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THE DTH HYPOCRISY
How things change! It was
hardly a year-and-a-half ago that direct to home television
was a bad word with everyone concerned. Every politician
screamed that it would pose a threat to national security
when Star TV threatened to flag off its ISkyB project. The
major opposition to ISkyB came from wannabe DTH players
such as Subhash Chandra and Lalit Modi as they did not want
Murdoch to be the first in this game in the Indian market.
But that was when the United
Front government was in power. All political parties, including
the BJP, agreed that DTH should not be allowed. Now the
shoe is on the other foot and it is the BJP which is ruling
the nation with support from allies who themselves supported
the ban on DTH. The information & broadcasting minister
is a Pramod Mahajan, who is also the fund raiser for the
BJP. And suddenly, DTH television seems OK. And the government
seems set to give a decision either way on this niche but
lucrative business in the next few weeks. Mahajan's predecessor
Sushma Swaraj seemed in no hurry to give the go-ahead to
DTH. And his minister of state M.A. Naqvi was quite emphatic
that DTH would not be allowed independent of the Broadcasting
Bill.
What goes with the BJP-led government? Has it forgotten
the threat to national security or was there never a threat?
And what goes with its allies, and the Janata Dal and the
Congress? Have they been hit by a bout of amnesia about
what they so strongly opposed hardly a couple of years ago?
Or is it that the anti-Murdoch lobby in government and amongst
politicians is no longer anti him because Chandra has made
peace with the global media baron? And what about the auctioning
of the direct-to-home service licences under the broadcast
bill? Has all that been erased from everyone's memory? Will
that be resorted to or will there be ad hocism in the DTH
television business?
Of course, people will argue that things have changed in
a couple of years and people can channels that they want
to watch over the Internet. So it will be useless to rein
in DTH. Rather, let it roll out and make money from what
has to hit Indian consumers anyway. Let those foreigners
who want to enter the market with their projects do so in
partnership with state-owned broadcaster DD having control
over most aspects of the business.
But we all know what happened when DD tied up with Measat
two years ago: it did nothing. DD and information and broadcasting
ministry officials simply sat on the proposal they had received
for an assoication with the Malayasian DTH service. This
writer is not opposed to technology nor is he sold on the
threat to national security hoodoo that politicians raised
but is opposed to opportunism on the part of governments.
They ban what they deem fit or is politically right; they
allow what they think they should. There appears to be little
reasoning and strategy behind the decisions they take.
Currently, there is no framework
in place; no Broadcast Authority of India. There are no
codes for advertising and editorial content on television.
What is good for DD needn't be good for DTH television which
is a niche service targeted at well-heeled people. Unless
the government has a coherent strategy- apart from raising
money -- behind allowing DTH services, it should not. The
money will disappear quickly. And we may well end up with
a repeat of what happened with telecom licensing. Respected
Mr Vajpayee, Mr Narayan, and Mr Mahajan please do your homework
before taking decisions you may well regret in future.
Article
appeared in a local newspaper in January, 1999
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