India, Parliament (Finance, Nation) New Delhi: The government has approved New Delhi Television Ltd's (NDTV) proposal to start a 24-hour news channel with foreign equity component of 16.47 per cent while that of Star News Broadcasting is still "under process", Rajya Sabha was informed on December 9.

While NDTV's proposal was cleared in June this year, Star's proposal for starting a 24-hour news channel, also to be uplinked from the country, is still "under process", Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a written reply.

"Star News Broadcasting Ltd has informed that its head office is in Hong Kong and registered office in British Virgin Islands. The company has three directors - two Americans and one British," the minister said adding the proposed channel will be indirectly owned by the News Corporation Ltd.

Also, Jain Studios' news channel is 20 per cent foreign owned while in Zee News foreign holding is 57.54 per cent, she added.

She said the proposal of NDTV to start a 24-hour news channel, which will be uplinked from India, was cleared in June this year while those of Jain Studios and Zee Telefilms were cleared last year.

Also, all channels irrespective of their ownership, equity structure or management controls are at present permitted to uplink from India.

PTI