Forced transmission

New guidelines for satellite channels leave wide scope for interpretation

The government has said its new guidelines for the uplinking and downlinking of satellite channels in India, revised after 11 years, have enhanced “ease of compliance” and “ease of doing business” for licence holders. It has, for instance, removed the requirement seeking prior permission to telecast live events, though it is unclear what the government means in requiring “prior registration of events”. It has also done away or relaxed a raft of other prior permissions and extended the time period for some approvals. But these advantages are likely to pale against the requirement that all channels must broadcast daily 30