Indian channels must keep for 90 days record of programmes downlinked

BY A CORRESPONDENT

22 May, 2007:

Under the new guidelines for downlinking, India’s satellite television channels are required to keep a record of programmes downlinked for a period of 90 days so that the programmes can be produced before any agency of the Government as and when required.

Under the policy guidelines formulated by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on downlinking, no person/entity will downlink a channel that has not been registered with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under these guidelines.

All persons/entities providing television satellite broadcasting services (television channels) uplinked from other countries to viewers in India as well as any entity desirous of providing such a television satellite broadcasting service, receivable in India for public viewership, shall be required to obtain permission from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Government of India had, under the regulations notified in June 2006, made it compulsory for all the foreign channels to get themselves registered with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and it was a precondition for telecasting such channels.

As a result of these regulations, Pakistani television channels and several other foreign channels were stopped, and the cable TV operators had voiced their inability to show Pakistani programmes which were otherwise very popular in India, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.