Tuesday, August 23 2005 15:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government is contemplating prohibiting foreign news channels down linking into India from carrying any programmes or advertising specifically targeted for the Indian audience, a proposal that could turn out to be a dampener on their plans to expand operations in the country.

This proposal is part of various proposals being considered by the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, looking into the downlinking guidelines for foreign channels into India.

The proposal aims at making a clear differentiation between news and current affairs channels and other channels, official sources said.

News and current affairs channels being down linked into India should not carry any Indian advertisement and should be an international channel. It should not be modified specifically for Indian audiences, the sources said.

In addition, international news channels that beam to India will have to take permission from the regulatory authority of countries they belong to.

This rule will not only hit foreign news channels like BBC an CNN but also some of the foreign sports channels who are currently airing news capsules during the course of the day.

They will also be clubbed under the category of foreign news channels.

However, as part of the up linking policy, the Government is also considering issuing year-long licences to foreign news channels, when up linking content from India, for going Live on important news coverage. Earlier, they had to knock the government's door as and when an important event occurred.

To facilitate this, the channels have to enter into arrangements with Indian teleports, who have to maintain three-month records, the sources said.

The Government is also planning that channels down linking into India will have to register themselves.

It should have an entity, which has a financial presence in India, registered with the Ministry of Company Affairs and has to furnish other details as laid down in the new guidelines.

The company seeking registration should have a minimum net worth of Rs 1.5 crore for down linking one channel in India and for every additional channel, this would go up by Rs one crore. It should also keep 90-day record of the content it is airing into the country.

Once these are in place, the channels being down linked will 180 days to complete all the formalities, including having a registered office.