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INDO-US JOINT BUSINESS
COUNCIL MEET IN MUMBAI DRAWS UP MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS
A high-powered Joint Indo-US Business
Council summit meet in Mumbai was slated to close on
16 November with the release of a study entitled "Unleashing
the Potential: A new Agenda in the Indo-US Economic
Relations." Various panels consisting of Indian and
US businessman met and discussed what they expected
from each other.
A panel on what should be done to facilitate
better business relations between Indian and US companies
in the entertainment and broadcasting sector met on
15 November. Consisting of Indian media biggies such
as Lalit Modi of the Modi Entertainment Group, Ronnie
Screwvala of UTV, Parimal Shroff, a noted Indian lawyer,
MTV India chief Alex Kuruvilla, Zee TV deputy CEO Sainath
Iyer, and BiTV chief Ashok Advani, the panel pointed
out that it was imperative that the government threw
some clarity on what the broadcasting regulations playground
is going to look like. "The broadcasting Bill has been
yo-yoing for three years which is much too long," says
Modi.
The key issues to be decided on were
the quantum of the foreign equity cap in the various
delivery modes, the regulatory mechanism to monitor
the broadcasting industry, the protection of intellectual
property, and the transformation of the Indian film
business into a corporatised industry. Screwvala expressed
the view that that the government should and will probably
allow 100% foreign equity in satellite broadcasting,
while disallowing any foreign investment in terrestrial
broadcasting. This was immediately negated by Shroff
who said that he did not expect the government to take
such a bold step as it would meet with opposition from
industry, bureaucrats, and politicians. "I expect a
gradual phase wise increase being allowed with a 50%
foreign equity limitation."
Iyer was of the view that attention should
be paid to lay out the framework of rules for technology
transfer in broadcasting. "Nobody can match what Indian
programmers can offer as content for local audiences,"
he says. "Additionally we can pour in investments for
growing a business. What we need is a thrust in technology
transfers for broadcasting from the US side." Modi believes
that there are too many lobbies at play which are all
trying to have a say in the broadcasting regulation
framework. "Hence, the Bill has not seen the light of
day as yet," he says. "And we don't know when and if
it will even under the new information and broadcasting
minister Arun Jaitley." Screwvala says that one option
the government should consider is passing laws in chunks
covering Broadcasting, Content, and Cable television.
"Maybe this is a model that could work" he says.
"The main point," one of the panelists
said "is that the American government should throw open
its market to Indian companies too in broadcasting if
it wants us to do the same for its companies."
Jaitley for his part told a local daily
that content control would not be a priority of the
Broadcasting Bill; in fact it would be minimal. He acknowledged
that technological development defied "censorship" and
that his has to be incorporated into the Broadcasting
Bill which is likely to be drawn up in the next couple
of months.
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