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At a time when an increasing number of corporates are taking control of media organisations and paid media is becoming an issue of concern, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that cross-media ownership is a ‘serious issue’.
Speaking to Business Line , Javadekar said, “It (cross-media ownership) is a serious issue that needs to be discussed and debated. Both TRAI and Press Council of India are reviewing the issue.”
Javadekar, who had earlier in the day had a round-table interaction with key media and entertainment CEOs organised by CII, told them that the Ministry will look at expediting the third phase of auctions for expansion of FM Radio to more cities. The Government expects to complete the process by the end of this year.
Javadekar also said that the Government is looking into the issue of allowing private radio players to broadcast news. “I am unable to understand the logic that 24x7 news channels are allowed to show news but radio channels are not. We are looking at this issue positively and we will take decision on this soon,” he said.
Earlier it was proposed that private FM broadcasters source news clips from All India Radio for broadcasting news but Javadekar said FM radio players should not be restricted to just one option and must be allowed to look at 3-4 options.
The Minister also emphasised the need for expanding the reach of Community Radio and aimed at opening up of 1,000 Community Radio Stations in near future.
“We will look into ending any delays in policy decisions. We promise a stable policy regime which will be done under a time bound plan and undertaken through a transparent mechanism,” he said.
Javadekar also said that the Government is not going to abandon plans for digitisation of cable services, but it wants to encourage indigenous manufacturing of set-top-boxes and other equipment. Meanwhile I&B Secretary Bimal Julka reiterated that substantial progress has been made on phase III radio auctions and the Government will soon appoint an e-auctioneer .
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