NEW DELHI: The Government has admitted that its primary weakness in the broadcasting sector is the absence of a regulator to regulate the 600-plus channels telecasting to 500 million viewers, and the dependence on contractual manpower in Electronic Media Monitoring Cells in addition to the lack of trained manpower to monitor channels in regional languages.

At the same time, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has said it is conscious of the fact that digitalisation is capital intensive and will require substantial investments, and there is lack of indigenous manufacturing capacities for equipments and set-top boxes required for digitalisation. Furthermore, viewers will have to incur expenditure on STBs for receiving terrestrial digital signals.

In a report on the strategy it plans to adopt in various areas under its ambit, the Ministry has also admitted that multiplicity of taxes /duties, constraints of funds and manpower to implement schemes that may come in way of progress; and time and cost overruns are predominant due to weak planning and implementation.

Furthermore, the non-availability of spectrum for launching terrestrial mobile service, absence of popular pay TV channels on Doordarshan DTH service, uncertainty of fiscal incentives in so far as buying spectrum space for FM channel is concerned, non-availability of land and tower infrastructure of Prasar Bharati in most of the cities proposed for expansion of FM channels, and dependence on Inter-Ministerial clearances for Community Radio Stations applications which causes delay are other impediments. There is also inadequate awareness among the community about the effectiveness and impact of Community Radio for social change.

The Ministry also admits to long drawn procedures and lengthy approvals; lack of professional expertise to handle contracts; lack of contract proper management; poor monitoring mechanism for all media including content telecast on CRS.

There is also distinct lack of involvement of State Governments in the programmes of the Ministry.

However, the Ministry says the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 provides for broadcasting self-regulation, Programme Code and Advertisement Code.

Among its strengths, the Ministry lists trained manpower in EMMC with good knowledge about regulatory mechanisms; good technical capability of EMMC to monitor around 300 channels around the clock; large number of Mobile Phone users that supports the expansion plans of mobile television; technical and civil infrastructure support to advancing the use of digital technology is available in plenty; and in-house technical expertise.

The Ministry is confident that setting up of sunset dates will increase investors’ confidence to garner requisite capital required for digitalisation; there is consensus amongst stakeholders that digitalisation needs to happen in a time bound manner; and large volume of equipments and STBs will bring down the cost of digitalisation. Flat Panel Display devices (LCDs, LEDs and Plasma TVs) with high resolution that is necessary to experience enhanced quality provided by digital technology have already flooded the market, the report adds.

But it warns that setting up of sunset dates for digitalisation requires amendments in the Cable Act which may get delayed because of long procedures; viewers’ resistance to incur expenditure on STBs; and there may be delay in digitisation since 6000 cable headend and 60000 cable operators may not be able to digitise.

There is large viewership base of Doordarshan which offers immense potential; the cost of operation of FM channels is generally low; there is availability of Spectrum for allocation of FM channels; and there is a huge Indian market with rising middle class and youth population that would listen to FM channels.

The Ministry also claims that it has put in place enabling Government policies to promote growth of this industry, resulting in manifold increase in the outreach of FM radio services in the country; healthy competitions among the private FM channels operators; and availability of Skilled Human Resource.

The presence of experienced organisations like Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) and Community Radio Forum of India (CRF) are also partnering with Ministry for furthering the objective of CRS in India, apart from the support of UN organisations like UNESCO and UNICEF for CRS, and availability of technical expertise with BECIL which helps applicants with technical inputs to set up CRS.

It said that DD Direct Plus, being a free-to-air DTH platform, will also help the Ministry as DD’s DTH bouquet includes both Doordarshan and private TV channels including a number of regional channels. There is in-house expertise available for augmentation of DTH platform and Doordarshan has a wide network of Programme Production centres throughout the country and can develop local and regional content to attract the viewers, apart from the availability of DD network throughout the country to guide the people.

Keeping in view the weaknesses and strengths, the aim of the Ministry would be to streamline and restructuring public broadcasting services in India and to promote, facilitate, strengthen and develop the Broadcasting Industry in the country with a view to empowering the people, and ensure complete switch over to digital mode of transmission in the cable sector in India.

In addition, the aim would be to ensure digital archiving of content in line with digitalisation in Broadcasting Sector with special emphasis on securing Intellectual Property Right (IPR) of such contents; making available High Definition Television (HDTV) telecast facilities to the viewers in Satellite and terrestrial modes; expansion of Community Radio/Satellite Radio Services and FM Radio Services to cover entire population of India; and promotion and development of IPTV and Mobile Television services in India, and introducing appropriate IPR regime in all media segments.

The strategy paper also lists some opportunities that need to be capitalised upon to progress further. It says that through self-regulation, diversified content which are in conformity with the contemporary community standards will be available; and self-regulation would protect the vulnerable sections from harmful and undesirable content on TV.

Consumers will be able to access their channels in their handheld devices under Mobile TV services; the competition between telecom and broadcasting networks will work for the ultimate benefit of the consumer; and with the advent of mobile television services in the country, the consumers will get more choice in watching TV in terms of what they watch, how they watch and when they watch.

The Cabinet Secretariat and the Home Ministry also seek reports from the EMMC and have, therefore, requested the I&B Ministry to increase the credibility of EMMC as an effective tool for monitoring electronic channels.

All this will result in revenue generation for the Government; availability of high quality/ high definition digital television channel; increased revenue for Government, broadcasters, MCOs and LCOs; revenue through broadband and other value added and interactive services like Video on Demand (VoD), Personal Video Recording (PVR), video gaming, music and tele-shopping, etc.

It will also lead to employment opportunities and generation of revenue associated with expansion of FM channels; increasing awareness among the community and NGOs about the effectiveness of CRS for development; increased involvement of Government Ministries/Departments in CRS especially by Rural Development Ministry, Department of Education, and the Ministries of Health, and Communications and Information Technology.

The availability of IEC budget of various Government Departments could be utilised successfully for promoting CRS for development of people; digital technology would be more acceptable to listeners and viewers as it tremendously enhances the quality of transmission and broadcast; and better quality programmes can increase viewership and yield good revenue.

At the same time, the I&B Ministry perceives some threats. These include different kinds of contents being experimented by broadcasters to grab maximum viewership may prevent effective self-regulation; and the non-compliance of Programme Code and Advertisement Code of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 which may prevent effective self-regulation.

There may be challenges of monitoring of content being telecast on Mobile TV; low availability of local language content and delays in the project implementation of FM channels; possibility of substandard content in FM channels; long and cumbersome licensing procedure for CRS; lack of funding for CRS raises issues of sustenance; limited Radio Frequency in major towns may hamper the growth of CRS in urban areas; and competition from other delivery platforms in so far as DTH telecast by DD is concerned.

Rationalisation of taxes and other financial incentives may not get Government approval which may lead to mobilisation of requisite investment in the sector, the report admits.

At the same time, there is insurgency and law & order problem in some parts of the country which is likely to affect the digitalisation process in those areas. Hostility from across the border can also affect the digitalisation process.

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