Region | Lebanon
India denies ban on Arabic TV channels
Indian authorities have denied that they have imposed any ban on Arabic-language television channels.
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 23:34 May 3, 2009
New Delhi: Indian authorities have denied that they have imposed any ban on Arabic-language television channels.
"This is not true. No specific instruction has been issued by our ministry to ban any Arabic channel. Cable operators and hotels are free to beam them," a spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told Gulf News yesterday.
He was commenting on reports that the government had clamped down on Arabic channels in the wake of the conflict in Lebanon.
According to him, some Arabic channels may be facing problems due to their failure to comply with a December 2005 notification under which foreign channels downlinking their signals were supposed to register themselves with the ministry by June 2006.
Dr Waiel S.H. Awwad, Bureau Chief of Al Arabia TV, also confirmed that there is no ban on Arabic channels. "As far as I know, there is no ban, only some hotels in Paharganj area where Jewish tourists stay, are not showing Arabic channels," Dr Awwad said.
The hotel industry has also denied that it has been asked to remove Arabic channels. "We are showing Al Arabia and have not received any communication from the government to take them off," said Protima Vasan, Communications Manager, Hotel Maurya Sheraton.
Spokespersons for the Hotel Oberoi and the government-run Hotel Ashok said they are not showing Arabic channels due to different reasons.
"We are not showing them for long since there is no demand from guests. It has nothing to do with the reported ban," a spokesperson of Hotel Ashok said.
Interestingly, the private news channel India TV continues to show news of Al Jazeera with Hindi dubbing under a tie-up every evening.
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