"Market forces may decree that millions of viewers can no longer afford the television service they have had many years, unless the government takes pre-emptive steps to treat television as a public utility and guarantees citizens access to it."
India's democracy rests among other things, on a free media, but this may soon change in one important respect. The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Wanted: a communications policy
Full digitisation of cable television across the country is being made mandatory in three years. The rationale is that digitisation will provide more and better channels, and value-added services that benefit the consumer. Also, digitisation enables large corporates to control a greater segment of the hitherto fragmented television market.
But if the media industry is given a free hand in digitisation, it can lead to the abrupt disenfranchisement of scores of millions of citizens, who will be shut out of communications they now take for granted.
Should the government treat television as a public utility, as some States are now doing, and subsidise consumer access to it?
Full digitisation of cable television across the country is being made mandatory in three years. The rationale is that digitisation will provide more and better channels, and value-added services that benefit the consumer. Also, digitisation enables large corporates to control a greater segment of the hitherto fragmented television market.
But if the media industry is given a free hand in digitisation, it can lead to the abrupt disenfranchisement of scores of millions of citizens, who will be shut out of communications they now take for granted.
Should the government treat television as a public utility, as some States are now doing, and subsidise consumer access to it?
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