NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)  released a consultation paper today on issues related to media cross-ownership and sought comments from stakeholders on the subject. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) had earlier sought comments from the regulator on the issue.

Issues relating to whether certain entities can be out of media ownership, and devising ownership rules for vertical integration between broadcasting and distribution entities are among the subjects taken up for discussion in a consultation paper on media ownership released by Trai.

The paper will also devise rules/restrictions in case of mergers and acquisitions in the media sector, and media ownership rules within and across media segments.

The paper has been placed on the Trai website and invited comments from stakeholders by 8 March and counter-comments if any by 15 March.

Methodology to measure ownership or control of an entity over a media outlet, identification of genres to be considered while framing media ownership rules, and prescribing norms for mandatory disclosures by media entities are some other issues.

Trai has also discussed in its paper on issues relating to identification of media segments wherein media ownership rules are to be prescribed, and identification of relevant markets for evaluating various parameters to be used for devising ownership rules and the methodology for measuring these parameters.

At the outset, Trai said the paper had been issued at the request of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry earlier last year following a report of the Administrative Staff College of India, in Hyderabad.

Trai said that it was felt that reasonable restrictions may need to be put in place on ownership in the media sector, to ensure media pluralism and to counter the ills of monopolies.

It pointed out that such restrictions do exist in many international markets.

However, media ownership rules should be so designed to strike a balance between ensuring a degree of plurality of media sources and content, and a level playing field for companies operating in the media sector, and providing freedom to countries to expand, innovate and invest.

Trai had prepared a similar paper in 2008, but the Ministry felt that the situation had undergone a sea-change since then.