It’s official: FTV can show what it wants on pay route

The hide-and-seek is over. Now, the government is talking serious business with Fashion Television (FTV). So you don’t have to worry if...

The hide-and-seek is over. Now, the government is talking serious business with Fashion Television (FTV). So you don’t have to worry if Making of the Pirelli Calender or the lingerie show will be off the air. You may just have to pay for them.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has given FTV the option of two feeds — one a ‘‘sanitised’’ version for the Indian viewer and the other a pay channel on which the viewer can pay and see what he wants to see.

FTV, if it wants to stay free-to-air, and not fudge around with hemlines and necklines, has to suit Indian sensibilities, the ministry has decreed.

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‘‘As for the lingerie, that can be shown at night for those who don’t mind paying for it,’’ said officials in the ministry, who are not averse to two feeds of the same channel.

‘‘We have no problems even if FTV wants to uplink from here but the channel has to keep Indian sensibilities in mind,’’ officials said. As for the regular fare beamed from Paris, ministry officials say it can come through the pay route.

The ministry’s decision to allow FTV as an uncensored pay channel throws open the field to a host of adult channels that want to tap the Indian market.

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