Indian government forms group to develop IPTV policy

by Jan Harris

The Indian government has established an inter-ministerial group (IMG) which will develop policies and regulations for the country’s nascent IPTV industry.

At the moment IPTV in India is unclassified as either a telecoms or cable service, causing ambiguities about how the service is regulated.

If it is removed from the jurisdiction of the cable networks regulation act and the Direct-to-Home (DTH) guidelines, regulations on the downloading of channels from the satellite for further transmission, would no longer apply.

There is concern that this could lead to thousands of unauthorised channels from foreign servers flooding homes in India.

The new IMG, which includes telecom, IT, and Information and Broadcasting secretaries, will clarify this position.

Its remit will include foreign direct investment limits, which are currently set at 49% for cable services, 26% for news channels and 74% for telecoms services.

Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, BSNL and MTNL are currently launching IPTV services in the country.

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