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THE
NATION: TV BROADCAST LEGISLATION
Turning
The Cables
The blackout
was the first major confrontation between the cable TV operators and the
Government. But the war is not over yet
By
Namita Bhandare and Methil
Renuka
At
the stroke of the mid-night hour on the night of September 25, insomniac
couch potatoes suddenly found their TV screens going blank. Not another
power breakdown; cable operators and multi-system operators (MSOs) were
making good their threat to go on a three-day strike. It was the first
serious confrontation between cable operators and the government.
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| Cable
operators join hands against the new regulations |
Despite the
fact that the strike had affected close to 15 lakh households in Delhi,
Noida and Faridabad, as well as parts of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal
Pradesh, the government refused to back down. This blackout was in retaliation
to what cable operators believe are unfair amendments to the Cable TV
Networks (Regulation) Act.
Although
terrestrial channels, the National network and Metro channel (to which
DD Sports - that recently went pay-hastily shifted its Olympics coverage)
were not affected, many subscribers who had disconnected their antennae
and receive these channels via satellite were denied access to them. The
Centre for Media Studies (CMS) estimates that 60 per cent of cable and
satellite receiving homes in Delhi didn't even get DD.
An on-the-spot
CMS survey on the effect of the strike finds - surprisingly -that 35 per
cent of the women respondents and 20 per cent men were actually happy
with the strike. "There was a marked increase in people coming out
of their homes, particularly to the cinema and to restaurants," says
P.N. Vasanti, director, CMS.
The amendments
which sparked off this reaction include a clause effective this month
that makes operators responsible for all programmes. "No cable operator,"
it says, can carry programmes "unless granted a licence by owners
of the copyright." Simply: cable operators better make sure they
have the copyright to the programmes they air. Moreover, it stipulates
that no person can transmit programmes not in conformity with the prescribed
programming code.
"How
can I monitor the 70-odd channels going down the stream?" asks S.N.
Sharma, vice-president (North India), Win Cable. "The point we're
trying to put across to the Government is to make broadcasters responsible
for content."
But I&B
Ministry officials counter that the clause has been there since 1995 when
the act was first passed. Channels which violate programming codes - as
in the case of Russian TB6 - are notified by the government and only then
do cable operators come into the picture; they yank the channel off the
air. Prasar Bharati CEO Rajeeva Ratna Shah adds that all over the world
enforcement is carried out at the distribution level. "These are
not draconian amendments. Those following the law have nothing to fear,"
he says.
But any
cable operator broadcasting pirated versions of the latest Bollywood blockbuster
may soon go out of business. A recent survey by the CMS of 140 cable operators
in the Hindi belt found that 80 per cent of the operators offered their
own video channel in which, along with local news, the latest movies were
also shown. The survey could not find a single instance of any cable operator
being hauled up by the long arm of the law for copyright infringement.
The amendment gives teeth to the government to crack down effectively
on copyright violators by allowing designated officers to confiscate equipment.
Moreover, the 1995 Act had a provision that restricted adult programming
between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Some cable operators had interpreted this as
an invitation to begin pornographic broadcasts. That leeway has now been
scrapped.
Pg.2
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