The new uplinking and downlinking guidelines for private TV channels, through which the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry had last year proposed to address the issue of some channels “bypassing” the auction process for DD Free Dish slots, are yet to see the light of day.
“The draft guidelines are still to be finalised and taken up for discussion. The matter is under consideration,” said a government source.
In February 2021, through a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the I&B Minister said that the Ministry received a reference from Prasar Bharati regarding reception of some channels of private broadcasters on Free Dish set-top boxes which were not part of the channels downlinkable from that platform.
