- No permission required for live telecast of events – News agency permission period extended to 5 years.
- TV channels uplinking in frequency band other than C band mandatorily required to encrypt signals.
As per the proposed guidelines, the TV Channels uplinking in frequency bands other than C band are mandatorily required to encrypt their signals.
The guidelines also suggests that there is no requirement for seeking prior permission for live telecast of events and only pre-registration of events would be necessary. Prior permission for change of language or conversion from Standard Definition (SD) to High Definition (HD), or vice versa is also not required as per the new guidelines.
The guidelines also advocate for ease of doing business.
As per the guidelines, a news agency can get permission for a period of five years instead of one year. A channel can be uplinked by using facilities of more than one teleport/satellite, as against only one teleport/satellite. A teleport operator can uplink a foreign channel for being downlinked outside India enabling earning of foreign exchange for the operator.
Structure of the Guidelines has been systematized to avoid duplication, and common parameters, including financial requirements, etc. have been placed in appendices. The penalty clauses have been rationalized and separate the nature of penalties that have been proposed for different types of contravention as against the uniform penalty as at present.
The new guidelines come in the wake of Zee Media Corp moving to the Delhi High Court against I&B Ministry order wherein the government had withdrawn its permission given to the news broadcaster for simultaneous uplinking of the 10 regional channels in Ku band on GSAT- 15 Satellite in addition to uplinking in C-Band.
The ministry and other news broadcasters were of the view that the availability of these channels on DD Free Dish were causing a loss to the exchequer, while giving the Zee Media Corp an unfair advantage.
View the table of changes here.
