Live: People support politics of good governance & development, says PM after poll results.'In India, these satellites are available and we want more and more channels to use Indian satellites (so as to reduce remittances to foreign operators),' Apurva Chandra said. The Indian satellites being used are Isro's Gsat-30 and Gsat-17.' The government has approved $102 million in remittances to foreign satellite operators over the last two years for providing uplinking and downlinking services to TV channels, he said. Of the 898 channels, 532 use foreign satellites and 366 are using Indian satellites.
The permission to uplinking and downlinking are given by the I&B ministry under the guidelines issued in 2011. Of these 898 channels, 385 are news channels and 513 are non-news channels. These channels are not only spread out in India but also have a reach in the entire Asia, Middle East and some go right up to Europe and the UK. On the vast broadcasting network of India, the I&B secretary said, 'We have 898 channels that are broadcast by various private companies and Prasar Bharati throughout the country. The guidelines will be revised soon, maybe within a month.' He said neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan can then use India as a hub for uplinking their TV channels.
