REGULATIONS ON TELEVISION CHANNELS AND THEIR FOLLOWING IMPACTS

BACKGROUND OF HOW TELEVISION BEGAN

In September 1959 in India, Television began with the commencement of programmes like Krishi darshan and primitive cartoons. Today that is 2011, we have more than 180 satellite channels yielding more than Rs 80 billion  from advertisements alone.

We are one of the largest cable connected countries in the world after China and USA. The unique feature of the Indian market and the media economics is:

A. Despite being such a huge country, it is still a small market.

B. Unexplained and unjustified beaureacracy

C.fragmented nature of the Indian television industry.

These three factors are slowing down the growth of Indian television industry. 

By 1965 Television broadcasting matured to a 1hr service which included a news bulletin. In 1972 television went to Bombay now Mumbai and by 1975 to more five cities each had a television station called Doordarshan Kendra. The first satellite television experiments were taken by Doordarshan as early as 1975-76 by SITE. The cable TV took of with the introduction of colour television in 1982.It was CNN the first cable news channel of USA that bought Satellite TV to India.

REGULATIONS MADE BY THE GOVERNMENT

After the coming of satellite television, there were lot if upsurges in the country so to curve all of it, government’s first attempt to regulate the non-governmental broadcast media focused on cable operators and resulted in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, framed after the government reached an understanding at the all-India level with the Cable Operators Federation of India in 1993. Some of the Cable Television Networks Rules includes

1.No programmes should be carried in the cable service if it

a. Offends good taste or decency.

b.contains criticism of other countries specially the neighboring states.

c.contains anything obscene ,fake or untrue.

2.maintenance of a register, record of subscription  etc.

Then the supreme court in 1995 called for a single regulatory body.

There after the Broadcasting bill 1997 was proposed by the government which laid down that there will be one single broadcasting authority in the country. The Bill  reflected a  welcome consensus on the need to update the Indian Telegraph  Act of 1885. However it almost completely fails to recognize  the role  market forces  can play in harnessing the tremendous potential of the electronic medium.   

                                                                                            

The convergence bill,2000-The Convergence Bill 2000 placed before the Parliament is based on the hype that information technology (IT), telecommunications and entertainment industry are merging together.They wanted to create one body for all media related function.  The attempt appears to is a narrow one of getting rid of the current telecom regulators while exercising some kind of control  over the broadcast medium.

                    

Broadcast service regulation bill 2006- Its goals were:

1.To promote facilitate and develop in an orderly manner the carriage and content of Broadcasting,

2.To provide for regulation of broadcasting services in India for offering a variety of entertainment, news, views and information in a fair, objective and competitive manner and to provide for regulation of content for public viewing and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It talked about a lot of restrictions. It was widely criticized since it gave sweeping powers to the government and its representatives to cripple the media through pre-censorship. No process of public consultation and discussion preceded the drafting of the legislation.

In July 2007 there came up the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, to regulate the broadcast sector in the country-this included a content code that was needed to be followed. It has three purported goals:

1. Competition provisions which will prevent monopolies in the broadcast media.
2. Public service requirements imposed on all broadcasters.

3.Putting in place a pre-censorship mechanism in place through a Content.

                                                                             

The setting up of an Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) by the government to monitor the content of all news channels and FM radio stations was also widely reported in the media in mid-June 2008.  Much of the coverage conveyed the impression that the EMMC was linked to the deferred Broadcast Bill and Content Code and implied that its establishment was proof of the government’s lack of commitment to self-regulation


THE TWO TIER SELF-REGULATORY SETUP INCLUDES-
A.Regulation system for entertainment channels..BCCC-Broadcasting Conent Complaints Council. The BCCC is an independent Council set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation.  The Council comprises of a thirteen member body consisting of a Chairperson being a retired Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court and 12 other members. BCCC would examine complaints about television programmes received from the viewers or any other sources, including NGOs, RWAs, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting etc. and ensures that the programmes are in conformity with the Self Regulatory Content Guidelines. They take care of the interest of marginalisd groups.


B.Regulation system for News channels.-News broadcasters association which has set up broadcasters complaints redressal tribunal, headed by the retired judge of supreme court. If we have complaints,we address it to the channel and then BCCC.


One of the most important disadvantage is that many channels are not a part of these bodies and thus they don’t follow the norms. Self regulation has always been the bone of contention between the government and media houses. The government wants to regulate media content to make it suitable for universal audience. Media owners aim to drive revenues through sensationalizing content to draw more viewers from the buying class of the society. They support self-regulation instead of state control. However, as a user, our powers are not restricted to switching over to another TV channel or tune in to another radio station. we can legally file a complaint against media content, which we think is not appropriate.


The Indian Government has backed the idea of self-regulation for electronic media, as long as representatives from ordinary walks of life are properly represented. The self regulation vehicle being developed stems from a joint task force established earlier last year by the Ministry for I&B and IBF which has been listening to  views from members of the public, DTH operators, academics, resident welfare associations, and NGOs. Last year, government disapproval of scheduling of what may be deemed adult content in prime time hit the headlines, when it sought to move the transmission time of Big Boss 4 (India’s version of ‘Big Brother’) and Rakhi ka Insaaf to between 11pm and 5am.


Thus to conclude we can say that although there are a lot of self regulatory bodies and regulation laws set up by the government, still to a certain extent the self regulation process is not working in India completely. Thus there is an urgent need for a stronger law and a body, that can take over the entire charge.