Information & Broadcasting Ministry simplifies renewal process for existing TV channels

The government on Friday said television broadcasters can now continue operations by paying an annual fee 60 days before the due date, instead of seeking permission every year for continuation of their channels.

“The Ministry has completely done away with the process of obtaining an ‘annual renewal’ for TV channels in the current form,” Minister for Information & Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu said at the Economic Editors’ Conference.

He explained 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 prior to the due date, which by itself will be treated as permission for continuation of the channel for a further period of one year.

This decision, the Minister pointed out, would benefit 963 channels and teleports.