Broadcast Bill Controversy

Broadcasters and advertisers have joined hands to set up the Broadcast Audience Research Council , an independent body to commission market research and provide accurate TV ratings in a transparent and objective manner in India. The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), the primary members of Broadcast Audience Research Council, will own equity stakes in...

The government is mulling over the formation of a Broadcasting Authority of India, which would address broadcast related issues, agencies have reported. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said that, "While content regulation is a subject on which the government has been holding discussions with broadcasters, we are looking at setting up an authority for addressing issues related...

This set of documents has been put together in the hope that they will help inform the ongoing (if sporadic) public debate on media regulation in India, with particular reference to the broadcast sector. This set includes a backgrounder on media regulation (or the lack thereof), a backgrounder on broadcast legislation, summaries of case law relating to different aspects of media practice, and a...

The proposed changes in the Cable Television Network Regulations Act have been put on hold after top editors of major television news channels unanimously agreed to oppose the proposed amendments. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday stepped in to assure news broadcasters that nothing would be finalised without "the widest possible consultation with all the stakeholders and eliciting their...

The News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority has announced the “guidelines for telecast of news during emergency situations”. The guidelines have been “spontaneously accepted” by all 14 broadcasters running 22 news channels, the Indian Express reported. The guidelines stipulate that no ‘live’ contact can be made with perpetrators of the crime, their hostages/victims and security...

The Supreme Court has expressed its strong disapproval of obscenity and violence being telecast on country's TV channels and said it has become impossible for families to sit together and watch the programmes being telecast, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has reported. A three-judge Bench of Justices BN Aggrawal, GS Singhvi and Aftab Alam on Wednesday granted three weeks' time to the Union...

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has set up a News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority as a measure of self-regulation. The nine-member authority will be headed by the former Chief Justice, JS Verma. Four of the other members, the Hindu reported, will be editors from different news channels and the remaining four from a category titled 'eminent persons' drawn from different...

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) wants the Broadcast Audience Research Council to start its audience measurement activities by January next year with representatives from the government, says a report in the Hindu Businessline. The Authority is also seeking regulation over content. “With increased convergence and the blurring of boundaries between carriage and content, the recent...

The Centre is planning to have a fresh look at the Content Code in television programmes as it feels that the current one has become outdated, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has reported. "We are contemplating a review of the existing Content Code as it needs to be at par with changing times," Secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Sushma Singh, said here on Saturday while...

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Thursday said that an industry-led body should be responsible for the operational issues of television rating agencies. The regulator has issued draft recommendations on policy guidelines and operational issues for television rating points (TRPs), the Times of India has reported. TRAI has recommended that the industry initiative - Broadcast Audience...