Do not restrict cross media ownership: CII

NEW DELHI: International trends in DTH regulations show that world over there

are no restrictions on cross media ownership. According to a survey by

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in countries like USA, the UK, Japan,

France, Canada and Australia and those in Europe there are no restrictions on

cross media ownership with regard to DTH. In Hong Kong, however, television

ordinance limits cross media ownership.

The study also refutes the popular belief that world over, content providers

are not in distribution. Most of the media conglomerates worldwide, such as News

Corp, Time Warner and Viacom were active across the whole spectrum, from content

development to customer interface. The survey says that while these companies

were strong in content, they were equally strong in content aggregation and

distribution.

Analyzing DTH regulations worldwide, the study highlighted that in Australia,

while foreign equity was restricted to 35 per cent, no individual could own more

than 20 per cent. In USA, the FCC has imposed no restrictions on foreign

ownership in DBS licensees. In the UK, non-EEC nationals were not allowed to

control a license for providing domestic satellite services. Hong Kong allows 49

per cent foreign equity for DTH licensees.

A comparison of global media conglomerates with Indian media majors depicts

that there is no match between Indian and foreign media companies either in

terms of market capitalization or viewership.

In light of the above analysis and with the entry barriers to be lifted the

world over in next 5-10 years time, Indian broadcasting companies need to be

better prepared and equipped to meet the ensuing challenges. The imposition of

20 per cent equity restriction on broadcasting companies and/or cable network

companies planning to enter into DTH services may not help much in promoting

convergence, says the CII.

It is also pertinent to allow broadcasters to migrate from C-band to Ku band

since they were deprived from deriving advantage of the technology and evolution

of convergence. According to the CII, Indian broadcasting companies should be

given the opportunity to distribute their content through the better

direct-to-user Ku band technology, as they were already distributing content

through their own cable distribution arms.