Thakur
Banned
- Joined
- 30 Aug 2013
- Messages
- 14,856
- Reaction score
- 8,575
NEW DELHI: Owners of cable TV companies, television channels and community radio stations can breathe a lot easier.
The government has streamlined the process of security clearance for them by making it valid for 10 years from the earlier three years, thus bringing it in line with licences that are valid for a period of 10 years.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the nodal ministry for providing security clearance, has conveyed this to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) in an order.
The new procedure for security clearance will be valid for uplinking and downlinking of TV channels, multi-system operators (MSOs), teleport players and community radio stations.
The MHA order also says that if permission is granted to one channel, no more security clearance will be required for subsequent launches in the same sector.
However, the MIB will obtain an annual undertaking from the company and its directors that they are not involved in any criminal or anti-national activity.
The ministry will also enforce continuous content audit to ensure that subversive or anti-national content is not aired.
The order further states that “security clearance conveyed to an entity in one proposal shall remain valid to other proposals (within the same sector)”.
However, the clearances would not be valid if there is a change in the board of directors or in the ultimate beneficial ownership of 10 per cent and above in the company, or in cases of expansion of existing community radio service licence to border and Naxal areas.
Besides, security clearance obtained for one sector cannot be valid for another.
This means a company cannot use security clearance granted to a bouquet of channels to run a community radio station.
The MHA, during the previous UPA regime, had extended the validity of security clearance to 10 years from three years, following representation by the News Broadcaster Association (NBA), which had demanded that security clearance validity be made co-terminus with the licence period.
Nevertheless, the ministry had added a caveat that the issue could be revisited.
It had also mandated that fresh security clearance would be required in case of new channel launches or a change in the board of directors.
Read more at:
http://www.televisionpost.com/news/govt-streamlines-security-clearance-for-tv-channels-msos-cr-stations/
The government has streamlined the process of security clearance for them by making it valid for 10 years from the earlier three years, thus bringing it in line with licences that are valid for a period of 10 years.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the nodal ministry for providing security clearance, has conveyed this to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) in an order.
The new procedure for security clearance will be valid for uplinking and downlinking of TV channels, multi-system operators (MSOs), teleport players and community radio stations.
The MHA order also says that if permission is granted to one channel, no more security clearance will be required for subsequent launches in the same sector.
However, the MIB will obtain an annual undertaking from the company and its directors that they are not involved in any criminal or anti-national activity.
The ministry will also enforce continuous content audit to ensure that subversive or anti-national content is not aired.
The order further states that “security clearance conveyed to an entity in one proposal shall remain valid to other proposals (within the same sector)”.
However, the clearances would not be valid if there is a change in the board of directors or in the ultimate beneficial ownership of 10 per cent and above in the company, or in cases of expansion of existing community radio service licence to border and Naxal areas.
Besides, security clearance obtained for one sector cannot be valid for another.
This means a company cannot use security clearance granted to a bouquet of channels to run a community radio station.
The MHA, during the previous UPA regime, had extended the validity of security clearance to 10 years from three years, following representation by the News Broadcaster Association (NBA), which had demanded that security clearance validity be made co-terminus with the licence period.
Nevertheless, the ministry had added a caveat that the issue could be revisited.
It had also mandated that fresh security clearance would be required in case of new channel launches or a change in the board of directors.
Read more at:
http://www.televisionpost.com/news/govt-streamlines-security-clearance-for-tv-channels-msos-cr-stations/
