Govt orders private TV channels to air 30-minute public service content from March 1
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory instructing channels to telecast content in the national interest. The government instruction mandates that the transmission of relevant content shall not be transmitted from midnight to 6 AM.
FollowFrom March 1, private satellite TV channel broadcasters will have to run public service broadcasting for 30 minutes every day. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory instructing channels to telecast content in the national interest.
What's more, the channels cannot seek to air the content during non-peak hours. The government instruction mandates that the transmission of relevant content shall not be transmitted from midnight to 6 AM.
Themes for public service broadcasting
The themes of national importance and social relevance include:
* Education and spread of literacy
* Agriculture and rural development
* Health and family welfare
* Science and technology
* Welfare of women
* Welfare of the weaker sections of the society
* Protection of the environment and cultural heritage
* National integration
The themes may be expanded to include subjects like water conservation, disaster management, etc., at a later stage.
Keeping account of broadcast
The government has worked out a mechanism to track compliance with its directives. According to the I&B ministry advisory, the time for the content under public service broadcasting shall be accounted cumulatively on a monthly basis or 15 hours per month.
The content need not be of 30 minutes at a stretch. It could be spread over smaller time slots. Broadcasters even have the liberty to modulate their content. However, the telecast of the public service content in between commercial breaks shall not be accounted for.
Broadcasters will have to submit a monthly report on the Broadcast Seva Portal on or before the 7th of the following month.
Who's exempt from this?
* Foreign channels, downlinking in India (in languages other than those specified in the Eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution), shall be exempt from public service broadcasting.
* Channels that broadcast predominantly (over 12 hours) sports, devotional, spiritual and yoga content are exempt from furnishing monthly reports on the Broadcast Seva Portal.
