NEW DELHI: The Department of Space has been asked to block the signals of Asia Broadcast Satellite Free-to-air channels which is beaming in India without the permission of the Ministry.

Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore said this had been done keeping in view the national security angle. He said the I and B Ministry is the licensing authority for DTH broadcasting services in India and it has received no application or reference from ABS for DTH operations.

Meanwhille, he told Parliament today that there was no violation of Downlinking guidelines by permitted Broadcasters on account of providing signals to unauthorised DTH operators. In order to deter the permitted Broadcasters (channels) from violating the downlinking guidelines, he said the Ministry had issued a Web Notice on 23 December 2015: 

http://mib.nic.in/WriteReadData/documents/Notice_to_all_Broadcaster_Private_TV_(Channels)_registered_with_MIB_.pdf

After the Ministry had learnt from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that ABS had started providing permitted free to air (FTA) channels, the Home Ministry was consulted from the security angle and its implication from national security perspective.

The Home Ministry said the transmission of DTH service by ABS is without any application to the I and B Ministry and not in line with the guidelines of that Ministry.

Clause 5.6 of the Article 5 of Downlinking guidelines issued by Ministry of I&B stipulates that all the Broadcasters (Channels) shall provide Satellite TV channel signal reception decoders only to MSOs/Cable Operators registered under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 or to a DTH operator registered under the DTH guidelines issued by the Government of India or to an Internet Protocol Television Service Provider duly permitted under their existing Telecom License or authorized by Department of Telecommunications or to a HITS operator duly permitted under the policy guidelines for HITS operators issued by the Ministry