Govt seeks equity, shareholding pattern details from channels

Against the backdrop of the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam which saw several of its channels going off air, the government has asked both the general and news channels to provide details of their equity and shareholding pattern.
According to the I&B Ministry, letters have been sent to the channels including those owned by the Saradha Group, which ran a bouquet of entertainment and current affairs channels. The closure of these channels have reportedly left several hundred jobless.
Sources said the aim is to verify if there has been any change in the shareholding pattern and equity structure of these channels since they were awarded licences.

The Ministry, though, has conducted similar exercise in the past also and licences of those channels who were found to have tinkered with their set up have been cancelled.
So far, over 100 channel representatives have furnished details to the I&B Ministry, sources said. At present, there are over 800 channels operating in the country.
Saradha Group's channel included Channel 10, whose journalist and non-journalists had filed an FIR at Kolkata on April 25 claiming that they were not paid salaries for the last three months despite repeated assurances.
The FIR was filed against Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghose who was the Saradha group media CEO, Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen and two others for non-payment of salaries.