I&B Ministry
No proposal to ban junk food ads on TV: Smriti Irani
MUMBAI: Childhood obesity is a rising problem in India. The issue was addressed in today’s Lok Sabha session when a reply was sought from the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani on whether the government is aware of the study that correlates watching ads on TV with increasing habit of eating junk and if there is a proposal to impose a ban on telecast of junk food and cold/soft drinks advertisements on television.
In a written reply, Irani said that presently there is no such proposal to bank such ads on TV. Admitting that obesity in children was a concern, she mentioned that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has informed that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has constituted an expert group to address the issue of High Fat, Sugar and Salt foods (HFSS).
The expert group in its report made a recommendation regarding ban on foods with HFSS advertising on children’s channels or during children shows.
On this recommendation, the remarks of the FSSAI was that the food businesses could be asked to voluntarily desist from advertising HFSS foods on kids’ channels. Bodies like Food and Beverage Alliance of India have already decided to voluntarily restrict food and beverage advertisements concerning children.
Nine major food business operators have already joined this campaign and have decided not to advertise products with HFSS on kids’ channels.
Although the move of banning will promote healthy eating habit among children, it will hamper revenues of major advertisers on channels such as Pogo, Nickelodeon, Disney and others.
In December 2017, the Ministry had asked TV channels not to air advertisements selling and promoting condoms calling them indecent, especially for children. The government further reasoned that such ads can create unhealthy practices among them. Following this, there was a complete ban on condom ads on television between 6 am to 10 pm.
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I&B Ministry
AIDCF moves TDSAT over Waves plan to stream linear TV channels
Industry body flags regulatory gap as OTT push sparks broadcast turf war
NEW DELHI: The battle between traditional television distributors and digital platforms has found its way to the courts, with the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) moving the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against Prasar Bharati’s latest OTT play.
At the heart of the dispute is Waves, Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform, which has invited applications to onboard linear satellite TV channels. Aidcf, which represents multi-system operators (msos), argues that this move sidesteps existing broadcasting rules and risks tilting the playing field in favour of digital platforms.
The federation’s petition hinges on a key provision in the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines, 2022. Clause 11(3)(f) allows broadcasters to downlink channels only if they provide signal decoders to recognised distribution platforms such as MSOS, DTH operators, hits operators and iptv platforms. OTT platforms, aidcf points out, do not feature on that list.
In simple terms, AIDCF’s argument is this: if OTT platforms are not officially recognised distributors, they should not be receiving broadcast signals in the first place. By inviting channels onto Waves, the federation claims, Prasar Bharati is opening a backdoor that lets broadcasters bypass long-standing rules.
The concern goes beyond legal interpretation. Aidcf says OTT platforms currently operate without a clear regulatory framework, allowing them to expand into traditional broadcasting territory without the compliance burden that cable and satellite operators must carry. That, it argues, creates an uneven contest.
There is also a warning for broadcasters. If they provide signal decoders to an OTT platform like Waves, they could risk breaching the very conditions under which their downlinking permissions were granted.
For its part, Prasar Bharati’s Waves initiative is positioned as a step towards wider access and digital reach, bringing linear television into the streaming era. But critics say the move blurs the line between regulated broadcasting and largely unregulated streaming.
The matter is expected to come up before tdsat next week. The outcome could do more than settle a single dispute. It may help define how India regulates the fast-merging worlds of television and OTT, where the lines are getting fuzzier by the day and the stakes, sharper than ever.
