Govt to monitor content broadcast on FM radio stations

Information and Broadcasting secretary Uday Kumar Varma said there was a need to monitor radio content as nearly 800 more FM channels are likely to come up in the next couple of years.

Speaking at a function at the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) here, he said, "The whole world of monitoring of radio content is still to be handled and addressed in a meaningful manner. We do have a mechanism but I think we need to keep that mechanism evolving. With 800 plus FM channels expected to come in next one to three years, there will be quite a handful that will need to be addressed".

He said private channels in the coming days would get permission to broadcast news which makes the need to monitor content important.

"They will begin with AIR news but local news in any case, they may be allowed to generate and broadcast and that would have several manifestations which will need to be monitored," Varma said.

Later speaking to PTI, Ranjana Dev Sarmah, Director EMMC said the content monitoring body was planning to expand its operations to include radio content and increase the number of television channels.

"During the 12th five year plan period, we intend to set up the mechanism to monitor radio content as per the I&B ministry's instructions," Sarmah said.

"We also plan to increase the number of TV channels which are monitored from the current 300 to upto 1200 in the coming days," he said.

The EMMC is a department under the I&B ministry which monitors TV content round-the-clock and reports violations of rules and also carries out analysis.