Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeks relief for industry

New Delhi: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has sought government support to deal with the crisis in the television broadcast sector as a result of the covid-19 outbreak in the country.

In its letter to Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, the IBF, a not-for-profit body representing the interests of television broadcasters in India, has made requests for regulatory moratorium for the sector for at least the next 18 months, phased resumption of production activities, extension of moratorium period for goods and services tax (GST) payment, mandating digital payments of subscription and advertising dues to broadcasters, increase in time period for operationalization of new channels which have been granted permission from one to two years, waiver of carriage fee due to state broadcaster Prasar Bharati for the three months of April, May and June for free-to-air channels on Prasar Bharati’s Free Dish platform, among other things.