The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : `Law soon to check obscene scenes on TV'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 28, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

`Law soon to check obscene scenes on TV'

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 27. The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, S. Jaipal Reddy, on Sunday said a new law would be enacted to check beaming of obscene scenes on television.

Addressing a press conference here, he said a bill would be tabled in the Parliament in the ensuing budget session to set up an autonomous broadcasting authority to regulate telecast of obscene programmes. The licence of a TV channel was suspended for showing obscene scenes.

Allaying fears in certain sections on the proposed move, he said the regulatory authority would be set up on the lines of Federal Communication Commission in the United States.

Video piracy

Complimenting the Andhra Pradesh Government for its announcement to amend the Copyrights Act to punish those involved in video piracy, he said they would hold a meeting in Delhi on April 16 and 17 to announce a bail-out package for the cinema industry.

Besides reducing entertainment tax, steps would be taken for uniform tax system in all States to reduce the cinema ticket rate to Rs. 40 or below. He said the Ministry of Human Resource Development was considering amendment to the Copyrights Act.

Mr. Reddy said the Centre was in the process of formulating optical disc law to explore blocking or diversion of satellite signals before they were beamed by the TV channels to stop piracy. The law would go a long way to save the cinema industry.

Expressing satisfaction over direct-to-home (DTH) channels, he said there was an impressive response to free-to-air channels of Doordarshan Direct.

DD Direct would add 15 new channels to the existing bouquet of 33 by June 15.

He said the applications submitted by two private operators — Star-Tata consortium and Sun TV — for launching DTH operations were under examination by the Ministry of Company Affairs.

The private operators have to give 10 per cent of their revenue to the Government.

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Andhra Pradesh