I&B Ministry
FII investments: I&B buys news channels’ line
NEW DELHI: A ministerial note being given final touches at the information and broadcasting ministry may bring smiles on the faces of listed media companies running news channels as a contentious issue of investment by foreign financial institutions (FIIs) would get addressed. A relaxation in investment norms is in the offing, provided the new Cabinet okays it.
But the same may not be true for the private FM radio companies as the information and broadcasting ministry feels that the players concerned have “complicated” the matters further by moving courts on the issue of annual licence fee, which became payable on 30 April.
The I&B ministry’s note on FII investment in TV news channels would be put up before the new minister on a priority basis so that various concerns raised by the likes of Zee Telefilms and Television Eighteen Ltd and stumbling investment blocks related to the likes of NDTV Ltd and TV Today Network Ltd get addressed for the smooth functioning of the companies concerned even while conforming to the existing laws of the land.
According to ministry sources, the issue of FII investment and whether it has to be treated as foreign investment or not is something that needs to be addressed quickly by the new government as the restructuring process of various companies running news channels depends on that.
At present, the I&B ministry treats FII investment as foreign investment in TV news companies, which has been making life difficult for various news channels to adhere to the existing foreign investment cap of 26 per cent andstill continue uplinking from India.
The contention of the likes of Television Eighteen has been, ministry sources told indiantelevision.com today, that it is difficult to keep track of every FII investment (read buying of shares) in publicly traded media companies, though the Companies Act, which would otherwise over-ride any other guidelines, is more liberal in this regard as long as sectoral caps are adhered to.
“We have sought information from the finance ministry on the FII investment angle and the issue is likely to be put up before the new minister as soon as possible,” a source in the I&B ministry said, pointing out that if the Companies Act does not treat FII investment as foreign investment in listed companies, then an amendment would be made in the uplinking laws of the country after Cabinet approval is obtained.
But the sources, however, ruled out any immediate relaxation in the foreign investment cap of 26 per cent in TV news ventures, saying, “these things, if at all they happen, would take a longer period of time for the government to decide on.”
CAS LIKELY TO BE DUMPED
Another opinion that is firming up in the I&B ministry amongst bureaucrats is that the issue of conditional access system (CAS) should not be pursued by the new government.
“Our advise to the new I&B minister would be to steer clear of issues like CAS that are simply nothing but a political minefield,” a senior government official said, adding that the effort would also be to “distance the I&B ministry as much as possible from CAS.”
The feeling in the outgoing government towards the end was also that law should not have mandated CAS and the technology should have been allowed to be evolved naturally via market forces.
Considering the stiff opposition to CAS in the two main states where CAS was being sought to be implemented — Union Territory of Delhi and West Bengal — government officials feel that the new government would prefer to steerclear of the CAS issue letting the regulator take an initial stand on the issue.
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.
