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The
past few weeks have witnessed some hectic lobbying for easing
up of the bug bear clauses as far as DTH regulations are
concerned. Star TV Asia chairman James Murdoch, and News
Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch have made whistlestop visits
to India for meetings with information and broadcasting
minister Sushma Swaraj. Murdoch Jr in fact in a public address
at Ficci Frames blasted any move to legislate conditional
access, and privately made a pitch for DTH with Swaraj.
At around the same time there was also the buzz that Zee
TV was considering a joint DTH venture with AOL Time Warner,
which was denied later by both its Turner India boss Anshuman
Mishra and Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra.
Now the unconfirmed news emanating from Delhi is that Star
India has applied for a DTH licence (or is seeking to do
so in the very near future) through a company called Space
TV. The fact that Star India is indeed thinking of such
an initiative is an indicator that the government may be
backtracking on its tough stance on quantum of foreign equity
permitted, and cross media restrictions in DTH ventures.
Star India was the first mover in DTH in India through ISkyB
in 1997 but had its foray scuttled by a skittish government
and rivals. The government issued a ban on distribution
of Ku-band reception equipment and the regulations were
eased up only a year and a half ago when it issued DTH guidelines
which placed a cap on foreign equity and cross media equity
of 20 per cent. No one applied for a licence, because TV
companies and others found the DTH guidelines too draconian.
When contacted Star India denied that it had made any move
in recent times on its part to apply for a DTH licence.
Altaf Ali Mohammed, president digital platforms group, who
oversees its DTH project and is currently operating out
of Dubai, said: "We continue to explore the DTH option but
we have made no firm decisions on that score."
Market sources insist otherwise. "The reason Star wants
to clam up on its decision is because it does not want a
repeat of the ISkyB disaster of 1997," says an industry
observer.
Watch this space to find out more.
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