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DD,
AIR to offer uplink facilities to private firms
Doordarshan
and All India Radio are all set to open their gates to private
players for use of the state-owned broadcasters’ infrastructure
facilities. All India Radio has pitched in to offer infrastructure
services to private FM players. Doordarshan too is ge-tting
ready to act as an uplink hub and offer uplink facilities
to private broadcasters. Plans are afoot to offer uplink facilities
to at least 15 channels by October this year, senior government
officials said.
This will be for the first time that the state-owned broadcasters
will open their facilities for use by the private sector.
In a presentation made to private FM broadcasters on last
Tuesday, senior Prasar Bharati and AIR officials offered private
FM players the use of AIR’s infrastructure facilities
to re-locate and maintain their transmitters. All India Radio
plans to work in technical collaboration with Broadcast Engineering
Consultants India (Becil), the technical arm of AIR.
Confirming the move, senior officials from the I&B ministry
said AIR has infrastructure facilities in over 20 of the 40
locations where private FM players are slated to kick-start
their operations. "All these players can share our existing
facilities, which will lead to economies of scale and reduce
their cost of operations," officials said. Though the
players will have to own the transmitters, AIR can offer infrastructure
and maintenance services, officials said. In certain locations
where AIR does not have the infrastructure, plans are afoot
to set up the facilities in collaboration with private players.
As per a co-location clause in the FM tender documents, broadcasters
in metropolitan cities have to use shared facilities to co-locate
their transmitters. It may be noted that the government has
paved the way for the entry of private third party infrastructure
service providers in FM radio business. Already, over half-a-dozen
private service providers are pitching with FM broadcasters
to offer them turnkey infrastructure services. The government
is in the process of issuing Letters of Intent to private
FM broadcasters.
Ministry officials have indicated that the government will
not have any objection if Prasar Bharati enters the uplink
hub business. "The matter is for the Prasar Bharati board
to decide," a senior I&B official said. The government
has recently relaxed uplink norms by allowing satellite channels
to uplink from within the country irrespective of equity holding
or management control. It has paved the way for making India
an uplink hub by allowing both broadcasters and non-broadcasters
to set up facilities with 49 per cent foreign
equity.However, all channels uplinking from the country have
to seek license from the government and pay appropriate license
fee.
Sudipto Dey
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