On his first day in office, Manish Tewari paid a brief visit to the CII Big Picture Conference held in the capital, where he said that he would take some time to understand the issues and post his learning curve, he would engage with the industry. However, what cheered all stakeholders were his initial statements after taking charge of the high profile ministry - he stated that the ministry job was not to regulate the media, but to ensure a level playing field for all concerned parties. More importantly for the industry, he emphasized that self-regulation was the best form of regulation. On this statement, Kurush Grant, Chairman, Indian Society of Advertisers said, “We are glad to see from press statements that the new minister is in favour of selfregulation of the industry.” However, regulation is just one of the many contentious issues that Tewari will have to deal with in the coming days.
A $100 BN INDUSTRY?
According to PwC-CII India Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012, the Indian M&E industry has the potential to achieve “path-breaking growth” over the next few years and possibly reach a size of $100 billion. For this to happen, the industry “will require the entire ecosystem to collaborate, conceptualize and execute game-changing initiatives” which is supported by a strong policy framework. One of the initiatives that will help the industry achieve the target of $100 billion is digitization of television distribution. Former I&B Minister, Ambika Soni, pushed for implementation of digitization and now Manish Tewari steps into her shoes, or slippers in this case, to take the process forward. Tewari took over as Information & Broadcasting Minister just a few days before the first phase of digitization was to begin in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. He will be at the helm for the next phase of digitization, slated for March 31, 2013, when all Tier-I cities (population more than one million) switch over from analogue to digital feed. He will have the task of ensuring a smooth switch-over without any further delay.
BE AN ENABLER
According to Uday Shankar, CEO, STAR India, the industry hopes that the new I&B Minister would be an enabler, rather than a regulator. He says, “The hope for any industry stakeholder is that a Ministry should be enabling, and not just regulating. The last I&B Minister did a great job of creating an enabling environment for digitization and I think there can be a bigger leap in that direction because this is an industry that has the potential to grow from its current $15 billion to $100 billion. But we need to switch from a regulatory-only Ministry to an enabling Ministry to achieve that. I hope everything that the new I&B Minister takes on, will be in that direction.”
HOW FEASIBLE IS REGULATING MEDIA?
The internet revolution has given birth to a new form of media, social media, a domain without any boundaries. However, with a lot of material available freely online, calls have been made for regulation of social media. Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India (PCI) has called for regulation of not just social media but all forms of media, especially the electronic media. Katju justified his stance stating that self-regulation is not sufficient as the Indian media had been irresponsible and there was a need to regulate it. However, he clarified that it should not be the government but an independent body that should regulate the media. The I&B Ministry has also come under fire for regulation of content on television, in particular news and films. While Tewari may support self-regulation, the government crackdown on criticism is a cause for worry.
PHASE III RADIO AUCTION: WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?
With digitization of the metros finally through, the next big item on Tewari’s plate could be the much-delayed Phase III auctioning of radio licenses. This could be the game-changer for radio as digitization is for television. However, radio operators are hoping that under Tewari, the auction goes through in early 2013 without any further delays. A common issue faced by both television and radio has been the lack of an adequate measurement system. Post the NDTV lawsuit against TAM and Prasar Bharti expressing dissatisfaction over the ‘raw deal’ meted out to Doordarshan by TAM, the I&B Ministry has asked all industry stakeholders to fast-track the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) as an alternative to the present rating system. However, no such effort has been made by the I&B Ministry as far as radio is concerned. This is one area where operators will be hoping that Manish Tewari would help the radio industry.
DOING AWAY WITH ARCHAIC LAWS
Newspaper owners have challenged a Central government notification with regard to implementation of recommendations of the Justice Majithia Wage Board recommendation for journalists and non-journalists in the Supreme Court. The recommendations included wage hikes in the range of 10 to 30%. According to newspapers, if the recommendations were to be accepted, this could lead to many papers shutting down as the Wage Board had created unreasonable classification among newspapers without any basis. Newspaper owners also argue that these laws are archaic and not relevant in the current system. It’s best if the laws governing Press and journalists are repealed or made relevant.
REINVENTING DOORDARSHAN
With the spotlight always on private broadcasters, one tends to forget that the Minister is also responsible for Prasar Bharti and by extension the state-run broadcaster, Doordarshan. With 31st December 2014 set as the sunset date for digitization of the entire country, viewers across India will have a bevy of choices before them. In this scenario, will the minister seek to revive Doordarshan so that it rises again, or will it just become an official mouthpiece for the government? Only time and the Minister will be able to answer this.
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