No plan to levy 10% licence fee on b’casters, cable ops: I&B Min

No plan to levy 10% licence fee on b’casters, cable ops: I&B Min

Industry-wise information relating to licence fee is not centrally maintained.

Prakash Javadekar

MUMBAI: The Minister Of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar has made it clear in a parliamentary response that the ministry does not intend to add any sort of 10 per cent licence fee on broadcasters and cable operators in India.

His response came for a question that asked if the minister had an intention to do so on the lines of what it follows for the DTH industry. Currently, DTH operators need to pay 10 per cent of their gross revenue as annual licence fee.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in a recommendation, last year, mentioned that this 10 per cent should be brought down to 8 per cent of adjusted gross revenue rather than gross revenue.

The minister also mentioned there is no central register that maintains industry-wise information regarding licence fees.