Trai issues second consultation paper on media ownership

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday called for views from stakeholders on various restrictions put forth on ownership of media, including on powers to the government to prevent any entity from entering the media sector in public interest.

In its second consultation paper on media ownership, Trai has also asked stakeholders to give their views if there are any entities which need to be precluded from owning media enterprises, in addition to political parties, religious bodies, government or government-aided bodies which have already been recommended by the regulator to be disqualified from entry into the broadcasting and distribution sectors.

The discussion paper has listed out 32 issues on which it wants stakeholders to give their views, including on ownership rules for vertical integration between broadcasting and distribution entities.

The paper has also sought views on what should be the rules/restrictions in case of mergers and acquisitions in the media sector, and media ownership rules within and across media segments.

The paper has been placed on the TRAI website and written comments invited from stakeholders by 8 March and counter-comments if any by 15 March.

It has also sought views on what methodology to be adopted to measure ownership or control of an entity over a media outlet, identification of genres to be considered while framing media ownership rules, and prescribing norms for mandatory disclosures by media entities.

Trai also wants discussion on issues relating to identification of media segments wherein media ownership rules are to be prescribed, and identification of relevant markets for evaluating various parameters to be used for devising ownership rules and the methodology for measuring these parameters.

The paper had been issued at the request of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry made last year following a report of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.

Trai said it was felt that reasonable restrictions may need to be put in place on ownership in the media sector, to ensure media pluralism and to counter the ills of monopolies. It pointed out that such restrictions do exist in many international markets.

However, media ownership rules, Trai said, should be so designed to strike a balance between ensuring a degree of plurality of media sources and content, and a level playing field for companies operating in the media sector, and providing freedom to companies to expand, innovate and invest.

Trai had prepared a similar paper in 2008, but the Ministry felt that the situation had undergone a sea-change since then.