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Global Brief
The latest news from the international broadcasting industry
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Cable TV hits snag in India
India is a democracy, yet it controls the availability of broadcast news tightly. At the same
time it has enjoyed a highly unregulated cable TV industry. Now there are moves to change
that, with the introduction of conditional access television that could throw the cable industry
in the country into chaos. It is estimated that there are over 30,000 independent cable TV
operators who have rigged up interesting networks by stringing cables from telegraph poles
and between trees to serve subscribers owning around 40 million TV sets – half the total
estimate of television sets in the
country. Fees are low, ranging
from 50 rupees in smaller towns
to 400 rupees in big cities where
there’s a choice of 70 or more
channels.
A key problem is that revenues
often don’t find their way back to
rights owners – the channel
operators – and that technical
standards are often low, with
unclear pictures at the subscriber’s
home. To solve these issues, and a
raft of others – such as channels
using inflated subscriber numbers to attract advertisers – the Indian government is introducing
a conditional access system. Due to start in July in four major cities including Delhi and
Mumbai, subscribers will have to rent or buy a new set-top-box with CA technology installed.
However, the launch has been thwarted by a shortage of set-top boxes, so it’s likely that it will
be the end of the year before the system is introduced.
Liberalisationof Pakistanmedia ownershipgrows likely
Pakistan’s cabinet has approved an amendment to the Pakistan Electronic and Media Regulatory
Authority that could pave the way for cross-media ownership. According to Pakistan’s Federal
Information and BroadcastingMinister Sheikh RashidAhmed and Federal InformationTechnology
and Telecommunications Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Legahri, quoted in the Pakistan Daily
Times newspaper, the cabinet approved the amendment in the PEMRA Ordinance to allow the
owners of newspapers and magazines to also own and operate television and radio stations
within the parameters governing such ownership and operation.
Sheikh Rashid said ten new channels would get permission under the amended ordinance
and Pakistan Television would also start its two new channels, one of which would be for
Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He said the prime minister noted at the meeting that the
plurality of views was the government’s responsibility. “Mr Jamali hoped that the
prospective private radio and TV operators would always give a balanced picture”, the
minister said. At the same time, deregulation was likely in Pakistan telecommunications
legislation allowing private telecom companies to work alongside the Pakistan
Telecommunications Company.
Jamming hits broadcasts to Iran
Persian-language television and radio services to Iran have been hit by deliberate jamming,
apparently coming from Cuba, according to reports by the United States Broadcasting Board of
Governors (BBG). Channels affected include commercial operation NITV - off the air since 15
July - and Voice ofAmerica TV. The BBG issued a statement on 15 July saying “The BBG calls
upon the international community to censure the states that have caused the interference. The
BBG strongly condemns the deliberate and malicious interference with its legitimate efforts to
impart truthful, objective and balanced news to its Iranian audience.”
“Cuba’s jamming of satellite transmissions is illegal and interferes with the free and open flow
of international communications,” said Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the BBG’s chairman. “This
action is illegal, represents a major threat to satellite communication and must be stopped.”
The jamming was first detected on 6 July, the day the Voice of America launched a daily, 30-
minute, Persian-language television news and analysis programme,
News and Views
, aimed at
providing information to the millions of people who have access to satellite TV in Iran. The BBG
said service providers have said the source of jamming is located near Havana, Cuba.
More details about broadcasts to Iran appear in
China, Iran and the Internet
on page 36 of this
edition of
The Channel
.
Which cable is legal?
WHO/P.Virot
India suggests distribution opportunity
India’s state-owned broadcaster
Prasar
Bharati
has announced its plans of launching
a direct-to-home service in March 2004. The
broadcaster plans to carry 30 free-to-air
channels including 15 from its terrestrial
network,
Doordarshan
.
”We will offer 30 free-to-air channels out of
which 15 will be Doordarshan’s own channels
and we will take 15 other private free-to-air
channels for which we will charge them a
carriage fee to recover the cost,” said
S.Y.
Quershi
, Director-General of Doordarshan.
Tenders
from
broadcasters
are expected to
be invited in the next two months.
Australia remains Australian
The Australian government has lost its battle
to relax the country’s
media ownership rules
after the Labor opposition combined with
minor parties to vote down the proposals in
the Senate. Under the government plan,
limits on foreign ownership would have been
eased and the so-called cross-media laws
which bar ownership by any one media
organisation of a newspaper and radio or
television station in the same city would have
ended. Labor, the minor parties and a group
of independent senators reportedly thought
the government bill threatened democracy
and freedom of the press.
Communications Minister
Richard Alston
accused Labor of leaving the nation’s media in
the Stone Age. “The tragic result is that
Australian media companies will be denied the
opportunity to grow and to expand and will be
left with little option but to resort to cutting
costs and services,” he said in a statement.
Singapore offers media development cash
Singapore
is working to renew its position
as the principal media hub of Asia through
more overseas investment.
Information, Communications and Arts
Minister
Lee Boon Yang
said that the media
industry had grown into a
€
2.5 billion a
year business that employed nearly 40,000
people and contributed 1.56 per cent of the
gross domestic product of the island State.
Lee was speaking at a conference to
announce that Singapore’s
Media
Development Authority
would allocate more
than
€
50 million over the next five years to
boost media industry development. Lee said
he wanted the media sector to contribute 3
per cent of GDP and employ 50,000 people
by 2012.
Tax breaks and other incentives were used in
the 1990s to attract pay TV channels including
Discovery, MTV and CNBC to set up in Singapore.
Global Brief
Acknolwedgement to BBC Monitoring for some
information in this section. For more news from
the international broadcasting industry, log on
to the AIB website at
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