New Delhi, Aug 22: With the star news proposal opening a Pandora's box, government today decided to revise the uplinking guidelines stipulating "additional safeguards", including a mandatory 51 per cent equity with an Indian partner. The decision was taken at a two-hour high-level meeting presided by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after nearly two months of government grappling with Star's application for uplinking its news channel from India.

Though these guidelines are in line with those of FDI in the print media, they go "beyond" them and the additional safeguards are likely to be applied to the print media as well, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the meeting. Star will be given a month's time to comply with the new guidelines which are likely to be effective in two to four days, he said.

Bureau Report