Content in National Interest: What New TV Broadcast Guidelines Say

What’s in today’s article:

• News Summary

Why in news?

• The Centre has approved new guidelines under which it has become obligatory for channels to telecast content of national interest and public importance.

News Summary

• Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the ‘Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India, 2022’.
• The new guidelines have been amended after a gap of 11 years.
• Also, a number of steps have been taken for ease of doing business, as there are more than 890 channels operating in the country now.

Key highlights of the new guidelines

• Obligation for TV channels
  • All TV channels in India, including private channels, are required to broadcast at least 30 minutes of content daily on themes of national importance and of social relevance.
  • The Ministry will soon issue a specific advisory on the date it comes into effect, and on the time slots for the telecast of this content.
• 8 Themes of national importance and of social relevance
  • education and spread of literacy;
  • agriculture and rural development;
  • health and family welfare;
  • science and technology;
  • welfare of women;
  • welfare of the weaker sections of the society;
  • protection of environment and of cultural heritage; and
  • national integration.
• Exemptions given
  • The condition applies to all channels, except where it may not be feasible, such as in the case of sports channels, wildlife channels, foreign channels etc.
• On Uplinking and downlinking
  • Uplinking and downlinking shall be subject to clearance and approval by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and wherever considered necessary, of other authorities.
  • The policy mandates that channels uplinking in frequency bands other than C-band must encrypt their signals.
  • Broadcast companies will be allowed to uplink foreign channels from Indian teleports.
    • This would create employment opportunities and make India a teleport hub for other countries.
      • Currently, only 30 channels are uplinked from India out of the total 897 registered with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • Currently, Singapore is considered the hub of teleport uplinking.
    • However, after the new guidelines come into effect, foreign channels are expected to show greater interest in using Indian teleports.
• Other aspects
  • The new guidelines allow a news agency to get permission for five years instead of the current one year.
  • The penalty clauses have been rationalised, and separate sets of penalties have been proposed for different types of contraventions as against the uniform penalty that is applicable currently.
  • Requirement for seeking permission for the live telecast of events has been done away with; only prior registration of events to be telecast live would be necessary.
• Compliance mechanism
  • The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will monitor the channels for the broadcast of this content.
  • In case non-compliance is observed in the Ministry’s view, an explanation will be sought.
  • If a channel continues to be non-compliant, more steps can be taken based on specific advisories that will be issued from time to time, and on a case-to-case basis.

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Rationale behind the new guidelines

• The government has argued that since airwaves/ frequencies are public property they need to be used in the best interest of the society.
• However, analysts criticize this move by saying the, while airwaves may be public property, broadcasters had paid hefty fees for their use.
• Any binding guidelines that adversely impact their commercial interests may not, therefore, be fair.