The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) yesterday issued a notification amending the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 (the Rules) to streamline the local cable operator (LCO) registration process.

Effective from yesterday, the LCO registrations will be conducted entirely online with the MIB as the registering authority, the government said in an official statement yesterday in New Delhi.

Upon successful verification of applicants’ details, including Aadhaar, PAN, CIN, DIN etc., LCO registration certificates will be issued in real-time. Also, a provision for appeal against denial of registration or renewal for LCO registration has been added to the whole process.

Earlier, LCO registration process was carried out at the local head post office of the area in which the office of the LCO was located and done in an offline mode with the Head Postmaster as the registering authority. The manual registration process was cumbersome and time consuming. Also, the area of operations upon obtaining registration was limited to specific areas, the government clarified.

The salient features of the amended rules in respect of LCO registration are as follows:

# LCOs shall apply for new registration or renewal of registration online on the Broadcast Seva Portal of MIB (www.new.broadcastseva.gov.in) and the registration certificate shall be issued online.

# LCO registrations shall be granted or renewed for a period of five years.

# The processing fee for registration or renewal is Rs. 5,000.

# LCO registrations shall be valid for operations throughout the territory of India.

# The application for renewal of registration shall be made at least 90 days before the expiry of the registration.

# LCOs can make an appeal before the Appellate Authority — Under Secretary (DAS) at MIB — against the decision of the registering authority within 30 days of any denial.

# Existing LCO registration shall remain valid for the period mentioned in the registration certificate. In cases where the existing registration of the LCO is valid for less than 90 days, the applications for renewal, if any, shall be made immediately on the portal.

# The applications made to the Post Offices for grant/ renewal of registration, which are pending as on date, would be required to be withdrawn and applications have to be made on the MIB portal.

  The registration and renewal procedure is in line with the government’s commitment to ease of doing business, as the registration/renewal certificate shall be generated on a real-time basis upon successful verification of applicants’ details online, the MIB stated.