The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on 15th June directed I Plus Telemedia Private Limited to stop forthwith the promotion of iPlus TV for the purpose of downlinking by any person including individuals or cable operators in the country.
MIB in its letter to I Plus Telemedia noted that the company is not a permit holder for uplinking and downlinking of private satellite TV channels from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The company’s website however has appealed to its users to demand their cable operators for iPlus TV or to themselves install a 4 feet dish and watch iPlus themselves or in order to show to the entire building.
The company’s website has also indicated technical parameters for tuning the channel ‘iPlus TV’. The Ministry has drawn the attention of the company to the policy guidelines of uplinking of private satellite TV channels and downlinking of private satellite TV channels, 2011 under which permission for uplinking and downlinking is granted to a TV channel in India.
Accordingly, no TV channel can be uplinked or downlinked unless it is a bonafide permission holder from the I&B Ministry under the extant guidelines. The Ministry hasn’t given any permission to I Plus Telemedia to uplink/downlink ‘iPlusTV’. As such, the TV channel is not authorized to be downlinked by anyone in India.
The downlinking of TV channels not permitted by the Ministry is an illegal activity and punishable under Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The Ministry has directed the company to forthwith remove the channel, ‘iPlus TV’ immediately for the purpose of downlinking by any person including an individual or a cable operator in the country.
The Ministry’s DS (BP&L) is likely to examine the interconnection agreement between Airtel DTH and KDM Media Private Limited under DTH guidelines.
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