I&B Ministry
MIB tells broadcasters to pay heed to hearing impaired & visually challenged viewers
NEW DELHI: All television channels have been requested by the government to assign greater emphasis to programmes for disabled persons and to include the facility of providing captions in their programmes for the hearing disabled and audio support for programs for the visually disabled.
In a notice put up on its website late in the evening, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry also requested the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (lBF), the News Broadcasters Association (NBA),the Association of Regional Television Broadcasters of India (ARTBI), and the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) to take steps in this direction.
The notice, which was put up under directions of joint secretary (Broadcasting) R Jaya, said the request was being made as immense public interest is involved.
The notice follows a meeting held between I and B secretary Sunil Arora and the secretary in the department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability (DoEPwD) to discuss advocacy and dissemination requirements for ‘Accessible India Campaign’ and other related issues .
Certain areas were highlighted in the meeting where support of MIB was solicited, such as awareness generation about the Accessible India Initiative, increased frequency of programmes for disabled persons in TV channels, showcasing films on achievements of disabled persons through public and private TV channels, and working towards captioning for the hearing impaired and audio facility for the sight impaired in programmes on TV channels in a time frame.
The note also said that the electronic media has played a crucial role in ensuring inclusiveness of all cilizens of the country in sharing information and entertainment.
The concerned bodies and channels have asked to give details of the achievements of such actions taken to the ministry.
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.
