New Delhi: The proposal of Media Content and Communication Services to uplink Star News channel from India is still being examined by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry after Foreign Investment Promotion Board cleared it.

FIPB has approved MCCS proposal for foreign investment but this is subject to the Ministry's permission for uplinking a news and current affairs television channel from India, I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

"The proposal of MCCS to uplink Star News channel from India is under examination in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting," he said.

To a question asking what action has the Government taken against ASC Enterprises, which supplied set-top boxes with limited access to Ku band DTH services, Prasad said the matter was being examined by the Ministry.

Government has deferred initiation of a course on acting at the Film and Television Institute of Pune to next year "in order to ensure that all arrangements are in place", he said.

Prasad replied in the negative when asked whether pay channels have been directed by the Government to screen movies on small screen without any commercial breaks.

PTI