The Indian government on Tuesday said it is not considering to ‘harmonise’ telecom and broadcast regulator TRAI’s powers with any other law, including IP rules.

“There is no proposal under consideration of the government to harmonise the regulatory powers of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) with the existing intellectual property laws, including the Copyright Act, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur informed Lok Sabha (Lower House).

The Minister was replying to a series of queries on media sector regulations by a fellow parliamentarian, including whether the government was exploring to harmonise the regulatory powers of TRAI with the Copyright Act.

Replying to another part of the same question on any policy to give a fillip to the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector, Thakur said, “An Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force was constituted by the Ministry of I&B on 8th April, 2022 with experts from across the government and the industry for devising strategies of growth through targeted interventions for their respective areas, make recommendations in areas of policy, capacity building, infrastructure, finance & technology and ways for boosting employment opportunities for youth in AVGC sector in India and make it a global IP content hub.”

Public Service Messaging Discussed With Stakeholders: Meanwhile, replying to another question by another parliamentarian on daily public service messaging by private sector TV channels, as mandated under the revised ‘Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels 2022’, Thakur clarified that the issue has been discussed with broadcasters.

Pointing out that the policy guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Satellite Television Channels in India, 2022 came into effect November 9, 2022, the Minister pointed out, “Rounds of consultation have been carried out with the broadcasters and their associations for implementation of the public service broadcasting obligation.”