The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), the State government agency that runs the channels KITE VICTERS and KITE VICTERS Plus, has taken a “wait-and-see approach” over the latest advisory from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that barred States from broadcasting content on their own.
A senior KITE official, who wished not to be quoted, told The Hindu on Tuesday that they were yet to go deeply into the implications of the advisory. The order was issued in view of a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommendation, a Supreme Court judgment in the Cricket Association of Bengal case, and the Law Ministry’s legal opinion.
The advisory
The advisory said that no Ministry or department of governments at the Centre, States and Union Territories and their associated entities should enter into broadcasting or distribution of broadcasting activities in future.
Those already broadcasting their content should get it done through Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster, and the entities distributing the broadcasting content have been asked to “extract themselves” from it by December 31, 2023. The KITES official said that it would also be premature to issue a hasty response to the directive as they have enough time to study its implications.
Some other officials, however, expressed the hope that the advisory was unlikely to have an impact on KITE VICTERS as it was not just another channel “broadcasting content”.
It is under EDUSAT dedicated satellite for imparting education, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation, and accessed by schools through receive only terminals. They claimed that there would not be any problem if they would have to broadcast it via the Prasar Bharati.
Meanwhile, some others think this will have political implications as the State will lose its control on the nature of content to be broadcast through KITE VICTERS.
State governments have been asked to enter into “suitable agreements” with the public broadcaster to broadcast content for educational purposes. All such existing activities would also have to be brought under its purview. Till then, uninterrupted broadcast of the ongoing education channels and other scheduled programmes would be allowed.
