Worried that Star's proposal for uplinking its 24-hour news channel smelt of "proxy" editorial control by foreigners, the government has shot off another list of queries to it even as the inter-ministerial group of officials met on Saturday to discuss the issue.
A letter was sent to Star on Friday based on the 600-page clarifications given by it to the govermment, sources said on Saturday.
The latest queries focused on editorial control and asked that if Media Content and Communication Services was the content provider then what role did Star, a foreign company, have to play. It also expressed apprehensions that the foreign company could influence editorial matters.
The government also pointed out that the spirit of the guidelines for editorial control was to vest it in the hands of resident Indians.
Sources said some queries were repeated because they were not answered "satisfactorily" earlier and hoped that this would be the last set of clarifications sought from Star on the issue.
Meanwhile, the IMG of information and broadcasting, law and company affairs had a secretary-level meeting and felt the nature of agreement in Star's application showed editorial control could be from outside.
The IMG is likely to hold one more meeting to come up with some recommendations before the Group of Ministers comprising information and broadcasting minister, law minister and finance minister, takes over from it.
