I&B Ministry
MIB cancels permission to two channels
BENGALURU: Permissions to two private channels – one news and current affairs and one non-news and current affairs channel have been cancelled in this calendar year as on 28 February 2018 as per the information put out by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). The total number of private satellite and pay TV channels having valid permissions as of 28 February 2018 stood at 875 as compared to 877 as on 31 December 2018. As on 28 February 2018, the number of private news and current affairs channels that were permitted in India stood at 388, while the number of permitted private non-news and current affairs channels was 487.
There has been a dearth of licences being handed out in the last nine months. So far, 2018 has seen the addition of only two new channel licences namely Discovery Jeet HD and DSport HD. Before that, the last licence was issued in September 2017.
Of the 875 permitted private TV channels, 774 channels were permitted to both uplink and downlink to India. 368 of the TV channels that were permitted to both uplink and downlink were news and current affairs channels, while 406 were non-news and current affairs channels. 16 private channels were permitted to uplink from India, but not to downlink in India. Five of these channels were news and current affairs channels and 11 were non-news and current affairs channels. The total number of private channels that were permitted only to downlink to India was 85 as on 28 February 2018. The breakup of these channels was 15 news channels and 70 non-news channels.
The government had issued licenses to 45 channels in 2017 as compared to 75 in the previous calendar year (2016). In all, permission has been granted to 1,101 channels. Permission was cancelled for 226 channels, with 66 in 2017 alone. 44.3 percent or 388 of the permitted channels were news and current affairs channels.
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MUMBAI: When the numbers go silent, the noise on screen gets a little harder to measure. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has extended the suspension of television rating data for news channels, directing Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to withhold TRPs for another four weeks. The latest order, issued on March 31, 2026, builds on an earlier directive from March 6 that had paused ratings for a month. The ministry has clarified that the blackout will continue for four weeks or until further instructions are issued whichever comes earlier keeping the industry in a prolonged state of data drought.
The reasoning, officials suggest, lies far beyond domestic screens. With geopolitical tensions in West Asia continuing to escalate, the government has flagged concerns over how such developments could influence news consumption and presentation. The move is aimed at curbing excessive sensationalism and speculative coverage during what it describes as a sensitive global moment.
For the broadcast ecosystem, the absence of Television Rating Points (TRPs) is more than symbolic, it removes the industry’s primary scorecard. Ratings dictate advertising flows, shape editorial strategies and fuel the competitive pecking order among news channels. Without them, broadcasters are effectively operating without a public performance benchmark.
The timing only adds to the complexity. Amid a high-intensity global news cycle, channels must now navigate audience engagement without the weekly feedback loop that typically drives programming decisions. Advertisers, too, are left recalibrating, leaning on proxies such as brand strength, reach and distribution instead of hard viewership data.
While framed as a temporary regulatory intervention tied to maintaining public order, the extended suspension underscores a broader unease about the tone and direction of news coverage. For now, the ratings race is on pause but the battle for attention continues, just without a scoreboard.
