TRAI recommendations to raise FDI for DTH, IPTV accepted -Governance Now

TRAI recommendations to raise FDI for DTH, IPTV accepted

FDI ceiling to be raised from 49 per cent to 74 per cent after the acceptance.

PTI | May 25, 2011

The recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to raise FDI ceiling for DTH, Internet protocol TV and teleport from 49 per cent to 74 per cent have been "accepted" by the I&B Ministry. "The recommendations have been accepted to bring a parity between DTH and IPTV operators with other carriage services like HITS etc that are allowed to invite up to 74 per cent", said a Ministry official.

The Ministry has, however, not accepted the recommendation to reduce the FDI ceiling for local cable operators from 49 per cent to 26 per cent as the limits have been there for over a decade now. It also rejected a recommendation for direct FDI inflow in content services, saying any FDI in this space would have to be cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the official said. He said that the recommendations and the Ministry's views have been sent back to TRAI. The Ministry will thereafter send the recommendations to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion which handles FDI issues to prepare a cabinet note. The development comes as the Ministry is also contemplating ways to check proliferation of channels.

I&B Minister Ambika Soni had earlier said that they were contemplating amendments in the existing laws to keep a tab on non-serious players aspiring to start a TV channel. Apart from this, she said that under revised norms, TV channels will have to have people who have years of experience in the media industry.

Ministry officials said there has been instances when even real estate players have launched channels to make good use of their channels to their own advantage before closing them down.

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