NEW DELHI: India's antitrust watchdog plans to conduct an assessment of the country's media and broadcasting sector to ensure that any competition concerns are identified and resolved swiftly, a government document seen by Reuters showed.
The study will be among the first after India's finance minister last week asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to initiate more cases on its own to investigate antitrust practices and conduct market studies.
The study, which a source with direct knowledge of the matter said is not linked to any ongoing investigation, will examine the competition landscape in a sector that includes the likes of Walt Disney's Star India and India's Reliance Industries.
India's vibrant media sector is also crowded with hundreds of television news channels, newspapers and online news websites, which deliver content in various languages.
"This (study) would ensure that new practices and technologies in this dynamic sector, which may be affecting competition adversely, are identified quickly and remedial measures ... are adopted fast," the CCI said in the document.
The CCI did not respond to a request for comment.
The watchdog is in the process of choosing an independent agency to conduct the study on its behalf, the source said.
It has already initiated a similar review of India's booming e-commerce sector, in which foreign players such as Amazon.com and Walmart's Flipkart operate.
Reuters has previously reported that Amazon and Flipkart are unlikely to participate fully in that study for fear of revealing trade secrets.
Nisha Kaur Uberoi, head of competition law at Indian law firm Trilegal, said such studies will make the CCI better equipped to address competition concerns and speed the approval process in regulatory reviews of mergers and acquisitions.
The assessment of the media and broadcasting sector will seek to assess the regulatory frameworks, ownership patterns and market trends in terms of viewers and advertisers, the 19-page CCI document said.
The study will cover print, electronic and online media, broadcasting companies, content providers and industry bodies, it said, citing the effects of rapid technological change on the sector's competition landscape.
India antitrust watchdog to assess media, broadcasting sector
India antitrust watchdog to assess media, broadcasting sector
- India's vibrant media sector is also crowded with hundreds of television news channels, newspapers and online news websites
Ethiopia’s prime minister accuses Eritrea of mass killings during Tigray war
- Landlocked Ethiopia says that Eritrea is arming rebel groups, while Eritrea says Ethiopia’s aspiration is to gain access to a seaport
- Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s government Tuesday for the first time acknowledged the involvement of troops from neighboring Eritrea in the war in the Tigray region that ended in 2022, accusing them of mass killings, amid reports of renewed fighting in the region.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while addressing parliament Tuesday, accused Eritrean troops fighting alongside Ethiopian forces of mass killings in the war, during which more than 400,000 people are estimated to have died.
Eritrean and Ethiopian troops fought against regional forces in the northern Tigray region in a war that ended in 2022 with the signing of a peace agreement.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told The Associated Press that Ahmed’s comments were “cheap and despicable lies” and did not merit a response.
Both nations have been accusing each other of provoking a potential civil war, with landlocked Ethiopia saying that Eritrea is arming and funding rebel groups, while Eritrea says Ethiopia’s aspiration is to gain access to a seaport.
“The rift did not begin with the Red Sea issue, as many people think,” Ahmed told parliamentarians. “It started in the first round of the war in Tigray, when the Eritrean army followed us into Shire and began demolishing houses, massacred our youth in Axum, looted factories in Adwa, and uprooted our factories.”
“The Red Sea and Ethiopia cannot remain separated forever,” he added.
Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare.
Gebremeskel said the prime minister has only recently changed his tune in his push for access to the Red Sea.
Ahmed “and his top military brass were profusely showering praises and State Medals on the Eritrea army and its senior officers. … But when he later developed the delusional malaise of ‘sovereignty access to the sea’ and an agenda of war against Eritrea, he began to sing to a different chorus,” he said.
Eritrea and Ethiopia initially made peace after Abiy came to power in 2018, with Abiy winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts toward reconciliation.
In June, Eritrea accused Ethiopia of having a “long-brewing war agenda” aimed at seizing its Red Sea ports. Ethiopia recently said that Eritrea was “actively preparing to wage war against it.”
Analysts say an alliance between Eritrea and regional forces in the troubled Tigray region may be forming, as fighting has been reported in recent weeks. Flights by the national carrier to the region were canceled last week over the renewed clashes.
