MIB warns broadcasters against operations transfer to third party

New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released an advisory warning broadcasters that ‘no person who is not security cleared from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is to be involved in the management of the company/LLP.’

The advisory further stated that the Ministry had received various complaints regarding the violation of provisions of policy guidelines by certain TV channels that are contracting out the operations or other core functions to non-permitted entities without prior approval of the Ministry.

Clause 26(2) of the ‘Guidelines of uplinking and downlinking of Satellite Television channels in India, 2022’ of the MIB states that permission holders are barred from contracting core operations like content uplink, content generation and content transfer, among other things, to a third party.

Additionally, MIB stated that in the case of finding a company/LLP guilty of contracting operations through any agreement may result in suspension or cancellation of permission. 

“Also, the letter of Permission granted to the company/ News TV Channel specifically mentions that the company would generate/ develop its own content for News and Current Affairs TV Channel and would not source it from any third party without prior approval of the Ministry. Hence, the company, who owns the permission of a News TV Channel must always ensure that they perform its Core Operations,” stated the advisory released by MIB.