Despite consistent lobbying by a clutch of broadcasters right from Zee TV to Star TV to Prasar Bharati chief RR Shah, the government is not going to budge on the 20 per cent sectoral cap for broadcasters laid down in the DTH guidelines announced in early November.

This was announced by information & broadcasting (I&B) minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday. She told a local news agency that she had spoken to all the ministers who had aired their concerns and informed them that the clause had been inserted to prevent the emergence of vertical monopoloies.

She added that she had even spoken to senior BJP cabinet member and home minister L.K. Advani about the issue. With the government being firm on this issue broadcasters will have to resort to ingenious corporate restructuring to be able to put together a DTH platform. Or lobby even harder.