I&B Ministry
Penal provision remains as TV channel renewal abolition comes into immediate effect
NEW DELHI: Even as Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu announced doing away with the annual renewal permission for television channels provided annual payment was made 60 days before the due date, the Ministry in a note in the evening said non-payment in time will be considered violation of the guidelines.
The note on the Ministry website which said the order was coming into immediate effect also warned that violators would attract penal provisions under the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines.
Meanwhile, Naidu announced that the 28th State Information Ministers Meet (SIMCON) would be held in the capital on 9 and 10 December.
Critical issues pertaining to the films sector, community radio and social media are on the agenda.
Speaking at a Consultative Committee of members of Parliament attached to the Ministry, Naidu also said the focus of the Ministry is to make the processes online,thereby promoting transparency and accountability.
In the meeting that concentrated on the Registrar of Newspapers in India, Naidu said there was a need to update contemporaries and revise the legal mechanism in the print sector and to give statutory backing to Print Media Policy and various guidelines. In this context, the Minister apprised the members about the salient features of the proposed Press and Registration of Books and Publication (PRBP) Bill.
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I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati sets EPG standards for DD Free Dish platform
New specs define 7-day guide, LCN mapping, and device compatibility.
MUMBAI: Your TV guide just got a backstage pass structured, scheduled, and far more in sync. Prasar Bharati has released detailed technical specifications for Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) services on DD Free Dish, laying down a standardised framework for how channels and programme information are organised and delivered. At the core of the update is a defined EPG data structure, covering genre-based categorisation, scheduling formats, and Logical Channel Numbering (LCN). The aim is simple: make navigation less guesswork and more guided experience across the platform’s over 40 million households.
The specifications also introduce a seven-day programme guide window for each channel, alongside clear rules for channel grouping and LCN mapping effectively deciding not just what you watch, but how easily you find it.
On the technical front, the document outlines requirements for Program Specific Information (PSI) and Service Information (SI), including descriptor usage across tables such as PAT, BAT and NIT. It further details service lists and network linkage parameters, giving OEMs and developers a clearer blueprint for integration.
Importantly, the framework is designed to work seamlessly with television sets equipped with in-built satellite tuners, enabling users to access DD Free Dish directly without additional hardware, an incremental but meaningful step towards simplifying access.
The platform will continue to operate on GSAT-15 transponders, using MPEG-4 compression and DVB-S2 transmission standards, ensuring continuity even as the interface evolves.
While largely technical, the move signals a broader push towards standardisation and user-friendly discovery in India’s free-to-air ecosystem because sometimes, the real upgrade isn’t what’s on screen, but how easily you get there.
