Direct-to-Home TV soon, with safeguards

NEW DELHI, JAN 14: The Government is likely to lift the ban on Direct-To-Home television soon, but with adequate safeguards'' to addres...

NEW DELHI, JAN 14: The Government is likely to lift the ban on Direct-To-Home television soon, but with 8220;adequate safeguards8221; to address fears of those who believe it is anti-national. 8220;The National Agenda for Governance stand on foreign equity does not exclude allowing DTH,8221; said a highly-placed source in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry today.

The Government, which anticipates criticism from swadeshi quarters within and outside the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP, will make it mandatory for DTH operators to show all 14 Doordarshan channels and adhere to the programming code of the national broadcaster. The Government will also be charging a licence fee, which will be a percentage of every rupee earned by the DTH broadcaster. Also, the Government is going to put a three-month moratorium on DTH television after lifting the ban, 8220;to allow all players to explore the possibility of entering the market.8221;

If and when DTH is allowed, say Iamp;B officials, it is not going to be offered on a platter to NewsCorp8217;s Rupert Murdoch, whose Star TV was denied it by the United Front Government even as it was on the verge of being approved by the then minister for Communications, Beni Prasad Verma.

Officials say they are not in a tearing hurry to revoke the 1997 notification banning broadcasts in frequency bands above 4800 MHz, and even if they do so, it should not be seen as a 8220;sell-out.8221; Ministry officials have prepared a draft note on DTH which has been with the Minister, Pramod Mahajan, since December 23. It lists the reasons for and the rationale against DTH.

Officials say that DTH in the Ku band, which is currently banned, will only be an extension of the existing reality 8212; transmission in the C band, which the newly digitised Star TV is already doing. Star TV, which has hired seven transponders on PanAmSat-4 at 1.5 million each every year, recently announced an alliance with Hughes Ispat for DTH, setting off speculation about its continuing arrangement with Zee TV. Hughes is likely to be the Indian partner for Star in the DTH venture, the foreign equity for which is likely to be pegged at 60 per cent.

On Wednesday, the Zee Telefilms board of directors declared that a merger with Star was not on the cards, while a day earlier in Singapore, Murdoch expressed optimism about his company8217;s prospects in India, China and Taiwan, likening the initial problems to the difficulties faced by Sky in England.

The news on the non-merger has clearly delighted Iamp;B officials, who say an electronic media monopoly is not in their interests. 8220;If lifting the DTH ban compels Star and Zee to go their separate ways, then that8217;s good for any government,8221; says an official. It is unclear whether the Star TV platform will also include the Zee bouquet of channels. Zee might propose a platform of its own. It also remains to be seen whether Star rivals like Sony, BBC and CNN will get onto its DTH platform.

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Though the 40,000 cable operators across the country are not likely to be enthused by the move, the Ministry also plans to address their concerns by delinking the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act from the Broadcasting Bill.

For viewers who have fat wallets an initial investment of Rs 10,000 and then Rs 500 every month, there will now be an option to the cable operator, though he/she might not receive all the channels on the Star platform.