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Uplinking: time running out for news channels

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday said Indian news channels with foreign investment would not be given more time to conform to the uplinking guidelines for news and current affairs television channels.

Already into a fourth extension, the deadline expires on September 30. The Minister said the channels concerned would not be allowed to uplink from India if they did not tailor their shareholding pattern to the specifications mandated in the guidelines.

At least six news channels could face the axe should the Government stick to its guns. While three were from the CNBC stables, the remaining were from the Zee platform though industry sources said the latter had restructured its shareholding pattern and submitted a fresh application to the Ministry. However, Mr. Reddy maintained that none of the channels facing the scanner had submitted fresh applications with restructured patterns.

The two main conditions that the Ministry is insisting on is a foreign investment cap of 26 per cent and a majority Indian entity holding at least 51 per cent of the equity in the company. While most of the affected channels had scaled their foreign investment to the desired level, Ministry officials said some were having problems meeting the condition on majority Indian holding.

Mr. Reddy said he had made it clear while announcing the last extension approved by the Cabinet that the channels would not be given any more time. "How many more extensions can we give them? This cannot go on endlessly.''

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