NEW DELHI: The Sectoral Innovation Council of the Information and Broadcasting ministry (I&B) has stated that content innovation is required in radio which is possible only if the Government comes up with a separate licensing model for niche channels.
The Council has recommended that the ministry can come up with a formal arrangement by which Community Radio Stations (CRS) can provide community-based programme content to All India Radio, while AIR can provide capacity building and training to CRS workers in content creation, management and operation of stations.
The Council has also said that the airwaves released by process of digitization in AIR and Doordarshan can be used for creating a public service broadcasting fund in line with the USO Fund in the telecom sector. The Council has suggested that the fund can be utilized exclusively for public service broadcasting.
Reliable Single Source Data on all mediums of advertising should be made available by the Government so that advertisers are able to take decisions on reliable data.
These recommendations have been made in the report submitted by the Sectoral Innovation Council of the Information and Broadcasting ministry to Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni. Soni said the issues deliberated upon by the Council would be looked into by the Ministry in the policy domain. She stated the recommendations made by the Council in different sectors of the Media and Entertainment would act as a roadmap in the future.
The Council in its report has analysed the growth potential of the media and entertainment Industry by recommending changes in critical areas such as broadcasting, print media, animation, gaming and VFX, media education and films. The Council has made 64 recommendations in seven areas concerning the media and entertainment sector.
The Council has also said that there is need for a National Media Policy that addresses the new media landscape and integrates all existing media segments and also looks into the emergent issues. It said that there is need for the Government to look into the existing licensing procedures and requirements to ensure further liberalization and reforms in the broadcasting sector.
The Council has recommended that the ministry should institute National Awards for Innovation in different segments of media and entertainment sector.
The Sectoral Innovation Council of the Information and Broadcasting ministry is the first amongst the various Sectoral Innovation Councils set up in various sectors of the Government to submit its report to the concerned Ministry. The primary objective of the Council was to design a policy ecosystem in which new ideas would be integrated into the mainstream and get converted into policy initiatives by the Government. The Sectoral Innovation Council was set up on 28 July 2011 as part of the Government of India’s initiative of declaring 2010-2020 as the Decade of Innovation. Accordingly, the Government set up a National Innovation Council with Sam Pitroda as Chairman and 16 distinguished members. The members of the Sectoral Innovation Council of the Information and Broadcasting ministry comprised of Swarup and 10 other distinguished members from the field of media and entertainment.