Sanjay Jaju assumed the role of Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on February 5, 2024. He replaced Apurva Chandra in the rejig just before the much-awaited general elections of 2024.
But not all seems a cakewalk for Jaju as a host of unfinished tasks lie ahead for him.
1. Broadcasting Bill
The Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2023, whose deadline was extended to January 15, 2024 from earlier date of December 9, 2023, still requires feedback and suggestions from the public. The main intent of this bill was to establish a consolidated legal framework for the entire broadcasting sector and has been facing multiple delays.
Concerns over creative freedom and higher content costs have been raised by the OTT industry earlier as well with regard to this bill and the ministry is yet to derive clarity on the same.
2. Revival of Radio
Many initiatives to revive radio were announced by the MIB in the last quarter of 2023 that haven’t seen the light of the day. News broadcasting on radio was one major development the industry was looking forward to but there has been no official announcement on the same. The government was also trying to get FM back on mobile sets so that direct broadcasting can be facilitated.
3. BARC viewership data
BARC data, its frequency and its reliability have made many headlines in the recent past. Mainly, the issues pertaining to ethical misconduct and its impact on the news genre as a whole has been waiting to be put to bed. Moreover, the sample size was increased to 59-65k homes but will that make any difference? Experts say it is not just the smaller number of meters but also the slow pace of installation of these meters that makes the whole purpose insignificant.
4. DD FreeDish
In 2022, all four major broadcasters pulled their Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GECs) from the DD FreeDish platform. It will be interesting to see if a new I&B minister can persuade broadcasters to bid in the upcoming e-auction for vacant MPEG-2 slots.
Industry players opine that one of the biggest challenges for the cable operators today is the availability of free satellite channels i.e. DD FreeDish. Hence there has to be a mechanism to protect the interests of DTH and Cable Operators as well.
5. How to manage the ministry in less budget
The government has allocated Rs 4,342.55 crore to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for 2024-25. This is slightly lower than Rs 4,449.79 in the previous fiscal. To manage all tasks at a lesser budget than before just adds to the challenges.
Even though the next mile seems to be full of unfinished battles, Jaju’s experience and unwavering hard work gives everyone in the industry a hope and confidence for betterment of the broadcasting industry under his aegis.
