I&B Ministry
DAS Phase IV: IBF asked to up campaign in addition to MIB ads
NEW DELHI: Digitisation of Indian TV homes, thought to be the panacea for many ills afflicting the broadcasting and cable eco-system, may have slowed down in recent times, but the government is earnest in adhering to deadlines and has sought active involvement of industry bodies like the IBF and other stakeholders in pushing digitisation in laggard States through aggressive consumer education.
At a meeting of the Task Force on Digital Addressable System (DAS) here yesterday, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) conveyed to all concerned that deadlines and goals posts would not be moved, even while it requested the Indian broadcasting Foundation (IBF) to be more pro-active in educating consumers and stakeholders about digitisation.
Reports submitted by the various States on the progress with regard to the implementation of DAS in Phase IV showed that Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand were the three most backward states as far as digitisation go.
The DAS Task Force meeting, held under the chairmanship of new MIB Additional Secretary Jayashree Mukherjee, was told by representative from Uttar Pradesh that cable operators in some districts had complained that digital signals were not available. MIB sought details so that the issue could be examined and resolved.
Representatives of most other States present at the meeting reported satisfactory progress and claimed they were on track.
The meeting, which was also addressed by MIB Advisor (DAS) Yogendra Pal and Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) Sanjay Murthy, was apprised by representatives of broadcasters that they had stepped up publicity to create awareness about DAS in the Phase IV areas.
Phase IV areas, needing approximately 75 million set-top boxes (STBs) as per industry estimates, mostly comprise rural India’s smaller hamlets and towns where selling the idea of digitisation and getting a STB at home itself is considered a challenging task by LCOs, MSOs and other stakeholders.
Keeping this in mind, IBF was asked by the MIB to shoot off more publicity campaigns in addition to those given by the Ministry so that outreach initiatives could be stepped up further to reach the targeted segments.
Joint-secretary Murthy apprised those present at the meeting that court cases related to DAS were coming up for hearing before the Delhi High Court early September 2016 and expressed the hope that the court would give a positive decision on the matter quickly.
Meanwhile, advisor Pal asked MSOs to ensure that inter-connect agreements are signed with the broadcasters as MIB and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had reiterated. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) too had held that no signals could be supplied until proper inter-connect agreements were in place.
The MSOs were asked to approach TRAI if they were facing any difficulty in arriving at agreements with broadcasters and LCOs.
Mukherjee and Pal reiterated that there was no question of putting off the deadline of 31 December 2015 for Phase III as far as the government was concerned.
The government reiterated that digitization of cable TV systems in the entire country would be — and should be — completed by 31 December 2016.
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.
