(14 June 2008 5:30 pm)

NEW DELHI: The ministry of information & broadcasting has set up a centre for monitoring television channels, which is being handled by the Broadcast Engineers Consultancy India Ltd, a government undertaking, and Dish TV has given more than 50 STBs for the set up.

Industry sources told indiantelevision.com that the set-up has been created last week and is running from the Becil office in the Indraprastha Complex, a sprawling complex sitting on the banks of the Yamuna river here

“This has nothing to do with Prasar Bharati. Becil is doing the monitoring and Dish TV has given the STBs at a cost but no charges for subscription,” a source revealed.

Sources said that the set-up, which has drawn much flak from the news channels, has been created at a cost of Rs 200 million and monitors 100 channels. Eventually, it will monitor 200 channels.

The sets are using a software called Multiviewer, supplied by a foreign company called Avertz, and in this technology, each screen can be split into four channels to be monitored simultaneously.

Earlier, the court had suggested that the ministry could think of vetting every sting operation before it is aired, but it had not taken a call on that, since it was only a suggestion, and the government did not want to be seen as being dictatorial with the media.