A Parliamentary panel, which examined proposed amendments in the cable TV law meant to address the menace of screening of illegal channels, has questioned whether the problem could be addressed without regulation of the Internet. In its 36th report on the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Second amendment Bill, 2011, the standing Committee on Information and Technology noted that the government received several reports against cable operators showing illegal channels.

The Committee said on Wednesday that the I&B ministry in its own documents explaining how illegal channels reach subscribers' homes listed the possibility of cable operator picking these channels via broadband, Internet, IPTV, mobile TV, video streaming and re-transmitting them. The Committee also noted that "even the Prime Minister's Office had drawn the attention of the ministry" to address the issue of showing non-permitted channels by the Internet."Instead of examining the issue, the Ministry has stated that the Internet is, by and large unregulated, except for certain restrictions under the Information Technology Act," the Committee said in its report and added that the concern raised by the PMO had been ignored.

"The Committee fails to understand how the issue of transmitting illegal/unrestricted channels can be addressed in entirety without regulating the source i.e. Internet," the report said.The panel also said that in the case of illegal transmission of channels while penal rules were being proposed against the cable operators, it could not understand the I&B assertion that other service providers did not indulge in carriage of the illegal content.

Further in its report, the panel also noted that the Department of Electronics and Information Technology was the administrative framework on the Internet, which was one of the mediums for watching television."The Committee is constrained to note that there is no mechanism to have inter-ministerial coordination between the various related ministries viz. the ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology and Department of Telecommunication etc," the Panel said in its report.

It emphasised the need to have a coordination mechanism between the Information and Broadcasting ministry, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology and Department of Telecommunication in dealing with media transmission issues.The Committee also suggested the setting up of an expert body to deal with new transmission technologies and also recommended setting up a helpline to lodge complaints against the showing of illegal channels.

The Panel expressed concern over the I&B ministry's inability to enforce the present provisions of the Cable Act in dealing with the problem illegal channels.The Committee said that the Intelligence Bureau had identified 25 channels whose content was not conducive to the security environment of the country but added that no action could be taken about these channels.

"The Secretary during the the course of deliberations has acknowledged that there has been reluctance on the part of the local administration to act against the cable operators," the Committee said in its report.

"In some cases, where the local administration has acted, it has raised such a socio political crisis in that area that post-haste this had to be really withdrawn," the report added.The Committee questioned as to how a new legislation would make difference when existing laws were not enforced.The Committee also questioned the requirement of the proposed legislation in view of the digitalisation of the cable sector that is currently underway.The panel said that transmission of any channel on cable would leave a digital trail and in this way it could also be used to stop the menace of illegal channels.

The I&B ministry could have visualised the linkages between its proposed legislation - through which it wants to incorporate penal provisions against cable operators and the changed scenario after digitalisation, the panel said and added that digitalisation of cable in border areas should be expedited.The Parliamentary Panel which made these suggestions was examining the proposal to amend the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 to allow authorised officers to seize the equipment of a cable operator in case of re-transmission of illegal channels.

The amendments also propose to increase penalties for violation of the Act from the current Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh for first offence and from Rs 5,000 to Rs 3 lakh on subsequent offences.The Committee also observed that government experts had come to conclusion that localised blocking of channels on a pan-India basis was not economically viable while disturbing transmission frequencies was not an acceptable option either.