Viviane Reding urges on opening of foreign investment in Media
Televisionpoint.com Team
The EU's Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding on Friday urged India to do away with restrictions on foreign investments in print and broadcasting media to enable EU media houses to go in for joint ventures in India. The Indian media sector and importantly the print media should open up further to foreign investment, according to Viviane Reding.
Companies in Europe are keen to invest in the Indian media sector, both in print and audio-visual, and a higher FDI cap would enable EU players to enter into joint ventures, Reding, who's on her maiden visit to the country, said at a conference organised by the CII here on Friday.
On higher FDI cap in media, Reding said she planned to take up the matter with the Indian government. "I'm going to meet members of the government as there's huge interest in the Indian media sector among European companies." In the newspaper segment, there's an FDI cap of 26%, thereby limiting the scope of foreign players' participation.
In audio-visual, Reding pointed out that just the way Indian films are extremely popular in Europe, even European films should be popular in India. However, that's not the case, she added.
The FDI pattern in the Indian media sector is quite peculiar. While newspapers cannot have more than 26 per cent FDI, scientific and specialty journals are permitted up to 74 per cent foreign investment. In TV, news channels are allowed 26 per cent FDI, but entertainment channels can have up to 100 per cent foreign investment.
In direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting, there's a cap of 49 per cent foreign investment but only 20 per cent FDI ceiling. In private radio again, there's a cap of 20 per cent FDI. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recently stressed that there should be uniformity of FDI across all media segments.
The EU's Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding on Friday urged India to do away with restrictions on foreign investments in print and broadcasting media to enable EU media houses to go in for joint ventures in India. The Indian media sector and importantly the print media should open up further to foreign investment, according to Viviane Reding.
Companies in Europe are keen to invest in the Indian media sector, both in print and audio-visual, and a higher FDI cap would enable EU players to enter into joint ventures, Reding, who's on her maiden visit to the country, said at a conference organised by the CII here on Friday.
On higher FDI cap in media, Reding said she planned to take up the matter with the Indian government. "I'm going to meet members of the government as there's huge interest in the Indian media sector among European companies." In the newspaper segment, there's an FDI cap of 26%, thereby limiting the scope of foreign players' participation.
In audio-visual, Reding pointed out that just the way Indian films are extremely popular in Europe, even European films should be popular in India. However, that's not the case, she added.
The FDI pattern in the Indian media sector is quite peculiar. While newspapers cannot have more than 26 per cent FDI, scientific and specialty journals are permitted up to 74 per cent foreign investment. In TV, news channels are allowed 26 per cent FDI, but entertainment channels can have up to 100 per cent foreign investment.
In direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting, there's a cap of 49 per cent foreign investment but only 20 per cent FDI ceiling. In private radio again, there's a cap of 20 per cent FDI. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recently stressed that there should be uniformity of FDI across all media segments.
Copyright 2005 - 2009 Televisionpoint.com. All rights reserved. A Bhash Media Private Limited Company.
This site is best viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher versions, at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.