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Direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting is coming. Take it as a given. Subhash Chandra‘s ASC Enterprises Ltd (Agrani) has applied for a DTH licence.Confirming this to indiantelevision.com, Punit Goenka, group president and CEO, said ASC had made an official application to government for starting DTH operations in India on Monday.
The application comes at a time when the government is reported to be considering a proposal to lift the 20 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in DTH ventures to 49 per cent. (Check out the report on 24 June on indiantelevision.com): Indian government proposes to remove FDI and cross media irritants in DTH once again: is it the real thing this time?).
It needs to be noted that the very next day of the report‘s appearance, information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj denied any such move on the part of the government.
Agrani‘s is the second application for a DTH licence after the News Corp-backed Space TV put in its own application in April. However, the government rejected the application because Space TV put in a number of riders, one of which was that the 20 per cent FDI cap should be lifted.
Watch this space for further details.
