NEW NORMS FOR TV CHANNELS - GOVERNANCE
News: With new norms, TV channels must broadcast ‘socially relevant’ content
What's in the news?
● The Union Cabinet has approved the new guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of television channels in India, under which all the stations holding permission - except for the foreign channels and where it may not be feasible, -- would have to broadcast contents on issues of national importance and social relevance for at least 30 minutes every day.
Key takeaways:
● The new guidelines which replaced those operational since 2011, would ease the issue of permission to the companies and limited liability partnership firms (which have been allowed for the first time) registered in India for uplinking-downlinking of TV channels and associated activities.
Public property:
● The provision has been introduced as “airwaves/frequencies are public property and need to be used in the best interest of the society”.
Themes:
● The
eight listed themes include
○ 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 society
○ Protection
of environment and of cultural heritage
○ National integration.
Exemption:
● The consolidated guidelines exempt the channels including those related to sports, where it would not be feasible to broadcast such content. As and when required, the Centre would issue general advisories to the channels in this regard.
Other Key features:
● The
requirement to seek permission for live telecast of events had been done away
with, only prior registration of
events would be necessary for live telecast.
● Prior permission would not be needed for change of language or conversion of mode of transmission, from Standard Definition to High Definition or vice versa; only prior intimation would suffice.
Making India a teleport-hub:
● While
specific time lines have been proposed for the grant of permission,
LLPs/companies would be allowed to uplink foreign channels from Indian
teleports which would create employment opportunities and make India a teleport-hub
for other countries.
● A
news agency could now get permission for a five-year period as against one year
at present.
● The
Ministry said a channel could be uplinked by using facilities of more than one
teleport/satellite.
● The
guidelines have broadened the possibility of allowing the transfer of TV
channel/teleport to a company/LLP, as permissible under the Companies Act or
the Limited Liability Act.
● There
is also a provision of security deposits to ensure the payment of dues.
● The
penalty clauses have also been rationalised and graded penalties proposed for
different types of contraventions.
● The
TV channels uplinking in frequency bands other than C-band are mandatorily
required to encrypt their signals.
● Net
worth requirement for companies/LLPs holding permissions have to be as per the
guidelines at the time of renewals.
● The required net worth
for the first channel is ₹20 crore and ₹5 crore for the subsequent ones.