From March, broadcast 15 hours of monthly national interest content: Govt to channels

Beginning March, all private television channels will be required to air national interest content for 15 hours every month. A detailed advisory to this effect was issued by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Monday.

The recent guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of television channels included a requirement for private broadcasters to undertake public service broadcasting for 30 minutes every day, based on certain themes given by the ministry. In this regard, the ministry undertook extensive consultations with the private broadcasters and their associations. Based on their inputs, an advisory was issued on January 30, it said in a statement.