Parliament has passed the bill to amend the Media Industry Development Decree which will allow foreign companies to own Pay Television stations and also allow cross ownership of only Pay TV.
Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says this is purely for Pay TV in the country.
Prior to this amendment, foreign ownership in a media outlet could only be 10% of the shares in the company.
No local content including local news will be allowed to be shown on these Pay TV stations.
The opening up of the cross media ownership now means that other media companies can own Pay TV.
Prior to this, only the state owned media outlet, FBC was allowed to have cross media ownership meaning they could operate more than one type of medium in the country.
The Pay TV service provider has to obtain a special licence approved by the Minister, which shall be subject to such conditions as determined by the minister.
The fine for journalists for any breaches under the decree has also been removed.
Sayed-Khaiyum says only the publisher, editor or company will be liable for fines as they have higher responsibilities.
Meanwhile opposition member, Biman Prasad hopes further amendments are made to the Media Decree in the near future.
