MEDIA SCOPE
Last week the auctioning of licences in the third phase of FM radio’s expansion began, four years after the policy was announced. It is the first major ‘initiative’ from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting after digitisation was mandated in 2011. That too is now stuck.
Talk to the CEOs of India’s top film, TV, cable or radio firms and you hear what you heard three years ago — nothing is moving. There is no talk of lobbying for long-term growth triggers — such as rationalising entertainment tax. Instead broadcasters and media firms are saying, can we at least do business as usual?
This, then, is a good time to ask if we really need a ministry of information and broadcasting?
Might that function not be best served by an independent-of-the-government body — that has overall charge of print, TV, film, radio, digital — à la UK’s Ofcom with a difference. A body can take a big picture look at the industry and propel it to its potential. It can set the business rules, keep a check on ownership, prevent the formation of monopolies, stop bad practices and create a healthy environment for free media. There are a lot of arguments against this from both the government and industry.
But here is the big one for it: The trouble with a ministry is that anything that involves media and entertainment is inevitably looked at only from the content/influence/control lens, not the business one. And any political party in power, anywhere in the developed world, is incapable of treating media as an industry that needs to be facilitated and developed for its contribution to jobs, GDP and a healthier democracy. One look at the Tory government’s determination to cut the excellent BBC down to size tells you that no democracy is safe from the dangers of a meddling state.
The previous Congress-led ministry obsessed over trivial issues like TV ratings. This one shows no interest in anything to do with the ~1 lakh crore Indian media and entertainment industry. There is no attempt to facilitate growth or handle the crises that erupt from the few decisions that it does make — like the appointment of the heads of Film and Television Institute of India or the Central Board of Film Certification.
Ironically, the film sector is a small part of the ministry’s budget. Prasar Bharati Corporation is the biggest. That remains overstaffed and under-utilised.
The politics of media then will always take precedence over the business and developmental part. But until we tackle the latter, we cannot hope to tackle the quality and content issues around which all the debates rage.
Take digitisation. The ~47,500 crore Indian television industry is beset by poor margins and lack of creativity. Digitisation means a more profitable, pay-revenue supported TV industry, more jobs, taxes and choice for viewers. That is evident from the data coming in from digitised markets.
What holds it back? About two-thirds of the cable operators in India have political affiliations, making the industry a source of funding and a strong lobby against any move towards transparency.
Take news. Everyone has a grouse about the quality of news in India. Can the ministry make a positive intervention? By pushing up foreign investment limits from 26 to 49 per cent. If this encourages strategic investors, who have shown little appetite for Indian media, it would be good news. A Dow Jones or a Bloomberg could bring badly needed processes and training. Also set Prasar Bharati free to become the BBC of India, give the Press Council of India some teeth and mandate complete transparency on ownership and financial data from all owners of news media.
India’s abysmal 10 screens per million of population (the US is at 125) holds back a creatively prolific film industry. Five years back, China, at roughly the same number of screens as India, started pushing the number to reach 24 screens per million. It is now the world’s second largest film market after the US. Could the ministry facilitate the building of multiplexes and digitising of theatres — by giving it infrastructure status perhaps?
There are dozens of big and small steps that could make this industry a force to reckon with just like the American media and entertainment one. More than 1.2 billion people, the world’s largest market for films, news and second-largest for television (by volumes) should amount to much more than debates on who will head a film school or the abuse of journalists.