The Government of India on Wednesday released newly approved guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of TV channels in India. The new guidelines have been released after around 11 years. “We have released the new guidelines after around 11 years. We've taken the approval of the Union Cabinet, as per the improvement we have considered over the years... we have made multiple improvements in terms of ease of doing business', ANI quoted Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of I&B, as saying.
“We have kept a provision that a 30-min slot should be given for things of national importance or national interest; 7-8 themes given for the same - women empowerment, agriculture, and teaching. We have tried to bring everyone on a level-playing field”, Chandra added.
The guidelines were last time amended in 2011.
As per the new guidelines, there will be no requirement to take prior permission for the live telecast of events from now, only prior registration of the evens to be telecast would be necessary. Furthermore, there is no requirement of prior permission for a change of language or conversion of the mode of transmission from Standard Definition (SD) to High Definition (HD) or vice versa, only prior intimation would be required.
As for ease of doing business, the guidelines state that specific timelines have been proposed for a grant for permission and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) entities can also seek permission. Moreover, LLPs / companies would be allowed to uplink foreign channels from Indian teleports which would create employment opportunities and make India a teleport-hub for other countries, it stated.