In a written reply in Lok Sabha, I&B Minister Manish Tewari said that at present there are 389 news and current affairs channels and 398 non-news and current affairs channels.
"Applications for 243 new channels are at various stages of clearance in consultation with various departments/ ministries," he said.
Tewari also gave details as per which the ministry has granted permission to eleven TV channels between January 2013 and January 2014.
To a question on digitisation, he said that data from the state governments showed that there is a significant increase in the collection of the entertainment and service tax from cable TV sector due to enhanced transparency in the subscriber base.
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