Inaugurating Frames 2005, the annual conference on entertainment organised by industry body Ficci, Union information and broadcasting minister S. Jaipal Reddy made several policy announcements that were welcomed by various segments of the entertainment industry.
The best news was for the radio industry, within which the private players are labouring under heavy licence fees. Reddy said the radio policy would be liberalised shortly.
"Our ministry has finalised a liberal policy package," Reddy said, adding that the radio companies will be asked to go in for fresh bidding.
Reddy said the ministry was also planning to establish 300 more private radio stations. "It may not be good news for All India Radio (AIR), but I don’t want AIR, especially its FM, to survive without competition," he said. "Sheltered development is stunted development."
Reddy said the ministry was also working on a revenue-sharing formula, within which the emphasis would be more on growth rather than generating revenue.
Regarding the television industry, the minister said "there was a need for an independent regulator". He said the regulatory body would be "truly autonomous and quasi-judiciary" and it would "monitor content".
He said the bill on the regulatory body would be introduced in the monsoon session.
Reddy announced that he would meet the chief ministers of 16-odd states in Delhi to discuss lowering of entertainment tax that raises the price of film tickets exorbitantly in some places. "In some of the states in north India, the tax is as high as 80 per cent to 100 per cent. This will be reduced to a minimum," he said.
In answer to producer-director Yash Chopra’s appeal that the fringe benefit tax on the film industry – that would be levied on food and outdoor expenses – should be looked into, Reddy acknowledged that this was an inconvenience. "I am going to take this up with the finance ministry on behalf of the entertainment sector," he said. Reddy also said that the animation sector held out tremendous hope for the entertainment industry in India.
The minister joined in with Daniel Glickman, president and CEO, Motion Picture Association of America, in his call for action against piracy. Reddy said it was the biggest problem that was plaguing the entertainment industry.
