Media

NaMoTV goes on air without broadcast licence, ‘didn’t even apply for one, don’t know who owns it’, say officials

NaMo TV, a channel named after the prime minister of India Narendra Modi, covering his speeches and election rallies is broadcasting for over a week now.

However, reports said that the channel has not been given the necessary clearances like the broadcast licence because it never applied for one. Yet the channel is live.

Under broadcast laws, this is illegal. ThePrint quoted an official in the Information and Broadcasting ministry saying that this was the first channel in the history of broadcasting in India that such a thing has happened.

“There have been instances of cable operators airing Pakistani or Chinese channels without permission in some places but this is possibly the first time when an Indian television channel, possibly owned by a politician or a political party, has gone on air without any permission,” the I&B ministry official told ThePrint.

It is not clear as of now who is the owner of the enterprise since no paperwork has been done to applications filed. Same is the case with the teleport or system that is being used for uplinking/downlinking the channel.

There is also no clarity on whether the channel has been classified as news or non-news, which in turn has a bearing on the amount of security deposit that it has to pay to the government.

The channel also does not feature on the list of permitted channels, issued by the I&B, as of 31 March.

NaMo TV, a channel covering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches and election rallies, went on air last week after election dates were announced and is available on all prominent DTH platforms.

 

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