New Delhi, July 12: In an attempt to prevent foreign broadcasters from taking away Rs 500 crore in subscription revenue and Rs 2,000 crore worth of advertising revenue from the Indian cable market, six home-grown companies alleged that the Government was being a "passive spectator" to the process. In a statement jointly issued by Aaj Tak, Eenadu, NDTV, Sahara, Sun and SABe TV on Friday, the channels demanded that they be given a level-playing field in the deregulated regime. They highlighted that "some channels" were flouting rules of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry related to uplinking from India and ownership rights. As per directives of the ministry on broadcasting news, all foreign channels were asked to lower their controlling stakes in (their) Indian arms (through foreign direct investment) to 26 per cent. The Indian broadcasters pointed out that the Centre should urgently review and critically analyse ownership rights so that the de facto control of news channels can be distinguished from their mechanical control through the specified cap of 26 per cent. Without naming any foreign-controlled broadcast outfit, the six companies said, while Indian news channels in particular could not uplink from the country without conforming to procedures, foreign channels had structured their ownership patterns to "bypass" norms with the help of "technicalities" as clauses to bend rules. The statement said, some foreign broadcast houses operating in India have news as part of their channel portfolio. This scenario, it argued, "effectively creates a monopoly" over 65 per cent viewership and accounts for 50 per cent of the advertising revenue.
Expressing concern over allowing the foreign companies an easy hand with revenues generated from the land, the six companies wanted the Centre to study ownership practices in the United States and United Kingdom. They further alleged that foreign firms were not subjected to tax structures in the country and that makes it easier for them to make ample profit. The complaining broadcasters added that loopholes in current policies be identified and corrected by the ministry which will ensure that the nation's socio-economic and cultural interests are safeguarded. Ironically however, when Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced the guidelines for FDI in broadcast news, he had specified that the policy framework would facilitate domestic channels. As per worldwide practices, the cap on FDI pertaining to news is 20 per cent on an average. The regime was liberalised in India after many sessions on consultations between different ministries.