BENGALURU: The inaugural session of the fifth edition of the FICCI MEBC (Media and Entertainment Business Conclave) held on 29 October in Bengaluru and the information and broadcasting (I&B) secretary Bimal Julka made a rare appearance and gave one of the inaugural keynotes, speaking on various issues ranging from social media to digitisation to content regulation.

He revealed that his ministry was keeping pace with the digital age and the new media wing which it recently set up had ensured that it was present on youtube.com, facebook, twitter and even on blogs. ?We are getting a very intelligent response from all over,? he said.

He stated that the broadcasting and media industry is growing at a rapid clip and that there has been criticism leveled against Prasar Bharati not keeping pace with its growth trajectory. ?But we have to admit that the role and responsibility of the Prasar Bharati is to meet the needs and aspirations of the remotest corners of society in the country,? he emphasized. ?Doordarshan has its 35 channels, 67 kendras while AIR operates about 250 kendras and both have to reach where others won?t go.?

He said that the explosion in channels is likely to continue and the anticipation is that in the next 25-30 years it is quite likely that there will be as many channels as there are households nationally from the 738 which are currently licensed or operational.

He disclosed that the TV industry has gone through some major changes over the past five years and direct to home television (DTH) has witnessed rapid uptake with around 44 million subscribers currently. He iterated that the government was according the highest priority to cable TV digitisation after the successful completion of phase I and phase II.

?There is no letting up on this front,? he said. ?Phase III and phase IV of cable TV digitisation is already under way. And I am sure with the support of the various state governments we shall meet the deadline of December 2014 for their completion set by the cabinet,? he announced.

He explained that the next rounds of digitisation will require the purchase of set top boxes to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore. ?Nearly 11 crore STBs are needed for both DTH and cable TV,? he said. ?And most of these are being imported. There is tremendous potential for manufacturing these indigenously. I understand there are tax issues and my ministry has been working to iron these out. We have met with with industry. I have personally spoken to the secretary of small, micro, medium enterprises sector, DoE and IT to please tell the industry to come forward in this endeavor to start making STBs locally.?

?We have been emphasizing that there should be transparency which should lead to a win-win for the broadcasters, the MSOs, the local cable operators and also for the government,? he stated. ?The benefits have been experienced in Maharashtra where the government has earned around 25 per cent more as entertainment tax through cable TV, thanks to more transparent working. The balance sheets of MSOs show that carriage fees have gone down and the subscriber base and fees have gone up. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Mysore have made significant improvements in consumer application forms but we want more and more cities to follow suit so it works well for everybody on a larger scale.?

He cautioned broadcasters and MSOs to resolve the interconnect agreements and revenue sharing arrangements among themselves. ?Should they require our intervention and help, we will step in,? he said. ?the biggest gains from digitisation have been transparency, increase in investments ? including FDI - cleaner and innovative businesses.?

On the content, he revealed that the government is committed to persuasive regulation or self regulation. ?This is critical for the media. We at the ministry believe that it is mature enough to ensure that the kind of content which is broadcasted should be paltable and should also not influence the society in a negative manner.?

At a time when the cable TV and broadcast industries are feeling the squeeze, assurances from the government could help ease the pain but unless they are followed up to the letter, they will just remain as empty words in the air.