After the recent terror attacks by ISIS in Bangladesh, the controversial preacher Zakir Naik and his Peace TV have come under immense scrutiny and there is a renewed debate on monitoring the content on TV Channels. Information shared by the government in the Lok Sabha indicates that as many as five different complaints were received against the telecast of Peace TV in various local cable networks. While guidelines for monitoring & regulation exist, available data & information shows that the implementation has failed to a great extent.

Regulation of TV Channels
The Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act, 1995, regulates the transmission and re-transmission of TV channels over Cable Networks. The Authorised Officers (the District Magistrates, the Additional District Magistrates, the Sub-Divisional Magistrates and the Commissioners of Police within their territorial jurisdiction) under the Act are empowered to take action whenever violations of the Cable Act, 1995 are brought to notice. Under the Cable TV Networks Rules, 1994, no cable operator is supposed to carry or include in his cable service any TV broadcast or channel, which has not been registered by the Central Government for being viewed within the territory of India.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting grants permission to TV channels under two categories i.e. ‘Non-News & Current Affairs TV Channels’ and ‘News & Current Affairs TV channels’ in accordance with the Policy Guidelines for Uplinking/ Downlinking of Satellite TV channels. All these companies are bound by the terms of permission, which also include security related conditions.
In addition, the cable operators can also transmit local (ground based) channels as per the Cable Act. But, the registration procedure for these channels is not defined in the Act.

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