Govt. proposes “Broadcasting Content Complaints Council”

NEW DELHI - Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Friday said the government has proposed to establish a thirteen member “Broadcasting Content Complaints Council” based on consultations held with civil society representatives and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF)

She said the constitution of such a body would enable a process to view content through an appropriate mechanism.

She was addressing at the CII Content Summit “Adapting from Wired to Wireless”

Regarding the roadmap for digitalization, Soni said, that the ministry had extensive discussions with TRAI to ascertain the date for fixing the sun set hour for digitalization.

“The need for a modified timeframe was felt keeping in view the enormity of the challenge and the need to give the industry sufficient time to gear up to meet the challenge,” she added

She also mentioned that the Ministry had approved a plan scheme for upgrading the free-to-air DTH platform of Doordarshan to be able to carry 97 channels instead of 57 channels as of now.

“This capacity increase is likely by December 2011. It is planned to further increase the carrying capacity to 200 channels in the 12th Plan period. This would enable those persons who cannot afford to incur recurring expenses on a monthly basis to be able to watch TV channels at a onetime cost for purchase of STB without any further expenses,” she said.

Regarding the issue of copyrights, the Minister said that the ministry would work towards streamlining issues to address the concerns of key stakeholders.

She said adding that the International Broadcasting Ministry would play a role of a facilitator promoting innovation, convergence new media formats and multi media platforms. (ANI)