Parental lock system proposed against adult content on TV

For morality sake

Sources in the ministry on Monday said the proposal for introducing a parental lock system and watershed hours came up during Minister Ambika Soni’s recent meetings with representatives of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and News Broadcasters Association (NBA), as she was keen that such norms, followed globally, should be implemented in India as well.

The ministry is said to have suggested to the broadcasters that under the system, parents are able to lock certain channels, which they think should not be viewed by children of a certain age group. The sources said the minister had suggested that the broadcasters introduce watershed hours for adult programmes, where adult content could be shown between 11 pm and 4 am.

Soni initiated the process of holding consultations with IBF and NBA representatives to make the content code more acceptable to the broadcasters. Though the code has been in place for quite some time, both IBF and NBA have been following their own set of self-regulatory norms. And the logic being the content code guidelines are not acceptable to them as they contend that they are too interfering.

While NBA had drafted its code soon after the Mumbai terror attacks, IBF had its own set of rules in place a couple years ago when it had even suggested ‘A’ and ‘UA’ ratings for television programmes on the lines of feature films.

According to ministry officials, whenever there is a violation of norms by television channels, the government sends advisories to channels as per the guidelines of the content code.