The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal for revision of guidelines for obtaining a license for providing Direct-To-Home (DTH) broadcasting service in India.
According to the new guidelines, the license for the DTH will be issued for a period of 20 years in place of the present 10 years. Further the period of License may be renewed by 10 years at a time.
Addressing a press conference here, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Cabinet today decided to approve revision in guidelines for providing DTH services in the country. Now, DTH license to be issued for 20 years, the license fee will be collected quarterly."
License fee has been revised from 10 per cent of Gross Revenue (GR) to 8 per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). AGR will be calculated by deduction of GST from GR. License Fee will be collected on quarterly basis in lieu of presently annual basis. DTH operators shall be permitted to operate to a maximum of 5 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 shall be charged from a DTH operator.
The DTH operators, willing to share DTH platform and transport stream of TV channels, on a 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," according to the new guidelines.
"The cap of 49 per cent FDl in the existing DTH guidelines will be aligned with the extant government's policy on FDl as amended from time to time," it added.
Registration fee for Platform Services is likely to bring a revenue of approximately Rs 12 lakh, according to a release.
"The sharing of infrastructure by 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 amended DTH guidelines, with longer license period and clarity on renewals, relaxed FDI limits, will ensure fair degree of stability and new investments in the DTH sector along with employment opportunities," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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