I&B Ministry
Government warns News channel for showing disturbing visuals in news bulletins
NEW DELHI: The government has sent a warning to DY 365 News channel for showing ‘extremely disturbing visuals of dead bodies and badly injured people including children’ that ‘were not only disturbing but may also hurt the sentiments of the viewers.’
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked the channel to strictly adhere to the terms of permission granted to uplink it on 30 July 2008 and under
Section 20 of the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995.
The Ministry said it had issued the notice, after the channel had telecast News bulletins on 12 May 2013, 22 February 2013, 2 February 2013, 2 November 2012, 4 October 2O12, 2 September 2012, 26 July 2012, 22 July 2012, 9 July 2012 and 3 July 2012 in different bulletins visuals that were ‘neither morphed nor blurred in keeping with the sensitivities of the victim’s families as well as viewers.’
Hence the Ministry found that these visuals appear to offend good taste and decency and do not appear to be suitable for children and for unrestricted public exhibition.
A show cause notice was sent to the channel on 26 September last year in reply to which the channel took the excuse that the faces had been shown so that their relatives could identify them and ‘there was no deliberate or intentional motive of the channel to show faces of the deceased in the news programme’. The channel also offered an unconditional apology.
In view of the reply, the Inter-Ministerial Committee in its meeting on 26 February this year gave a personal opportunity to the channel to present its case.
The warning has been issued as the Committee was clear that the telecasts were in clear violation of the provisions of the Programme Code, particularly Rules 6(1Xa), 6(1)(o), and 6 (5) of CTNR, 1994. The IMC observed that even though the channel had accepted its fault and apologised for its mistake, it cannot escape the responsibility of ensuring content on the channel which must be in conformity with the Programme Code at all times.
I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati sets EPG standards for DD Free Dish platform
New specs define 7-day guide, LCN mapping, and device compatibility.
MUMBAI: Your TV guide just got a backstage pass structured, scheduled, and far more in sync. Prasar Bharati has released detailed technical specifications for Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) services on DD Free Dish, laying down a standardised framework for how channels and programme information are organised and delivered. At the core of the update is a defined EPG data structure, covering genre-based categorisation, scheduling formats, and Logical Channel Numbering (LCN). The aim is simple: make navigation less guesswork and more guided experience across the platform’s over 40 million households.
The specifications also introduce a seven-day programme guide window for each channel, alongside clear rules for channel grouping and LCN mapping effectively deciding not just what you watch, but how easily you find it.
On the technical front, the document outlines requirements for Program Specific Information (PSI) and Service Information (SI), including descriptor usage across tables such as PAT, BAT and NIT. It further details service lists and network linkage parameters, giving OEMs and developers a clearer blueprint for integration.
Importantly, the framework is designed to work seamlessly with television sets equipped with in-built satellite tuners, enabling users to access DD Free Dish directly without additional hardware, an incremental but meaningful step towards simplifying access.
The platform will continue to operate on GSAT-15 transponders, using MPEG-4 compression and DVB-S2 transmission standards, ensuring continuity even as the interface evolves.
While largely technical, the move signals a broader push towards standardisation and user-friendly discovery in India’s free-to-air ecosystem because sometimes, the real upgrade isn’t what’s on screen, but how easily you get there.
