NEW DELHI: The Government is no hurry to allow private FM radio to air news bulletins in the absence of an oversight agency to monitor the contents, Arvind Kumar, Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) has said. He made the statement while addressing the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce's 7th Indo-US Economic Summit here recently.
Once the oversight agency or the regulator is in place, the plea of the private broadcasters to have the rights to broadcast news bulletins can be considered, Kumar added. Such regulations on the content are needed on account of the linguistic and cultural diversity of India. Irresponsible reporting can have deleterious impact on the social and cultural fabric of India.
The Government is understood to have decided to allow news broadcasters (unaltered) from All India Radio to private FM Channels. Sources in the Ministry told radioandmusic.com that this was because there was nobody to check the content of news on private FM Radio channels.
Kumar said there are many ways in which the content for the private broadcasters can be developed including customization of the bulletins by All India Radio to suit the regional and ethnic diversity of the country.
On another issue, Kumar said the broadcasting sector needs Rs 400 to 500 billion for its expansion in the next few years. Foreign investors, particularly from the United States, can invest in the sector.In this regard, he mentioned that the government is examining the proposal to increase the threshold limit of foreign direct investment in broadcasting from 49 percent to 74 percent. This he hoped will accelerate the flow of investment in to this sector.
Kumar also said the government is planning to allocate the FM frequency through the auction route. This will give more opportunities to private operators in launching new radio stations.
Stating that there are over 600 television channels in the country, Kumar said that efforts are underway to digitize the operations. By March 2012, the operations in the metros will be digitized and by 2015, the whole country will be covered through digital set top boxes.
In the discussion that followed, panellists listed many grey areas in the protection of copyright and widespread privacy. It was felt that technology should be the driving force to plug such unsavoury practices. Technology that produced internet also can produce torrential illegal downloads that are taking place through the medium of net.