MIB slows down licensing TV channels

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is going slow on issuing licences for launching television channels. Only seven licences were issued during 2013 even as an estimated 218 channels are still awaiting clearance. 

“As per information available till 30 September 2013, there are 218 channels whose applications are pending for uplinking and downlinking permissions for new channels. Seventeen are cases where the downlinking permissions are stuck,” an industry source said. 

The MIB fared much better in 2012 when it had issued licences for 35 TV channels. 

“It is quite frustrating that so many licences are pending approval, particularly when digitisation has opened bandwidth for carriage of more channels. There is a feeling of uncertainty in the industry. We can’t fix on a business model as we are not sure when the channel will get operational,” an executive in a television company said.

The paucity of satellite bandwidth is a growing concern. “We need more satellites to be launched to augment the transponder capacity,” another senior TV executive said. 

In 2013, the seven new television channels who were issued licences include Anugraha Malayalam (earlier Hind TV), CVR News English, CVR Spiritual Om, Page 3, Namastute (earlier RR News), 10 TV, and Samachar Plus Rajasthan (earlier Buland News). 

As of 2 December 2013, the ministry has permitted 784 private satellite television channels in India. Of these, as many as 389 are news and current affairs channels while 395 are non-news and current affairs channels. 

There are 693 channels that have been permitted to uplink channels from India and downlink channels into India. While 31 channels have been permitted to only uplink from India, there are 91 channels that have been permitted to only downlink into the country. 

Of the 31 that have been permitted only to uplink from India, four are news and the remaining 27 are non-news channels. Similarly, the 91 channels that have been permitted to only downlink into India, 16 are news while the remaining 75 are non-news channels.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/3758-mib-slows-down-licensing-tv-channels.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/3758-mib-slows-down-licensing-tv-channels.html