The News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA), amongst a slew of other suggestions to the regulator TRAI on Indian regulatory regime, has suggested that the federal government should actively explore coming out with a National Broadcast Policy (NBP), which had been proposed earlier, with media reports stating in Januray a final draft was ready to be unveiled.

“MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) also needs to come out with the proposed National Broadcast Policy, which will cover all aspects of the broadcasting sector and which will act as a vision document for the sector. Under the NBP, the various Guidelines and activity specific Guidelines can operate,” the NBDA said in its submission on a discussion paper on Ease of Doing Business in the Broadcasting sector, floated by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

It added that MIB’s proposed new guidelines relating to various facets of the broadcasting sector need to be “revalued in view of the changing scenarios” that would give “further impetus” to the broadcasting industry.

NBDA, which is an industry body of TV news channels, made a push for simplification of the licensing framework, stressing the processes of filing of applications, requisite documents and grant of approvals/permissions be done in a “time- bound manner” and made “online end- to-end”.

“The process with a clear and unambiguous timeline will result in giving the much-needed respite to the industry and help the service providers to plan their businesses accordingly with a better perspective. Since the broadcasting industry involves high use of skilled manpower and deployment of high-end technology, clear and time-bound processes will help the existing as well as the new entrepreneurs immensely,” the Association pointed out.

Outlining its views further, NBDA said its view is that service providers, in any sector, were better equipped with know-how about their business and, therefore, “self-certified documents must be explored as against third party certification”.

“A simple self-certification system will enable reduction in transaction costs, speed up information sharing, procedures, and formalities and, as a result, will significantly increase the rate of regulatory approvals. The main advantage of self-certification is that it will help reduce administrative costs and transaction time and can truly strengthen the call of EoDB in India,” it said.

Though India’s space policies in recent times have been forward-looking, pushing for private sector’s participation in a bigger way in space activities, the policies still could do with some clarity.

“The policy related to space capacity should be clear and unambiguous,” NBDA submitted , adding though the uplinking guidelines clearly mention a TV channel could uplink on either an Indian or a foreign satellite, “in practice the policy is not clear and the DOS (Department of Space)… raises objections on any hiring of the satellite bandwidth from a foreign satellite”.

“The satellite policy should be clear and the ‘Open Sky Policy’ should be implemented in letter and spirit. DOS should also offer longer term contracts instead of year-on-year renewals to the broadcasters,” the news channels’ body suggested.

Making a pitch for “light touch regulations”, NBDA said regulations should serve as facilitators rather than become “a burden or hindrance in the working of businesses”.

“The Broadcasting Sector has emerged as a key driver of economic and social development and has made the country a favourable business destination amongst investors. If business environment is made more efficient by simplifying the existing provisions of policy frameworks in various ministries and departments involved in issuing permission, registrations and licenses to the stakeholders of the broadcasting sector, as suggested above, the Industry will definitely move up in the trajectory of growth and the policy of ‘EoDB’ will actually be achieved,” the Association summed up its pitch.