Earlier, the ministry under former I&B minister S Jaipal Reddy had decided not to allow any fresh foreign investment in the sector till the pending broadcasting policy is framed. With the ministry's recent decision on opening up of uplinking facility for Indian broadcasters, the ministry has decided to review the policy, sources added.

The pending proposals include that of Raghav Bahl-promoted TV18, Srishti Videocorp, Music Asia and News Television of India Ltd. However, it is unlikely that the proposals have been discussed at the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) meeting last week as no one from the I&B ministry was present, sources said.

Some of the companies havebeen repeatedly writing to the ministry requesting some action on their pending proposals since last year. According to sources, the ministry has decided to consider the requests once the uplinking issue is resolved. Media experts said that in case the new guidelines are framed it should be in accordance to what the BJP's national agenda for governance states on the domestic media sector.

According to the agenda, no company interested in broadcasting in the country will be allowed to have foreign equity of more than 20 per cent. Further, the agenda mentions that the management in any broadcasting company should be in Indian hands and there will be cross media/service curbs imposed in the sector as well.

The uplinking policy of the current government is also believed to be in line with the agenda as, foreign equity cap of 20 per cent is likely to be imposed on broadcasters wishing to uplink from the country. The media experts however, still believes that the government should make uplinking a mandatorycondition for broadcasting in the country. They feel that till the foreign channels are forced to uplink from the country the government can neither regulate them nor, can it prevent foreign exchange outflow.