THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING & CULTURE ( SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY )
(a) to (g) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (g) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION
NO. 46 FOR ANSWER ON 3.3.2005.
(a) to (e) A company with 100 % foreign equity is eligible to seek permission to uplink a Non-News & Current Affairs
Channel, whereas in the case of News Channels, only Foreign Direct Investment is allowed up to 26% of the Paid Up
equity. The Government has, so far, permitted 15 Indian companies to uplink 55 channels, with varying percentages of
foreign equity, the details of which are placed at Annexure.
As per existing uplinking policy, non-News & Current Affairs TV channels are permitted to uplink from India,
irrespective of their ownership, equity structure or management control. This is subject to fulfillment of eligibility
criteria and adherence to various terms and conditions including, programme and advertisement codes prescribed under
the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995.
For News & Current Affairs TV channels, the eligibility criteria require, inter-alia, that:
(i) Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) in the applicant company shall not exceed 26% of the paid-up Equity; provided the equity held by the
largest Indian shareholder is at least 51% of the paid up equity excluding the equity held by Public Sector Banks and
Public Financial Institutions as defined in Section 4A of the Companies Act, 1956;
(ii) At least 3/4th of the Directors on
the Board of Directors and all key Executives and Editorial Staff shall be resident Indians;
(iii) the representation on the
Board shall as far as possible be proportionate to the shareholding;
(iv) CEO of the applicant company and/or Head of
the channel shall be a resident Indian;
(v) The companies are required, to adhere to the programme and advertisement
codes.
The complete uplinking guidelines for private TV channels are available on this Ministry`s website (http://
www.mib.nic.in).
The permission to uplink TV Channels is granted to a company, after scrutinizing its application in terms of
eligibility criteria, including foreign investment norms. As of now, it is not mandatory for channels, which are viewed in
India, to be uplinked from India. A number of companies running News & Current Affairs Channels currently do not
conform to eligibility criteria and have been given permission to ensure compliance to the equity norms by 31st March
2005.
(f) Yes, Sir.
(g) The matter is currently under examination.
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (C) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO 46 FOR ANSWER ON 3.3.2005
Name of Company Channels having News content Channels not having News content
1 ATN INTERNATIONAL LTD - AHIMSSA
2 BROADCAST WORDWIDE LTD TARA BANGLA TARA MARATHI, TARA PUNJABI, TARA GUJRATI
3 COXWAIN TECHNOLOGIES - SURSANGEET, SS MUSIC
4 INTELVISION LTD NUM TV, SPLASH TV
5 JAIN STUDIOS LTD JAIN TV
6 JEEVAN TELECASTING CORP LTD JEEVAN TV
7 MCCS LTD STAR NEWS
8 NEW DELHI TV LTD NDTV 24X7, NDTV INDIA, NDTV PROFIT
9 SKY (B) BANGLA PVT LTD AKASH B
10 SRI ADHIKARI BROS TV N/W LTD SABe TV
11 SOFTLINE BROADCASTING PVT LTD - SADHNA
12 TANU HEALTH CARE LTD - CARE TV
13 TELEVISION EIGHTEEN INDIA LTD CNBC-TV18
14 TV TODAY NETWORK LTD AAJ TAK, DELHI AAJ TAK, HEADLINES TODAY MUMBAI AAJ TAK,
15 ZEE TELEFILMS LTD ALPHA BANGLA AAPKA, ACTION CINEMA, ALPHA PUNJABI UK
ALPHA BHARATI BHAJAN, CLASSIC CINEMA , COMEDY TV
ALPHA GUJRATI DELHI TV GOLDEN CINEMA JAGRAN
ALPHA KAVERI KHOJ TV, MANSI , PREMIERE CINEMA
ALPHA KRISHNA ZEE CINEMA, ZEE CINEMA UK, ZEE MUSIC
ALPHA MARATHI ZEE INTERNATIONAL, ZEE MUSIC UK
ALPHA PUNJABI ZEE SPORTS ZEE TV ZEE TV SE ASIA
ZEE NEWS ZEE TV SOUTH AFRICA, ZEE TV UK, ZEE TV USA
