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MOVES
ON BROADCASTING BILL AGAIN
It almost seems like déjà vu. Every
time, a new information and broadcasting minister
(we have had four of them in the past two years) comes
on board, amongst the first announcements that is
made is that the Broadcasting Bill will be looked
at closely and a new one drafted. But the fact is
that after Jaipal Reddy, the I&B minister during the
United Front government's rule, none of the following
ministers have done anything except talk about the
Broadcasting Bill.
The Sharad Pawar Committee, which
was set up to study the recommendations of the Broadcasting
Bill Draft that was introduced in Parliament in 1997
by Reddy and incorporate recommendations from industry
into a report that would then be used to draw up a
fresh draft, must probably be wondering why it ever
into the process that it did. Nevertheless, the new
I&B minister Arun Jaitley is showing similar enthusiasm
and has started the process of listening to industry's
views on what broadcasting regulations should be.
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation
- backed primarily by Star TV - is slated to make
its presentation to the information and broadcasting
ministry on 9 November. Others including individual
broadcasters - both Indian and foreign - and cable
operators and consumer groups will follow over the
next fortnight or so. Hence, one is going to see a
flurry of activity in Delhi with a lot of television
and media executives lugging their laptops to either
Shastri Bhawan or Mandi House.
Jaitley says he would like an Act
in place within the next six months. A legal eagle
by profession, Jaitley seems well equipped as far
as knowledge of broadcasting is concerned since he
has fought many a court case on the behalf of private
broadcasters.
One advantage that he has compared
to his predecessors is that Subhash Chandra of Zee
Telefilms and Rupert Murdoch have split up in India.
This means there will be no shadow boxing between
the two. The agendas of the two partners-turned-foes
are pretty transparent: market share and revenues
unlike in the past when it was first lending a helping
hand and then tripping each other. There is no confusion
in the minds of policy makers who they should support
and encourage. Chandra's Zee TV is an Indian broadcaster;
Murdoch's Star TV is foreign. It's not as if Zee TV
is a foreign firm as it used to be before the split
up between the two. Hence the government will be able
to cobble together regulations without any confusion
unlike earlier when they did not know whether the
two were partners or foes.
Jaitley will also have to step cautiously
that he does not do anything out of the ordinary that
disturbs the current laissez faire environment in
satellite television broadcasting, though he might
like to mandate a 49% limit on foreign equity in broadcasting
and restrict DTH to Indian companies. Otherwise all
hell will break loose with politicians being heaped
with oodles of cash to stall the bill.
No doubt the government has issued
bans on foreign channels such as PTV and TV6 but these
have been resorted to supposedly protect national
interests. And they have been accepted and supported
by the fragmented Indian cable TV community.
Additionally, Jaitley will need support
from the 21 other partners that go to make up the
National Democratic Alliance. Some of the key ministerial
colleagues who could mother him along include: George
Fernandes, Ram Vilas Paswan, L.K. Advani, Yashwant
Sinha and of course Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Otherwise, the current exercise on the Broadcasting
Bill may end up like the previous initiatives.
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