Government's proposal to increase foreign investment ceiling in direct-to-home (DTH) distribution from existing 49 per cent to 74 per cent has not gone down well with Essel Group-owned Dish TV.

Opposing the move, Dish TV has written a letter to the Union Government in which it has stated issues such as national security and unfair completion from reputed media houses in the world.

Dish TV said, "DTH and cable television and HITS (head-end in the sky - is a method of distributing telecast signals to cable operators using a satellite), being content carriers, are part and parcel of the media establishments."

Meanwhile, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion wanted the union cabinet to approve the draft proposing FDI in DTH services. It has also sent the proposal to key government ministries including finance, information and broadcasting and department of commerce for considering the proposal.

Dish TV's MD Jawahar Goyal said that the move is unwarranted stating that the 20% cap on the FDI component is sufficient for foreign media players to make significant contribution in the sector, having over 13 million subscribers and a growth potential of 20 million subscribers by the end of 2009.