Virtually rejecting the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) recommendation that disallowed political parties from entering the field of public broadcasting, the government has said there is no such ban on anybody, as long as the stipulated rules are followed.
A top official in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, when asked whether political parties were restricted from starting their own channels, said: “There is no ban on anybody... But, there are certain criteria for those seeking permission to start channels, which are mentioned in detail on our website. These apply to all, and if they fulfil these, they are welcome to do so.”
With already around 500 television channels on air, the ministry is now concerned about streamlining the process of allowing the opening of new channels.
Also, with the telecom ministry planning to start the auction of 3G spectrum soon and bandwidth availability being very limited, I&B Minister Ambika Soni has written to Trai chairman J S Sarma, seeking his views on how to streamline the existing rules for regulating the entry of new channels, thus allowing judicious usage of bandwidth, ministry sources said.
When asked whether political parties wanting to start their own channels could also be affected if the ministry decided to make its rules more stringent, the official, while sidestepping the recommendations of Trai, said the rules were same for all and those fulfilling them could apply according to ministry guidelines.