Indiantelevision.com continues its look at the year that was with the legislative landmarks that impacted the industry. We also have an exclusive interview with information & broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, the woman who was primarily responsible for pushing them through.

*PATH PAVED FOR CAS IMPLEMENTATION

*MOVE INITIATED FOR A FDI POLICY COVERING NEWS CHANNELS

*PRINT MEDIA OPENED FOR FDI

*COMMUNITY RADIO SERVICE APPROVED

*FILLIP TO THE FILM INDUSTRY; EXPORTS TOUCH Rs 10 BILLION

One aspect that over-rides all the developments throughout 2002 is that of conditional access. The credit for getting it through Parliament in the face of stiff opposition has to go to information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj.

On 7 May, in a momentous decision, the Cabinet paved the way for a Bill seeking to amend The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 making it obligatory for every cable TV operator to transmit or retransmit programmes of any pay channel (like Star Plus, Sony, Discovery, NGC, Zee TV, Zee Cinema, ESPN and Sports) through an addressable system. The bill also covered free-to-air channels (like MTV, Sahara TV and DD channels) that are to form part of the basic tier, which will come at a nominal cost to the viewers. The government will decide the minimum number of channels to be included in the basic tier and the maximum rate that can be charged by cable operators from viewers.

On 15 May, 2002, the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002 was passed through voice vote by the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) after a marathon debate that lasted three hours.

However, Swaraj failed to get the Bill through the Rajya Sabha (upper house) during the Monsoon Session itself due to the kind of lobbying that was engineered around the issue from within and without the government.

Hectic behind-the-scenes confabulations between some senior ministers in the government and politicians from the Opposition saw to it that the discussion on the bill was not accorded priority. Political sources say that an influential and senior minister in the government had at the time held discussions on CAS with Rajya Sabha opposition members, where the BJP-led NDA government does not have a majority in the Upper House. The agenda of the meeting: why CAS should not be hurried through without proper discussion and should preferably be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecom (headed by the veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Somnath Chatterjee.

It was to be another seven months before Swaraj finally got past this legislative hurdle but when she did finally get it through, it was with the minimum of fuss. On 10 December 2002 the Rajya Sabha overwhelming supported the Bill which means that when CAS gets rolled out consumers will have to pay for only those channels that they wish to see and the maximum price for the basic tier of service comprising free to air channels would be determined by the government.

As Swaraj pointed out during an interview with indiantelevision.com recently, " This (CAS) will revolutionise the TV industry in the coming years."

The government also opened the deadlock to the decades-old issue of FDI in the print medium, something which successive governments since the 1950s have kept away from because of the sensitivity involved. Foreign investment has been allowed up to 74 per cent in Indian entities publishing scientific, technical, specialised journals, while FDI up to 26 per cent has also been allowed in Indian entities publishing newspapers/periodicals dealing with news and current affairs, subject to certain pre-conditions.

If that was not enough, the government also set in motion a process whereby FDI in TV channels operating in the news category is to be reviewed and likely to be linked to the parameters prevailing in the print medium. Star taking control of Star News post March 31, 2003 has become a test case and the government stance will result in a paradigm shift in the way business of broadcasting is done in India.

What's more, the government has also said that all permissions given earlier to the likes of NDTV and Zee Telefilms will be subject to the new policy guidelines.

Not content, the government cracked the whip on TV channels asking them to take surrogate liquor and tobacco ads off the airwaves. The channels quickly complied with the directive. It is another thing that towards the end of the year some such ads have resurfaced, especially on sports channels where cricket is the the only real mantra for the nation's "sports lovers".

Of course, another major decision that has Swaraj ecstatic is the approval of community radio scheme involving educational institutions. To begin with, established educated institutions having their own campus like the universities, IITs/IIMs and residential schools have been allowed to set up FM radio stations.

The service would provide a platform for student and teaching communities to give expression to their creative talents in the production of programmes and socio-cultural cohesion through interactive programmes. It would help bridge the information gap by broadcasting programmes suited for the needs of the local community. However, the licencees would not be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs or election and political broadcasts, advertisements or sponsored programmes and would have to conform to the programme code of All India Radio.

The ministry made concerted efforts to boost marketing of Indian films abroad and also to woo foreign production on India locales. The efforts have resulted in boosting exports which have already crossed Rs 9 billion this year as against a mere Rs 2.5 billion three years ago. Three treaties for co-productions are ready to be signed with Canada, Britain and France.

But give kudos to the minister that she has saved most of her ministry from being axed as per a proposal to downsize the whole government.

In a clever move, the ministry took up a major exercise of rightsizing and reorientation of its media units after a thorough review of their functioning following recommendations of the Geetakrishnan Committee which had suggested the winding up of several units like the Song and Drama Division, Publications Division, Films Division, Directorate of Field Publicity, Directorate of Film Festivals, FTII etc., and drastic cuts in personnel in others like DAVP.

The minister succeeded in convincing the finance ministry about the relevance and importance of retaining all its units by restructuring and agreed to abolish only 1,334 posts against over 5000 suggested by the Geethakrishnan panel.

It may have been a year dominated by the government, but it still has a lot to do. The Communication Convergence law still is pending enactment, the broadcasting industry needs some constructive policies and a smooth rollout of CAS has to be ensured over the coming months.

You'll have to wait for all that because, unfortunately, we cannot do a fast forward.

For more year-ender reports, click here