Govt plans media city on PPP model

The government is looking at setting up a media city on the public-private partnership model. The proposal was mooted at a meeting called by the information & broadcasting minister which was attended by representatives from the print and broadcasting media industries including members of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), the Association of Indian Magazines as well as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation.

The general consensus was in favour of a separate media city on the lines of facilities that have been set up in cities such as Dubai, Manila and Colombo.

The government proposed that over 200 acres should be identified and developed as a media city housing the print, broadcasting, publishing and the internet media industries. It has also asked the media bodies to come up with a list of problems facing them and how a full-fledged media city could solve them.

"Though the proposed city is still at the concept stage, the idea is to have a common place where broadcasters can find uplinking facilities while newspapers can avail of printing facilities. For instance, today my printing facilities are spread across Okhla, Gurgaon and Noida," said Maheshwar Peri, publisher, Outlook Group.

Some print media executives also complained that while the old newspaper companies have facilities at prime locations, the relatively new players found it difficult to get a place to set up their operations.

While the government may have taken the initiative this time, proposal for a media city was first made by the print media industry some six years ago.