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"While interoperability is not being insisted upon, it has been
provided in the standards prescribed by the Bureau Of Indian Standards
(BIS) that manufacturers and service providers shall declare to
the subscriber the capability of STB and its interoperability on
various networks in the instruction manual to be supplied with the
STB," information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
said in a written reply. "The ministry of I&B is seized of the issue,"
he added.
The minister said, on 31 July, 107,882 STBs had been imported by
various multi-system operators (MSOs) and orders have been placed
for more such boxes, adding the cost of these ranges between Rs
2,500 and Rs 3,000.
However, the government is not importing STBs, he clarified. In
reply to another question, Prasad said government is examining the
matter of regulating advertisements on pay channels.
Dwelling on direct-to-home (DTH) television services in the country,
the minister said that as of now no company has been given a licence
to operate such a service.
Pointing out that there is no time frame for the start of a DTH
service in India, Prasad said as far as pubcaster Doordarshan's
DTH project is concerned, the scheme of 'Ku-band' transmission is
yet to be approved by the competent authority, Department of Space,
which has informed Doordarshan that it would be able to provide
the required number of Ku-band transponders for this service.
FDI in print medium
If foreign investment in the electronic medium is taking up lot
of government's time, a group of ministers on foreign direct investment
(FDI) has recommended that the proposal to allow 100 per cent FDI
in scientific magazines and journals be placed before the Cabinet,
Rajya Sabha was informed today.
"GoM on FDI has recommended the proposal for placing the publication
of scientific and technical magazines, periodicals and journals
for 100 per cent FDI through the foreign investment promotion board
(FIPB) route for consideration of the Cabinet," minister of state
for commerce and industry Vidyasagar Rao said in a written reply
in the Rajya Sabha.
The GoM has recommended raising FDI caps in telecom, civil aviation
and oil and natural gas for the Cabinet's consideration, the minister
added.
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