The Hindu : National : Licence fee likely on purchase of TVs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 13, 2004

National

National

Licence fee likely on purchase of TVs

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 12. The Government today said the financial autonomy of the public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, was essential for giving true autonomy to Doordarshan and All-India Radio.

For this, the Government was contemplating imposition of an annual fee or a one-time licence fee on the purchase of radio and television sets.

Addressing a seminar on `A Decade of Citizen's Initiative,' organised by Jan Prasar, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Jaipal Reddy said during his last tenure in the Ministry he had worked towards a Bill aimed at levying an annual licence fee, which was criticised by manufacturers of television sets.

Financial autonomy

"[The] Prasar Bharati, which covers almost the entire country, including remote areas, has no capacity to increase its resources and depends on the Government for financial support. Financial autonomy to [the] Prasar Bharati is essential to take it out of Government control. With nearly two-thirds of the expenditure being funded by the Government, it is not possible to stop official intervention," he said

Against an estimated expenditure of Rs. 1,800 crores, the revenues of the Prasar Bharati are only around Rs. 600 crores, he said, adding that there should be a debate on the issue and a consensus needed to be built with the involvement of NGOs and politicians.

DTH this month

He said the Prasar Bharati was all set to launch Doordarshan's Direct-to-Home (DTH) service later this month with 30 free-to-air channels. "We propose to have 40 channels on-board by the end of the year. The main feature of the DTH service would be that it would be available free of cost to people. All they would have to do is make a one-time investment of Rs. 3,000 for buying the set."

The Government was also making efforts to simplify and rationalise procedures for setting up community radios. It is proposed to have up to 4,000 community radios and over 400 FM radio stations.

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