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| Edited By: Nivedita Mookerji |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 16, 2018, 05:41 AM IST
Travel Channel International Ltd (TCI), the UK-based media house, is planning to make an India entry. It is learnt to have submitted a proposal to the government for beaming non-news channels into India. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the finance ministry is expected to consider Travel Channel’s application soon.
Apart from broadcasting Travel Channel in Europe, Africa and the Middle East in 14 languages, TCI operates Thomson TV, Travel Channel Video On Demand and Travel Channel Productions.
The government has recently cleared several applications from foreign TV channels for beaming into India, including that of Australia Network, ABC News, Fox History & Entertainment and Fox Crime. The foreign channels that are currently beamed in India include BBC World and BBC Entertainment, CNN, Disney, Discovery, Cartoon Network, DW TV, Bloomberg TV, HBO, National Geographic and the Star bouquet.
According to government norms, any channel uplinking from abroad, but wanting to beam into India, must take downlinking permission from the country. Companies seeking to downlink their channels into India have to be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, irrespective of their equity structure, foreign ownership or management control, the rules state.
Also, they must have a minimum net worth of Rs 1.5 crore in case of a single channel and Rs 1 crore for every additional channel. The policy also holds that foreign news and current affairs channels downlinking into India cannot carry advertisements aimed at Indian viewers. Also, all channels downlinking into India must follow the Programme and Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
Currently, close to 500 TV channels, including news and non-news, are allowed to be beamed into India through various distribution platforms like cable and direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting.
As for Travel Channel, “it presents a uniquely panoramic and objective perspective on the travel experience, providing something for everyone, from trekking adventures to five-star luxury”, the company website says. Interestingly, Travel Channel Productions makes video for the travel industry, including South African Tourism, Qatar Tourism Authority, Oman Tourism, Switzerland Tourism, Jordan Tourism Board, among others.
