ITV

Tag: Amendment Bill 2002

  • If govt. wants ordinance on CAS, it will have to convince President

    NEW DELHI: With the adjournment of the Indian Parliament sine die today, the fate of conditional access system becomes that much more nebulous. Though, some government officials told indiantelevision.com this afternoon that the information and broadcasting ministry may take the Ordinance route to bring about the implementation of CAS.

    I&B minister Sushma Swaraj had got the cable TV Networks Amendment Bill 2002 first listed in the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of Parliament) towards the beginning of this session, but had got it delisted as Opposition in the Rajya Sabha had wanted a thorough debate on the issue.

    The Lok Sabha (Lower House) has already okayed the amendments to the CATV Act, 1995 through a voice vote which aims at facilitating the implementation of CAS and bring about addressability in Indian cable TV homes.

    Government officials said that an Ordinance (an executive order) is a plausibility, but the government has to convince the President that the issue of CAS is of national importance and cannot wait for Parliament to pass it in the winter session. The adjournment of Parliament sine die, ahead of the scheduled date of 14 August, came about as for the past few days no business had been transacted in Parliament with the Opposition in both the Houses resorting to boycott and demanding petroleum minister Ram Naik’s resignation after irregularities in the petrol pumps and kerosene depot allotment came to light sometime back.

    Even if the government promulgates an Ordinance on CAS, it has to be okayed by Parliament in the next session or it lapses six months after its promulgation.

    But the Ordinance has to wait a little also if that is the route the government opts to take. The President of India is scheduled to tour the state of Gujarat over the next 10 days and may not have time to study the issue immediately.

    The broadcasting industry, which was not much in favour of CAS implementation immediately, can breathe easier now, while the cable industry and set-top box manufacturers, pushing for CAS, may have to wait a while.

    See earlier headline:

    CAS still stuck as RS adjourned sine die, govt. examining ordinance route

  • I&B panel meeting on surrogate ads postponed

    I&B panel meeting on surrogate ads postponed

     NEW DELHI: The meeting of the high-powered government committee mandated to look into the issue of surrogate and objectionable advertisements, was postponed today. Reason: In anticipation that the Cable TV (Networks) Amendment Bill 2002, which will facilitate the implementation of conditional access systems, will be discussed in the Indian Parliament’s Upper House (Rajya Sabha).

    Admitting that the Rajya Sabha was yet to take up the CAS issue till the time of posting this story, a senior information and broadcasting ministry official told indiantelevision.com: “The meeting was scheduled for late afternoon, but we postponed it for few days as we were anticipating that the CAS issue will come up in the Rajya Sabha.”

    The committee, headed by I&B ministry additional secretary (broadcasting), Anil Baijal, mostly comprises government officials, apart from representatives from some NGOs and the Advertising Council of India.

    The official also said that various TV channels have responded in a positive manner to the request of the committee on mostly surrogate liquor ads.
    “The idea of this committee is not to browbeat anybody, but to show them the logic behind the panel’s decision on surrogate ads. If liquor and tobacco ads are banned in India, then there is no reason why anybody should flout these rules directly or indirectly,” the official said.