With Convergence Out, Prasad Pushes Broadcast Authority

Posted: Friday, Sep 26, 2003 at 0000 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Sep 26, 2003 at 0000 hrs IST

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New Delhi: : It was a victory of sorts for the information and broadcasting ministry, when on Thursday the group of ministers (GoM) on telecom recommended that the Communication Convergence Bill should “not be pursued at this point”. Indicative of the mood, I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad emerged out of the meeting, looking elated. After all, a single regulator, which was the essence of the Convergence Bill, has often been interpreted as a threat to the broadcasting sector and the I&B ministry ever since the bill was drafted more than two years ago. At one point, it even led to speculation that the I&B ministry would be merged with the information technology and telecom ministries.

Ravi Shankar Prasad

But, the GoM view hasn’t come as a surprise. Of late, Mr Prasad has been talking in favour of an independent broadcasting authority, rather seriously. The I&B view put forward in the GoM was that this ministry should not be a part of the common regulator, sources said. Also, copies of old broadcasting draft bills have been doing the rounds of the I&B ministry for over a month now, signalling a rethink. The word is that the ministry officials have already started working on the Broadcasting Bill 1997, which was drafted when Mr S Jaipal Reddy was the I&B minister. The 1997 bill had been put in a cold storage. Yet another bill which is likely to be referred to by the ministry is the Broadcasting Regulatory Authority Bill 2000.

According to senior government sources, an independent broadcasting regulatory body will be a reality soon. It is expected to cover cable TV, direct-to-home (DTH), conditional access system (CAS) and even radio, among other issues.

Even as IT-telecom minister Arun Shourie...

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With Convergence Out, Prasad Pushes Broadcast Authority

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