Broadcasters guard turf against telcos

A new fight has broken out between broadcasters and telecom service operators. To block telecom firms from getting into television services, leading media companies have petitioned the government to extend the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap of 49 per cent currently imposed on cable and direct-to-home (DTH) companies to Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services also.

Telecom firms like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and MTNL have shown interest to start IPTV services, where television signal is carried to homes through telecom lines and broadband. As several telecom firms, including Bharti Airtel, have foreign equity in excess of 49 per cent, the plea, if accepted, could prohibit them from launching such services.

The letter has been sent by the Indian Media Group (IMG), an association of Indian media companies, to Union Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi. Members of IMG include the Zee Network, India Today, the Times Group, NDTV, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran and others.

"The underlining rationale for restricting foreign direct investment in the media""both at the content-creation level and the carriage level""is to prevent foreigners from gaining management control of the media entities," IMG said in a letter to the minister.

This move of the Indian media houses comes just a few days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India wrote to the I&B ministry, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the department of telecommunication suggesting an increase in the FDI limits in IPTV, DTH and cable services from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in line with that of telecom services.

If the government agrees, this would open the doors for telecom firms to launch IPTV services.

Till now, only state-owned MTNL has launched IPTV in some parts of Delhi.

The telecom regulator, in its consultation paper on IPTV a few days ago, had also suggested that telecom companies with a universal access service licence can operate IPTV services without having to pay for a separate new licence.

Objecting to the IMG move, TV Ramachandran, president of the Cellular Operators Association of India, said: "If 74 per cent foreign direct investment is allowed in telecom and that is not a threat to the country's security, how can you say about capping foreign investment in IPTV at 49 per cent? What needs to be regulated is content which is being done by the ministry; we are just the carriers."