchange and its promoter Ronnie Screwvala was appointed as the managing director of The Walt Disney Company India.

Meanwhile, the FDI proposal of leading television network Multi Screen Media (MSM) was among the 16 proposals that were deferred.

MSM wanted to induct foreign equity to carry out the business of production of television programmes in India languages primarily for export, sale and distribution of Indian language audio visual production besides downlinking certain TV channels.

Hyderabad-based Scribble Media & Entertainment?s proposal to induct foreign equity for carrying out the business of its evening news publication Post Noon was also deferred.