The Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu has directed the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) to clear all pending payments to private broadcasters.

Sources said that the Minister on Tuesday met with the senior representatives of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and held discussions on various issues, including clearing DAVP’s pending payments worth ₹130 crore to the broadcasters. IBF is the apex body of broadcasters in the country and its members manage over 450 channels in the country.

Regulatory framework

The IBF representatives also urged the Minister to look into the industry’s long-standing demand to grant infrastructure status to the broadcasting industry, besides, to look into further easing norms and processes in terms of the regulatory framework governing the broadcasting sector.

IBF also sought formulation of a National Media Policy.

Sources told BusinessLine that the Ministry has already started preliminary work on formulating a National Information and Communication Policy.

Naidu has been on an “Information Yatra” recently visiting various states to look into the operational issues being faced by the Ministry’s media units and has been stressing on the need for co-operative federalism in terms of communication and information.

ABC certification

The Minister is also learnt to have held discussions with the representatives of the Audit Bureau of Circulation on various issues, including methodology of certification, among others.

Sources said that the Ministry officials discussed the possibility of collaboration between various bodies, including DAVP, Registrar of Newspapers for India and ABC on the verification of circulation figures. This was done in lieu with the new print media advertisement policy that the Ministry announced last year, in a bid to fine-tune the process of issuing government ads in print media.

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