I&B Ministry
Network18 writes to I&B ministry over BARC’s data validation and outlier policy
MUMBAI: News broadcasting network Network18 India has shot off a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (MIB) raising concerns over Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India’s data validation and outlier policy, Indiantelevision.com has learnt.
According to those in the know, the network has brought to the ministry’s attention the subjective nature of BARC’s implementation of outlier policy and its impact on TV ratings of channels with a relatively smaller viewership base.
On its part, BARC has consistently maintained that it cannot identify landing pages. Hence, reliance on manual intervention in weeding out outliers makes the process susceptible to bias is a view held by a section within the industry.
Indiantelevision.com reached out to Network18 for a comment, the network, however, did not confirm this development.
BARC’s treatment of landing pages has raised a furore among broadcasters over its approach post TDSAT’s order on landing pages.
Reacting to stakeholder concerns, the BARC board gave its nod to form a two-member committee to carry out an independent review of BARC’s data validation and outlier policy.
With opinion divided within the industry, some broadcasters have also written letters, highlighting the negative impact of landing pages, to TRAI and BARC’s technical committee.
On 28 May 2019, TDSAT set aside TRAI’s 3 December 2018 direction to rule in favour of landing page placement of channels.
Data for week 22, first since the landing page ruling, saw CNN News 18 upset the English news apple cart to top the chart, followed by Republic TV, Times Now, DD India and India Today Television.
BARC switched back to its previous methodology from week 23 onward claiming it had received multiple representations from stakeholders and the mandate of its board.
BARC’s flip-flop with its outlier policy implementation further fuelled the landing page row.
With the two-member committee now reviewing the policy, industry hopes for a speedy and acceptable resolution.
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.
