NEW DELHI: While denying that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had asked the Home Ministry to help in keeping a check on illegal channels, the government today said that five complaints had been received in July on the carriage of un-permitted satellite TV channels:
Yesterday, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiaih Naidu had told the Rajya Sabha that action had ‘reportedly’ been taken in Kurnool and Aurangabad for carriage of illegal channels.
However, the Lok Sabha was told today by Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore that the office of Seema Communication Pvt. Ltd. in Kurnool had been sealed and equipment seized This was on a complaint on 9 July 2016 by Rajya Sabha member T G Venkatesh against the LCO for telecasting the non-permitted ‘Peace TV’ in Kurnool District. The complaint was sent to the District Collector, Kurnool on 10 July 2016. The DC carried out the instructions and found that the operator was actually carrying the non-permitted channel and an FIR was lodged by the authorized officer.
However, another complaint on 12 July from Vinay Patil against Yashodeep Cable Network for transmission of the same channel in Aurangabad District was found to be incorrect as the Deputy Commissioner found that this channel was not being carried by the LCO.
Another complaint of 7 July 2016 from Kuldeep Kumar Sahani against Venkata Sai Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. for illegal transmission of Peace TV in Nizamabad District was sent to District Collector, Nizamabad, on 22 July 2016 for further necessary action by the authorized Officer.
A complaint about Peace TV on 9 July 2016 from A Thirupathi Reddy against Sri Sai Communications in Karimnagar District was sent to District Collector, Karimnagar on 22 July 2016 for further necessary action by the authorized Officer.
A fifth complaint of 8 July 2016 from Nandyal Digital TV Communications against Siti Vision Digital Media Pvt. Ltd. for illegal transmission of Peace TV in Kurnool District was sent to District Collector, Kurnool, on 22 July 2016 for further necessary action by the authorized Officer.
Apart from advisories sent to the authorized officers, MSOs, and LCOs, the minister said an appeal was issued on social media platform to the general public to report cases of transmission of un-permitted satellite TV channels by cable operators.
Meanwhile, the minister said that in addition to satellite channels, the ministry has received recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on its query that the procedure for cable operators to transmit local (ground based) channels had not defined in the Act.
Peace TV from Dubai and as many as fourteen television channels from Pakistan figured in a list of 24 channels which the Home Ministry identified as ‘not conducive to the security environment in the country’ in December 2015.
The Pakistani channels are PTV, PTV Home, PTV World, Geo TV, Dawn, Express, Waqat, Q TV, Madni TV, Noor TV, Hadi TV, Aaj, Filmax and STV.
Out of the other ten, there are two from Nepal (one identified as Nepal, and the other as Kantipur), and one channel each from Bangladesh (NTV Bangladesh), Maldives (TV Maldives), Bhutan (Bhutan Broadcasting Service), and there was a United Kingdom-based channel, Ahmedia Channel.
The other channel from Arab countries was Saudi TV while the nationality of two channels was not disclosed: ARY TV and XYZ TV.
