The MIB, which is the licencing authority for TV channels, said that Clause 26(2) of ‘Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India, 2022’ bars permission holders from contracting the core operations of a TV channel like content generation, content transfer, and content uplink to a third party.
In an advisory on Tuesday, the ministry directed all permitted broadcasters to follow the policy guidelines in letter and spirit by ensuring that the operations and core functions of the channel are managed by the permission holder only.
“Therefore, it is hereby clarified that the letting of the channels to any third party, including the group entities, without the prior permission of the ministry is not allowed as per the existing policy guidelines,” the MIB advisory reads.
While noting that the security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is one of the pre-requisite conditions for receiving a TV channel licence, the ministry said that the broadcasters must ensure that individuals who are not security cleared by MHA should not be involved in the running of a TV channel.
