AIR & Doordarshan Engineers Association

Raman Kumar,
Station Engineer,
All India Radio, HPT,
Kingsway Camp
Delhi-09
Email: raman_k257@rediffmail.com

Broadcast Services Regulations and Policy Frameworks in developing countries like India

The Broadcast Industries be it terrestrial or satellite are regulated in various ways at the national and International levels. Broadcast services, starting from the Radio in early years has developed to a great extent especially after the advent of television, DTH & Satellite technologies. With various technologies and products coming into market place catering to different broadcast applications, ensuring unhindered growth of broadcast services through suitable regulations is an essential step with taking into consideration technical, commercial and legal aspects. Similarly, use of terrestrial and satellite media, separately as well as jointly necessitated suitable regulatory treatment. Unlike earlier days, nowadays in many countries including India, broadcast services are being provided by private entities in addition to the government entity to meet the demand for broadcast services. Accordingly in many countries policies and regulations have been developed to allow many players in this field. With the emergence of multimedia and convergence of services, the nature of regulations traditionally used to govern may have to be reviewed suitably to encourage the new technologies. So there is need for building and development of convergence models to ensure effective regulation and monitoring.

Regulation is a way to modify behavior of individuals, organizations and businesses to work in a desired way, which is in the interest of society. Regulation is thus used by state to achieve wider social goals- equity, diversity or social solidarity and to hold powerful corporate. Government tries to push its policies through regulation by defining the codes of conduct, setting standards and monitoring and enforcing them.
Harnessing its power to work for the democratic process is one of the key purposes of broadcasting regulation.
To ensure broadcast of advertising and programming content safe from cultural, security, communal harmony view points.
To enhance cultural promotion.
To ensure efficient use of frequency spectrum and interference-free operation of broadcast services.
Through the licensing process governments introduce and enforce the other purposes of broadcasting regulation: the democratic, economic, cultural and consumer protection purposes.

            Presently, the regulatory functions are being performed by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in respect of the broadcasters under several guidelines issued from time to time. It is proposed to set up Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India ( BRAI) on the lines of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). In order to function in a coordinated manner with clear roles and responsibilities, it is proposed to specify respective powers and functions of the Central Government, the BRAI , the licensing authorities and the authorized officers.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been examining the issue of introducing a legislation to regulate the operation of broadcasting services consequent upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in 1995 that airwaves are public property and have to be controlled and regulated by public authority in the interests of the public.
As of today, broadcasting activities in India are with Prasar Bharati (created by an Act of Parliament ) and with the private sector, while that of distribution is largely in the hands of private operators except the Direct to Home (DTH) services of Prasar Bharati, and some public sector undertakings like Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). Subject to the provisions of this Act, it shall be the primary duty of the Corporation to organize and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain the public and to ensure a balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television.

            Media regulation in India is currently a maze, with multiple agencies involved in formulating and implementing policy, drafting and enforcing legislation. To make matters worse, they often appear to be unaware of each other's interventions and seem to work at cross purposes.
Among the official organizations currently involved in media regulation are the following:

Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB, http://www.mib.nic.in/),

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI, http://www.mib.nic.in/), at one point given responsibility for regulation of the broadcast sector (in addition to the telecommunications sector) but involved primarily with issues of technology, such as carriage regulation and pricing
Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT, http://tdsat.nic.in/) which, as the name implies, is the body to which appeals can be made for problems relating to broadcast regulation
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT, http://www.mit.gov.in/), which has responsibility for licensing transmission equipment (eg, radio through the Wireless Planning & Coordination or PC wing), satellites, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and, potentially, Mobile TV
The courts ' in the absence of an independent regulator, the courts are often called upon to adjudicate on broadcast-related issues and they are playing an increasingly proactive role in matters of media regulation
Head post offices in various cities, given responsibility for registering cable TV networks State/District level Monitoring Committees and Authorised Officers, entrusted under the Cable Television Act with the responsibility to prevent the transmission of "certain programmes in public interest" (NB: The Authorised Officer is empowered to seize broadcast equipment)
The Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to look into complaints regarding violations of the programme and advertisement codes connected to the Cable Television Act and Rules.

Regulatory scenario has became more complex.
Distinction between the specific type of service has largely disappeared.
Digital nature of the signals resulted in convergence of services and networks( Broadcast, Telecom, computer and Internet)
Earlier classification of services are fast becoming obsolete.
Constant technological innovations and emergence of new broadcast services.

Broadcast service and technology have tremendously developed over the past fifty years. Suitable regulations are must to channalise the developments and to implement the broadcast services in an orderly fashion. The regulation should be flexible and keep with technological innovations in order that regulations do not become bottleneck. Regulation should ensure necessary balance maintained between the commercial and non-commercial requirements.

To design a good regulatory framework and ensure reasonable level of compliance it is important to understand the characteristics of market, structure of individual organizations and their interrations in the setup, obstacles in regulatory compliance and then take a holistic multidiscipline approach towards establishing the rules of Regulation.
At the same time, there is a broad consensus of opinion that the best way to ensure that regulation does not hindrance to technological development is to make regulation “technology neutral”. Such an approach enables the service providers to keep pace with technological developments across the world.

So In order to guarantee the existence of a wide range of independent and autonomous media in the broadcasting sector, and in order to preserve broadcasting as part of the democratic process, governments should aim to create independent regulators for broadcasting on the lines of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Proper delegation of responsibilities to an independent regulatory body set up by statute not only creates faith in the fairness of the licensing process, but also removes governments from the potential political turmoil which can be associated with the grant of licenses. The Independent Regulatory Authority may ensure the following duties to achieve the aims & objectives of Broadcast regulation in the interest of nation.

Easy participation of all players – be it new or old players, small or big
It will Ensure the optimal use of the Frequency spectrum available for broadcasting purpose.
Adoption of a suitable definition of convergence, with sufficient flexibility for evolution of the definition with technological developments.
It will Ensure the wide range of TV and radio services of high quality and wide appeal
To Maintain plurality in the provision of broadcasting
It will Apply adequate protection for audiences against offensive or harmful material
To define scope of convergence across various services, technologies and media to cover vertical as well as horizontal convergence.
Building and development of convergence models to ensure effective regulation and monitoring.
To develop regulatory mechanisms and policies for a conducive and fair environment for growth of convergence.

AIR & Doordarshan Engineers Association is a body representing the Indian Broadcasting Engineering Services Officers (Group A) and Assistant Engineers (Group B) working in AIR & DD and works for the welfare of its members and development of the organization as a whole.