More censorship. We just can’t seem to get enough of it these days, it seems!

After having come through blog blockade, RTI Act dilution, art gag, the next medium to bear the brunt of censorship is television.

Cable operators, in at least Mumbai, have arbitrarily pulled all private channels off air without any prior notice! As of now as far as I know, only DD National, DD Sahyadri, DD Bharati and Janmat are on air. All other channels have been blocked out.
The following message is being scrolled on a black background on some of the channels.

IN TERMS OF BOMBAY HIGH COURT ORDER 21st DECEMBER 2005 CERTAIN CHANNELS WHICH ARE ALLEGEDLY CARRYING ADULT CONTENT WHICH ARE NOT TO BE SHOWN INCABLENET HAS SOUGHT CLARIFICATIONS FROM THE COURT WHICH IS PENDING. TILL THEN THESE CHANNELS ARE NOT SHOWN. INCONVENIENCE GIVEN IS REGRETTED. [sic]

What?!! Adult content on cartoon channels, news channels, Discovery, National Geographic, sports channels?!!

Basically, any attempt to deny me the right to gain information from any of these channels for viewing which I am paying money, is a gross suppression of my freedoms. I don’t care who is at fault here… the cable operators, the High Court or the government. This is ridiculous… utterly, pathetically ridiculous!!

Just a few days ago, I was complaining to a friend how the IB Ministry had forced music channels to run scrolling messages that made the music channels admit that they were showing ‘objectionable’ content and they would not do so in the future. Kinda reminded me of school where teachers used to ask troublemakers in the class to write things like “I will not talk in the class” a 100 times in their notebooks!

Incidentally, I wonder why the cable operators are still carrying the government-owned DD channels on air?!

Update: You can follow this story at the BloggersCollective and India Uncut.

Update 2: It is now fairly clear that the cable blackout is a form of protest by the Mumbai MSOs (Multi-system Operators) through the local cable operators, against the police action against them, in the form of raids. The Bombay High Court order dated 21st Dec 2005 had prohibited the cable operators and service providers from showing any material unsuitable for unrestricted public viewing.

As per the order, which takes immediate effect, cable operators will have to block any film on any channel certified as ‘A’ or for a particular class or profession by the Central Board of Film Certification. In effect, only films with a ?U? (unrestricted viewing) certificate can be beamed into people’s homes.

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