India could well become the world?s first country to adopt the auction route for allotting television broadcast licences. Constrained by scarce broadcast spectrum and fewer vacant slots on satellite transponders, the government is considering such an option, an official in the ministry of information and broadcasting confirmed to FE. The idea, however, is still in still in the early stages of discussion.
The industry is not amused: Said a senior executive at a leading broadcaster: ?If the government wants to develop India as a teleport hub, auctioning the licence will not work. Broadcasters will shift their uplinking facilities to Hong Kong and will only seek downlinking permission.?
A teleport operator said auctioning will not work simply because the government does not own broadcast spectrum. ?Today, a TV licence is just a piece of paper. How can it be put on auction? In order to auction it, the I&B ministry will have to tie up with various government and non-government bodies including the department of space, Indian Space Research Organisation, Wireless Planning Commission, private satellite firms and others. It will be difficult.?
The move towards auction is also seen as an attempt to discourage non-serious applicants. There is already a backlog of about 250 applications from over two dozen broadcasters to launch channels. The government has already granted permission to around 600 channels to operate in the country.
According to a senior government official, the auction proposal is part of the ministry?s review of uplinking and downlinking guidelines.
?The Trai recommendations on uplinking and downlinking of channels are already with us. The ministry will take a view on it soon. We are also looking at auctioning of licence as a possibile option though it?s at an early stage of discussion…,? a senior official in the I&B ministry told FE .
?If auctioning emerges as a possible solution, we will first ask the regulator to look at it. Trai will do a consultation process, obtain the industry view and come back to us with its recommendations… That is the best way to go about it,? the official added.
Last year, the I&B ministry had written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to review the uplinking and downlink guidelines citing shortage of spectrum and growing instances of fly-by-night broadcasters who were not using the licence after securing it.
In its recommendations submitted to the I&B ministry in July, Trai suggested a substantial hike in the net worth of the applicant broadcasters. For broadcasters seeking permission to launch non-news channels, Trai suggested a minimum net worth of Rs 25 crore for the first channel which should be enhanced by Rs 10 crore for each subsequent channel. In the case of licence for a news and current affairs channel, Trai suggested the net worth of the applicant broadcaster to be Rs 100 crore for the first channel, to be enhanced by Rs 25 crore for the subsequent channels.