Lok Sabha Question No. 953 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-04
Subject: New TV Channels
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: INNOCENT

## GOERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 953 (TO BE ANSWERED ON 04-12-2015)

## NEW TV CHANNELS 953. SHRI INNOCENT.

## Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING be pleased to state:

- (a) The details of guidelines laid down for granting license to TV channels;
- (b) The number of news, entertainment, religious, sports and other TV channels being run in the country, category-wise;
- (c) The number of new TV channels to which licenses have been provided during each of the last three years and the current year, channel-wise;
- (d) The  details  of  applications  pending  with  the  Government  for  seeking  permission  to operate TV channels during each of the last three years and the current year along with the time by which they are likely to be cleared; and
- (e) The steps being taken by the Government to streamline the process of giving clearances to the pending applications in a stipulated time frame?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION  AND BROADCASTING {COL RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE (Retd.)}

- (a) Detailed  Policy  guidelines  for  Uplinking  of  TV  Channels  from  India  and  Policy guidelines  for  Downlinking  of  TV  Channels  into  India  are  available  on  Ministry's website i.e. www.mib.nic.in.
- (b) Ministry of Information & Broadcasting grants permission under two categories i.e NonNews & Current Affairs and News & Current Affairs TV channels in accordance with the Policy  Guidelines  for  Uplinking/Downlinking  of  Satellite  TV  channels.  As  on  date Ministry has permitted 830 TV channels out of which 398 Channels are under News & Current  Affairs  category  and  432  Channels  are  under  Non-news  and  Current  Affairs category. Religious channels & Sports channels are included in the non-news & current affairs  category.    The  list  of  permitted  channels  is  available  on  Ministry's  website  i.e. www.mib.nic.in.
- (c) The number of new TV channels to which permissions have been issued during each of the last three years and the current year, are given below:
- (d) As on date 260 number of applications are pending with the Government for  grant of permission to operate TV channels. As grant of permission is a continuous process, only cumulative data is maintained.
- (e) The steps taken by the Government are as follows:
- i) Regular monitoring of all the applications,
- ii) Regular follow up with concerned Ministries/ Departments for obtaining clearances.
- iii) Processing of applications as per the Citizens' Charter.

| Year                 |   No. of channels to which permissions have been issued | Category               |
|----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| 2012                 |                                                      37 | News :11 Non-News : 26 |
| 2013                 |                                                      07 | News :4 Non-News : 3   |
| 2014                 |                                                      45 | News :14 Non-News : 31 |
| 2015 (upto November) |                                                      42 | News :3 Non-News : 39  |

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