Question : REGULATING TV CONTENT

(a) whether the Government has noticed/received complaints about the telecast of censored scenes of films on private channels/Doordarshan(DD);

(b) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon;

(c) whether the Government has constituted any study team/committee to review/assess the adverse impact/effect on children/society through advertisements and programmes/reality shows/films exhibiting wrong values, highlighting bigamy and violence etc. being telecast by the private TV channels and Doordarshan channels;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and if not, the reasons therefor;

(e) the composition of the study team/committee constituted by the Government for reviewing the existing programmes and advertising code as prescribed under the relevant Acts/Rules to provide greater specificity to the provision of the existing codes; and

(f) the recommendations made in this regard alongwith the reaction of the Government thereto?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING (SHRI C.M. JATUA)

(a) and (b): Rule 6 (1)(o) of the Cable Television Networks Rules ,1994 provides, inter- alia, that no programme should be carried in the cable service which is not suitable fo r unrestricted public exhibition, provided that no film or film song or film promo or film trailer or music video or music albums or their promos, whether produced in India and abroad, shall be carried through the cable service, unless it has been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as suitable for unrestricted public exhibition. In the recent past, the Ministry noticed violation of certain provisions of the aforesaid Rule 6 including sub- rule (1)(o) thereof by TV 5 channel for telecasting programmes titled ‘’Big Screen’’ and ‘’Chintamani’’. Accordingly, a warning was issued to the channel on 18.08.2010 to strictly adhere to the Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and Rules framed thereunder.

(c) and (d): No such study team/Committee has been constituted.

(e) and (f): The Government had constituted a Committee for reviewing the existing Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 to provide greater specificity to the provisions of existing codes. The committee has made recommendations in the form of draft ‘Self-regulation Guidelines for the Broadcasting sector’ which is available on the Ministry’s website http://mib.gov.in under the heading “Codes Guidelines Policy”.

Ministry has been holding consultations with all concerned stakeholders to arrive at a broad consensus on the recommendations of the committee. A Task Force had been set up under the Chairmanship of Secretary (I&B) for holding wider consultations with stakeholders to arrive at a consensus on this issue.