Policy Guidelines for Uplinking/Downlinking of TV channels to be amended

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has proposed to carry out various amendments in the existing "Policy Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of TV channels" to reflect the fast evolving electronic media landscape in the country. These amendments were proposed based on an extensive consultation with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal on October 7, 2011.

In the press release issued subsequent to the amendments it is said that the amendments envisage, inter-alia, significant changes in the eligibility criteria of companies seeking to operate TV channels in India in order to ensure that only serious and credible operators are permitted to operate such channels and the electronic media landscape is not unnecessarily crowded by non-serious players.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has two sets of Policy Guidelines for permission/regulation of private satellite TV channels in India. While regulation of foreign TV channels uplinked from abroad and distributed in India for public viewing is governed by "Policy Guidelines for Downlinking of Television channels" notified on 11th November, 2005, private TV channels which are uplinked from India are governed by "Guidelines for Uplinking from India" notified on 2nd December 2005. Uplinking Guidelines also provide for permission and regulation of Teleports.

The key highlights of the changes approved, as stated in the press release are:

(i)  Net worth criteria for Uplinking of 'Non-News and Current Affairs' channels and Downlinking of foreign channels has been revised from Rs.1.5 crores to Rs. 5 crores for the first channel and Rs. 2.5 crores for each additional channel.

(ii) For uplinking of 'News and Current Affairs' channels the net worth / criteria has been increased from Rs. 3 crores to Rs. 20 crores for the first channel and Rs. 5 crores for each additional channel.

(iii) For Teleports the net worth criteria would be uniform irrespective of channel capacity. The net worth criteria would remain Rs. 3 crores for the first teleport and Rs.1 crore for every additional teleport.

(iv) All TV channels would be required to operationalize their TV channels within a time frame of one year from the date of permission, for which Non-News and current Affairs channels will have to sign a Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) of Rs.1 crore whereas News and Current Affairs channels will have to give a Performance Bank Guarantee for Rs. 2 crores. In the event of non-operationalisation of the permitted channel within a period of one year, the PBG will be forfeited and permission cancelled.

(v)The period of permission/registration for uplinking/downlinking of channels will be uniform at 10 years.

(vi)  One of the persons occupying the top management position i.e., Chairperson or Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer or Chief Operating Officer or Chief Technical Officer or Chief Financial Office in the applicant company should have a minimum of 3 years of prior experience in a Media company, for both News and Non-News channels.

(vii) Proposals of merger, demerger and amalgamation will be allowed under the provisions of Companies Act, after obtaining the permissions of the Ministry of I&B as per procedure.

(viii) Renewal of the permissions of TV channels will be considered for a period of 10 years at a time subject to the condition that the channel should not have been found guilty of violating the terms and conditions of permission including violations of the Programme and Advertisement Code on 5 occasions or more.
   This allows the government to revoke licences after five violations of the programming code. Under the existing guidelines, three violations under the Programme and Advertising Codes can lead to the revocation of permission and prohibition of broadcast for the remaining period of the permission and disqualification to hold any fresh permission in future. Para 8.2.3 of the Uplinking guidelines and  Para 6.2.3 of the Downlinking guidelines say that in the event of third violation, there will be revocation of the permission of the company and prohibition of broadcast. However, instead of the earlier three, the amended guidelines have prescribed five violations. 

(ix)The channels operating in India and uplinked from India but meant only for foreign viewership should be required to ensure compliance of the rules and regulations of the target country for which content is being produced and uplinked.

(x)  Permission fee for uplinking/downlinking of TV channels and setting up of teleports would be Rs. 2 lakhs per channel/teleport per annum. Whereas permission fee for downlinking of TV channels uplinked from India would be Rs.5 lakhs per channel per annum. Permission fee for downlinking of TV channels uplinked from abroad would be Rs 15 lakhs per channel per annum.

Click here to view the Recommendations of TRAI and the Views of the Ministry on the same.