The Government has introduced new rules for television channels with respect to net worth criteria for new channels,programme and advertisement code.India has 745 channels already – including 366 news and current affairs channels – there are more than 300 applications for new channels still pending with the Ministry.
The programme and advertising code mandates that programming should not be obscene, vulgar or denigrating to women and children, offensive to a particular community, against national interest or against friendly relations with countries.
The net worth criteria for non-news and current affairs channels and downlinking of foreign channels has been revised from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 5 crore for the first channel and Rs 2.5 crore for each additional channel. For uplinking of news and current affairs channels, the net worth criteria has been increased from Rs 3 crore to Rs 20 crore for the first channel and Rs 5 crore for each additional channel.
One of the top-level management executives in the applicant firm must have a minimum of three years of prior experience in a media company.
Permission for downlinking TV channels uplinked from abroad will be Rs 15 lakh per annum while fee for downlinking of TV channels uplinked from India will be Rs 5 lakh per channel per annum.
renewal of the permissions of TV channels will be considered for a period of ten years at a time, subject to the condition that the channel should not have been found guilty of violating the terms and conditions of permission including violations of the Programme and Advertisement Code on five occasions or more.
Category:Business
