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Journalism of Courage
The Last time I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad went and met Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, his advice was short: Make sure CAS is consumer-friendly.
A month later, and two days after broadcasters dashed Prasad’s hopes of keeping channel prices consumer-friendly, Vajpayee empowered Prasad to do what is possible under the law to ensure that CAS happens — with a caveat: Consumers should not pay more than what they do now.
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Star fresh application
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| NEW DELHI: Star News on Friday filed a fresh application for uplinking its news channel from India. Following the new guidelines for uplinking of news channels, that required the company to bring down its equity to 26 pc, the application comes just six days before the deadline set by the I&B Ministry. (ENS) |
Prasad met Vajpayee today to apprise him of the latest on the CAS front, following broadcasters’s move to block its smooth implementation. The broadcasters had, two days ago, furnished a price list that the ministry found unreasonable.
As for detailing the options he had in mind, Prasad declined to comment. ‘‘The July-15 deadline stands and, by that time, broadcasters should declare whether they are free-to-air or pay. They will cease to exist after that,’’ he said.
‘‘All options are open,’’ Prasad told presspersons after a brief meeting that lasted for over 20 minutes. Ministry officials, who were directed by Prasad to look into media laws in the West to regulate broadcasters, said they were looking into the possibility of bringing in broadcasters within a regulatory framework. Prasad said the broadcasters ‘‘need to understand that consumer interest is paramount — that’s the PM’s directive and rationale behind CAS and I intend to follow it.’’ The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary to the PM Brajesh Mishra and senior I&B officials .
