"One of the great achievements of India is our free and vibrant press.

This
is an accomplishment of direct relevance to the working of democracy.
Authoritarianism flourishes not only by stifling opposition, but also by
systematically suppressing information."
- Prof. Amartya Sen

CHAPTER I
Broadcasting Sector & Policy
I. Emerging Electronic Media: Broadcast sector

After the printing press was invented, the communication saw a

revolution and led to the birth of very powerful print media consisting of
newspapers and journals taking the information and opinions about
happenings around to nook and corners of the world.

There are three Estates entrusted with power to control the people
under Constitutional Governance- Executive, Judiciary and Legislature.
The Fourth Estate- the Media contributes to dynamic thinking of people
rather than controlling their minds. But when even the Fourth Estate
develops interests to regulate the minds, the concerned civil society has a
role to awaken the masses. That emerging estate is called Fifth Estate. As
a parallel to Fifth Estate of physical world, the Blog world, netizen
journalists, social network groups constitute this Fifth Estate in virtual
space voicing their divergent thoughts and circulating their critical
remarks. These virtual vocal voices on-line as part of the social
networking group are now facing the possibility of censorship of one kind
or the other or regulation from the rulers of the real world. Latest example
is that the United States government is attempting, following foot-steps of
Iran and China, to stifle voices by imprisoning for five years for violating
copyright by linking to a copyrighted site. In fact, the life of
communication in social networking sites makes the online community
enliven and improve the quality of democracy in real world. The virtual
space with the names like www.facebook.com, www.google.com,
www.myspace.com, www.linkedin.com, www.twitter.com,
www.youtube.com, www.yahoo.com is a wonderful place where people
can connect instantly between themselves and with friends and relatives,
colleagues, contacts etc. The people can easily register without any cost
and get into fastest communication community on line. Minds can meet
without bringing heads together in this online world and the
communication will cross the continents in no time.

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1. The growth of Media in India

Within short span of time Indian Media has grown leaps and
bounds in myriad forms, languages and regions. It includes different
types of communications media such as television, radio, cinema,
newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites, blogs, social
media net works, etc. Many of the media are controlled by large, for-
profit corporations reaping huge revenue from advertising, subscriptions
and sale of news, entertainment and other copyrighted material.

The Indian media also has a very strong component of film

medium and the music medium as well. Coming to print media, India
has more than 70,000 newspapers. BBC considered India the biggest
newspaper market in the world – with over 100 million copies sold each
day. Advertising revenues have soared. 1. In the past two decades, the
number of channels has grown from one - the only state-owned
broadcaster, Doordarshan - to more than 500, of which more than 80
are news channels 2.

BBC says there is no diversity in the growth of Indian Media. A

2006 study by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies found that of the 315 key decision-makers surveyed from 37
Hindi and English publications and TV channels, almost 90% of decision
makers in the English language print media and 79% in television were
from the upper castes. There is virtually no representation of Dalits,
Scheduled Castes and Tribes, who comprise some 20% of India's
population and live on the margins. This accounts for a serious lack of
diversity in Indian media 3.
The advent of print media is recorded in the late 18th century in
1780, while radio broadcasting began in 1927. The screening of moving
pictures in Bombay was initiated during the July 1895. Indian Media is
hailed as one among the oldest and largest media of the world 4.

2. Broadcasting to Broadband
Broadcasting was initially confined to radio; the first radio
broadcast was provided by the Indian Broadcasting Co. in 1927. The
company went into liquidation in 1930 5, after having established its

1
Why are India's media under fire?". BBC News. 12 January 2012.
2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16524711
3
ibid
4
See Thomas 2006 and Burra & Rao 2006 Burra, Rani Day & Rao, Maithili (2006),
"Cinema", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 1) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 252–259,
Thomson Gale.
5
Broadcasting. Ninan p. 3
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Broadcasting Sector & Policy

operations in Lahore, Calcutta and Bombay. Then soon after the

broadcasting was placed under the Department of Labour and Industries.
Indian Broadcasting Service began telecast and subsequently in 1932 the
BBC started its operations in India 6. Further this service was rechristened
in 1937 as AIR. After independence the separate ministry of
communication and broadcasting was established 7. It is to be noted here
that the British government in the 1935 Government of India Act, gave
autonomy to the princely states to start their own Radio broadcasts 8. This
is very interesting, as after independence broadcasting was firmly in the
hands of Central Government. States, till today are not allowed to have
their own regional service channels run by them. 9

Though Radio broadcasting began in 1927 the state took over the
responsibility only in 1930. In 1937 it became Akashvani in Hindi and All
India Radio in English. Limited duration of television programming began
in 1959 and complete broadcasting followed in 1965. The Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting owned and maintained the audio-visual
apparatus—including the television channel Doordarshan—in the country
prior to the economic reforms of 1991.

Under the control of the Government of India the Akashvani and

Doordarshan played a significant role in increasing mass education in
India's rural swathes. Projected television screens provided engaging
education in India's villages by the 1990s.

3. Community Radio
The Community Radio in India is very popular. It began on 16
November 2006, the Government of India released the community radio
policy allowing agricultural centers, educational institutions and civil
society organizations to apply for community based FM broadcasting
license. The Community Radio is allowed 100 Watt Effective Radiated
Power (ERP) with a maximum tower height of 30 meters. The license is
valid for five years and one organization can only get one license, which
is non-transferable and to be used for community development purposes.

Community Radio and TV broadcasting at the local levels have

been found to be extremely useful in providing voices to the local
community in managing their affairs and participating in overall

6
ibid
7
P.C. Chatterjee, Broadcasting In India 1991
8
s. 129 of Govt. of India Act 1935.
9
Ibid.
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developmental process. It has been provided that non-commercial

organizations such as NGOs etc., working for the sole benefit of the
community would be given licenses for non-commercial (restricted)
broadcasting and educational institutions such as University etc., would
be given licenses for broadcasting in their respective (restricted) areas to
facilitate better education and communication on the basis of either a
restricted bid or no bid at all.

4. Growth of the Television

The origin and development of Television, barring the above two
experiments was totally confined to Delhi for a long time, i.e., from 1959
to 1973, in which year it was extended to Bombay and then to Amritsar
and Srinagar. These two areas were watching the Pakistan TV
programmes with pro-Pakistan campaigns, which could not be countered
as Doordarshan was not developed to match the reach of PTV, till 1973.
The expansion of television was felt necessary to counter the PTV
propaganda in rural areas in the sensitive border areas. It was gradually
spreading through several transmitters to link the major metropolis in the
beginning. The Government had to erect 250 television receivers all
through the Kashmir Valley, to counter the miscommunication by
neighbouring country. With this, state secured a propaganda machine
and for the first time a mass media organization was found to be a useful
weapon for security of state. Thus the Television was essentially
considered to be the tool of State.

Since the 1980s, India has experienced a rapid proliferation of

television broadcasting that has helped shape popular culture and the
course of politics. Although the first television program was broadcasted
in 1959, the expansion of television did not begin in earnest until the
extremely popular telecast of the Ninth Asian Games, which were held in
New Delhi in 1982. Realizing the popular appeal and consequent
influence of television broadcasting, the government undertook an
expansion that by 1990 was planned to provide television access to 90
percent of the population. In 1993, about 169 million people were
estimated to have watched Indian television each week, and, by 1994, it
was reported that there were some 47 million households with televisions.
There also is a growing selection of satellite transmission and cable
services available

With airwaves being opened up through the economic reforms

satellite television channels from around the world gained a foothold in
the country. It is recorded that 47 million households with television sets
emerged in 1993, which was also the year when Rupert Murdoch entered
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the Indian market Satellite and cable television soon gained a foothold.
State owned Doordarshan also has initiated reforms and modernization
to stand in the stiff competition of the private channels. It is obvious that
Doordarshan remained a significant medium with other foreign stake
holders dominating the scene. With 1,400 television stations as of 2009,
the country ranks 4th in the list of countries by a number of television
broadcast stations 10.

5. Terrestrial television spreads

The Terrestrial television in India started with the experimental
telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959 with a small transmitter
and a makeshift studio. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as
a part of All India Radio. The television service was extended to Bombay
and Amritsar in 1972. Up until 1975, only seven Indian cities had a
television service and Doordarshan remained the sole provider of
television in India. Television services were separated from radio in 1976.
National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, colour TV
was introduced in the Indian market. Indian small screen programming
started off in the early 1980s. As mentioned before, at that time there was
only one national channel Doordarshan, which was government owned.

Days of Ramayan serial: Television programming was initially kept

strictly under the control of the government, which embarked on a self-
conscious effort to construct and propagate a cultural idea of the Indian
nation. This goal is especially clear in the broadcasts of such mega series
as the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Ramayana and
Mahabharath (both Indian epics) were the first major television series
produced. This serial notched up the world record in viewership numbers
for a single program. By the late 1980s, more and more people started
to own television sets. Though there was a single channel, television
programming had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up
another channel which had part national programming and part
regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels
were broadcast terrestrially.

Doordarshan spread its reach almost half of the world. The PAS-1
and PAS-4 are satellites whose transponders help in the telecasting of DD
programmes in half the regions of the world. An international channel
called DD International was started in 1995 and it telecasts programmes
for 19 hours a day to foreign countries-via PAS-4 to Europe, Asia and
Africa, and via PAS-1 to North America.

10
CIA World Factbook: Field Listing – Television broadcast stations.
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In addition to the effort at nation-building, the politicians of India's

ruling party have not hesitated to use television to build political support.
In fact, the political abuse of Indian television led to demands to increase
the autonomy of Doordarshan; these demands ultimately resulted in
support for the Prasar Bharati Act.

State controlled creativity: Some of the successful TV Programs

which increased viewership were as follows: The 1980s was the era of
Doordarshan with shows like Hum Log (1984), Buniyaad (1986-87) and
comedy shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Mythological dramas like
Ramayan (1987-88) and Mahabharat (1989-90) glued millions to
Doordarshan and later on Bharat Ek Khoj, The Sword of Tipu Sultan and
Chandrakanta. Hindi film songs based programs like Chitrahaar, Rangoli,
Superhit Muqabla crime thrillers like Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi.
Shows targeted at children include Dada Dadi ki Kahaniyan, Vikram Betal,
Malgudi Days, Tenali Rama.

The 1990s have brought a radical transformation of television in

India. Transnational satellite broadcasting made its debut in January
1991, when owners of satellite dishes--initially mostly at major hotels--
began receiving Cable News Network (CNN) coverage of the Persian
Gulf War. This opened the gateway for the earlier thought “cultural
imperialists” to enter the Indian broadcasting system. “Any attempt to
restrict foreign broadcasters would have been construed as evidence of
the government’s lack of commitment to opening up the economy.
Consequently, the Government chose to ignore the foreign television
services, despite complaints from a number of political and social
organizations of the cultural threat posed by these services. The
Government clearly recognized that television is a highly visible cultural
product that functions as the best marketing tool for the liberalization of
the Indian economy.” 11

Foreign TV Channels: After this the doors were kept open for the
private broadcasters to venture into India. This has assisted largely in the
growth of our economic system. Three months later, Star TV began
broadcasting using the ASIASAT-I satellite 12. Its fare initially included

11
Nikhil Sinha on “Doordarshan, Public Service Broadcasting and the Impact of
Globalization: A Short History” quoted from from “Government Media- Autonomy and
After” edited by G.S. Bhargava, Concept Publishing Co. , 1991, pg27
12
By early 1992, nearly half a million Indian households were receiving STAR TV
telecasts. By 1995 around 13 million people were receiving STAR TV making India the
largest market for STAR TV.
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serials such as "The Bold and the Beautiful" and MTV programs. Satellite
broadcasting spread rapidly through India's cities as local entrepreneurs
erected dishes to receive signals and transmitted them through local cable
systems. After its October 1992 launch, Zee TV offered stiff competition to
Star TV. However, the future of Star TV was bolstered by billionaire Rupert
Murdock, who acquired the network for US$525 million in July 1993.
CNN International, part of the Turner Broadcasting System, was slated to
start broadcasting entertainment programs, including top Hollywood
films, in 1995.

Foreign channels like CNN STAR TV and domestic channels such

as Zee TV, ETV and Sun TV started satellite broadcasts. Starting with 41
sets in 1962 and one channel, by 1995 TV in India covered more than 70
million homes giving a viewing population of more than 400 million
individuals through more than 100 channels.

The Hong Kong-based Star TV Network introduced five major

television channels into the Indian broadcasting space that had so far
been monopolised by the Indian government-owned Doordarshan: MTV,
STARPlus, StarMovies, BBC, Prime Sports and STAR Chinese Channel.
Soon after, India saw the launch of Zee TV, the first privately-owned
Indian channel to broadcast over cable followed by Asia Television
Network (ATN). A few years later, CNN, Discovery Channel, National
Geographic Channel, BBC made their foray into India. Later, Star TV
Network expanded its bouquet with the introduction of STAR World
India, STAR Sports, ESPN, Channel V and STAR Gold.

Competition from the satellite stations brought radical change to

Doordarshan by cutting its audience and threatening its advertising
revenues at a time when the government was pressuring it to pay for
expenditures from internal revenues. In response, Doordarshan decided
in 1993 to start five new channels in addition to its original National
Channel. Programming was radically transformed, and controversial
news shows, soap operas, and coverage of high-fashion events
proliferated. Of the new Doordarshan channels, however, only the Metro
Channel, which carries MTV music videos and other popular shows, has
survived in the face of the new trend for talk programs that engage in a
potpourri of racy topics.

There are at least five basic types of television in India: Broadcast,

or "over-the-air" television, unencrypted satellite or “free-to-air”, Direct
Broadcast Satellite, cable television and IPTV (internet protocol television).

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6. Origin and Growth of Cable TV

When, urban Indians learnt that it was possible to watch the Gulf
War on television, they rushed out and bought dishes for their homes.
Others turned entrepreneurs and started offering the signal to their
neighbors by flinging cable over treetops and verandahs. From the large
metros satellite TV, delivered via cable, moved into smaller towns,
spurring the purchase of TV sets and even the up-gradation from black &
white to colour TVs.

DD responded to this satellite TV invasion by launching an

entertainment and commercially driven channel and introduced
entertainment programming on its terrestrial network. This again fuelled
the purchase of sets in the hinterlands where cable TV was not available.

The initial success of the channels had a snowball effect: more

foreign programmers and Indian entrepreneurs flagged off their own
versions. From two channels prior to 1991, Indian viewers were exposed
to more than 50 channels by 1996. Software producers emerged to cater
to the programming boom almost overnight. Some talent came from the
film industry, some from advertising and some from journalism 13.

More and more people set up networks until there was a time in
1995-96 when an estimated 60,000 cable operators existed in the
country. Some of them had subscriber bases as low as 50 to as high as in
the thousands. Most of the networks could relay just 6 to 14 channels as
higher channel relaying capacity required heavy investments, which cable
operators were loathe to make. American and European cable networks
evinced interest, as well as large Indian business groups, which set up
sophisticated headends capable of delivering more than 30 channels.
These multi-system operators (MSOs) started buying up local networks or
franchising cable TV feeds to the smaller operators for a fee. This
phenomenon led to resistance from smaller cable operators who joined
forces and started functioning as MSOs. The net outcome was that the
number of cable operators in the country had fallen to 30,000.

The rash of players who rushed to set up satellite channels

discovered that advertising revenue was not large enough to support
them. This led to a shakeout. At least half a dozen either folded up or
aborted the high-flying plans they had drawn up and started operating in
a restricted manner. Some of them converted their channels into basic
subscription services charging cable operators a carriage fee.

13
www.indiantelevision.com
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Foreign cable TV, MSOs discovered that the cable TV market was
too disorganized for them to operate in and at least three of them
decided to postpone their plans and got out of the market.

Over-the-air and free-to-air TV is free with no monthly payments

while Cable, Direct Broadcast Satellite and IPTV require a monthly
payment that varies depending on how many channels a subscriber
chooses to pay for. Channels are usually sold in groups, rather than
singly.

As per the TAM Annual Universe Update - 2010, India now has
over 134 million households (out of 223 million) with television sets, of
which over 103 million have access to Cable TV or Satellite TV, including
20 million households which are DTH subscribers. In Urban India, 85% of
all households have a TV and over 70% of all households have access to
Satellite, Cable or DTH services. TV owning households have been
growing at between 8-10%, while growth in Satellite/Cable homes
exceeded 15% and DTH subscribers grew 28% over 2009. However,
some analysts place the number of households with television access at
closer to 180 million since roughly a third of all rural families may watch
television at a neighboring relatives’ home, and argue that Cable TV
households are probably closer to 120 million owing to a certain
percentage of informal/unregistered Cable Networks that aren't counted
by mainstream surveys. It is also estimated that India now has over 500
TV channels covering all the main languages spoken in the nation.

7. Advancement of Telecommunications
The Communications field received a great boost up during the
times of Indian Space Scientist Vikram Sarabhai, who launched the
indigenous satellite development programme which revolutionised the
telecommunications and provided for development of Doordarshan in
India. It started with Farm Television in 1967 as a tool of reaching remote
areas of the country and to provide them necessary information for
improving the Agriculture. Thus the Television was used first to help the
agrarian community rather than for urban entertainment. Another major
experiment was the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment "SITE"
which put the time available on American Satellite for telecasting
programmes to 2400 villages in six states of the country.

8. Internet Sector
The Union Government acquired the EVS EM computers from
the Soviet Union, which were used in large companies and research
laboratories. Tata Consultancy Services – established in 1968 by the Tata
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Group was the country's largest software producer during the 1960s 14.
The 'microchip revolution' of the 1980s had convinced both Indira
Gandhi and her successor, Rajiv Gandhi that electronics and
telecommunications were vital to India's growth and development 15.
MTNL underwent technological improvements. Between 1986 and 1987,
the Indian government embarked upon the creation of three wide-area
computer networking schemes: INDONET (intended to serve the IBM
mainframes in India), NICNET (network for the National Informatics
Centre) and the academic research oriented Education and Research
Network (ERNET).

With economic reforms in 1991, leading to a new era

of globalisation and international economic integration, overall growth
has resulted in phenomenal increase in internet usage in India.

The Internet started gaining strong roots in India by 1996 and its
connections rose to a total of 100 million Internet users—comprising
8.5% of the country's population—by 2010. By 2010, 13 million people
in India also had access to broadband Internet— making it the 10th
largest country in the world in terms of broadband Internet users.

India leaped forward in other communication connectivity also. It

had a total of 34 million fixed lines in use by 2011. In the fixed line
arena, BSNL and MTNL are the incumbents in their respective areas of
operation and continue to enjoy the dominant service provider status in
the domain of fixed line services. The public sector BSNL controls 79% of
fixed line share in the country.

9. Mobile Telephony sector

In the mobile telephony sector, Bharti Airtel controls 24.3%
subscriber base, followed by Reliance Communications with 18.9%,
Vodafone with 18.8% and BSNL with 12.7% subscriber base as of June-
2009. India had a total of 880 million mobile phone connections by

14
Desai, Ashok V. (2006), "Information and other Technology
Development", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 269–273,
Thomson Gale
15
Chand, Vikram K. (2006), Reinventing public service delivery in India: Selected Case
Studies, Sage Publications
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2011 16. Total fixed-line and wireless subscribers reached 688 million as
of August 2010 17.

II. Evolution of policy and Regulation

The political participation in India has been transformed in many
ways since the 1960s and much of it can be attributed to the electronic
media. New social groups have entered the political arena and begun to
use their political resources to shape the political process. Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes, previously excluded from politics because
of their position at the bottom of India's social hierarchy, have begun to
take full advantage of the opportunities presented by India's democracy.
Women and environmentalists constitute new political categories that
transcend traditional distinctions. The spread of social movements and
voluntary organizations has shown that despite the difficulties of India's
political parties and state institutions, India's democratic tendency
continues to thrive.

An important aspect of the rise of civil society is the proliferation of

voluntary or nongovernmental organizations. Estimates of their number
ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 in 1993. To some extent, the rise of
voluntary organizations has been sponsored by the Indian state. For
instance, the central government's Seventh Five-Year Plan of fiscal years
(FY--see Glossary) 1985-89 recognized the contributions of voluntary
organizations in accelerating development and substantially increased
their funding. A 1987 survey of 1,273 voluntary agencies reported that
47 percent received some form of funding from the central government.
Voluntary organizations also have thrived on foreign donations, which in
1991-92 contributed more than US$400 million to some 15,000
organizations. Some nongovernmental organizations cooperate with the
central government in a manner that augments its capacity to implement
public policy, such as poverty alleviation, for example, in a decentralized
manner. Other nongovernmental organizations also serve as watchdogs,
attempting to pressure government agencies to uphold the spirit of the
state's laws and implement policies in accord with their stated objectives.
Nongovernmental organizations also endeavor to raise the political
consciousness of various social groups, encouraging them to demand
their rights and challenge social inequities. Finally, some social groups

16
From the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India see Study paper on State of Indian
Telecom Network andTelecom Regulatory Authority of India Press Release No. 89
/2006.
17
Tripathy, Devidutta (25 July 2008). "Reuters (2008), ''India adds 8.94 mln mobile users
in June''". Uk.reuters.com.
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serve as innovators, experimenting with new approaches to solving social

problems.

Beginning in the 1970s, activists began to form broad-based

social movements, which proved powerful advocates for interests that they
perceived as neglected by the state and political parties. Perhaps the most
powerful has been the farmers' movement, which has organized
hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in New Delhi and has
pressurised the government for higher prices on agricultural commodities
and more investment in rural areas. Members of Scheduled Castes led by
the Dalit Panthers have moved to rearticulate the identity of former
Untouchables. Women from an array of diverse organizations now
interact in conferences and exchange ideas in order to define and
promote women's issues. Simultaneously, an environmental movement
has developed that has attempted to compel the government to be more
responsive to environmental concerns and has attempted to redefine the
concept of "development" to include respect for indigenous cultures and
environmental sustainability.

With its highly competitive elections, relatively independent

judiciary, boisterous media, and thriving civil society, India continues to
possess one of the most democratic political systems of all developing
countries. Nevertheless, Indian democracy is under stress. Political power
within the Indian state has become increasingly centralized at a time
when India's civil society has become mobilized along lines that reflect the
country's remarkable social diversity. The country's political parties, which
might aggregate the country's diverse social interests in a way that would
ensure the responsiveness of state authority, are in crisis.

The unresponsiveness of India's political parties and government

has encouraged the Indian public to mobilize through nongovernmental
organizations and social movements. The consequent development of
India's civil society has made Indians less confident of the transformative
power of the state and more confident of the power of the individual and
local community. This development is shifting a larger share of the
initiative for resolving India's social problems from the state to society.
Fashioning party and state institutions that will accommodate the diverse
interests that are now mobilized in Indian society is the major challenge
confronting the Indian polity in the 1990s. 18

18
Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr., and Stanley A. Kochanek's “India: Government and Politics in
a Developing Nation provides a thorough and insightful overview of Indian politics.”
from http://www.1upinfo.com
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1. Foundation of Communication Law in Constitutional Law

After the Constitution came into existence the entire broadcasting
law had to follow the broad premise of Article 19, which gave freedom
speech and expression with reasonable restrictions. These reasonable
restrictions were construed as impact on culture and social fabric of the
country, as it was believed and the debate still continues as to the effect of
foreign channels on our culture. Second consideration was the
maintenance of peace and harmony in the society by not telecasting
programmes, which could foment communal trouble and cause religious
sentiments of the vast majority to be hurt. Our broadcasting policy till
early nineties was hostage to this fear of foreign and private media. The
whole body of case law has developed on the issue of reasonable
restrictions on media under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

Section 129 of The Government of India Act of 1935 gave right to

provincial governments and princely states to construct and use
transmitters and to regulate and impose fees in respect of the construction
and use of transmitters and receiving apparatus in the province or state.
After Independence, the Government of India was having total and
absolute control over the broadcast media. Constitution of India
guaranteed the freedom of speech and expression with reasonable
restrictions under Article 19.

2. First Law of Communication Regulation: Telegraph Act 1885

Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 is the earliest piece of legislation in
India that intends to control the wireless broadcasting. The state has
apprehensions as to misuse of the broadcasting media for propagating
anti-national, anti-cultural thoughts and destroys the socio-cultural fabric
of the nation. Thus the state wanted to retain enough control over
broadcast media functioning.

The Supreme Court in Union of India v Cricket Association of

Bengal 19 observed: The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 is totally inadequate
to govern an important medium like the radio and television, i.e., the
broadcasting media.

The Indian Telegraph Act was intended for an altogether different

purpose when it was enacted. This is the result of the law in this country
not keeping pace with the technological advances in the field of
information and communications. While all the leading democratic

19
1995(2) SCC 161
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countries have enacted laws specifically governing the broadcasting

media, the law in this country has stood still, rooted in the Telegraph Act
of 1885. With the advent of technological revolution and economic
reforms towards globalization, the influence of external broadcast media
was inevitable. There is tremendous increase in foreign satellite television
channels flooding every home with tons of visual information. While the
freedom lovers were pleading for autonomy for the state media, the
demand was also raising for free private media video information flow. B.
G. Verghese, senior Editor of prominent newspapers, was the first
chairman of the committee, which suggested the autonomy of electronic
media in 1977.

The first Broadcast Regulation law, The Indian Telegraph Act,

1885 empowered the government to control the establishment,
maintenance and working of a wireless apparatus. It says: "Within India
the Central Government shall have the exclusive privilege of establishing,
maintaining and working telegraphs". This law conferred the power to
grant licenses to establish and maintain a telegraph. This Act was
amended five times during 1957 and 1974.

In 1957 this Act 20 was amended to expand the term telegraph to

include "any telegraph line, appliance, or apparatus for the purpose of
affording means of telegraphic communications". From this provision, the
Government of India drew its power to monopoly over the radio and
television. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been
opposing the import of satellite earth stations and the up-linking to
satellites by private parties under the provisions of this Act only. It was
possible by stretching the interpretation of 'telegraph' to cover the
generating of signals for telecasting. The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act
of 1933 made the possession of a radio set without a license an offence.
This Act dealt with possession of wireless apparatus and radio receivers,
which were not covered by Telegraph Act.

III: Autonomy of Public Sector Media

1. Chanda Committee, 1964

As early as in 1964 the Chanda committee indicted the
Government by saying that the peoples trust of the government media
and news was declining as it was seen as the mouthpiece of the
authorities and nothing more than an avenue for personal glorification
people in power.

20
Section 7 of Act 47 of 1957 amending 1885 Telegraph Act.
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Demand for reforming the Broadcasting law was basically for

liberating the media from the state control, or providing an autonomous
decision making power with neutral and objective functioning. Chanda
Committee on Broadcasting and Information Media was first such inquiry
commission appointed by the Government of India in 1964. The Chanda
Committee in its report suggested that the credibility of the government
information was to be improved. It stated that the suspicion of official
information has deepened in India because of an incorrect, even
improper use of media for personalized publicity and an undue accent on
achievements. The Committee also suggested that it was necessary to
correct this distortion and also to pose in proper perspective the many
problems that confront the country without withholding adverse facts
while at the same time stating convincingly how the remedy lies in the
people's hands. 21 The Committee observed that "Confidence in the
faitfhfulness of government information has to be generated. Suspicion of
official information has deepened in India because of an incorrect, even
improper use of media for personalised publicity and an undue accent on
achievements. It is necessary to correct this distortion and also to pose in
proper perspective the many problems that confront the country without
withholding adverse facts, while at the same time stating convincingly
how the remedy lies in the people's hands" 22. This is a clear indication of
fall of credibility of the official information through state-controlled
media.

While Article 19(1)(a) with sub-Article (2) has ushered in vibrant

free press, the Telegraph Act still being used to give total control over
broadcast media to the Government.

2. Use of Mass Media by the State

The media in India faced a rough weather during Emergency in
1975 during which period the official media alone was disbursing the
information while the press and other private media sources were
suppressed totally. With all democratic rights suspended, the dark period
of Emergency provoked the fierce demand for autonomy for state
information media. The first non-congress Government at the Center
studied the "Misuse of Mass Media During Emergency".

21
Virendra Kumar, Committee on Broadcasting and Information Media, Committees and
Commissions in India 1947-1973, at 25 (1978)
22
ibid.
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As the democracy survives on effective communication of

information, the vested interests were always against free flow of
information which they did not like or which perceived as opposing their
interests. The ruling class always tried to win over the minds of the people
and abused media for propaganda purposes and suppressing the hostile
information. With the advent of radio and television, the telecast and
broadcast sectors started dominating the media scene with their wider
reach and deeper impact on communication world. The electronic media
became an entrenched communication device effectively operating on the
whole of the universe across the borders. No territorial boundary can stop
the communication of word and picture, at present. Hundreds of channels
are now beaming variety of programmes at a time into every drawing
room. The electronic media evolved into a very powerful global process
of influencing the cultures and social patterns of any country. Impounding
a small society with visual information will have a very serious cultural
impact and may raise ethical and legal questions including international
outcry against the cultural invasion. As media law is concerned with the
violations of rights of individuals and societies or the nations as such, the
electronic media impact and its regulation needs to be studied in depth.

3. Press Freedom levels

The French NGO, ‘Reporters Without Borders’, compiles and
publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organisation's
assessment of their press freedom records. In 2011-12 India was ranked
131st out of 179 countries, which was a setback from the preceding
year 23.

4. News Policy for Broadcast Media 1982

In contradistinction to autonomy, the government felt the need for
issuing directions from time to time to the official media, as provided by
the News Policy for Broadcast Media, which was issued by the Ministry in
May 1982. The policy contained guidelines to the news coverage and
other politically related programmed aired by both Television and Radio.
The guidelines cover news selection and presentation, political coverage,
coverage of the President, Prime Minister and Ministers, Statements and
rejoinders, strikes and bandhs, riots and disturbances, sex and crime,
national calamities, deaths and anniversaries, external news, subversion
and insurgency, comments and opinions, speculation and rumour and
parliament coverage. These guidelines are still followed by the official
media over TV and radio. This News Policy for Broadcast Media enjoins

23
"A Press Freedom Index 2011 - 2012". Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved
17.8.2012 http://en.rsf.org/spip.php?page=classement&id_rubrique=1043
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Broadcasting Sector & Policy

the news gathering apparatus to 'make a deliberate effort to explore new

areas of development and nation building news". 24 These Guidelines lay
a lot of emphasis on the coverage of development, its significance,
achievements and problems. The news policy also consists of rules as to
national integration and communal peace. The style and method of
reporting news should reinforce the central principles on which national
polices are based. These fundamental principles are territorial integrity,
national integration, secularism, maintenance of public order, and
upholding the dignity and prestige of Parliament, State Legislatures and
the Judiciary.

With regard to communal matters, the Guidelines have specific

instructions to be scrupulously followed. Some of the guidelines are as
follows.
1. "If riots are of a communal nature do not identify the communities
concerned",
2. "Never offend any particular community or religion"
3. Do not give any news which tends to incite subversive activities
4. AIR news bulletins should be on guard against encouraging
secessionist activities even if promoted by a recognized political
party

One of the guidelines relating to foreign affairs suggest: "Our own

national interest should be the principal consideration in selection and
presentation of a foreign news item".

5. Verghese Committee
A committee under the chairmanship of B. G. Verghese, a senior
editor, inquired into the need and prospects of autonomy for mass
media. This committee studied possibility of providing autonomy to
Akashvani and Doordarshan within the control of government. The
Committee suggested creation of National Broadcasting Trust or
Akashbharathi to function independently and a Bill was also ready to
regulate the functioning of the Akashvani and Radio relieving it from the
day to day control of the government. The Bill was lapsed in the
Parliament, as the House dissolved in 1979 after the government. It is
intended that the trustee of the national interest for radio and television
shall uphold the collective right of the Indian people to freedom of
speech, expression and communication through the broadcast media.

24
Advisory commission on Official Media, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
News Policy for Broadcast media, Guidelines prepared by the Advisory Committee on
Official Media 3 (1982)
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The trust has to advise the central government regarding broadcasting

affairs, and conduct public broadcast services. The development of
broadcast services is also the prescribed job of the trust. According to
charter, the Trust was to provide a national broadcasting service
predominantly Indian in content and character, and it was to uphold the
impartiality, integrity and autonomy of broadcasting in the country. The
Bill envisaged a Complaints Board to hear complaints by any member of
the public in respect of charge of unjust or unfair treatment, including
unwarranted invasion of privacy and misrepresentation. It also
contemplated to constitute a Licensing Board to grant franchise licenses to
any broadcasting station.

The National Broadcasting Trust was formed and Akash Bharti Bill
was introduced in Parliament. The trust was to consist of twelve to twenty
one members. It also envisaged a Licensing Board which would grant
franchise licenses to any station. The trust was to conduct and organize
public broadcast services and would develop, extend, and improve these
services in the public interest. It would advise the Central Government in
respect of all matters relating to broadcast. It also has to provide a
national broadcasting service predominantly Indian in content and
character and it was to uphold the 'impartiality, integrity, and autonomy
of broadcasting in India.

6. Demand for Autonomy and State opposition

Many a time, various committees were formed to look into the
working and the structure of the broadcasting media in the country. But
all the effort and environment built for autonomy was washed away
during Mrs. Indira Gandhi's regime and that of her son, Rajiv Gandhi's
from 1984 to 1989. The political policy of the new Government under
Mrs. Indira Gandhi had again changed the entire spectrum of autonomy
and preferred renewed controls over the official media. After Mrs. Indira
Gandhi’s return to power in 1980, the Bill was totally opposed stating
that such a Commission was not necessary. The new Government framed
a News Policy exclusively for Broadcast Media, comprising several
guidelines which ensure enough coverage to President, Prime Minister,
Ministers, Official Statements and strict restrictions on the coverage of
riots and disturbances. An additional duty of protecting the image of
those in power as indirectly cast on the official media, which means total
and absolute control over the news content and programme content of
Radio and Television. Mrs. Gandhi's Government also did not like the
proposal to give autonomy to the Films Division. The Working group
appointed in 1978 to grant autonomy to Films Division was wound up

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and the Films Division was allowed to continue as an appendage of the

Government at the Center.

7. National Doordarshan Council

A Working Group on Software for Doordarshan was constituted in
1982. Explore means to use the official media in the process of social
and economic development in the country and for providing information,
education and entertainment 25. The report criticised the structure and
management style of Doordarshan and mentioned the need of functional
autonomy for Doordarshan. The report suggested constitution of National
Doordarshan Council which would include members competent by virtue
of their expertise in the field to tender advice to the Minister on broad
social objectives as well as modes of television programming. It
envisaged three kinds of roles for the National Doordarshan Council: as
a body that would review and guide the organization's performance, as a
guardian of Doordarshan's functional and professional autonomy, and as
a counter part of the Press Council for examining complaints of
inaccuracy or bias in the reporting of news and comment on current
affairs. The Working Group suggested that Doordarshan be beaded by a
director-general who had a proven record of excellence in any area of
social communication as well as the leadership qualities necessary for
attracting and utilizing creative talent in the service of the country's people
through Doordarshan. It suggested that his status, emoluments, and
financial powers should not be less than that of a Secretary to
Government. It also recommended for review of salary, promotional
avenues and support for all Doordarshan staff. None of these
recommendations by Working Group were implemented at all.

The effect of not providing autonomy or professional

independence and non-implementation of the guidelines and
recommendations of the Working Group is visible. The Government
Media delayed the announcement of death of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, while
the BBC narrated the details of her assassination to whole of the world.
Rajiv Gandhi assumed the office of Prime Minister and exhibited inititial
enthusiasm to liberalize the official media, but in the wake of political
turmoil both within and without his own party, he allowed official media
to be vulnerable so that it could be misused during the elections. In 1989,
the attempts to misuse the official media for projecting the positive image
of Rajiv Gandhi and tarnishing the political opponents became a

25
The Working Group on Softare for Doordarshan, Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, An Indian Personality for Television 217 (1985)
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campaign point and opposition chose to include in their manifesto a

promise to provide autonomy to the official media.

8. Case of 'Beyond Genocide'; Constitutional Validity of Instructions

The validity of departmental rule or notification or guideline in
limiting the scope of freedom of speech and expression was under
question before the Delhi High Court during 1989. In Cinemart
Foundation v Union of India 26, the Delhi High Court held that the
fundamental right to freedom of speech on Doordarshan could only be
curtailed by a valid law, not by a departmental rule or instruction. The
Court directed Doordarshan to telecast a film which it had refused to
earlier on the ground that it was too critical of the Government. In this
case, the story of the film under question was about the Bhopal gas
tragedy under the name "Beyond the Genocide". Doordarshan chose to
refuse its telecast, ignoring the fact that the film won a national award.
Government appealed to the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal
and observed that Doordarshan being a state-controlled agency funded
by public funds, could not deny to the respondent, access to the screen
except on valid grounds. Those valid grounds are as available under
Article 19(2) only. Thus a claim that a rule from Ministry or guideline
under the policy of Ministry could be used to stop screening of a film or
programme. This case established the legal invalidity of the guidelines or
the grounds other than Article 19(2).

9. Autonomy to State Media: Premise for Prasar Bharti Law

After the electoral defeat of Congress Government with Rajiv
Gandhi as its leader, a second Non-Congress Government was formed
in 1990, which tried to revive Akash Bharti and had a re-look at the Bill.
The earlier Bill was reformed as PRASAR BHARTI.

The Prasar Bharti had a Board of Governors as compared to the

trustees, which was envisaged earlier for Akash Bharthi. The new
organisation was to be a corporation rather than being a trust. New
arrangement also called for a government nominee on the board, which
was not there earlier. The earlier structure provided for granting
broadcast franchise licenses to the stations or Kendra’s through its
licensing board. The Prasar Bharthi Bill dropped the clause promising to
'uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression
guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution'. It also dropped the
clause pledging to 'uphold the impartiality, integrity and autonomy of
broadcasting in the country'. Prasar Bharthi also omitted the provisions

26
Judgements Today 1992 SC 204
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Broadcasting Sector & Policy

relating to Trust's relations with the Government as provided in Akash

Bharathi. Draft was further changed before it was approved as Bill. When
the Bill was finally tabled in parliament, it had an added feature of a
twenty-two member parliamentary committee to oversee the functioning
of the autonomous body. This was a measure to reduce the concentration
of power in a small group, which was envisaged earlier. The concerned
Minister explained that it was necessary to prevent the Prasar Bharti
Corporation from functioning under the supervision of Public
Undertakings Committee or some other Committee. By providing a
separate Parliamentary Committee, the Prasar Bharti was provided with a
special status.

Though the Bill was passed in 1990 it was not immediately

notified and it took another 7 years for notifying the Act in 1997 only
after another non-congress Government was formed at the center. A
comment is relevant here to understand the Act of 1990, which was in
cold storage for seven years: "Overall, the quality of autonomy finally
conferred legislatively on the electronic media in 1990 was diluted in
spirit compared to what had been conceived of in 1978" 27.

In 1991, the Congress-led minority Government survived for a full

term at the Center, did not enforce its election promise of providing
autonomy to the Official Media. In fact, it has nothing to do for enforcing
that promise, except notifying the Act of 1990. That was not done.

IV. Cable Networks Regulation

1. The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995

Cable television operations in the country were regularized with
the promulgation of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act on March
25, 1995. This Act provides for the registration of cable operators and
contains provisions that would facilitate upgradation of the cable
television networks in the country.

Section 3 of the Act says that a person is not allowed to operate

his cable network unless he is a registered cable operator under this Act.
However, a person operating a cable television network immediately
before the commencement of the Act, may continue to do so, (a) for a
period of ninety days from such commencement; and (b) till (i) he is
registered under section (3), or (ii) the registering authority refuses to
grant registration under proviso to section 4(3) to him.

27
Monroe E Price, Stefaan G. Verhulst, Broadcasting Reform In India, 2000, p11.
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Section 8 of the Act talks about compulsory transmission of the

Doordarshan channels. It says that:

(1) Every cable operator shall, from the commencement of the Cable
Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2000, re-transmit
at least two Doordarshan terrestrial channels and one regional
language channel of a State in the prime band, in satellite mode on
frequencies other than those carrying terrestrial frequencies.
(2) The Doordarshan channels referred to in sub-section (1) shall be
retransmitted without any deletion or alteration of any programme
transmitted on such channels.
(3) The Prasar Bharti (Broadcasting Corporation of India) established
under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Prasar Bharti (Broadcasting
Corporation of India) Act, 1990 (25 of 1990) may, by notification in
the Official Gazette, specify the number and name of every
Doordarshan channel to be re-transmitted by cable operators in their
cable service and the manner of reception and re-transmission of
such channels. 28

Section 10 the Act casts a duty on the cable operator to ensure

that his cable network system does not interferes with the functioning of
the authorized telecommunication systems.

This Act, however, is being criticized by the cable operators as it

does not protect any cable operators from being harassed by the
subscribers, pay channels and the bad competitors ( fellow cable
operators).

Presently, more than 30 cable television channels are available to

viewers round the country. These include CNN, BBC, NBC, CNBC, Zee
TV, Star Plus, Star Movies, Star Sports, Sony TV, Raj TV, TNT, MTV,
Discovery, National Geographic, Jain TV, Sahara TV and others. 29

MUCH of the growth of the electronic media in India over the last
decade occurred in a regulatory vacuum. With the government's
broadcasting monopoly in headlong retreat against the insurgent entry of
cable television, the only significant assertion of regulatory authority came

28
Subs. by Act 36 of 2000, sec 5 for sec 8 (w.e.f. 1-9-2000)
29
http://pib.nic.in/archieve/factsheet/fs2000/i&b.html
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in late-1996, when direct-to-home (or DTH) broadcasts on the Ku-Band

were firmly prohibited. 30

What is DTH
While the conventional satellite-dish-cable system uses a
frequency range called C-band, the DTH system uses the Ku-band
frequency capable of carrying much better quality picture and sound
signals. The DTH system also requires a very small antenna, a dish of 12-
18 inches diameter easily installed at home, and a set-top decoder box. If
one ignores the technicalities, the essential difference between the existing
cable system in India and DTH is that the latter completely eliminates the
local intermediary, the cable operator, and allows the consumer to deal
directly with the TV channel beaming its signals from orbiting satellites. It
is estimated that consumers in India could receive dozens of channels
through DTH in addition to the close to one hundred channels that are
even now available through cable.

A divisional bench of the Allahabad High Court dismissed a

public interest petition filed against the Union Government notification of
July 16, banning DTH broadcasting services. The Court ruled that the ban
order was valid under the Indian Telegraphs Act, 1885.

But the Delhi High Court directed the Government to resolve the
dispute over DTH broadcasting services "in the interest of the people". The
order followed on a petition filed by News Television India Ltd (NTIL),
STAR TV’s Indian arm, challenging the Government ban on DTH
broadcasting services.

The Court directed the Government not to ban DTH broadcasting,

but to evolve an effective mechanism to regulate such services, saying
that "the total ban would deprive people of the country from good things,
like advancement of science and technology, that were being telecast by
foreign TV channels".

Following the recommendations of a Group of Ministers (GoM),

the Union Cabinet in October decided that the ban had outlived its
usefulness. DTH broadcasting has been opened up with immediate effect
to all entrants who can demonstrate the necessary resources to qualify for
a license. The 1996 ban was decreed as a direct response to the Rupert
Murdoch-owned Star TV network's effort to work its way through a lacuna

30
SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN quoted from
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1724/17240960.htm
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in the regulatory framework and start DTH broadcasts in India. It was

rightly perceived that Murdoch was attempting to run away with the ball
and disrupt the entire process of framing a comprehensive law for the
broadcast sector. The Union Cabinet's decision on November 2 to revoke
the ban on DTH, though, is not quite so clear in its intentions, since a
comprehensive broadcasting law - subsumed under the new
technological mantra of "convergence" - is believed to be imminent.

Till a statutory broadcasting (or convergence) authority is set up

with the requisite autonomy, the government would have to function as a
licensing authority, in addition to being a broadcaster and a content
provider. Experience from the telecom sector, Jaipal Reddy suggests,
indicates that this does not make for a very smooth execution of policy.

The present union Government has decided to permit Direct-to-

Home (DTH) TV service in Ku Band in India. The prohibition on the
reception and distribution of television signal in ku Band has been lifted. 31
Following are the eligibility criteria for applicants, conditions which will
apply to DTH license and procedural details:

1. Eligibility Criteria:
a) Applicant Company to be an Indian Company registered under
Indian Company's Act, 1956.
b) Total foreign equity holding including FDI/NRI/OCB/FII in the
applicant company not to exceed 49%.
c) Within the foreign equity , the FDI component not to exceed 20%
d) The quantum represented by that proportion of the paid up equity
share capital to the total issued equity capital of the Indian promoter
Company, held or controlled by the foreign investor through
FDI?NRI?OCB investments , shall form part of the above said FDI
limit of 20%.
e) The applicant company must have Indian Management Control with
majority representatives on the board as well as the Chief Executive of
the company being a resident Indian.
f) Broadcasting companies and/or cable network companies shall not
be eligible to collectively own more than 20% of the total equity of
applicant company at any time during the license period. Similarly,
the applicant company not to have more than 20% equity shares in a
broadcasting and/or cable network company.

31
withdrawn by the Government vide notification No. GSR 18 (E) dated 9th January
2001 of the Department of Telecommunications
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g) The License shall be required to submit the equity distribution of the

Company in the prescribed proforma once within one month of start
of every financial year.

2. Number of Licensees:
There will be no restrictions on the total number of DTH licenses
and these will be issued to any person who fulfills the necessary terms
and conditions subject to the security and technical clearances by the
appropriate authorities of the Govt.

3. Period of License:
License will be valid for a period of 10 years from the date of
issue of wireless operational license by Wireless planning and
Coordination Wing of Ministry of Communications. However, the license
can be canceled/suspended by the Licensor at any time in the interest of
Union of India.

4. Basic conditions/obligations: The license will be subject to terms and

conditions contained in the agreement and its schedule

5. Procedure for application and grant of licenses:

a) To apply to the Secretary , Ministry of I&B, in triplicate proforma on
the basis of information furnished in the application form, if the
applicant is found eligible for setting up of DTH platform in India, the
application will be subjected to security clearance in consultations with
the Ministry of home Affairs and for clearance of satellite use with the
Department of Space.
b) After these clearances are obtained, the applicant would be required
to pay an initial nonrefundable entry-fee of Rs.10 crores to the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
c) After such payment of entry-fee, the applicant would be informed of
intent of ministry of I & B to issue license and requested to approach
WPC for SACFA clearance.
d) After obtaining SACFA clearances,within one month of the same ,the
License will have to submit a Bank guarantee from any Scheduled
Bank to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for an amount
of Rs.40 crores valid for the duration of the license.
e) After submission of this Bank Guarantee , the applicant would be
required to sign a licensing agreement with the Ministry of information
and Broadcasting as per prescribed proforma.
f) After signing of such licensing agreement with the ministry of
Information and Broadcasting, the applicant will have to apply to the
wireless planning & Coordination (WPC) Wing of the Ministry of
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Communications for seeking Wireless Operational License for

establishment , maintenance and operation of DTH platform.
g) The License shall pay an annual fee equivalent to 10% of its gross
revenue as reflected in the audited accounts of the company for that
particular financial year, within one month of the end of that financial
year.
The Licensee shall also in addition pay the license fee and royalty for
the spectrum used as prescribed by Wireless planning & Coordination
Authority (WPC) , under the Department of Telecommunications

6. Arbitration Clause:
In case of any dispute matter will be referred to the sole
Arbitration of the Secretary, Department of legal Affairs, Government of
India or his nominee for adjudication. The award of the Arbitrator shall
be binding on the parties. The Arbitration proceedings will be governed
by the law of Indian arbitration in force at the point of time Venue of
Arbitration shall be India. 32

The existing licensing and registration powers, and the regulatory

mechanisms for the telecom, information technology and the
broadcasting sectors are currently spread over different authorities.

7. Advertisement Code and Programme Code:

Then Secrions 5 & 6 mandate that any programme or
advertisement has to be in conformity with the prescribed programme 33
and advertising code 34. Under s. 7 every cable operator has to maintain
a register indicating in brief the programmes transmitted or retransmitted.

S. 8 of the Act imposes an obligation on the cable operators that

they have to mandatorily telecast one regional and two terrestrial
channels of the Doordarshan 35.Channel can be notifed by Prasar Bharti
under the Prasar Bharti act , 1990 36. All equipment used by the cable
operator has to be BIS marked after three years of publication of the of
the standard by the BIS. 37

From the point of view of the study of this seminar S. 10 of the act
is very important as it expressly prohibits the interference of any kind by

32
http://www.ipan.com/reviews/archives/0299tv.htm
33
S. 5 of act prescribed under r 6 of the Cable Television Network Rules.
34
s. 6 act prescribed under r 7 of the Cable Television Network Rules
35
Cable Television Networks(regulation)Amendment Act 2000
36
s. 3 of Cable Television Networks(regulation)Amendment Act 2000
37
s. 9 of Cable Television Networks(regulation)Amendment Act 2000
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the cable transmission in the authorized telecommunication network.

Hence the difference in approach towards the telecom and broadcasting
sectors, the cable and telecom were considered to be two totally different
spheres.

S.11 gives the power to the authorized officer to seize and

confiscate the equipment of the cable operator and further S.12 talks of
confiscation of equipment within 30 days of the seizure.

The act mandates that that the cable operator indicted under the
above provisions would be given to the reasonable opportunity to be
heard 38. Under S.16 of the Act, punishment for the offences is: for the first
offence the punishment could be two years imprisonment or one
thousand rupees or both. The Act further provides that for every
subsequent offence will be imprisonment of five years or five thousand
rupees fine 39.

S.16 talks of the offences by the companies whereby every person

in charge of the company shall be guilty for the offence. S. 18 is also
important and was brought by the 2000 amendment. This states that no
court shall take cognizance unless the authorised officer makes the
complaint in writing.

S. 19 follows reasonable restriction principle to Art 19 freedom of

speech and expression. Whereby it gives the power to the authorized
officer to order any cable operator to prohibit from transmitting or re
transmitting any programme, which does not adhere to the programming
code or advertising code. And in the opinion of the officer would foment
hatred on the lines of caste, religion. Race, community etc.

S. 20 states that the central government reserves the right to

prohibit the transmission of any cable television network on the grounds
of
1. sovereignty and integrity of India
2. security of India
3. friendly relations of India with any foreign state.
4. public , order , decency and morality.

Cable television Rules 6 & 7 also lay down the relevant procedure
for the functioning of the ACT. In this age of technology and

38
S. 14 of Cable Television Networks(regulation)Amendment Act 2000
39
S. 16 (b) Cable Television Networks(regulation)Amendment Act 2000
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convergence, it is very necessary that we have a single regulatory

authority to regulate the telecom, broadcast, and Internet.

2. The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2011

In India, cable network dominates the market with almost 75-80
per cent of the 140 million TV homes. Once digitised, cable network can
carry at least 400 channels with ease. The digitization of cable network
will hugely benefit the broadcasting industry and the consumer, as it will
ensure more channels and enhanced viewing pleasure. While there are
over 600 channels available, cable network can carry only a little over
100 channels. Though some multi system operators say digitisation would
call for huge investments (approximately Rs 25-30,000 crore) and without
any clarity on the Government's stand on FDI in this segment, it will
almost be impossible to meet the deadline, local cable operators say, this
is a welcome move as the cable industry has been pushing for CAS
through out the country for a very long time.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2011

was passed in Lok Sabha on December 13, 2011. It aimed at digitizing
the cable sector by December 31, 2014. It will pave the way not only for
mandatory digitisation, but usher in a host of other changes. The
amendments include systemisation of registration of cable operators,
compulsory transmission of certain channels like Doordarshan, inspection
of cable network services, use of standard equipment in the cable
television network, prescription of interference standards by the Central
Government and empowering the TRAI to specify basic service tier and its
tariff.

Cable television network will not be operated except after

registration and cable operators are required to fulfill certain eligibility
criteria as may be prescribed by the Central Government.

Almost all stakeholders in the TV broadcasting and members in

the distribution chain including LCOs (local cable operators) hailed this
cable digitalisation Bill. The Bill makes it mandatory to digitalise analogue
cable network before the end of 2014 in four phases though. Leading
DTH service providers welcomed the bill and believe that this will, for
sure, offer a better level-playing field for DTH operators and will benefit
every stakeholder in the industry. The move, apart from addressing issues
such as under declaration of subscriber base, will generate better
subscription revenue for broadcasters and the Government by way of
taxes. Other stakeholders also felt that this will bring Indian TV viewing
experience on par with other developed countries in the world. This will
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Broadcasting Sector & Policy

also help broadcasters to have better and accurate TRP ratings and as a
result channels will be able to price their airtime and strategise their
business accordingly.

Earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman, Mr

J.S. Sarma, said he would not be surprised if the last phase of digitisation
gets over by December 2013, as the National Broadband Plan (nation-
wide fibre optic network) is likely to be completed by then, and “one has
to simply plug into the fibre optic network”. He said once digitised even
the prices of set-top boxes too will come down even to the levels of sub-
$20 40.

a) Registration and Regulation

The Act amends the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act,
1995, and repeals the Cable Television Networks (Regulation)
Amendment Ordinance, 2011. The Cable Television Networks
(Regulation) Act, 1995 requires and provides a mechanism for
registration of all cable operators. The Act empowers the central
government to appoint a registering authority to review applications and
grant registrations. The Act defines ‘pay channels’ as channels for which
‘addressable systems’ are required to be attached to the set top box. The
Bill redefines ‘pay channels’ to mean channels for which the cable
operator pays the broadcaster and the broadcaster’s permission is
required for transmission of the channel.

An addressable system consists of electronic devices in an

integrated system through which signals of cable television can be sent. In
the Act, the addressable system could transmit signals that were both
encrypted and decrypted. However, under the Act, the addressable system
may only transmit encrypted signals.

b) Center assuming total power over cable tv

The Act empowers the central government to make it obligatory
for cable operators to transmit any pay channel through addressable
systems. The Act also requires the cable operators to submit reports on
the total number of subscribers, subscription rates, and the number of
subscribers for free-to-air and pay channels.

40
The Hindu Business Line, December 14, 2011,
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-
economy/marketing/article2711755.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home
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32 P.G. Diploma in Media Laws
 Broadcasting Sector & Policy

The Act empowers the central government to issue notifications

requiring all cable operators to transmit any channel, including free-to-air
channels, in an encrypted form through a digital addressable system. The
cable operators will be given a minimum of six months to install the
equipment required for such transmission. In the interim, in order to be
registered, new cable operators would have to make an undertaking to
transmit channels in encrypted form.

c) TRAI to fix tariff

The Act provides that the central government may direct the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to specify the free to-air
channels to be included in the basic service tier. It may also direct TRAI to
specify the tariff rate at which the cable operators would provide basic
service tier to the consumer.

Use of public property for laying cables is permitted by the Bill. A

cable operator may lay cables and erect posts on public property upon
receiving permission from the relevant public authority. The public
authority may impose a liability to pay expenses, and conditions on the
time and mode of execution of such work on the cable operator. This
right of way is subject to the cable operator’s obligation of restoration of
property.

d) Additional Eligibility Criteria to restrict content

This Act created an authority, empowering the registration
authority to refuse registration if the cable operator does not meet
eligibility requirements that may be prescribed under the amended Act.
The central government may prescribe additional eligibility criteria related
to matters such as, sovereignty, integrity and security of India, public
order, decency and morality.

The decisions of the registering authority to refuse grant or

renewal of registration may be appealed against before the central
government. The Act authorized the central government to inspect cable
networks and services. Prior notice may not be given to the cable
operator or broadcaster if it would defeat the purpose of the inspection.
The Act authorised the seizure of the cable operators’ equipment if the
cable operator violates provisions of the Act. This period of seizure was
limited to 10 days and could be extended by an order of the District
Judge. There is no limitation on the period of seizure. The Act empower
the central government to revoke or suspend a cable operator’s

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Broadcasting Sector & Policy

registration if he violates the terms of registration. Prior to taking such

action, the cable operator has to be given an opportunity to be heard 41.

e) Implementation
After a long deliberation and doubt, the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) on April 31, 2012 issued an order specifying
modalities for the implementation of the Cable Television Network
(Regulation) Amendment Act of December 2011. The 2011 Act makes it
mandatory for television networks (both DTH and cable networks) to
switch over from analogue to digital transmission in the entire
country.According to a set time-frame by TRAI, all four metros, Mumbai,
Delhi, Kolkota and Chennai, had to make the switchover by July 1, 2012,
while for the rest of the country the changeover must be effected by 2014.

This law became necessary because the system needed

transparency and clarity on who should get what part of the money
collected. A digital transmission system allows anyone to see who the
customer is, what he is consuming, how much is he consuming, and so
on. The customer can now choose what he wants to buy, apart from
being able to use features like interactive services or one-way service.
Moreover, one can record, forward, rewind and much more, which all is
possible only on the digital platform. It is estimated that in next ten years
the Government is likely to get around Rs5,500 crores by way of
incremental taxes.

Today, we have over 800 channels with permission to downlink to

India, but there is no spectrum. And that made it unviable for new
channels due to the huge costs involved in what we call “carriage and
placement”. If this business is to expand, one must turn digital. Then the
news channels and the niche channels knocked on the government
doors.

As a natural progression in which the consumer gets more choice.

A metering device attached for the first time to cable services, as now
there is encryption for all content. There is investment coming into the
business. People will get better content, better quality and the right to
choose with this digitization.

The cable industry has been lobbying for the digitalisation since
years. In fact, the CAS [Conditional Access System] Act was passed in

41
For details see: http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Cable/Bill%20Summary%20--
%20Cable%20television%202011.pdf
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 Broadcasting Sector & Policy

2002, but it got aborted. In 2003, there was another effort to secure CAS
but that also got aborted in January 2007. Stakeholders said that CAS
made sure that only pay channels are encrypted and FTA channels were
to be broadcast in the analogue mode. But broadcasters did not want it.
Pay channels did not want CAS. So they managed to scuttle it, and that is
the hard truth.

Now, DAS [digital addressable system] was brought in. Both DAS
and CAS are digital. In CAS, only pay channels were to be encrypted. In
DAS, every channel, whether FTA or paid, is encrypted.

One DISH TV top executive expressed, the government seems to

have neglected entirely the legitimate concerns of DTH operators, who
have digitalised 45 million households at a huge investment of over Rs.
20,000 crore. Yet, the DTH industry remains crippled with high taxes and
licence fees totaling nearly 32% of revenues. It is time the government
took a practical view as it expects the industry to invest a further Rs.
30,000 crore to achieve its mandate of digitalisation.

Another important player in the field referring to tariff said that “it
was long overdue. Even the tariff order finally came out 10-15 days ago.
There are a few issues we have, as DTH operators. For example: There is
this tariff specification, which says the rate has to be 1.5 times versus
three times. We are quite hopeful and have drawn up a letter raising it
with TRAI. Similarly, the news broadcasters have raised the issue of
carriage fees. There is an issue in terms of the prescribed 500 minimum
channels for the MSOs. DTH players may have to carry 700. But
transponder capacity and the bandwidths are completely controlled by
ISRO [Indian Space Research Organisation]” 42.

f) Ten Points
Based on the Act, the NDTV made out the top 10 facts on what
this could mean for TV viewers in India, as given below:

1. The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2011

mandates that all cable TV operators will have to transmit TV signals
in an encrypted format through a digital addressable system. This will
be done through the installation of a set top box in every cable TV
home.

42
Will digitization be a reality by July 1?, the DNA May 28, 2012,
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/conversation-corner_will-digitalisation-be-a-reality-
by-july-1_1694633
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Broadcasting Sector & Policy

2. Consumers will now be able to enjoy better picture and sound quality,
enhanced services such as high definition and video on demand
content.
3. Viewers will be able to choose and pay for only those channels that
they want rather than having to pick from packages with fixed prices.
The Bill will prevent Local Cable Operators (LCOs) from bypassing the
digital set-top box, and deciding the mix and price of channels
according to locality and customer base. The bill will also shift the
balance of power away from LCOs to cable service providers and TV
broadcasters who will now be able to monitor their subscriber base
and control the flow of revenues.
4. Digitisation, experts say, will increase the broadband penetration in
India, and will do so at a much lower cost. Analysts suggest a 10 per
cent increase in broadband penetration will increase the GDP by 1.5
per cent.
5. Broadcasters will now be relieved from paying huge sums as carriage
fee, thereby increasing profitability and enabling them to focus on
better content creation.
6. Subscription revenue will increase for the broadcaster and make them
less dependent on advertising and drive higher value creation.
7. Niche and specialist channels will now be able to launch and grow
since the artificial shortage of bandwidth created by cable operators
will no longer hold true.
8. Transparency in the entire system will ensure accurate reporting of
subscriber numbers and revenue, thus creating higher value for the
exchequer and preventing the fueling of the black economy.
Currently, broadcasters claim cable operators and distributors gain
disproportionate revenues through under-declaration of subscribers.
9. Higher growth in profitability for the broadcasters and Multiple System
Operators (MSOs) will ensure creation of higher value jobs and drive
value in the industry.

Cable and broadcasting will become a more interesting option for

private investment due to the organisation and transparency. Advertisers
too will now be able to create targeted campaigns due to higher visibility
into the viewership patterns of users 43.

43
Cable TV digitization; Top ten facts, NDTV article April 30, 2012.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/cable-tv-digitisation-top-10-facts-204388
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