Bill for broadcasting

THE Broadcasting legislation that the Government has been trying to put in place since 1997 may finally be tabled in the Winter session of Parliament at the end of this year but it will not be recognisable as such. It will be part of a broader Communications Bill. And without the contentious specifics that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry led by Jaipal Reddi had put in, it stands a better chance of being passed by both houses of Parliament.

Last week a subgroup of the Group on Telecom and IT Convergence led by Fali Nariman put on the Web its final recommendation regarding a comprehensive statute that covers telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology (www.icici.com/subgrouponconvergence). It proposes a Communications (Carriage and Content) Bill 2000 which recommends the setting up of a Communications Commission of India. This bill subsumes the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act (TRAI), replaces the draft Broadcasting Bill, the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, the Wireless Act of 1933, and the Cable TV Networks Regulation Act. It does not affect the Information Technology Act but does cover the carriage and content aspects of computing and the Internet.

It sounds benevolent enough, bending over backwards to become enabling legislation with a repeated emphasis on the fact that it intends to set up a facilitative regulatory regime which will function through continuous consultation and will respond flexibly to the emergence of new services. It will set up both licensing and regulatory frameworks. The Nariman report talks of wanting to promote an open licensing regime as well as fulfill the national objective of powerful infrastructure for an information-based society.

The Commission will have no mandatory government representation, and will consist of a chairperson and five members representing broadcasting, telecommunications, information technology, administration, finance and law. It will also have a spectrum manager who will be an ex-officio member. The body will be selected by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition in that House, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the Minister for Communications.

The report recommends that there be no provision for supercession of the commission but the Government can issue directives to it. The commission can, however, ask for a review of any directive issued.

Licensed services will be in the following broad categories: network services, network facilities, application services, and content application services. Cellular, cable, television, radio, satellite, digital, terrestrial and combinations of these are all covered by these categories.

The approach reflects the complete change in approach which marks the NDA Government's approach to broadcasting legislation. Lay down broad enabling principles, and let the details be put into the rules and regulations by the government of the day.

It is an approach which has both its merits and pitfalls. Whether the primary objective is to increase communication use or to garner revenues it will affect the methods of licensing employed. The way licences will be awarded will be in the rules, as will stipulations about how much foreign equity is permitted. Whether the priority is community or commercial use is also to be determined by the rules, which can be changed by the government of the day. The only saving grace is that if the right kinds of precedents are set in the beginning, it would difficult for a later government to flout these.

This commission will award licences including composite licences, and indeed licences will now be required for every kind of service provided, unless communities wish to organise cable services for themselves. It will lay down codes and practices in respect of electronic content. It will also receive and consider complaints. It can award penalities going up to Rs 25 crores. It makes it obligatory for service providers to provide life-saving services. And special provisions have been left in for foreign broadcasters who may, under special circumstances, be excluded from licensing.

The commission will have an appellate tribunal to consider appeals and disputes which would normally go to the high court. The courts may not have the technological expertise required, and the tribunal will be able to develop it over the course of time.

The Communications Bill draws its inspiration from not just the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 but also from the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Act of 1998 which, according to this subgroup group document, was the first law in the world to integrate and regulate in one statute all the following media: telephones, computers, television and electronics.

Under the financing system envisaged, the Commission will function with funding provided by the Government of India. The money it earns from licensing will go to the Consolidated Fund of the Government of India. This is a new high-technology area that Indian legislation is stepping into one that requires expertise, not to be found easily in the country. One example is the sophisticated area of spectrum allocation. The TRAI has, during its short life, found itself handicapped because of inadequate funds to summon the expertise it needed. The Communications Commission will have to grow into a large body with a gamut of expertise. The requirements in this area will only grow as technology evolves. It should not be constrained by government or parliamentary notions of what is required, nor limited to the sort of budgets that today's ministries can envisage.

Similarly, what sort of body it becomes will depend on the kind of people who will be nominated to it. Will they be largely former judges and bureaucrats or sharp minds chosen from different sectors? It is time we began to look at the U.S. practice of senate confirmation hearing for appointees to such bodies.

Until the new bill is passed, the Government is going ahead with the broadcasting initiatives it thinks it needs to take. The cable act was recently amended to bring in provisions that would help to arrest Doordarshan's falling viewership. The Government has also initiated dialogue with private and public broadcasters over awarding digital terrestrial spectrum for television. The longer a law takes to come, the more it will be pre-empted in crucial areas even before it comes.

Copycat: Last week "Ghar Wali Upar Wali" on Star Plus had the amazing gall to copy an entire scene from the movie "Home Alone Part 1". Its version had exactly the same tricks played on the crooks by the boy who is "home alone" except that the acting was bad. From slipping on marbles on the floor to having cans of paint knock them over, to an obviously fake scorpion on the stairs instead of the Tarantula spider in the original. The crooks too were similar to Harry and Marv: one short and squat, and the other tall and thin.

HBO: Will air a new film at 9.30 p.m. every Saturday starting from September. "The River Wild" this coming week, and "Godzilla" on September 9. No repeats in this slot.

SEVANTI NINAN

E-mail the writer at sevantininan@vsnl.com

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