TV content regulator on anvil, I&B to draft bill

MUMBAI: Big Brother will soon be watching. All that goes on in TV that is. Speaking in Parliament today, information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy said the government is planning to set up a regulatory authority to monitor content on television channels.
 

Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, Reddy said he hoped to introduce a legislation to this effect in the next session of Parliament. Reddy, however, clarified that there was no plan (at least for the present) to introduce censorship into television.
 
 

The Broadcasting Content Regulatory Authority is what it will be called and a core group set up by the I&B ministry will be given the task of defining its scope, objectives and functions. The proposed authority would have jurisdiction over all broadcasts of radio, cable, direct-to-home or terrestrial.