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The government
is considering a proposal to remove the entry fee and bank guarantee
totalling Rs 50 crore as well as scaling down the 10 per cent revenue
share agreement in its Ku band direct-to-home (DTH) television policy.
As per the
present guidelines, companies applying for a DTH licence are required
to pay an entry fee of Rs. 10 crore and a bank guarantee of Rs 40
crore for 10-year licence period. This move comes at a time when
the much-publicised DTH policy announced in November 2000 failed
to attract broadcasting companies.
Since the announcement
of the policy only one company called Space Television has applied
for a licence. According to industry analysts the broadcasting industry
wants the government to waive the 10 per cent annual revenue sharing
clause for 5-10 years till a cost-intensive DTH venture becomes
financially viable. A typical DTH platform with about 100-odd channels
would require investment of around $500 million. The 10th five year
plan working group of the Planning Commission had also asked the
government to review the DTH policy.
TEN
Sports bags World Cup Soccer rights
Finally, the
wait seems to be over. Abdulrahman Bukhatir-promoted channel TEN
Sports has won the telecast rights for the World Cup Football 2002
in the Indian Subcontinent.
The World Cup
will be held in Japan and Korea in June. Also in the running were
ESPN-STAR Sports, Sony, Zee and DD. An official announcement is
expected within a couple of days. It’s a significant victory
for TEN Sports as it is a new channel, launched only this month.
The channel has the Sharjah and Sri Lanka cricket rights, along
with other broadcast rights in WWF and NBA.
The Fifa World
Cup rights have been in the midst of controversy ever since German
media group Kirch, which has the worldwide TV distribution rights
for 2002 and 2006 World Cup, has been declared bankrupt. A recent
Fifa release said in anticipation of the insolvency of KirchMedia
GmbH, all the necessary precautions have been taken in advance so
as to ensure protection of the World Cup rights and the related
broadcasting operations. As part of these precautions, Kirch had
undertaken a recast which guaranteed a continued and smooth operation
throughout the 2002 World Cup and beyond.
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