• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi , Aug. 16

THE Government is planning to review the existing direct-to-home (DTH) guidelines in a bid to curb pornographic and other objectionable content. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is setting up a committee under Secretary, Mr Navin B Chawla, to look into the norms.

Sources in the I&B Ministry said that the review has been initiated after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by Mr N. Bhaskara Rao, who also heads the Centre for Media Studies. The PIL had stated that in the absence of a regulatory mechanism pornographic content is being easily accessible through DTH platforms.

"Besides the PIL, the Government is also planning to come out with downlinking norms, whereby any channel which is beamed into the country would have to be registered. We may have to apply these norms to DTH as well," said sources. Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had also suggested changes in the DTH norms to enable sharing of content. "At present, broadcasters are not open to sharing their channels to DTH operators. We feel that no platform should be denied access to others' channels," said sources. The Subhash Chandra-promoted Dish TV, does not have access to channels of the Star Group.

More Stories on : Radio/TV

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Focus on urban poor: Minister

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line