TRAI tries again

Responses to this paper are invited by the regulator, to be sent in by March 8, 2013.

TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India) has put its consultation paper on media ownership on its website. 

This is an extract.

Why regulate?

1. 25 The products of media are not regular commodities as they constitute and shape  cultural life of a society and serve as  a  strong tool to form public perception. Media products play  a special role in democracies as media in modern societies provide the arena for public debates, a virtual public space where different issues of public interest can be represented and discussed. Media influences ideas and therefore can swing opinions.

1.26 The size of the E&M industry, its current growth trends, its future potential and its power to influence news and views within its reach are the  factors that attract,  amongst others, large corporates and  political parties and organizations to the media business.

1.27 There is an increasing trend of influence of political parties/politicians in the media sector.  Political parties either directly or indirectly through surrogates control newspapers, TV channels and TV distribution systems. Such TV channels and newspapers would, obviously, promote the leaders and propagate the agenda of these political parties. This tendency is more prevalent in regional markets. There are TV channels directly or indirectly named after political leaders/parties. In the  cable  TV  distribution space, there are complaints that entities backed by political parties are either taking over operations of other cable TV operators or driving them out of business using other means, thereby virtually extending their monopoly  in  the entire region.  In such a situation, the broadcasters are at the mercy of these politically backed entities for distribution of their channels in that region. Such entities may practically throttle content selectively to suit their own agenda as well as fetter competition in the market, depriving consumers of the benefits of effective competition.

1.28 A number of corporate sector entities are entering the media sector.   Corporates can use media to bias views  and  influence policy making in a manner  so as to promote their vested interests while generating business revenues for themselves. This has led to emergence of large media conglomerates where single entities/groups have strong presence across different media segments. Table 1.3 below depicts the presence of certain business houses across the different media segments and in their distribution platforms.    

GROUP OF COMPANIES	PRINT	BROADCASTING		DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM
		TV Channels	FM Radio Station	DTH	MSO
Sun TV	√	√	√	√	√
Essel Group	√	√	√	√	√
Star India		√	-->