Uplinking Guidelines

Setting up of Uplinking hub/ teleport

 A company seeking permission to set up an uplinking hub/teleport or uplink a TV channel or uplink facility by a News Agency should be a company registered in India under the Companies Act, 1956.
 The foreign equity holding including NRI/OCB/PIO should not exceed 49%
 The company should meet prescribed minimum Net Worth criteria:

Item Required Net Worth
Teleport for single channel capacity Rs. 1.00 Crore
Teleport for 6 channel capacity Rs. 1.50 Crore
Teleport for 10 channel capacity Rs. 2.50 Crore
Teleport for 15 channel capacity Rs. 3.00 Crore


Period of Permission and Fee:
Permission is granted for a period of 10 years. The applicant has to pay an amount of Rs. Ten thousands as processing fee and after being held eligible a permission fee @ of Rs. Five Lakhs per teleport.

Uplinking of non-news and current affairs channel
The applicant company, irrespective of its ownership, equity structure or management control, would be eligible to seek permission if it meets the above criteria.

Special Conditions/ Obligations:
The sports channels/sports rights management companies having TV broadcasting rights will have to share their feed with Prasar Bharati for national and international sporting events of national importance, held in India or aboard, for terrestrial transmission and DTH broadcasting (free-to-air). The event will be determined by the MIB in consultation with Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs, Prasar Bharati and the concerned sports channels/sports rights management companies.

Uplinking of news and current affairs channel
 Foreign Equity holding including FDI/FII/NRI investments should not exceed 26% of the Paid Up equity of the applicant company. The criteria regarding minimum Net Worth and fee as per number of channels remain same.
 The equity held by the largest Indian shareholder should be at least 51% of the total equity, excluding the equity held by Public Sector Banks and Public Financial Institutions as defined in Section 4A of the Companies Act, 1956.
 At least 3/4th of the Directors on the Board of Directors of the company and all key Executives and Editorial staff shall be resident Indians.