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Private
satcasters may be allowed direct uplinking
The Government of India has decided to give permission to satellite channels
for direct uplinking, according to sources in the ministry of Information
and Broadcasting. This decision was taken by a Group of Ministers (GoM)
during a meeting held last week. The matter, the sources said, has been
sent for cabinet approval.
The GoM has set some guidelines for uplinking from India. According to
sources in the ministry, the permission for direct uplinking will be given
to Indian television companies and news agencies which are completely
owned by an Indian. Apart from this, only those foreign television companies
which have an Indian or a Non Resident Indian (NRI) owning at least 60
per cent of the shares in the company will be allowed to uplink directly
from India.
Private satellite channels have been demanding direct uplinking from India
for the last few months. It may be recalled that it was Pramod Mahajan,
the former I and B minister, who first took note of this demand and initiated
the process.
Today, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) is the only agency in India which
is permitted to uplink directly. Various television channels have to first
send the ‘master tape’ of their programme to VSNL from where
it is downlinked to reach television sets. This process takes almost an
hour, because of which, news channels or news-based programmes on various
channels are unable to provide immediate reports on events as they happen.
Although, private satellite channels have been allowed to uplink directly
on some occasions like the general elections or the hijacking of the Indian
Airlines plane last year, many television channels are uplinking their
programmes from Singapore and Hong Kong.
According to sources, if the cabinet okays this proposal, the greatest
beneficiary of this decision will be Zee TV (owned by NRI Subhash Chandra)
which will be given the green signal to uplink from India. When Screen
tried to talk to Arun Jaitley regarding this issue, he was unavailable
for comments as he was on a tour.
Amitabh Parashar