Question : CATEGORISATION OF T.V. CHANNELS

(a) whether the Union Government has made any deliberations or is going to take any action for the categorization of T.V. channels, fixing their telecast time and framing code of conduct for contents of various serials and other telecasts;

(b) if so, the details and the objectives thereof;

(c) whether there is also a proposal to allot separate time slot to be included in the above measures to mitigate the exploitation of the consumers through advertisements; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

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

(a) & (b) As per guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of private satellite TV channels, TV channels are categorized into two categories, namely,
(i) News and Current Affairs Channels and
(ii) Non-News and Current Affairs Channels. As regards content broadcast on these TV channels, the same is regulated by the Programme and Advertising Codes stipulated under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Rules framed thereunder. The said Codes do not provide for timeslots for telecast of various programmes and advertisements. However, all programmes and advertisements are required to be strictly as per the said Codes. There is no proposal at present under consideration to make any changes in the Programmes and Advertising Codes.

(c) & (d) The Advertising Code contained in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Rules framed thereunder provides for a range of parameters for regulation of advertisements telecast on private satellite TV channels, including a provision that no programme shall carry advertisements exceeding twelve minutes per hour, which may include up to ten minutes per hour of commercial advertisements, and up to two minutes per hour of the channel’s self-promotional programmes. In view of this, there is no proposal at present under consideration to allocate separate timeslot for telecast of advertisements.