News Broadcast Body set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for key discussions

The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow to address significant matters related to the broadcasting industry, such as the draft Broadcast Bill and the IT Rules 2021, according to sources familiar with the situation, as reported by Economic Times.

The meeting will include key leaders from the NBDA, such as India TV chairman Rajat Sharma, TV18 Broadcast MD Rahul Joshi, TV Today Network vice chairperson Kalli Purie, and NDTV whole-time director Sanjay Pugalia, along with others.

Sources add that the NBDA has not circulated any specific agenda for the meeting. "NBDA officials have been told to be on standby for the meeting," one of the sources added.

The media industry has strongly opposed the broadcast bill for including OTT and digital news within its scope. The second draft went even further by classifying social media users who exceed a certain limit, to be specified later, as OTT broadcasting service operators or digital news broadcasters.

In its comments to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), the NBDA argued that the broadcast bill grants too much power to government officials. It also mentioned that some of the definitions and provisions are unclear and ambiguous.

Another key topic likely to be discussed is the Department of Telecom's (DoT) proposal to make the 3700-4200 MHz spectrum band available to telecom operators for 5G/6G services.

Last year, the NBDA sent a letter to the DoT expressing that moving broadcasters from their current frequency band of 3700 to 4200 MHz to a new range of 4000 to 4200 MHz would be detrimental to the broadcasting industry.