Bill on programme code for television channels soon

BANGALORE, MARCH 20: The BJP Government at the Centre would introduce a Bill during the on-going Parliament session to bring in a nationa...

BANGALORE, MARCH 20: The BJP Government at the Centre would introduce a Bill during the on-going Parliament session to bring in a national advertising and programme code for all television channels, including Doordarshan, domestic and other foreign channels.

This was announced on Saturday by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan, who was here to participate in the celebrations in connection with the completion of one year by BJP-led coalition government.He told mediapersons that the code had been evolved to quot;check cultural invasion and provide level playing field to allquot;. But this was not aimed at introducing any pre-censorship on programmes and advertisements on television. He said DD had come of age and it had to compete with other channels, including the foreign ones for its share of revenue.

quot;And this was not possible by making it gain from liquor and tobacco advertising as in other channels which yields good revenue. DD is not permitted to accept advertisements from thesecompanies,quot; he pointed out.Stating that the Broadcasting Council, on the lines of Press Council of India, will also be set up to hear grievances and violations of the newly evolved code by any channel 8211; foreign, domestic or DD.

The Centre is also toying with the idea of introducing a legislation to make it mandatory for the cable operators to beam programmes of Channel-1 and 2 of DD on satellite to their subscribers, instead of transmitting through terrestrial antenna as was being done at present.

Speaking about DD8217;s new sports channel, Mahajan said that the present four-hour programme on the channel will be extended to 24 hours in order to promote Indian sports, besides beaming programmes on international sports events. The upgradation will take another two or three months, he added.The Centre will offer the FM-Radio channel to private parties and as many as 20 more cities will have four to five FM radio channels. This will also take another couple of months. Bangalore will also be brought in the FM mapof the country, he added.