India issues ‘must carry’ list for IPTV providers

India’s information and broadcasting ministry has issued a list of 24 TV channels that must be carried by IPTV service providers in the country.

IP&TV news reports that a ministry memorandum lists 21 channels from public broadcaster Doordarshan, along with government-provided parliamentary channels Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV, and education channel Gyan Darshan.

The Doordarshan channels are: National, News, Bharati, Urdu, Sports, DD India, DD Kashir, DD Punjabi, DD Girnar, DD Sahyadiri, DD Saptagiri, DD Malayalam, DD Podhigal, DD Candana, DD Bangla, DD North East, DD Bihar, DD Uttar Pradesh, DD Rajasthan, DD Madhya Pradesh and DD Oriya.

All of India’s IPTV service providers must place the 24 required channels in the correct genre and display them in full screen, said the ministry. The memorandum says it will be obligatory for every IPTV service provider to provide these channels to their subscribers, irrespective of any packages or a-la-carte channel subscriptions they may hold.