• Govt rules out establishment of broadcast regulator

    Submitted by ITV Production on Dec 15
    indiantelevision.com Team

    NEW DELHI: The Government has reiterated that there is no proposal to set up a Broadcast Regulator in view of the self-regulatory mechanisms set up by the news and general entertainment channels.

    Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials also confirmed that the existing regulatory framework in the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 is adequate.

    In fact, the Ministry has made it clear to the Indian Broadcasting Foundation that the Broadcast Content Complaints Council set up earlier this year and the IBF‘s Content Code and Certification Rules should follow the existing Codes under the Act.

    Senior Ministry officials have also said there was no proposal at present to scrap the Broadcast Services Regulatory Authority Bill as the government would want to see how self-regulation works.

    The officials also told indiantelevision.com that the Inter-Ministerial Committee which suo motu examines issues or hears complaints received from the viewers has recently been re-constituted with the addition of the Joint Secretary in the Consumer Affairs Ministry after the Prime Minister had asked that Ministry to check misleading advertisements.

    The IMC will also examine any complaints forwarded to it by the self-regulatory bodies of the news and general entertainment channels.

    As far as radio goes, it would be guided by the policy guidelines for FM Radio Phase III announced by the Government.

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    Information and Broadcasting
  • DD gets Rs 710 mn for new content

    Submitted by ITV Production on Dec 06
    indiantelevision.com Team

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has decided that Rs 710 million will be spent for creating quality content for the public broadcaster during the current year 2011-12.

    This is out of Rs 1.42 billion allocated early this year by the Empowered Finance Committee (EFC) of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. A sum of Rs 500 million had been earmarked for 2010-11 and the balance Rs 210 million will be spent in 2012-13.

    However, apart from the national channel of Doordarshan, only three regional language channels - DD Urdu, DD Kashir, and DD North East - are permitted to commission programmes. All other channels have to produce in-house programmes or get sponsored content.

    The largest slice of the amount - around Rs 800 million (around 57 per cent) - is going to DD Urdu where commissioning of fresh programmes is continuing. DD India and DD Bharati will get Rs 140 million each, while Rs 160 million will go to other regional language satellite channels. DD News will get Rs 100 million and DD Archives will get just Rs 90 million.

    This will help Prasar Bharati produce over 15,000 episodes of new programming and earn DD a minimum of Rs 400 million.

    Meanwhile, the Government has again denied that there is any proposal to hand over the DD Direct Plus services to the private sector, while noting that the capacity is being increased from 97 to 150 channels by the end of next year.

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    Prasar Bharati
  • Katju wants Govt to pay interest on late payment for ads in print media

    Submitted by ITV Production on Nov 25
    indiantelevision.com Team

    NEW DELHI: Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju has said interest of 12 per cent should be levied if payment for government advertisements is not made to newspapers within a month.

    In a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry cabinet secretary and chief secretaries of all states, Justice Katju noted that newspapers and periodicals are made to run from "pillar to post" to get the dues from Government Departments in Central and State Governments and the Union Territories and other authorities.

    "Non-compliance of this directive will be taken very seriously by me, and the person or authority concerned will have to face the consequences," Katju said, asking Government departments to make the payments within a month of their advertisements being published in newspapers.

    He stressed that the levy of interest per annum should not be taken as "penalty or punishment" and it is the normal accretion of capital. "It may be mentioned that interest is not a penalty or punishment at all. It is the normal accretion on capital. Hence for delayed payment, interest has also to be paid."

    Katju said he had noticed a case where no payment was made by Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) till date to a newspaper for an advertisement published in 1997.

    "In my opinion, this is most improper and unfair. The government or the statutory authority must behave as a role model for the citizens and must make prompt payments for goods or services they receive. If the management of a newspaper or journal receives prompt payment, they can invest it elsewhere and keep the money in circulation. If that is not done, the money is blocked," Katju wrote.

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    Markandey Katju
  • Centre condemns Sena attack, denies charges relating to censoring of Marathi films

    NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has denied the allegation by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena

  • India has 115 community radio stations operational

    Submitted by ITV Production on Oct 24
    indiantelevision.com Team

    NEW DELHI: Although the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has issued 349 letter of intent for setting up community radios in the country, only 115 organisations have operationalised their radio stations.

    Thus, the remaining LOI holders will have to apply for necessary clearance from the WPC for frequency allocation and subsequent SACFA clearance to be able to operationalise their stations.

    The Ministry considers setting up Community Radio Stations a thrust area and, therefore, wants to help operators.

    The Ministry has been informed that there are several communication barriers between LOI holders and WPC, which is preventing many LOI holders to operationalise their community radio stations.

    In order to remove these barriers, the Ministry in association with Unicef and WPC Wing of the Department of Telecommunications has organised a Workshop with all those LOI holders who have not been able to make their radio stations operational.

    The First Workshop in this direction is being organised on 2 November at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi and there is no fee for attending this workshop.

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    Information and Broadcasting Ministry
  • Uday Varma returns to I&B as secretary

    Submitted by ITV Production on Oct 18
    indiantelevision.com Team

    NEW DELHI: Uday Kumar Varma, who had earlier served as special secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, was today appointed secretary in the same Ministry, succeeding Raghu Menon who retired at the end of September.

    Varma is a senior Indian Administrative Service Officer from Madhya Pradesh belonging to the 1976 batch. He was presently serving as secretary in the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Ministry. 

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Varma was tipped to succeed Menon as I&B secretary.

    After Menon demitted office on superannuation, culture secretary Jawhar Sircar was given additional charge of the post.

    Varma?s appointment has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

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    Uday Varma
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