I&B Ministry issues notification for online registration of local cable operators

New Delhi, Jan 17: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has today issued a notification amending the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, to streamline the Local Cable Operator (LCO) registration process.

Effective from today, LCO registrations will be conducted entirely online with the Ministry itself as their registering authority.

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

Earlier, LCO registration process was carried out at the local head post office of the area in which the office of the LCO is situated in an offline mode with Head Postmaster as their 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 features of the amended rules in respect of LCO registration are:

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 five thousand only

LCO registration 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.