TV channels should share social obligations:Parliamentary panel

New Delhi, Aug 26 (UNI) The idea of devoting some airtime to social messaging, strongly objected to by private TV channels, has found favour with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting.

''The Government should formulate a specific strategy to ensure that social obligation is shared by all the players in the broadcasting sector,'' the Committee has said in its latest report tabled in the ongoing session of Parliament.

The idea floated a few months ago by a committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was immediately rejected by most of the broadcasters, saying they were totally a private concern.

The Standing Committee said all efforts should be made by the Government to strengthen the Prasar Bharati to efficiently play its role as a public service broadcaster.

As part of this effort, it said, the Government should examine the proposal of levying Public Broadcasting Service Fee(PBSF) on the line of the Universal Service Obligation(USOF) in the telecom sector.

According to the proposal, every channel should be given the mandate to set aside 10 per cent of their airtime for public service broadcasting and the fee should be levied on them on failure of meeting the obligation.

The amount charged from defaulters should be transferred to Prasar Bharati to meet its public obligations, the committee said.

On a rough estimate, the amount to be realised through PBSF was expected to be Rs 800 crore.

The Committee noted that most private channels were showing entertainment programmes, which were commercially viable, to get advertisements.

Endowed with social obligations, the Prasar Bharati has serious limitations in competing with commercial broadcasters.

Therefore, maintaining a balance between public service broadcasting has been a formidable challenge for it ever since its inception.

It suggested that the burden of public service broadcasting could be shared with the Prasar Bharati by levying licence fee on all television sets at the point of production and at an ad valorem rate collected through the Excise Department.

The suggestion was given by the Committee on Capital and Financial Restructuring. The Committee said such a levy would meet the concept of user funding the cost of public broadcasting.

It was calculated that if the levy was ten per cent, it would fetch an amount of Rs 896 crore per year and with five per cent it would be Rs 448 crore.

It was also pointed out that the fee was charged in the yesteryear but abolished in the 1980s.

As the cost of collecting the fee annually would be too high, it had been suggested that it should be collected in lump sum as one time fee.

However, the Parliamentary panel said the proposal required wider consultations with stakeholders and detailed examination before taking a final decision on the matter.

UNI