Broadcasters puzzled over MIB content mandate

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's (MIB) mandate for TV channels to air content of national importance for a minimum period of 30 minutes a day has not gone down too well with broadcasters.

Clause 35 of the MIB guidelines for uplinking and downlinking satellite TV channels, issued on November 9, has created a flutter among broadcasters. While the MIB will come out with detailed guidelines on the issue after holding consultative meetings with stakeholders, there is a lot of confusion over the implementation of this public service obligation clause. 

Sources in the MIB said the government has merely implemented the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendations that were issued in 2008. "It (public service obligation) is not something that is onerous and the government is not dictating to the broadcasters what they can show. We will speak to the stakeholders and come out with detailed guidelines on this issue in the next few weeks," an MIB official told e4m. 

In its recommendation on the entry of government-owned entities in broadcasting, the regulator had suggested implementing public service obligations for every broadcaster in the country. The regulator had also recommended that the government should set up a committee or a regular body to approve and certify programmes that are fit for being broadcast as part of the public service obligation. Furthermore, TRAI had advised the government to come up with a mechanism for reimbursing, in full or part, the cost of production of such programmes. 

Senior executives from the broadcast sector say that the MIB should have fully implemented the TRAI recommendation by creating a provision for reimbursing broadcasters. 

"Broadcasters will incur costs for producing fresh programming on themes of national importance and social relevance. Will the government bear the cost of creating programming for a 30-minute duration? There is no clarity on this yet. While MIB has implemented TRAI's recommendation, it has done so selectively by keeping out the reimbursement part outside the guidelines," a senior official with a top broadcasting company said on condition of anonymity. 

Concurring with this view, a veteran media executive with a leading broadcasting company said that the government should help broadcasters to recover the cost of producing content through Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) ads. "The government should try to find a balance. If it wants to place public service obligation on the broadcasters, then it should also reimburse us by making a budgetary allocation. If it cannot make a budgetary allocation, then it should help broadcasters through DAVP ads," the executive stated. 

Another official from a large media network said the broadcast industry was going through a difficult phase as ad revenue is under stress due to the economic slowdown while the subscription revenue growth has remained stagnant due to the regulatory impasse. "In such a situation, it will be quite onerous for the broadcasters to create 30 minutes of content every day. In any case, it will be difficult to monetise this kind of content," the official added.

Stakeholders in the broadcast sector also say that MIB has just announced the guidelines and it will take a few weeks for it to come out with guidelines on the issue. The stakeholders are hoping that the MIB will offer clarity on the modalities of implementing this particular clause. 

"There is no clarity yet on how the 30-minute programme of national importance will get aired. Will it have to be broadcast in one go or through small capsules of 5 to 10 minutes? Also, will it have to be aired in a specific time band or can it be aired in any time slot?" another source from a leading media house questioned. 

He also contended that news as a genre is entirely about issues of public importance. "How will the MIB calculate the duration of programming of national importance for news channels which only offer content that is important for the public at large?" 

One of the sources quoted above stated that the entertainment channels already air programming, which might fall into one of the eight categories suggested in the guidelines. "Will MIB consider existing shows or movies that deal with key social issues as part of the public service obligation? GECs have been airing shows that are progressive in nature like women empowerment. There are a lot of movies on TV that have social causes as their theme," he asked. 

Clause 35 of the guideline states that "as airwaves/frequencies are public property and need to be used in the best interest of the society, a company/LLP having permission under these guidelines for uplinking a channel and its downlinking in India (other than foreign channels only downlinked in India) may undertake public service broadcasting for a minimum period of 30 minutes in a day on themes of national importance and of social relevance." 

It further adds that the broadcasters must select one of the following eight topics for creating content on the issue of national importance. These include (i) education and spread of literacy; (ii) agriculture and rural development; (iii) health and family welfare; (iv) science and technology; (v) welfare of women; (vi) welfare of the weaker sections of the society; (vii) protection of the environment and of cultural heritage; and (viii) national integration. 

The sub-clause 2 of clause 35 also states that "channels may, for the purpose, appropriately modulate their content to fulfill the obligation referred to in sub-para (1), except where it may not be feasible, such as in the case of sports channels". The guidelines further say that the central government may, from time to time, issue general advisory to the channels for the telecast of content in the national interest, and the channel shall comply with the same.