AFRICA ASIA REGULATORY CONFERENCE GAURI MORAGODA ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/LEGAL TRCSL

 1 Content control- Ministry of Mass Mediaand Information  2. Radio Spectrum assignments - TV and Radio broadcasters –Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.(TRC)  3. Network Licenses - TRCSL

CURRENT LAWS APPLICABLE TO TELEVISION BROADCASTING (i)Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act, No. 6 of 1982 (a) Established the Public TV broadcaster Rupavahini Corporation. (b) Section 28 – Private Broadcasting stations (ii) Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act. No 25 of 1991 (a) Section 17 (2) -Telecommunication System Licenses (b)Section 22 – Licensing of Radio frequencies to Radio and Television Broadcasters

SRI LANKA TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT SECTION (1) Subject to the provision of section 20, no person shall operate a telecommunication system in Sri Lanka except under the authority of a license granted by the Minister in accordance with subsection (2). (2) The Minister may grant the license referred to in subsection (1) on the recommendation of the Commission, provided he shall have the power to reject such recommendations for reasons assigned and grant a license in his own discretion.

. SRI LANKA TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT SECTION 22 (1) No person shall use any radio frequency or any radio frequency emitting apparatus in Sri Lanka or in any part of the territorial waters of Sri Lanka or in any ship or aircraft registered in Sri Lanka, except under the authority of a license issued by the Commission for that purpose under subsection (2). Every application for a license under this section shall be made to the Commission in such form as may be determined by the Commission.

INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE (1) GENERAL STATISTICS Total Population in Sri Lanka - 21 Million 2009/10 Households 4.9 Million in (excluding Northern part of Sri Lanka) Households with television sets is around 3.5 Million Per Capita income per person (GDP) 2009 US $2053 Average Monthly Household Cultural/Entertainment Expenditure US $ 3.5 or 2.2% of total income (2009/10)

INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE (2) Main form of entertainment for the people is terrestrial free to air channels with an estimated TV audience of 14 million. Public does not have to obtain a TV license for receiving terrestrial free to air TV Revenue from free to air TV broadcasters is from advertising Estimated advertising budget is over Rs.600 million a month

INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE (3) 1.Terrestrial - Free to air TV  First Television network – Independent Television Network – Launched in 1979  Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation – 1982  Private terrestrial free to air TV Broadcasters - First in Total 23  Only 16 free to air broadcasters currently in operation 2. DTH Satellite Television - about 220,000 customers 3 Satellite Television – No licensing 4 IPTV - about 50,0000 Subscribers 5 Cable Television - about. 15,000, covers only densely populated areas like Colombo, Jaffna, Nuwera Eliya, Beruwala

REGULATORY CHALLENGES IN AN ANALOG TO DIGITAL SWITCH OVER 1. Archaic Piece of legislation on content control 2.The Policy makers Commitment to implement the Action Plan without interruption 3.The dumping of analog equipment 4.Difficulty in maintaining analog equipment 5.Commitment from the broadcasters to release Spectrum for the implementation of the plan

REGULATORY CHALLENGES IN AN ANALOG TO DIGITAL SWITCH OVER 6.The production of Digital content specially in local content and the cost involved 7.Setting up of a DBNO 8.Public reception and the commitment to change 9.Affordability of buying set top boxes DVB-T2 sets 10.TAX concessions