The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the proposal for revision of the guidelines for obtaining licence for providing Direct-To-Home (DTH) broadcasting service in India.
Addressing the mediapersons here, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar mentioned about the salient features of the Union Cabinet's decision.
He said Licence for the DTH will be issued for a period of 20 years in place of the present 10 years. Further, the period of Licence may be renewed by 10 years at a time.
The Licence fee has been revised from 10 per cent of GR to eight per cent of AGR. AGR will be calculated by the deduction of GST from GR.
The License Fee will be collected on quarterly basis, in lieu of presently annual basis.
The DTH operators will be permitted to operate to a maximum of five per cent of its total channel carrying capacity, as permitted platform channels. A one-time non-refundable registration fee of Rs 10,000 per PS channel will be charged from a DTH operator.
Sharing of Infrastructure between DTH operators willing to share DTH platform and transport stream of TV channels on voluntary basis, will be allowed.
Distributors of TV channels will be permitted to share the common hardware for their Subscriber Management System (SMS) and Conditional Access System (CAS) applications.
The cap of 49 per cent FDl in the existing DTH guidelines will be aligned with the extant Government (DPIIT's) policy on FDl as amended from time to time.
The decision will come into effect, as soon as the revised DTH guidelines are issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The proposed reduction is intended to align the licence fee regime applicable to Telecom sector and will be prospectively applied. The difference may also enable DTH service providers to invest for more coverage, leading to increased operations and higher growth, thereby enhanced and regular payment of Licence Fee by them.
Registration fee for Platform Services is likely to bring a revenue of around Rs 12 lakh. Sharing of infrastructure by the DTH operators may bring in more efficient use of scarce satellite resources and reduce the costs borne by the consumers. Adoption of the extant FDI policy will bring in more foreign investment into the country.
The DTH is operable on pan-India basis. DTH sector is a highly employment intensive sector. It directly employs DTH operators as well as those in the call centres besides indirectly employing a sizeable number of installers at the grass-root level.
The amended DTH guidelines, with longer licence period and clarity on renewals and relaxed FDI limits, will ensure a fair degree of stability and new investments in the DTH sector, along with employment opportunities.
Source - UNI
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