In a move likely to be controversial and seen as censorship through the backdoor, the Union information and broadcasting ministry, under its proposed Downlinking Guidelines, aims to regulate the content, including news, of channels being beamed into the country from abroad—like Star TV's bouquet of channels, BBC, CNN, Sony and HBO. In its note to the cabinet—currently being examined by the Group of Ministers (GOM)—the I&B ministry spells out its reasons for monitoring content in the absence of a regulatory body.

Arguing that there was no comprehensive law for effective regulation of broadcasting, the I&B ministry has proposed the Downlinking Guidelines to provide for better regulation of satellite TV channels beaming their programmes into India, and address concerns over content. This, the ministry observes in its note, "will provide a mechanism to check the antecedents and to verify the legitimacy of the owners/distributors of the channels downlinked in India to enable to determine the suitability of the programme being seen by the Indian public." In its note to the GOM, the ministry has argued that the only regulatory framework that exists is laid down in the Cable Television (Regulation) Act, 1995, under which programmes of satellite channels, when transmitted through cable networks, must adhere to the prescribed Programme and Advertising Code. With no control on the reception of any TV channel being uplinked from abroad, the government is restrained from effectively regulating the content of those channels.

Straining to retain control of the channels, the note adds that in the "event of war, calamity or national security concerns, the government shall have the power to prohibit for a specified period the reception/transmission and retransmission of any or all channels." The clause is believed to have been added after graphic shots of mayhem and destruction were telecast in the wake of last December's tsunami by foreign news channels.

Also, the note states that news and current affairs channels beaming into the nation from abroad will not be permitted to carry any advertisements aimed at Indian viewers and will not be designed specifically for Indian audiences. Whether that includes India-specific programmes made by news channels such as BBC and CNN is not clear.

The GOM, comprising ministers from key ministries like defence, home affairs, information and broadcasting, finance, commerce and industry and law and justice, communication and information technology and science and technology, met on August 1 to take stock of the policy after the cabinet failed to arrive at a consensus on July 25. The GOM is scheduled to meet again later this month.

One does not have to look far to see the reasons why the I&B ministry wants the Downlinking Guidelines. Stirred into action by the constant clamour to curb obscenity on one hand, and check news content being beamed into the country on the other, the ministry, under S. Jaipal Reddy, spelt out the rules making it mandatory for foreign channels to register their offices with it after ensuring their net worth was Rs 1.50 crore. For every additional channel from the same broadcaster, the net worth was pegged at Rs 1 crore.

Also, the penalties stipulated for violating the guidelines of the Programme and Advertising Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995, have been extended to broadcasters. First-time defaulters will be barred from broadcasting for a period of 30 days; the ban period has been extended for 90 days for those who default again. Revocation of permission to broadcast is the extreme step proposed for those who fail to comply.

In the coming days, the GOM will take stock of theproposal. A nod from it will make the I&B ministry the master of all that it surveys. Some may call it censorship. The ministry sees it merely as a necessary vigil over the air waves.