The Cabinet also decided that all prospective Indian broadcasters would be allowed to set up earth stations in India for uplinking, bypassing Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. This would be applicable from August 1. As of now, there are only seven companies engaged in uplinking out of India.

The Ministry for Information and Broadcasting will now prepare a new cable Bill which it will introduce in the Lok Sabha once the session resumes on April 13. The Bill will also ensure that DD1 and DD2 are compulsory on the prime band of cable operators, the other elements of the 11-band tier being one regional satellite channel,news channel, sports channel, entertainment channel, music channel, and one movie channel. The new Bill will also protect the subscriber, by giving the Government the right to notify the rate at which they should pay cable operators, said I&B Minister Pramod Mahajan. The Government will also reserve the right to reduce advertisements on pay channels. Subscribers have also been given the right to use the same decoder for more than one pay channel on the C-band, which could point the way to a swadeshi decision on proprietory technology.