August 12: Some stray thoughts and laments on Indian media, marketing and advertising in the country's 50th year of independence: *Indian advertising billed Rs 4,900 crore in 1996. But even that figure dwarfs next to the annual spends in countries less than one-fourth its size in south-east Asia such as South Korea, Honk Kong, and Taiwan

*Not one large Indian advertising agency has emerged which has been able to battle effectively against the big multinational agencies. Everyone from Interpublic to FCB to the WPP group to Grey has set up shop here after buying over or into Indian promoted and run ad outfits. The Ambani-owned Mudra, which appeared to be the last bastion, too is seeking to sell itself to foreigners. Its partner DDB Needham owns a 10% equity stake and has done so for long.

*Liquor advertising is banned in some states, yet doordarshan has been airing surrogate liquor commercials during the current cricket series.

* The government is making a big brouhaha about television broadcasting and has banned direct-to-home television, pending legislation while several countries are welcoming it. Ironically, city roads are pot-holed. Power cuts are rampant.

Telephony is in the dark ages. Viewers by the time they reach home are either too pooped to watch TV or they don't have any electricity to power their TV sets.

* The Broadcasting Bill should be renamed as the Gestation Bill for it seems to be taking ever so long to see the light of enactment. The parliamentary committee should be labelled as the sitting committee on the Gestation Bill. * The Prasar Bharati Act 1990 is to be implemented by September 15 this year after a seven year wait. The act is expected to make little difference to the two broadcasters DD and All India Radio as political mandarins and bureaucrats will continue to have a say.* Media independents have arrived on Indian soil. But with media dependents yet to find their feet, the indies (as the independents are called) will have to wait a while, struggle a lot before they can claim their slice of the advertising pie.

* Branded bottled water is being sold in cities while villages don't have access to water. n While internationally large economy packs of products are being promoted to encourage consumption, in India, marketers have to sell products in sachets and smaller packs to ensure offtake. * Tens of thousands of publications are available to Indians; yet a majority can't read a word. * The government allows publications such as Cosmopolitan and Elle to be published here-and may even allow Reader's Digest as a foreign owned entity -but it disallows a Financial Times proposal.

DTH TV: questions and answers

ISKyB has raised objections to some of the points raised in the leader "ISkyB at the Crossroads over DTH ban" in this column dated 31 July 1997. Monika Bhattacharyya from the ISkyB public relations department has sent this letter.

Here are some excerpts: I would like to bring to your notice certain inaccuracies (in the article) on account of shortcomings in research and a biased approach to the DTH issue in general and Star TV in particular. The department of telecommunication's (DoT) notification of December 19 did not place a ban on dishes and reception equipment for frequencies above 4800 MHz.

It merely made it obligatory for individual viewers and dealers to obtain licences for such equipment. The DoT notification dated 16 July 1997 imposed the ban on possession of such equipment and did not, in Wanvari's phrase re-emphasise it. ...the courts have not shot down petitions praying that DoT be directed to issue licences under the terms of its 19 December notification.

In fact, writ petitions are pending both in the Mumbai and Delhi high courts. Wanvari's statement that ISkyB will "continue to file cases against the government in every conceivable court and through whatever means possible" is a completely unwarranted slur.

What precisely he meant by every conceivable court or whichever means possible is unclear. There is no reason to assume that we are frivolous litigants. Wanvari suggests we could "go the clandestine route" and adds comments in brackets that this has worked well in Canada.

ISkyB's parent company does not operate a service in Canada or USA as yet..Why would any DTH service provider actually allow the clandestine use of its service when it is not in a position to recover revenues. Star TV has on several occasions reiterated its commitment to upholding the laws of the land.

Finally, your columnist actually names a senior executive of ISkyB and issues dire warnings to her and to some distributors about the possibilities of finding themselves in the cooler if the government chooses to implement the ban and the penalties attached to it to the letter.

This is an irresponsible statement without any relevance as the 16 July notification bans dealing or possessing or using Ku-band receiving equipment...ie dish antenna or decoder. Star TV is a broadcaster and not a hardware equipment supplier...(the notification is directed at individuals not Star TV the broadcaster.)" Here's my reply to the letter: (in italics) To start out with, I have no bias against Star TV nor do I have a bias against direct to home television or any other satellite TV channel or delivery service.

Throughout the article in the column, I was trying to arrive at the various options before ISkyB and the outcome if it decides to act on any one of those choices.

The December 19 notification in my opinion was tantamount to a ban because the government issued it to halt Star TV in its tracks, though it did it in Indian style with a very polite "No".

With no broadcasting law in place to regulate the beaming of TV signals from overseas, the government issued the notification making it compulsory for dealers to posses a licence before selling Ku-band DTH kits.

The notification was followed by total inaction from the government: it issued no guidelines for issuance of licences, and it awarded no licences. Star TV paid no attention to this, had a preview launch in March end and advertised its ISkyB service on April 2 asking people to subscribe. These were efforts to create awareness about DTH that I appreciated in my column at that time.

But they obviously annoyed the government as in its view ISkyB was circumventing the notification. ISkyB dealers filed petitions in the high court asking the government to give further details on the licensing procedures.

And at least two courts dismissed these petitions. I hope no one believes that the ISkyB dealers filed the cases on their own accord. For two reasons: neither do these small entrepreneurs want to battle the government nor can they afford to hire expensive lawyers. It wouldn't be surprising if dealers -- with the backing of Star TV -- also approach the supreme court, after doing the rounds of the high courts, at some stage. That's exactly what I mean by "every conceivable court" and "whichever means possible."

I was just offering various options ISkyB could take to operate in India -- ban or no ban -- when I mentioned the clandestine route. Nowhere in the piece did I state that SkyB is operating in the US and Canada; I was referring to the increasing penetration of American DTH services such as Direct TV or PrimeStar in Canada through the clandensite route. Nowhere did I say that ISkyB wants to take the clandestine route. I am sure Star TV wants to abide by the laws of the land.

As far as the threat to the senior ISkyB executive goes, it was not meant as a threat at all. I was just examining what could happen if ISkyB took the clandestine route. I have met Urmila Gupta or spoken to her on a few occasions and I definitely wouldn't like her to spend time in the slammer- nor would I wish it, nor was I insinuating it should happen.

I have not misunderstood the notification at all. Without a decoder and a three foot or smaller dish, DTH cannot be a reality. This is something even the government has understood and is therefore trying to control. It cannot control what is being beamed from overseas by anyone unless it jams the signals which it can't do as it would earn this democratic nation a lot of disrepute and ill-will.

Star TV or one of Murdoch's countless companies has signed the contract with equipment manufacturers such as Pace Electronics for supply of DTH kits. Agreed Star TV is not a hardware supplier though it owns its own digital television technology. But doesn't it have to take steps to ensure that DTH reception kits are available for its service to be received by individuals? It can beam down a 100 channel DTH service but without the kits, no one will be able to watch it.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.