Broadcasters appeal to make airing public service content voluntary

The Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) has reached out to the Centre to either delete a provision that mandatorily requires broadcasters to air public-service content for a specified period of time, or make its implementation voluntary, as per Economic Times report.

The IBDF has said in a letter that the government should either delete the stipulation or provide subsidies and tax incentives to those broadcasters who voluntarily air public service content.

Media reports earlier said that the channels may have air content of national interest daily from January 1. On November 9, the Cabinet had approved the relevant norms in a proposal titled 'Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022'.

MIB officials were also quoted as saying that they would speak to broadcasters and other stakeholders before coming out with detailed guidelines.