“The guidelines have been delayed as of now, however, the extent of the delay is not known as of yet. Elaborate discussions were to happen between all stakeholders, including TV channels, News Channel associations, and government bodies however they are still pending,” the official said.
In a recent Parliament question, several members raised questions on whether the government proposes to make encryption of channels mandatory for all bands other than the C band, the details of the steps taken in this regard, and how would it help in stopping the illegal broadcast of channels. Without mentioning the government’s plans for it, Information and Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said, “Free-to-Air channels are not mandatorily required to be encrypted. It has been reported that signals of certain free-to-air channels, though not on the DD Free Dish platform, are also being received due to co-location of signals of these channels and DD Free Dish and non-mandatory requirement for encryption of signals of free-to-air channels.”
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However, in Parliament reply in 2021, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar had said that new guidelines were in the works.
The new guidelines would make specifying the band applicants intend to use mandatory and could also make encryption compulsory for all uplinking and delinking of signals, except the ones on the C band. As per the present guidelines, a company can apply either on the KU or C band and uplink their signals. The new guidelines would help the government to stop unauthorized signal reception, thereby increasing the flow to its treasury.
The ministry has over the years received complaints regarding the use of unencrypted signals to uplink and delink signals on free dish through the KU band, which resulted in huge losses to the exchequer. About 10 channels were allegedly enjoying free airing on DD Free Dish because of technical slip-ups on the ministry’s end. The ministry allowed certain platforms to transmit on both C band and KU band. On KU Band, DD Free Dish is available on GSAT-15. The channels that are aired on DD Free Dish are free, which allows channels to have a wider reach and huge viewership. As per complaints, some channels did not pay the fees applicable to channels present on the platform. The new guideline would also help in building a level playing ground private TV channels.
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