Broadcast : Policy Drought

The biggest challenge for the Indian government has been to define 'time'.
The telecommunications industry has seen it in case of 3G and BWA auction. The
era of convergence has led to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
becoming an important componenet for the telecommunications industry. And except
the policy on phase-2 of FM radio broadcasting, the ministry has not been able
to come up with any important policy for the broadcast segment. The country is
devoid of policies on important technologies like direct broadcast satellite TV,
mobile TV, HDTV, interoperability issues in the DTH segment, the list goes on.
After implementation of CAS in metros, there was no further action to expand in
other cities.

Formulation of policy on terrestrial spectrum has been delayed despite the
Supreme Court verdict on airwaves in 1995. Public broadcaster Doordarshan has
monopoly over the use of terrestrial spectrum. Industry sources say that the
government is not opening terrestrial spectrum only to save the existence of
Doordarshan. Opening of terrestrial spectrum for private players will help
operators reach viewers without the need to invest much in infrastructure.

The Supreme Court judgement delivered by Justice PB Sawant and Justice S
Mohan in 1995 in the case between the Union of India & Cricket Association of
Bengal stated:

(I) The airwaves or frequencies are a public property. Their use has to be
controlled and regulated by a public authority in the interests of the public
and to prevent the invasion of their rights. Since, the electronic media
involves the use of the airwaves, this factor creates an in-built restriction on
its use as in the case of any other public property.

(II)The right to impart and receive information is a species of the right to
freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19 (1)(a) of the
Constitution. A citizen has a fundamental right to use the best means of
imparting and receiving information and as such to have an access to telecasting
for the purpose. However, this right to have an access to telecasting has
limitations on account of the use of the public property, viz, the airwaves,
involved in the exercise of the right and can be controlled and regulated by the
public authority. This limitation imposed by the nature of the public property
involved in the use of the electronic media is in addition to the restriction
imposed on the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (2) of
the Constitution.

Information and broadcasting ministry officials have their lips sealed on
recommendation made by Trai in 2005 for the entry of private players in
terrestrial spectrum. When VOICE&DATA contacted Anand Sharma, minister of state,
I&B ministry, to know the status of policy on terrestrial spectrum for entry of
private players, he declined to comment.

Terrestrial Spectrum

India has four bands viz, VHF Band I, VHF Band-III, UHF Band-IV and UHF
Band-V that can be used for broadcasting. These bandwidths can be divided in 30
slots capable of holding 300 TV channels approximately. Also each of these
thirty slots can hold two HDTV channels. Most of the channels of Doordarshan are
analog.

“Doordarshan has started the process of digitizing channels under the
eleventh five year plan but Doordarshan has set the target too far for complete
digitization of its channels. We have set a target for complete digitization by
2017,” says RR Prasad, chief engineer, Doordarshan.

Digital transmitters are operating in Band IV. In VHF Band III, all the eight
channels are fully occupied. VHF Band I has three channels which is also fully
occupied. UHF Band IV is not fully utilized. There are fourteen channels in this
band and Doordarshan has plans to complete digitization of all the channels in
this band.

“As of now UHF Band IV is not fully utilized but by the time the eleventh
five year plan ends, this band will be fully utilized,” Prasad added.

According to Trai paper, under UHF Band V, there are 28 channels available
with 8 MHz bandwidth, in the sub-band from 582 to 806 MHz. Doordarshan has not
been assigned any channel in this sub-band for analog TV transmission. However,
frequency earmarking has been made in favor of Doordarshan to operate a digital
transmitter one each at four metros. This is a virgin band for broadcasting but
Doordarshan has plans to utilize it for HDTV transmission.

“We are not using UHF Band V right now. We have kept it reserved for HDTV
transmission. When HDTV comes in place, this band will get completely utilized,”
says Prasad. Doordarshan has already announced starting HDTV transmission in
2010.

Private Interest

Opening of terrestrial spectrum for private players will help operators
reach viewers without making much investment in infrastructure. “DTH operators
can start terrestrial transmission by putting just one transmitter. It would be
good for disseminating local content like weather, traffic, flight time, and
even national TV channels can be accommodated into it. The government should
share the infrastructure available in the country as it did in the case of FM
Radio expansion where all the towers under All India Radio were shared with
private players. We are ready to pay for it,” says Amitabh Kumar, director,
corporate, Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

Opening of terrestrial spectrum will help DTH operators in providing local
content which they are unable to do because of limited capacity of transponders.

“Doordarshan seems reluctant in opening up of terrestrial spectrum. The
government has not come up with any policy since the time Trai made
recommendations in 2005. By the time the government, in case, opens up the
terrestrial spectrum for private players, the cable industry will be more
advanced with modern technologies like triple play,” says Kamal Sharma,
broadcast consultant.

Further, the telecommunications industry is looking forward to mobile TV and
there is the view that mobile TV can succeed in the country only when
terrestrial spectrum is made available for private players.

“You must see that mobile TV has succeeded in markets where terrestrial
broadcast is happening. That means you actually have channels which are
terrestrial and people can have the advantage of capturing programs on mobile TV
just free-to-air. Nowhere in the world do people actually love to have mobile TV
on a paid basis,” says Anil Sardana, MD, Tata Teleservices.

Blockade

The delay in formulation of policy on terrestrial spectrum has blocked
development of several sections in the broadcast segment, which is effecting
economy and thousands of jobs in the country.

In most countries high definition transmission started with the help of
terrestrial spectrum but that could not happen in India. Instead, Sun Direct
recently created history by launching the first ever high definition (HD)
broadcast on the DTH platform in India. The Commonwealth Games next year is
expected to unveil this next generation of television viewing in India as the
same will be telecast in HD to the viewers' delight. Various international
channels and content providers have been queued up for obtaining mandatory
statutary compliance for broadcasting HD in India.

HD transmission could have been started pretty early but due to the lack of
focus on policy formation, India got its first HD transmission through a DTH
operator.

For mobile TV in India, at present, there are few Doordarshan channels that
can be captured on mobile. These channels are available through DVB-H technology
but only within a fixed radius of central Delhi. Players in the industry feel
that mobile TV through telecom spectrum will be an expensive proposition as it
will be in unicast mode. Therefore, terrestrial spectrum is important for the
success of mobile TV.

“So until the government opens up this terrestrial spectrum and encourages
various channels to become terrestrial, it will not be easy propagating mobile
TV among masses,” stresses Sardana on the need of terrestrial spectrum for
mobile TV.

He further expresses hope that opening of terrestrial spectrum would further
enhance competition in the handset segment.

“Today we have few handsets that can capture DD channels but we find people
don't like DD as one channel. People are looking for more choices of channels.
The day terrestrial TV becomes a reality, you will find that more and more
handsets will be sold for that. There are channels available in the handset with
their frequency tuned in to handsets,” says Sardana.

For all this to become a reality, the Indian broadcast industry will have to
wait for the government to wake up for policy formation and realize that it's
not the time to compromise on the growth of the industry.

Prasoon Srivastava

prasoons@cybermedia.co.in