The central government has withdrawn the Broadcasting Services Bill 2024 and said that a new draft of the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill will be released after detailed consultations with all stakeholders.
The government has sought suggestions for this draft bill till October 15.
The bill had come under fire from the opposition after it alleged that a revised draft of the bill was ‘secretly’ leaked to select stakeholders before it was tabled in Parliament.
The ministry said in a statement that the deadline for public comment on the draft of this bill was November 10, 2023. Later the government prepared a second draft of the bill in July this year.
Now the ministry has said that people will be able to give their suggestions on this draft bill till October 15, 2024. The ministry has said that a new draft will be published after detailed consultation. At present, additional time is being given to seek comments and suggestions.
Let us tell you that digital news publishers and individual content creators were also opposing this bill.
Media organisations had expressed concern over the provisions of the draft bill, saying that it seeks to create a multi-layered legal system to regulate and censor content on digital platforms.
According to Ritu Kapoor, general secretary of Digipub News India Foundation, an organisation representing over 90 digital news publishers, the organisation had sought permission from the government to be a part of the consultation process on the draft bill.
The government in November last year released the draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2023, which aims to bring a consolidated legal framework for the broadcasting sector and also bring OTT (digital platform) content, digital news and current affairs within its ambit.
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