In its 36th report on the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Second amendment Bill, 2011, the standing Committee on Information and Technology noted that the government received several reports against cable operators showing illegal channels.
The Committee said that the I&B ministry in its own documents explaining how illegal channels reach subscribers' homes listed the possibility of cable operator picking these channels via broadband, Internet, IPTV, mobile TV, video streaming and re-transmitting them.
The Committee also noted that "even the Prime Minister's Office had drawn the attention of the ministry" to address the issue of showing non-permitted channels by the Internet.
"Instead of examining the issue, the Ministry has stated that the Internet is, by and large unregulated, except for certain restrictions under the Information Technology Act," the Committee said in its report and added that the concern raised by the PMO had been ignored.
"The Committee fails to understand how the issue of transmitting illegal/unrestricted channels can be addressed in entirety without regulating the source i.E. Internet," the report said.
The panel also said that in the case of illegal transmission of channels while penal rules were being proposed against the cable operators, it could not understand the I&B assertion that other service providers did not indulge in carriage of the illegal content. (More)