GOVERNMENT CONTEMPLATES CRACKDOWN ON FASHION TV AND TB6

Satellite television channels Fashion TV and TB6 have raised the hackles of the Indian government. The I&B ministry is seriously considering penalising cable operators carrying these channels on account of the surfeit of nudity and semi-nudity that their programs contain.

"We have taken note of channels like Fashion TV and TB6 and the fare they beam into the country. We cannot allow these to continue without some censorship because both are being beamed free-to-air through cable operators," a close aide of I&B minister Pramod Mahajan, involved in helping him in policy formulation, said on Saturday.

What can the government do? Jamming signals has been ruled out as an uncivilised, ineffective and anti-reform approach. "But since we have legal jurisdiction over cable operators, they would first be warned not to redistribute such channels. Later, we may take legal action against them too," the Mahajan aide said.

What has irked the government is the late night adult fare that the Russian channel TB6 beams. According to Indian laws it can be categorised as pornography, especially, the half-hour Playboy-produced show where nothing is left to the imagination about what the birds and bees do.

"This kind of programming is not allowed in a free-to-air mode in developed TV markets too," the Mahajan aide said, pointing out, if the Indian government stops its redistribution it would not really be impinging on Indians' democratic rights.