I&B Ministry
I&B releases public interest ads for CAS in Mumbai
MUMBAI: The ministry of information and broadcasting seems to be pretty serious about the new conditional access system (CAS) deadline.
The ministry has released 25*4 col cms ads in all the major newspapers in Mumbai. The copy says “from 1 September 2003, every cable operator will transmit/re-transmit every pay channel through a set top box (STB) in the areas of metro city of Mumbai. Introduction of CAS will protect viewers from arbitrary and frequent hikes, as was being observed earlier with the monthly subscription rates.”
The ad says that no STB will be required to watch free-to-air channels as these channels will be received in the manner signals are received in the pre-CAS era. It also adds that FTA channels will be receivable within a maximum price of Rs 72 plus taxes.
The ad urges viewers to demand the details of the pay TV prices and schemes for STBs from their cable operators. It also counsels the viewers that STBs will give them a choice of viewing a pay channel so that they choose the channel they wish to watch after knowing its price. “The STB will empower you to shut out the content that you don not wish your family to watch,” it informs viewers.
The ad also gives the following contact details of MSO Helplines:
* SitiCable – 56936343 www.info@galaxy.com
* INCableNet – 1-600-223456 www.incablenet.com
* Hathway – 22885866 www.hathway.net
The Greater Mumbai municipal council areas that have been specified in the notification include:
the area to the west of the mainline of central railway between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Sion railway station; the area from Navy Nagar in the south of Mumbai to CST railway station in the north including Ballard Estate, Colaba, RC Church, World Trade Centre, Nariman Point, Cuffe Parade, Bombay Stock Exchange area, Fort, Fountain, Horniman Circle, Prince of Wales museum, Reserve Bank of India, Churchgate, Shahid Bhagat Singh road, Town Hall, Madam Cama Road, Veer Nariman road, Mahatma Gandhi road, Dr Dadabhai Nauroji road, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Kalbadevi, Thakurdwar, Girgaum, Walkeshwar, Napean sea Road, Cumbala Hill, Malabar Hill, Grant Road, Khetwadi, Breach Candy, Peddar road, Haji Ali, Mahalaxmi, Worli, Tardeo, Altamount road, Dr Dadasaheb Bhadkamkar road, Sardar Vallabhai Patel road, Saat Raasta, Lala Lajpatrai road, Mahalaxmi Race Course road, Dr Annie Besant, NM Joshi, Gokhale road, Dr Moses road, Prabhadevi, Dadar (west), Shivaji Park, Cadell road, Lady Jamshedji road, Sitladevi road, Mahim, general Arunkumar Vidya marg; the Sion-Bandra Link road and Mahim causeway on the northern side.
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.
