ITV

Tag: Cable Television Networks Act

  • MIB notifies amendments in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1995

    MIB notifies amendments in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1995

    Mumbai: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has notified amendments in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 thereby providing the operational mechanism for implementation of the decriminalised provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.

    The Ministry issued a notification appointing 3 October 2023 as the date from which provisions of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 and entries in the schedule thereto with respect to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 has come into force.

    Section 16 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 dealt with the punishment for contraventions under any of its provisions. This section had provision for imprisonment which might extend upto 2 years, in case of first instance and 5 years for every subsequent offence.

    With an aim to make the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 more business-friendly and to boost the investor confidence in the sector, punishments specified under Section 16 were re-examined and were decriminalised through the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provision) Act, 2023. The imprisonment provisions have been now replaced with monetary penalty and other non-monetary measures like Advisory, Warning and Censure. These measures will be enforced through the “designated officer” defined in the rules notified today. Moreover, Section 16 now introduces an appeal mechanism against the order made by the designated officer.  Sections 17 and 18 were omitted for being redundant.

    Some of the benefits of decriminalisation of provisions under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 are:

    ●   The amendments are likely to encourage compliance with the Act without resorting to harsh punishments and are sensitive to minor or unintended contraventions. The inclusion of advisory, censure, and warnings in the range of penalties suggests focus is on educating and encouraging compliance rather than solely punishing contraventions.

    ●   The amended provision allows for the use of a range of penalties, which provides flexibility in addressing different types of contraventions. It allows for a more proportional response to the nature, specificity and severity of the contravention.

    ●   The amendment in the rules defines a “designated officer” for imposing penalties. This streamlines the enforcement process and makes it simple in addition to unburdening the criminal justice system.

    ●   The amended provision explicitly addresses subsequent contraventions and in addition to the provision for higher penalties, includes the provisions for suspension or cancellation of registration. This promotes consistency and discourages habitual or repeated contraventions.

    ●   The inclusion of an appeal mechanism provides individuals or entities the opportunity to challenge penalties or decisions. This ensures a fair and transparent process and safeguards against potential abuse of power.

    ●   The definition of common terms in cable industry like “platform services” and “local cable operator” have been defined in the rules for the first time to bring about uniformity in their usages.

    Currently, there are over 1400 Multi-system Operators registered with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Decriminalisation of the contraventions of provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and replacement with civil penalties shall boost stakeholders’ confidence and promote the ease of doing business.

  • I&B ministry acted against 126 violations of Programme Code in last 3 years

    I&B ministry acted against 126 violations of Programme Code in last 3 years

    Mumbai: During 2018 to 2021, the Government took action against 126 cases of violation of Programme Code laid down in the Cable Television Networks (CTN) Rules, 1994 framed under Cable Television Networks Act, 1995. The action with respect to cases was taken by issuance of advisories, warnings, apology scroll orders, and off-air orders, said the ministry on Friday.

    “Government has an institutional mechanism for taking action in respect of private TV channels which are found to violate the Programme Code. The I&B ministry also issues advisories from time to time to private satellite TV channels for adhering to the Programme Code,” said the minister of information and broadcasting, Anurag Thakur in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament.

    The minister was responding to a query put forth in the Lok Sabha on whether the Government has taken cognizance of high decibel, sensationalist and slanderous news programmes/debates being hosted on Indian news channels. The Government was asked whether it has received complaints against news channels for violating the broadcasting guidelines and broadcasting fake news, hate and divisive agenda during the last three years.

    The Government was also asked whether it is planning to initiate any code of conduct or broad guidelines for the debates that happen on electronic media and the time by which final decision is likely to be taken in this regard.

    The Programme Code contains broad guidelines related to content broadcast on private television channels.

    The guidelines also provide that no programme should contain anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos, and half-truths, and should not criticise malign or slander any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country.

    The Rules provide for a three-level complaint redressal mechanism; Level I by the broadcaster, Level II by the self-regulating bodies of the broadcasters; and Level III by oversight mechanism of the Central Government.

  • Government stops teleshopping advertisements that violate ASCI code

    Government stops teleshopping advertisements that violate ASCI code

    MUMBAI: In a recent development, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) through an advisory has barred broadcasters from airing advertisements that have been found in violation of the Advertising Standards Council of India’s (ASCI) code.

     

    MIB compiled a list of ads that made unsubstantiated claims and violated the provision of code for self-regulation as well as provisions under Drug & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and has now asked broadcasters to ensure strict compliance of the advertising code in the Cable Television Networks Act (CTN).

     

    ASCI chairman Partha Rakshit said, “This is another feather in the cap of ASCI, in its efforts to make advertising more responsible. We were finding that some advertisers on TV channels, especially Tele Shopping Networks, were not complying with the ASCI decisions. We submitted the list to the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) of the MIB for their consideration. Based on that, IMC observed that any violation of ASCI code also violates the Advertising Code enshrined in the CTN Act and its rules. In short, IMC has directed that advertisements found to violate the ASCI code cannot be carried on TV channels.” 

     

    The advisory sent by MIB states that ‘non-compliance of ASCI’s code of self-regulation is a violation of rule 7 (9) of the Advertising Code contained in the CTN Rules. The CTN code and rules state that ‘no advertisement which violates the code of self-regulation in advertising, as adopted by ASCI for public exhibition in India, from time to time, shall be carried in the cable service’. Therefore, ASCI decisions are not just bound for compliance by advertisers but also by TV channels.’ 

     

     Some of the products in the MIB’s Advisory list  which violated the ASCI code in terms of their advertising and advertisers not complying with the ASCI’s decision to uphold the complaint are Fairpro (Telemart Shoppi Network), Ayurvedic Roopamri Fairness Cream (WWS SkYshoP P), Celebrity Lift (RTC Enterprises), GLO Intense Brightening System (B Lab), Rashi Ratan Topaz Ring (Quick Telemall Marketing), Maha Dhan Lakshmi Yantram Musli Power Xtra (Kunnath Pharmaceuticals), Brain  Smart GTM (Teleshopping), Bhairavi Sadhana- Devishree Foundation Trust, Shaktivardhan Vaccume Therapy, Sandhi Sudha Oil (Telemart Shopping Network), MadhuSanjivani (JMD Teleshopping), Addiction Killer (SK Shopping),  Easy Slim Tea , Maha Dhan Lakshmi Yantram etc.

     

    Earlier this week, ASCI had issued stringent guidelines on advertisements for fairness creams, barring companies from depicting dark-skinned people as inferior to their fairer counterparts and not to depict them as unhappy, unattractive or depressed.