DECODER IMPORTS: INDIAN CUSTOMS ACTS TOUGH
The Delhi customs is cracking down on decoder
imports. It has held up consignments for Animal Planet,
Hallmark and Cartoon Network at the Delhi airport. Its reasoning
is that there is a problem with the government classification
under which the consignments are being imported. Earlier,
companies could import decoders under a specific import
licence. In mid-1998, regulations were changed requiring
importers to apply for a special import licence from the
Directorate General on Foreign Trade. Penalties for import
under the wrong classification range from 25% to 125% of
the consignment value.
Sources indicate that Sony Entertainment managed
to bring in decoders from south India under the earlier
classification for AXN -the Action channel. But the Delhi
customs, however, failed to buy this argument, saying the
imports have to be made only under the new licence classification.
While Animal Planet's decoder consignment
runs into a couple of hundreds, the Hallmark consignment
is about 10 times larger. Hence the penalty is likely to
be backbreaking for the two companies. Modi Entertainment
Network, which is distributing the channel in India, says
it is in conversation with the Customs to release the integrated-receiver-decoders
without the heavy penalty.
"We expect the decoders to be with us in the
next couple of weeks," says Modi Entertainment Network chief
Tony D'Silva.
"We are talking to the Customs and are expecting
a decision this week," says Discovery Communications India
(DCI) chief executive Kiran Karnik. Karnik's DCI is distributing
Animal Planet in India.
For the nonce, the two have postponed their
channel launch dates. Both were expected to launch in January.
"I'm hoping to get the decoders rolling out
and the Hallmark service started over the next fortnight,"
says D'silva. "Some cable ops are already showing Hallmark
though as they already have digital receivers, which they
are using to transmit the channel."
TNT & Cartoon Network has been running digital
tests and is expected to encrypt sometime in the next couple
of months.
