NEW DELHI: The central government has directed all cable and direct-to-home (DTH) television platforms not to carry SS TV channel for a fortnight from the midnight of 15 January to the midnight of 30 January for telecasting the trailer of adult film ?Friends with benefits? on 30 September 2011.

Television transmission platforms have also been prohibited from carrying Zing and Enterr 10 television channels for one day from midnight of 12 January for telecasting adult films in violation of the programme code.

The orders follow decisions of the inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry that the telecasts were in violation of Rule 6(t) (n) and Rule 6(t)(o) of the programme code under Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules framed there under.

The SS TV channel (then SS Music Channel) had telecast a trailer of adult feature film ?Friends with Benefits? even though it was not certified by CBFC for telecast on TV channels.

While Zing TV had telecast the adult film ?Hawas? in January, the Enterr 10 channel telecast three Hindi feature films -- ?Musafir? on 29 September 2011, ?Plan? on 19 October 2011 and ?Aashiq Banaya Apnne? on 31 January 2012.

In the case of ?Hawas?, the directive noted that the film showed visuals of passionate love making and kissing scenes between a couple, who were shown to be clinging to each other and writhing in bed in an explicit portrayal of sexual desires overpowering them. Such a portrayal is distinctly meant for adult audience, for which CBFC had appropriately given "A" certification to the said film.

In all cases, show cause notices were issued to the channels and their replies and counter-replies considered before the action was announced. The committee had also given the channels a hearing before finalising the orders on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The government does not consider it necessary to change the rules relating to content in the Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act 1995. It feels the provisions in the codes are adequate.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that the regulations were being implemented by the self-regulatory bodies under the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the News Broadcasters Association.

However, the sources made it clear that the self-regulation mechanism put in place by the broadcasters ?does not replace the existing regulatory function of the fovernment arising out of the 1995 Act and rules framed thereunder?.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee of the I and B Ministry continues to look into violations of the Code reported to the Ministry, and also refers some of these complaints to the self-regulatory bodies: News Broadcasting Standards Authority headed by Justice J S Verma and the Broadcast Content Complaints Council headed by Justice A P Shah.

The committee presently has representatives from the I&B, Women and Child Development, Consumer Affairs, Home, Defence, External Affairs, Law, and Health and Family Welfare Ministries and the Advertising Standards Council of India.

In addition, the Ministry has set up 21 state-level monitoring committees including union territories and 274 district-level monitoring committees across the country.

The government had set up a committee in October 2005 which also had members from the civil society to recommend changes in the content, and this committee gave its report in March 2008.

However, broadcasters had rejected the report and the NBA was formed to set up its own regulatory mechanism, followed thereafter by the IBF establishing the BCCC.

Thereafter, the sources said, the government decided to give self-regulation a chance while insisting that it will step in whenever needed.

MUMBAI: After being caught completely off-guard by the massive protests in New Delhi to condemn the rise in rape cases, the government has blamed ?some? news channels for irresponsible reporting that led to the deterioration of the law and order situation.

The Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has issued an advisory asking news channels to adhere to the Programme Code laid down in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 failing which the government will take appropriate action.

"It has been observed that some private satellite news TV channels in their 24X7 coverage have not been showing due responsibility and maturity in telecasting the events relating to the said demonstration and such a telecast is likely to cause deterioration in the law & order situation, hindering the efforts of the law enforcing authorities," the advisory from I&B ministry Joint Secretary Supriya Sahu read.

The government said that the Rule 6(1)(e) of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, which contains the Programme Code, provides that no programme should be carried in the cable service which is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national attitude.

"Now, therefore, all private satellite television channels are advised to scrupulously follow the Programme Code laid down in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 and to ensure to telecast the matter in a responsible manner with due care, maturity and restraint," the advisory added.

The government also warned that, "Any violation of the Programme Code will invite such action as provided for in the Cable Television (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Rules framed there under as well as the terms & conditions stipulated in Uplinking & Downlinking Guidelines."

NEW DELHI: The Government has said it is not ruling out carriage of news by FM radio channels based on reports from recognised news agencies.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said that news on ?as is where is? basis would be permitted from All India Radio in the FM Phase III. However, this can later be relaxed to introduce news from other sources.

?We begin with AIR and then we go and start allowing more and more news... I do foresee that in next five-seven years time, the things happening the way we expect them to happen, then there is nothing stopping radio to have news,? he said.

He was responding to a question as to why the government did not allow radio channels to use news feed of recognised agencies.

Varma said that though news was not currently allowed, radio channels still provided cricket scores and often radio jockeys also commented on current events.

He indicated that monitoring the news channels was the major reason for not permitting FM channels to broadcast their own news.

Expansion of radio through FM Phase III is on the top priority of the government and it had been decided that an ascending e-auction would be conducted.

Varma said that there were issues like choosing an auctioneer, a migration fee and a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India report which suggested reducing channel spacing for radio channels had to be resolved.

The government would also pursue expansion of FM radio in border areas and interiors as this was a priority area.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had organised a meeting of radio CEOs.

Reacting to some members of the radio industry that the industry was facing difficult times, he said this was not true and there was a consistent ten per cent CAGR growth in the sector.

Taking part in the discussions, several speakers like Indian Institute of Mass Communications Director General Sunit Tandon and Amit Khanna of Reliance Entertainment said shortage of trained manpower was a major hurdle to the growth of radio.

Khanna said that monitoring news on radio appeared to be the main concern of the government, as it was easier to monitor television news.

Tandon said that IIMC had the infrastructure to train personnel but needed industry collaboration for this purpose. He said IIMC had the mandate for training personnel for community radio, but funding was a problem where the industry could come in.

Radiowalla CEO and co-founder Anil Srivatsa said he was prepared to collaborate with institutions to train personnel in internet radio.

MUMBAI: The government earned Rs 6.70 billion of revenues in the seven months ended 31 October from television channels including Doordarshan.

Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources said a major share of the revenue had come as fee from the private TV channels.

The government earned Rs 1.74 billion from private FM channels and All India Radio (AIR) during this seven-month period, a source said.

In 2011-12, the revenue from television channels for the government was Rs 11.55 billion, four per cent more than Rs 11.12 billion in 2010-11. In 2009-10, it was Rs 10.07 billion.

The total revenue earned by the government from television channels from April 2009 to October 2012 amounted to Rs 39.45 billion.

The government?s income from radio channels in the previous year ended 31 March 2012 stood at Rs 3.57 billion, 2.5 per cent more than Rs 3.48 billion in 2010-11. In 2009-10, the revenue from radio channels was Rs 3 billion.

The total revenue earned from radio channels since April 2009 amounts to Rs 11.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the ministry sources said AIR has been making sustained efforts to increase its revenue. This includes changing its fixed point chart at regular intervals to include popular programmes so as to attract more advertisements and commercials, and broadcasting more interactive, customised and channel driving programmes.

An effort is also being made by AIR to have dedicated time slots for specific target audiences like women and children, youth, rural communities, music lovers, industrial workers, and farmers. Transmission hours too have been extended in some cases to accommodate commercials and radio is entering into more media partnerships to brand AIR.

The programme pattern of AIR stations ? particularly FM channels ? has been changed and made more listener-friendly to attract more buyers from the corporate sectors, and frequent audience research surveys are being undertaken to understand the views of the listeners.

However, the ministry sources made it clear that AIR was a public service broadcaster and, therefore, the aim was not to compete with other electronic media.