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NEW
DELHI: The Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) today passed
a Bill making it mandatory for cable operators all over the
country to telecast the Lok Sabha Television channel in the
prime band on their networks.
Information
and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, while replying
to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Bill 2007, making
it mandatory for all cable operators to show the Lok Sabha
TV and at least two Doordarshan terrestrial channels in the
prime band,
complementing the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee (who was in
the chair), for his initiative in setting up LSTV. The Bill
was later passed unanimously by voice vote.
Dasmunsi
said that the archival footage of Prasar Bharati and Films
Division would be made available to the channel whenever needed.
Though
Parliament had already amended the Act in February 2005 making
it mandatory on cable operators to show the Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha proceedings, the amendment became necessary because
LSTV is no longer part of the Doordarshan network.
The new Bill makes it mandatory for all operators to re-transmit
any channels started by Parliament, apart from two Doordarshan
terrestrial channels and one regional channel of a state in
the prime band, without any alterations or editing.
All members of Parliament who spoke supported the Bill, but
they said there were several lacunae in the manner of implementation.
They generally praised the manner in which the channel had
grown and the kind of programmes it was telecasting.
Chatterjee said he had already set up an advisory committee
of MPs to guide the channel and would urge the committee to
meet more often and review the working of the channel. He
said the state assemblies had been asked to send their recordings
for showing on the channel.
The Speaker also urged members to convince the chairpersons
of standing committees to permit telecast of their meetings.
LSTV
was launched last July as a dedicated satellite channel to
telecast live proceedings of the Lok Sabha and air programmes
on important public issues.
The
mandate of LSTV was also to function as a 24-hour channel,
telecasting programmes of national interest when Parliament
is not in session. In addition to the live telecast of Parliament
proceedings, the programming line up of LSTV comprises a series
of live and recorded programmes and also includes a mix of
panel discussions and educational and informative programmes.
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