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indiantelevision.com Team
NEW DELHI: With Phase III of FM Radio auctions expected to begin in the next two to three months, the Electronic Media Monitoring Committee (EMMC) has been empowered to increase its capacity not only to monitor 800 television channels as against 300 at present, but also take on private radio services.
However, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources said this will not change the decision of the government about denying permission to the FM broadcasters from broadcasting news, as monitoring them would be a difficult process.
Established in 2008, the EMMC monitors about 191 channels on a 24X7 basis at present. I&B Ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma confirmed to indiantelevision.com that the Expenditure Finance Committee had approved the proposal for expansion of the EMMC.
The EMMC monitors the content of all TV channels based on the uplinking and downlinking policy in India to check the violation of program and advertisement codes according to the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act.
Though the EMMC monitors private FM radio channels at present, it is dependent on the radio channel for recordings.
Sources said that a budget of Rs 90 crore has been cleared for the project. There are several regional channels that may be violating the program or advertising code and very often action against them is delayed because recordings of the objectionable telecasts are often not available. There are about 840 TV channels registered with the ministry at present.
The sources also feel that listening posts may have to be set up in cities to monitor the FM radio channels.
