The government has suspended permission for the launch of new television channels in the country, citing scarcity of spectrum. The ministry of information and broadcasting has suspended fresh permissions for new television channels, affecting the roll out plans of up to 170 channels, applications for which are pending with the ministry.
In a communication put up on its website, the ministry has said it will not accept applications for permission to uplink and downlink television channels from and in India. Like the telecom sector, the ministry has cited the scarcity of spectrum and limited transponder capacity on the satellites as the trigger behind the move. The ministry had recently sought the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on whether the government should cap the number of television channels in India and disallow new entrants because of the surge in the number of players in the industry.
Trai, which also regulates the broadcasting sector, has yet to submit its recommendations to the government. The ministry note said: ?With the passage of time, a number of issues have arisen for consideration in this regard on which recommendations of Trai have been sought. Till the Trai recommendations are received, it has been decided to suspend receiving applications for permissions to uplink TV channels from India and downlink TV channels.?
At present, there are 515 channels that have the permission to run broadcast functions in the country. According to sources in the ministry, some 160-170 applications are pending with the ministry for the launch of new channels. Around 100 of these are for launching news channels.
While no time frame was given to Trai to submit its recommendation, ministry sources said it was likely to come up with its views in the next three to four months.
The new applicants are not happy with the move. ?The government will now virtually freeze all necessary action on the existing applications pending with it for the past year or so,? said a top executive of a leading media firm who was awaiting the nod from the government to launch its channel.
Several teleport operators like Lamhas, and HFCL Satellite Communications, among others, have challenged the reasons cited by the government for suspending the permission for new launches. ?There is no scarcity of C-band transponders or spectrum. Even today there is unutilised capacity on several of the extended C-band transponders hosted on satellites like INSAT-2E and others,? said Ajay Jain, CEO, Lamhas, a leading teleport operator that hosts several regional television channels.
Sanay Maloo, head of HFCL Satellite Communications, also argued in the same vein: ?In the teleport business, the I&B ministry does not provide us the spectrum. It is we who have to manage the transponder capacity and spectrum for our clients (broadcasters). So, it seems inappropriate that the ministry should cite the scarcity of spectrum as the reason behind not granting permission to new applicants.?
The move will hit the business plans of more than 50 companies awaiting government permission to launch channels. The move is also likely to impact half-a-dozen teleport operators, the firms who undertake the uplink and downlink function of television channels and provide the technical support to the broadcasters. The size of teleport business is estimated to be worth Rs 220 crore.
Some third-party teleport operators include HFCL Satellite Communications, Essel Shyam, Lamhas, VSNL and others. National broadcasters such as the Zee Group, Eenadu Group, NDTV and STAR News, among others, manage their own teleport operations.