National

Policy guidelines for IPTV services cleared

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared the policy guidelines for the commercial rollout of Internet Protocol TV services, a new cable TV delivery system that would benefit both telecom players and consumers.

“Issuance of the guidelines will bring clarity on defining the parameters within which the service providers will work and clarify how these services will be regulated,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to amend the policy guidelines for downlinking of TV channels to allow broadcasters to provide content to IPTV service providers. Currently, downlinking norms allow broadcasters only to share their channels with cable and direct-to-home platforms.

IPTV involves delivery of television and video signals over a broadband network. It uses the Internet to deliver not only television channels but also other value-added services such as time-shift TV, interactive advertising, film shows without advertisements and games.

Chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet meeting approved the setting up of a national agri food biotechnology institute and a bioprocessing unit in Knowledge City at Mohali, Punjab.

The Rs. 380-crore institute will integrate three disciplines — agriculture, food and nutrition technologies — under one roof. The bioprocessing unit will serve as an incubator for start-up agri food companies and act as a link between the institution and a production facility. There will be an agri food park within the cluster to be operated in public-private partnership mode.

A spokesperson of the Ministry of Science and Technology, which is setting up the institute and the bio-processing unit, noted that this kind of integration of research and development and production and enterprise was being planned for the first time in the country. The entire project was designed with the help of experts from the Saskatchewan agri food park in Canada.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for 100 per cent compulsory packing for foodgrains and sugar in jute bags for the jute year 2008-09 (July to June).

However, sugar fortified with vitamins and packaging for exports will be exempted from the order. Likewise, small consumer packs of 25 kg and below and bulk packing of more than 100 kg will be exempted.

Also, in case of shortage or disruption in the supply of jute packaging material, the Textile Ministry, in consultation with the user Ministries concerned, could relax the conditions up to a maximum of 20 per cent.

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