The influence of US foreign DBS policy on Indian DBS TV: a case study of policy transfer

By and large academics and professional analysts disagree over the efficacy of US Congressional fora to facilitate policy transfer in terms of influencing foreign countries to privatize their local and national markets. This study addresses the issue of policy transfer within the context of the Indian (direct broadcast satellite) DBS television regulatory framework. Specifically, a link is drawn between two particular US Congressional hearings of the early 1980s and a landmark Indian Bill enacted in 1997. The approach to demonstrating the link involves three distinct components. The first offers a brief background on India's DBS policy dynamics. The second presents a number of policy documents and fora which substantiate the strength of the relationship between the two mentioned US Congressional forums and the 1997 Indian Bill. The third offers a discussion of how policy transfer and convergence serve as useful analytical tools to assess why the two US policy fora may have been so effective in the Indian case. Policy transfer and convergence also have strong explanatory value in drawing insights into negotiating dynamics between US and Indian official representatives at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) during the last fifteen years over DBS trade issues.