I&B Ministry
I&B Ministry to reduce Trai jurisdiction over b’cast & cable sector
NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry is now firmly of the view that regulation of content should be separate from carriage and is working on a legislation that would significantly reduce Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s jurisdiction over the broadcast and cable sector.
According to government officials, the I&B ministry has held initial discussions with the telecom ministry on the issue, trying to impress that content and carriage regulation should be separate, as opposed to the Convergence Communication Bill that envisaged a super-regulator for the IT, broadcasting and telecom sectors. Though officials indicated that no time frame has been set for such a piece of legislation, which would form part of the broadcast bill being tweaked by the I&B ministry at present, but talks are being held with the telecom ministry to facilitate this.
The Convergence Bill, which despite being a comprehensive piece of background work couldn’t see the light of the day because of political opposition to the creation of an over-arching and powerful regulator, falls under the purview of the telecom ministry and unless it agrees to the separation of carriage regulation from content, I&B ministry would find it difficult to have its say.
With regards to content regulation, the I&B ministry has also called for a meeting of industry stakeholders and women’s organisations and some non-governmental organisations early February to thrash out ” regular and frequent complaints” on images transmitted over television, especially those relating to violence and sex.
Meanwhile, the government has recently given clearance to three other organisations for starting community radio service, which has proved to be of some help in the aftermath of Tsunami disaster management.
The organisations that have got the final green signal from the government include the Delhi-based Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) and Jamia Milia University.
At the moment, despite 18-0dd clearances given by the government, only one community radio service is up and running at Anna University in Chennai. The government has also asked the director of the community radio service of the university to examine whether further help could be rendered in the Tsunami affected areas like Port Blair through such radio services.
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.
