Govt to look into media panel plan

The government yesterday said a proposal to set up a media commission was being examined.

"The proposal and its various aspects are under examination," Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy told the Rajya Sabha. Reddy said a group of ministers (GoM) had been constituted to examine the proposal for reviewing uplinking policy.

The GoM was yet to finalise its recommendations, he said adding a time frame could not be indicated in this regard. To another question, he said at present 14-free-to-air private TV channels, in addition to 19 Doordarshan channels, were available on DD Direct+, Doordarshan's DTH platform.

The private channels were being aired without any carriage fee. They were included in the bouquet in order to reach out to a wider audience and make the service popular, Reddy said.

Prasar Bharatiwas not driven by commercial consideration alone, he said adding it was hosting private TV channels free of charge for a period of two years as an exploratory measure.

Reddy also said the Cable Television Networks (regulation) Act, 1995 as amended till date did not provide for setting of rates for pay channel.

However, he said Trai had issued tariff orders from time to time under the Trai Act which regulated the charges payable by cable subscribers to opera tors.and by the operators to multi system operators roadcasters.