Someone asked me this question and i had no answer at the time. What does it even mean ?
Quite simple, could a foreign media org set up an office in India and offer an India version of its product.
Now we've had foreign correspondents here from overseas papers working in the country since 1958. That was the Foriegn correspondents association that got renamed in 1991 to Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC), located in Delhi. This isn't the same thing, we allow foreign journalists to report from India for their respective papers. If they write unpleasant things then we deny the offending journalists visas as happened with a Japanese journalist recently.
You get BBC & CNN on TV, but those are intl versions not India specific versions. We have a ministry of information & broadcasting here that keeps tabs on what gets put out in the media in the country. The US & UK do not have such an equivalent govt org in their country, we ofc need one because of that famous euphemism 'public interest' ie we need to be protected.
This BBC article from 2005 has this to say...
India eases foreign media rules
The Indian government has widened foreign investment in the print media.
It will allow foreign institutional investors, overseas Indians and portfolio investors to invest in the print sector.
Up until now there has been restrictions on the amount of foreign investment in the Indian print media.
The Information Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said foreign holdings would continue to be limited to a 26% share of the total to ensure local ownership.
Fine but...
The government also decided to keep its ban on the publication of Indian editions of foreign newspapers.
But it has allowed foreign companies to have their newspapers and current affairs magazines printed and distributed in India, Reddy said.
"The rationale behind the decision was that the Indian paper industry will not be able to withstand competition," Mr Reddy said.
..which ain't the same thing. Its a protectionist move. To protect what ? entrenched interests because they'd have to sharpen up their game. There would be more competition and thats something they do not like. Have to say i'm more aware of what goes on abroad because the media is much better than then i do in India where the papers & tv are useless because there isn't any critical analysis worth its salt out here. There are few exceptions, karan thapaar & paranjoy thakurta but they are in the minority, the majority isn't that good. Well, without good info ppl stay uninformed and aren't able to get the right picture. Its not some CT to deny us info just good old fashioned protectionism to maintain the status quo.
So when i happened across a 2010 article my spirits soared.
Financial Times plans India edition soon-May 03 2010- Livemint
FT is coming to India, but...
New Delhi: Britain’s leading business daily Financial Times plans to launch its India edition, CEO John Ridding said on Monday.
Financial Times (FT), which has many editions worldwide and a circulation of over four lakh, is engaged in a trademark tussle with India’s leading media group Bennett and Coleman.
Stating that FT was trying to get approval for quite sometime now, Ridding said, “It (wait) has been frustrating. We are hopeful of getting it (approval) soon.”
In 2008, Financial Times inked a content partnership with Network18 Media and Investments after ending its 15-year- old content partnership with Indian financial daily Business Standard.
After that FT planned to launch the printing of the paper from Mumbai. However, Pearson Plc, the owner of the Financial Times newspaper, faced problem in launching the paper under the name of Financial Times in India due to some trade mark issues as India’s Economic Times was already publishing a weekly supplement under the masthead of Financial Times.
Ridding said that FT was “locked in a legal tussle” with Bennett Coleman and Co whose CEO Ravi Dhariwal did not offer any comment on the subject.
Ridding said FT was planning to go on its own as compared to earlier partnership model with Business Standard. “This time we are planning to go solo. Indian business class is quite proficient in English. So we want to stick to English.”
Nice blocking move by Bennett & Coleman isn't it. Can't start a paper called financial times in India because somebody was shrewd enough to trademark the name earlier.
Now in 2011 we have this...
Express Group in content partnership with Financial Times-May 04 2011-Indian Express
New Delhi : The Express Group has entered into a content partnership with the Financial Times in India. The agreement, formally announced today by Shekhar Gupta, Group Editor-in-Chief, The Express Group, will soon see FT content carried on branded pages in The Financial Express and The Indian Express.
With a strong line-up of columnists such as Meghnad Desai, Rajesh Chakrabarti , Surjit S Bhalla, M Govinda Rao, Arindam Bhattacharya, Mahesh Vyas, Ila Patnaik, Sunil Jain and M.K Venu, new content from the Financial Times will provide readers of The Financial Express and The Indian Express indepth analysis with a global perspective,
Evidently TOI blocking move worked, so now FT has to use the express as a vehicle to display its content.
We're still not there yet. Who knows how long it will take for others to enter the game and give us some proper info
Quite simple, could a foreign media org set up an office in India and offer an India version of its product.
Now we've had foreign correspondents here from overseas papers working in the country since 1958. That was the Foriegn correspondents association that got renamed in 1991 to Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC), located in Delhi. This isn't the same thing, we allow foreign journalists to report from India for their respective papers. If they write unpleasant things then we deny the offending journalists visas as happened with a Japanese journalist recently.
You get BBC & CNN on TV, but those are intl versions not India specific versions. We have a ministry of information & broadcasting here that keeps tabs on what gets put out in the media in the country. The US & UK do not have such an equivalent govt org in their country, we ofc need one because of that famous euphemism 'public interest' ie we need to be protected.
This BBC article from 2005 has this to say...
India eases foreign media rules
The Indian government has widened foreign investment in the print media.
It will allow foreign institutional investors, overseas Indians and portfolio investors to invest in the print sector.
Up until now there has been restrictions on the amount of foreign investment in the Indian print media.
The Information Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said foreign holdings would continue to be limited to a 26% share of the total to ensure local ownership.
Fine but...
The government also decided to keep its ban on the publication of Indian editions of foreign newspapers.
But it has allowed foreign companies to have their newspapers and current affairs magazines printed and distributed in India, Reddy said.
"The rationale behind the decision was that the Indian paper industry will not be able to withstand competition," Mr Reddy said.
..which ain't the same thing. Its a protectionist move. To protect what ? entrenched interests because they'd have to sharpen up their game. There would be more competition and thats something they do not like. Have to say i'm more aware of what goes on abroad because the media is much better than then i do in India where the papers & tv are useless because there isn't any critical analysis worth its salt out here. There are few exceptions, karan thapaar & paranjoy thakurta but they are in the minority, the majority isn't that good. Well, without good info ppl stay uninformed and aren't able to get the right picture. Its not some CT to deny us info just good old fashioned protectionism to maintain the status quo.
So when i happened across a 2010 article my spirits soared.
Financial Times plans India edition soon-May 03 2010- Livemint
FT is coming to India, but...
New Delhi: Britain’s leading business daily Financial Times plans to launch its India edition, CEO John Ridding said on Monday.
Financial Times (FT), which has many editions worldwide and a circulation of over four lakh, is engaged in a trademark tussle with India’s leading media group Bennett and Coleman.
Stating that FT was trying to get approval for quite sometime now, Ridding said, “It (wait) has been frustrating. We are hopeful of getting it (approval) soon.”
In 2008, Financial Times inked a content partnership with Network18 Media and Investments after ending its 15-year- old content partnership with Indian financial daily Business Standard.
After that FT planned to launch the printing of the paper from Mumbai. However, Pearson Plc, the owner of the Financial Times newspaper, faced problem in launching the paper under the name of Financial Times in India due to some trade mark issues as India’s Economic Times was already publishing a weekly supplement under the masthead of Financial Times.
Ridding said that FT was “locked in a legal tussle” with Bennett Coleman and Co whose CEO Ravi Dhariwal did not offer any comment on the subject.
Ridding said FT was planning to go on its own as compared to earlier partnership model with Business Standard. “This time we are planning to go solo. Indian business class is quite proficient in English. So we want to stick to English.”
Nice blocking move by Bennett & Coleman isn't it. Can't start a paper called financial times in India because somebody was shrewd enough to trademark the name earlier.
Now in 2011 we have this...
Express Group in content partnership with Financial Times-May 04 2011-Indian Express
New Delhi : The Express Group has entered into a content partnership with the Financial Times in India. The agreement, formally announced today by Shekhar Gupta, Group Editor-in-Chief, The Express Group, will soon see FT content carried on branded pages in The Financial Express and The Indian Express.
With a strong line-up of columnists such as Meghnad Desai, Rajesh Chakrabarti , Surjit S Bhalla, M Govinda Rao, Arindam Bhattacharya, Mahesh Vyas, Ila Patnaik, Sunil Jain and M.K Venu, new content from the Financial Times will provide readers of The Financial Express and The Indian Express indepth analysis with a global perspective,
Evidently TOI blocking move worked, so now FT has to use the express as a vehicle to display its content.
We're still not there yet. Who knows how long it will take for others to enter the game and give us some proper info
