Information & broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday announced the Government decision to open up the uplink business to non-broadcasting companies, with foreign equity cap of 49 per cent. With this, both broadcasting and non-broadcasting companies with a minimum Indian ownership of 51 per cent will be allowed to set up uplinking hub or teleport facilities for purpose of using it for themselves or hire it out to other broadcasters.

These companies will be permitted to uplink only those television channels which would be specifically approved or permitted by the government. This does away with the earlier policy of allowing broadcasters with up to 20 per cent foreign equity to set up their broadcasting facilities. Several broadcasters including Eenadu TV, Sun TV and Jain TV have set up their own uplink earth stations while many have applied for government go-ahead.

Most in the industry feel that this move will come as a shot in the arm for news channels and give the broadcasting industry a new impetus. This will clear the deck for broadcasters such as Zee TV to set up their own uplink facilities, industry analysts note. Other channels including Sony and Star, which has majority foreign holding, may now approach third-party facilities for uplink.

"This new policy will not only bring a large number of TV channels within the discipline of our broadcasting codes but also generate substantial employment opportunities, as India becomes an important hub offering state of the art facilities for uplinking," the minister said in Parliament.

The govenment has also allowed Indian-managed news agencies to uplink from within the country. "The new uplinking policy of the Government would remove this handicap and permit uplinking facility to the Indian News agencies for news gathering and its further distribution to other news agencies/broadcasters," the statement said.

Government paves the way to make India an uplinking hubFor this purpose, Indian news agencies would include those incorporated in India and accredited by the Press Information Bureau and are 100 per cent owned by Indians with Indian management control.

This will give the Indian news agencies the much-desired competitive edge over the foreign news agencies, the minister said.

The government also clarified that such uplinking facilities will be permitted with both Indian and foreign satellites. "However, proposals envisaging Indian satelliteswill be accorded preferential treatment," the statement added.

While all television channels irrespective of their equity holding, ownership or management control will be permitted to uplink their programmes from India, this will be subject to necessary security clearance and provided these channels undertake to comply with existing broadcasting codes. A senior government official noted this codes will be same as that applied to state broadcaster Doordarshan.

Opposition flays Centre over `leakage'
The Government on Wednesday came under attack from opposition parties in the Lok Sabha for `leakage' of the uplinking policy approved by the Cabinet last night, even as I&B minister Arun Jaitley said the media reports were `speculative'. As the Minister rose to make the statement in the lower house, opposition members from Congress and Left said it was "already out in the press" and demanded to know how details about the policy had "leaked".