Govt clueless on number of channels being aired illegally

NEW DELHI: Televangelist Zakir Naik’s Peace TV looks set to give the government more worries. The information and broadcasting ministry has no data on how many banned channels are being downloaded and aired illegally in the country.

The illegal telecast of Dubai-based Peace TV in India has shifted the spotlight on the need for developing a monitoring mechanism for tracking the unlawful broadcast of channels and programmes that are not cleared for transmission.

According to sources in the government, the I&B ministry is mulling how to monitor the relay of content that can “pose a threat to the nation’s security and secular structure”. On the radar will be channels and programmes with religious content, discourses and news. Inputs will be sought from the internal security establishment.

“There is no way to monitor suspicious channels; at present we only track permitted news and general entertainment channels through the EEMC (Electronic Media Monitoring Centre),” an official said. “But the government has been alerted to the need for checking content that can have an adverse impact on security and national integrity.”

At present the government relies on complaints by states, individuals and cable TV operators to bring to attention illegal broadcast of channels. For monitoring illegal broadcast through the internet, it will have to rope in the ministry of communication and information technology.

Monitoring of over 600 permitted channels is carried out at the EEMC. The purpose is to monitor content and to check them for violation of programme and advertisement code besides the provisions of cable television networks regulation Act, 1995. Additionally, the I&B ministry also monitors social media platforms. This is done through its social media monitoring unit, which supplies daily reports to the Prime Minister’s Office, the national security advisor’s office, and the home ministry.