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After the reports set the pulses racing at various TV channels,
the I&B ministry is on a fire-fighting mission.
Though Prasad was unavailable for comments, a senior official of
the ministry tried to explain that this was "nothing new"
as the Cinematography Act and the Cable TV (Network) Regulation
Act already has the provision for showing programmes that can be
categorised 'U'.
The official hastily added that the minister never said anything
on the movie channels getting pre-certification to air movies -
English or Hindi.
What's more, none of the TV channels seem to have received any
communication from the ministry to this effect yet.
When contacted, both Star India and MTV said they have not heard
from the government. HBO and Hallmark could not be contacted for
a response. As for Zee MGM, a cautiously guarded Zee Telefilms spokesperson
said, "We are yet to receive the letter from the government.
We don't know the details as yet, but shall adhere to the government
directives."
Adding more confusion is the Censor Board chief Anupam Kher. Media
reports had quoted Kher as saying, "When we have taken up the
job, we have to do it", however, when contacted by indiantelevision.com,
Kher almost back-tracked. "Censor Board's signal has to be
obtained for film promos and music videos only," he said over
phone.
What about the minister's statement on film channels also being
brought under the Censor Board's ambit? "Well, I don't think
the movie channels are there. They can do with some self-regulation
nonetheless," he explained, repeating the ministry's line that
everything about `U' certified programming is there in the existing
Acts and it is only the implementation that is being done stringently
now.
To a poser whether the government or the Censor Board can decide
what the people want to watch or not, Kher quipped, "We have
received complaints from thousands of organisations, especially
women's, objecting to vulgar music videos. The government has to
stop vulgarity."
The million rupee question is, can the government do such a thing?
If implemented - even if the diktats are old - the government does
not have the logistics in place to monitor all TV channels. India
gets at least 100 TV channels.
Earlier too, a proposal was mooted in the ministry (when Anil Baijal
was the additional secretary-broadcasting) that all films to be
shown on movie channels would need pre-certification. The proposal
had died a natural death.
But, if the government and the minister is serious about dumbing
down the Indian hoi-polloi, then Cartoon Network and the likes may
see a boom in viewership in the near future.
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