Govt formulating new broadcast policy to regulate OTTs: Minister Murugan

Murugan said the government was holding 'detailed conversations' with various stakeholders to allow private FM radio channels to broadcast news bulletins in addition to the service rendered by AIR

The Centre is formulating a new broadcast policy following complaints that the Over-The-Top platforms are not adhering to self-regulatory practices, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, L Murugan said on Wednesday.

At an event here, Murugan said the government was holding 'detailed conversations' with various stakeholders to allow private FM radio channels to broadcast news bulletins in addition to the service rendered by All India Radio.

Murugan accompanied by senior officials from the Ministry, addressed a meeting on FM Radio Auction, an outreach programme organised by the Consultative Committee City Chambers of Commerce and Industry, comprising six industry bodies based out of Chennai.

To a query on regulation of Over-The-Top platforms, the Minister said the Centre introduced self-regulation practices like classifying a movie based on the age of the viewership and the content it provided.

"Normally, OTTs broadcast disclaimer: this is meant for 18 year olds. It contains violence. So A certification will be provided, this movie can be watched with Parental Guidance, These kinds of classifications are there. But, we received complaints from the public and industry that OTT platforms were not adhering to the (self-regulatory) practice," he said.

To regulate the OTT content, the Ministry is formulating a new Broadcast policy that is currently in the public domain to elicit views from the public and other stakeholders.

"After receiving the suggestions, inputs from the industry and public, we will introduce it in the Parliament," the Union Minsiter said.

Responding to a question on allowing Private FM channels to broadcast news, he said, "Right now detailed conversations are going on around this (to allow private FM channels to run news bulletins). "  "We will take a call after analysing all the inputs received from various stakeholders including from the industry."  Accompanied by the Ministry's Joint Secretary Sanjiv Shankar, Murugan said the Outreach Programme in Chennai was held to invite companies, interested parties, to take part in the auction to 730 operate private FM Radio channels, which would be rolled out in 234 cities pan India in various price bands.

"We are in Chennai today in connection with the auction for private FM Radio. We have already visited Pune, Mumbai and now, we are in Chennai and will be traveling to other cities interacting with industry chambers, interested parties in the radio industry seeking their support for this auction," Shankar said.

The Ministry has launched the Notice Inviting Applications (NIAs) for those interested to operate a private FM Radio channel for which application fee has been fixed at Rs 50,000.

As many as 11 towns and cities have been selected in Tamil Nadu with each city receiving three licenses to operate the private FM Radio channels. This is aimed at benefiting a larger audience as 'radio continues to be a powerful medium of mass outreach,' he said.

"Some of the cities are Coonoor, Tiruvannamlai, Thanjavur, Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu. The details are available in the NIAs. The pre-bid meeting is expected to be held on October 28 at Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi and the auction process is expected to begin around 10th of January,(2025)" he added.