ITV

Tag: Home Ministry

  • Home Ministry devises simplified format to get details for security clearance of MSOs

    Home Ministry devises simplified format to get details for security clearance of MSOs

    NEW DELHI: With various multi-system operators (MSOs) failing to get licences because of failure to get security clearance from the Home Ministry, that Ministry has devised a new format for streamlining the procedure.

     

    This includes furnishing details in respect of applicant MSO companies and directors/key executives of their companies for providing the requisite security clearance.

     

    Since the final grant of permission to MSO applicants by the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry for operation in digital addressable system (DAS) notified areas is based on the security clearance from the Home Ministry, all MSO applicants, including those who are yet to get the necessary permission, have been asked to furnish the requisite details according to the revised format prescribed by the Home Ministry.

     

    The Ministry also said that as per the Home Ministry guidelines the approval/permission/license granted will also be liable to be cancelled in the event of withdrawal of security clearance.

     

    To clarify all doubts in this connection, the applicant MSOs have been requested to participate/ attend the open house meetings being organised by the I&B Ministry every Tuesday morning.

     

    The Home Ministry has devised a form to give details of the MSO whether it is Indian or foreign, its directors etc, and any shareholders having a stake of more than 10 per cent.

     

  • Digicable Network among MSOs denied permanent licence, three new MSOs get licence this month

    Digicable Network among MSOs denied permanent licence, three new MSOs get licence this month

    NEW DELHI: While 115 multisystem operators (MSOs) have been granted permanent licence as on 3 September, Digicable Network and Kal Cables are among the prominent MSOs whose licences have been cancelled following refusal of security clearance by the Home Ministry.

     

    However, the Madras High Court has quashed the cancellation of provisional licence of Kal Cables on the ground that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had not issued any show-cause notice, before cancelling the permit. The court also said that the MSO should be given another chance to respond. The Kalanidhi Maran owned Kal Cables had opposed the 20 August order, saying that it is just a MSO and not a channel. And if the I&B Ministry had issued a notice, it would have cleared the doubts.

     

    The MSO was given a permanent licence to operate in Chennai in June 2012, while a provisional licence was given to operate in DAS notified areas in phase II cities in March 2013.  

     

    The licence of Digicable Network India was cancelled on 3 September because of denial of security clearance by the Home Ministry. The MSO had applied on 11 May 2012 for DAS notified area of NCT of Delhi, Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai and Kolkata in phase-I and on 28 January and 6 March last year for 38 cities of phase II.

     

    Siddhi Digital Services of Sholapur was also not given a licence and its ‘case closed as Company is no longer interested in registration.’  

     

    The application of Silverline Entertainment of Allahabad for operation in DAS notified areas of Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi was also cancelled early this month following denial of security clearance by the Home Ministry.

     

    Earlier, MSOs Godfather Communication of Punjab and Intermedia Cable Communication had also got stay orders issued by the Punjab High Court and Delhi High Court respectively on cancellation of their licences.

     

    The MSOs which got permanent licences early this month were Koduri Satyanarayana, Sri Sai Star TV Services for the Khammam district of Telengana; Abhilash Communications of Adilabad for notified areas of phase – II and phase – III cities pan India and JPR channel of Mumbai for Mumbai (phase – I) and phase – II areas in the state of Maharashtra and Gujarat. 

  • Over 100 additional MSOs get 10 year licences, 16 fail to get clearance

    Over 100 additional MSOs get 10 year licences, 16 fail to get clearance

    NEW DELHI: A total of 104 multi-system operators (MSOs) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for 10 years to operate the digital addressable system while the licences of 16 MSOs have been cancelled.

     

    The MSOs in both the approved and the cancelled list had been given provisional permission earlier.

     

    Those who have got permission include IndusInd Media and Communications, Hathway Cable & Datacom, Manthan Broadband, Den Network, Home Cable, Digicable Network, Delhi Distribution Company and Asianet Satellite Communications.

     

    Kolkata based MSO Digicable Communications has been denied permission after the break-up of the joint venture with Mumbai based Digicable Networks, which has received permission for Greater Mumbai, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Greater Kolkata.

     

    Digicable Network India managing director & CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli said that they would ask for a stay on MIB’s decision to cancel the licence in the court. 

     

    Other cancelled permissions include Skynet Digital Services, Jai Maa Vaishno Entertainment, Intermedia Cable Communications, Supersonic Networks and Godfather Communications.

       

    Industry sources said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved in March last year.

     

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has added information about the approved MSOs, listing the areas for which they have been given permission.

     

    The website also contains the reasons in brief for the denial of permission to those which have failed to get the licences. In most cases, it is due to failure to get clearance from the Home Ministry.

     

    The new list is the outcome of Open Houses held by the Ministry with various MSOs, while some have come as a result of court cases. 

  • Two open house meetings every month to speed channel licence clearance

    Two open house meetings every month to speed channel licence clearance

    NEW DELHI: The new government at the centre certainly seems to be taking the issue of channel licence clearance very seriously. To clear the long list of pending applications for new TV channels, the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has decided to hold open house meeting with stakeholders twice a month, as against the earlier practice of one meeting a month.

     

    The next meeting is slated for 18 July in Shastri Bhavan, the main office of the Ministry. Stakeholders have been asked to send, in advance, the information they require, so that these can be supplied to them at the meeting.

     

    It is understood that almost a hundred applications are pending for clearance at various stages either with the I&B Ministry, Home Ministry or the Department of Telecom.

     

    Furthermore, the coming into force of the code of conduct in April this year prevented clearance of any new channels and therefore the number of channels which was 795 at the end of May remained the same at the end of June.

     

    A large number of new applications including those by Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS) that runs the ABP group of channels, Star India for its second Tamil channel, and Epic TV are pending.

     

    The only change was that the number of news and current affairs channels went up by two to 395 and the number of non news and current affairs channels came down by the same number to 400.

     

    The first four months of 2014 saw licences being given to nine channels including AXN HD and SET HD.

     

    The Ministry also placed on its website the names of the companies which own these channels, the language, and the date when permission was granted. 

  • Steps taken to prevent bullying of children on the internet, claims government

    Steps taken to prevent bullying of children on the internet, claims government

    NEW DELHI: About 18 per cent of children have said that they have been victims of bullying on internet.

     

    This is revealed by a survey report ‘Cyber Crime -2013 – Kids (India),’ published by software company Symantec which covered a sample size of just 203 kids.

     

    Parliament was told this week that a website (secureyourpc.in) for children, home users and elderly is available for safeguarding their computer systems and learning the risks on internet. 

     

    Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there had been some media reports that children are becoming victims of depression because of cyber bullying.

     

    The Home Ministry had issued an Advisory on Preventing & combating Cyber Crime against Children on 4 January 2012, advising States/Union Territories to specifically combat the crimes in the forms of cyber stalking, cyber bullying, child pornography and exposure to sexually explicit material etc. 

     

    The Information Technology Act, 2000 has provision for dealing with cyber crimes targeting children. 

    The government has implemented Information Security Education Awareness (ISEA) programme including the programmes conducted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI) and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) for security awareness and training in the area of information security.

     

    Specific workshops have been conducted for school children on making them aware about risks on internet and adopting safe internet browsing practices. In these programmes around 710 workshops have been organised across the country covering large number of organisations, schools, students and teachers. During the workshops, awareness kits have also been distributed. Security awareness material like posters, DVDs, cartoon/animation videos have also been developed and widely distributed.

     

    A dedicated website for information security awareness (www.infosecawareness.in) has also been developed and content is available in English and Hindi language. 

  • Apply once for security clearance, not for every new channel: MIB

    Apply once for security clearance, not for every new channel: MIB

    NEW DELHI: The issue of security clearance for directors of TV channels has cropped up once again, this time on a good note. In a notice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has said that applicants for new TV channels whose directors have already received security clearance will not have to apply for fresh security clearance from the Home Ministry (HM).

     

    However, this will apply to those applicants who have filed within the validity period of security clearance.

     

    In doing so, the MIB has restored a practice which was earlier in force but had been changed after the Home Minister, on 10 January this year, said that applications for new channels will require fresh security clearance though their tenure may be co-terminus with the 10 year licence period for the earlier channels owned by the same applicant.

     

    In its note today, the MIB said it had been ‘the experience of this Ministry that the entire process of grant of permission has slowed down considerably.’ The issue had also been raised in open house meetings and other meets, conducted earlier.

     

    Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has also laid great emphasis on reviewing ‘such processes which cause avoidable delays and to streamline the same’.

     

    While the MIB had decided to restore the old practice to avoid delays, it has said that a copy of each cleared application would be sent to the HM for ‘its record and information’.

      

    The whole issue cropped up when the MIB had in June last year written a letter to the HM seeking clarification on the issue. In its reply in October last year, the HM had said that fresh security clearance would have to be sought and this would be valid for three years.   

     

    Later in December, the MIB had written to the HM that the new applications be made co-terminus with the 10 year licence that the original channel had received.

     

    The HM had in January this year agreed on the issue of being co-terminus, but said that fresh security clearance would have to be sought.

  • Home Ministry seeks details of MSOs for security clearance

    Home Ministry seeks details of MSOs for security clearance

    NEW DELHI: The Home Ministry has issued an additional format to be filled by the multi-system operators (MSOs) for grant of security clearance.

     

    All existing MSO applicants who are applying to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for grant of MSO registration are required to furnish the details according to a format placed on the Ministry’s website: mib.nic.in.

     

    The MIB wants details of the MSO and its directors, apart from details of when the MSO was set up.