Govt has decided to ease annual renewal norms for TV channels: Venkaiah Naidu

Naidu said that "broadcasters who have been given the permission for uplinking or downlinking can continue their operations by simply paying the annual permission fee

New Delhi, Nov 11: The government has decided to ease the "annual renewal" norms for TV channels and existing broadcasters can continue operations by simply paying annual permission fee 60 days before the due date, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said today.

"As part of the government's initiative of ease of doing business, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has completely done away with the process of obtaining an annual renewal for TV channels in the current form," he said.

Naidu said that "broadcasters who have been given the permission for uplinking or downlinking can continue their operations by simply paying the annual permission fee upto 60 days before the due date, which by itself will be treated as permission for continuation of a channel for a further period of one year."

This decision, the minister emphasised, would benefit a total of 963 channels and teleports. The I&B ministry, Naidu said, is committed to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote ease of doing business and will continue to take more steps in consultation with stakeholders.

The minister, who was addressing the Economic Editors' Conference here, also lauded the government's decision to demonetise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, saying the Prime Minister wants to realise 'Swachh Bharat' (Clean India), in terms of 'tan', 'man' and 'dhan' (body, mind and wealth).

PTI