I&B Ministry
ISRO/DoS relent on use of foreign satellites; MIB starts processing applications
MUMBAI: India’s Department of Space, overseeing the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has eased up on its hitherto hard stance on Indian TV channels and teleports using foreign satellites’ capacity — if the Indian customer has a long-term contract.
In a communication to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), DoS/ISRO combine has advised that applications may be processed — for the time being — without insistence on migration to an Indian satellite or asking the time frame for doing it.
According to government sources, it has been suggested to MIB that it could start granting permissions to TV channels proposing to use foreign satellites for uplinking purpose if they are going in for a contract of three years or more. If an applicant company, having existing government permissions, has long-term capacity contract on foreign satellites, it too should be allowed to continue with its services.
However, there’s a caveat to ISRO/DoS’ latest softening of stance. Any company that has existing permission from MIB to start a TV channel or communications service (like teleports) and is using foreign satellites should give the Indian space agency at least three-month notice for space on an Indian satellite when its contract with a foreign satco is ending. Same holds true for all fresh permissions for TV channels given by the government.
The DoS/ISRO communication referred to over 35 applications that were kept pending by MIB as Department of Space had been insisting on migration to Indians satellites. MIB had also issued letters earlier this year asking companies seeking name change, for example, as to when they proposed to shift to an Indian satellite. Out of these cases highlighted by ISRO/DoS, at least 10 have long-term contracts for capacity on foreign satellites.
Last month MIB cleared applications of three new TV channels in Indian languages under Aastha brand name. The Aastha channels are owned by a company controlled by Balkrishna, a close associate of yoga-guru-turned-entrepreneur Ramdev who’s Patanjali FMCG venture is giving even multinational companies sleepless nights, if revenues and sales growth are to be believed.
Government nods recently were also given for name and logo change to some big broadcasting companies. Incidentally, some of the Aastha TV channels use foreign satellites for uplinking activity.
In recent times, ISRO has been facing minor setbacks regarding launch of communications satellites, including Gsat-11, which returned to India just few days before launch from a European launchpad.
Still, it needs to be seen how long the government continues allowing Indian customers facilities of foreign satellites.
MIB Expands Areas for Online Applications
In a new advisory put out yesterday, MIB has expanded the services for which applications could be made online, something that the government has been insisting on in an effort to reduce processing time.
The online module for submitting applications on www.broadcastseva.gov.in extends to cases relating to change in details of a company, annual permission fee for teleport companies and company-specific changes being sought to be made by teleports.
The government has also reiterated an earlier stand of accepting online payments for various processing and annual permission fee, adding such payments should be made on time failing which action could be taken against companies concerned under existing regulations.
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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.
