The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) welcomes the revisions of the DTH guidelines by the Union Cabinet. These revisions will help provide certainty and to allow growth in the DTH sector, which already serves about 70mn households across the country.
IBF has lauded the government’s push to bring a level playing field between DTH and Cable TV in terms of license fees. Growth in the DTH sector will help boost India’s television penetration – which is still only at 70%.
However, in terms of inspiring investment in the sector, a unique vertical investment restriction persists for DTH – a restriction absent in Cable or IPTV. IBF urges the Govt to strongly reconsider removing the cross-media ownership restrictions in DTH which is stifling the growth of the sector as such restrictions work against convergence and economies of scale.
Similar to Cable / IPTV, DTH could benefit from natural synergies and efficiencies between a broadcaster and platform(s). We hope the government will consider bringing in a level playing field in terms of investment in the sector as well and remove this restriction.
