No FDI hike in media without level playing field

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14 FDI proposals worth Rs 826 crore cleared

The government wants to ensure that there is a level playing field for all the media houses, especially the smaller ones, before it raises the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit, currently at 26%.

Information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said there is pressure from large media houses to increase the FDI limit but, "without a level playing field it will benefit only a few and not the smaller ones."

He said that increasing FDI limit in media is not a matter for the I&B ministry but of a government policy. The government is holding discussions with various stake- holders and would take decision after it is convinced that a larger FDI limit would not adversely affect the smaller media houses.

Dasmunshi said that a prominent national television channel was evading taxes worth thousands of crores of rupees by downlinking the feed to Hong Kong and then transmitting it back to India. "The government would shortly take care of this," Dasmunshi said.

He said that the present mechanism for television rating point (TRP) was not transparent and it did not take into account the rural viewer-ship. For this channels are improperly rated. The ministry has already held two rounds of discussion on this issue with various media houses and is slated to hold another round later this month to formulate a proper mechanism for TRP rating.

The ministry would also hold a meeting with the television channel representatives on the norms to be followed while airing a sting operation.

He said the government does not want to dictate terms of airing, but wants to persuade the media houses to follow certain code of conduct.

After a controversy over a fake sting operation in a private TV channel involving a Delhi school teacher, the Delhi High Court had directed the I&B ministry to consider setting up a three-member committee under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge, whose approval would be mandatory before airing a sting operation.

"I am going to hold a meeting with the channels later this month to see how we can get everybody to move on the basis of the court order," Dasmunshi said.