The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has dropped another 5 satellite TV licenses from its permitted private satellite TV channels database weeks after cancelling 8 satellite TV licenses. The Ministry has cancelled the licenses of Aaj Tak Desh, Dream TV, Home Shop, Shop CJ, and Bangla Naaptol bringing down the number of permitted private satellite TV channels to 911 at the time of filing this story.
All the 5 licenses namely Dream TV, Bangla Naaptol, Aaj Tak Desh, Shop CJ, and Home Shop have been dropped today from the database with the reason for cancellation given as ‘Not required’. While three of the channels are shopping channels, Aaj Tak Desh which was renamed from Delhi Aaj Tak last year has been dropped after Delhi Aaj Tak shut down its operation on 30th June 2020. Dream TV on the other hand belonged to PEN Music which has also surrendered its three other licenses Isaaq, Play My Movie, and Play My Song.
The Ministry recently cancelled the license of News18 J&K, and News18 Goa along with the cancellation of Isaaq, Play My Movie, and Play My Song licenses. Apart from this, the licenses of History TV18 Tamil, FYI TV18, and FYI TV18 HD have also been done away with.
Separately in July, MIB cancelled the license of MIX, Sony ESPN, and Sony ESPN HD after the channel’s shutdown on 31st March 2020. The number of licenses cancelled since July stands at 16 which will go up soon as and when the licenses of now-defunct AXN and AXN HD are done away with.
