I&B Ministry
MIB reminds broadcasters & MSOs of DAS Phase III signal transmission laws
NEW DELHI: After the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) firmly ruled out any extension of Phase III of digital addressable systems (DAS), the Information and Broadcasting Ministry today told broadcasters that “it is obligatory to stop TV signals to multi system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) who are not registered with the Ministry for operation in DAS notified areas.”
In a letter sent to all broadcasters and MSOs, Ministry joint secretary (broadcasting) R Jaya said, “All the broadcasters are requested to ensure to stop TV signals to those MSOs who are not registered with this Ministry for operation in DAS notified areas under Phase Ill and/or those who are not transmitting digitally encrypted TV signals in phase Ill areas after the cut-off date of 31 December, 2015.”
The letter aimed at drawing the attention of all broadcasters is drawn to certain rules, regulations and guidelines related to transmission of television signals in connection with approaching cut-off date for Phase Ill of cable digitisation in the country.
The letter said under Section 4A of the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995, it is obligatory for every cable operator to transmit or re-transmit programmes of any channel in an encrypted form through a digital addressable system with effect from the date as may be specified in the notification.
Under para 5.6 of the Policy Guidelines for downlinking of Television Channels, the company will provide satellite TV channel signal reception decoders only to MSOs/cable operators registered under the Act or to a direct-to-home operator registered under the DTH guidelines issued by the Government or to an Internet Protocol Television Service (IPTV) provider duly permitted under their existing Telecom license or authorised by the Telecommunications Department or to Headend In The Sky (HITS) operator duly permitted under the policy guidelines for HITS operators issued by I&B Ministry to provide such service.
Furthermore, the letter said under sub-regulation 3(2) (Chapter II- Interconnection) of Interconnect (Digital Addressable System) Regulations 2012, every broadcaster will provide signals of its TV channels to MSOs registered under rule 11 of the Cable Television Networks Rules 1994, making request for the same.
I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
