Making India an uplinking hub

(Mains GS2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.)

Context:

• Recently, two major developments takes place in the television industry in India i.e. in 2021, the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, were amended to include a statutory mechanism for redressal of grievances and complaints of viewers relating to content broadcast by television channels in accordance with the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. 
• And in 2022, the Union Cabinet approved the policy guidelines for the uplinking and downlinking of television channels from India.

Motive of these developments:

• While an uplink refers to the link from a ground station up to a satellite, a downlink is the link from a satellite down to one or more ground stations or receivers. 
• The amended Cable Television Network Rules bring in a strong institutional system for redressing grievances and make broadcasters and their self-regulating bodies accountable and responsible. 
• The policy guidelines for uplinking and downlinking are aimed at making India the hub of uplinking as they allow Indian teleports to uplink foreign channels.

Review policy guidelines:

• The MIB issued uplinking and downlinking policy guidelines in 2011 for private satellite TV channels and teleports. 
• In view of the challenges from the evolving broadcasting technology, changes in market scenarios and other operational developments in the broadcasting sector, the government decided to review and amend the policy guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of television channels. 
• The Ministry published the draft policy guidelines on April 30, 2020, and invited comments and suggestions from stakeholders within 15 days but in view of the lockdown due to COVID-19, the time limit was extended twice. 
• After considering the comments and suggestions, the policy guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of television channels from India were notified on November 9, 2022.

Create conducive environment:

• The guidelines aim to create a conducive environment in line with the principle of ease of doing business on a sound regulatory framework but more importantly, these are aimed at making India a teleport hub for other countries. 
• From the days when Indian broadcasters were flying tapes to foreign countries for uplinking to the times when foreign broadcasters would send their programmes to Indian teleports for uplink, there has been monumental progress in the television industry. 
• Instead of debating the section that makes it obligatory for broadcasters to undertake public service broadcasting for a minimum of 30 minutes in a day on themes of national importance and social relevance, it is this aspect of the new policy guidelines that needs to be celebrated in India’s ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Kaal’.