MUMBAI: Ahead of this year’s Union budget, the Direct-To-Home (DTH) Operators’ Association of India has sent its wish list to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) asking for infrastructure status to be granted to the sector, amongst other demands.

Speaking about the details mentioned in the letter, DTH Operators’ Association president and Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish spelled out the top demands. “One, we have asked for the service tax for DTH services to be put in the negative list of service tax. We have also asked for reduction of withholding tax on satellite from 25 per cent to 10 per cent. Thirdly the sector has demanded for infrastructure status for the DTH sector. Fourth, the letter mentions that license fee needs to be brought down from 10 per cent to eight percent adjusted GR. Finally, we also asked for content cost to be passed through by effectively asking to bring it down to six per cent on GR,” he said.

The letter also seeks lowering of duties on digitals set top boxes (STB). The previous ministry under the UPA government had suggested scaling down the license fee from 10 per cent to six per cent. “While the previous government didn't take any action, we hope the new government will definitely will,” Venkateish concluded.