The government had decided to introduce the Cable Amendment Networks Bill in the Budget session of Parliament and the DTH issue had also been referred to a group of ministers headed by home minister LK Advani.

The Cable Amendment Bill aims at making it mandatory for cable operators to carry Doordarshan channels. Information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan had announced that the amended Act would contain certain provisions to prevent frequent hiking of subscription fees by pay channels.

On the DTH issue, as many as three notes were prepared by the ministry for the GoM to take a view on the subject. However, once again before the final view could be arrived at, the Lok Sabha was dissolved.

The fate of the much-awaited Broadcasting Bill is, however, uncertain. Some feel that it might not be taken upas a whole but part by part -- a path taken by the first BJP I&B minister Sushma Swaraj. In a bold move, Swaraj had decided to delink uplinking from the Broadcasting Bill and announced the first phase of uplinking in which broadcasters with maximum of 20 per cent foreign equity were allowed to uplink from the country through Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

According to media analysts, though the government can take a stand on DTH since the ban on it was imposed through an executive order yet, going by precedence such an action cannot be anticipated.

The ministry, however, succeeded in announcing the second phase of the uplinking policy which envisages setting up of earth stations by broadcasters with not more than 20 per cent foreign equity.

Additionally, the ministry announced that potential broadcasters can also apply for uplinking in case they fulfill the criterion of foreign equity.

Significantly, the country's media sector especially electronic media is yet to really look up. Analysts feet that sincethe performance of the sector is intrinsically related to the industry as a whole, it is likely that media sector may take some more time.