The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years.
The change in guidelines would also allow 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, said Prakash Javadekar.
While the Commerce Ministry had spoken of 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, the guidelines of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry needed to be changed.
"Changes have been approved for 100 per cent foreign direct investment in the sector. Till now, the FDI was limited to 49 per cent. The TRAI was consulted in this regard," he said.
Earlier, TRAI issued a consultation paper on December 7 seeking views and comments with regard to the regulatory framework recommended for DTH services. A written response was sought from stakeholders on the consultation paper by December 14 and feedback was sought by December 19.
The regulatory authority had first issued recommendations on “Regulatory Framework for Platform Services” for DTH and multi-system operators (MSOs) services in 2014 which were referred back by the broadcast ministry in October 2020. MSO is defined as an authorised service provider that provides cable TV services to its subscribers.
Javadekar also said the cabinet approved the merger of Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archives of India, and Children’s Film Society, India with National Film Development Corporation.
(Published 23 December 2020, 11:44 IST)
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