Cross-media holdings panel slams I&B Ministry for no concrete action

A House panel on Wednesday slammed the I&B Ministry for not taking any “concrete action” on the issue of cross-media holdings after a study sponsored by it established its existence and suggested framing of cross-media ownership rules. It asked the ministry to pay urgent attention to the issue before it “emerges as a threat to our democratic structure”. The standing committee on Information Technology also slammed the ministry for consistently “under spending” funds allocated to it. It noted that while demand for set top boxes is set to go up as the switchover to the digital addressable system (DAS) regime takes place — in four metros from July 1 and elsewhere on January 1, 2015 — the ministry has “not done any survey on the availability of set top boxes to ascertain the domestic preparedness”.