The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) will convene with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to address crucial matters impacting the broadcasting sector, including the draft Broadcast Bill and the IT Rules 2021.
The meeting will feature prominent figures from the NBDA, including Rajat Sharma, Chairman of India TV; Rahul Joshi, MD of TV18 Broadcast; Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson of TV Today Network; and Sanjay Pugalia, Whole-Time Director at NDTV, among other key attendees, as per media reports.
The NBDA has not circulated a detailed agenda for the meeting.
In February, NBDA voiced significant concerns regarding the draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill 2023. The initial draft of this bill was circulated in November 2023, with a second version being shared with select stakeholders in July 2024.
As per reports, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) recently requested stakeholders to return their hard copies of the draft bill.
Additionally, the MIB announced plans to conduct broader consultations with stakeholders before releasing a revised draft.
The media industry has strongly opposed the broadcast bill due to its expansion into the realms of OTT and digital news. The second draft of the bill introduced an even more contentious provision, categorising social media users beyond a threshold as either OTT broadcasting service operators or digital news broadcasters.
Earlier, the NBDA also expressed concerns about the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, since these regulations grant government agencies the authority to remove content deemed as false.
