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Tag: Broadcasting Content Complaints Council

  • BCCC directs ‘Pehredaar Piya Ki’ to late night slot with disclaimers

    NEW DELHI: The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), a self-regulatory body under the Indian Broadcasting Foundation umbrella, has asked Sony Pictures Network India to move its fictional serial Pehredaar Piya Ki, aired on one of its channels, to the 10 pm slot and simultaneously run a scroll that it doesn’t promote child marriage.

    The soap opera, with a story-line where a minor boy is shown married to a young-adult woman, who also doubles up as his security guard, had come under criticism for allegedly promoting regressive ideas like child marriage, which is an offence under Indian laws.

    The BCCC directive to Sony Pictures Networks India, which came on Wednesday, was the first one chaired by its new chief Justice (retd) Vikramajit Sen, according to news agency IANS.

    “We had a monthly meeting and the channel officials were called for a discussion, which went on for quite long. After everything, they were directed that the timing of the show should be shifted to a late night slot of 10 pm  and that they must run a disclaimer. They (Sony Pictures Networks India) will have to comply,” a BCCC executive was quoted by IANS as saying.

    Indiantelevision.com could not independently reach out to SPNI for its comments on the BCCC directive till the time of writing this report, which is based on what news agency IANS has filed.

    Since the last BCCC meeting, the body received around 138 fresh complaints against `Pehredaar Piya Ki’, which is produced by Shashi Sumeet  Productions and went on air last month. The makers had been defending it, saying viewers must understand the circumstances in which the girl has to marry the boy child, the news agency report stated.

    Earlier, some media reports quoted the minister of information & broadcasting (MIB) Smriti Irani, when asked about the controversy surrounding the Sony Pictures Networks India serial, saying that her ministry has asked the BCCC to look into the issue.

    The serial stars Tejaswi Prakash Wayangankar as Diya Ratan Singh and Afaan Khan as her husband Prince Ratan Singh.

    Set up in June 2011, BCCC is an independent self-regulatory body for non-news general entertainment channels under the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, an apex body of a large number of general and factual entertainment TV channels operating in India. IBF website states its members manage 350+ channels and about 90 per cent of television viewership across country.

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  • TV content: Madras HC seeks Centre’s clarification on regulatory mechanism

    TV content: Madras HC seeks Centre’s clarification on regulatory mechanism

    NEW DELHI: Joining issues with a petition presently being heard by the Supreme Court on a similar matter, the Madras High Court yesterday directed the federal government to clarify on the existing regulatory setup governing contents aired by television channels in India.

    The first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sunder gave this direction to assistant solicitor general Su Srinivasan, who appeared for the central government, during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) to stop telecast of Tamil reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, hosted by actor Kamal Haasan on Vijay TV, part of Star India, according to a report filed by PTI from Chennai.

    The matter has been posted for further hearing on August 18, 2017.

    Earlier, senior counsel P S Raman, who appeared on behalf of the actor and anchor of the TV show, submitted that there were two bodies to regulate the channels. One was the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), a self-regulatory body headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and the other was ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), the PTI report quoted Raman as telling the local high court.

    BCCC is a self-regulatory body set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, an industry organisation that has a large number of TV channels as its members. Though there’s no formal content regulatory body in India on the lines of American FCC or the UK’s Ofcom or Singapore’s MDA, IBF’s self regulatory body takes up complaints relating to TV content. Separately, the content code, part of India’s Cable TV Act (enforced by MIB) outlines broad guidelines for TV content.

    The PTI report stated that petitioner Saravanan has alleged that in the reality show Haasan played with emotions and behaviour of female contestants, which he termed vulgar and obscene. He further submitted that to protect Tamil culture and tradition and in the interest and welfare of the general public, the telecast of the show must be stalled immediately.

    “The dress code and behaviour of female contestants on the show are very vulgar and obscene making my family members and me uncomfortable in watching the programme. Also, the reference to ‘cheri’ (slum) behavior, made by a participant to describe the behaviour of another contestant, greatly hurt downtrodden people,” the petitioner said.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a similar case and has enquired from the central government whether it has a proper mechanism in place to regulate TV content.

    Outgoing film certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani, dubbed nationalist and ultra-conservative by a section of content producers and audience alike, in a media interview had urged the government to extend CBFC’s jurisdiction to oversee television shows too.

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