BROADCASTERS QUEUE UP FOR UPLINK FACILITIES
Indian broadcasters such as TVi, Heart TV,
Asianet, Eeenadu TV, have applied to the information and
broadcasting (I&B) and communications ministries to be allowed
to uplink from Indian shores and are awaiting a go-ahead
from it. SunTV, which is promoted by the scion of the leader
of the ruling DMK political party in Tamil Nadu, has already
got its licence and has been uplinking from Chennai since
last month. Sun TV is using the earth station owned and
operated by the public sector overseas telecom carrier Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Ltd - the nodal firm for uplinking.
Most Indian broadcasters - with the exception
of state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan - uplink from Singapore,
Hong Kong and Bangkok and have to courier video-tapes daily
to uplinking stations in these countries to ensure that
their programming is broadcast.
The BJP government had earlier this year
thrown open uplinking to Indian-owned broadcasting companies.
It is also likely to make it mandatory for all channels
to uplink from Indian shores in the next year.
