The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Bill on broadcasting authority soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Bill on broadcasting authority soon

Staff Reporter

Government will have no say: Jaipal

VISAKHAPATNAM: The United Progressive Alliance Government will table a bill on broadcasting authority in the monsoon session of Parliament.

The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, S. Jaipal Reddy, told presspersons here on Wednesday that the authority would be an autonomous body being set up on the lines of Federal Broadcasting Commission of the US.

Mr. Reddy, who was here to take part in a function to felicitate veteran freedom-fighter Goutu Latchanna, said the Government would not have any say over the functioning of the authority.

According to the Minister, the proposed authority would check telecast of obscene and other objectionable scenes on TV channels.

Free channels click

He said that notices were served on nine music channels based on the recommendation of Group of Ministers constituted to study the quality of programmes beamed by them.

Commenting on encouraging response to free-to-air channels, Mr. Reddy said that of the 10 crore TV connections, five crore were exclusively to view Doordarshan programmes. So far 20 lakh set-top boxes had been sold for enjoying the direct-to-home (DTH) facility.

Doordarshan Direct would introduce 15 more channels to increase existing bouquet of 33. Even in rural and interior areas, the demand for DTH was very good, he said.

Foreign media

To a question, he replied that the Cabinet was likely to clear the proposal to allow facsimile edition of foreign dailies without change in the original content.

Mr. Reddy said that there was no proposal as of now to raise the ceiling on foreign direct investment in the print media.

Lauding the contents in the Bill on Freedom of Information, he said after the legislation, officials refusing to part with information of public interest would be punished.

Mr. Reddy disagreed with a reporter that the Left parties were dictating terms to the UPA Government, by saying that as supporters of the coalition, they had the right to guide and suggest. "This should not be viewed as an irritant to the Government,'' he observed.

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