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During the year under review, the Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting took several policy initiatives to smoothen the flow
of information. New downlinking guidelines were put in place while
uplinking policy was revised. The second phase of private FM Radio
was launched for 337 radio stations spread over 91 towns across
the country. Print media policy was revised in tune with the changing
times. With a view to promote the film industry, the Ministry signed
film co-production agreement with several countries.
New Policy Guidelines for Downliking of Television Channels Issued
Policy guidelines for downlinking all satellite television channels
downlinked / received / transmitted and re-transmitted in India
for public viewing have been put in place. Consequently, no person/entity
shall downlink a channel, which has not been registered by the Ministry
under these guidelines. Henceforth, all persons/ entities providing
Television Satellite Broadcasting Services (TV Channels) uplinked
from other countries to viewers in India as well as any entity desirous
of providing such a Television Satellite Broadcasting Service, receivable
in India for public viewership, shall be required to obtain permission
from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Major Provisions
of the New Guidelines are:
· The entity applying for permission for downlinking a channel,
uplinked from abroad, must be a company registered in India and
must have a commercial presence in India with its principal place
of business in India.
· The applicant company must either own the channel it wants
downlinked for public viewing, or must enjoy, for the territory
of India, exclusive marketing/ distribution rights for the same,
inclusive of the rights to the advertising and subscription revenues
for the channel and must submit adequate proof at the time of application.
· The downlinked channel must be licensed or permitted for
being broadcast by the regulatory or licensing authority of the
country of transmission, proof of which would have to be submitted
at the time of application.
· No News and Current Affairs channel shall be permitted
to be downlinked if it does not meet certain additional conditions:
· Companies whose channels are being downlinked at present
will be required to comply with all formalities of registration
of these channels within 180 days from date of issue of these guidelines.
· The Company permitted to downlink registered channels shall
comply with the Programme and Advertising Code prescribed under
the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
· The sports channels/sports rights management companies
having TV broadcasting rights shall with immediate effect share
their feed with Prasar Bharati for national and international sporting
events of national importance (to be determined by the Ministry
of Information & Broadcasting), held in India or abroad, for
terrestrial transmission and DTH broadcasting (free-to-air). In
case of cricket events, these shall include all matches featuring
India and the finals and semi-finals of international competitions.
· Prasar Bharati shall transmit the feed, free to air, on
its terrestrial channel and carried through the terrestrial network
and/or the satellite/DTH mode. Revenue sharing formula of 75:25
in favour of rights holders without any minimum guarantee/opportunity
cost should be applied.
· The applicant company shall provide the necessary monitoring
facility at its own cost for monitoring of programmes or content
by the representative of the Ministry of I&B or any other Government
agency as and when required.
Revised Guidelines for Uplinking from India
Consolidated “Guidelines for uplinking from India” have
been notified. As per the new guidelines, the company seeking permission
to set up an uplinking hub/teleport should have minimum network
ranging from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 3 crores depending on channel carrying
capacity of the teleport. For news & current affairs TV channels,
foreign equity holding including FDI/FII/NRI investments should
not exceed 26% of the paid up equity of the applicant company.
The sports channels/sports rights management companies having TV
broadcasting rights shall with immediate effect share their feed
with Prasar Bharati for national and international sporting events
of national importance, held in India or aboard. For terrestrial
transmission and DTH broadcasting (free-to-air) mandatory sharing
of feed is on certain conditions.
Foreign news channels/ agencies seeking permission for temporary
uplinking may be granted permission up to one year at a time for
temporary uplinking from time to time through a pre-designated teleport,
subject to the some conditions:
The news/footage so uplinked shall be primarily for the usage abroad
by the foreign news agency/ channel and shall not be broadcast in
India without downlinking permission and registration of the channel.
Policy on FM Radio Phase - II
Under the new policy, additional 337 private FM radio channels will
be available across the country, spread over 91 cities/towns of
A+, A, B, C, & D category. Besides, 36 channels of IGNOU and
51 others are also earmarked for educational purposes. Eight towns
in the north-east region would be covered under the scheme with
40 FM radio stations, including 32 private operators and eight dedicated
for educational purposes.
Similarly, in Jammu & Kashmir nine channels (7 for private Broadcasting
and 2 for education) are planned in the cities of Jammu and Srinagar.
In order to overcome the drawbacks of Phase-I, the bidding process
has been made closed bid type to restrict speculative bidding of
the open bidding. Secondly, the fixed annual fees has been replaced
with the revenue sharing pattern, whereby the private operators
will have to pay four per cent of their revenue as annual fees.
Thirdly, withdrawal clauses have been made more stringent to ensure
that those who bid for a particular frequency do come up with the
radio station.
Under the new policy provisions, care has been taken to ensure that
a single large entity does not monopolize the airwaves. Accordingly,
no entity can own more than one FM radio station in the same city/town,
and no single entity will be allowed to own more than 15 per cent
of the total airwaves frequencies in the country.
Revised Guidelines for Foreign Investment in Print Media, Facsimile
Editions Issued
Foreign Direct Investment (which includes foreign direct investments
by NRIs, PIOs) and portfolio investments by recognized FIIs, together
up to a ceiling of 26% of paid up equity capital, in Indian entities
publishing newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current
affairs has been allowed. Such investment would be permissible by
foreign entities having sound credentials and international standing,
subject to certain conditions.
Facsimile editions, in whole or in part(s), of foreign newspapers,
by Indian entities, with or without foreign investment, and also
by foreign companies owning the original newspapers, provided they
get incorporated and registered in India under the Companies Act,
1956.
Permission will be granted only in cases where equity held by the
largest Indian shareholder is at least 51% of the paid-up equity,
excluding the equity held by public sector banks and public financial
institutions, in the New Entity. At least 50% of the foreign direct
investment will have to be inducted by issue of fresh equity. The
balance, viz. up to 50% of the foreign direct investment, may be
inducted through transfer of existing equity.
Any foreign company owning the original foreign newspaper will be
permitted to publish the facsimile edition of its newspaper. However,
the facsimile edition shall not carry any advertisements aimed at
India readers in any form. The facsimile edition shall not carry
any locally generated content/India specific content, which is not
simultaneously published in the original edition of foreign newspaper.
SIMCON
25th State Information Ministers’ Conference (SIMCON) was held
wherein Ministers/participants from 34 States/Union Territories
took part. The Conference deliberated on the issues of piracy, entertainment
tax and other issues related to the entertainment sector. The major
points of consensus included,
More effective implementation of anti piracy law with adequate
powers to officials of State Government and local authorities;
Licensing or registration of Video Libraries by State Government
to bring it under regulatory regime of local area;
· To work towards further reduction of entertainment tax
so as to bring it in the range of 25-30%. To revive cinema industry
and to encourage multiplexes;
To organize sensitization and training of State Government Officers
by the Government of India for monitoring cable operators.
Content Issues on TV
With a view to ensure that the content in TV programmes is healthy
one, the Ministry held a workshop of all stakeholders to the issue
besides educationists, psychologists and social activists. The daylong
deliberations resulted into a consensus on the need for a content
regulator to oversee that content harmful to the society is not
given undue projection. The said proposed regulator is to consist
of experts from varied sections of the society.
Tackling Certification Issues
In order to have the inputs from experts from diverse fields on
the issues related to certification of films and TV programmes,
a Workshop was organized by the Ministry. The Workshop came out
with several positive suggestions, which were accepted by the Ministry.
The suggestions included, need for a self regulatory body for the
film and TV industry to review the social responsibility aspect
before the TV programme/film is submitted to CBFC for certification;
film stars to appear in public service ads on all societal concerns
before and after the films and TV programmes; there will be disclaimers
on smoking, before the screening of the films and TV programmes
which contain smoking scenes; the need for complaints and redressal
system for industry for self regulation on the lines of Advertising
Standards Council of India (ASCI); mandatory social messaging by
broadcasters and film producers; setting up a Steering Committee
comprising representatives of film producers/directors, social activists
and senior officers to take forward this process of consultation
in respect of societal concerns related to contain in films and
TV programmes; consumers and viewers rights must be protected for
promoting informed choice through the self regulatory body of the
industry.
Film Co-Production Agreements
With a view to give a fillip to the Indian Film industry, and
to enable it attain global dimensions, the Ministry signed film
co-production agreements with United Kingdom and Italy. The signing
of such agreements with Germany, China and Canada is at an advanced
stage of finalization.
Film Festivals
The 36th International Film Festival of India was held in Goa.
Nearly 300 screenings of 182 films from 35 countries were held during
the 11-day extravaganza. The Competition Section this year was extended
to include films from Africa and Latin America also, besides Asia.
Over four thousand delegates and film personalities from around
the world attended the Festival. Several new features were introduced
during this year’s Festival. These include, retrospectives
of films from various countries including Italy, Poland, Africa,
Germany, Portugal, Canada, Egypt, Taiwan and Australia; all India
Premier of six films at the festival; beach screenings; special
tributes to film legends like Ismail Merchant, Sunil Dutt and Gemini
Ganeshan who passed away recently; NFA Gold Section with a view
to expose the younger generation to the works of great film makers
of the past; masters class and meet the directors programme. With
a view to develop Goa as IFFI destination and to bring it on par
with other renowned world film festivals, the Ministry signed an
agreement with the Goa Government making Goa the permanent venue
for IFFI. The Government also announced its support towards development
of necessary infrastructure in Goa in this regard.
The Directorate of Film Festivals held Weekend Film Festivals on
various legendary film personalities. These were held in Siri Fort,
New Delhi and were aimed to bring to the people cinema classics/masterpieces
of yesteryears. The doyens of Indian cinema on whom these festivals
were held included – Kundan Lal Saigal, Madhubala, Devanand,
Satyajit Ray, Gemini Ganesan and Sunil Dutt. A week long children
film festival was organized in Hyderabad.
Others
The Ministry and the Prasar Bharati agreed to launch of a new
satellite Urdu Channel. The proposed Channel will have at least
seven-hours of transmission everyday. Rs. 20 crore has been provided
for the new Channel during the current financial year.
DAVP organized several photo exhibitions on Dandi March, Tsunami,
Freedom Struggle and Journey of Indian Cinema.
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