The Indian government is believed to be considering a proposal to lift the 20 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in direct-to-home broadcasting ventures to 49 per cent. The difference this time: the voting rights will be capped at 20 per cent.
It is also proposing to the amend the cross media restrictions in a similar manner taking the cap up to 49 per cent but limiting the voting rights to 20 per cent, a senior information and broadcasting ministry official told indiantelevision.com late last night.

The lifting of the 20 per cent FDI ceiling means that DTH ventures could be in a position to attract enough capital. The inability to generate enough capital to flag off a DTH service has been a major constraint for Indian companies as they have been loathe to wait out the long gestation period that such a project would require to start generating profits. But one has to wait and watch whether foreign investors would be willing to cede control of a venture in which they would be pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars.

The hike in the cross media restriction limit could also prove attractive and will allow integrated media companies to exploit their content properties across another platform such as DTH. The key question is whether they would be willing to give up their voting rights.

Officials in the I&B say that an opinion has been sought from the department of company affairs on the issue of amending the FDI and cross media barriers and it has opined that prima facie it seems like the proposed changes seem all right.

However, this is not the first time that smoke signals have been sent out that the DTH regulations introduced in 2000 would be made more investment friendly. On several occasions in the past the government has made similar announcements only to find that it has not been able to translate it into action.

If the limit is removed and the norms are liberalised then it is quite likely that a risk-taking entrepreneur would take the plunge into DTH. One of the most interested players in the launching DTH in India has been global media baron Rupert Murdoch but his foray has been nipped in the bud by fearful rivals and an even more reluctant government.

To read the DTH notification click on the following link:

The Jeetendra Kapoor family-promoted Balaji Telefilms Ltd announced today the appointment of V Devarajan as chief financial officer of the leading television software production house.
Devarajan, who takes charge in mid-July, comes to Balaji from Du Pont India, where he was V-P finance. He is a chartered accountant with around 15 years experience, company representatives say.

They are firming their presence in the land of the rising sun. Singapore-hqed CNBC Asia Pacific and GE Equity - the private equity arm of the General Electric Company - today announced that they were pumping in $15 million in Japanese broadcasting major TV Tokyo and picking up three per cent of its total outstanding equity.
This marks the first time that an American television network has made an investment in a major Japanese broadcasting company and places the duo as its seventh largest shareholder. As a result of the transaction, CNBC Asia Pacific will become the provider of choice for business news to TV Tokyo - one of the five principal TV networks in Japan -- and its affiliates. Currently, approximately 10% of TV Tokyo‘s programming is focused on news and business. TV Tokyo plans to enhance further its business news offerings, bolstering its coverage of markets around the world. The two companies will continue to explore further areas of potential collaboration.

TV Tokyo covers 67% of national households through five network local stations in the major cities. Its programming includes original entertainment, news (with an emphasis on financial reporting) and animated series including Pokemon and Duel Monsters.

Concurrently, TV Tokyo will invest in Nikkei-CNBC, CNBC Asia Pacific‘s Japanese language television business news network. TV Tokyo will take a 14% stake in Nikkei-CNBC. CNBC Asia Pacific and Nikkei, together with Jupiter Programming, have been partners in Japan since 1999. Nikkei-CNBC currently reaches over 4.2 million homes in Japan, offering 18 hours of Japanese language business news daily, including Tokyo Squawk Box, Market Watch and Tokyo Power Lunch.

"This investment is a major building block in CNBC‘s global strategy. Over the past several years, CNBC has become the major means by which investors can get business news information on any company in the world - as soon that news happens." said Bill Bolster, NBC‘s Chairman of CNBC‘s international operations. "It‘s no longer enough to know what‘s happening in the markets where you live - you have to know what‘s happening in markets all around the world. CNBC can give investors that information. Our investment in TV Tokyo is cementing our position as the number one provider of television business news on a global basis."

"This investment underscores our commitment to quality global business news coverage in Japan and around the world," added Karen House, President, Dow Jones International. "CNBC Asia Pacific is Asia‘s premier business and financial information network - drawing on the vast resources of CNBC and the Dow Jones Asia network. This partnership with TV Tokyo further strengthens the brand and our ability to reach critical audiences in Asia."

Alexander Brown, President and CEO of CNBC Asia Pacific, said, "We welcome TV Tokyo‘s participation in Nikkei-CNBC as part of the broadening of CNBC‘s commitments to the Japan market. It is our belief that these investments will most importantly benefit Japanese viewers through the delivery of better business and financial news programming.

Not one, but three. Television software production house Creative Eye is making a splash into the movie making business with the announcement of three Hindi feature films, all slated for launch before the end of the calendar year.The first production goes on the floors in the first week of July and has been tentatively titled Tum Jo Mil Gaye. Produced by Dheeraj Kumar, the film has been scripted by ZD Lari, with the music composed by Pyarelal, and directed by Amol Shedge. The film, a "social romantic film" with a new pair in the lead role, is to be shot in India and New Zealand and is slated for a January 2003 release. The other two films are to be launched by the end of August and September 2002 respectively.

The company has so far produced more than 1,700 hours of programming consisting of social, suspense thrillers historical and mythological programmes. According to an official release, the current eight hours of programming per week on Doordarshan will be increased to 16 hours in 2002-03.