 |
|
| EXPRESS CRICKET |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
Murdoch, Who? FCC Team Digs CAS
|
| |
| The ‘Murdoch clause’ may have been a commonplace word for the US regulators, but when they came calling on the top officials of the I&B ministry, they stayed out of controversial domains. |
|
|
|
| Posted online: Friday, July 25, 2003 at 0000 hours IST |
|
|
| New Delhi: The ‘Murdoch clause’ may have been a commonplace word for the US regulators, but when they came calling on the top officials of the I&B ministry, they stayed out of controversial domains. At a time when Rupert Murdoch’s Star News is under media glare over foreign sharholding issues, the visiting Federal Communications Commiss-ion delegation preferred to exchange notes on the conditional access system (CAS). But, pointed out a senior official in the I&B ministry that the FCC team, headed by deputy chief of international bureau Roderick Porter, was quite aware of the controversial media issues (meaning Star), and the headlines that the news was grabbing!
A section in the Communications Bill of the UK, relaxing foreign ownership rules in media, is referred to as the Murdoch clause. In India, FCC is understood to have conveyed its thoughts on a convergence regime and how it was a good option for the country. But I&B officials maintained that the talks were more general in nature. Interestingly, government wanted the FCC to share its best practices literature with India. Reason: FCC has been on the job since 1930.
The two sides discussed regulations in the industry, Prasar Bharati’s direct-to-home foray, besides CAS. And when it came to talking CAS, it was a clash of terminology, as an I&B official later said. For instance, cable for FCC was wire, and pay channel was premium! |
|
|
RSS Feeds 
