Important Facts For Prelims
Advisory on Public Service Broadcasting’ Obligation
- 31 Jan 2023
- 3 min read
Why in News?
Recently, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry clarified that private TV channels must show programs about important national issues and topics that matter to society for 30 minutes every day, under the “Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022”.
What are the Key Points Related to the Advisory?
- Voluntary Nature: The government wants private TV channels to show information of national importance to the public voluntarily, and they can check and make sure they are following the rules themselves.
- Topics Included: The Ministry stated that TV stations should include topics such as education and literacy, agriculture and rural development, health and family welfare, science and technology, women and minority welfare, protection of the environment and culture, and national unity in their programs.
- The topics listed (such as education and health) are suggestions and can be expanded to include others like disaster management and water conservation.
- Reporting: They need to submit a report to the government each month.
- They will need to include a certificate in their annual report.
- But foreign channels that only show programs in languages not listed in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution will not have to follow these rules.
- Channels that mainly show sports or religious programs will not have to submit the monthly reports either.
What are Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India 2022?
- To deal with issue of permissions to the companies registered in India for Uplinking and Downlinking of TV Channels, setting up of Teleports/ Teleport Hubs, use of Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG)/ Satellite News Gathering (SNG)/ Electronic News Gathering (ENG) systems, these guidelines were introduced.
- It includes:
- New Guidelines ease compliance for Television Channels
- No prior Permission for Live Telecast of Events
- Indian Teleports may uplink Foreign Channels
- Obligation to telecast content in National/Public Interest.
